In the vast majority of hands, before the river, your opponent will have some chance to beat you no matter your hand's strength. When that happens, it can hurt, but this luck factor is what keeps bad players in the game. After all, you don't see fish playing competitive chess. That's the beauty and the ugliness of this sadistic game.

Joey took a moment, breathing deeply and soaking it all in, adjusting to the new environment full of peril and possibility.

"You mind getting out of the doorway?"

He looked to his left. There was a slovenly middle-aged man there holding the door for him.

The man had a lazy eye. It was as if he couldn't be bothered to give enough attention to any one particular thing to set both eyes on it. Joey was lost for a moment because he wasn't clear if the man was addressing him or Andrew. Then he noticed that he was the only one foolishly standing in the doorway and stepped into the room.

"Charlie, how you been?" Andrew greeted the man.

"Same old. This your friend?"

"Yea, this is Joey. He's a dealer with me at Angelo's."

"Joey, is it? Welcome to Pocket Rockets." Charlie said curtly before walking off. He didn't have the friendliest of demeanor, but everyone has their personality traits. Joey couldn't sense any hostility so he didn't take it personally.

Instead, Joey continued to be at awe with the room. He'd never seen so many tables or so many players in one place. He didn't even know poker was this popular in the area.

"Pretty cool right?" Andrew went over, noticing Joey's reaction. "This club's been around for a while and built up a big network. It's the biggest club in Queens."

"Those tables out front closer to the door are the lower limits: 1-2, 2-5. As you move back, the stakes get bigger: 5-10, 10-20, sometimes higher. Think of it like the VIP section. HAHA," Andrew explained.

Joey didn't know there were so many levels to poker. "How about outside of here, are there even higher levels?"

"Of course. Big casinos normally have bigger games. Out west in Vegas and LA, casinos have games going up to 1000-2000 with people buying in for hundreds of thousands per buyin. There are even special events and private games where players play for millions at a time! And that's just what's known to the public."

"Known to the public? What kind of games are unknown?

"...Underground games, they can play even bigger or for more...vital stakes..." Andrew lightly frowned. "But we're not anywhere near a level where we can or should talk about those..." Andrew seemingly didn't want to continue. Joey didn't push.

"The higher you go, the tougher the games get. You start running into more and more players with varied skillsets and...abilities. A lot of players can win at one level, then move up, become losers, and have to move right back down. Personally, I'm just barely making it at the 5-10 level right now."

Joey took a few seconds to digest all of this new information.

Although it was long and arduous, still full of pitfalls at every turn, Joey could suddenly see a path open up before him. In the depths of his eyes, a spark of passion began to evolve into a flame of ambition.

"What game are you going to play?" Andrew asked him.

Joey thought about it for a moment. He brought enough to play as high as 10-20. 'Should I buy in for the big game?' He was about to say 10-20, when he looked around, realizing how unfamiliar he was with everything. 'No, let's start a bit lower first, I want to get a feel for the place first.'

"2-5." He responded.

"Alright, I'm going to hop into 5-10. The cage to buy chips is over there and my tables over there. If you need anything just come over." Andrew went to buy chips and start playing.

Joey looked around for the 2-5 tables with an open seat to see where he would be playing. He found the table and took a look around. In this table...No, in this club, there weren't any players he recognized besides Andrew.

'How much should I buy in for?' He looked at the chip stacks of the players. Most of them had over 1000 so that's what he decided to go with. He walked over to the cage, told the attendant which game he wanted to play in, bought chips, and went over to the table.

As he took a seat, he noticed most of the players staring at him as if sizing him up. There was a sense of pressure. Even the dealers here seemed more professional. 'The atmosphere here is totally different than in the other games I've played. It feels like...at those games, most of the players just wanted to have fun. Here, most of these players want to win!'

'Sorry. If you want to win, you're going to have to do it when I've left the table!' Joey was still very confident and it seemed as if the god of luck appreciated it. His first hand in the game, he looked down to find pocket aces: [A♠ A♥], the strongest hand possible. It seemed it wouldn't take long for him to prove his point.

A player raised, another player reraised, and everyone folded to Joey. He contemplated his options and decided to put in another reraise! After all, he had the strongest hand possible now, he was fearless. The first raiser called. The second contemplated for a long time before moving all in for over 1000!

Joey was ecstatic. He took his time calling so as not to give away his strength to the other player behind him who could also call. After Joey called, that player shook his head and folded. His first hand, it was heads up in a huge pot over 2000 and Joey had the strongest hand, the absolute nuts!

Joey was already thinking about his next move after winning the hand, maybe he should really just move up and challenge the bigger games. He wasn't even paying attention as the dealer dealt out the cards. At the river, Joey flipped over his aces, and reached his arms out to scoop his monster pot.

At that moment, the other player said, "Sorry man," and flipped over his cards. He had pocket queens.

'What's he sorry about? Aces crush queens,' Joey thought. Then he looked over at the board and saw [3♦ 5♥ q♣ k♠ 6♥]. There was a queen... The player had managed to spike a lucky queen on the flop. At showdown, he won the hand with three queens, beating Joey's two aces.

As the player scooped up the giant pot, the pot that was meant for Joey, the one that was going to be his buyin for the biggest VIP game at the club just minutes later, Joey's head went blank.

"You want to buy back in?" The dealer asked him.

"Uh...n, not yet." Joey stuttered. He was in shock. He couldn't believe he just lost so much in one hand just by bad luck. He was a huge favorite and he still lost. What if he had gone to a bigger game and bought in for 5000? Joey turned pale. He would've lost everything!

Joey had a strange feeling in his chest and mind, like he was stuck in hot mud. He couldn't think clearly. He was tilted!