Uchiha Mai had an instinctive feeling that something was strange about this table.
Taking advantage of his rather short height, Uchiha Mai slipped into the crowd like a loach, wriggled and squeezed his way to the very center, and arrived at the gambling table.
Looking up, he saw seven or eight gamblers seated around the table. There was no need to describe the generic faces, but one blonde woman in particular caught Uchiha Mai's attention.
Her long golden hair was tied into twin low ponytails that fell behind her shoulders, messy rather than as smooth as expected.
Her gray undershirt was stretched tight by her towering chest, showing off her sizzling figure. If someone were tall enough and had a good enough angle, they might even be able to see the bottomless cleavage from behind her.
Over the undershirt, she wore a sky-blue jacket, and there was no "gamble" symbol on its back. That differed somewhat from Shippuden.
Uchiha Mai leaned closer and glanced at the woman's profile. Her features were so exquisite that she looked like a woman who had stepped out of a two-dimensional anime.
If one ignored the eye gunk at the corners of her eyes, the chive bun in her mouth, and the half-empty bottle of sake beside her, she was absolutely a perfect beauty.
There was no doubt about it. This woman was Tsunade.
A group of hormone-fueled gamblers crowded behind Tsunade, jostling one another but not daring to come within a step of her. It was unclear whether they were watching the cards or watching the woman.
When they saw Uchiha Mai actually approach Tsunade, they all felt a spontaneous sense of admiration. Impressive. This little pervert had done what everyone wanted to do but did not dare.
Tsunade turned her head slightly and glanced at Uchiha Mai. Seeing that he was a delicate, jade-like handsome youth, she was not too put off.
She lifted the bottle and took a swig, then burped, breathing alcohol all over Uchiha Mai's face as she asked with flushed cheeks, "What is it, kid?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to watch you play cards, big sis." Uchiha Mai smiled.
"Hmph, you've got good taste for a kid!"
Tsunade gave a smug snort, ruffled Uchiha Mai's hair, and boasted shamelessly, "I started gambling when I was four.
"In thirty years, I've played every gambling game in the Ninja World and visited every casino in the Ninja World. There's no form of gambling I don't know.
"At the card table, even the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, and the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, were no match for me.
"Watch me play, and you'll definitely learn a whole lot."
This old woman really could brag without even drafting a script.
Uchiha Mai held back the urge to mock her and smiled. "You really know how to joke, big sis. You look about eighteen to me, not much older than I am.
"How could you possibly be over thirty?"
No woman was unconcerned about her age, and Tsunade especially so. If she did not care so much about her appearance, she would not have learned the Yin Seal.
"Burp, this kid caught me lying."
Tsunade burped again and puffed out her chest. "I really am only eighteen.
"But even so, I've been devoted to the way of gambling for over a decade. Learning even a tiny bit from me will benefit you for the rest of your life and let you win in every casino."
Pah!
Some of the onlookers gathered behind Tsunade revealed disdainful expressions. This Big Fat Sheep really had no shame.
Anyone who frequented Tanzaku Town knew that she had already been a famous Big Fat Sheep there more than ten years ago. She had been eighteen back then, and she was still eighteen now?
Lying to an innocent handsome youth—how shameless!
At this moment, Master Minato led Guy and Kakashi through the crowd as well, reaching its outer edge.
Seeing Mai chatting enthusiastically with the mission target, and recalling how effortlessly Uchiha Mai had handled himself at the inn earlier, he did not rashly step forward.
"You're absolutely right, big sis." Uchiha Mai smiled sweetly, his little handsome face looking utterly harmless.
"Watch closely, then."
Tsunade muttered that, just as the dealer dealt her two cards. She took a deep breath and nervously lifted one corner of her cards.
She looked at her hole cards. When she saw the Two of Diamonds and the Two of Spades, joy immediately spread across her face, and she covered them again.
The Ninja World was a very strange place. English existed there, as did fairly advanced mathematics. So naturally, it made sense for casinos to have playing cards.
Because of his height, Uchiha Mai had also seen Tsunade's hole cards. He could not understand why she was so happy and asked, "What game are you playing, big sis?"
"Texas Hold'em," Tsunade answered.
Uchiha Mai: "..."
You were playing Texas Hold'em, and you were thrilled over pocket twos?
The basic rules of Texas Hold'em were that each player had two hole cards, while there were five community cards. Players selected the best combination of five cards from among the seven available to compare hands.
Other than the community cards, hole cards, blinds, and other rules, it was the same as the stud poker played in movies like God of Gamblers and All for the Winner.
With pocket twos, she could draw to three of a kind, a full house, four of a kind, or a flush. The combined chance of making any of those hands was less than twenty percent.
Most of the time, players could only make the three common hand types: high card, one pair, or two pair. Of those three, high card had the lowest probability.
In other words, as long as you called, you were guaranteed to make at least a pair.
The probability of hitting three of a kind with a pocket pair was thirteen percent. Meanwhile, with unpaired hole cards, the chance of pairing one on the flop—when three cards were revealed—was fifty percent.
Tsunade's hand had a heads-up win rate of less than twenty-five percent. There were seven people at this table, and every additional player entering the pot would lower her odds further.
At this point, the players around the table had already begun betting.
The small blind was 200 yen and the big blind was 400 yen. Tsunade sat second after the big blind, an extremely early position.
Position was also very important in Texas Hold'em. Players after the blinds had to decide whether to check, fold, or raise based on their hole cards.
Theoretically, the later one's position, the wider the range of hands one could play, because one could analyze some information from the actions of the players ahead.
Tsunade was seated second after the big blind, a position known as under the gun plus one. Theoretically, she could only infer information about the hole cards of the player before her.
According to GTO Theory—that was, game-theory optimal strategy—if one could not get a premium hand in this position, entering the pot was not recommended.
With pocket twos, folding immediately was the best option.
After the player before her raised by 2,000 yen, Tsunade did not fold. Instead, she very boldly called the 2,000 yen.
No one could make sense of that move.
"Big sis, are your hole cards really that strong?" Uchiha Mai asked.
"Kid, you saw my hole cards just now too, didn't you? Aren't they strong?" Tsunade asked back in confusion.
His fists clenched. His blood pressure rose.
Uchiha Mai finally understood why Tsunade had lost so much money. This old woman not only had terrible luck, but her card skills were abysmal too.
Never mind the bizarre move of daring to call someone's raise with pocket twos. She had even chosen merely to call rather than raise back.
The optimal play for this hand was to fold. A relatively stupid play would be to call the 2,000 yen, then raise heavily by another ten or even twenty thousand, pretending that pocket twos were an overpair like pocket aces or pocket kings.
If she got lucky, the high cost to enter the pot could scare away every other player and let her successfully steal the 2,600-yen pot contributed by the previous three players.
Using tens of thousands of yen to steal 2,600 yen was indeed stupid. But it was still not as stupid as Tsunade's move of simply calling without raising and practically giving money away.
A transitional chapter...
Since it was Tsunade, there had to be some gambling. I usually enjoy playing Texas Hold'em, so I wrote it in a bit more detail. I hope everyone understands.
Lastly, please vote with your monthly tickets.
Before you continue