Luck of the Draw
"I must say Ahsoka, I'm impressed." said Anakin, complimenting his padawan. "I wasn't expecting you to come up with a better strategy than Rex. Maybe Ciaran was wrong when she said the Jedi didn't have what it takes to be generals."
"It wasn't that impressive. It was fun to apply some of the stuff Thrawn's always talking about though. Knowing your enemy and all that." said Ahsoka, downplaying her achievement.
"That explains it. So you've been getting tips from your playmate, huh Snips?" teased Anakin.
"He is not my playmate." said Ahsoka, turning to face her master.
"Oh, so then what do you two do for hours on end?" asked Anakin, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"We practice the intricacies of military strategy." said Ahsoka. "And clearly, it's paid off."
"And how exactly do you practice the intricacies of military strategy?" asked Anakin, not willing to let her off so easily.
"We… play chess." admitted Ahsoka looking to the side so she wouldn't have to see Anakin's triumphant smile.
"I rest my case." he said, before continuing their walk through the Jedi Temple. "Have you even managed to beat him yet?"
"No. Thrawn is really good. I doubt you'd fare any better." said Ahsoka defensively.
"At chess? Probably not." admitted Anakin with a noncommittal shrug. "But that's the thing, someone will always be better than you at some things. So you just have to challenge them at something they're not great at."
"What are you getting at, Master?" asked Ahsoka.
"This Thrawn always beats you at chess, and he seems pretty good at strategy in general if what you've told me is any indication. So just try to beat him at something luck based, like cards." said Anakin simply, as if it were an obvious fact. "If you want, I could teach you some basic card games I picked up as a kid."
XXX
"Glad you could join me Ahsoka." said Thrawn as his partner entered the Abyss Watcher's recreational room. "Would you prefer white or black today?"
"Neither." said Ahsoka, placing the deck of cards Rex had loaned her on the table. "I want to play something different today. Something I can
win."
Thrawn looked at her for a very long second before shrugging and tilting his head in resignation. "Variety is the spice of life I suppose." he said, picking up the deck of cards and shuffling it faster than Ahsoka could track without even looking.
"You certainly seem to know you're way around a deck of cards." said Ahsoka, somewhat off put by the skill and grace with which Thrawn dealt them each five cards and placed the deck down.
"Games of skill are my preference, but I have been a military man the majority of my life. As such, I am no stranger to games of chance. Raise." Thrawn paused and looked around awkwardly for a second. "I don't see any chips. So am I right to assume that we're simply playing for fun and bragging rights?"
"Yeah. The Jedi Order doesn't exactly have a favorable outlook on gambling." admitted a sheepish Ahsoka.
"Considering their views on other topics, I can't say I'm surprised. Since there's no monetary incentive to folding then, let's call it a win if you correctly decide to fold with a lower hand. Regardless, I'll be sticking with this hand." said Thrawn.
"I'll trade out one card." said Ahsoka, discarding it and drawing from the top of the deck. "Last chance to back out." she told Thrawn.
"The term is folding, and I believe I'll still call." lectured Thrawn. He threw his cards down on the table, and Ahsoka followed suit. "Three of a kind, eights."
"Two pairs." muttered Ahsoka in defeat.
"Don't be discouraged, it's all luck of the draw." said Thrawn as he shuffled their cards back into the deck and dealt again. "I'll exchange two." he said, grinning confidently as he picked up his cards.
Ahsoka looked down at her own singular pair of fives. She exchanged the three cards that weren't anything, but still had her lone pair at the end of it. Thrawn didn't fold on his second chance either, still acting supremely content with his hand. He had been holding better cards than what she had now and not been this happy, which likely meant he had a downright phenomenal hand this time. "Fold." said Ahsoka, tossing down her pair of fives.
"Excellent." Thrawn set down his own hand, revealing absolutely nothing of value.
"Hey, you tricked me!" said an indignant Ahsoka.
"How so? It is likely more apt to say you tricked yourself." retorted Thrawn as the cards were shuffled and dealt once more.
Glowering, Ahsoka looked at her cards, then glanced up to see Thrawn just as happy with his cards as he'd been last time. More so actually, since he didn't even exchange any of his cards. Vowing not to fall for it again, Ahsoka swapped out her worthless cards and wound up with a full house composed of three twos and two threes.
"Are you sure you don't want to fold?" asked Thrawn, rubbing his repeated victories in.
"I'm positive." said Ahsoka through gritted teeth, resolute in her decision not to fall for his tricks again. Throwing down her full house, she watched in glee as Thrawn did the same. Only instead of a dud like she had expected, Ahsoka found herself looking at a full house of fives and tens.
"Higher values win. Very close though." said Thrawn as he began shuffling the deck once more.
"How are you so good at this?" asked an exasperated Ahsoka. "It's a game of chance! You don't get to be better!"
"Perhaps between two droids it would be a game of chance. But poker is as much a simulation of war as chess is. Perhaps even more so, given how rare it is for two forces to be equally matched." said Thrawn. "Psychological warfare is the sole weapon remaining to a commander disadvantaged in every other sense."
"I'm listening." said Ahsoka. Her mood was still less than excited following three losses in a game she had brought for the sole purpose of beating Thrawn at least once.
"All warfare is deception. I was skeptical when you brought a deck of cards, but it's become apparent you need a lesson in bluffing." joked Thrawn. "Whether you're trying to make me think you have a better hand than you do to make me fold or trying to make me think you have more troops than you do to make me hesitate in my attack, they're both useful skills. Oftentimes it's more valuable to outplay the leader instead of his army."
"Huh, so even this kind of stuff has a lesson on strategy for me." said Ahsoka, impressed by Thrawn's ability to squeeze a lesson out of anything.
"War permeates everything more or less. It's part of why my passion for art is so helpful in the field." said Thrawn. "Still, poker is a game impossible to win one hundred percent of the time, and I'm far less skilled at it than a game of pure strategy. Shall we continue?" By the end of the night, Thrawn still had a comfortable lead, but Ahsoka had won far more hands of poker than she had games of chess.
AN: So here's Ahsoka's introduction to psychological warfare. I swear I still have ideas other than "Thrawn and Ahsoka play games". They're just too fun to write.
