Hustlers || Taekook

Chapter 3

As Jungkook had no idea how to play Texas Hold 'Em, Taehyung sat him down in a private room and gave him a quick crash course as they waited for Hoseok to grab some other players. Turned out Taehyung was pretty familiar with Hoseok and the other workers too. Jungkook wondered how he'd never played him since starting here. Jungkook wondered how he'd never even seen him in the casino before.

"Alright, so the objective is to make the best hand of five out of everyone playing, or, make everyone believe you have the best hand. You're dealt two cards at the start, and nobody else sees them unless there's what we call a showdown, at the end. After looking at them, you can check, bet or fold. You know about big blinds and small blinds?" Taehyung paused in his explanation to glance up at Jungkook to make sure he was following, and Jungkook gave a slight nod, as Taehyung picked up a pack of cards and shuffled them quickly, dealing two cards to both of them. Jungkook shook his head discreetly, to keep his attention from slipping and latching on to the assured, casual way Taehyung's fingers flicked the cards. Jungkook picked his cards up, glancing at them quickly to see the four of spades and the eight of diamonds. Were they good cards in this game? He set them down, having remembered both and glanced back up at Taehyung, waiting for him to continue. Taehyung had a little, reserved smile on, and his eyes were a little dark under the shadow of his fringe but he grinned wide as Jungkook met his eyes, eyes curving cutely. Jungkook blinked, wondering if he'd done something wrong. That'd be a bit sad, nothing had even happened yet.

"So, let's say everyone's checked, now the dealer lays cards out, face up, for everyone to see. Unless the game ends earlier, there will be five cards out in total. The players can use any or all of these five cards, with or without their own, to make the best hand they can. If they don't use either of their cards, and just use the five cards the dealer puts out, that's called playing the board. But that's stupid, because any other player who plays the board will have the same hand, and any other player who's not playing the board obviously has a better hand. But first, the dealer puts down three cards, after burning the top card of the remaining deck." Taehyung did so, laying out the jack of spades, the four of hearts and the five of diamonds. Again, Jungkook had no idea whether these were good or not, and looked up to Taehyung for an explanation, who took a glance at his cards and swept across some chips and placed two out.

"Let's say I'll bet two chips after seeing these three cards. As in Red Five you can bet however much you want, but other players have to match it before the game can continue. So you have to either match it or raise it. Or you can fold. You can fold anytime you like. What'll you do?" Taehyung looked up at him expectantly and Jungkook stared back evenly, chewing his lip a little. So, he had no idea what were the best cards and best hands, but he knew pairs were generally good in any form of poker. He pushed forward three chips without breaking eye contact and Taehyung smiled for no apparent reason, and dropped another chip in his pile to match Jungkook.

"Good, so you're getting it so far, Ace. And let's just check for the next two rounds to make this quicker. But the dealer puts out one card after the three, there's a betting round, then if more than one player is still playing, that is, they haven't folded, the last card is shown, and there's a last betting round. If there are two or more players still, there's a showdown, and starting from the blind, or who's next in the order, the players show their cards. If you see someone has a better hand than you and you know you've lost, you can choose to fold even then, and nobody has to see your cards or your playing style. But, sucks if you're the blind." Taehyung laid down the eight of hearts, and then the four of diamonds. Jungkook glanced at the two fours laid out and he gestured for Taehyung to show his hand, and Taehyung put down the five of clubs and the jack of hearts. Jungkook's eyes flicked up to gauge the thoughts held within Taehyung's deep brown orbs, trying to catch some sort of giveaway. If this was a good hand according to the rules, Jungkook wanted to be able to pick up on some sort of tell Taehyung might have.