"Leonard Speaking"
' NZT Leonard Thinking'
The tension was thick in the room. A large table stood with piles of cash sitting in the middle. Six people sat at a poker table, holding cards in their hands. Larry Gustav, a fat guy from Germany, wiped the sweat off his brow while looking at his cards. On his right, Louis Navarro, a thin man with a thick dark beard sharply glanced at the other participants. The pool had grown massively over the past hour and everyone at the table had contributed to it. A slightly older gentleman, Jonathan Mallick, calmly looked at his opponents, however, his main focus was on a slightly short, spectacled man observing everyone with piercing eyes.
'My name is Leonard Hofstadter. Currently, I am embroiled in a high stakes poker game. The game is a private one, but the prize has reached a whopping four million dollars. And to think a week ago, I could not even imagine this much money in one place. If you are wondering how I got to this position, we have to go back to the past, when I had just found out about the Pill'
A Week Ago
Leonard drove late into the night, reaching Las Vegas, Nevada in record time. While stopping at a filling station, his eyes started to get blurry. Taking out his glasses, he realized that the effect of the Pill was diminishing. Looking at the watch, he counted that the Pill would last about 18 hours per pill. While his brain was still sharp, the enhancement was no longer there. It still gave him a day of enhancement for every Pill he took. He had managed his finances yesterday. After taking out the costs, he had about $70,000 to make it big in Vegas. But all of that will come tomorrow.
Luckily for him, he had booked a small Airbnb apartment for the next two weeks. Driving to a small diner, he had a modest dinner before crashing at his place for the night.
Leonard's POV
' How does one go from 1 to 1000 in the shortest amount of time?'
Leonard walked into the bookstore. His eyes scanned all the sections with deliberate swiftness. Moving from fantasy and self-help, his eyes lingered in the finance section for a moment.
' If you ask a layman where he can earn his first million, he will say something like the stock market. A myth perpetuated by success stories like Warren Buffet. In truth, the only way to earn big using the stock market was if you had a big starting capital'
Leonard shook his head, as if lamenting the stupidity of some people. Walking further, he stood face to face with the mathematics section. His hand caressed the spines of thick volumes of algebra, differential functions before stopping at a small section about advanced probability. Pulling two volumes dealing with advanced probability and an even thicker book written by some professor on Chaos Theory
' Most people do not believe in fortune telling, but it is the closest thing to magic that can be found in basic science. We tell fortunes all the time with every roll of a die, with every flip of a coin, every drawn card. Every prediction that deals with variables is a disguised form of fortune telling.'
His gaze unconsciously turned towards the finance section again. Tearing his gaze from thick tomes of economy, he kept walking.
' It is also the reason why the stock market is hard to predict. There are too many variables. There are over 180 countries in the world. You never know how a small problem with a negligibly small country can cause shocks in every other; to predict anything in the stock market with any degree of certainty, you will have to study the culture, the geography, the economy, relations and a plethora of other things about every country out there. Even then, there can be sudden surprises. So it's a pipe dream to earn big on the stock market without large capital and market manipulation involved.'
' Since the stock market is out, what else do we have? In the U.S.A, we have the lottery. Another activity that shows the poor a dream of wealth and riches, before ruthlessly crushing it under the weight of Probability. There are millions who buy lottery tickets but only a select few can have the prize. Predicting the possibility of a lottery is more likely than the stock market. But it will require extensive survey and data, which I don't possess. So, the lottery will not bring in your first million.
Finally, he came across a small section of books dedicated to card games, board games and gambling.
' It's surprising why the section about gambling is shorter than the section about mathematics in Vegas of all places.'
Leonard reached out and pulled several books related to Poker, Blackjack, Roulette and other casino games.
' Gambling is probably the easiest of them all. Gambling is the oldest wealth transfer mechanism we know. Four types of players—the fortunate polite, unfortunate polite, fortunate arrogant, unfortunate arrogant. Predictable pools. Predictable outcomes. Here, probability has edges. And with the Pill, edges turn into inevitabilities. If something can give me a starting capital, it is gambling.'
For the next day, Leonard studied the books on gambling. He understood the rules and regulations within minutes, but he decided to study the mathematical application of probability to gambling. The outcomes for games like Blackjack were surprisingly easy to calculate. Poker on the other hand depended not just on probability, but also on psychology. He had to go back to the bookstore again for books on psychology. Still, he had confidence in his gambling skills now. But, he decided to give another day for actual observation.
The next day, Leonard visited 13 major casinos on the Las Vegas strip. His cash remained firmly in his pocket, but his eyes roamed everywhere. Every game sang with possibilities to his Pill-fueled mind. He approached a Roulette table first.
' Roulette, a game of chance. Something beyond the scope of simple probability. The only way to constantly win this game is with a rigged wheel. However, there is another way.'
Leonard watched as the dealer called for bets. His mind quickly supplied the details.
' A standard roulette wheel. The roll track is about 28 inches in diameter, about 88 inches of circumference. '
At roulette, the wheel blurred red and black. The ball spun, rattled, slowed. To most: chaos. To him: equations. Diameter, circumference, velocity, deceleration.
'Seventeen black.'
Slowly, the wheel stopped and the dealer announced the result.
"17 Black."
Normally, an impatient man would start betting now, but Leonard Hofstadter is a scientist, not a gambler. He had read about the Chaos Theory, so he knew, systems can have unmeasured variables, in other words chaos. Like any good scientist, Leonard patiently observed every roulette wheel, predicting outcomes, compiling results, measuring probability. Until he had a working model in his mind that could help him predict the outcome at least 80 percent of the time, he would not place a single chip.
Leonard did the same for every game he observed. He created predictive outcomes in his mind, studied the players in Poker games, counted cards in Blackjack. Even tried to measure the chance of slot machines, all while appearing like a tourist on his first trip to Vegas. Today was preparation, tomorrow, there will be battles.
While observing people, he also observed the casino staff. Every win for the people ticked them, every streak made them clench their jaws. He even saw how they communicated with each other. A hidden movement here, a subtle glance there. It created a web that ensnared the gamblers; like helpless flies in a spider web.
By the end of the night, he had a working model for his three best earners; the Roulette, Blackjack and Poker. He could predict the outcome of the Roulette about 87 percent of the time, Blackjack was as simple as playing tic-tac-toe with a three year old. Poker gave him a slight pause; it was both a game of luck and psychology. It was like being a detective. What he observed at the amateurs table depended too much on luck. They had obvious tells, fidgety hands and lame bluffs. But on the professional table, he saw a masterclass on emotional management. I could still spot their tell, but the tells themselves were minuscule. It took actual observation to glean information they unconsciously projected. Although he did not see a game at the zenith of Poker; he could guess how high that zenith was.
With his research done, he shifted his focus from understanding the game, to understanding the people. Casinos in Las Vegas are part of an ecosystem; where everyone knows everyone else. Most people are faceless gamblers, but the few that truly enter their circle are people with money or people with skill. But no matter what kind of person visits a casino, the one person they talk to almost certainly, is the bartender.
Leonard walked over to the bar, motioning for the bartender. A young man with wide green eyes and brown hair approached Leonard.
"What would you like t'have Sir?"
Leonard ordered a gin and tonic. While waiting for the drink, he observed the bartenders working.
'Hmmm, the one who served me is never at the job, probably in training. He listens to the blond one, possibly his mentor. However, both are deferential to the black haired one. He is probably the most experienced. If I need information, he is the one. But such people do not have loose lips. I need an interview.'
The young bartender handed Leonard his glass. Leonard pretended to be awkward, giving the impression of a tourist. The bartender smiled, "First time in Vegas?"
Leonard nodded his head. The bartender continued, "We get a lot of tourists every year. Most come for the casinos."
Leonard interrupted, "You must have met a lot of people. I don't usually get to meet new people."
The bartender raised an eyebrow, "Really! What do you do?"
Leonard sipped his cocktail before answering, "I am a physicist. I work at Caltech."
The bartender's eyes lit up, "Ah, you must be here for the conference."
Leonard asked in curiosity "The conference?"
The bartender was shocked, "You don't know! There is a conference happening in two weeks at the Venetian. It's not exclusive, so many scientists have come to the city to attend it. I assumed you were here for that."
'A conference, huh. Sounds interesting. Considering the fact that they have set up a conference here, instead of any famous university, tells me that it is supposed to attract attention. Since it has a ticket instead of an invite gives the clue that it is about money, or funding opportunities. But, many scientists have travelled to join it. There would be famous or important scientific figures in the conference. A very interesting opportunity indeed.'
Leonard smiled, "I did not know before, but I will certainly join now. Still…"
Leonard grilled the bartender for about an hour. Sometimes, the other bartenders would chime in. By the end, he had a thorough understanding of the environment of casinos.
'So, the best games are private, held in invite-only tournaments between famous card sharks and billionaires. Not only is the prize large, but it has no restrictions. But, getting invited to one will be a nightmare. It will require finetuning the strategy and careful social engineering. But it is still doable.'
Leonard thanked the bartender, gave a generous tip for his time and left in contemplation.
For the next ten days, a legend was created in Las Vegas. A short, spectacled man ran through thirty casinos. For the first few casinos, he bet solely on Roulette.
The wheel spun, red and black blurring into a hypnotic circle, the ball rattling like a white comet chasing its orbit. To anyone else it was chaos; to him it was vectors and velocity, gravity and friction. He tracked the ball's slowing rhythm, traced the wheel's rotation, and saw the future before it arrived. Casually, he tossed a small stack of chips onto a neat wedge of six numbers. The ball danced, stuttered, and fell exactly where he knew it would.
The dealer's eyebrows twitched. He smiled politely, as though surprised at his own luck, and pressed his next bet larger, then larger still. Each spin obeyed the equations in his head. By the time he stood, he was a hundred thousand richer, and to the crowd, just another man kissed by chance.
Once he lost about 10k on Roulette, he switched to Blackjack. A game where chaos could only be attributed to cheating and math ruled the table. The cards slid from the shoe, but to him they floated in slow motion, each face an equation. He tracked not just values but patterns of shuffle, the rhythm of the dealer's hands, the fatigue in her movements. When others doubled down blindly, he folded without hesitation; when the deck ripened with ten-cards, he slid forward a thick stack as if it were an afterthought.
The pit boss circled twice, eyes narrowing, but his play looked too natural, too fluid to pin down. Sometimes he lost a hand deliberately, gritting his teeth and feigning frustration, only to claw it back threefold when the odds tilted his way.
Finally, he left the game of math to the casino chess game called Poker. The poker room smelled of ambition. It was the game where casino heavyweights were made. Players hunched behind sunglasses and half-smiles, every move a bluff within a bluff. But to him, such bluffs were amateurish at their best, completely transparent at their worst. A pulse leaping in a man's throat, the micro-pause before a bet, the faint clench of a jaw—each signal screamed louder than words.
He folded early hands, memorizing patterns, until his inner voice whispered certainty. In a showdown, he recited silently what each man held: a pair, a straight draw, nothing but air. The table revealed exactly what he had known all along, and a shiver passed through the group. They began to sweat, their poker faces crumbling under the weight of his calm. When he bluffed, they folded. When he held monsters, he dragged mountains of chips into his corner. They called him a machine, but even that word felt too small. Machines could be predicted. He could not.
After ten days of constant play and about a million dollars in winnings after tax, Leonard received something that he waited for 10 long days, the invite to a private game. The person who delivered the invitation told him about the game. It was a joint venture between some of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. A game where the winner could receive millions of dollars after tax. And that was the game that landed him in his current situation.
Now
Leonard looked at his opponents at the poker table. Some of the biggest card sharks to grace Las Vegas. He was probably the only person who came to their table so quickly. In a large waiting room at the side, many wealthy people looked at the screen that showed them the match. The event was not only spectated, but also betted on.
Leonard did not care about any of that. His Pill-enhanced brain quickly found all their weaknesses.
' John's eyes flit between me and Louis—he's measuring. Larry's sweating too much, dead weight. Louis is twitchy, already cornered. John thinks I'm bluffing. Good. Let him believe it. It's time to show some tension, or he will get that something is amiss.'
Leonard quickly showed some tension with slightly shifty eyes. Pretty soon, the tension got to the players at the table. Some folded quickly. Larry held on for half a minute more before folding. Leonard knew that his competition was with John. Louis did not win the last round. He had fewer chips than Leonard. Either he would fold, or go all in.
'I'll have to kick out Louis somehow. I need to make him tense. Once he folds, I would be free to face John. By deliberate effort, I managed to receive slightly higher chips than John. Once Louis folds, John will be more confident. Considering the fact that he looked at both Louis and I, he does not have the highest cards. Since my hand is good, I can get him to fold. This is the last hand. Once this ends, the winner is decided. Based on my calculations, I stand to earn 13 million when it is all over. Okay, let's start.'
The rest of the game ended quickly, Leonard played the hand masterfully, calling Louis until he folded and ran down John. By the end of the night, Leonard was 13 million dollars richer. Without lingering, he booked a taxi and arrived at the conference.
He knew that he was late. He quickly paid the taxi fare and entered the hall with his pre-booked ticket. As he took his seat he looked at the stage. The announcer had just announced.
"Now, let's welcome Dr. Paige Swanson, Lead Researcher, Quantum Foundations Division at CERN. She shares with us the future of Quantum Physics and its implications."
Leonard leaned forward, pulse quickening. His Pill was quantum-born. To sit here, hearing from one of CERN's rising lights—it was fate painted in neon.
Paige Swanson walked onstage. Blonde, poised, her stride purposeful. The crowd drank in her beauty. Leonard saw something else.
Her eyes. Grey, sharp, alive with thought. Not just beauty, but power. Intellect. A mind dangerous enough to challenge him. He had never thought it possible. But in that instant, Leonard knew one thing: whatever else the Pill brought him, he wanted Paige Swanson at his side.
AN: This is the first step to the main arc of the story. Stay tuned
AN2: Thank you for the love and support for the work
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