Danganronpa: Boiling Point

Chapter 8: Texas Hold'em Tourney!

I woke up to Monorakun's 7am announcement, and strangely, the first thing that went through my head is that I now had 295 Monocoins, thanks to the 100 Monocoin allowance given to us each day. I was not particularly hungry, so I only grabbed some orange juice for breakfast before heading to the Game Room.

I decided to play some Roulette, and managed to get myself up to 550 Monocoins after about 3 hours of playing with Mahiru and Korekiyo. Korekiyo discussed the history of Roulette, and the games it was based off of in the past. In truth, Mahiru found it more interesting than I did, but I listened out of respect. Eventually, Mahiru left with Hiyoko, leaving me with Korekiyo. Surprisingly, Korekiyo did not really say much, preferring to observe the game.

Figuring everyone would have at least 400 Monocoins if they did not spend or bet anything, I figured that would be a safe amount for now. I returned to my room until the Poker Tournament, studying on the different burial rituals throughout the ages and checking the medicine cabinet for supplies.

I made my way to the Game Room at 4:45pm, meeting up with the others. Seated from left to right, as I stood before the table, was Kyoko, Korekiyo, Ryoma, an empty space (presumably mine), and Gundham. Rantaro sat at the Dealer's Seat, a deck of cards in hand.

Rantaro spoke up. "Good, everyone's here. To keep it fair for everyone, everyone has at least 400 Monocoins, correct?"

We all agreed that we had at least that amount.

Rantaro nodded. "Good. That will be the buy-in for this game. Here are the rules: Winner of this tournament gets Nekomaru as a personal assistant all day tomorrow, and he will fulfill any reasonable request you make of him. As for the game itself, there will be a Small Blind of 10 Monocoins, and a Large Blind of 20 Monocoins. You can Check, Bet, or Fold. Is everyone familiar with those terms?"

Everyone nodded yes.

Rantaro continued. "Good, because it was Nekomaru's idea in the first place. Now, you can leave, with your remaining Monocoins, any time you want. However, you will not win this tournament if you do, and you will be out. Now, is everyone ready?"

We all nodded yes again, to which Rantaro had us put our E-Handbooks on our Kiosks to get the Poker controls to show up.

Rantaro dealt a single card to everyone, saying the lowest card would be the Big Blind, and would therefore have to bet the minimum before even looking at their cards for the first game. We all flipped our cards, and poor Korekiyo flipped over a two, guaranteeing him the Big Blind.

"The mysterious masked man has earned the disfavor of the card gods, I see..." Gundham commented, to which Korekiyo merely snickered.

"It is not always a disadvantage to start off this way, Gundham. Perhaps I can demonstrate this to you."

Rantaro handed the Big Blind token to Korekiyo, and the Small Blind to Ryoma, instructing that each token must be handed to the person on their left at the end of each hand, and then dealt the cards. A display in front of Rantaro showed everyone's chip total, as well as how much was in the pot.

(Author's Note: For the sake of simplicity, C means Clubs, D means Diamonds, H means Hearts, and S means Spades).

Kyoko called. Gundham took one glance at his cards, grimaced as if in pain, and folded. I looked at my two cards. Jack/3, offsuit. Pass. I folded as well. Ryoma called, and Korekiyo, having already bet with his Big Blind, checked.

Rantaro burned off the top card, then displayed the next 3 cards (the "Flop"). Two 10s and a 9. Kyoko and Ryoma checked. Korekiyo bet 50. Kyoko considered her cards, then folded. Ryoma considered his cards, then called