For the next few hands, the young woman followed the same pattern. After the small and big blinds posted their bets, it was her turn, and she would immediately go all-in.
Starting with 100,000 chips, in one hand she bet as much as 500,000.
No one called that hand; everyone tacitly chose to let the young woman take the pot.
Perhaps realizing that this tactic wouldn't work and that no one would fall for it out of stubbornness, after the hand where she bet 500,000, the young woman became much more restrained and stopped playing recklessly.
And so, the competition at our table returned to normal.
Earlier, while the young woman was playing erratically, I secretly took the opportunity to size up my fellow competitors at the table one by one.
I also took the chance to analyze them based on their performance so far.
Unfortunately, all of them were extremely sharp, and coupled with the short duration of the earlier play, I couldn't glean anything significant.
At the same time, up to this point, I still had no information whatsoever about the mysterious helper that Ying Baolin had invited, not a single clue.
...
In a new hand, I was dealt an Ace and a King as my hole cards.
An Ace and King are a strong hand!
After removing one card, the dealer dealt the three community cards one by one.
[PS: Just in case anyone is unclear, Texas Hold'em removes the next card after dealing hole cards to players. Then, three community cards are dealt with one card in between. I don't know the reason for this, but if you don't believe me, feel free to search it on Baidu.]
The small blind posted the bet first. When it was my turn, I directly raised to 100,000.
In these kinds of games, everyone understands the unspoken rules.
Initially, no one dares to cheat because they haven't figured out each other's strengths and weaknesses. Cheating rashly would be like giving free points to everyone else.
Therefore, in this phase, most people are calculating their bets based on the community cards dealt by the dealer and their own two hole cards.
There were three other contestants between me and the mysterious young woman.
After seeing my raise, these three immediately glanced at their hole cards, clearly indicating they had hands that didn't pair well with the community cards.
After considering for a moment, all three of them, as expected, chose to fold.
When it was the young woman's turn, she merely glanced up at me before throwing in chips to call.
As for the players behind her, some called and some folded.
After a full round, only five players had called, half of the ten-person table.
After all, it was the finals, and everyone was playing cautiously at the beginning, which was understandable.
Excluding me and the young woman, among the other three callers, the one who most caught my attention was a young woman with wine-red hair, wearing sunglasses, playing cards.
Although the young woman wasn't particularly beautiful, she had a great aura.
In addition, I noticed that she seemed to be a heavy smoker.
In the less than twenty minutes since the finals officially began, she had already lit her second cigarette.
Of course, it's also possible that she was using the act of smoking to convey some unspoken message to someone at the table.
If there's an opportunity later, I'll focus on observing her to figure out the reason for her frequent smoking!
...
Strictly speaking, the three community cards dealt by the dealer had no connection or significance with my two hole cards at the moment.
The three community cards on the table were: Queen of Hearts, 4 of Clubs, and 9 of Spades.
The reason I raised, besides the classic saying, was that with this kind of board, it was highly likely to come down to a pair or two pairs.
If you don't dare to cheat rashly in the early stages, you have to find ways to maximize your winning probability.
The best way to do this is to appropriately raise the bet to intimidate others and win by bluffing.
And an Ace-King is the most suitable hand for bluffing.
But then again, this bluff of mine really came at the perfect time!
Because the fourth card dealt by the dealer was an Ace!
With four unpaired cards of different ranks, the probability of a caller getting two cards related to the earlier ones is slim, though not impossible.
At most, only one card would be relevant.
After successfully bluffing with one card, I immediately decided to increase my bet.
After the small blind posted their bet, when it was my turn clockwise, I thought for a moment and put 200,000 chips on the table.
"Two hundred thousand!"
Although a four-way bluff is difficult, given the condition that the community cards are four unrelated single cards, I had to take a gamble.
As long as none of the other four players have an Ace in their hole cards, I have at least a fifty percent chance of successfully bluffing this hand.
After I placed my bet, it was the young woman's turn.
The young woman was the type who was ruthless and spoke little. While remaining silent, her face showed no expression changes, and she casually threw 200,000 chips onto the table.
The moment the young woman placed her bet, I saw her subtly glance at me from the corner of her eye.
What's going on?
Is she targeting me, wanting to make an example of me?
After the players behind her called in turn, the dealer began to deal the last community card, also known as the river.
A 7 of Diamonds, irrelevant to the winning hand.
At this point, the five community cards on the table were finalized with the appearance of the 7 of Diamonds.
Q, 4, 9, A, 7.
All unpaired cards!
Now, it would depend on each player's hole cards to determine who wins and who loses.
Situations where the community cards are completely irrelevant are what professional players detest, but what cheaters love.
Unfortunately, at this moment, no one dared to make a rash move, and they could only rely on luck.
After betting heavily on this hand, I had about 500,000 chips left in front of me.
With this amount of chips, going all-in directly without any build-up would easily arouse suspicion from others.
Fortunately, one good thing about Texas Hold'em is that every betting round is mandatory.
The betting starts with the small blind and ends with the big blind.
So I decided to make use of the small and big blinds.
The contestant in the small blind position, after thinking for a while, picked up the smallest chip and threw it directly onto the table.
"Five thousand!"
Unlike a showdown, in Texas Hold'em, each betting round does not need to follow the previous round's situation.
This is due to the mandatory betting of the small and big blinds.
To be honest, the chip bet by the small blind contestant was exactly what I wanted.
Of course, it's also possible that he was acting, knowing I would raise and deliberately trying to bait me.
However, regardless of whether the opponent was acting or not, in this final round, from the moment he opened his mouth to bet five thousand chips... my decision was All-in!