area51novel Chapter 176 There is only one kind of wisdom at the gambling table
Chapter 176 There is only one kind of wisdom at the gambling table
Chapter 186 There is only one kind of wisdom at the gambling table
"All in."
In a daze, Naz heard an unbelievable sound.
Even though she had only a superficial understanding of gambling, she still knew the meaning behind the word.
For a moment she thought she had misheard, but the casino lobby behind her fell silent as if it had been hit by Articuno's "Absolute Zero".
Everyone was like an ice sculpture.
The person who made the sound was Yueju, who was wearing a dark blue suit on the screen. He placed his hands in front of him in a pyramid shape, and his face showed no signs of tension or excitement.
Too calm.
So much so that it seems more like giving up your hand than going all in.
But he was indeed going all in—he had been testing the waters by skipping cards and occasionally trying to bluff with a few harmless stacks of chips, but now he was betting everything.
No one could see through the gambler king's intentions, because this was only the first round of calls, with less than a hundred purple chips scattered on the table as ante, and only one community card in the center had been revealed.
Lingju, still seated, bent sideways and retrieved a pusher from under the Twin Dragons table. This pusher was provided at both ends of the table, and Vio had carefully checked it before the match; there were no hidden mechanisms. Countless mirrors simultaneously reflected the Dark-type Elite Four member's movements, making any possibility of cheating absolutely impossible.
The large, wiper-like lever slowly and steadily rubbed against the tablecloth, moving a massive amount of chips and producing a sound like a tiny elf sinking into quicksand hell.
This is the sound of a gambler succumbing to desire.
After the casino owner finished his operation, the purple castle, which was less than halfway there, had moved forward by twenty centimeters. Although the outer walls of the castle were slightly distorted with the movement, it still stood majestically on the dividing line between black and white.
"12x bet, all in."
Yueju looked at Vio expressionlessly, as if she were worried that he had hearing problems, and repeated herself.
.
"Is Mr. Lanju planning another bluff? But why reveal all his chips? He was playing so cautiously before..."
After a brief moment of shock, the casino grew even noisier, with gamblers beginning to voice their doubts.
"Perhaps it's because he drew a strong hand, but wouldn't going all in like that be too obvious? His opponents wouldn't be able to call the bet."
"Then it must be a bluff. That's quite bold. No wonder he's the evil king who's good at deception."
"Will Mr. Kovio let this opportunity to seal the deal slip by? With his current chip stack, even if he calls and loses, he still has a chance to turn things around."
"They'll probably release it," sighed an elderly guest with glasses and a scholarly air.
His voice wasn't loud, but for some reason it attracted a lot of attention, perhaps because of his profession.
While watching the game, he had been jotting something down on the paper beside him, seemingly a mathematician as skilled in probability calculations as the old man Vio—however, judging from the fact that he could pass the Royal Union's blacklist review without any problems, he probably wasn't some remarkable super gambler.
The guest who was taking notes continued speaking—
“In previous games, Dr. Vio would place a large bet every three to four rounds. Even when Mr. Blueberry called a bluff, he would call without fear—which means that the doctor’s so-called ‘lone wave algorithm’ could predict the next hand based on the cards played several rounds ago. Mr. Blueberry discovered this pattern and took advantage of the chaotic situation to place a large bet, trying to pull the odds back to the chaotic zone where he had the advantage.”
As if responding to the spectator's guess, the old man Vio, who had been in the lead, hesitated, and looked uncomfortable, as if he had eaten an extremely spicy nut.
The old man reluctantly threw away his two trump cards, unwilling to face off against the blueberry directly.
The card fell face up into the shuffle pot, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Vio had discarded two Aces, the highest-scoring hole hand in Double Dragon Poker. Yet, the Sage still chose to fold.
Seeing Vio's discarded cards, Lingju chuckled smugly, smugly counting her spoils for the round.
The face-down hole card was not shown to the opponent at all, and was thus mixed into the shuffle pot.
.
Inside the casino lobby, everyone's attention turned to the older guest, eager for him to continue explaining the situation.
The guest sighed and put down his pencil.
"This is the competitive aspect of Double Dragon Poker—unlike Blackjack, due to the limitations of the call mechanism, mathematicians cannot perfectly set their bets according to the principle of the highest win rate. They can only participate in the competition by doubling down or calling. Although the double Ace hand does have a win rate of over 85%, there is still a 15% probability of losing."
"Mr. Lanju manipulated the amount of chips to make Vio hesitate to act. At this point, the risks that Dr. Vio had to take exceeded the expected returns—although the difference was only a tiny bit, it was enough to make the doctor want to back out."
“But according to the formula Vio introduced last night, about half of the bets should still be within an acceptable range, right?” A gambler counted on his fingers for a long time before finally retorting.
"No, in addition to calling, we also have to consider the ante already paid; moreover, Vio wants the final win rate rather than the profit of a single hand, so his optimal win rate formula is more conservative; lastly and most importantly, there is the community card that has already been revealed. Vio, who has mastered the clock algorithm, calculated the impact of the 3 of clubs on the win rate of both sides, and the result was a slight disadvantage for Doctor's side. Under the combined influence of these three factors, Vio finally folded his hand."
Who is this guy? He talks like he's mastered some kind of weird clock-making method...
Naz overheard the entire conversation and silently complained to herself.
.
Next, Yueju deviated from his previous low profile. Whenever Vio's clock face algorithm entered the observation phase, he would place a heavy bet on the big blind. Although he did not go all in again, every hand was a bold bet that made people's hearts race.
The old man cooperated well, choosing to fold and skip cards until after three or four rounds of observation, when he brazenly placed a large bet.
The two seemed to be in perfect sync, exchanging chips back and forth, with the stakes getting higher and higher. Their chips were like a bowl of soup being shaken back and forth, sometimes leaning towards cranberries, sometimes towards violets, splashing more and more water.
Among the gamblers present, it was clear to everyone that the moment to decide the winner had finally arrived.
There are many signs—
First, both sides' blinds have reached the hundred-coin level. Although Vio's side is still more relaxed overall, in the current turbulent situation, as long as this fragile tacit understanding is broken, either side could end up tragically falling off the table.
The second sign was the explanation from the guest who was good at mathematics. According to him, the later the game went, the more information Vio had about the game using the clock algorithm, and the more likely he was to decide the outcome rather than fold and avoid the game—and Blueberry was obviously waiting for such an opportunity as well.
Thirdly, there is a fact that everyone can see—both of their expressions are becoming increasingly sickly, and the orange-white poker face is becoming paler and paler, almost as pale as the playing card in his hand.
Old Man Vio's face turned red, seemingly because his brain had been operating at high speed for too long, and even his breathing became heavy. If Pokémon could be brought into the gambling room, his Geometric Snowflake would surely have jumped out of its Poké Ball and used "Ice Wind" to cool down the trainer.
Despite this, neither of them appeared weak in the slightest. As if the demon of competitiveness had injected them with an excessive dose of stimulant, the two exuded an unparalleled aura of dominance, making even the tiny leafy cat in Sabrina's arms tremble with fear, even through the television screen.
The final sign came from Sabrina herself. The psychic gym leader, bewildered, watched the duel between the two dragons on the black and white gambling table, and suddenly shuddered—
"Oh dear, it seems like that time has come."
Superpowers can sometimes be just that illogical.
.
Lingju examined her hand, then shook her head with a wry smile.
But he said it again—
"All in."