Jiang Bin's understated words immediately startled everyone present, their expressions revealing their surprise.
Among these expressions, delight and excitement were most prevalent.
It was likely they believed their luck was good, having picked a judge who wasn't overly strict.
Only my heart remained like a calm lake, undisturbed.
It wasn't that I didn't believe Jiang Bin's words, but I understood a fundamental principle.
When things are unusually good, there's usually a catch! How could a judge possibly encourage players to cheat?
As for the specific situation, let's continue to see...
After the identity information was collected and the chips were distributed, Jiang Bin's expression turned serious, and he directly announced, "I declare, the competition officially begins! The players in the small and big blind positions will bet first!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the two contestants in the small and big blind positions began to bet.
In the first round of Texas Hold'em elimination, the organizers provided each participant with 100,000 chips. If one was unlucky, they could lose all 100,000 chips in a single hand.
Therefore, at the beginning, the players in the small and big blind positions were very cautious.
The small blind bet one thousand. The rest of us, including myself, chose not to raise the bet and simply called. The big blind was forced to put in two thousand.
After the betting ended, Jiang Bin shuffled the cards and began to deal the three community cards.
As the saying goes: you can see the whole leopard by looking at one spot!
Jiang Bin's card shuffling technique was very professional. With a gentle flick of his fingers and a press, the card to be cut was already at the bottom of the deck.
At the same time, three community cards appeared silently on the table, and the player in the small blind position made the first call.
The first round of Texas Hold'em is crucial.
With two hole cards and three community cards, if luck is on your side, hands like a flush, two pair, or even three of a kind are already forming.
The rules of Texas Hold'em and the hand rankings were mentioned earlier, so I won't elaborate further.
With the immense popularity of Texas Hold'em, it now holds a prominent place in mainstream poker tournaments worldwide.
There's no other reason than the high technical skill involved, where calculation trumps everything else.
Of course, luck cannot be entirely excluded.
For a skilled cheat, if they cannot find an opportunity to cheat, they can still cleverly control the outcome of the game by utilizing the flow of the game and their own luck.
Taking tonight's elimination match as an example, two and a half hours of competition might not seem like a long time at first glance.
If you think that way, you'd be greatly mistaken!
Without the opportunity to cheat, and without the support of luck to stabilize the situation, one might face the danger of elimination in just one hand.
In a ten-player Texas Hold'em long table game where only one advances, it's not uncommon for skilled cheaters to falter and be eliminated.
Therefore, I must proceed with extreme caution.
While the small blind player was contemplating their bet amount, I seized the opportunity to look at my hole cards.
My luck was decent; two suited hearts, combined with the six of hearts and king of hearts on the community cards, instantly formed a flush.
After the small blind bet and passing over two players, it was my turn.
After a moment's thought, I picked up my chips and bet ten thousand.
In the first betting round of the first hand, I bet ten thousand chips right away. Does that seem intimidating?
In fact, that was precisely my intention!
Without knowing the skill level of the people at the table, the best approach is to use the current game to quickly accumulate chips.
After all, even if no one calls, I'll still get over ten thousand from the initial blinds.
Every little bit counts!
The next two players after me both looked at their hole cards and decisively folded.
When it was the woman in the blue dress's turn, she didn't look at her cards. Instead, she unexpectedly glanced at me, as if observing my expression.
After about two or three seconds, the woman in the blue dress chose to call.
The players after the woman in the blue dress all chose to fold without exception.
When it was the big blind player's turn, he picked up a chip worth ten thousand and repeatedly flipped it on the back of his hand.
Several times, he paused his flipping motion, hesitating whether to send the chip to the table.
But in the end, he chose to give up.
After the small blind player announced he was folding, in the first hand of the first round, only the woman in the blue dress and I remained.
Looking at her hand, the woman in the blue dress was named Shui Miaomiao.
Seeing that only two of us were left in this hand, Shui Miaomiao suddenly brushed her hair aside and said to me, "Handsome, it seems we're destined to be rivals!"
I smiled politely and remained silent.
After collecting the chips, Jiang Bin began to deal the fourth community card.
A six of clubs.
At this point, the four community cards on the table were: six of hearts, three of diamonds, king of hearts, and six of clubs.
The cards were varied, allowing for several possible hand combinations.
When Jiang Bin signaled that betting could commence, I began to analyze Shui Miaomiao's hand, trying to deduce what kind of hand she had to have chosen to call.
The probability of a flush is quite small, as my hand was already a flush, and this was a ten-player long table game, so this probability was not high, around 10%.
If it wasn't a flush, the community cards could form a straight from 2 to 6 or 3 to 7. Since Shui Miaomiao dared to call, it meant her hole cards were likely a 4 and a 5.
This probability was around 20%.
The combined probability of a flush and a straight was 30%. The remaining 70% was split between the possibilities of a full house and three of a kind.
Among the four probability distributions, the probability of starting with a pair was the highest.
So I guessed that Shui Miaomiao likely started with a pair.
Either a pair of 3s or a pair of Kings. A pair of 6s was impossible.
If she had started with a pair of 6s, there would have been no reason for her not to raise earlier; that's not how you bait.
Baiting like that would easily cause the fish to swim away.
Now, she was waiting for a card to complete a full house, while I was waiting for the crucial heart.
If a full house appeared, I lost.
If a heart appeared, she lost.
A fifty-fifty chance of winning or losing.
After much consideration, I decided not to raise and to wait until the fifth community card was dealt before deciding based on the situation.
With that in mind, I picked up another chip worth ten thousand and threw it into the pot.
"Ten thousand!"
Shui Miaomiao didn't call immediately. Instead, she looked up and glanced at me again.
On the poker table, people who instinctively observe their opponents are either professional players, or...