The Magnificent Seven... of Diamonds

Dear readers, every private club has that one member who wins more than probability suggests they should. Usually, it's just skill, sometimes it's luck, but occasionally... well, let me tell you about a certain retired Wall Street trader whose gin rummy "edge" turned out to be sharper than anyone imagined.

At an exclusive Southern California club we’ll call Gin Blossom CC, their card room, like many top-line clubs across the country, saw significant amounts of money won and lost nightly at the gin table. But according to our source, there was one member that seemed to win a little too often, and each night that ended with a fistful of cash brought him closer to the fateful night when fists were used for an entirely different reason.

JP Lehman had credentials that seemed to explain his success. After all, what's gin rummy to someone who famously calculated arbitrage opportunities in microseconds? His Bloomberg terminal might have been replaced by a card table, but members assumed his mathematical mind still hummed like a supercomputer. When he won - which was often - he'd shrug it off with a casual "Just playing the odds." When he lost, it was with such convincing frustration that nobody questioned it.

Nobody except Peter Duvall, a semi-retired character actor whose career had been built on studying human behavior. While others tracked their losses, Duvall tracked something far more interesting: the microscopic flutter in Lehman's left eye whenever he threw down early, claiming defeat before all the deck's cards were shown. It was the same tell Duvall had once perfected for a role as a compromised federal witness - the look of someone hiding something in plain sight.

Most players attributed Lehman's early surrenders to classic gin strategy - minimizing losses when behind. But Duvall had spent thirty years learning how people act when they're actually doing what they're pretending to do. Lehman's performances were too perfect, like an actor who never flubs a line.

The breakthrough came during an evening alone with a bottle of Scotch when Duvall, frustrated with traditional cheating research, asked himself what he would do if he needed a foolproof scam. Not marked cards or stacked decks - those were amateur hour. No, he needed something elegant, mathematical, invisible. The answer, when it hit him, was beautiful in its simplicity: remove a single card. Just one. The perfect card.

For three weeks, Duvall watched Lehman play. He noted how hands mysteriously broke up whenever the deck threatened to be played through. How Lehman would take dramatic losses right before anyone might suggest counting cards. And most damning of all? How a middle run of diamonds never appeared - or a set of four 7s! The pattern was there - if you knew to look for it.

It took six more sessions to convince two other players, but once they were aware of his trick it was impossible to miss. They waited for the perfect moment - a huge pot, multiple witnesses, and Lehman's characteristic early surrender. When they called for a card count, Lehman's indignation was Oscar-worthy. But numbers don't lie, and fifty-one cards tell a very specific story. The missing seven of diamonds might as well have been a smoking gun, and an involuntary search of Lehman’s pockets revealed all the evidence they would need to convict.

The aftermath was predictably brutal. A black eye for Lehman - both literally and figuratively - and a lasting stain on the club's reputation. Once word got out, other club members wondered how many of his post-round visits to their card rooms had unknowingly hosted his fifty-one card performance.

These days, the card room feels different. Nobody wins too much anymore. Before each game, there's a ritual that would've seemed paranoid a year ago - a full card count, documented and witnessed. Some say it's excessive, but as Duvall likes to remind everyone, "In gin, like in acting, the most important parts of any performance are the details you don't see."

So remember dear readers: sometimes the best hedge against losing isn't playing the odds - it's counting the cards. All of them.

Poll Question

Last Week's Poll Result

If you received a $20,000 tip from a questionable source what would you do?

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Donate it to a charity so it can go to a good use (4)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Report it to the IRS and pay taxes on it (1)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Pocket that cash and keep your mouth shut (19)

Well, among those that took the time to vote (thank you!) it looks like we have four saints, one liar and 19 folks that are the same as us!

The unbelievable true story of a golf addict whose disease progressed far beyond anything you can imagine! Get ready for another CCC two-part story that is sure to have Netflix calling to make the movie - but only after we get them to license our Cocaine Caddie story in development for a series!

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