Chapter 51: “God of Gambling” Dwayne

Chapter 51: “God of Gambling” Dwayne

The core rules of Texas hold ’em were very simple: using one’s two hole cards and the five community cards, one selected any five to form a hand. Whoever had the higher hand won. The community cards were dealt in three rounds: three cards in the first round, one in the second, and one in the third. In each round, players could bet, call, or raise until no one raised further, or until only one person remained without folding.

Klein toyed with the chips in his hand and divined that, among the next few hands, there would be a relatively lucky moment for him. However, he could not see which hand it would be. After all, this was only a simple and rapid divination. Its effects were not that good.

Using this method against ordinary people or low-sequence Beyonders should not be a problem as long as he found the right strategy. But it definitely would not work against demigods. Even winning against mid-sequence Beyonders would be rather difficult… Am I supposed to close my eyes and rest, then perform a full “dream divination” before every single hand? Heh. If I do that, perhaps Dwayne Dantès will earn the nickname “Sleeping God of Gambling”… Klein sighed inwardly and continued his previous style of looking at his cards, then folding—so far, in the two hands that had reached his turn, he had lost a small blind and a big blind respectively, meaning half a base bet and one base bet. The base bet in this card game was one pound.

At that moment, Klein noticed something: Qonas Kilgor, the Deputy Director of MI9, had lost twenty pounds to Admiral Amyrius in this hand.

The Bribe succeeded… Admiral Amyrius should be able to tell that Qonas used the power of a Baron of Corruption, but he may not know that this Deputy Director of MI9 is a demigod… The next hand, heh, will definitely be fun… Klein’s spirits lifted. After the attendant delivered two new hole cards before him, he did not even lift one corner to confirm the cards’ faces. Instead, he directly placed the metal chip he had been playing with on top of them, presenting the stance of someone who would call to the end without looking.

After two people folded in a row, the solemn, old-fashioned Amyrius Rieveldt glanced casually at his hole cards, counted out five pounds’ worth of chips, and tossed them to the center of the table. Unsurprisingly, he raised.

Another person folded. Member of Parliament Macht called the five-pound bet. Immediately afterward, the hardboiled Qonas Kilgor raised again, throwing out chips totaling twenty pounds.

Colonel Calvin once again confirmed his own hole cards and called.

After the remaining person folded, Dwayne Dantès did not count too carefully. He grabbed a handful of chips and threw them out.

“Twenty pounds. Call,” the attendant responsible for counting chips said accurately with only one glance.

“I thought that was fifty pounds. It seems I’m still not familiar with this kind of chip.” Dwayne Dantès, whose temples were graying and whose bearing was outstanding, laughed at himself.

However, he did not actually make up the remaining thirty pounds.

At that point, everyone had already declared their choices, and it once again came to Amyrius Rieveldt.

Without even glancing at the remaining players, the admiral picked up five chips worth ten pounds each and tossed them out.

“Raise again.”

He showed not the slightest emotional fluctuation. He might as well have been saying, “Bring me a cup of black tea.” Yet his indescribable authority, combined with his consecutive raises before even one community card had been revealed, made the entire card table’s atmosphere rather frozen.

This kind of situation often meant Admiral Amyrius’s hole cards were excellent—either a pair of aces, a pair of kings, or an ace and a king.

Member of Parliament Macht decided to fold. Qonas Kilgor stroked the high bridge of his nose. His deep-blue, nearly black eyes looked left and right, and he said,

“Call.”

Colonel Calvin checked his hole cards again. After hesitating for about ten seconds, he chose to fold.

Dwayne Dantès touched the metal chip pressing down on his two hole cards. A smile appeared on his face.

“Call.”

After this round of declarations, only three players remained in the game. Then, the attendant responsible for dealing delivered three community cards in succession to the center of the table and turned them face up:

“Two of spades. Nine of hearts. King of spades.”

The first to bet was Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt. He leaned forward slightly and, in a posture carrying tremendous pressure, said,

“Fifty pounds.”

He directly raised the bet to fifty pounds!

Even Member of Parliament Macht, Colonel Calvin, and the others who were no longer participating in the hand felt inexplicably suffocated at that moment.

“…” Qonas Kilgor’s body trembled slightly, but in the end, he still grabbed fifty pounds’ worth of chips and threw them out.

Dwayne Dantès glanced at the Deputy Director of MI9 and smiled as if he felt no pressure whatsoever.

“Call.”

Hearing that, Colonel Calvin turned his head and nodded toward Dwayne Dantès, whose blue eyes were deep like a lake at night, indicating approval.

In his view, Admiral Amyrius’s pressure would have no effect on someone whose purpose was to lose money.

At this point, the attendant in the red waistcoat dealt the fourth community card:

“Nine of spades.”

Three spades had appeared on the board, suddenly increasing the probability of a flush. Yet Admiral Amyrius still did not hesitate in the slightest. He calmly pushed out a stack of chips.

“One hundred pounds.”

Qonas Kilgor tapped his fingers against his hole cards several times, appearing not particularly confident. But ultimately, he still chose to call.

Dwayne Dantès looked at this major general and deputy director again. Maintaining a gentle smile, he said,

“Call.”

Even now, he had yet to look at his hole cards. This made Colonel Calvin slightly worried. He felt that such a performance was truly overdone. It was simply the posture of someone directly giving money away, and the relatively conservative Admiral Amyrius might not necessarily accept it.

At this moment, the attendant in the red waistcoat dealt the fifth community card:

“Two of clubs.”

With that, the full board took shape:

Two of spades, nine of hearts, king of spades, nine of spades, two of clubs.

“Two hundred pounds.” Admiral Amyrius pushed over a pile of metal chips with a clatter, his momentum astonishing.

Qonas Kilgor first took a deep breath, then pushed out two stacks of chips.

“Five hundred pounds.”

This amount was already equivalent to half a year of his official salary.

Trying to bluff? Colonel Calvin and Member of Parliament Macht looked at each other, both feeling that Major General Kilgor’s performance was a little too obvious and easy to see through.

One had to know that playing Texas hold ’em not only required bankroll management and probability calculation. Much of the time, it also involved psychological games. Whether body language, facial expressions, attitude, or betting style, all of them could reveal a person’s hole cards.

Of course, powerful players could also use such details to deliberately mislead their opponents.

Dwayne Dantès looked Qonas Kilgor up and down several times, then suddenly laughed. After that, just as before, he said,

“Call.”

Admiral Amyrius raised both hands, preparing to push out all his remaining chips and overwhelm the others with his momentum.

Just then, his movements suddenly came to a halt. A hint of solemnity appeared on his expressionless face.

After several seconds of silence, he calmly said,

“Call.”

At this point, it was time to reveal the hole cards and compare hands.

Admiral Amyrius was the first to turn over his cards: the ace of spades and the ten of spades. Together with the two of spades, king of spades, and nine of spades among the community cards, they formed a flush. This was already a rather large hand, beaten only by a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, or a royal flush.

“Your turn.” Amyrius then urged Qonas.

Qonas first flipped over one card. It was the king of diamonds, forming two pair with the board: kings and nines.

Immediately afterward, he picked up his second hole card. At that moment, the remaining deck beside the red-waistcoated attendant seemed to blur for an instant.

Pa!

That hole card was slapped onto the table, revealing its face:

“Nine of clubs!”

“What?” Member of Parliament Macht and the others cried out in astonishment, somewhat unable to believe their eyes.

This meant Qonas Kilgor had formed a full house: three nines and a pair of kings!

That beat a flush!

“Sorry. Full house.” Qonas looked toward Admiral Amyrius and said with a smile.

Then he turned to Dwayne Dantès.

“You can reveal your cards now.”

“I am also very curious what cards they will be.” Dwayne Dantès smiled faintly, picked up the metal chip pressing down on the cards before him, and very casually turned over the two hole cards, throwing them out.

“Eh…”

“What?”

…

Colonel Calvin and the others rubbed their eyes one after another.

Dwayne Dantès’s hole cards were a very small pair:

Two of hearts and two of diamonds.

And among the community cards, there happened to be a very small pair as well:

Two of spades and two of clubs.

Together, they formed four of a kind—the smallest four of a kind, but still larger than any full house!

“Praise the Goddess!” Dwayne Dantès revealed a pleasantly surprised look as he drew a crimson moon over his chest, presenting himself as though even he had not expected this outcome.

“A splendid hand.” Admiral Amyrius froze briefly, then clapped lightly.

Qonas Kilgor stared deeply at Dwayne Dantès, then sighed and smiled.

“I never expected the final winner would be you.”

Klein returned the smile and muttered inwardly:

It is only proper that I won against you. On one hand, Admiral Amyrius merely likes using momentum to apply pressure and did not truly rely on Beyonder powers to cheat, while you placed your attention and Beyonder powers on him and overlooked me. On the other hand, the person playing cards with you is actually Winner Enuni.

Not looking at the hole cards, of course, meant relying entirely on luck!

At the moment he had pressed the metal chip onto his hole cards, Klein had already swapped positions with Winner Enuni, and the two had transformed into each other’s appearance!

Although Colonel Calvin had previously told him to deliberately lose the one thousand pounds’ worth of chips, after seeing Qonas Kilgor, Klein decided he had to win a sum.

This was not because he was reluctant to part with the money. His main purpose was to draw the attention of that MI9 demigod and use the opportunity to become familiar with him and establish a connection!

Only this way would Klein have a chance to obtain intelligence from Qonas Kilgor, or even complete an attack. After all, this was a demigod. If Klein wanted to deal with him in Backlund, he had to be sufficiently cautious and careful. Without confidence of ending things in a single strike, or without being able to lure him out of Backlund, it would be better to give up the operation. Otherwise, he would definitely expose his intentions and suffer the spectacle of being surrounded by many demigods—or even angels—in Backlund.

From then until the end, Klein both won and lost. In the end, not only did he preserve the initial one thousand pounds’ worth of chips, he also won nearly another thousand pounds. Throughout this process, Colonel Calvin repeatedly signaled Dwayne Dantès to lose money, but Dwayne brushed it aside each time by claiming his luck was too good, and that no matter how he played, he could not lose.

When the card game dispersed, the first person to walk smilingly toward Dwayne Dantès was none other than Major General Qonas Kilgor.