The Systemic Lands

Chapter 212: 501 (2) – That Kind Of Elites

“Welcome Champion Michael to the Crystal Casino,” a woman in a tight red dress greeted me inside the entrance to the casino.

“Thank you. I was told there was a poker game?” I asked.

“Of course, people have just sat down, would you like any refreshments before or during the game?” the hostess asked.

“Something a bit sweet to drink. Some finger foods wouldn’t be that bad either, but I want to sit down first,” I said.

“Of course. Please follow me. Your temporary deposit of 50,000 points arrived earlier. With the seating fee and refreshments, you have 48,000 points remaining. Would you like to sit down with all them?” the hostess asked.

“Yes. All of it,” I said.

“Of course.” I was soon seated at the table. My guards hovering the background. I looked at the six other people at the table. I didn’t recognize any of them.

I noticed that three of them were wearing yellow, purple, or blue. The three colors representing the businesses of Purgatory. Two people were in green and had polished but worn armor on, from the Union. The last person was in gray. How interesting.

“Welcome Champion Michael, I am Clark, the owner of the Gray Duck,” the man in purple said.

“Well, since we are introducing ourselves, I am Melony, owner of Shi’s Salon,” a woman in yellow said.

“Jackson, I run the day to day of the Re-Sale and Enchantment store,” a man said in a gruff voice. He worked for Bob, since Bob was busy being President and he was in blue.

“Gonzo, team captain of one of the Union teams. Used to be part of the RMPF, but I wanted some more action and crystals,” the man ginned widely.

“Samantha, but you can call me Sam. A Union team summoner. Used to research alcohol, but this stupid place is headache inducing,” an older woman in green said.

“Um, well, I am Brad, not a bigshot like the rest of you. My friends wanted me to try my best here,” the man said. He was a card shark. His timid acting wasn’t fooling me. A bunch of newer people probably pooled their crystals so he could buy in.

My metal chips were brought out. I had the largest stack by far. The rest of the people had somewhere around 10 to 20 thousand. Only Brad had the bare minimum, confirming in my mind he was a sponsored card shark. If he lost, he probably would have a very hard time.

The dealer sat down and the began dealing cards. My turn came around. I looked at my cards. I had a king and a three, off suit. I smiled slightly. “Five thousand,” I said confidently, nuking the pot.

“A bit aggressive, right off the bat?” Sam said as she folded.

“If you aren’t winning you are losing. Also, I came here to gamble,” I said as everyone folded to me. I tossed my cards away without showing them. I only scooped a small plot compared to my bet, but I wanted to make it clear I wasn’t afraid to mix things up with my very deep stack.

I took a moment to admire the metal chips the casino was using. They couldn’t have been cheap to purchase individually from the store and they had coloration. It made me wonder what base item they were based off of. There was probably a lot of experimentation done to get them right. I noted a lot of small details that would be easily missed with the colors bled into each other.

“So, Michael, can I call you Michael?” Melony asked.

“Just for this poker game,” I said.

“Not for longer?” she asked.

“When you sit on the Immortal Council, then you can call me Michael any time you want to,” I replied.

“Is that even happening? It seems like you are the only person on it,” Clark asked.

“For now. It is only a matter of time. Level 4 monsters are no joke,” I replied. I got a queen and a ten this hand, suited hearts. I called the blind and there were no raises we went to the flop. It came out three, five, and a jack all different suits.

I ended up folding once someone bet. “So, is this what you regularly earn in a day? I can grind about 20k easily,” Gonzo spoke up. Someone was quite slow. No wonder he was gambling, he needed to earn points somehow, with how slow he was.

“Don’t scare off the Champion. Until he leaves his chips behind,” Sam said.

“It will take quite a bit to scare me,” I replied.

“So, what is a level 4 monster like?” Clark asked.

“Death. Each time I have faced a level 4 monster, people have died. They are three steps up from a level 3 monster. Eventually someone will succeed in killing one or die trying,” I replied.

“Just lure them out, easy,” Sam replied as another hand was dealt. I shook my head at that.

“That won’t work. They have different behaviors, and you can aggro a group. That was why Gertrude died and Neo Brasilia was wiped out,” I replied.

“Always getting ahead of herself. May she rest in peace. But that lady, didn’t know when to slow down,” Gonzo said. I was dealt a ten and jack, different suits.

“Raise one hundred,” Brad said. He had folded the last couple of hands. He had something now. Like a shark, he sensed blood in the water. People folded and the action came to me. I looked over at him.

“Raise to five hundred all day,” I said calmly. This was why I should never gamble. I liked to be dramatic, when I needed to focus more on the math. For being very math focused, my head went out the window when gambling. I knew, but I didn’t care. I just loved the thrill, the action.

“Too rich for me,” Melony said and folded.

“You two can duke it out, have fun,” Clark said and folded. The action went back to Brad.

“Call,” he said. There was a nervous tenor to his voice, but I suspected it was just good acting. The flop came out, it was king, nine, and a seven. No chance of a flush, but I had double gut shot to make a straight with an eight or queen. That meant eight cards, or sixteen percent chance of hitting them for the turn and river community cards.

Action was to Brad first. “Check,” he said and passed the action to me. Everyone was looking between us. I made to put some chips in the pot and then paused before I completed the action.

“Check,” I said back and grinned. I watched Brad as the next card came out, focusing on him. He leaned back slightly. I glanced at the card it was queen. I had the straight.

“Thousand,” Brad said and put a large portion of his chips into the pot. It was tempting to go all in, but I wanted all his chips.

“Raise to two thousand,” I replied and pushed in the required amount of chips. A much smaller portion of my stack compared to his. He looked at me and I just grinned. He looked at his stack, the pile in the middle of the table. Everyone else was quiet which was the proper poker etiquette.

Brad thought for over a minute and I let him. “Fold,” he finally said. Definitely a pro to make a call like that. “Nice hand,” he said.

“Thank you.” I scooped the chips towards me.

The evening wore on. My stack remained about even, but like I thought Brad began to take chips off other players. He was disciplined. My food and drink were brought out. I enjoyed eating while sitting at the table.

Most of the conversations weren’t very interesting and I got an occasional question. Nothing important, but everyone was focused on winning. This wasn’t the casual game I was treating it as, for these people at least. It was coming up on midnight and his stack was just a bit smaller than mine. I had some wins and losses, holding about even.

“Professional?” I asked Brad.

“What?”

“Did you play professionally back on Earth?” I asked.

“Ah, I was in some tournaments and sit-down games. Was thinking about making a living off playing poker when this happened,” Brad said. The cat was out of the bag, and everyone knew it. Another hand was dealt.

I smiled, since I finally had a monster, the first time tonight. I had pocket rockets. “Two hundred,” Melony raised. People folded and it came to Brad.

“Raise five hundred total,” he said. The action then came to me.

“One thousand five hundred,” I said. Melony looked at her cards one more time and folded. Now it was Brad and I left, and the action was to him.

“Call,” he said and put in another thousand chips. The flop came out ace, king, and ten with two hearts. Neither of my aces was a heart. The action was to Brad.

“Check,” he said. I smiled, since I had a set of three aces. It was the end of the night, and this was pocket change.

“All in,” I said. I grinned at Brad. He looked down at all his points and then at my large stack. He could double up or lose it all. He clearly had a hand, but a set of aces was the best hand besides a queen and a jack to make a straight. If he had that, he would have called me right away. Since he was hesitating that meant he had a good hand, but it wasn’t beating me currently. My grin got wider.

He checked his hand again and let out a long sigh. Then he looked at me. He was clearly in a tough spot. “Call,” he finally said. I flipped my cards, showing the set. He winced as he flipped up an ace and a queen, with the queen being hearts. He had a high pair with the last ace, and a gut shot straight draw.

“Nice hand,” he said with a sigh. I was the heavy favorite to win with my set. The turn card came out and it was a two of hearts. He had a flush draw now. “Come on heart, come on,” I heard him mutter loudly. The last card came out. It was a five of hearts. Brad had won with runner, runner to make a flush. It took me a moment to process what had just happened.

“Yes!” he shouted and stood up. I just smiled slightly and shook my head while leaning back in my chair. The dealer began moving large stacks of chips from my side of the table to Brad’s side. I was left with a bit over thousand.

“The rest is a tip,” I said to the dealer. I hadn’t been tipping during the game, and after that last hand I was done. If I kept playing I would just be throwing away points.

“Thank you sir! Buying back in?” I shook my head. “Then have a nice night Champion Michael,” the dealer said.

“It was fun everyone, good luck Brad,” I said. After some quick goodbyes, I left the Crystal Casino. It had been a fun evening. I blew through a large number of points. Large for other people, not large for me. That was the difference, those people gambled to make money. I did it for an evening of fun, since I knew I was a terrible gambler.

It didn’t matter that the last hand was a bad beat. My poor skill bled over into the cards themselves. Or it was more like I needed to optimize my performance over a long period of time to account for variance in outcomes. That was why my stack hadn’t increased over the entire game. At least one could lose in gambling but still survive, unlike the rest of the Systemic Lands.