Three Of A Kind

    Toby was a 2-handed poker extraordinaire – extraordinary in that two of his hands were on the same arm. He had experienced some resistance to that, of course, in the early years, but soon it became a wonder to behold, just to watch him deal. He had plenty of chutzpah for the game, which made him a natural “shoo-in” anytime two players needed another pair to pick up a game. Toby would play two different “hands” at the same time. If things got real desperate, he'd play two games in his two-handed left arm and another game in his one-handed right arm. Toby was gifted in this way, but fortunately, just dumb and forgetful enough to only be able to remember one set of cards he was looking at, at a time; so there was no chance of cheating. And, then again, there was the fact he'd never won a game in his life. But he was a good, and even, decent enough player to keep games going for awhile. And it was always a big laugh to hear someone ask Toby if he'd like to play a hand of poker, and hear him answer in his somewhat shy, genteel way: “Hey, I could even play a hand or two, pal.”