Chương 65: Stud

The sounds of conversation, like the clinking of wine, seeped into the room through the agate glass windows.

Under the dim light, Lin Shuxuan stared intently at the cards in his hand.

The rules of the game are not complicated and are very similar to Texas Hold'em in the previous life.

Each player receives two hole cards, then places bets and waits for the dealer to deal three community cards to decide whether to raise or check. Once someone raises, subsequent players must place the same amount of chips to remain in the game.

If you don't call, you lose immediately. The game continues until the dealer reveals all five community cards and compares their hands with the players'. The winner takes all the chips.

Stroking the gold coin in my hand, the clinking of the precious metal coin feels comfortable.

One gold coin is exchanged for 100 credits, which are used as chips on the gambling table and are also the smallest betting unit.

On this gambling table, every action costs 100 credits.

Lin Shuxuan felt a slight ache in his teeth.

Eight of the twenty gold coins were gone, of course, those were Luo Jiuge's eight chips; his own credit points were still intact for the time being.

Tang Hao was a skilled gambler. Although the two had their wins and losses, after several rounds, Tang Hao's chips were dwindling.

As the dealer, Tang Qian, revealed the last card on the table, a new round of betting began.

Tang Hao's face was pale from the injury to his heart, but also flushed with excitement.

He looked at the cards, a smile of excitement creeping onto his lips, and tossed fifteen gold coins from the mountain of chips piled up in front of him.

Fifteen coins, I can't keep up... Lin Shuxuan stared at the gold coins that had rolled to the center of the table.

According to the rules, he must bet the same amount of gold coins, otherwise he will lose and forfeit the chips he previously placed.

If the quantity is less than fifteen, then all must be bet.

Tang Hao is trying to force him to give up.

In this kind of game, having less capital means less room for maneuver. He only had twenty gold coins in total. If Tang Hao threw out a few chips, he would have to go all in, and the initiative was firmly in the hands of his opponent.

Should he raise the bet...? Lin Shuxuan hesitated. Tang Hao was obviously very confident that his hand was stronger than his. The key was that if he wanted to continue playing, he would have to go all in.

Luo Jiuge's ten chips were lost, but those ten 1000 credits were hard-earned.

You should know that in today's competition, a fist-sized ore was only worth 500 points, and that stone, weighing more than ten kilograms, was painstakingly carried out by Hai Lanlan on the back of her backpack.

Thinking about how hard Hai Lanlan had worked, could I really just throw all these credits at the gambling table like that...? Lin Shuxuan went all in.

The two revealed the cards.

Tang Hao wins.

He pocketed Lin Shuxuan's fifteen gold coins.

"Your card skills are quite good, Lin Shuxuan. This kind of profit comes much more easily than from a competition."

Lin Shuxuan's heart ached terribly, but he showed no sign of it on his face, and said with a smile:

"Not at all, compared to the three sets of power armor that someone sent, it's nothing."

Tang Hao stopped laughing, and tightened his grip slightly, then quickly stopped, worried about crushing the gold coins; those three powered armors were expensive, and even for him, losing one would be painful.

Not to mention three!

"How's it going? Want to keep playing?"

Tang Qian patted Lin Shuxuan's shoulder lightly, took a wine glass filled with ice, and poured in scarlet wine.

"You should have tried the red wine from Hening City."

Lin Shuxuan hesitated for a moment. A month had passed since the start of the semester, and his fixed monthly salary had already been paid.

The bet with Qin Feng brought him 2000 credits, plus 14000 credits from the mecha competition championship, 2000 credits from Luo Jiuli, and a total of three weekly competitions including today's competition; plus his previous balance of 5655 credits.

His total assets have reached over 3 points; he even has three sets of power armor listed on the trading house that he hasn't sold.

With the competition's entry requirements and rewards constantly increasing, accumulating enough credits within the remaining month should make it a certainty for one to climb the leaderboard.

Moreover, he could first accept the path of the deep cave and then win the martial arts competition. He didn't believe that Zhou Tianyuan could defeat him so easily based on his understanding of Dragon Fist.

The reason someone can be overthrown by someone of lower rank is simply because their cultivation level is not high enough.

Besides, he's still licking Luo Jiuli's boots, and the rich girl can easily give him some pocket money.

In short, there is no point in him entering the game to gamble now.

As long as he participates in the competition step by step, he can enter the deathmatch base in the most perfect form; if he wins that competition and plunders its resources, he can immediately achieve financial freedom.

Then, by using the acquired resources to build up their own armed forces, they can immediately stand on the same starting line as the most outstanding descendants of the nine clans of the Federation and compete for the Federation's nine stars.

Ten gold coins are only worth 1000 credits, which is painful but not a big deal.

However, Lin Shuxuan did not forget his purpose for tonight; he was not here to give away money.

"Tang, please help me exchange all this money for chips."

Tang Qian smiled and came closer. When he squinted, he would cover all the pupils in his eyes, making him look like a handsome, normal person.

He saw Lin Shuxuan's bank account balance, a strange look flashed across his face, and then he burst into laughter:

"Well done, Lin! I knew I wasn't wrong about you! You've got guts!"

Everyone's expression changed, wondering how much Lin Shuxuan had bet to elicit such a reaction from Tang Qian.

Before long, a mountain of chips piled up in front of Lin Shuxuan, like a golden ocean.

Has Lin Shuxuan gone mad...? This thought flashed through everyone's minds at the same time, and they were deeply shocked by his ability to amass wealth.

It's important to understand that he didn't have any family or criminal organization behind him; he earned this money entirely through his own abilities.

They are practically the pinnacle of the Federation's trainees, having swept first place in all the competitions that have already taken place.

Luo Jiuli's expression was strange. A large portion of the gold coins piled up in front of Lin Shuxuan were taken from her. She recalled the Dragon Head Mech from back then, which had almost forbidden power.

Fortunately, the mechs have been banned on Battle. net, otherwise she would never have been able to surpass them in her lifetime. As for now, it's not that she has no chance.

The thought that Tang Hao would soon win the money filled her with regret.

Lacking the ability of a merchant to force a sound into a line, she could only walk to Lin Shuxuan's side and whisper in his ear:

"Are you crazy? You think you can spend money won in a competition like this? Give it back right now! You've only played a few rounds; you can't beat them!"

Girls always talk about penises all the time... Lin Shuxuan didn't reply, but just waved her hand to indicate that she refused.

Luo Jiuge, standing to the side, watched her younger sister whispering to her enemy, Lin, and her anger flared up.

However, looking at the mountain of chips in front of Lin Shuxuan, a sense of pleasure flashed through his heart; such a large sum of money would put considerable pressure on him even if he were to gamble.

As a novice, Lin Shuxuan was naturally even more incompetent!

He couldn't wait to see Lin Shuxuan's disgraceful state of losing everything!

Any girl would undoubtedly be very disappointed in such a powerless and miserable loser gambler.

Luo Jiuge recalled the helpless and painful feeling of losing all her chips at the gambling table, her eyes revealing a pain she couldn't bear to remember. But when she thought that Lin Shuxuan would also face such humiliation, her mind started to stir again.

Blindfolded, the ethereal Shang Yuandao also advised, using his Daoist abilities to force sound into a line:

"Give this money back. Tang Hao's gambling skills are far superior to yours. You will lose everything."

Seeing Lin Shuxuan playing with the gold coins, acting like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, he helplessly said to Tang Qian:

"Tang Qian, don't forget our bet. I made a point of coming here, so why did I put this kid ahead of me in line?"

Faced with questions from younger business associates, Tang Qian still answered with a smile:

"Since the two of them want to have this match, how can I, as the host, refuse?"

At this point, his smile faded, and he opened his eyes, his multiple pupils rolling across his eyeballs:

"Or are you trying to use your surname to intimidate others? I absolutely disagree."

Fine black lightning flashed, illusions abounded in the room, and demons and monsters seemed to be stirring in the shadows.

He put his hand on Lin Shuxuan's shoulder:

"Don't worry, bro, with me as your guarantor, absolutely no one in the room will dare to renege on their bill!"

This is a warning to me... Lin Shuxuan sensed the illusion flowing around him. Tang Qian's strength was far greater than Tang Hao's, as could be seen from the three black hearts on the other's chest.

This show of force began the moment Tang Qian entered the room. The reason he wasn't wearing a shirt wasn't because of an exhibitionist fetish, but to flaunt his strength.

The words spoken openly sound nice, saying that no one would dare to renege on the debt, but that's just to prevent him from getting desperate and resorting to desperate measures.

Tang Qian sat back down, squinted, and watched the two "duel" quietly.

Tang Jiadao's ability is related to his eyes; he can easily perceive the emotions of others from their eyes.

This ability is like a cheat code at the poker table, especially in poker games where it's a battle of wills between the two sides.

When you get a good hand, you're bound to be confident; when you get a bad hand, your eyes will inevitably dart around.

Unless one is an extremely skilled gambler, absolutely no one can win a game of cards from the Tang family, and Lin Shuxuan is clearly not one of them.

The only exception is the merchants.

The path they walk allows them to see a glimpse of the future, which is true cheating, yet completely unpredictable.

That's why nowadays, only the younger generation of merchants will participate in card games. To gamble with them, even Tang Qian himself has to be able to calculate everything perfectly.

Their gaze returned to the card table.

There is no doubt that Tang Hao was able to win all 30, 000 credits from Lin Shuxuan.

Naturally, this money belongs to Tang Hao, nominally.

He was severely injured today, and it would be unwise for him to participate in the deathmatch base a month from now. Perhaps he could allow the family to allocate resources more reasonably... Tang Qian had many thoughts in his mind, but he didn't show them on his face.

The black-faced playing cards are dealt to the two players on the field.

Lin Shuxuan VS Tang Hao.

300 pieces VS 150 pieces.

On the other side, Tang Hao, who should have been making sarcastic remarks, was unusually quiet, perhaps worried that his sarcasm would cause Lin Shuxuan to withdraw halfway, thus preventing him from getting this lucrative prize.

Lin Shuxuan showed no awareness of risking his entire fortune or life. Under Luo Jiuli's fiery gaze, he leisurely looked at the cards. Since he had already decided to enter the game, he naturally needed to have more chips to have more initiative.

Gambling techniques are not mysterious; the side with more capital naturally has a greater chance of winning.

He recalled playing Dou Dizhu (a card game) in his previous life, where he received 6000 free beans every day, but the maximum he could win was only 6000. On the contrary, losing would lead to bankruptcy.

If you were to fight a wealthy man who possessed 200, 000 beans, you would inevitably lose them all within a few rounds.

After all, the odds of winning or losing are 50/50, and they can afford the risk, so they'll win it back later.

Having decided to enter the game, he simply went all in, betting all his savings to increase his chances of winning.

A 6 and a 2 – an undeniably terrible hand.

The points are too low to form a straight.

He and Tang Hao each put in a gold coin as part of the pot, and the community cards were now revealed.

With three '5's, if Tang Hao has two cards, one of which is greater than 6, then he is almost certain to lose.

But Lin Shuxuan didn't rush to fold. This kind of poker game is all about psychological warfare. If you get a bad hand and immediately fold, your opponent will see through you after a few rounds.

Even if you get a good hand, your opponent won't follow suit.

Lin Shuxuan tossed in three gold coins, indicating that he was raising his bet.

Amidst the clattering and tumbling sounds, Tang Hao smiled and tossed in five gold coins.

Damn it... Lin Shuxuan felt helpless for not being able to bluff his opponent. His hand was terrible, and raising the bet would only drive the pot too high, making it an unwise choice.

He chose to fold, and Tang Hao won four gold coins.

296 pieces VS 154 pieces.

It's another round of cards.

Lin Shuxuan's hole cards were two 'K's, which were undoubtedly high-ranking cards with a very high point value, and he also had a pair.

Looking at the three community cards, there is also a King.

Aside from a straight, his hand was almost the highest possible, and looking at the other two community cards, a '3' and a '10', it was clearly difficult to make a straight.

"The advantage is mine..." Lin Shuxuan thought to himself with amusement, but he didn't show it on his face. Just like before, he casually tossed out four gold coins.

I fold.

Tang Hao spread his hands and placed the cards face down on the table.

Lin Shuxuan took away the chips from the pot, just one gold coin.

297 pieces VS 153 pieces.

Damn it... Lin Shuxuan cursed inwardly. The previous twenty gold coins offered too little room for maneuver, and Tang Hao's slight price increase forced him to go all in.

But even with ample capital, the opponent still maintains a firm grip on the game's pace.

When you get a high-value hand, your opponent seems to be able to read your mind and quickly folds.

There must be something wrong here... Lin Shuxuan pondered, but he was here tonight to shatter Tang Hao's Dao heart, so there was no reason for him to back down.

He turned the cards face down and drank:

"Again!"

At the head of the table, Tang Qian glanced at Tang Hao silently as a warning.

The game had only just begun when he was already eager to put pressure on Lin Shuxuan, completely unaware of how to play the game!

With just a few chips, he exposed his gambling skills. Lin Shuxuan, on the other hand, still had nearly three hundred gold coins. Didn't he know to let him win first to lower his guard?

Fortunately, Lin Shuxuan was so stubborn as to be almost brainless that he didn't suspect anything, otherwise he would never have let his own fool off the hook.

Three hundred chips, which translates to a full 30, 000 credits, are more than enough to purchase weapon components, resulting in an exaggerated boost to combat power.

Tang Hao was also sweating profusely. He had been suppressed by Lin Shuxuan all along and was now eager to get back at Lin Shuxuan.

After being reminded by a look, he stopped feeding Lin Shuxuan cards.

The betting proceeded slowly under these circumstances.

Even with wins and losses, Lin Shuxuan's chips have gradually decreased.