FLASH CONTEST - Story writing!

EDIT: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL FOR PARTICIPATING – AND READING!

Have you heard about our upcoming Magellan promotion? It’s the last event for our World Wonder Tour, and our Poker Ops team had a fun little idea for a forum contest: Story writing!

I know we have a lot of people who love to write here on the site, so we offer this prompt: Share a story based on our Magellan banner above. It can be poker related, or not, but we’ll be picking our five favorites on Wednesday, July 11th and the authors will each receive 100,000 chips!

Simply reply to this thread with your story to enter. Looking forward to seeing whether this kind of contest is interesting to our forumers! :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Interesting idea. Where should the replies (stories) be sent to? How long or short must they be? Must they be in English?

The whole banner? Or just one or more parts of it would be enough? Can it be about pyramids and clouds for example? And should it be a true story or can it be fictional?

Simply reply to the thread with your story to enter! There are no length requirements and everyone reviewing the entries speaks English, so that’s preferred. We can use Google Translate, but things can get lost in translation!

I edited the original post to make it clear to reply to this thread to enter. :slight_smile:

Parts of it are fine, and it’s completely up to you as to whether you’d like it to be based on reality or total fiction.

Around the world in a hot air balloon.
Eighty days or eighty years, time stands still when you’re floating.
Things don’t always go right. When they go bad, you may end up back where you started. You may end up nowhere. Your flush can easily turn into somebody else’s full house.
At five hundred feet altitude, the buildings become a mosaic. It becomes difficult to know which are the tallest.
At a thousand feed, you stop looking down. The noise below is gone. The wind rushing around the balloon seems to roar right through your ears. The clouds that reminded you of cotton candy from the ground, feel wet and cold now.
Two thousand feet. When you look down again, you’re not sure where you are. The roads you’ve driven a thousand times don’t look the same from above. The trees seem more like a carpet and somehow, less majestic. How can it be so different from the air? You’ve driven mountain passes that you would have to look down to see two thousand foot altitudes. Even looking down from the rim of the Grand Canyon you don’t seem so high. Speaking of the Grand Canyon, there it is, thousands of feet below you. It looks like a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be pushed into some meaningful shape, a random deal of cards waiting for an Ace to make your hand.
It’s time to bring the balloon down now. The river has been played and the bet is yours. Will you fold? I’ve got Aces. If you want to know how many it’ll cost you twenty-five hundred more chips! :wink:
Good luck all. See you after the flop.

-Grateful_ed King of the four card straight and the four card flush

3 Likes

I hope I’ve set a good example. I would suggest to other posters to leave Miss Piggy out of the subject. :rofl:

1 Like

Although she had her family and her many friends, Linda came back every night to her New York apartment, and couldn’t help but feel lonely. There was something missing in her life. She was waiting for the right person to fill this emptiness, but he wasn’t easy to find.
Like any of us, she had her dreams. She dreamed she would meet him somewhere in Paris, and they would spend a magical night, then go together on a trip around the world. But her dream was yet to come true. She tried using dating sites and apps, and her friends always introduced her to someone new, but there was just no chemistry, and Mr Right was still nowhere to be seen.

One day, her friend told her about an online poker site, and invited her to create and account and play. Linda signed up and learned the game. She enjoyed playing and making new friends online. She was happy to have joined, but what she didn’t know was that the unexpected was about to happen. There he was at a poker table, with his witty sense of humor and his charming attitude. At first, they were just talking. Then they were exchanging private messages, phone numbers, calling each other, and sending each other cute little presents.
One day they decided to meet in person, and to her surprise, the man from her dreams was standing there in front of her. She never felt that happy, and neither did he. They stayed together for 3 amazing years. Linda was finally happy. They both stayed loyal to the site and kept playing together. But tragedy was on its way.

The man of her dreams passed away, leaving Linda devastated, heartbroken, and hopeless. The best years of her life, and his, and their dreams and plans, all ended with a tragedy. No words could describe how she felt for months and months after his death. The void in her life was even bigger than before. But this was not the end of the story.

When Linda’s strength came back, and she started socializing again, she went back to the site where she met her love, and played poker once again with her online friends. Along came Joe, another poker player with a story. Joe had also lost his wife, and after chatting to Linda at the tables a few time, they both found comfort in each other, and became very close.

Linda wondered, could this be possible? Finding your better half on a poker site once is highly unlikely, let alone twice! You have a better chance of hitting 2 royal flushes in a row in a game of Hold’em than finding love twice on a poker site!
But we all know that odds are just odds, and the improbable can and does happen, whether in a game of poker, or in life itself.

Linda and Joe are now together, happier than ever, and I can only wish them a long and happy life, always together, always in love, and always inspiring to me and others.
Why am I wishing story characters a happy life you might be asking. Well, because it’s a true story, and it’s happening right now!

The poker site is Replay, Linda is my friend, and now so is Joe.
Linda’s story makes me sad, makes me happy, inspires me, and for the first time I thought I’d share it so it may inspire others as well. Love can be found where you least expect it, and when you least expect it. It could happen once and last for a lifetime, or it could last less, and yet happen again, sometimes even in the same place. I hope we all get our Royal Flushes, like Linda and Joe. To those who got them already, congratulations! And to those who haven’t yet, keep in mind that, no matter what your cards are, miracle rivers do happen in real life, just like they happen on Replay… Probably a bit less though :wink:

4 Likes

Hey @fizzymint
Is it just 1 entry per person?
I have a Miss Piggy story I’m dying to tell as well :joy:

4 Likes

Ferdinand Magellan was sitting in the 15th century equivalent of a gastro pub, desperately trying to raise funds for an expedition to circumnavigate the world, so proving that the Earth was round, not flat as all the learned scribes and professors insisted. The wealthy patrons in the pub mocked him, and the richest man of all said “Ferdinand dear fellow, it is as likely that the world is round as it is that you could ever beat me in a game of poker.”
Now Ferdinand had observed the rich man, who had no patience when playing but went all in on every ace he held and got lucky many times, realised this may be his golden goose! “Very well noble sir” he said (you did not say alright mate in the 15th century) “I will concede that the world is flat if you beat me in a game of poker, but if I win you must finance my expedition “ Thus a mighty game of poker took place, the all in rich man versus the patient play of Ferdinand.

And so, dear reader, as we all know Ferdinand got his finance to sail round the world and obtain a place in history, and all you Replay members who voted for patience as the most important factor in the last poll are proved correct.

3 Likes

:joy::joy::joy:

                  AN ESPRESSSO ENCOUNTER

The grey-haired man carried his espresso gingerly onto the Roman cafe’s patio cum sidewalk. Each of the small tables was already occupied by one individual. Harold noticed a woman reading an American paperback novel. At least they would share a common language.

“Miss, you appear to be an American. May an old man join your table or are you waiting for someone?” Harold smiled as he spoke, his right hand resting lightly on, but not yet pulling out, the back of the wrought-iron chair across from her.

She eyed Harold quickly and smiled back. “Sure. Have a seat. It’s always good to see a countryman. And, you don’t look all that old.”

Harold sat. He sipped his espresso gently as he studied her. Early to middle 40s, he guessed. Her light blue summer-weight print sundress left her arms and shoulders bare. Short brown hair was cut to expose her ears. Small pierced earrings. No rings on her fingers. Low-heeled sandals, suitable for walking, pink painted toenails, and a Kate Spade carry-all sized bag was between her feet.

“You sound Southern,” Harold said. “Atlanta?”

“Close. Charleston, South Carolina. And you, sir, are a Yankee,” she said brightly.

“I am indeed. Central New Jersey, where we still have cows and gardens. How’s the book? I haven’t read that one.” It was End of Watch by Stephen King.

“It’s not one of his best. This is the final book of a trilogy. The first and third seem forced, as if he wasn’t really happy about having to write them. The second one, Finders, Keepers is terrific.” She saw Harold nod agreement. “Of course, his ‘less than best’ is still better than almost anyone else’s stories. I’m Lisa, by the way.”

Harold half-stood, reaching across to shake Lisa’s hand. “Harold Murphy. I’m traveling on business which is now completed. I’ll be flying out tomorrow morning. It’s nice to meet you, Lisa. How do you happen to be in Rome?” Harold resumed his seat.

“I’ve lived here for six years. I came for a visit, fell in love with the city, and I’m still here. It’s dangerous to leave home in the morning; you might end up in Rome,” Lisa laughed. “What sort of business did you complete? Anything exciting?”

“Nothing exciting. Interesting, perhaps. I’m a numismatist, studying and dealing in old coins. This trip was to deliver something one of our customers purchased. It took a bit over fifteen minutes, if you don’t count the flight time, the cab rides, and climbing the stairs. It’s a heck of a commute, though. I’ll be glad to get back home.” Harold finished his espresso and noticed Lisa’s cup was empty. “May I buy you another”–he leaned forward to see what it had been–“cappuccino?”

“Yes, please and thank you. What sort of coin was it? The one you delivered, I mean.”

Harold waved at the waiter, then pointed at the empty cups and smiled. The waiter smiled back and went for replacements.

“I suppose there’s no harm in telling. I’m sure it’s already gone, and we’ve already been paid. It was a 1787 Brasher Doubloon, one of the first coins minted under the authority of the newly independent United States of America. Until less than a year ago, only seven of them were known. This coin was newly rediscovered, so now there are eight. Most of the old records were lost or destroyed by mischance, so no one knows for certain how many were made.”

“Wasn’t there a Charlie Chan movie from the 1930s about them?” Lisa asked.

“Yes! How in the world did you know that?”

“I have all the old Charlie Chan movies on DVD. We watched them as kids.” Lisa giggled. “I have all the Three Stooges shorts, too.”

The waiter delivered the fresh drinks, removed the old, and departed silently. Harold looked at Lisa’s fingers again to verify she wore no rings. He cleared his suddenly dry throat.

“Lisa, do you have plans for this evening? I may just stay here for dinner and I’d welcome your company.”

“Oh. I’m afraid I do. My children are coming later. But, I travel back to the States every few months. Give me a way to contact you and I’ll let you know the next time I head in that direction. I’ll let you take me to dinner among the cows and gardens.”

“That’s fair. I’ll lay in a stock of old movies, if you’d like to watch them. I have friends in that area of collecting.”

Harold wrote his contact information on the back of a business card.and handed it to Lisa. She looked at it and deposited it in her bag. She stood. Harold rose to shake her hand.

“It was nice to meet you, Lisa. I hope we have the chance to meet again.” He offered his hand.

Lisa shook, then impulsively, leaned over and quickly, lightly kissed Harold’s cheek. “It was nice to meet you, too, Harold Murphy. I have your card. I’ll be in touch in a month or two. I promise.”

Harold watched her go, hoping she kept her promises.

4 Likes

Yes, just one entry per person, but now I’m dying to hear the Miss Piggy story anyway! :wink:

1 Like

Hey guys,

I am new to Replay Poker, having joined the company one month ago. This is my first post on the forum and I just wanted to say “hi” to all and have a go at writing a story. I hope you enjoy it and good luck at the tables!


Being a school age detective was tough and the toughest assignment I ever had was to track down a mystery woman with black hair and a red coat.

Reaching for my backpack and adjusting my cap to a backwards angle, I headed towards the gift shop at the Eiffel Tower. Armed with a photo, I approached the checkout to see if she had been here.

“Does anyone here speak English?” I asked in my formal, child detective way.

“Alright geezer” came the traditional South London greeting from the cashier. “Alright…” I responded hesitantly.

“What can I do for you mate?” he enquired, I reached into my Pokemon trainer jacket and pulled out the crumbled picture. “Do you know if she has been here?” I enquired. “Ah that jacket geezer, i’d recognise that anywhere!”. The distinctive red Mackintosh was not worn by most people without nefarious intentions.

“Is she here?” My heart pounded. “No geezer, she said she was travelling on.” “Oh, any idea where?” I asked. Relying on evil people to reveal their grand plans as part of the ego attached with getting away with it was a common thing, but I did expect my target to fall into such a simple trap.

The shopkeep looked blankly at me. “Any…Idea…Where?” I asked again. He looked up at me and smiled, “She’s in Giza, geezer”.

Firing up my personal Hot Air Balloon always took time, but it was worth it, to travel in comfort and style, and not have any crying babies. I had not had much luck with traditional aviation methods and was glad that the kick starter for my detective agency had been overfunded.

As my balloon started to descend on the pyramids, I realised I was on a crash course with the Sphinx. Not wanting to further damage the structure, I took evasive maneuvers. Although I did manage to avoid the sphinx, my balloon came crashing down on the gift shop roof.

“Well that’s going to take some fixing” said the mystery man in the green fedora. I was not sure if he meant the gift shop roof or my balloon’s basket. He had an air of authority about him, and I figured he was a good place to start.

“I’m looking for her…” I started to say as I reached for the picture in my pocket. “Try Match.Com” came the reply. Helpful as it was, it was not that “her” I was looking for at this moment in time.

“No, No, for her!” I stated as I raised the photo into his eyeline. His face dropped. “Her! Her! You do not want to find her, she is the Devil!”. I explained to him about my mission, and the importance to the safety of the planet if she was not captured.

“She was here, she said the Sphinx was “an overrated cat” and then disappeared into a cloud of smoke. She then reappeared as if she had messed up her grand exit, cursed a god I have never heard of and took an Uber to the airport.”

“Do you know where she went?” I asked, not expecting a reply. “Well, funny you should ask that as my brother, Terry, was her driver!”.

“And…….”

“And she’s gone to China”.

After helping me to repair my balloon, I was off. Thirty minutes of travel and I was in China (people underestimate the speed of a hot air balloon in stories).

After three hours in the wrong queue at the airport I was finally on mainland China, but it was too late. After showing the picture to a group of Internet Detectives in an internet cat cafe, I was told that she was here, in the cat cafe itself, looking for a Sphinx like cat to make her point to the Egyptian tourist board.

I’d missed her again. The internet detectives went through the computer she had used and had found a ticket, this one to New York.

“New York? Why would she go there with a cat that looks like the Sphinx, instead of returning to Egypt?” I thought aloud.

It was clear. The world was in peril. I had to act fast.

The balloon ride to New York was turbulent to say the least, and the inflight entertainment sucked. However I finally arrived as the sun was setting over the horizon.

My balloon landed perfectly on the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Aesthetically it looked wonderful, but from a practical point of view, getting the balloon up again would be a challenge. You might call it a win/lose situation.

Disembarking from my balloon, I noticed a red jacketed figure closing a door and running down the stairs of the statue.

952 sets of stairs later I was at the bottom of the statue, if I had parked my balloon at the bottom of the statue, I would have been there already.

Knowing my target’s penchant for gift shop items, I strode in with my photo in hand. “Has anyone seen this woman?” I demanded to know. There was no time for niceties.

Finally a squeaky voice at the back replied, “She was just here, but she left with a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty”. Unsure of what this trinket would prove to the Egyptians, I asked “Do you know where she went?”

“I don’t” came the reply, “I am sorry”.

I muttered to myself……”Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?”

5 Likes

Love it! :heart_eyes: :+1:

Outstanding Alan. However I’m afraid that, due to your obvious skill as a professional writer your submission has been rejected. :wink:

LOL. Would you exclude Doyle Brunson from playing poker, too. Seriously, I’m flattered. Thanks.

2 Likes

Loretta’s Dream
So, yeah, the handbrake, er, I mean the wife, Loretta, buys lottery tickets every week. The same damn numbers. Every darn week. Hell, I know those numbers off by heart. They’re etched into my brain. But what Loretta doesn’t seem to realize is our chances of winning are something like eighty- or a hundred-million to one. Ha! We got no chance.
‘You mark my words, Harold,’ she said, wagging a fat finger at me, while we sat drinking beer in the kitchen. ‘One day we will win. And when we do, I have plans for the both of us. Big plans. I have it all thought out. You and me, going places, all over the world. We’ll start by hiring a yacht, a big damn yacht, just for the two of us. You hear me? We’d sail right up to the Statue of Liberty, take our own tour of the lady, then sail away again. I’ve always wanted to do that, Harold. It’s one of my dreams. Are you listening?
Oh, yeah, I was listening, but these were pipe dreams, there was no way our ticket would come up. ‘Yes, honey,’ I said. Then to be polite, I added. ‘So what else would we do if we won?’
‘We’d go see the pyramids of Egypt, of course, that’s what. I’ve read so much about them. They’re centuries old and the desert is spectacular, especially if we fly over it in one of those hot air balloons, you know, with a wicker basket. We’d also take a ride on a camel and see the Sphinx and the ancient kings buried in the tombs. I get so excited just thinking about it. And then we’d fly to Japan. We’d have green tea, which a Geisha would serve, and we’d visit a holy temple and slip off our shoes and bow and show humility and speak quietly. She paused and smiled a dreamy smile.
Stifling a yawn, I said, ‘Sounds great, honey. What else?’
‘To wrap everything up, we’d go to Paris, France. That’s a big dream of mine. Par… lay…voo, Francais, Monsieur?’
‘Huh? What’re you talking about, Loretta?’
‘It’s French, Harold. French for “Do you speak French, Mister?” You don’t speak French, but I know some. Enough to be able to order frogs legs and duck l’orange and crossaints, and baquettes and la patisserie. Merci, Monsieur. And when we get back home, we’ll buy a new car, a Porsche, and a big new house with a swimming pool. And that would be that. It’s so exciting, Harold.’
To my relief, at that moment, the doorbell rang. Pizza man. I paid for the double-size pizza and we sat down on the couch to watch some TV. I had my own surprise for Loretta.
‘Guess what, honey? I said, quickly glancing at the lottery results, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.
‘What? Did our numbers come up?’ Loretta said, her tongue a mass of sticky cheese and salami. ‘Tell me they did, Harold, and you might just get lucky tonight.’
I grimaced at the thought and gritted my teeth. ‘No, no. Your birthday’s coming up, your fiftieth, so I thought we’d do something special, a surprise. What do you think?’
Loretta nodded, her eyes fixed on the next slice of pizza.
‘I’ve booked us a trip, Loretta. We’re going to Atlantic City. How does that sound? It’s like we won the lottery, huh? Ha, that’s funny. I’ve already got the Greyhound tickets.’ I pulled two tickets from my pocket and waved them in the air. ‘Man, I’m so looking forward to playing real live poker for four days. I qualified on a twenty-dollar satellite, Loretta. Imagine that. What do you think, honey? I’ll bet you’re excited too. Think of all the shopping you can do for four days.
Loretta glared at me and nearly choked on the last slice of pizza.

2 Likes

DREAMING
with no commitments…

I picked up takeaway szechuan
from the corner shop then rode
my Vespa back to my boyfriend’s
rented flat on the second floor.
Walking up the stairs felt like climbing
a pyramid.

We ate our dumplings in silence until
he said he, “needed some space”,
some “f**king liberty”?
So much hot air.
I need to breath,
to sail away.

2 Likes

A poker player I am, and a traveler I am not. so playing abroad was not going as well as I had wanted, but it was certainly better than I could have ever expected. The biggest risk I took was not even on the poker table. It was going for a hot air balloon ride the morning of the big event. There were a few of us in the air racing to get back to the ground in time for the start of the tournament. I paid $100 American dollars for the ride, and was actually upset that it was to last over 3 hours long. I’m sure all the pilots will share the story of the day everyone wanted to have a shorter ride for the money. I tipped him the same, since we landed earlier than the other players. My pilot played Texas Hold 'em on line and understood my reasons. I can tell you for a fact that our 27 table event had 3 seats shy as some of the players did not make it in time. They were the last balloons to land. I was first, and only one could touch down at a time. So I got to the main event thankful for the breathtaking adventure before hand and the timely arrival. I was seated and ordered my cheese sticks (no sauce) and beer before the cards were in the air.

In the first hour I had three great hands. By definition, a great hand is one that combines three elements: It is where I have one of those odds-unlikely hold cards that build a great hand. I also have one or more opponents that I see think they have a better hand, and they are willing to initiate the bets. Usually they have the flush and I have the boat. This time I had two hands with straight flushes beating the higher flush they have. My 2-6 flush beat the lady with AQ suited. I was big blind for the 56 suited hand and had to tripple the blind to match her raise. Good thing I did. 234 came down on the flop and she went all in, I called, and a third player joined us with K suited and a 3 for the pair if nothing else happens. My values tripled and they both left gracefully.

The nest straight flush was having the 9 along with an off suit king. Three came down with the flop, and I could only dream of another straight flush. Someone bet half their stack guessing that no one had that one card, the one that I had. I raised him, which in effect implied that I either had it or was bluffing. (or I had something else). He went all in, and I called. 89 10 J Q. gave me the definitive chip lead at the table. At that point our table was broken down as several players were risking it all throughout the day.

I got to my new table with more chips than anyone else. I had more than most of them combined. I was able to bully my stack higher and presumably made enemies that day. Truth was, we all played with what we had, and things fell as they may. I simply increased my stack until I got to the first break.

I learned that there were chip leaders at all 18 remaining tables. Each of them held their own while a few tables turned the reigns over to a new leader with one unfortunate hand. At my table I had more than any chip leader did at any other table. I looked around on my break and I even let it go to my head. I was building confidence knowing that I would not lose myself to it. I was just having a great game. A showdown later I had won the stack of the chip leader from another table that was consolidated to ours. He went in for the flush and went from 50 to 25 % still betting. My two pair held. In retrospect I bet a lot seeing a plush possibility and would have still held the lead by a margin (estimated) but I was getting cocky and overconfident.

The day ended down to 6 tables. Once we hit six the game ended early. Last year they stayed into the evening until they could finally end with 54 remaining. This year we got there an hour early. I bet most of the returning players pushed things along, and I was one to benefit. I had no evening plans. I never thought I would make it this far, and certainly never knew what time they planned to release us until tomorrow. I think I will see a movie and eat junk there for dinner.

The next day I must have lost my lead over the course of three hands, all of which I tried mega bluffs. Three all-in hands that doubled up various opponents. At that point my game plan was to just make it to final table. My stack kept shrinking as I would drop out of any hand when any opponent puts in a sizable raise. Between that, the blind levels, now with antes and my reluctance to play even the most opportunistic cards. I was losing faster than a Nascar driver with three working tires. I didn’t win a hand for hours. Still Infinity War was better the second time, and that was becoming the highlight of my trip.

I was out at 22nd. There were some prizes for the top 24 and my name joined the plaque with the top 30. I got an invite to another poker game, at another casino in a month. I doubt I will be ready to participate, but if I do I will not let myself get cocky. I can say that I made it to 22nd and impress anyone that never even qualified for such a prestigious tournament.

My favorite hand was the one that took me out of the tournament at 22. I had pocket aces, and went all in. Nobody folded and all of them ended with better hands. Trips, 2 pair in hand, and a straight. My ego was less cracked than those aces. Maybe more.

1 Like