Indeed, the King’s Gambit is often regarded as the best gambit, because it seems to offer several small victories at no cost, but is actually an elaborate trap to lead your defenders into useless positions.
Not necessarily — even in our world, a surrender can put a serious burden on the victor. And I’ve been following the serial “A Practical Guide To Evil”, where the protagonist just surrendered all her armies in the middle of a battle… which totally owned her opponent, badly enough to literally make a saint swear! (Admittedly, in-world “story mechanics” were involved.)
The most insidious of lies is spoken with the same words as truth. So it is with the this with the value of victory, whose truth is as slippery as the great enemy called I.
Isn’t bluffing considered part of the rules of poker or blackjack or whatever in-universe variant they are playing anyway? I wonder if it’d work if they explained that it really is part of the rules. Unless the whole angel-armor-cracks-if-the-angel-lies thing is getting in the way. White Chain definitely knows how to bluff, they did it in order to get into Hell 76 so that they could get to Cio.
Indeed. Otherwise, an angel could not feint in battle. To bluff would be a probing strike, assessing the strength of your defenses against your opponents’ observation as well as their own confidence in their hand as well as their own ability to counter-bluff against a more fortified opponent.
At the very least, a Queen holds a decent chance of a win through High Card, statistically speaking. Admittedly, with 5 players the odds of someone else drawing a King or Ace is higher, YISUN forbid someone playing off a pair of 2’s (Three-of-a-Kind is acceptable).
No, bluffing is not part of the rules of poker. In fact poker is often used as an illustrative example of a game in which the gameplay meaningfully exceeds the rules.
The hardest parts of making a deck of cards from scratch would be 1) getting the card stock cut the same and 2) the decorative print on the back uniformly the same. The art on the face of the cards can suffer, but without those first two, it might as well be a marked deck.
And while I realize the art of deception may not be in White Chain’s nature, it is a valuable martial skill he really does need to learn. Strong Hands do not always benefit from being played strongly, and weak hands should not always be played weakly. Cards is a pretty safe way to learn that.
White Chain does know how to bluff though, they did it in order to get into Hell 76. I wonder if the whole armor-cracks-when-they-lie thing is getting in the way here.
Oh ! A great illustration of how one’s innate nature affects one’s ability to act in ways that are/or appear counter to that nature. Me thinks that 21 Blackjack might be a better game for White Chain.
Homestuck taught me well to fear the arrival of a clown. Either they are the most egregious threat, or they are a harmless figure who could, at any time, *become* an egregious threat. I’m fairly certain the latter is more hazardous.
In fairness, knowing that bluffing is part of the rules is key to winning.
The Hegemonic Prince of Moths; Savala Thun, Grand Duke of the Night District, Guild Master of the Opaline, Blood Royal of House Thun, First Facet of the Ma’grēti Dynasty and Sovereign of the Endless Dream
It seems that my client, the Queen of Worms has sent an agent of hers to ask the conquering king a question. Or merely checking up on a probable entertainment. Either way, things are about to get interesting.
Or convince them that you’re lying when you’re really NOT lying. A wise man once told me: “When in the company of liars, be only honest. And your enemies, thinking you are a liar like them, will deceive themselves.”
Among lawyers (like myself), we cannot allow a lie or untruth to enter the record. But we are allowed to keep certain things secret if that knowledge would bias the jury or incorrectly allow them to decide issues on emotion rather than reason. As the wise man told me, and as I have learned this lesson with bitter tears, the best way to lie is to tell just the right amount of truth…and then shut up. Allow your enemies to draw the wrong conclusions from what you have said, and they make the mistake of fooling themselves, while you have a clear conscience because you only spoke the truth.
Preem Obi-Wan Kenobi (to state but one prominent example) was a master at this.
“the best way to lie is to tell just the right amount of truth…and then shut up.”
I once got a 14% raise doing exactly that.
It seems that there is always a time in a negotiation when both sides are sitting looking at each other. At that point, the first person to speak is the loser. It took a LOT of self-control to shut up. But it worked.
Bluffing is not lying, it’s just betting on a hand that you suspect is not the best one at the table, and in most forms of poker you can’t even be sure of that – everyone else may be bluffing as well.
This makes my golden blood boil, or perhaps even fuse into higher elements.
How could you, 82 White Chain? Give up, when MONEY is on the line? Risk is the lifeblood of capitalism. To make an investment is to take a risk (and by the way the stock price for the Bank of the Degraded Thief is going up, so buy while you can!) and without investment there would be no world! For shame! A dozen fuckwords upon thee!
We live in interesting times indeed, to see an enforcer of most divine Law passing time by indulging in games of chance.
Reminds me of a peculiar work of art about a sect of distinguished canines doing something of the sort… but i must be misremembering.
While the Queens in a deck of card refer to fictional queens, the kings have lesser known but historical names:
Spades is David, Clubs is Alexander the Great, Hearts is Charlemagne and Diamonds is Julius Caesar.
Hrmm… Reckon it’s easier just to not mention them. Kinda like when you give a mouse a cookie? Next thing you know you’re trying to explain Gordian Knots and why the need to beware the Ides of March.
While it is true that there were 999,999 gods created, the 999,999th creation and who he or she or it even was is shrouded in myth. What follows is one such story of that final gods creation.
=== The Tale of the Final Question ===
Yisun sat in the midst of a dying party, the gods, as many as they were, in the midst of departing to their various spaces, homes, and existences. One god lingered. The Singing God, the trickster. The one who’d tricked Aesma into knocking herself unconscious, the one who sung his way past the judging door of Fesh, the one who’d played the beggar during the siege of Vastmos, the one who’d asked Yisun by far the most questions, and one of the few creatures who had no desire in his heart for the power of Yisun, instead he had a very different desire. To destroy that power. He wanted it scattered and lost, so that many would fight and die over such an imperfect thing. This is the tale of the greatest prank the laughing god ever pulled.
“Mighty Yisun, I have one final question to ask, one which I do not believe even you can answer.”
The singing god sung.
“I have yet to hear such a question” Yisun replied
“Can anything truly be separate from you? Oh Mighty Yisun? Or is there a limit to your power? Can you truly create an equal? I can see how you crave one. I know how some crave your powers, and yet even with all that you are, you are unhappy, miserable, unable to be satisfied. I can see that, even though I have been blinded in one of my many eyes. If nothing can exist separate from you, then you may find no equal. Why do you continue such an existence? I don’t think even you know that. For what use is such magnificent power, able to split the heavens, to create entire worlds from nothing? All one can do when faced with peace of that nature, is decay.”
Yisun responded not with words, but with actions. The wheel shook, then spun, then flipped, the universe shook then shattered, reformed then shattered again, and then reformed, partially once more. Like a child had taken a jigsaw, laid it across the ground, and stomped its many pieces into place, leaving some remaining untouched. Out of the pieces, the gray god, the 999,999th of Yisuns shards, emerged. Part but separate, awe inspiring and bringer of dread.
This is the abridged tale of the final question of the Singing God, and the beginning of the end of days.
White Chain is actually playing exactly as you should if you are a novice poker player. I guarantee that she would have more success with her approach than equally novice Alice.
No matter how tactically superior the enemy, their surrender is always your victory.
Victory is not always something to be cherished, in fact it has ruined many a man.
Namely those who lose; now if you lost something important say- your fate? Then it might be something worth worrying about.
Speaking of, have you seen a golden coin eye’d devil?
For verily, what profit it a man that he should gain the world and in so doing lose his soul?
Unless, of course, their surrender is a tactical move, made in service to a larger game.
Indeed. Beware any gambit that seems to offer you an easy win.
Indeed, the King’s Gambit is often regarded as the best gambit, because it seems to offer several small victories at no cost, but is actually an elaborate trap to lead your defenders into useless positions.
Not necessarily — even in our world, a surrender can put a serious burden on the victor. And I’ve been following the serial “A Practical Guide To Evil”, where the protagonist just surrendered all her armies in the middle of a battle… which totally owned her opponent, badly enough to literally make a saint swear! (Admittedly, in-world “story mechanics” were involved.)
ALL IN!
NYA!H!H!
The most insidious of lies is spoken with the same words as truth. So it is with the this with the value of victory, whose truth is as slippery as the great enemy called I.
That sounds a lot like god king david bowie right there….
you mean Goblin King Jareth?
nope., I mean david bowie, the one true god king.
I fail to see the difference here.
Trouble incoming….
Isn’t bluffing considered part of the rules of poker or blackjack or whatever in-universe variant they are playing anyway? I wonder if it’d work if they explained that it really is part of the rules. Unless the whole angel-armor-cracks-if-the-angel-lies thing is getting in the way. White Chain definitely knows how to bluff, they did it in order to get into Hell 76 so that they could get to Cio.
The pain that it caused her was immeasurable
The most dangerous bluffs are the ones you don’t see coming.
The lie of an honest man cuts deeply.
The betrayal of a friend exposes your most vulnerable weaknesses.
Bluffing isn’t lying in poker, though. Bluffing is making an action that doesn’t fit your circumstance and not letting people know the difference.
Indeed. Otherwise, an angel could not feint in battle. To bluff would be a probing strike, assessing the strength of your defenses against your opponents’ observation as well as their own confidence in their hand as well as their own ability to counter-bluff against a more fortified opponent.
At the very least, a Queen holds a decent chance of a win through High Card, statistically speaking. Admittedly, with 5 players the odds of someone else drawing a King or Ace is higher, YISUN forbid someone playing off a pair of 2’s (Three-of-a-Kind is acceptable).
No, bluffing is not part of the rules of poker. In fact poker is often used as an illustrative example of a game in which the gameplay meaningfully exceeds the rules.
But she could be amazing in this game with a bit of bluffing! You know, she always has her poker face on.
Rules are for suckers. If you ain’t cheatin you ain’t tryin.
The hardest parts of making a deck of cards from scratch would be 1) getting the card stock cut the same and 2) the decorative print on the back uniformly the same. The art on the face of the cards can suffer, but without those first two, it might as well be a marked deck.
And while I realize the art of deception may not be in White Chain’s nature, it is a valuable martial skill he really does need to learn. Strong Hands do not always benefit from being played strongly, and weak hands should not always be played weakly. Cards is a pretty safe way to learn that.
White Chain does know how to bluff though, they did it in order to get into Hell 76. I wonder if the whole armor-cracks-when-they-lie thing is getting in the way here.
The pattern on the back is easy — there isn’t one.
You need some texture to hide the smudges and finger prints.
Oh ! A great illustration of how one’s innate nature affects one’s ability to act in ways that are/or appear counter to that nature. Me thinks that 21 Blackjack might be a better game for White Chain.
VERMIN CLOWN COMETH
Homestuck taught me well to fear the arrival of a clown. Either they are the most egregious threat, or they are a harmless figure who could, at any time, *become* an egregious threat. I’m fairly certain the latter is more hazardous.
AH , A Person of class!
One should never need to be ‘taught’ to fear the arrival of clowns.
John Wayne Gaesey already taught the world to fear clowns.
as the ancient
scripture states:
“honk HONK
motherfuckers”
In fairness, knowing that bluffing is part of the rules is key to winning.
It seems that my client, the Queen of Worms has sent an agent of hers to ask the conquering king a question. Or merely checking up on a probable entertainment. Either way, things are about to get interesting.
nyaeve is winning
Interestingly, with the devaluation of the currency after the breach of the Infinite Bank, they’re playing for extremely small stakes.
Not so loudly. The once and future banker may hear and take offense. He is hot blooded you know.
Matchstick poker is a great way to learn.
The Worm has come with a casting call.
First step to being a good liar: convince them you’re a bad liar
Or convince them that you’re lying when you’re really NOT lying. A wise man once told me: “When in the company of liars, be only honest. And your enemies, thinking you are a liar like them, will deceive themselves.”
Among lawyers (like myself), we cannot allow a lie or untruth to enter the record. But we are allowed to keep certain things secret if that knowledge would bias the jury or incorrectly allow them to decide issues on emotion rather than reason. As the wise man told me, and as I have learned this lesson with bitter tears, the best way to lie is to tell just the right amount of truth…and then shut up. Allow your enemies to draw the wrong conclusions from what you have said, and they make the mistake of fooling themselves, while you have a clear conscience because you only spoke the truth.
Preem Obi-Wan Kenobi (to state but one prominent example) was a master at this.
“the best way to lie is to tell just the right amount of truth…and then shut up.”
I once got a 14% raise doing exactly that.
It seems that there is always a time in a negotiation when both sides are sitting looking at each other. At that point, the first person to speak is the loser. It took a LOT of self-control to shut up. But it worked.
Teaching an angel to lie is not going to be an easy project, Allison
Bluffing is not lying, it’s just betting on a hand that you suspect is not the best one at the table, and in most forms of poker you can’t even be sure of that – everyone else may be bluffing as well.
Foreshadowing!
They say that eyes are windows to the… well, actually, sometimes they’re just windows.
Especially if you don’t have a soul.
What if your souls is made of fire and eyes?
This makes my golden blood boil, or perhaps even fuse into higher elements.
How could you, 82 White Chain? Give up, when MONEY is on the line? Risk is the lifeblood of capitalism. To make an investment is to take a risk (and by the way the stock price for the Bank of the Degraded Thief is going up, so buy while you can!) and without investment there would be no world! For shame! A dozen fuckwords upon thee!
Angels consider money, at best, as a useful resource for enticing others into right action. They do not value currency in and of itself. Only the Law.
Yes, they are quite Mad.
Fitting that while they’re playing cards along comes a Joker
It’s somewhat ironic, though, that the man lacks a face for Poker.
With a true joker, you never know what their face means. Their intent as inscrutable in its chaos as that of a stone-faced stoic.
We live in interesting times indeed, to see an enforcer of most divine Law passing time by indulging in games of chance.
Reminds me of a peculiar work of art about a sect of distinguished canines doing something of the sort… but i must be misremembering.
The Dog Police?
(Look it up).
While the Queens in a deck of card refer to fictional queens, the kings have lesser known but historical names:
Spades is David, Clubs is Alexander the Great, Hearts is Charlemagne and Diamonds is Julius Caesar.
Hrmm… Reckon it’s easier just to not mention them. Kinda like when you give a mouse a cookie? Next thing you know you’re trying to explain Gordian Knots and why the need to beware the Ides of March.
All of White Chain’s eyes are focused on the cards. Wonderful detail, and so much like an angel.
While it is true that there were 999,999 gods created, the 999,999th creation and who he or she or it even was is shrouded in myth. What follows is one such story of that final gods creation.
=== The Tale of the Final Question ===
Yisun sat in the midst of a dying party, the gods, as many as they were, in the midst of departing to their various spaces, homes, and existences. One god lingered. The Singing God, the trickster. The one who’d tricked Aesma into knocking herself unconscious, the one who sung his way past the judging door of Fesh, the one who’d played the beggar during the siege of Vastmos, the one who’d asked Yisun by far the most questions, and one of the few creatures who had no desire in his heart for the power of Yisun, instead he had a very different desire. To destroy that power. He wanted it scattered and lost, so that many would fight and die over such an imperfect thing. This is the tale of the greatest prank the laughing god ever pulled.
“Mighty Yisun, I have one final question to ask, one which I do not believe even you can answer.”
The singing god sung.
“I have yet to hear such a question” Yisun replied
“Can anything truly be separate from you? Oh Mighty Yisun? Or is there a limit to your power? Can you truly create an equal? I can see how you crave one. I know how some crave your powers, and yet even with all that you are, you are unhappy, miserable, unable to be satisfied. I can see that, even though I have been blinded in one of my many eyes. If nothing can exist separate from you, then you may find no equal. Why do you continue such an existence? I don’t think even you know that. For what use is such magnificent power, able to split the heavens, to create entire worlds from nothing? All one can do when faced with peace of that nature, is decay.”
Yisun responded not with words, but with actions. The wheel shook, then spun, then flipped, the universe shook then shattered, reformed then shattered again, and then reformed, partially once more. Like a child had taken a jigsaw, laid it across the ground, and stomped its many pieces into place, leaving some remaining untouched. Out of the pieces, the gray god, the 999,999th of Yisuns shards, emerged. Part but separate, awe inspiring and bringer of dread.
This is the abridged tale of the final question of the Singing God, and the beginning of the end of days.
~Nobody Important
“It was just a prank bro.”
~ the singing god, probably
I love how White Chain will not even go to a poker game without putting on a fancy dress and a hundred eyes.
N O P E
lol don’t break the virtuous being, please
White Chain is actually playing exactly as you should if you are a novice poker player. I guarantee that she would have more success with her approach than equally novice Alice.