After seeing the community cards, the trendy young man's feigned arrogance vanished. He stared intently at the three community cards, especially the glaring Ace of Clubs, then looked down at his own pitiful two 7s and 9s.
His body went limp, and he leaned back in his chair. The impulsiveness and wishful thinking he had when he placed the bet had now turned into despair. The young man had completely lost his confidence and was almost too scared to even watch anymore.
The fat man and the middle-aged woman's expressions both changed. Without the slightest hesitation, they both raised their hands and covered up their trump cards.
"Fold."
"Fold."
The dealer signaled for a new round of betting. Draco placed another two thousand, and the trendy young man gritted his teeth and said, "Fold... fold."
In a short time, all three remaining players at the table folded, and the chips in the pot went entirely to Draco.
With the dust settled, Draco smiled again.
You've won, so why are you laughing!
His smile annoyed the others. Was he mocking their cowardice, or was he gloating over his successful bluff?
The trendy young man felt as if that smile was another slap in the face, but he was powerless to refute it at that moment.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Draco turned over the two face-down cards in front of him.
On the table were the 3 of Clubs and the 4 of Hearts, two completely unrelated cards that couldn't even form the smallest pair together—the worst hole cards in Texas Hold'em!
A deathly silence began to spread again...
At the card table and outside the table, everyone who saw the two hole cards froze in place, as if under Full Body-Bind Curse.
The portly middle-aged woman's mouth gaped open, unable to close it for a long time. The fat man's smile froze; he was secretly shocked by how audacious this person was.
Holding the worst hand, he dared to calmly pretend to have a winning hand, completely controlling everyone at the table.
The trendy young man suddenly jumped up from his chair, pointed at Draco, and said, "Your cards are a bad hand?! You're bluffing!"
"Don't overreact. Bluffing is a common occurrence in poker games, isn't it? Why can't I use it?"
In fact, he had just secretly used the Transfiguration ability of Ancient Magic, and the moment he revealed his cards, he silently replaced a pair of Aces with an ordinary three of clubs and a four of hearts.
In the game of strategy between people, it's not just about the cards in your hand, but about psychological warfare that emphasizes winning people's hearts.
The young man was speechless.
The crowd of onlookers who had witnessed this game of wits, blurring the lines between reality and illusion, erupted into lively discussion.
Groups of two or three voices sighed with emotion.
"This gentleman is amazing! His mental fortitude is incredible! Even with a bad hand, he remained calm and collected, completely understanding everyone's thoughts."
"Yeah, it was all psychological warfare! His acting was superb; I thought he had some amazing cards up his sleeve to dare to go all in."
A seasoned gambler who frequents casinos exclaimed in amazement, "This is the true essence of Texas Hold'em! It's not just about having the best or worst cards, but about composure, shrewdness, and psychological warfare."
The dealer collects the cards from the previous round and deals them again.
At the same time, everyone used their most discreet methods to lift the corners of the cards, but this time, two-thirds of their attention was focused on Draco, the dark-haired man sitting there.
Draco glanced down at his hole cards: 2 of clubs, 7 of diamonds.
Another terrible starting hand.
With different suits and extremely low point values, this hand has a pitifully low win rate and is usually discarded in the first round.
However, Draco's lips curled into a smirk again as he placed his bet, continuing to Draco up to two thousand chips.
The first two, the fat man and the middle-aged woman, each received 500.
"2000." Draco's voice was calm and even, the same as when he said that number in the previous game.
His posture remained that of someone who had the victory firmly in his grasp.
It's another full bet at the start!
Another psychological warfare tactic involving bluffing!
Only Draco himself knew the truth.
With the ability to manipulate the cards, he could win the game from the very beginning if he wanted to. He played this way simply to enjoy the psychological battle and watch everyone being led by the nose, which was far more interesting than winning the game directly.
Unless one's luck is extremely bad, neither X-Ray Vision nor changing the cards can turn the tide, but the probability of that is extremely small.
Even if he exists, he can exit the stage in time.
The expressions of the people around the table instantly changed. After the painful lesson of successfully bluffing with 3 or 4 mixed cards in the previous round, no one dared to easily determine whether the man had a good hand when he placed his bet.
He might be playing the same trick again!
By using aggressive betting to mask the weakness of their hand, and exploiting the fear they developed in the previous round, they force them to fold, thus easily winning the blinds and early bets.
The fat man's expression shifted. He glanced at his unremarkable hand, then at Draco's nonchalant "I have a god-tier Laozi " attitude, and cursed inwardly: 'Damn it, not again?'
Do Laozi really think I'm easily intimidated?
"Fold." The fat man raised his voice; he was quitting.
"Oh dear, it's just a fold, why are you shouting so loudly?" the older woman chuckled, teasing him.
"So what if I shout? Do you dare to yell back?" The fat man blushed at her words and retorted defiantly.
Hearing this, the woman wasn't annoyed. She smiled and revealed her two hole cards—two 8s—and said, "I'll fold too."
"Tch, so you're too scared to follow along? Then we're even evenly matched, so neither of us should laugh at the other!"
The older woman couldn't help but laugh at the fat man's complaints.
But the smile really... nobody cared...
They were quite relaxed about it; they were just there for fun anyway. If they were confident, they'd play a small game; if not, they'd just watch others play.
"Follow." It was the middle-aged man who broke the silence. He didn't want to be intimidated, nor did he want to follow the other person's lead.
He currently holds a pair of Jacks, not top-tier, but definitely competitive. He judged that Draco's consecutive full-bet strategies were likely psychological warfare. If he backed down now, wouldn't he be playing right into Draco's hands?
Immediately afterward, the trendy young man gritted his teeth, the anger from being tricked in the previous round still burning in his chest. This time, he was lucky, starting with a pair of Queens. He was convinced Draco was using the same trick again, so he also pushed his chips in heavily.
"I'll call!" The most unexpected thing was that the bespectacled man who had been scared into folding in the previous round and seemed timid and cowardly actually pushed out his two thousand chips.
Everyone was surprised and turned to look at the man with glasses.
This guy, who was terrified by the 2000-point cap in the last round, actually called this round? But surprise aside...
None of the people at the table paid much attention to the man with glasses.
An inexperienced, timid player who occasionally musters the courage to call might simply have a good hand or bet on luck, posing little threat.