I gestured for him to show his cards. “Ladies first.”
His eyes immediately narrowed.
A slight chuckle rippled through the audience.
He turned over the cards and threw them down. It was an ace with a Goblin King and two fours.
I’d misjudged his bluff. It was a better hand than I’d thought it would be.
But mine was better. I turned over my cards, showing the War Hammer with the Elite Orc and the Vampire Fang. It would have been a stronger hand if combined with the other cards, but none of them was compatible. Nonetheless, it was a better hand than his.
The dealer pushed the chips to my side of the table. “Tabor is eliminated.”
When he rose from his seat, he kicked the table and made it jerk.
The guards at the door immediately rushed to him and forced him away from the table.
I smirked as I hoarded all the chips to myself. “Alright, ladies. Who’s next?”
* * *
Taking out the other players was easy now that my pile of chips was so high. I could afford more risks because of my financial stability. Could take the time to observe my opponents and search for a weakness in their game. Everyone had a tell, and it was only a matter of time before it was revealed.
Over the next hour, I took them out one by one, leaving just me and some blond guy in the running. He had a nice pile of chips, and so did I. Fortunately, the deck had been shuffled in my favor, because I had a killer hand, but I didn’t shove my chips into the center in a rush. I played it cool, wanting him to put up his chips in arrogance.
And he fell for it, putting a large portion of his chips in the center.
It was a double bluff. I acted like a person with a bad hand pretending to have a good when I actually did have a good hand…it was complicated. I pushed my chips to match his.
Then he made the grave mistake of putting all his chips in the pile.
Idiot. I did the same, still having some chips left over because I had more than he did.
We stared at each other for a long moment before the dealer prodded us to show our hands.
He went first, showing the War Hammer with the Hurricane and a couple other cards.
It was a good hand—but not good enough.
I put mine down, three aces with the Black Dragon, the Goblin Queen, and the Bloody Dagger.
His jubilant face immediately turned crestfallen.
I smirked and watched the dealer push the pile of chips across the table toward me. “Fang is the winner of this match.”
I grabbed one of the chips and flicked it up into the air before I caught it again. Alwaysss wanted to do that.
Congrats. But you still have a long way to go.
It’sss even more exciting than I thought it would be.
* * *
The other four winners of their matches moved to join my table. Drake was one of them, staring at me with the same hostility as before. There were two other guys…and a woman.
A very attractive woman.
I wanted to hold Drake’s gaze, but I also wanted to stare at the lovely woman who now sat across from me, her low-cut top showing a sexy line of cleavage that I could glide my dick through.