Chapter 129: [129] Texas Hold’em

While a wave of cheers erupted in the tavern in lieu of Eliron’s generous donation, those seated on the table had a more repressed reaction.

Eliron stared at the man who had responded to him. From the relaxed, cocky grin, and the large cigar between his lips, Eliron recognized him immediately.

’He is the informant!’

The man sucked in a large breath of smoke, allowed it to simmer as he savoured the burning sensation, before slowly releasing it from his nostrils.

“I see you have taken the liberty of inviting yourself to my game.” He said with a smirk.

“You walked into this den of wolves yourself.”

He raised his hands, motioning at those seated, their expressions fierce as they gazed at Eliron.

“Don’t complain if you get bitten.”

“Wolves?” Eliron chuckled. “I guess even dogs sometimes howl at the moon.”

The space suddenly felt a lot chillier, the already hostile expressions losing their last bits of mercy.

“Hahahahaha!” The informant laughed, then pushed his hair back. “How creative, what is your name, elf?”

“Eliron.”

“Eliron huh? My name is Charlie.” He paused briefly, playing with the cigar in his hand.

“Eliron, do you know why I like to smoke?” He asked, sounding mildly amused.

Eliron shrugged. “You don’t want to live long I guess?”

The man shook his head and chucked. “Each time I take a drag, the probability of me dying goes up by a little bit…”

“Little by little, year by year, that probability builds up. Meaning the more I smoke, the more likely that I die.”

“Heart attacks, stroke, lung damage… ”

He grabbed a betting chip and flicked it towards Eliron, Eliron catching it with ease.

“Each drag is a probability, a game of life and death. I bet on my life, the cigar bets on my death, and each day I win.”

“You see, betting is not just when you come to the board. Life choices, decisions… everything is a gamble one way or the other.”

“You bet that you will succeed, you bet that you will get home safely, you bet that you will not die in your sleep.”

“But only with a consciousness of these countless bets can you truly become a king at your craft.”

Charlie smiled deviously.

“With this method, I have played over ten thousand games in my life, and I have won every single one.”

He grabbed the stack of cards and pulled out four at random, tossing it right at Eliron.

Elion stared down at them and smirked.

Four of a kind.

“Tell me then, do you think you have what it takes to win against me?”

Charlie, the informant, was known around these parts as the king of gambling, a man who had never lost a single game in his life.

His tests were often to ascertain three things. Financial ability, only those who were capable enough would dare to gamble against Charlie.

A match against him was a guaranteed loss, meaning gambling with him was basically throwing money into a bottomless pit.

The second was confidentiality, your eyes were the door to your heart, but in this case it was the secret to the strength of your hand.

If you could stop a man like Charlie from figuring you out, then you were more than capable of keeping a secret.

The last was confidence, but Eliron had already passed that test from the moment he walked into the tavern.

’Looks like things are going to be a little difficult though…’

Normally, playing the game would have been enough, but for whatever reason, Eliron seemed to have piqued Charlie’s interest.

And with the fiery look Charlie had in his eyes, Eliron knew—

He had to win!

The only way to see the blinking merchant was to win against a man who had never lost a game in his life.

Eliron smirked.

“Are you sure you want to play?” He rolled the chip back to Charlie.

“I’m a really lucky guy you know?”

The chip stopped, standing still right at the edge of the table.

Charlie shared his smile. “Then let’s play!”

Swoosh!

He swiped all the silver and bronze coins off the table, wiping it clean, then placed a bunch of gold coloured chips on it.

Each chip—

Was valued at one gold coin…

<•••>

Although Ash was doing his best to keep a straight face, Eliron could practically feel the worry oozing out of him as the server began distributing the cards.

The reason was that they were in a little bit of a mess…

One round was more than enough to put them anywhere between ten and a hundred gold coins in debt.

Even the mercenaries Eliron had robbe—umm—received a donation from, only had five gold coins worth of coins, which was a drop in the ocean.

The tavern was known to be brutal when it came to recovering debts.

If the person owning could not pay, they did not shy away from collecting organs to upset the cost…

’I shouldn’t have aura farmed with that gold coin…’ Eliron wept internally, remembering how he had recklessly spent a gold coin earlier.

The one at this bar was important, since he needed to gain Charlie’s attention, but the one he paid for food? That was completely unnecessary…

’This is what too many YouTube shorts fies to a guy.’

Cards were sent flying round the table, three of them landing right in front of everyone, while three community cards rested at the center, their faces upturned.

Everyone on the table except Ash were playing, and every single one of them was a seasoned gambler in their own right.

“The game we are going to play is Kings gambit.” Charlie said as he glanced at Eliron.

’Kings Gambit huh? Perfect…’

Eliron knew the game well because it was a derivative of Texas hold’em created by the author.

During the first round, two players were made to make compulsory bets. This was to make sure there was money to play for…

And then in the second round, everyone was allowed to check their cards, and the players could officially make bets as they wished.

But no one could have expected what happened next—

Just as the second round began, Charlie pushed ten chips forward.

He had just bet ten gold coins, an equivalent of one thousand silver pieces!

Those on the table who previously had hardened expressions began to sweat.

The last time they had seen Charlie like this was the day he played against the demonic merchant.

That day, they had barely managed to leave with the clothes on their back.

Eliron on the other hand scratched his head and sighed.

“Well, fuck it.”

He pushed twenty chips forward.

“RAISE.”

He had just doubled the betting amount, placing two thousand silver on the line.

This meant that everyone on the table was now mandated to either match it or quit.

In that very moment, Ash felt his soul leave his body.

..

..

A/N

I had to browse the rules of poker to write this chaoter XD. I’ll explain the rules in the next Chapter 🙂

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