Three Kamaitachi Queens carried over two high-backed chairs and a wooden table, swiftly setting up the venue.
The Dealer and Amon sat at opposite ends of the table, with a brand-new deck of Binwang playing cards spread between them. The card backs bore intricate, orderly black patterns, exuding a cold, austere beauty.
Amon exchanged the Arctic Ocean bottle caps for exactly one thousand Dark Gold Coins, stacking them neatly before himself. A thousand Dark Gold Coins were likewise piled before the Dealer.
Twenty eyes met, like the silence before that peerless duel atop Forbidden City Peak, when Ximen Chuixue and Ye Gucheng faced each other. The air seemed frozen, murder intent overflowing.
They were playing Texas Hold'em. Each player held two hole cards, while five community cards lay below. The Dealer would reveal the community cards in three rounds: three the first time, then one each in the final two rounds.
In the end, they would choose five cards from their two hole cards and the five community cards, for a total of seven cards. Whoever had the stronger hand won.
Flushes, straight flushes, three of a kind, four of a kind, and the like were all strong hands. Before each community card was revealed, they had to raise. Whoever thought they had no chance would fold and lose the chips already on the table; whoever thought they had a chance would push in more chips.
Amon folded on the very first hand, not even waiting for all the first-round community cards to be revealed.
The Dealer's gaze sharpened as he guessed he might have encountered an expert... He could not make sense of his opponent's strategy, but it seemed unfathomably impressive!
In the second round, Amon waited until the first three community cards had been revealed before folding.
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