Luck Be A Lady: A Poker Boy story

By Dean Wesley Smith

A Poker Boy story. Laverne, Lady Luck herself is missing. Poker Boy, Front Desk Girl, and Screamer are on the case as well as every other Gambling God and hero in the gambling universe. The three of them have the power to get to the truth of what happened to Laverne and save the world from unraveling. But without luck, they may not have the time.

“Luck be a Lady” was first publised in Intelligent Design anthology edited by Denise Little from Daw Books.

Bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith is the author of over ninety novels and hundreds of short stories. Not only has he written for Pocket Book in the Star Trek universe, but did the only two original Men in Black novels for Bantam Books. He has been an editor and a publisher and is currently writing thrillers under another name.

The Poker Boy full novel called The Slots of Saturn will be out later in 2011 in both electronic and trade editions.

If you liked “Luck Be A Lady,” you might also like these other Poker Boy stories:

Fighting the Fuzzy-Wuzzy
The Old Girlfriend of Doom
Sighed the Snake
Nonexistent No More
Dead Even
Pink Shoes
Daddy is an Undertaker

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Jul 11, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452397313

Dean Wesley Smith

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published far more than a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. At the moment he produces novels in several major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, a superhero series starring Poker Boy, and a mystery series featuring the retired detectives of the Cold Poker Gang. His monthly magazine, Smith’s Monthly, which consists of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and offers readers more than 70,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month. During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, he wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown. Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing, where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as series editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. For more information about Dean’s books and ongoing projects, please visit his website at www.deanwesleysmith.com and sign up for his newsletter.

Book preview

Luck Be A Lady

A Poker Boy Story

Dean Wesley Smith

Luck Be A Lady

Copyright © 2012 by Dean Wesley Smith

Published by WMG Publishing

Cover Design copyright © 2012 WMG Publishing

Cover art copyright Cornelius20/Dreamstime

Smashwords Edition

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Chapter One

One night, while playing in a great, no-limit game, I was asked if I believed in luck. I said, Sure, I’ve met her. That got a laugh and the subject changed.

Now understand that professional poker players like me tend to really downplay the factor of luck in our sport, using the great old saying, It will all even out.

I have to admit that I agree with that, even though I sometimes wonder why luck exists at all when a bad player hits a two-outer to beat me out of few hundred bucks. Particularly when I know I had the best hand going to the last card, and ninety-four-point-four percent of the time I will win that same hand. Correct as far as the math goes, but not very comforting as I watch the idiot player pull my money toward him.

Most people would say in those circumstances that I was unlucky and the idiot was lucky. I never looked at it that way. I just repeated, It will all even out, as if I didn’t really believe in luck.

I have to admit, I’ve hit my share of two-outers over the years against other players, but as Poker Boy, one of the only superheroes in the Poker World, I try not to get into hands where the only way I can win is hit one of two cards left in the deck that could win the hand for me. It is just too embarrassing.

So, do I actually believe in luck? Like I said, sure. I’ve met her. And I’m not kidding. And she scared hell out of me.

Her name is Laverne, and she runs everything. She’s the top Gambling God, the CEO of all gambling of all types, including risks in business, health, sports, and life in general. She’s the one woman in the world you would not want mad at you.

I met her right after the