Seeing Sister Liu go all-in, Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao naturally had no reason to raise further and each chose to call and reveal their cards.
Sister Liu had a high card with a King.
Qin Yao had a pair of Queens.
Lin Sizhi had a high card with a Jack.
[Player's chips are exhausted, please leave the table.]
Watching the mechanical arm sweep all the chips on the table in front of Qin Yao, Sister Liu left the poker table feeling a bit listless.
But she had no complaints.
Looking at the chips in front of her, Qin Yao couldn't help but feel invigorated: "Great! I finally won a round!"
In this round, she earned 19,000 points, which was simply an incredible number.
However, when she glanced over at Lu Xinyi, Qin Yao felt a slight unease in her heart.
Because Lu Xinyi's lips slightly turned upwards, as if she didn't care much.
Lin Sizhi looked at her: "It's now two against three, and you can still laugh?"
Lu Xinyi shook her head slightly: "You should worry about yourself first, do you only know how to bluff?
"Count your chips, see how many more rounds you can play."
Clearly, Lu Xinyi's confidence came from the depth of the chip pool.
She and Lv Mingxuan still had plenty of chips, enough to handle the upcoming games leisurely.
On the other hand, after losing two big rounds, Lin Sizhi had lost a full 13,000 points in chips.
Even if he sold blood, Lin Sizhi could only get four or five thousand points in chips at most, how many more rounds can he last with this approach?
...
"Tick tock."
"Tick tock."
The countdown on the big screen was still ticking, with 21 minutes remaining.
The game had now reached the seventh round.
The young guy to the right of Qin Yao had exhausted his chips in the last round and was forced to leave, leaving the remaining four players with mixed outcomes.
This was an inevitable result because he held the fewest chips.
With Lin Sizhi's constant reckless raising, he either didn't follow and wasted his ante, or followed and was harvested by Lu Xinyi or Lv Mingxuan, but after struggling through a few rounds, he still had to leave the poker table.
But clearly, the worst loser wasn't him, it was Lin Sizhi.
Because Lin Sizhi continued with his previous strategy, after seeing the cards, he always mindlessly bet at least 4000 points, and then followed with reckless calls.
It's just that the time spent thinking after seeing the cards became longer and the willingness to raise gradually diminished.
So far, he had lost nearly 40,000 chips.
Among these, more than 10,000 were won by Qin Yao, and the remainder was split between Lu Xinyi and Lv Mingxuan.
Watching the pile of chips grow higher in front of her, Lu Xinyi finally felt a sense of relief.
As the chips shifted more in her favor, the possibility of Lin Sizhi making a comeback was rapidly diminishing.
Once Lin Sizhi's chips were exhausted, in the next three rounds, she and Lv Mingxuan would be two against one.
At that time, they would have an absolute advantage and would definitely make Qin Yao return her winnings with interest.
At that time, for Qin Yao, her only choice would be to give up and lose three rounds' ante.
This round, Lv Mingxuan was the dealer, after looking at his cards, he chose to raise.
It was Lin Sizhi's turn.
"I've been unlucky for six rounds, isn't it time for my luck to change?"
He sighed silently, picked up the cards on the table listlessly, and took a glance.
Then, his eyes instantly brightened.
But soon, Lin Sizhi's expression returned to calm, even with a hint of worry.
After hesitating for a full minute, just as the countdown was about to end, he finally took out his right hand from his pocket and slammed 6 pieces of 2000-point chips on the table.
"Raise!!"
Qin Yao looked at him, considered for a moment as well, then carefully selected from the chips she had won in front of her, and placed 13,000 points in chips.
"I raise too."
Lv Mingxuan's brow twitched, somewhat shocked.
Because this time the amount of chips was indeed a bit intimidating to him.
More importantly, in their estimate, Lin Sizhi had at most a bit over 40,000 chips, but now, the total amount of chips Lin Sizhi had placed was already over 50,000.
This had completely exceeded their initial expectations and disrupted their judgment.
The countdown on the table continued ticking, and with only a minute, it was challenging to make a quick decision.
Luckily, it wasn't him who needed to decide now.
Lv Mingxuan looked over at Lu Xinyi, but found that Lu Xinyi's lips were out of control curling up.
Couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Your acting at the critical moment is just too poor. Are you putting on a show for me?"
Lu Xinyi quickly counted 13,000 points from the chips on the table and then bet them.
"I bet you're bluffing.
"And, your pockets should be empty, with no chips left."
Lu Xinyi stared intently into Lin Sizhi's eyes.
Lin Sizhi did not meet her gaze but looked at the countdown on the table: "Why do you think I'm bluffing?"
Lu Xinyi smiled: "Because people are prone to path dependence.
"At the tensest, most critical moments, people often choose the strategy they are most skilled at and instinctively prefer.
"It's quite obvious you're a player who likes to bluff, and rather stubbornly so.
"After failing to bluff the first time, you'll immediately continue with a 'blind spot' mindset for the second and third bluffs.
"Most players would indeed be easily intimidated by you, especially since you can throw out hefty chips without a change in expression, breaking through the opponent's psychological defenses, which is truly an excellent gambler's quality.
"If you manage to scare me in this round, then in every remaining game, I would be at a psychological disadvantage.
"But unfortunately, you neglected a crucial factor: the depth of the chip pool.
"You're trying hard to create an illusion, as if your chip pool is infinitely deep, as if it's easy for you to pull out tens or even hundreds of thousands of chips from your pocket, making your opponents feel as if 'our chip pools are not on the same level,' thereby continuously building fear.
"And when you irrationally throw out a large number of chips exceeding expectations, most people would feel they misjudged. It's hard to make a quick call within a minute.
"Moreover, you even made a deliberate show while looking at your cards, revealing a 'contradictory' stance.
"This will exacerbate the opponent's doubts, no matter if they think your hand is big or small, it will only make their thinking more confused.
"But unfortunately, I won't consider those issues.
"Because in this game, there's a limit to drawing blood, and there's also a limit to exchanging chips.
"Drawing 400ML is the safety line, 600ML is the limit, and 800ML carries a high risk of death.
"Since your chip pool can't be infinitely deep, then this last all-in must be a bluff.
"And as luck would have it... my luck in this round happens to be pretty good, so I decided to see it through."
Lin Sizhi was silent for a moment: "But what if my hand is even better? After all, my luck in the previous six rounds was very bad, isn't it time for a lucky break?"
Lu Xinyi laughed: "Learn some probability theory. Each hand is an independent event; the truth is there's no such thing as a luck conservation law."
In the meantime, Lv Mingxuan's thinking time ended, he had already folded, and Lin Sizhi's thinking time only had the last few seconds left.
Lin Sizhi, with a calm expression, reached into his suit pocket again.
"Is that so? Then what if... my hand really is great, and my chip pool really is infinitely deep?"
He grabbed something from his pocket and then lightly placed 3 chips worth 1,000 each in the betting area.
"Raise, 3,000."
Qin Yao also silently bet 3,000: "I raise too."
Clearly, Qin Yao was only coordinating with Lin Sizhi, betting a raise of 1,000 to ensure they weren't forced to show their cards.
Lu Xinyi's expression froze, clearly a little surprised by the 3,000 chips.
But she quickly recovered, sighing with a bit of helplessness and shaking her head: "Alright, you're quite good at squeezing out toothpaste, hiding those chips.
"Are you planning to stall for time?
"If that's the case..."
Lu Xinyi once again took out 5 chips worth 2,000 each from the chips in front of her.
"I'll raise another 10,000."
To Lu Xinyi, 10,000 was an amount that Lin Sizhi absolutely couldn't squeeze out any more of.
His only option now would be all-in, show his cards.
However, Lin Sizhi once again reached into his pocket, and after some searching, pulled out another 4 chips worth 2,000 each.
"Raise."
Lin Sizhi's bets with 3,000 points and 8,000 points each were just 1,000 more than Lu Xinyi's.
Lu Xinyi was stunned; she couldn't comprehend where these chips were coming from at all.
Lin Sizhi's suit pocket seemed like a cornucopia with unlimited chips; no matter how many times he reached in, he could always pull out chips.
And worse, Lin Sizhi's chips were always just 1,000 more than Lu Xinyi's.
This meant that if Lu Xinyi folded now, she would never see what Lin Sizhi's hand was, and all the chips she'd thrown in would go to waste.
But if she continued to call, Lu Xinyi couldn't guess how many more chips Lin Sizhi could still produce, while also needing to stake more of her own.
"No, calm down, even if Lin Sizhi still has chips, Qin Yao's chips shouldn't be many left either..."
And as long as Qin Yao ran out of chips and couldn't raise anymore, they would have to show their cards, and the true value of Lin Sizhi's hand would be revealed.
Yet the next moment, an unexpected scene unfolded for Lu Xinyi.
Qin Yao's chips on the table were completely insufficient, but she also reached into her pocket and pooled together 8,000 points worth of chips.
"Raise."