"Alright." Xu Xiaoyou said, "Supervisor Tao really picked my strong suit."

"That's for the best." Tao Lin replied, "I expect the upcoming game will be quite enjoyable."

"May I ask if something has happened, to warrant the casino manager's personal involvement?"

"Not at all, I'm just very interested in you personally." Tao Lin lifted his gaze. "I'd like to make friends with you."

Angelina kicked Xu Xiaoyou under the table and whispered:

"How do we play this?"

Xu Xiaoyou blinked.

Angelina understood the meaning behind her gaze.

—"Go with your instincts."

The rules of Texas Hold'em are similarly simple, it's also about comparing levels, but unlike Blackjack where you compare the total points, Texas Hold'em compares the rank of card hands.

With two hole cards and five community cards, the rankings from high to low are:

Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and finally High Card.

If no hand can be formed, it's High Card, comparing the largest single card within the hand.

Simply put the rules,

If the opponent holds a pair of 99, and we can't form any hand, the opponent wins.

If the opponent holds a pair of 99, and we have a hand of 1010, we win.

If the opponent holds a pair of 99, and we also have 99, the bigger remaining single card wins.

If both the hand type and the highest single card are the same, it's a draw and the pot is split.

Soon the dealer began dealing cards.

Tao Lin took the first turn to be the dealer.

The hole cards and three community cards were dealt to the table.

In the surveillance room, the voice of a blonde girl echoed, the monitoring underling glanced at the hastily running dog-headed supervisor.

"What is Manager Tao doing?"

"No matter what, we must let Manager Tao win." The dog-headed man caught his breath.

"Our BOSS is here."

"BOSS?" The underling was taken aback, pointing to the blonde girl in the screen, "Boss, are you saying that person is our BOSS?"

He had heard of the casino's enigmatic BOSS, but that's all it was—a legend. From the time he started working, the highest-ranking person he'd ever seen was Manager Tao.

"The BOSS once said, if she suddenly bursts into the casino, unfamiliar with everything yet exuding inexplicable confidence, then she's had an episode. Whatever happens next, make sure to humiliate her, and it's best if she loses every penny."

"Is the BOSS...?" The underling pointed at his head, "Is there a problem here?"

"You could say that." The dog-headed man nodded, "Intermittent personality disorder; right now she's not our BOSS but someone called 'Princess,' who thinks she's a server at the Night Rose Sea venue. Anyway, don't let her win openly, but secretly take care of her, and send her back safely."

"So, what's the BOSS worried about?" The underling spread his hands, "Wouldn't two minds make things more efficient?"

"Who knows, maybe she's worried this 'Princess' might exceed her control?"

"Did you turn the machines on?"

"All on, boss."

...

The first round of community cards revealed a Black Spade 4, Black Spade 7, and Club J.

Xu Xiaoyou picked up her hole cards, a Club 3 and a Heart 5.

Angelina didn't look at her cards.

Her instinct told her.

No matter what her hand was, as long as Xu Xiaoyou raised, she would follow.

"Raise." Xu Xiaoyou said, flicking two 5000￥ chips into the pot.

"Raise." Angelina followed suit without a thought, tossing in two gold chips.

The surrounding onlookers laughed and murmured, Angelina treated it like dog barks, ignoring it.

"Call."

"Call."

Tao Lin and the deputy manager both chose to call, the pot accumulated to 40,000￥.

Everyone chose to call, and the fourth community card was dealt.

—Heart Q.

In the control room, the dog-headed supervisor observed the expressions of the four at the table, except for the deputy manager's changing expression, the other three were as still as ancient wells.

If there was a type of person naturally suited for Texas Hold'em, it's not the old tactician or the math prodigy, but the person with a poker face.

If others can't read your expression, you always have the potential to hold the best hand at the table on some level, making everyone pause before raising.

"Raise." Xu Xiaoyou tapped the table and tossed another 5000￥ chip onto the table.

"Call." Angelina scratched her head and said.

"Your style seems very conservative." Tao Lin glanced at Xu Xiaoyou, eyes calm like a piece of dimly glowing green jade.

"It's the first round, gotta warm up the hand, going big from the start isn't fun." Xu Xiaoyou replied.

"Raise." Tao Lin tossed out two 5000￥ chips.

"Raise." The deputy manager surveyed the situation and silently threw out three 5000￥ chips.

"Call." Xu Xiaoyou matched with two more chips.

Angelina didn't understand what these guys were up to, just scratched her head, looked left, looked right, and decided to continue following her instincts.

"I will call too!"

Even though she hadn't even looked at her hole cards, she believed in her instincts, shouting with more confidence than anyone!

"Good job, Anya!"

"Stay spirited, don't lose face, Anya!"

"Don't go stirring up trouble, she's truly daring enough to go crazy with the Dark Gold Rose!"

"Does she really know what she's playing?"

"Let's hope so."

Barrage of comments scrolled across.

The second round finished, the pot accumulated to 100,000￥.

The fifth community card was dealt.

—Black Spade 6.

In the surveillance room, the dog-headed supervisor gave an ambiguous grin, so sinister that it sent a shiver down his underling's spine.

Even though Xu Xiaoyou only revealed the corner of her cards when checking, the machine still analyzed her two hole cards, a Club 3 and a Heart 5. The current community cards were Black Spade 4, Black Spade 7, Club J, Heart Q, Black Spade 6.

Currently, Xu Xiaoyou had a mixed suite straight of 34567, already considered a significant hand with an expected winning probability of almost sixty percent. In this situation, choosing to raise would be the correct choice.

However, the cards dealt to Tao Lin were a Black Spade A and a Black Spade 8.

Black Spade A, Black Spade 8, Black Spade 4, Black Spade 7, Black Spade 6.

The hand was a flush in Black Spades, bigger than the straight.

As long as Xu Xiaoyou chose to raise, she'd lose all the chips in this round.

For her, they didn't hope to take all her chips in one round, but rather to slowly erode them away without arousing suspicion until her chips were exhausted.

Under the watchful eyes of the five surrounding the table,

"I choose..."

Looking at the five community cards on the table, and the hand formed with her two hole cards, Xu Xiaoyou stood tall, her gaze swept from the ceiling above her, and her calm mouth slowly curved upward.

"Raise."