Change Poker

**Change Poker** (交換ポーカー) is a game in the Kakegurui series played during the Election.

## Rules

The game is played with a 52-card deck. Each player is dealt a hand of five cards. There is a system of parent and children. The parent, who rotates clockwise every round, declares the number or suit of the card he or she wants. A child who has a card matching the criteria must trade it with the parent. The children cannot exchange their cards with each other. If there are no matches, or not enough, the parent fills their hand from the deck. Then, the bets go as they do in normal poker. The ante is set at ten votes per turn. The game ends when two of the three players are out of votes.

*Parent is also referred to as dealer.*

## Game

The game starts with Ririka having 166 votes, Mary having 250 and Kirari having 578. Mary is the first dealer and she receives a one pair. Mary trades two cards for aces. Kirari loses the one she had. Mary’s hand is now a two pair. Convinced that Kirari will lose this round, Mary bets 50 votes. Both of the other players fold.

Ririka is the dealer during the second turn. Mary draws a heart flush. She believes Ririka and her should have come up with something like signals. Ririka had gone against that idea because she thought Kirari would read them. Ririka avoids trading and bets ten votes. Mary raises to 30 votes, and Kirari raises to 50. In response, Mary raises again to 100 votes. Kirari praises Mary for seizing her chance to attack. She then calls. Kirari says that the weakest poker hand isn't a "no hand", it's the second-best hand at the table. The player with this hand can bet a lot, thinking their hand is strong. Mary fears that Kirari has a hand worth betting 100 votes on.

Mary won the showdown. Kirari’s hand was bad. Her vote count goes down to 468, while Mary’s vote count goes up to 380. Mary understands that Kirari was gauging her. As round 7 begins with Mary as the dealer, she has 300 votes, Ririka has 146, and Kirari has 548. Kirari gives the dealer a ten. Mary finds her hand weak for a dealer. She still bets 30 votes. Kirari raises to 100. Mary calls, thinking that her opponent is bluffing. Mary's pair of tens lose against Kirari's pair of queens. During the next round, Ririka exchanges fives, and bets 30 votes. Her sister folds, shocking Mary. Ririka's hand consisted of four fives. Mary concludes that Kirari is reading them with high accuracy. She plans on using her reading skills against her. Kirari lets her opponents know that she knows they’re teaming up.

In round 9, Kirari's the dealer. She trades hearts. This is the game's first suit trade. Mary is shocked because of the one pair of 2’s that Kirari handed her. She thinks that Kirari has a flush. Kirari begins the bet with ten votes, the minimum. Mary raises to 50 votes. Kirari raises by one vote. Mary believes she has read Kirari wrongly. Kirari wasn’t gauging her, she was teasing her. Mary gets angry and calls despite Ririka telling her to not play with that hand. Kirari wins the showdown with a heart flush against a three of a kind. She's leading in the vote count with 709 votes. Mary goes down to 139 votes. Kirari calls Mary's last raise horrible. Since she knows her opponents are collaborating, Kirari’s objective is to take out of the game one of them first. Her aim is Mary.

Ririka reminds Mary that she had asked her how far she’d go to be the winner. She responds that she’ll become Kirari. Mary is shocked. Ririka is the 17th round’s dealer. Mary doesn't think she can keep up any longer. Ririka bets ten votes. Mary finds this to be a passive dealer move. She thinks that normally, it's time for Kirari to bet. However, Kirari folds. During turn 18, Kirari has the dealer role. She bets ten votes and Ririka quickly folds. If one's the dealer, she bets the minimum ten votes. The other one folds over and over again.

Mary figures out that both of them know exactly the strength of the other's hand. In this case, there’d be no point in betting at all. Mary is angry as this keeps going for the following rounds. She raises to thirty votes. The sisters angrily stare at her. They tell Mary that she's in the way. As Mary is about to raise, Kirari raises to 138 votes. Mary, only having 139, would risk going down to one vote by calling. She still calls. Kirari wins the showdown with a three of a kind of 2's against Mary's two pairs. Mary is thus down to one vote. Kirari reminds Mary that she's in the way. Mary goes all in in the next round. Kirari calls. Mary's three of a kind of aces defeat Kirari's one pair of K's. Kirari doesn't care about her loss since it was only a one-vote bet. Mary remembers the side bet she had made with Ririka. One hundred votes switch from Kirari to Mary.

Kirari is confused. Ririka informs Kirari that the conditions that trigger the outside bets are only known to Mary and herself. Kirari is impressed by Ririka having kept a secret from her. Mary tells Kirari that her sister is a different person from her, so it’s normal that she had a secret. Kirari demands that Runa reveal the side bet's conditions. Runa responds that the side bet went over whether Mary would ever start a turn with one vote left. If that happened, 99 votes from Ririka would transfer to her. So when Mary went all in, it wasn't with one vote, it was with 100. Mary tells Kirari that she's going to lose if she believes she's the same person as Ririka. She then bets 17 votes.

Kirari points out that this is an unusual number to bet and asserts that Mary is up to something. Mary then goes all in. She admits that Ririka and she have other side bets going. Kirari folds. She apologizes for saying Mary was in their way. Runa is surprised about how much the tables turned. Kirari has the lead with 535 votes. Mary is second with 308, and Ririka is last with 151. Mary goes all in another time, making Kirari once again fold. Runa understands that it's way harder for Kirari to read Mary because of the side bets. She can't know how many votes Mary is actually betting. Kirari folds another time. Runa doesn't think Kirari will keep losing this much. Kirari raises to 30 votes in the following round. Mary folds. As Ririka is about to go all in, Kirari asks her which one of them is her. Mary is confused. Kirari explains that there is a major hole in Mary's strategy. She always has to go all in, or she can't hide her hands. One loss can cost her everything. Kirari tells Ririka that as long as she remains Ririka, she won't be able to defeat her.

Mary asks Ririka not to listen to her twin. Ririka tells Kirari that she's making an error of judgment. She's actually perfectly fine with losing, unlike Kirari. Mary is surprised. Kirari asks her sister what's her top priority since it's not winning. Ririka responds that it's Mary. She then goes all in. Kirari folds. Mary is happy and confident that they can win this game. Kirari asks Ririka what's happened to her. She doesn't recognize Ririka. Mary says that Ririka is fully out of her hands now. Kirari informs Ririka that it's impossible for her to read her now. Mary can read Kirari's cards. She had used a needle to mark cards. She's certain that Kirari's hand is made up of a 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. This gives her a seven-high straight. Mary has a king-high straight, which is a stronger hand.

Kirari bets ten votes. Mary thinks that with a hand like this, Kirari is hoping to win big. She raises to 30. Ririka calls. Kirari points out that Mary must be confident about her hand since she raised when she wasn't the dealer. She then raises to 60 votes. Mary wants to take Kirari for everything she can. She's about to raise. Kirari asks her if she's looking down on her. Mary realizes that if Kirari’s flush is a straight one (all the cards are of the same suit), that’d place Kirari’s hand above Mary’s.

Mary only marked numbers, not suits. After thinking for a long time, she calls. Kirari admits that she didn't expect Mary to call. If Mary was confident, she could win, she could just go all in directly. If she thought she'd lose, she could just fold. However, Mary had called. Kirari tells Mary that she believed she was a more decisive woman than that. Ririka goes all in, surprising everyone.

Kirari matches the all-in bet. If Ririka loses, she'll be out of the game since she has fewer votes. Both players have straight flushes. Ririka wins since hers is a ten-high straight flush. She now possesses 422 votes. Kirari has 314 and Mary has 258. Kirari laughs. She says that she let Mary's ridiculous cheating go on and tried to take advantage of it. Ririka then took advantage of this to win the hand. Kirari asserts Ririka used her own partner as a decoy. Because of Mary's reaction, Kirari knew Ririka made that decision alone. Mary is amazed by Ririka using her as bait. She thinks that she can't beat Kirari solo, but the two of them definitely can.

Kirari has Runa swap decks. Ririka, the dealer, changes for a six. She then bets ten votes. Mary notices that this is the first time Ririka is ahead of Kirari in votes. A single all in could make Kirari lose. Kirari raises to 50 votes. Ririka raises again to a 100 votes. Kirari then raises to 150. Mary is surprised by Kirari betting that much while not being the dealer. Ririka calls. Kirari wins with a three of a kind of 9's against a three of a kind of 6's.

The sun is about to set. Kirari bets 50 votes and asks that they settle this shortly. She has the lead with 474 votes while Ririka has 272 and Mary has 248. Despite being the dealer, Kirari didn't ask for any new cards. Mary calls. Ririka goes all in. Mary matches the bet. Both of them going all in triggered a side bet. All of Ririka's votes are Mary's. Now, Mary has more votes than Kirari. Kirari smiles and matches the bet. It's a one-on-one duel of 520 votes against 474. Things will be decided in this hand according to Runa. Kirari's three of a king of kings triumph over Mary's three of a kind of queens. Kirari ends up winning the game.

## Aftermath

Runa announces Kirari's victory to the student body. Kirari has 994 votes now. Kirari understands that Ririka can be herself and that they're different people. Mary believes that everything went according to Kirari's plan. Ririka became an independent person while Kirari raked in piles of votes. Mary was used. She's furious. The election is over for Ririka and her. Mary starts crying. She asks Ririka why she thinks they've lost. Ririka explains that Kirari is a selfish girl who'll do anything to make her wish come true. Kirari had bet her position as student council president to accomplish her goal.

Mary is confused. Ririka explains that maybe the whole election was just held out so Ririka could become independent. She thinks Kirari's selfishness is her main strength. She assumes her wishes will all come true because she's willing to do anything for them. This drive no longer exists in Ririka. Ririka blames herself for the loss. She thinks she can no longer be with Mary. Mary asks Ririka what moves they should make to win the next time. She doesn't want to stay a loser forever. She wants to defeat Kirari and make it to the top. Ririka accepts to help her.