Super Soldier in the City
Chapter 609 - 628: A Rookie

Chapter 609: Chapter 628: A Rookie

Cao Bin gave Li Yifei a detailed explanation of the rules, and Li Yifei listened very carefully, frequently asking questions—his demeanor suggested that he truly had never played Golden Flower Poker before. Sun Dongran appeared impatient, but at this time, he didn’t want to give the excuse that Li Yifei’s loss could be blamed on unfamiliarity with the rules. Therefore, he grudgingly waited for Cao Bin to finish explaining to Li Yifei.

Finally, the explanation was over, and everyone started to play.

A deck of poker cards was prepared, the two jokers removed, followed by taking turns dealing cards as the house. Cao Bin was the house for the first round, and after dealing the cards, Sun Dongran, sitting to his right, instantly tossed out a thousand chip without even glancing at his cards.

Then it was Song Tianwei’s turn. He matched the thousand, and Wang Shiying did likewise. For the first round, everyone chose to see their cards directly—it would look too stingy not to.

When it was Li Yifei’s turn, he picked up his cards to take a look, with Xu Shanshan and Su Mengxin both leaning over to look with him. Li Yifei asked, "Can I follow with these cards?"

Xu Shanshan shook her head and said, "I don’t know, but it seems like a pair isn’t very strong."

Su Mengxin smiled and said, "You decide."

Li Yifei hesitated for a moment, then took a thousand chip and said, "Then I’ll try following once."

Sun Dongran immediately glared at him and said, "We didn’t look at our cards, but you did. If you want to follow, you have to put in two thousand."

"Two thousand, huh... then I won’t follow." Li Yifei said and tossed his cards out, revealing a pair of eights.

Such a hand in Golden Flower Poker isn’t considered very strong, but it was still worth a try. After all, the chance to get a big hand isn’t frequent, and often a small pair can take the win.

By folding, Li Yifei convinced Sun Dongran and Cao Bin that he truly couldn’t play, and that this fellow was also very cautious. To win his money, they’d have to slowly set him up.

Without Li Yifei following, the others seemed to lose interest, checking their cards in succession. Sun Dongran followed again, Song Tianwei did the same, but Wang Shiying and Cao Bin folded. Ultimately, Song Tianwei spent two thousand to look at Sun Dongran’s cards.

Sun Dongran only had high-card Ace, while Song Tianwei had a pair of fives.

Li Yifei’s eyes widened as he said, "A pair of fives can win, so wouldn’t my pair of tens have been the biggest?"

Sun Dongran disdainfully curled his lip, "It’s your own fault for being such a dimwit."

Cao Bin laughed and said, "Playing this game, even a small pair is already quite a good hand. You could have easily followed for two rounds; the odds of winning would have been high."

Li Yifei looked earnestly teachable as he responded, "Got it, got it. Let’s continue."

In the next two rounds, Li Yifei’s cards were terrible. He checked them and then immediately threw them away. Losing only the ante of one hundred each time, he then eagerly watched the others bet against each other. When they raised the stakes, he became impatient, wanting to see who had the better hand, acting every bit the novice.

It wasn’t until the sixth round that Li Yifei, after checking his cards, hesitantly followed for the first time. Since he followed, his hand obviously contained at least a decent pair. Therefore, the others picked up their cards too, with Cao Bin even saying with a laugh, "Brother-in-law, you’ve been folding so much that by following now, you clearly have at least a pair. If I continued without checking, I’d basically be handing you my money. Better check, ah yes, wisely so. I fold."

Wang Shiying and Song Tianwei also discarded their hands, but Sun Dongran casually threw out five thousand and said, "I’ll raise five thousand."

Li Yifei’s eyes widened as he stared at Sun Dongran, then looked at Xu Shanshan and Su Mengxin, both of whom were uncertain. Li Yifei bit his lip and said, "If you dare to follow me with so much, you must have a big hand. I’ll fold my small pair; I won’t follow you."

Cao Bin sighed and said, "Man, you get scared too easily. How could you not follow with that hand? Golden Flower Poker, Golden Flower Poker, it’s all about bluffing. If you get bluffed so easily, how can you play?"

Li Yifei said with confusion, "Really? He could follow me like that without any cards?"

Sun Dongran laughed and proudly flipped his cards over, saying, "Let me show you, just so you lose convincingly."

When Li Yifei saw the three cards, the highest was only a nine. They were neither a flush nor a straight. Even among high cards, this was about as low as it could get, whereas he had a pair of queens. "Ah! So that’s how you can play! Okay, okay, I get it now. It’s all about the bluff."

Li Yifei gritted his teeth in annoyance and said, "If only I had known, I would have followed."

Xu Shanshan nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, next time you should follow."

Su Mengxin then lovingly said, "Honey, let’s not be afraid of him, let’s just gamble with them."

Sun Dongran felt incredibly irked watching Xu Shanshan and Su Mengxin getting cozy with Li Yifei. He had already proclaimed Xu Yingying as his woman within their circle, so the usual young masters from Mile City didn’t hassle Xu Yingying, and Sun Dongran had long regarded Xu Yingying as his own. Now that Li Yifei had snatched her away, a person like him couldn’t stand it. So he immediately mocked, "It’s all about guts, and if you don’t have the courage or the skill, why should you compete with me?"

Li Yifei waved his hand dismissively and said, "Cut the crap, let’s go again."

In the next two rounds, Li Yifei didn’t follow much on the cards. However, in the third round, he did follow, and it was Cao Bin he duelled against. After following for two rounds, Li Yifei doubled the bet to compare cards with Cao Bin.

When the cards were revealed, Cao Bin only had a pair of fives, while Li Yifei had a small straight with five-six-seven. Li Yifei excitedly scooped up the chips and chuckled, "Finally won a round."

Sun Dongran looked at Li Yifei as if he were an idiot and said, "Kid, you get a straight and you check the cards after just two rounds? That’s just stupid."

Seeing Li Yifei’s confused expression, Cao Bin laughed and said, "With such cards, you could’ve followed for a few more rounds. That way you could’ve won more. Otherwise, look at the bets placed here. You followed for two rounds and then doubled your bet to see my cards. It seems like a lot of chips, but in total, I only followed for two rounds, which is just two thousand bucks."

Li Yifei immediately felt annoyed again and said, "That’s true; most of the money here is my own."

Cao Bin continued, "Right, if you have a decent hand, you should follow more. Think about it, the chips you used to check my hand could be used to follow me for another two rounds. Then, if I can’t resist checking your hand, wouldn’t I end up losing a lot more? Plus, by following for two additional rounds, I would guess that you have a strong hand and I would stop following. Without letting others know your cards, couldn’t you bluff? Even with a weak hand, if you follow for two rounds, others might easily be scared off."

Li Yifei nodded repeatedly, looking very receptive to the lesson. However, Wang Shiying and Song Tianwei both saw through it. Cao Bin was deliberately encouraging Li Yifei to be daring in following and bluffing so that he would bet more.

Seemingly having learned enough, Li Yifei grew more bold. In the next round, he followed the bet without checking his cards and put down a thousand bucks. Then, in the second round, he finally checked his hand.

Upon seeing his cards, everyone watched Li Yifei’s face. He only looked slightly excited, but Xu Shanshan’s face immediately revealed a smile, clearly indicating a good hand, and only then did Li Yifei follow the bet without changing his expression.

Sun Dongran also checked his cards and followed Li Yifei, while the others folded.

After following for three rounds, Sun Dongran finally doubled the bet to see Li Yifei’s hand. Li Yifei revealed his cards and said, "Flush."

Sun Dongran immediately looked relieved and said, "Good thing I checked, or I would have lost even more." Then he showed his cards—a small pair.

Li Yifei won close to ten thousand in that round, jubilantly celebrating his triumph. Xu Yingying and Su Mengxin also appeared very happy.

In the following rounds, Li Yifei seemed to play more proficiently. He even bluffed a round with a weak hand, acting exuberant as if he had a strong hand, and actually managed to scare the others off. This made Li Yifei laugh heartily with pride.

In this session, Li Yifei had won over thirty thousand and had become the clear winner.

But Sun Dongran and Cao Bin were secretly smirking. As veteran players, their main objective at the start was to observe their opponent’s habits and what tendencies they exhibited when holding certain cards.

When Li Yifei had a good hand, he had learned to deliberately hide his facial expression. However, when he landed strong hands like straights or flushes, his eyebrows would instinctively rise, indicating that his chances of winning were high, displaying slight excitement. If he caught a small pair, he would show slight tension since such a hand could lead to winning or losing money, making him feel uncertain. With no hand, he would either fold immediately or, if he tried to bluff, his little finger would involuntarily tremble.

Such subtle movements wouldn’t be noticed by most, but Sun Dongran and Cao Bin had caught on.

In the next few rounds, both men deliberately tested this hypothesis. Regardless of their own hands, one of them would always check Li Yifei’s cards at the end, even if it meant losing more money.

And their predictions turned out accurate—Li Yifei indeed showed similar behavior when he had such cards.

Now that Sun Dongran and Cao Bin had their clues, they waited for the right opportunity to take Li Yifei for a severe beating. Although they hadn’t made prior arrangements, their goal was the same: to make Li Yifei lose miserably. By then, they would have more ways to deal with Li Yifei.