How would you handle gambling between PCs?

Hey there.

I am starting in a new game as a Maestro D', Saffron owner and hostess of the 7-11 Jacktown's finest gambling establishment.

So naturally this has the players wondering how we should handle gambling among PCs if it comes up as a plot point.  The house game is pretty much craps so we figure we could just play a quick game if it became important. 

It was PC vs PC over a game of cards or something where skill was involved that we were not sure how to handle.  I was thinking that read a sitch/read a person might work for a bluffing game.  Not sure.  Anyone out there come up with rules for this?

I'd call that a charged situation, sure. With the craps game, you could just play it out, which could be fun. With cards, I'd elid the actual cards:

"It's Dremmer (PC), Blue, Shit-head and Mason (PC), playing for a 3-gallon jug of clean water. The water sits in the middle of the table, beads of oily grey condensation starting to drip on the outside. Mason, you and Dremmer need to win this bad. Your hand's a bit on the low side. Blue's mouth is twitching ever so slightly. What do you do?"

And from there, it's a read a sitch on the game, read a person on the other players, maybe an open your brain and see if you can see the other player's cards, maybe even and act under fire to bluff convincingly.

If it's actually PC v PC, try this:
"It's down to Dremmer and Mason, playing for a 3-gallon jug of clean water. The water sits in the middle of the table, beads of oily grey condensation starting to drip on the outside. Mason, you need to win this bad. Blue's mouth is twitching ever so slightly. What do you do?"

Same options as above.

Thank you.  All of those possibilities had been floated by the players in the game so it is reassuring to see you write the same. 

The MC has offered to let me make a custom move, When you gamble at the 7-11... but I am thinking that would less fun than just letting this stuff play out.

If you make it your custom move, that doesn't mean you always have to use it, right? So you could gauge when the action needs the intense moment-to-moment of the craps game, the solid momentum of the basic moves, or the finesse of whatever custom move you make. Personally, I'd go for something like:

When someone gambles in my establishment, roll +cool. On a 10+, pick two. On a 7-9, pick one.
-You win
-Someone notices
-Win or lose, it's not enough
-You look good doing it
-You lose
-You catch someone's 'tell'
-Now you owe someone

Well here's the one I had in mind:

When you gamble at the 7-11, roll +sharp or +Hx with Saffron.  On a 10+, choose 3.  On a 7-9, choose 2.
• you win something valuable
• you don’t lose something important
• you don’t piss anyone off
• you become Comp-for-a-day

Yeah, that would work too. It's weighted more towards people winning more often. but it's legit.

Well that's the trick isn't it?  If you make it weighted towards losing, which of course is how casinos usually work, then the prize for winning has to be pretty tempting or no one will try.  I wasn't sure how to work that.

In your version, the negatives on the list do not make sense to me since I don't see why any PC would pick them.  Is there an unwritten, on a 6- the MC picks two that should be there?

Oo, I like that idea of the MC picking two on a miss!

And while I get you about the incentive for trying being good odds, I was more looking at ways it would be interesting even if I lost. Of course, if I roll 10+, I'm *probably* not going to lose, but maybe I'd rather Look good doing it and Catch someone's tell. There are lots of reasons I can think of where I'd want Someone to notice, win or lose.

I agree that an interesting loss is better than a generic loss but unless there something to force the pick of a loss option I suspect they'll just sit there.  And I want those things to be picked because I rather like your list.

Part of me wants to make a good things list and a bad things list and make 10+ 2 good, 7-9 one good, one bad, and 6- two bad.

Or make two lists of 5 or 6 things, and it's 10+ = two from column A, one from column B, 7-9 = one from each, and on a miss, it's two from B, one from A. That way if you miss, you can still win the pot, but it's got people on notice and now you owe someone. Hmm. I might like your break-down better.