Theo did another elaborate shuffle, but this time he didn't bother sliding an ace into his sleeve. With so many beads left in his pile, he figured he'd go ahead and play this one straight. If he lost, it'd encourage his marks to stick around, and then he could start cheating more heavily. Of course, it would also be nice if he won, but he'd leave that up to lady luck.
"Cut it for me?" he said, holding the deck out to Milo. If he was going to play fairly, he might as well go all the way -- he wouldn't want Milo to question why he'd stopped letting them cut the deck now.
Of course, Theo still had an advantage: he couldn't exactly remove the marks he'd placed on the backs of the cards, so he'd have a pretty good idea of what hands the others held. But a little advantage never hurt anyone (except, you know, for the many times someone had gotten wind of Theo's ploy and kicked his ass over it).
can't say good morning without lying twice
