"You're going too far, sis. How can me losing money and you losing money possibly be the same thing?"
Uchiha Mai broke free of Tsunade's clutches and argued emphatically, "I had a queen and a nine of clubs in the hole. The flop came down with three clubs, giving me the nut flush. Betting thirty thousand over the pot was completely reasonable.
"Who could've guessed the player after me was such a gambler? He had a king of clubs and still called my overbet. Then another club came on the turn, and suddenly my hand was behind.
"Most people would've found it impossible to fold in that situation and would've kept raising. I immediately realized the other guy might have the king or ace of clubs, so I folded and saved myself a lot of money.
"I ran into four absurd cooler hands like that in one night. Those four hands were what cost me 180,000.
"All I can say is, losing 180,000 is proof of my skill. If you'd been dealt those coolers, you could've lost 1.8 million."
"Then how do you explain the other tens of thousands you lost?" Tsunade demanded, one hand on her hip as she gripped Uchiha Mai by the collar.
"The other tens of thousands were your losses. What's that got to do with me?" Uchiha Mai spread both hands and frantically passed the buck.
"Huh? I didn't play a single hand all night. How could I have lost?" Tsunade couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Uchiha Mai counted on his fingers as he laid out the facts. "You may not have played, but you sat next to me all night and kept wanting to see my hole cards.
"When my cards were bad, you wore a long face. When they were decent, you lit up with a smile.
"When my hand was weak and I bluffed, your nerves were written all over your face. When my hand was strong and I played carefully, trying to get as much value as possible, you practically wanted me to shove all my chips in.
"You were broadcasting the strength of my hand to everyone. How was I supposed to win money like that?
"Because of you, I won tens of thousands less and lost over two hundred thousand more last night. Without you, even with those four coolers, I could've left up two hundred thousand."
Uchiha Mai spoke with righteous conviction. Having a teammate like that at the table and not losing everything was already a stroke of luck.
Texas Hold'em was a game that demanded a lot of calculation, while also involving a bit of luck and psychological warfare.
You had to work out not only your own odds of making a hand, but also your opponents' hand strength based on their actions, so you could extract as much value as possible without taking unnecessary risks.
For example, if your two hole cards and the three community cards gave you the nut straight, immediately going all-in without a second thought was a bad move.
Anyone could see you had the nut straight. No one would call, so you'd be stuck with a great hand that won you nothing. Every raise and call was a psychological battle.
That was why every Texas Hold'em expert was an Oscar-worthy actor.
They could spend the whole game with a dead-eyed expression and not a single tell, yet still perform nerves, delight, and all sorts of other emotions.
"So now it's my fault?" Tsunade let go of Uchiha Mai and pointed at herself.
"If it's not your fault, whose is it?" Though he'd lost over two hundred thousand, Uchiha Mai felt not the slightest shame.
When your teammate's a total scrub, you don't take the fall.
"Th-Then what should we do? We borrowed that money from little Minato. We have to pay him back." Tsunade thought it over. It seemed, more or less, that it really had been her fault.
"We'll win it back tonight."
Uchiha Mai gave Tsunade a disdainful look. "For the next few days, I'm going to play without you. With you around, it's hard to win.
"Anyway, you have to trust my skill. I'm the Texas Hold'em champion of the five great nations and their villages. I haven't earned that reputation for nothing.
"There are three kinds of Texas Hold'em players. The first is the average player, and that's the vast majority.
"They win through luck and lose through skill, but always think they win through skill and only lose because of bad luck. They might win for a while, but if they keep playing, they'll lose everything.
"The second kind is the advanced player. They win through skill and lose through bad luck.
"They know how to calculate their odds of making a hand, read their opponents' hands from their actions, get maximum value when they have good cards, and fold decisively when they don't. They know when to bluff and when to catch someone else bluffing.
"That's the kind of player I am. In the short term, it's normal for wins and losses to fluctuate with good or bad luck. But if you tally things over ten days, a month, or a year, I'll definitely be ahead.
"Because I play sensibly."
Don't ask—it was just normal variance. Don't ask—it was a strategic adjustment.
Whether or not he was talking nonsense, Uchiha Mai sounded so confident that it was hard not to believe him.
The rise and fall of Tsunade's chest, which had been surging with Wrath, finally slowed. She frowned and objected, "No.
"I'm going with you. Even if I can't play myself, I still want to see how you do it."
She was the kind of person who was terrible at something but couldn't stop herself from getting involved.
"Then wear a mask. When you get nervous, pinch your thigh. And don't say a word. I don't want people reading my hand strength from your face.
"Those are my three conditions. If you won't agree, we'll split up. We'll divide the money we have left, you can go your own way, and I'll head back to Konoha."
"Um... Fine." Tsunade nodded reluctantly.
Once they'd settled on the terms, the two returned to the inn and fell straight into bed. Playing cards took a lot of mental energy; they needed proper rest.
For the next few days, Uchiha Mai took the stake he'd borrowed from Master Minato and brought Tsunade, a peerless beauty by any standard, to play at the Tanzaku Town casino every night.
With money to burn and a beautiful woman for company, he'd truly gotten to play the part of a rich big shot.
Meanwhile, Master Minato took Might Guy and Kakashi with him each day to hide nearby and protect Princess Tsunade. He also prayed Uchiha Mai would win; otherwise, Kushina would surely butcher him when they got back to the village.
On the second night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 240,000 and left with 380,000, up 140,000.
On the third night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 380,000 and left with 650,000, up 270,000.
On the fourth night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 500,000 and left with 480,000, down 20,000.
On the fifth night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 500,000 and left with 1.43 million, up 930,000.
On the ninth night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 2 million and left with 3.85 million, up 1.85 million.
On the tenth night, Uchiha Mai sat down with 2 million and left with 2.77 million, up 770,000.
Including the 260,000 he'd lost on the first day, in ten days Uchiha Mai turned his 500,000 stake into 7.66 million, for a net profit of 7.16 million.
He hadn't fulfilled his promise to win ten million in ten days, but he'd multiplied his stake fifteenfold. Even that feat left Tsunade in awe.
The main thing was that Uchiha Mai played a tight, aggressive game. When he saw that his opponent had a weak hand, he'd make a hefty bet to bluff them. When he thought an opponent might have a strong hand, he'd fold without hesitation.
That style of play didn't have much variance and was relatively safe. If he played looser, he might win ten million—or he might only win five million.
After ten days of playing, Uchiha Mai refused to gamble any longer. Once he'd repaid Master Minato, he and Tsunade split the money according to their agreement and went their separate ways.
Transition over. The next chapter starts the main storyline.
Before you continue