The very first round is very much stacked against you to almost the point of always losing the first heart first. I ran 9 attempts and only 1 of those did I not get poisoned on the first round. It may seem like a small chance for you but the fact you go first makes it not so. It is 1/4 for you the first time, but the opponent it is 1/3. Not only that but you then have a 1/2 right after. So before the opponent gets it for a fact you have about a 70% chance of getting poisoned on the first set of pills
Just to make things fair I ran through the first round 100 times and survived 39/100 times meaning it is closer to a 61% chance of being poisoned the first round, which is still far from a fair chance. Best way to fix this would be to randomize who went first, unless the point is to make it more unfair for more of a challenge