"Ten million US dollars?!"
Upon hearing the figure James revealed, Amy and Mike couldn't help but exclaim in unison.
While both knew Qin Xuan had some money, they never imagined he could directly produce ten million.
Mike, in particular, remembered.
He had previously brought up the matter of the "betting threshold" with Qin Xuan.
At the time, he believed he had clearly seen Qin Xuan's expression.
It was an expression of surprise followed by a helpless realization of inability.
This presented a bit of a problem.
Originally, after witnessing Qin Xuan's match with Lyon, Mike had intended to temporarily cast Qin Xuan as a disruptive force.
After all, this year, apart from Iverson, the other two gambling kings were newcomers whose depths were unknown.
With Gao Fei alone, it wasn't certain she could consistently win against the others.
If there was a disruptive element stirring things up, it might yield unexpected results.
But now, Qin Xuan couldn't afford ten million and thus couldn't participate in the betting.
This would invisibly increase Gao Fei's pressure.
As a result, it could affect his performance, preventing him from reaching his peak level.
In such a situation, at any other time, Mike would have readily lent Qin Xuan ten million US dollars from his own pocket.
But now, James was watching him the entire time.
The moment he made such a move, the other party would undoubtedly make a big deal out of it.
Qin Xuan also couldn't participate in the betting.
Therefore, even though ten million US dollars was as insignificant to Mike as ten dollars, he couldn't fulfill his wish of sending it to Qin Xuan.
Fortunately, just as everyone's attention was focused on Qin Xuan, Sean arrived in the hall with four people pushing carts.
Upon seeing the newcomers, everyone's eyes lit up, and they displayed expressions of astonishment. They hadn't expected these four people to head directly to Qin Xuan's side after reaching the betting table.
"Brother Qin Xuan, thirty million US dollars has been exchanged."
"I was afraid you might not have enough, so I exchanged another twenty million US dollars."
As she spoke, Yuan Mengqi and Xie Yuqin, among others, picked up briefcases from the carts.
Opening the lids, stacks of black and green US dollars met everyone's gaze.
"Am I eligible to participate now?"
Pouring the US dollars from the briefcases onto the table, one in each hand, Qin Xuan surveyed everyone with a slight smile.
James nodded gently upon seeing this and also smiled as he said to Qin Xuan, "Of course."
With Qin Xuan's problem resolved, James temporarily couldn't find anything else to target Mike with.
Everyone took their seats, and the betting game, with a total of ten participants, finally officially began.
"Now, please, the big blind and small blind place their bets first."
After everyone was seated, Lyon took on the role of the dealer at the right-hand corner of the table.
As he gave the command, Huda and Chris, positioned at the big and small blind positions respectively, tossed in their chips: 100,000 US dollars and 50,000 US dollars.
The so-called blind positions are those that require uninformed bets before the cards are dealt in Texas Hold'em.
The big blind needs to pay the minimum bet required for the current game.
The small blind pays half of what the big blind needs to bet.
With the blind bets placed, Lyon began dealing the cards.
Each person received one hole card, dealt in a clockwise direction for two rounds.
After everyone had received their hole cards, Boris, positioned one seat to Huda's right, began to examine his cards.
Upon receiving his hole cards, Qin Xuan did not immediately flip them over to check.
With the aid of his inner voice, he knew he had an Ace and a King, even though the cards were face down on the table.
What he needed to check now were the hole cards in other people's hands and the three to five cards that would be revealed from the deck.
Only by confirming this information could he quickly determine whether he could win this hand.
"Good hole cards, I'll call the bet."
After looking at his hole cards, Boris smiled and tossed in a 100,000 US dollar chip.
This was the minimum bet set by the big blind earlier.
This meant that subsequent players, if they wished to continue playing, had to bet chips no less than 100,000 US dollars.
And if someone raised the bet, subsequent players' bets could not be less than the raised amount.
"Heh, it's just the first hand, playing around. I'll call too."
After Boris, James also called with 100,000 US dollars.
However, unlike Boris, he didn't even bother to check what his hole cards were.
As he himself said, such a small bet of 100,000 US dollars was just for fun, and he wouldn't feel any heartache even if he lost.
Since James had said so, Mike, who was next, naturally wouldn't be outdone.
And with half the players before him calling with 100,000, the remaining few didn't do anything special.
Until Qin Xuan, everyone chose to call.
"Playing so casually in the first hand?"
"Alright, I'll call 100,000 too."
"But my hole cards are good, 100,000 is definitely not enough. How about this, I'll add another 200,000."
In turn, it was Qin Xuan's turn to bet.
Knowing everyone's hole cards by heart, he didn't waste any more words.
He casually picked up 300,000 US dollars from the table and placed it on the betting table.
With one round of betting concluded, no one folded, and the bet amount was raised to 300,000 by Qin Xuan.
Lyon gave a reminder and then revealed three community cards from the top of the deck.
Unlike Hong Kong's "Hong Kong Five Cards (also known as Suo/Ha)," in Texas Hold'em.
Each player has two private hole cards, and the remaining cards are community cards, with a maximum of five.
Players need to combine their hole cards with the community cards to form a five-card poker hand.
Then, they use these hands to compare their strength.
In this combined hand, players can even use only the community cards, without using their hole cards.
Now, after one round, each person's hole cards combined with the community cards can form a basic combination.
And based on this combination, they can decide whether to continue betting.
"The community cards are Ace of Spades, Ten of Hearts, and Nine of Diamonds. Next, Mr. Chris, please choose whether to call."
After the three hole cards were revealed, Lyon announced to everyone.
Chris, seeing this, glanced at his hole cards again.
Ten of Diamonds and Seven of Diamonds.
Combined with the community cards, it was temporarily just a pair of Tens.
But in the first hand, everyone wanted a good start.
So, without much hesitation, he took out another 300,000 US dollars and directly called.
"Alright, next, Mr. Huda."
"Me too, I'll call."
"Mr. Boris?"
"Call."
"Mr. James?"
"Call."
"..."
To Qin Xuan's surprise, everyone present seemed determined to get a good start in the first hand.
The other nine people, with the exception of himself, all chose to call without exception.
"Since that's the case, then don't blame me."
Chuckling inwardly, Qin Xuan immediately picked up a case of US dollars and poured it out.
Pushing both hands forward, he shouted in imitation of Stephen Chow in the movies.
"Well, I, Qin Xuan, am all in!"