In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, not all fights are won with fists or guns. Partway through Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro's gang faced the master gambler Daniel J. D'Arby in games of chance.

Daniel was a Stand user, like most of DIO's other minions, and his Stand's name was Osiris. It had the power to steal the soul of anyone who lost to Daniel in a game of chance, and each stolen soul was stored in a poker chip. How could Jotaro's gang defeat such a foe and get information from him? Joseph, Polnareff and Jotaro each gave it their best shot, and it soon fell to Jotaro to finish it.

RELATED: How the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Art Style Evolved

The Last Bet

Jotaro holding Poker Chips during his game against D'Arby in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Joseph was confident that his clever hands and mind could see him through Daniel D'Arby's challenge, including in games of his own choosing (such as placing coins in a full glass of water to see who would spill the water first). The problem is that Daniel has extremely sharp eyes and is a master cheater, meaning Joseph and Polnareff ended up having their captured souls placed in poker chips. It fell to Jotaro to free all of Daniel's victims and get information on DIO from this wily stand user, and the game of cards began.

The stakes were terrifyingly high, and Daniel was ready to declare that his hand was unbeatable. However, Jotaro shocked him with a "not so fast," and declared that he was going to raise. How? He brought out some poker chips out of nowhere and declared that he was betting his mother's soul as well. After all, if Jotaro failed to assassinate DIO, Holly Joestar was doomed in any event. This massive raise could only be matched if Daniel offered a huge prize: telling Jotaro howe DIO's stand works. The problem for Daniel is that DIO, being a ruthless and cruel master, would surely kill him in revenge for giving away The World's secrets. Daniel saw an opponent who coolly bet it all, and somehow, even Daniel's powerful poker hand seemed highly risky.

RELATED: Haruhi Suzumiya's 'Endless Eight' Arc Is the Most Relatable Anime for This Moment

Mind Games

It was now up to Daniel to call Jotaro's bet and accept the current state of the pot, but the trouble was saying "call" to make it official. Ordinarily, Daniel enjoyed supreme confidence while gambling, since he had such elite skill and undetectable cheating on his side. Thus, he can psyche out nearly any opponent in gambling, but this time, his best weapon was turned against him. He wasn't prepared to face an opponent who played the game better than he did, and he struggled to say "call." All he could think about was the titanic risk of losing to Jotaro and telling him how The World worked, and in effect, he was betting his entire life (surely, DIO would kill him for that betrayal).

The tension went through the roof, with everyone except Jotaro panicking about what would come next. Daniel's anxiety and terror kept feeding on itself until it reached critical mass, and his mind snapped and his hair turned gray from the sheer stress. He laughed like a maniac and collapsed, admitting defeat in his heart. That met Osiris' condition: that stand deems defeat based on a player "admitting defeat" in their own heart. Unable to bring himself to say "call," Daniel met those conditions, and thus, Osiris wordlessly declared Jotaro the match's winner. All stolen souls broke free from Daniel's collection and returned to their host bodies, most notably Joseph's and Polnareff's.

Most shocking was the strength of each player's hand. Daniel indeed had a powerful hand, a King-based four of a kind, while Jotaro's hand was quite weak. If Daniel had seen through the mind game, he would have crushed Jotaro, but it didn't matter, because Jotaro had won the mind game before the match got to the "reveal your hand" phase. Jotaro's stubborn and cool strength of spirit, and incredible bluffing, saw him through what seemed to be an impossible challenge. The only cost was Daniel's inability to tell him anything about The World. After all, he had been reduced to a blubbering wreck.

KEEP READING: Haikyuu!!: How Kageyama Reclaimed His 'King of the Court' Nickname