Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1219: A State of More Losses than Wins

After dinner, everyone took turns hugging and cuddling Happiness and Joy. Once the two little ones fell asleep, everyone gathered together and played Texas Hold'em on the coffee table in the living room.

The main purpose of playing Texas Hold'em is to kill time, so the stakes are very low, with a minimum bet of 1 cent, a minimum bet of 2 cents, and a maximum bet of 1 cents. There is no need to double down on the opening hand; you can simply open it at the same price.

It's worth mentioning that when Wang An and his friends were playing Texas Hold'em, Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian actually joined in. As for Huang Zhong, Wang An offered to pay him, but he refused to play, saying he would just watch from the sidelines.

It didn't matter whether he won or lost. Wang An didn't use his not-so-sophisticated gambling skills; he just relied on luck and technique to play with the others.

Therefore, Wang An has always been in a state of losing more than winning.

It wasn't until Wang An had lost more than 10 yuan that he realized something was wrong.

You should know that with a minimum bet of 1 cent and a maximum bet of 10 cents, you could lose more than 10 yuan. This is equivalent to losing more than 1 yuan in the end with a minimum bet of 1 yuan and a maximum bet of 1 yuan in the later period!

Anyone who plays Texas Hold'em regularly knows that even someone who doesn't know how to play and keeps betting can't possibly lose this much.

Although Wang An's gambling skills weren't particularly outstanding, he was quite adept at observing who was acting suspiciously at the gambling table. After observing for only a short while, Wang An discovered that Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and Ma Guoqiang were actually exchanging secret signals with each other.

To put it simply, whoever has the best hand among the three people puts money in, while the other two bluff to raise the stakes and then fold.

This arrangement will make things difficult for others, mainly because who would dare to call without a strong enough hand?

Although the game of "Zha Jin Hua" is mainly about deception, having three troublemakers at the table is still quite annoying.

So, after Wang An got the right to deal the cards, he decided to use a little trick to deal with the three troublemakers one by one.

Wang An's opponent to his left was Sun Nian. After Wang An shuffled the cards and Sun Nian cut the cards, Wang An began dealing the cards.

At this moment, Wang An's action of dealing cards seems normal, but if you record Wang An's action and then slow it down 10 times, you will find that when Wang An deals cards to himself, Wu Dong and Wang Shuai, it looks like he is taking the cards from the top of a stack of cards, but in fact Wang An is taking the cards from the bottom.

With Wang An's fast hand speed, no one noticed anything amiss, and Wang An finished dealing the cards.

Wang An's next player was He Liang, so after Wang An dealt the cards, He Liang spoke first.

He Liang didn't even look at his cards before betting 2 cents. Wang Shuai also bet 2 cents, followed by Wu Dong, Ma Guoqiang, Zhang Shuya, and Sun Nian, who was Wang An's opponent to the left. They all bet 2 cents.

Wang An silently paid two cents, and then it was He Liang's turn to speak again.

He Liang picked up the playing cards, glanced at them, and casually tossed in 5 cents. Wang An knew that He Liang had a pair of Queens, so his hand wasn't too bad. He tossed in 5 cents to test the waters.

There's no way around it; the essence of this game, "Zha Jin Hua," lies in the word "deception." If you don't even use Q, you're pretty much doomed.

As soon as He Liang glanced at the cards, Wu Dong immediately picked up the cards on the table and looked at them as well. Then, He Liang said calmly:

"5 points."

Wang An wanted to laugh, but he didn't, because he knew that Wu Dong's hand was a "land dragon," which was an Ace, 2, and 3 of a different suit.

The "Earth Dragon" hand, assuming no three-of-a-kind is played, is second only to the "Heavenly Dragon" (a non-suited Queen, King, Ace), along with a pure suit and a straight flush. In a 7-player game, it's considered a very strong hand. Wu Dong looked at his cards, and Wang Shuai, as his partner, naturally had to look at his as well. After looking at his cards, Wang Shuai chuckled and said:

"Five cents." As he spoke, Wang Shuai tossed five cents into the pile of money.

Wang Shuai's hand is a pure suit, with the highest card being a King, which is higher than Wu Dong's "Earth Dragon". If no three-of-a-kind comes out, it is second only to a pure suit starting with an Ace and a "Diamond Chain".

Wang Shuai came down, and it was Ma Guoqiang's turn. Ma Guoqiang pretended to hesitate for a moment before picking up the cards and casually throwing in 1 cents.

Ma Guoqiang had a terrible hand, with his highest card being a 10. Logically, he should have folded, but instead he didn't. He not only called but also raised the stakes, clearly trying to mislead the other side.

Since becoming the director, Zhang Shuya's personality has become much more stable than before. So when Ma Guoqiang put down 1 cent, Zhang Shuya looked at her cards and immediately folded them, leaving 6 players at the table.

When it was Sun Nian's turn, he didn't even look at his cards and immediately bet 4 points.

At this point, Sun Nian's decision to remain silent and not look at his cards was no longer of much value. Although Texas Hold'em is all about bluffing, with so many players already looking at their cards, others were no longer afraid to bluff.

To put it bluntly, they have their eyes open. Do you think they're afraid of you going blind?

Moreover, playing blind cards relies entirely on luck, and the probability of drawing a high-ranking hand is extremely small.

So it's quite obvious that Sun Nian isn't very good at the game.

Sun Nian's next player is Wang An. Wang An knows what cards he has, so he simply flips over the top two cards and places them on the table.

These two cards are a King of Clubs and a Jack of Clubs.

If the unrevealed card is the Queen of Clubs, then Wang An's hand is a solid straight flush, which is the highest possible hand in Texas Hold'em, except for three-of-a-kind and QKA straight flushes.

Of course, even if it were any other club, Wang An's hand would be about the same as Wang Shuai's, or even better, because the second highest card in Wang An's hand is Jack, while the second highest card in Wang Shuai's hand is 9.

A flush of K and J is definitely bigger than a flush of K and 9.

However, if the third card is of a suit other than clubs, Wang An's hand will instantly become the smallest hand on the table.

Of course, Wang An dealt the cards that way on purpose, because only in this way could he arouse the gambling instincts of Wu Dong and Wang Shuai.

After all, according to the odds of playing cards by suit, the probability of Wang An's unrevealed card being a club is only 25%, while the probability of it being any other suit is as high as 75%. Therefore, the probability of Wang An losing this hand is extremely high.

Although he had only seen two cards, it still counted as seeing the cards, so Wang An couldn't stay silent any longer. He glanced down at them and said with a sly grin:

“I’m betting the last card will be a club, hehehehehe, and a dime.” As he spoke, Wang An threw a dime into the pile of money.

It has to be said that Wang An's laughter is really awful.

(End of this chapter)