Diamonds Aren't Forever. RP3 For DaF

[Bobby Barratt]

The scene opens in a smoky Casino. The kind you see shot in black and white in a Mafia film. A light grey haze fills the air and a rather attractive female Dealer sits between Two men who are going heads up in what seems to be the closing stages of a back alley game. Bobby's voice is heard narrating the game as they play.

Bobby: You know they say Poker is rarely about luck. That once you get the read on your opponent, that you can play them like a fiddle and wrap them around your little finger until you have taken everything they have. The cards being random are just a subplot in the game if you know how to play mind games. 

The men both post blinds and the Dealer starts to shuffle up the cards.

Bobby: Sometimes the cards on the table are almost secondary to getting in the head of your opponent and bending them to your will. Toying with them, calling their bluffs while leading them on with your own. When you break it all down, it's all quite the dance, right?

The dealer throws out two cards to each player. They do their best not to show what they are looking at so as not to give away what their strategy is with this hand.

Bobby: See that? The guy with the cap just flicked the slightest grin from the right side of his mouth. He's packing a decent hand this game. The other guy doesn't seem to have a tell, but if he's worked out the other player, he's got a good indicator of where this could go. For instance Jack Diamond broke ground on the new Diamond Lounge this week. I never thought of him as the kind to get his hands dirty, but it came down to it and the cameras were around, so he had to look the part picking up the first shovel, right? That to me is the sign of a guy that knows his Goose is cooked in this game and he's looking for a way out now.

Both big blinds are now posted. The Dealer puts one card aside before turning up three more cards: The 10 of Spades, the 3 of Diamonds and the King of Spades.

Bobby: The flop. Think of it like the opening stage of the match. You're locking up with the other guy and it's the first point of the match you see what the other guy is bringing to the table with regards to power, agility and pure wrestling ability. You don't know what cards are in his pocket, just like you don't know what they might do outside of the rules. That's an educated guess at best.

The men shuffle a few chips into the middle of the table. Their stares barely moving off one another. Each man trying to pick up the slightest hint of what their opponent might be holding. The Dealer sees that all bets have been called before discarding another card and flipping one more. The 10 of Hearts. One of the players coughs slightly as he adjusts his baseball cap.

Bobby: Another tell. He's on something there. I think the other guy was just oblivious to it. Mug. It's like late on in the match. You're hit your opponent with everything you have Baseball cap guy just let the other guy know that he might have one more in the tank. He telegraphed his move and the other guy totally missed it. That's the difference between winning and losing.

The guy with the cap places a bet of a thousand dollars. Not enough to rouse too much suspicion, but enough to make people pay attention to what's going on at this point. The other guy's eyes dart across the cards, trying to work out what the guy in the cap might have in his hand. He looks down at his cards one more time before shoving the entirety of his stack in. The Dealer totals up what was just pushed in and it totals $11,240. The other guy just smiles and nods his head to agree to wager that amount. His chip stack is more than enough to cover the bet.

Bobby: Big move there, but I feel like the first guy to push all in was baited so hard there. He missed the signal that could have stopped him going foolish and saved him a big hit. Imagine standing there at the end of the match. A guy called for his finishing move and you missed it because you were too interested in the blonde in the front row. That's the difference and that's why the psychology between Wrestling and Poker is so similar. The smallest gesture is the difference between a win and defeat. 

*The Dealer verifies the bet and takes the correct amount from cap guy's pile. There's over Twenty Thousand Dollars on the table... All based on the flip of the last card....The 7 of Clubs. Cap guy smiles to himself as he flips over the Ten of Clubs and the Ten of Diamonds. 

Dealer: Four of a kind. Tens.

The other guy thumps the table and storms out of the room. Slamming the door behind him. The Dealer flips his cards over in his absence, showing the Jack and Queen of Spades.

Dealer: Royal Flush draw. Spades. 

Cap guy happily drags all of the chips across to his side of the table, pushing a small stack amounting to around 500 dollars to the Dealer as a tip.

Bobby: See? The guy was on nothing the whole time and missed multiple opportunities to cut his losses. He bet so hard thinking that cap guy would back out, he never stopped to think "what if he's got something here?" In fact I could have told him all along that betting on the Ace of Spades was a bad idea!

---

FUCK MONGO!

FUCK MONGO!

FUCK MONGO!

FUCK MONGO!

FUCK MONGO!

We open scene again and Bobby is off the side of the stage playing those two words back over and over from Jack's promo outside the new Lounge. The smile on his face shows he's probably enjoying that being said more than he enjoyed watching the whole festivities from his Office window. The scene cuts to the front of stage as "Motherfucker of the Year" plays over the PA as Bobby is announced onto the stage for the final stop of the Diamonds are Forever PR tour. Jack was too tied up with the Lounge ground breaking to do all of this, but like any Icon, when the cameras are rolling, it's showtime!

Bobby: So here we are, Minnesota. Just a few days removed from the biggest card the XHF will host this year. Fuck the Rumble, Fuck End of Days, they're all old news. The buzz and the hype generated for Diamonds are Forever was unprecedented. The tickets sold out quicker than we ever expected and on Sunday night, tens of thousands of people will cram into the XHF Arena to see the final fight. The last time Bobby Barratt and Jack Diamond will go one on one in a ring. My final shot EVER at the ICW Championship and Jack's last ever shot at cementing his legacy. Supported by potentially the best undercard you can make up, consisting of some of the best athletes across the XHF Network as well as JFK having his opportunity to join the elite ranks of the Icons! There's no way a Wrestling fan would refuse to watch this show!

Reporter: Mr Barratt, if I may, we noticed that you've been called out a lot by one Anthony Caffrey. Thoughts?

Bobby: You know what? I knew he was calling me out and the absence of a reply is a reply in itself. Caffrey can run his mouth all he wants, but until he comes at me directly, his calls will go unanswered, I have bigger fish to fry.

Reporter: Time and time again, you have said that you have no comment on what Jack has promised if he loses this Sunday. Are you really prepared to put your best friend out of a job?

Bobby: You know what? I've travelled the country over and over again promoting this show and I'm fucking sick and tired of hearing "what if Jack retires?". Is that all that matters to some of you people? The same people that called him washed up and second fiddle the minute he lost THIS X-Crown for the second time! All of a sudden they realise one of the most decorated stable the XHF has seen in recent years is about to disappear over the hill and they forget about everything! The fact is this... I'm not FORCING Jack to do anything. I didn't tell him he needed to put his career on the line and I sure as shit won't feel guilty should I beat him this weekend! He's a grown ass man and he made his choice! In fact if anyone should be the guy to put Jack into retirement, why SHOULDN'T it be me? His greatest rival, the guy who made him more money in ticket sales by beating the Hell out of him week after week? The guy that flew out to North Carolina at my own expense to get his signature when the Icons descended on the AWF. If anyone is the marking stick at which Jack should measure himself to see whether he still has it...It's me! I'm the guy that knows Jack better than anyone, I'm the guy that will expose the weaknesses that age brings. If he doesn't still have what it takes to compete at the top level of this sport, it's ME that's going to show the world! 

The place has fallen silent, they're hanging on every word Bobby says at this point.

Bobby: I know Jack. He's a proud as fuck guy and when he says he doesn't belong here unless he can beat the best, he means it! He told me time and time again that the minute he felt the performance drop, he'd walk away from the game entirely. He made no secret that money wasn't an issue for him and he was doing this because he loved it, but he also made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't settle for a pay day in the mid card. Jack's a gambler... It's all or nothing for him.... And if it takes the "Old Yeller" approach of marching him out back and putting him out of that misery himself by way of one more whooping to finally lay my hands on the one prize that's eluded me for my ENTIRE....FUCKING....CAREER...Then I'll be that guy. I'll be the guy that takes one of the best athletes even on his worst day and forces his hand, calls his bluff and watches him walk away from the game. I'll be the guy that takes that burden on his shoulders and carries that shit around for the rest of my days. Even when it's game day and we are cracking open a few beers come Jack and Dakota's wedding, I'll still be the guy that carries it in my mind that I'm the reason he can't do what he loves anymore... And I'll wear that like a badge of fucking HONOUR! You know what? If the shoe was on the other foot, he'd do exactly the same for me! Because we're Icons and that's how we roll...And as we roll on towards this Sunday, I'll give you one more sound clip! Jack...It's been a Hell of a run, buddy...But Diamonds AREN'T Forever...And neither are you!

Bobby's theme music hits one more time before we go live this Sunday as the crowd stand and applaud the effort that these guys have gone through to put on this show before they even step foot in the ring this Sunday.