Suddenly, Li Sheng discovered that the secret compartment under the card chute seemed… stuck!
No matter how his fingers fumbled beneath it, the card wouldn't come out.
The reason for this predicament was that I had seized the opportunity during a bet to launch a coin, mixed with the plastic chips, towards the switch of the secret card compartment, effectively jamming it.
If Li Sheng wanted to cheat, he would have to abandon the card chute and rely on himself.
The moment he did that, I would unhesitatingly call him out and escalate the situation, drawing more and more onlookers to this gambling table.
This was the escape plan I had devised in my mind before even entering the establishment.
Ying Baolin had asked me to stir up trouble but hadn't told me how to escape or if anyone would be there to support me.
I had to plan my own retreat in advance.
For a task like openly challenging the establishment and then expecting to walk away unscathed, one either needed to bring a sufficient number of people beforehand, or one could only rely on the gamblers.
Of course, it wasn't enough to just have the gamblers standing by and watching the show.
Starting from this hand, for every round I won, I would take a portion of the chips and distribute them to the surrounding gamblers as "lucky money."
With both entertainment and a chance to win money, I believed no gambler would refuse.
...
Upon noticing the problem with the card chute, Li Sheng immediately realized I wasn't a novice but a skilled cheater playing the role of a novice!
Instantly, his gaze towards me filled with wariness, accompanied by a hint of helplessness.
With the card chute malfunctioning, the only way to win this hand was to cheat.
But someone who could cause the card chute to malfunction so subtly and without anyone noticing could hardly be an unknown figure.
Thus, Li Sheng hesitated.
However, his hesitation didn't last long. He decisively reached towards the opening above the card chute and revealed a card he'd drawn.
It was a diamond 8. Combined with the previous 16 points, it totaled 24 points, immediately busting him.
After busting, Li Sheng remained silent and instructed the dealer beside him to pay out the bets.
According to the rules of Blackjack, the dealer busting means all bets win. Therefore, all the gamblers participating in this hand were victorious.
Although I won and Li Sheng lost, his response was well-executed.
By paying out all bets due to the bust, he demonstrated that the casino wasn't cheating.
In the subsequent rounds, if he detected any trickery from me, he would undoubtedly retaliate without hesitation.
At that point, the unsuspecting gamblers at the table might not necessarily side with me.
After paying out the bets, Li Sheng smiled and said to us gamblers, "My apologies, everyone. To ensure the fairness of the game and for everyone to have a good time..."
"Due to the malfunction of the card chute, starting from this hand, I will personally shuffle and deal the cards."
Li Sheng's words seemed reasonable, but in reality, they were utter nonsense!
He was using the previous incident of the dealer busting and paying out all bets as a tactic to advance by retreating.
His objective was to target me.
As expected, because his previous act of paying out all bets had left a good impression, none of the gamblers objected at this moment. Instead, they urged him to restart the game quickly.
Seeing that no one had any objections, Li Sheng decisively retrieved four new decks of Bee playing cards from the drawer below, opened them in front of everyone, and spread them out, inviting us to inspect them.
After the card inspection process, Li Sheng began to shuffle the cards himself.
When shuffling multiple decks, the technique used in high-stakes games isn't like the common method where each hand holds two decks and shuffles them together.
With such shuffling methods, the cards are essentially impossible to mix properly.
Li Sheng shuffled in two stages, mixing only two decks at a time, using both riffle shuffle and weave shuffle.
After shuffling, as the four decks were combined, Li Sheng, being cautious, performed two additional riffle shuffles to ensure the card order was as thoroughly randomized as possible.
The entire process, from shuffling to combining the decks, was extremely skillful and remarkably fast.
After shuffling, Li Sheng performed another flourish, rapidly spreading the cards flat three times and then laying them out on the table in a neat, straight line.
Once all gamblers had placed their bets, he began dealing the cards clockwise.
For this hand, I still placed the maximum bet of one hundred thousand.
When the first face-down card was revealed, I didn't attempt any cheating as it was completely unnecessary.
It was a single 6.
As for Li Sheng, he had a K in front of him.
After the first round of cards was dealt, Li Sheng began dealing the crucial second card.
As soon as the card reached my hand, before I could even pick it up to start the "yun pai" (card inspection) process...
I received a signal from Jiang Xiaowan.
Sensing Jiang Xiaowan gently nudge me with her arm nestled beside me, I took the opportunity of inspecting the card to glance outwards.
Immediately, I saw Lu Yong and Qi Bin striding purposefully towards my gambling table.
Clearly, someone in the casino's surveillance room had reported the situation with Li Sheng, and Shen Mengqing had dispatched them to catch a cheater.
From this point on, if my actions were even slightly amiss before revealing the cards, or if Qi Bin and the others spotted any flaws, I would know without a doubt what my fate would be.
Unfortunately, for them to try and corner me and catch my cheating... it was simply wishful thinking!
I knew exactly how capable Li Sheng, Qi Bin, and Lu Yong were.
With this thought, I immediately formulated a plan.
You want to catch my cheating? I'll give you the chance, let's see if you can seize it...
A smile creeping onto my lips, I then made a move as if to reveal the second card.
The moment I revealed the card, the Sleeve Sword was unleashed once more.
Subsequently, another 6 of spades appeared.
To continuously double your chips in a casino, one must effectively utilize the rules of every card game.
Take Blackjack, for instance. Doubling your winnings is quite simple.
There's no need to discuss opening betting limits with the casino, as they might not agree.
After all, there are other gamblers at the table, and it's possible that with open limits, someone might follow your large bet and, by sheer luck, hit a big win.
All that's needed is to split the cards.
The rule in Blackjack is that after splitting, no matter how many cards you split into, they all count as a single hand. Furthermore, the bet placed after splitting must be the same as the initial bet.
As it happened, the hundred thousand chips won back from the previous top bet were immediately put to use.
"Split."
As soon as I said it, as I separated the two 6s into two separate hands, I placed another hundred thousand chips on the table.
With two 6s, if luck is on my side, I could potentially aim for a "five dragons" hand.
However, I didn't intend to do that.
Because after splitting the cards, regardless of winning or losing, there would be no additional multiplier.
That is, whether I win or lose, the payout ratio would be strictly one to one.
For me, winning another twenty thousand with twenty thousand on the second hand was sufficient.