GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

CHAPTER 29

SINCE THE end of the sixth player’s turn, the speaker immediately showed up and announced the commencement of the next player’s individual play. “The seventh player who will play the individual play will be guided to the outside of the cottage by the guards who were already ulocking the door.” Paul immediately walked out of the cottage and gave Sandra a gaze that only both of them knows what the real meaning behind. After he looked at Sandra, he placed his gaze on Denton who just slightly nodding at him. Denton nodded, which he responded to with a nod too. “You can now give your cards to the dealer in the middle of the battefield.”

The dealer shuffled the card and so did Paul waited for his turn to play the game. With just one shuffle, he said yes and played the game immediately. “Open, pass,” the dealer asked him as she placed a card on the table, dealing with Paul who was playing at the moment. Paul shook his head, so the dealer resorted to disgarding that card and dealing to Paul with another card, next to the disgarded card. “Open, pass?” the dealer asked while Paul was in crisis of choosing between the open and the pass option. He pressed the open button and what greeted him was a number five, which was his starting card. He continued the game without any strategies on himself. “Open, pass?”

“Open,” he said as he tried to overcome the game with his plain guts and probability. Paul was not able to follow Denton’s instructions and that, he was just playing it with how he wanted it to be. His head is messy as well, wanting to make a strategy but can’t. He just kept on blaming himself until he reached and filled the fifth slot. “Open,” he muttered as he noticed that there is a sudden decrease of cards and he is going to have no cards left for the three slots. “Pass,” he muttered as he placed his palm on his chin, trying to focus and concentrate on the play but he was unable to, since a lot of distractions is going inside his mind at the time being. “Open,” he mumbled as he see the cards decreasing at a high rate of speed. “Open this card too,” he replied to the dealer who asked him about the last two cards. “And since I have no choice but to abide by the rules, the last card is also open.”

Paul’s individual play ended with Paul having the total equation of ‘5+(-)4x7-1’, in which if it was simplified, it will be ‘5+4x7-1’. His total value is 32, leaving him to rank four of the tally. Paul left the table with bitter feelings but still managed to give Denton and Sandra an assuring smile. Paul regretted not being able to find a strategy but what’s done is already done, and he cannot find any solution for he has no control in this game.

Sandra looked at Paul who was still smiling at her upon him going back to the cottage where he was grabbed from. “The last and eighth player will now be guided to the dealer’s table,” the speaker muttered and in that time alotted, Sandra’s cottage was being opened and that, she was guided outside of the cottage. She slowly walked towards the dealer’s table, peeking a gaze at both Denton and Paul who were looking forward at what game will she play in this main match. She silently reached the dealer’s table. “You may now give your cards to the dealer.”

Sandra gave her cards to the dealer who was waiting for her to give her cards. The dealer, when received the cards, immediately shuffled the cards and asked Sandra if the shuffle was okay. In desire of getting a higher score, together with Denton, she rejected the first shuffle and asked the dealer to shuffle it for the second time, just like how Denton did his individual play. She recognized that Denton wanted them to recognize his strategy but she recognized the wrong part. Denton only did that for he was expecting a better lineup after the second shuffle. Sandra, on the other hand, expected that it was a part of the plan. “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Sandra replied before she started the game. Like Denton played the game, she moved the first card a ‘pass’ and resulted to her going directly to the second card. “Open,” she muttered. She was expecting a better outcome like how Denton have had, but oppositely, she got a three. Since it was already placed on the first slot, she had no choice but to bear with it. “Pass,” she said on the third card. “Open,” she said on the next part. Fortunately, she got an addition card as the next card on the slot. She continued playing the game by alternatively saying ‘open’ and ‘pass’ while the dealer deals with her using her own cards. Since she has no stable strategy on what to do, she had no choice but to just do this. Since she was just alternatively answering the deals with the two options, it did not last long, her individual play. She immediately finished it, with regret. She resorted to blaming herself on why would she get such a score in the seventh main match. Sandra placed fifth on the tally with ‘3+(-)6(9)(5)+8’ or in simplified form, ‘3+6+8’, which resulted to a total point of 17, faraway from Denton’s total score.

The speaker suddenly showed up on the screen and cleared his throat. “The tally is being shown on the other monitor and you can see who got the two highest total scores,” he muttered. The players, which were all guided to stand up in front of their cottages, all looked up at the monitor in which it shows the tally of the scores. “The highest pointer is Player M-22 with 8,100 points. The second highest pointer is Player P-04 with 366 points. These two will accelerate to the last main match and will be saved from elimination today.” Denton and Hector, which were announced as the two final main match contenders, were guided to the special seat in front of the gate and was facing the back of the dealer’s table and is facing in front of the cottages and the players itself. “The six contenders who failed to secure their spots on the final main match will automatically be the contenders for the last escaping match.”

Denton looked at Paul and Sandra who were hundreds of meters away from him. He was a lot of meters away from his two teammates but his sadness could be seen apart from the meters that were in between of them. “I am still in crisis whether to follow the lost guard’s remarks or not. Henceforth, if only one of you here will get to escape... I would rather take the risk.”

“The seventh and the last escaping match will be the same as the seventh main match. The game will also be called Open, Pass and it will not have any difference from the game that the players have already played,” the speaker muttered. The players who were going to play in the escaping match all frowned their brows upon hearing the remarks of the speaker. “Before going to the final escaping match, let us interview the last two men standing that will play the last final match tomorrow. Let us start with the second highest pointer. Player P-04, do you have any strategy from the individual play that you did a couple of minutes ago?”

Hector shook his head. “I have none,” he plainly replied to the speaker who was dismayed as he was expecting better from Hector. “I think I got this spot because I deserve this and that, I am too skillful not to be on the final round.”

Denton smirked after hearing Hector’s statement about his self-pride and boasting. “How about the highest pointing player of the Rule of Cards’ seventh main match?” Denton looked at the speaker who was playing some games before he starts on signaling the commencement of the last escaping match. “Player M-22, do you, by any chance, have any strategies while doing the individual play? You played really well while on that game and you looked really look. We would like to know if there are.”

Denton cleared his throat before he answered the speaker with a big and bold... “Yes, I have. I have a technique on how I attained that high points. I recognized the technique myself.”

“Interesting,” the speaker muttered as Denton looked at the speaker. “Since you said that you have a technique that you discovered on yourself, we will give you a chance to give that technique to one of these escaping match players, would you give it to one or not?”

Denton’s brows furrowed. “I discovered the technique myself and it would be unfair to me if I would give someone this technique without them earning or working for it...” The whole crowd was covered in silence after Denton’s remarks. “So, no... I would not want anyone to know what my hidden technique was.”