Having carefully observed the two characters focused on the computer for a few minutes, the man in the tailored suit turned to his colleague.
"So what exactly is the proposal?" he asked.
"It's quite simple," answered his younger colleague, "they're prepared to sell their place at the table, their hand and all of their chips - for cash."
"Mmm. And you've seen what they're holding?"
"Yeah. The guy is certain that they're on for a flush."
The first man cast his eyes over the virtual table. Three cards were lying there, face-up.
"How can he say that? It might look that way to him, but there are another two cards to be dealt yet - and that could change everything."
"You're right of course, but he's quite an analyst. He's been counting the cards all through the game."
"So he's got a perfect record?"
"Well, no. There have been a couple of times when he's placed a confident bet and things haven't gone his way."
The first man brightened.
"Ahh. So there's still quite a bit of uncertainty... he's not 100% sure what's going to be dealt!"
"Well, no. But..."
"But what?"
"He says that even when he made those mistakes, it helped him to adjust what he knows about the deck."
"Yeah, right. I think he's bluffing. We're gonna make him an offer. Go and tell him we'll take his seat, his hand and his chips for 10% more than he has on the table. See what his reaction is."
The second man walked over to the computer and bent his head towards the poker players sitting in front of their computer. After a few seconds, he was back.
"Well? Are we on?"
"No - he's not interested at all. Says that either we up the bid, or wait for the next card and pay more...and a lot more again when the final card is dealt."
The first man took a deep breath. He'd seen one or two other people slip into the room and begin to take an interest in the two guys and what was happening on their screen.
This could turn out to be more difficult than he'd imagined.
SW10
Not a bad analogy, except that:
- there is no limit on the number of potential players
- there is no shared understanding of what any of the cards are actually worth
- it isn't clear just how committed the various players are to winning the game
However, there will certainly be bluffs by various parties (perhaps including the Chinese, recently quoted) and they may well be called...or raised. There is no certainty that anyone would be allowed back to the table if they walked away.
Fortunately we know that one of the players is very well experienced at such games, even if they don't always win (as I suspect may have been the case with Thailand). This time around, there should be enough interested players to make a very good game of it! ;-)
