The core rule of Texas Hold 'em is simple: you take your two hole cards and the five community cards, pick any five out of them, and whoever has the bigger combination wins. The community cards come in three rounds — three in the first, one in the second, one in the third — and in each round you may bet, call, or raise, until no one raises again, or only one player has not folded.
Toying with the chips in his hand, Klein divined that he would have a relatively lucky moment among the next few hands, but he couldn't tell exactly which one — after all, this had only been a simple and quick divination, and its effect was not that great.
Playing this way against ordinary people and low-Sequence Beyonders was fine, as long as the strategy was sound; but against demigods it certainly wouldn't do — even winning against a mid-Sequence Beyonder was difficult... Was he supposed to close his eyes and do a full "dream divination" every single hand? Heh, in that case Dawn Dantès might end up with a nickname like "the Sleeping God of Gamblers"... Klein silently sighed, and stuck with his earlier style of looking at his cards and folding — he had already lost a small blind and a big blind (that is, half an ante and one full ante, with this game's ante set at one pound) on the two hands when it was his turn.
At this moment, Klein noticed something: Chunas Kolger, the deputy chief of MI9, had lost twenty pounds to Admiral Aemilius on this hand.
The "bribe" had landed... Admiral Aemilius could probably tell that Chunas had used the power of the "Corrupt Baron", but he might not realise that this deputy chief of MI9 was a demigod... Next hand, hah, it's going to be fun... Klein perked up. When the waiter set two new hole cards in front of him, he did not even lift a corner to peek at his cards; he simply pressed the metal chip he had been toying with on top of the hole cards, striking the pose of someone who would call to the end without looking.
After two players folded in succession, the stern and old-fashioned Aemilius Levitt casually glanced at his hole cards, counted out five pounds' worth of chips, and tossed them into the centre of the table — an unsurprising raise.
Another player folded. Councillor Macht called the five-pound raise, and then the rather tough-looking Chunas Kolger raised again, flicking a total of twenty pounds in chips out.
Colonel Galvin checked his hole cards once more and called.
After the remaining player folded, Dawn Dantès, without counting, grabbed a handful of chips and threw them out.
"Twenty pounds. Call," said the waiter in charge of counting chips, accurate at a glance.
"I thought there were fifty in there — looks like I'm not familiar with these chips yet," Dawn Dantès, his hair greying at the temples and his bearing distinguished, said with a self-mocking laugh.
He did not, however, actually top it up to the missing thirty pounds.
By now everyone had spoken, and it was Aemilius Levitt's turn again.
The naval admiral did not so much as glance at the remaining players. He picked up five ten-pound chips and tossed them out:
"Raise."
Not a flicker of emotion crossed his face, as though he were ordering a cup of black tea; but his indescribable authority and the very act of raising twice in a row without seeing a single community card froze the whole table.
Such a scenario usually meant Admiral Aemilius's hole cards were excellent — a pair of aces, a pair of kings, or an ace-king.
Councillor Macht chose to fold. Chunas Kolger rubbed the high bridge of his nose, his deep blue, near-black eyes flicking left and right:
"Call."
Colonel Galvin once again checked his cards, hesitated for over ten seconds, then folded.
Dawn Dantès stroked the metal chip resting on his two hole cards, smiled lightly, and said:
"Call."
After this round, only three players remained. The dealer-waiter then laid out the three community cards in the centre of the table:
"Two of spades, nine of hearts, king of spades."
First to bet was Admiral Aemilius Levitt. He leaned forward slightly, in a posture exuding pressure, and said:
"Fifty pounds."
He had jumped straight to a fifty-pound bet!
Councillor Macht, Colonel Galvin and the rest, though not in the hand, felt a sudden, inexplicable tightness in the chest at this moment.
"..." Chunas Kolger trembled slightly, but in the end he scooped up fifty pounds in chips and threw them in.
Dawn Dantès glanced at the MI9 deputy chief and, looking entirely unaffected, smiled:
"Call."
Hearing this, Colonel Galvin tilted his head and nodded at Dawn Dantès, whose blue eyes were as deep as a lake at night, in acknowledgement.
In his view, against a man whose purpose was to lose money, Admiral Aemilius's coercive aura would have no effect at all.
At this point, the red-waistcoated waiter dealt the fourth community card:
"Nine of spades."
Three spades had now appeared on the board — the probability of a flush sharply rose. But Admiral Aemilius, without the slightest hesitation, calmly pushed forward a stack of chips:
"One hundred pounds."
Chunas Kolger tapped his fingers on his hole cards several times, looking less than confident, but he too chose to call in the end.
Dawn Dantès glanced once more at the major general deputy chief, holding his gentle smile:
"Call."
Up to this moment he had not looked at his own hole cards once, which left Colonel Galvin a touch worried — it really was overplayed, an outright pose of throwing money away, and the relatively conservative Admiral Aemilius might not accept it.
Now the red-waistcoated waiter dealt the fifth community card:
"Two of clubs."
With that, the community board was complete:
"Two of spades, nine of hearts, king of spades, nine of spades, two of clubs."
"Two hundred pounds." Admiral Aemilius shoved a pile of metal chips forward with a clatter, his presence overwhelming.
Chunas Kolger first took a deep breath, then pushed forward two stacks of chips:
"Five hundred pounds."