The Devil's Gambit

Performed by Eric Hurst, Jorjeana Marie & Kenn Delbridge
Written & Produced by Kenn Delbridge
Sound Design and Mix at SPLiCE Studios

Transcript

J: Hey Terry, we have a situation on table 8

T: Really? Our casino is hosting the World Poker Showdown for the first time, and an hour into play and there's a problem? Put Table 8 up on the big screen....

J: You know the TV crews installed sensitive microphones next to the pocket cams in the rail?

T: Yeah, when a player lifts their hole cards to see what they’ve got, viewers get a peek and the sound is very AMSR.

J: Yeah, viewers are loving it, but the microphones are also picking up a little sound from the player.

T: Most players don’t say much of anything.

J: Exactly, but on table 8, we’re picking up some weird noises.

T: Can you push up the mics?

FX Weird Backward Masking noises

T: What is that?

J: No idea. The microphones are working fine, the noises are coming from the woman in the all-white tux and the guy dressed like a vampire.

T: Oh, the two who look like they wandered in from a cosplay convention. What about the third player?

J: The mic on the third player isn’t picking up anything.

T: What’s the background on the 2 we can hear?

J: The woman in the white is Angel Bianco, heir of a wealthy European industrialist. She lives in Monaco. The man in black is Luc Deville, out of Baton Rouge. Oil & gas tycoon.

T: The third player?

J: Koji Toyoda, Start-up guy from California. He’s playing to raise funding for his company, but I don’t think he's working with them.

T: Those two players got some nerve trying to rip us off during a televised poker tournament.

J: Here’s the weird thing. They’re not winning.

T: Really?
J: They’re losing. Every single hand.

FX Weird Backward Masking noises

T: Hang on, JJ. Let me get this straight - they’re losing.

J: Every hand they’ve played so far, they’ve lost. Their play has been so bad, it’s like they’re deliberately losing to the frat boy.

T: They’re tanking on purpose? Who’s the pit boss?

J: Charlie Bobo. He messaged to say that on some hands, they don’t even look at their hole cards and fold right after the flop is dealt.

FX Weird Backward Masking noises

T: You know what that sounds like? Back in the 80s, there was that Satanic Panic over backward messages in rock songs. Your surveillance system grabs audio *and* video?

J: Yes, continuous ingest, I can do playback at anytime while the system keeps recording.

T: Can you play a sequence backwards?

J: Sure. It can do that.

T: We should have a listen to-

Walkie-Talkie ring

J: It’s Charlie. What’s up?

Garbled message

J: They’re going all-in?

T: But their hole cards are dogshit…

Garbled message

J: They’ve put 5 mil in the pot. They’re both going to get wiped out

Cheers

J: Holy shit. They’re out.

T: Something stinks here…

Walkie-Talkie sound

T: Charlie, it’s Terry, make sure they don't leave, we want to talk to them

J: Hang on, where’d they go?

T: Charlie, we lost them on the wide-angle, you got eyes on those two?

garbled message

T: Keep looking, Charlie. SHIT!

T: How do two players dressed like Ziggy Stardust and Bride of Dracula just melt into the crowd?

J: Hey, Terry, check out this snippet of the video feed. Right at the end, just before they folded, they looked at each other directly. Neither says a word. But the mics picked up something.

backward masking sound

T: Right there. Reverse That

Devil: Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop? (Laughs)