The other girl's story

All in

Once you understand your opponent in a game of gambling, you have already won. In this case, it seems simple. He is using some sort of a trick so that the shots won't fire on him or that it won't be his turn when they do. It might be about the dealer. Or would that be too obvious? I am being given a dice. "The amount of bullets you load." The man in front of me explains. The dice doesn't feel heavy. It's unlikely to be prepared. I roll it. The number showing upward is two. The dealer loads two bullets. "It's your choice to give the gun to someone. They will either shoot themselves or you." I give it to Elias. Not because I want him to do something cunning but because I am curious as to whether he would try to impress me. He points the gun at me. As expected. He doesn't feel the need to impress anyone. He pulls the trigger once, and nothing happens. The audience gasps for air. "You're quite lucky." My opponent comments. No. This was not luck. Elias seemed almost bored when he had me at gunpoint. Has he figured it out yet? Next was this man number five. "Wait a minute. Can I roll the gun, please?" I ask. I almost hear the silver haired's smirk behind me. My opponent gives me the gun, and I roll it. He takes it, holds it onto his head, and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens again. The man didn't flinch either. If he was intimidated by Elias, that means he would just as much be afraid of a gun, right? But the trick was not because of the dealer, it seems. If this goes on, I might actually lose. It's not the gun either. But the bullets are definitely being loaded... that is right. It's the bullets! He is using dummy bullets that don't fire. Since he is the first challenger here, they are using his equipment as well. I take the dice again and roll it. Before I reveal the result, I lock my eyes with my opponent. "I'm happy I get to gamble like this again, you know." He gives me that whatever look. "Why are you so annoyed with me? I even checked earlier with all of the equipment you prepared. Unfortunately, I accidentally broke a couple of your bullets, so I decided to replace the last set you prepared with some of my bodyguards. I'm sorry about that. But I promise they are even better than your old ones. Those must be the bullets we're using for this round." I can see the color draining from his face. "What's wrong? If you don't feel good, then you need to drink more!" I keep provoking him with a daring smile as I reveal the dice. It's a four. No incident, either. "I guess I'll start now." This man obviously has never killed someone. It amuses me to see prey, trying so hard to be a predetor and still failing. I hold the loaded gun to my head, slowly stand up, and approach him. "You know why people like you will never win against me? It's very simple because..." I come closer to him. He backs away. "... You are sooooo boring." I pull the trigger. Twice. Everyone is dead silent, shocked while staring at me. "Sorry, I went overboard here. But it's not against the rules, so yeah... it's your turn now." I hand him the gun. His mouth is wide open. I can see the desperation in his eyes. I hear a loud laughter behind me. It's the silver haired man. "What's wrong number five? I heard many rumors about you being unbeatable in Russian roulette. You can't be that much of an imposter, right?" His facial expression shows pure evil. It makes my heart skip a beat. In a good way. I turn back to face the guy, who holds the gun to his head with a shaking hand but then suddenly turns the direction and pulls the trigger at me. I would be dead now if I was telling the truth. "You really believed my little bluff? You lost, idiot." I step back. The man realizes it but already startles as Elias grabs his arm and pulls him up. "You dare point a gun at what is mine?" He sounds threatening now. He then breaks the guy's arm with a single move and repeats it on the other side. "Next time, there are fewer witnesses. It'll be your neck." He says as the screaming guy gets dragged out of the casino. He then pulls me closer to him, whispering in my ear: "You made me enjoy this very much. Good girl." I back away slowly. "I was hoping to play against you." I admit. He takes my hand and leads me back to the chair. "In that case, you should challenge me officially." I  understand. He wants an audience. "The poisonous gang leader, Elias Smeya. I challenge you to a game of poker. Limited Texas holdem." He takes place in the chair in front of me. "I accept your challenge, Rose Helion." Many more people gather now in order to see our match. Elias tells the dealer something, and he immediately gets both of us chips worth 10k dollars. That's right. Limited Texas holdem is not about who has more money. It's about eliminating your opponents. Everyone starts with the same amount. "There is one more rule I'd like to ad. The blinds are the same during every round. The minimum is 2k." Elias nods. "As you wish... also, we should have something to bet on, right? What do you want?" I think about it for a moment. I don't need anything from him... I simply thought he would be a fun opponent. "Then I'll get to keep the 20k." A little chuckle from him. "With me around, you won't have to worry about money anyway. Alright then. If I win, you'll spend the night with me. Is that fair?" Sounds like a win-win to me. No one loses anything in this game. Fine, the real thing that is at stake is our pride. "Lady's first." The dealer gives each of us two cards. I look at mine. The Queen of diamonds and the Jack of hearts. In a vacuum, this is not bad. Both of us check on the first round. The next three cards have nothing to do with mine. The best hand I could hope for now is 3 of a kind, which is too rare. The second best would be two pairs, which is just as rare, and then, of course, one pair. However, the first three cards have an Ace among them. The odds of Elias having an Ace would be 3/47. The same goes for him having a king, which would be a win for him via high card. He could also have another pair for the first three cards already. The probability of me winning this is too low. If he raises, I'll fold. And that is exactly what happens. He raises the bet to 5k. I fold. "Not as lucky as you were earlier?" He grins while showing me his hand. No... he bluffed? How did I not see through this? His cards are even worse than mine. Why would he take the risk? If I only had one very small pair, it would already be my win. Or did he do that in order to test me? He managed to surprise me. That's for sure. The dealer gives out the next hand. It's a straight. Elias checks until the last card is open. That's when I raise to 5k. Not surprised about that, but he actually calls. A famous strategy is to make your enemy think you're bluffing when you're actually not. I win. However he doesn't even show his hand and already gives me the chips as if he let me win. "Why aren't you playing seriously? You should have folded if you knew my hand was good." He just winks at me. I can't figure him out. I have 15k now and he has 5k. We get our new hands. "All in." What? The dealer didn't even show the cards on the table yet. He doesn't seem to have manipulated the game either. I was the challenger after all. He couldn't have predicted that. "Call." I say and show my cards. Two pairs lose to three of a kind. Now we have 10k to 10k again. He really is teasing me. "I like how you're desperately trying to see through my playing style sweetheart. Do you want to know a secret? I look at the audience behind you when I am playing. I can tell you're a pro at playing poker because you keep a straight face but that's not the case for those NPC's. Whenever you have a mid hand. A good hand. Or a bad one. It shows on their faces." I see. That's how he managed to see through my hands. That must also be the reason why he wanted an audience. Since they are neutral it's not against the rules having them behind me. Then let's do it different. I smile slightly. "I understand. Thank you for telling me. Now I don't have to hold back anymore. I can gamble for real now." He raises an eyebrow as the dealer gives us our new hands. I don't even look at mine as I push my chips into the middle. "All in."