"You don't believe me?
"Alright, then let me explain."
Lu Xinyi said unhurriedly, "It's obvious that the three of you are the 'conservative' type, the kind of people who, even when buying wealth management products from a bank, must have their principal and interest guaranteed and accept zero risk.
"I saw it from the very beginning. You resist gambling, you resist risk, which is why you chose this plan.
"And this is also evident from your chip counts.
"I pretended to ask casually before if your chips were around 18,000 points, and you tacitly agreed.
"This shows that when you exchanged for chips, you chose the lowest 20,000 tier and only gambled the minimum of two rounds before cutting your losses and pulling out.
"Since you are all extremely risk-averse, you definitely wouldn't dare to go all-in against me right now.
"In terms of mentality and chip count, we are not on the same level at all."
Qin Yao was a little surprised, "Chips? Weren't your chips 20,000?"
She had subconsciously assumed that everyone's initial chip count was around 18,000 points, unless someone got lucky with a good hand and won, but even then, it would only be a little over 20,000.
Lu Xinyi smiled, "Of course not. My starting chips were much more than you imagined.
"Moreover, the three of them will continue to lose their chips to me.
"The gap in our chip counts will only grow larger and larger. If you knew even a little about gambling, you'd know that the player with more chips holds an absolute advantage."
As she spoke, Su Xiucen had already timed out and folded.
Jiang He gritted her teeth and chose to call with 1,000.
To help Jiang He, Qin Yao also chose to call with 1,000.
The player from Community 3 to Qin Yao's right chose to raise, the next player folded, and Lu Xinyi raised again.
"I understand..."
When it was Jiang He's turn again, she looked at the timer on the table, and her whole demeanor seemed to collapse.
It was obvious that the players from Community 3 had already agreed on a strategy: two would consistently fold, and two would raise.
Why not have all four raise together?
Because if all four raised together, someone might quickly run out of chips and be forced out of the game early.
So Lu Xinyi's strategy was for only two of the four to raise. These two weren't fixed; rather, they would raise only when they felt their hand was strong.
The other two would fold to preserve their chips as much as possible.
Having two people raise could both preserve their side's best hand and allow them to keep raising without a showdown, creating maximum psychological pressure on Jiang He and the others.
If Jiang He and Qin Yao continued to call, Lu Xinyi and the other player from Community 3 would keep raising until everyone's chips were exhausted.
Without a strong enough hand, Jiang He and Qin Yao couldn't possibly go all-in like this. It was far beyond the limits of what they could psychologically handle.
If they were seasoned casino veterans, daring to take high risks and possessing strong acting skills, they might have found a way to break the situation.
But unfortunately, Jiang He, Qin Yao, and Su Xiucen were not such people; they were all risk-averse players.
Lu Xinyi had seen this from the very beginning, which is why she specifically chose this strategy to control them.
"Forget it, let's fold."
Jiang He and Qin Yao ultimately chose to fold, each losing 2,000 chips.
The game continued.
Qin Yao lowered her voice, "Sister Jiang He, we can't go on like this. We haven't even had a showdown yet. If we did, we wouldn't necessarily lose, right?"
Jiang He sighed softly, "But, without a strong enough hand, are you sure you can handle the risk of going all-in for a showdown?"
Qin Yao was at a loss for words. It was clear she couldn't.
Jiang He lowered her voice, "There's only one last way.
"There are still a few rounds left. If we can get a big hand, then we'll go all-in and try to win back the chips we lost.
"I refuse to believe that luck will never be on our side."
Qin Yao thought for a moment, "Then... what counts as a big hand?"
Jiang He considered for a moment, "To be sure of a win... I think we need at least a straight or better.
"After all, it looks like two of them are calling, but they're actually choosing the two best hands out of four. If our hand is just a pair, I'm afraid it's not safe enough."
Qin Yao nodded, "Understood."
Jiang He then leaned closer to Su Xiucen and said the same thing.
Lu Xinyi, of course, saw them whispering, but she didn't seem to care, simply continuing to deal, raise, and collect chips methodically.
Soon, eight rounds had passed, and the chips in front of Lu Xinyi were piling up into a small mountain.
The cards were dealt again. Jiang He flipped her cards over without any hope.
Then, her eyes instantly lit up, and her breathing became rapid.
A 3 of clubs, a 7 of clubs, and a Queen of clubs.
A Queen-high flush!
Although Jiang He hadn't played much poker and didn't know the exact probabilities, she knew this was definitely a very strong hand.
The probability of any of the other six people at the table having a better hand was very, very low.
"Calm down, calm down, I can't show it...
"And I can't raise too much at once, that would be too obvious. I'll call first, let them slowly raise..."
Jiang He lowered her gaze, putting on a dejected expression.
When it was her turn, Jiang He hesitated for a long time before taking a 1,000 chip from her stack and placing it in the betting area.
"I'll call this round."
However, in the next second, everyone folded.
Lu Xinyi smiled and tossed her cards onto the table, "Looks like your luck is good this round. Take these chips, you deserve them."
Jiang He's expression froze instantly.
The mechanical arm swept the chips in front of her, but looking at these few 1,000 chips, even though Jiang He had won, she felt worse than if she had lost.
It was as if the last string had snapped. Jiang He completely broke down.
Although she had been losing continuously, she still held a sliver of hope, thinking that if she could get a big hand and go all-in against them, she could win back everything she had lost.
Even though she didn't have many chips left and an all-in win would only net her a few thousand, that would have been enough.
But now she understood that she and Lu Xinyi were not opponents on the same level at all.
Her psychology had been completely figured out, and her clumsy acting couldn't fool anyone.
The final round began, but Jiang He, Qin Yao, and Su Xiucen were already dejected and completely helpless, only hoping for the game to end quickly.
They each looked at their hands; no miracle occurred this time.
They were all just ordinary mixed cards.
"Fold."
"Fold."
"Fold."
A smile appeared on Lu Xinyi's face as she once again won all the chips.
"Thank you for your hospitality. I hope we'll have the chance to visit you at Community 3 in the future."
Jiang He left the gambling table, crestfallen, and looked at her remaining chips—14,000.
Her luck had been good; she had won the pot of 6,000 chips in the round where she got the flush. If she hadn't won that round, she would only have 8,000 left.
Qin Yao and Su Xiucen's situations were even worse.
Su Xiucen had folded the entire time, but fortunately, she only lost the antes and still had 8,000 points left.
As for Qin Yao, who had raised with Jiang He once, she was left with only 7,000 points.
It was a complete and utter defeat.
The three of them together had lost a total of 26,000 points in chips. Converted into visa time, these chips were worth about 18 days.
Jiang He returned to the rest area in a daze and sat down on the sofa.
On the big screen, the game's countdown timer was still ticking.
1:02:59
1:02:58
Because everyone in this multiplayer game folded quickly, it had actually only taken about ten minutes, and there was still an hour of total game time left.
However, the three of them could do nothing during this time but wait.
But just then, the cubicle in the chip exchange area, which had been locked the whole time, actually opened.
"Huh?"
Qin Yao looked over, a little surprised.
Lin Si walked out of the cubicle, his left hand in his suit pocket, his expression calm as he surveyed the surroundings.