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[attr="id","cerberuscol"]THUC "ANTHONY" NGUYEN

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[attr="id","cerberuscol"]one pair

when people talk about winning a game of poker, no one talks about one pairs.[break][break]

by definition, it's a poker hand that contains two cards of the same rank and three cards of other ranks—kickers. so, that's a pair of jacks, a pair of tens, a pair of threes. it doesn't have to be the same color or the same suit. each pair is ranked first by the rank of its pair, then by the rank of its highest kicker. [break][break]

so, a pair of aces and a ten would be considered fairly high value as far as this hand goes, and a pair of threes with a five as its highest kicker would be nothing special. what's more, if in a game that two, identical one pair hands that differ by suit alone are valued the same. nothing distinguishes one pairs much from two pairs, the next highest hand. it's not talked about a lot, or played a lot. [break][break]

most would rather forfeit their turn than admit it. [break][break]

a mediocre hand, and a perfectly mediocre pair of jokers: you and your brother.[break][break]

where others might have the same rank or suit but different colors to differentiate them, you're one of two in a deck of 52. there's plenty of jokers from other decks that you've heard belly-aching about it, worrying about this and that about not knowing who they are by themselves or being considered replaceable for the other one. you've never cared about things like that. [break][break]

you've never thought of yourself as replaceable, or that it would've been better if the two of you were separate. being mistaken for the same person is not the travesty people make it out to be. being similar is even less. where you didn't match, you matched in other ways: if he was black, then you were red.[break][break]

the two of you operated in tandem and were better for it. better than the low ranks, you'd argue, who can't do much on their own. there are no numbers, no classes to determine your worth and there is something wonderfully infinite about it. you'd be dealt in a hand, and your brother the same. players would fold in the face of you, and there is nothing wrong with being removed from the game either. at least neither of you were alone. [break][break]

and though there was nothing special about either of you individually, you knew the value of a one pair. it was even better when you won.[break][break]

tricky things, jokers, and people delight in wildcards like you. so, you don't expect to be thrown into a real game, where the money is real and stakes are higher than you've ever known them to be. [break][break]

you don't expect that they want you to play as high cards instead. [break][break]

you don't expect that you'd be a good one either under the direction of the right king. but, even if he isn't here, you're still one of two in a deck of 52. it doesn't matter how much bigger that deck gets. you're still one of two in two decks of 104. 156. 208. you're still one pair. someone shuffles the hand, deals the cards. there are 311,875,200 ways to deal a deck and 2,598,960 distinct hands. [break][break]

you're in for a royal flush. [break][break]

your brother isn't so lucky. [break][break]

he—isn't the same when he comes back. you don't know how and don't know why. he doesn't tell you. it doesn't matter, probably. the face is still the same. the back is too. he is your mirror image.[break][break]

you're still one of two in a deck of 52. you're still one pair. [break][break]

( he was always a high card; you were the only one who didn't notice. )