Chapter 60: Bets On I (1/2)

A straight and a pair.

No, no...

I tapped on the last pair three and clicked discard.

I looked at the words at the bottom.

First.

I put my phone down and looked up at the teacher, a middle-aged lady droning on and on about some mathematical formulae.

Fatty, my roommate, tapped my shoulder from behind. ”'Fight the Landlord'?”

I smiled. ”Yeah. I haven't lost at all today.”

”Well, isn't that good luck? Another round when we get back?” he asked.

”We can start right now, why wait?” I responded.

”I mean a real game.” Fatty grinned.

I nodded. Why not? I had been winning the whole day.

I had faith in my luck that day.

”And we'll play with money,” Fatty added.

”Real money?” I asked doubtfully.

Gambling with real money was something I hadn't tried before.

”One dollar minimum. Rules remain the same,” Fatty continued.

I looked down at my phone and thought about it for a while.

I've bet so much more in those games so what harm could one real game do?

After school, we returned to our dorm area.

Fatty pulled me into our neighbors' room.

A huge stench welcomed us as we entered.

Must be that student who dislikes was.h.i.+ng his feet.

In the innermost corner, a skinny guy was lying on his bed and shaking his feet nonchalantly.

”Two games?” Fatty suggested.

The boy in the corner immediately perked up and looked at us. ”Golden flower or the cow?”

”My friend here only plays 'Fight the Landlord',” Fatty stated.

I nodded.

”Just learn then. It's easy. 'Fight the Landlord' is lame,” he replied, shooting me a glance.

The extremely unfriendly glance gave me gooseb.u.mps.

”Hey, I finally found someone whom you can play with, so just compromise, alright? Start with 'Fight the Landlord',” Fatty tried.

The skinny boy raised his brows before nodding. ”Alright, we'll get to know each other through this game.”

He took out a deck of old poker cards from under his bed.

The cards were so old that their corners were mostly opened up.

”Should I go get a new deck?” I asked.

”No need. This deck has sentimental value. I can't bear to throw it away,” he explained.

”Ignore him. Buying cards is a waste of time!” Fatty laughed.

Skinny Boy started shuffling and dealing the cards.

His hands moved fast and it didn't take long for him to finish dealing.

Even before Fatty received his cards, he shouted, ”s.n.a.t.c.h the Landlord!”

”I'll s.n.a.t.c.h,” I followed automatically.

”Take it then.” Skinny Boy let out a laugh.

I picked the card up.

I had three to six. A seven away from a straight.

The cards I picked varied largely but there just wasn't any seven.

”Deal the cards, Landlord,” Skinny Boy said, smiling.

”Wait. What's the rush?” I asked.

”All good cards?” Fatty grinned.

”Yeah. Pair three,” I called out.

During the first round, I was overpowered by the King twice.

Eight dollars.

Skinny Boy took out a pen and paper to record it down.

In the second round, he s.n.a.t.c.hed the landlord.

I had no seven.

My cards weren't bad since I had three pairs and should've been able to clear them all.

However, toward the end, my teammate, also Fatty, slipped a single card to Skinny Boy.

I was trapped.

Skinny Boy cleared all his cards smoothly over a few rounds.

I shot Fatty an irritated glance.

”What are you doing?”

He smiled sheepishly. ”I thought you had nothing so I...”

I only shook my head in response.

”Still wanna play?” Skinny Boy asked.

There was something fishy going on.

”Play.”

I picked my cards up. Lousy.

Over the next ten over rounds, I won some but lost more.