The rest of the players were all looking at Jack and Emily once they had teleported back, in part because of the sudden appearance. But it was also because they were waiting on her since everybody else had already taken their turn.
Ava had her head propped up by her fist with a somewhat annoyed expression.
"Took you long enough."
Brian gave a small wave along with his usual gentle smile.
"Welcome back. Please take a look at your cards and decide whether to bet, call, or fold."
Emily looked left and right, still a little shaken up by the sudden teleportation. After a second, she regathered her bearings and looked at her cards.
They were an Ace of diamonds along with a 9 of clubs.
It wasn't the best hand but not the worst one. Still, her thoughts weren't really on the game. Despite picking up and looking at her cards, she was still in a daze. Eventually, Samantha let out a loud sigh.
"We don't got all day, girl. If you have a good hand then call, if you don't just fold. Or if you really just want to sit there and look like an idiot you should just fold now."
Brian let out a laugh, clasping his hands together.
"While she put it a bit harshly, it would be unfair to keep the others waiting any longer."
Emily nodded somewhat dumbly before folding, deeming her current state of mind unfit to play in this round.
"Alright..."
With the exception of her and Max, everyone else had put in the two chips to call.
To Jack, all of the cards that the players had were clear to him, as though they were actually face-up. Regardless of how possessively Nina held down her cards, or how warily Maverick held them close the cards were clear as day to him. The part of their hand that was blocking the card actually appeared translucent and in Maverick's case they popped out like a hologram to compensate for the fact he was hiding them away.
Along with that, he was able to see the next three cards as a projection above the deck.
In terms of the cards that the players had, they weren't the best hands but not the worst either. All of them had at least one face card with the exception of Samantha, who had a 5 of diamonds and a 3 of clubs.
However, she was forced into at least putting in two chips from the big blind. There wasn't much of a point to giving up on calling.
Varying degrees of confidence were on the player's faces. Samantha didn't look too swell. Leo seemed quite optimistic, though it seemed he would have that look even if he had the statistically worst hand.
It was noticeably silent as Brian dealt three cards for the Flop.
They were a 7 of diamonds, King of clubs, and 2 of spades.
Leo was the first to go. He had a queen of hearts and a 10 of clubs. In other words, he had literally no matches and not much hope for anything better than a high card. Yet, he confidently further put down three chips.
Jack's smile widened ever so slightly as he watched that.
In a flash, Samantha, Nina, and Victor had all folded. Only Maverick and Ava similarly put down three chips, taking it to the next round.
Unlike Leo, they both had a king.
Then, Brian dealt one more card for the Turn. It was a 4 of diamonds. Once again, it was Leo's turn and he further put down 4 chips, leaving him with only one left in reserve. This was despite the fact that he still didn't have a single match, nor a chance at anything other than a pair.
Ava was next, and couldn't help but hesitate. Her hand was quite good, with a King of hearts along with an Ace of hearts. However, this blatant confidence that Leo had was somewhat off-putting to her.
She raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.
"What? Got double diamonds and you're hoping for a flush? A gambling man, aren't you."
From her perspective, the first bet he made was likely because he had a King of some sort. Then, the second one would've been because that was a King of diamonds along with some other diamonds card.
Although it was only a one-in-a-quarter chance to be another diamonds, those weren't bad odds to bet on. If it really was a diamonds, there would be a total of five of the same suit including Leo's theoretical hand. That would make his hand a "Flush" which was one of the better hands in poker, out-ranking three of the same card.
While all those predictions were going on in Ava's mind, Maverick had a similar line of thinking.
However, it all fell short when he looked at his own hand, which contained the King of diamonds. Since that line of logic fell through, he believed that it wasn't a flush Leo had gotten, but rather a three-of-a-kind. While starting out with a pair, such as a set of 7's, the flop revealed to also have a 7.
A King high was the lowest tier of hand to have. On top of that, the King wasn't considered the best card. That was left for the Ace. Still, a King high was often enough to win most poker hands. After all, the exaggerated kinds of poker hands tended to only exist within film and similar media.
"Hmph. Bet you got a three-of-a-kind, don't you bud?"
Meanwhile, there wasn't a single thought going on in Leo's head. He continued to smile like a fool.
"Haha, I just have a feeling that everything will work out somehow."
In the end, those honest thoughts really shone through. Although he wasn't intentionally bluffing, that was just the reason why it worked so well.
In the end, Ava folded while clicking her tongue. And after that, Maverick did as well with a deep frown. The chips all promptly slid over to Leo, totaling up to twenty-six. In just a single round, he had already gotten over half of the chips required to win the game.
Brian gestured towards him after all the winnings were given.
"Would you like to reveal your hand or hide it?"
Leo blinked a few times, clearly confused.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Brian chuckled, laying out his palm and pointing his fingers at the cards in front of Leo.
"Since everyone else has folded, there is no need to reveal your hand. However, as the winner, there is still the option to do so if you wish. Of course, this is optional. After all, revealing your hand can potentially reveal your strategy, hence why most people don't do so."
Leo let out a laugh, waving his hand.
"Ah, if that's the case, then just reveal it! I don't want to be boring."
The cards turned over on their own revealing his Queen high. For a moment everyone was silent. Nina narrowed her brows rather intensely, rubbing her eyes not once, but twice to make sure she was seeing correctly.
"You... made such a drastic bet when the best hand you could've gotten after the River was a pair of Queens? Forcing a bet of 9 total chips when everyone has 10 would normally be because you have such a good hand that you wanted others to bet as much as they were willing, but not force them over the edge."
Leo shrugged his shoulders before pointing at a cartoon raccoon pin that was carried on his shirt pocket.
"I don't know. I was feeling confident because I had my lucky raccoon charm with me. So when it was time to bet, I made a bet that was bigger than the other one. Then I did it again after."
Maverick let out a laugh, placing one hand on the table as he leaned back.
"Huh. That's the kind of strategy that comes from someone who doesn't know how to play... but the rules were displayed to all of us. Did you not read it?"
In response, Leo once again shrugged his shoulders. Ava pinched her nose bridge and let out a sigh.
"Looks like I really overestimated the people here. I suppose incorrect judgment is still my fault in the end..."
Victor crossed his arms and scoffed.
"It's just a trick. In the end, that's the kind of thing that only works once."
He appeared to be saying that more to show he agreed with Ava rather than actually caring himself.
Jack clapped a few times with a somewhat mischievous smile on his face.
"I think that was really cool!"
Leo responded by holding out a thumbs up at him.
"Thank you!"
Brian began shuffling the deck. As he did so, his smile widened ever so slightly while looking at Jack, seemingly his method of winking considering his eyes were closed. Before the cards were even dealt, Jack saw each person's hand displaying next to them. He even saw the five cards that were to be dealt at the center.
And he ended up swapping one of those cards in favor of a 7 of diamonds.
Considering that Emily had a 7, it was clear what his intentions were.
"Wait a second... I saw that."
Though Maverick didn't seem all too pleased about it.