Hobby and I were having lunch at the Marina Deli. It was one of those grey coastal days when the temperature hung in the low sixties and the dampness made it feel cooler.
"I should have worn a jacket," I said as I shuddered.
"I'll tell you something to warm you up. I'm having an additional 500-gallon tank installed on Lazybuns to make certain I never run out of fuel and to take advantage of the lower cost of diesel in Mexico. Pablo and my first mate, Mike, will supervise the installation. Can you sail with me to Ensenada next weekend? Maybe we can get our lady friends to join us. What do you think?"
"I'll go for sure, and I'll call Kim."
Both Kim and Hobby's girl, Sue, joined us for the Ensenada trip-which made the daytimes more fun and the evenings more ... well, satisfying. After leaving Lazybuns in the able hands of Mike and Pablo at the shipyard, we took a rental car and headed for Las Rosas Hotel, which is partway between the shipyard and Ensenada. The hotel's a little seedy, but convenient. That evening we went to the French restaurant Del Rey Sol in the downtown area for a marvelous seafood dinner. Good food, good company, with a musical background of piano playing and singing-just like a scene from Casablanca. What could be better than that?
It sure is nice to sleep in late when you have your honey with you. After brunch and a swim in the pool, the girls wanted to go shopping. We guys were not much interested in shopping, but when Sue said, with a sharp edge to her voice, "You don't have to come; we can take a taxi." I knew we'd better get off our duffs.
"We can all go. We'll relax in a bar and you girls can shop 'til you drop."
"Good save," Hobby said to me quietly.
We found a trendy bar that has a great selection of Mexican beers and wines. We were enjoying a dark lager called Feliz Diablo when someone called, "Hobby, Joe, I'm glad I found you. Marge and I ran into Sue and Kim down the street."
"Hey, Chip, nice to see you," Hobby responded. "Have a seat and try this beer. What brings you here?"
"We sailed down from San Diego to do some shopping. Wait 'til I show you what I've got," he said as he took several black objects from a bag.
"Going into the cell phone business?" I asked.
"Nope; the hand-held poker business. I call it i-Poker. Take a look."
"What's the big deal?" Hobby said. "I've seen little poker games before."
"Sure you have, but the big deal is that these are interactive. There's a leather shop here that's making cases for me. Let's play and then you can tell me what you think."
We all held one of the gadgets as Chip explained. "First press 'new' and enter your name and password on the screen. Now, press 'Bank.' Do you want to play for real dough?"
"Sure, we answered."
"$100?"
"OK."
"Just enter 100. The game, for now while we're testing, is only no-limit Texas hold 'em; later we'll expand the software for other poker games. Hobby, press the button with the big 'D,' you'll be the first dealer. Joe, in the corner of your screen can you see 'BB?"
"Yeah. Big blind, right?"
"Yes, and mine shows SB, small blind. The dealer selects the betting level. There's $25-$50, $5-$100, $1-$2, and $5-$10. Let's do $1-$2, so hit the '$1-$2' button. OK? Now just hit 'Deal,' Hobby." Suddenly, on my screen, I saw my hole cards, a ten and queen of diamonds. Cool. "Hobby, on your screen you should see your hole cards and a flashing yellow star; that means it's your turn. You can hit the 'Fold,' 'Check,' 'Call' or 'Bet Raise' buttons. If you bet or raise, enter the amount."
Hobby touched his device and immediately I saw "No. 1 Call $1," then "No. 2 Call." The yellow star was now flashing on my screen. I pressed, "Check."
"Notice on the bottom of the screen is your bank balance. It should show $99," Chip said.
"Yes," Hobby answered, and now my screen says, 'deal,' so I'm hitting the 'Deal' button again. Look, there's the flop, a 2 of clubs, 6 of hearts, and ten of spades."
"That's what I see, too." I reported. Chip checked, I bet $2 and they both called.
"Dealing the turn," Hobby announced; the Jack of clubs appeared. We all checked and Hobby brought up the river card, a deuce of spades. Chip bet $1, I raised it to $4 and they both folded. My balance was now $107.
"That's it," Chip said.
"What do you think?"
"I think it's great," I said.
"Yeah," said Hobby, let's play again.
We had played almost two hours by the time the girls found us. My bank showed '$153.' "So, Chip, what do we do to finish?" I asked, since the girls wanted our attention.
"Just push 'Cash.'" I did-the screen showed, 'Receive $53.'
"Mine says, 'Pay No. 3 $35' and 'Pay No. 2 $46,'" Hobby announced.
"And I have to pay No. 3 $18, which should settle all the accounting," Chip said.
"Girls," Hobby spoke loudly to get everyone's attention. "We've been playing Chip's i-Poker game, which is fantastic! Chip, you should make millions on this, not that you need it, but it's so much fun. I really admire you for coming up with it. Here's to Chip and i-Poker," Hobby toasted as we all raised our glasses.
"So what's next for i-Poker," I asked Chip.
"We're just starting the beta-testing which will go for another month. Meanwhile the software guys are working out the bugs and developing the other games. The manufacturing is ready to roll in Malaysia as soon as we freeze the design."
"That's great Chip, congratulations. Do you need any investors?" Hobby asked.
"Possibly, and I'm wondering if Joe could work up an ad campaign."
"I'd love to," I said without hesitation.
Write to author David Valley at: dvalley1@san.rr.com
