In the first round, Jose just won 1 Million Pesos. An amount that even he himself can't normally get, and in just a flash, he got it!!! In this round, he still has 2 Hands to play. The Three Of A Kind and the Two Pairs.

Normally, they should play the Three Of A Kind. Strike while the iron is still hot like they said. But...!!! Antonio doesn't think the same!

"1 Million Pesos is a really large amount, I admit that. But in this game, It's a petty amount. We're going to use the Two Pairs here and use our ace in the hole, Three Of A Kind, at the third round."

Antonio, once again, whispered something to Jose. Jose returned it with a nod and took his Two Pairs hand. After some time, Yanlei did the same too.

"1 Work Years..."

Jose mildly said and Yanlei immediately declared "Call!" After that, the showdown was once again done and the result was... another victory from Jose and Antonio!!! Yanlei's hand is just a Pair!

"Looks like It's not my day, huh?"

In just two minutes, 2 Million Pesos were thrown into their pockets. A whole 2 Million Pesos, just in two minutes!!!

"We can do this! We can defeat this guy and change our lives! We can do this!!!"

A sudden determination!!! This is what Antonio just felt! As if a raging fire who just got lit!

"Now, there's no need for a strategy meeting, we only have one hand left and that's the only thing we can play."

Jose didn't hesitate and immediately took the last hand, the same for Yanlei. Like a broken tape, Jose said it once again.

"1 Work Years..."

"Call!"

And the showdown has begun once again... with a stunning victory once again! In just approximately three minutes, they've got 3 Million Pesos! An amount that even a commoner would be dreaming for!

With that, the first phase just ended and the machine started to shuffle the cards again. But...!!! Antonio just noticed something ominous!

"Wait a minute, why is he calling Jose's bet if his hands are trash? It's normal for him to fold, isn't it?"

A bad omen!!! Antonio felt that something is not right! Something is not falling to the right places! As if a puzzle with wrong shapes, they're not fitting in!!! Thus, the second phase started!!!

+++++

After a minute for the machine to shuffle, it was given to Yanlei and Jose two by two. After a little bit of time, Jose got his first 15 cards!!! He flipped the first 5 and saw this shape:

J♥, Q♦, 6♣, 8♥, 5♦

"A High Hand... but It doesn't matter. We have a Jack and a Queen if there's a King, 10, and an Ace at that fifteen cards... we will get a Royal Flush!"

Antonio said to himself. For now, he disregarded the odd feeling that he felt and focused on the game. Jose flipped the second 5 of cards and It resulted in this shape:

A♠, 4♣, 5♥, 7♣, 9♠

"At least, we've got an Ace. We just need a King and a 10 to build it."

Another 5 cards were flipped by Jose and It took this shape:

4♦, 8♣, 2♦, 10♠, K♣

"Yes! We've got a Royal Flush! The strongest straights! Now, we just need to combine the other three cards."

Jose did what Antonio thought of and removed the Royal Flush in the pile. Then, he tried to combine the remaining 10 cards and see if they could have something. The three hands resulted in this:

10♠, J♥, Q♦, K♣, A♠

5♥, 5♦, 8♣, 8♥, 9♠

4♦, 4♣, 2♦, 6♣, 7♣

"We've got a Royal Flush but the rest was pale in comparison. At least, we've got Two Pairs and It's enough for a bluff."

Yanlei finished arranging his hands too and took one hand for the play.

"For now, we shouldn't use the Royal Flush. We should use the Two Pairs, first."

Antonio whispered those words to Jose and he immediately understood, he nodded as a signal that he understood what he said. He took the Two Pairs hand and said those words again...

"1 Work Years..."

"Raise! 2 Million Pesos!"

A Raise!!! A case where the stakes will skyrocket even though the ante was just low! Their ultimate weakness!!!

"This is bad! It's good that Yanlei just kept the Raise to 2 Million Pesos! If he raised to something like 5 Million... either we will fold or call the same amount with 5 Work Years... Plus, he just called a Raise, which means he's confident with his hand. We should Fold for now and pay back his money."

Jose nodded at Antonio's words and immediately declared Fold. He took the 1 Million in his table and threw it to Yanlei. After that, both of them dropped their hands and... Yanlei's hand was a...High Hand!

END OF CHAPTER 15