Following Shen Mengqing's usual strategy, if the opponent intended to cause trouble covertly, she would first deploy the regular plainclothes security to confront them.
If the plainclothes security couldn't handle it, then it would be the turn of us second-tier members to step in.
However, when it came to an open challenge like today, where they came to disrupt the entire private room, Shen Mengqing would either handle it herself or, more likely, send me.
As expected, as soon as the dealer reported the private room booking, Shen Mengqing's call came through to me.
On the phone, Shen Mengqing presented me with a request.
She said that, without affecting the casino's business, the troublemakers should be taught a severe lesson!
Having been in the casino for a long time, I naturally understood the true meaning of her words.
It meant losing money, and losing face too!
Upon receiving Shen Mengqing's hint, I directly beckoned the dealer named Ah Jian to my side.
I whispered a few words into Ah Jian's ear, and his slightly tense expression gradually relaxed.
Returning to the gambling table, Ah Jian looked at the middle-aged man with a relaxed demeanor and said, "Sir, regarding your request to book the table, I have already consulted with the manager."
"The manager said that at Ruichi... the customer is God! So, from now on, this table is all yours."
"A friendly reminder, the betting limits need to be temporarily adjusted after booking a table."
"Therefore, from now on, the minimum bet on this table starts at ten thousand, with a maximum limit of one hundred thousand."
"Do you have any issues with this?"
Upon hearing Ah Jian's words, after a moment of feigned consideration, the middle-aged man directly nodded and agreed, "No problem! The customer is always right."
Hearing this, Ah Jian looked towards me.
I didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, signaling him to proceed.
As the saying goes: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles!
Before the middle-aged man's intentions were fully revealed, I couldn't just step in for Ah Jian and face him in a direct gamble.
Just as Ah Jian, representing the casino, agreed to the middle-aged man's request to book the table...
Gamblers at other scattered tables nearby, especially those who hadn't witnessed such a scene before, all got up from their seats and came over to join the excitement.
The Chinese mentality of not minding a bit of chaos.
In less than a minute, a huge crowd had gathered around this blackjack table.
Soon, a large crowd had gathered around this gambling table.
Thus, this private room gamble officially began.
Before the game even started, the middle-aged man made another request.
He disallowed the use of card holders, insisting on dealing cards directly on the table. Furthermore, after each shuffle, he must personally cut the cards.
On the surface, these two points seemed reasonable.
However, in reality, they were paving the way for cheating.
Let's talk about the first point.
As everyone knows, casino cards are kept in card holders, and cheating is done through these specially designed card holders with hidden compartments.
If the cards don't go into the card holder, the dealer is essentially rendered useless.
Now, for the second point.
In casinos, cutting cards is typically done with a cut card to replace manual cutting.
No casino would be careless enough to let a guest manually cut the cards.
Without a doubt, I knew that if Ah Jian refused, the middle-aged man would use the surrounding onlookers to pressure the casino.
By using the main hall's private room as a setup, the middle-aged man had effectively blocked Ah Jian's cheating methods with a single sentence, while also securing the greatest advantage for himself.
He was a formidable opponent!
Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, the relaxed expression on Ah Jian's face vanished without a trace, replaced by an extreme look of disbelief.
Just as he was about to refuse, I preempted him and replied, "Yes, no problem!"
"Ah Jian, you just shuffle and deal as usual!"
Hearing my words, Ah Jian nodded heavily and took out four unopened decks of new playing cards from the drawer beneath the gambling table.
After unsealing the new decks of cards and arranging them neatly on the table...
Suppressing his inner displeasure, Ah Jian made a "please" gesture to the middle-aged man, putting on a professional smile and saying, "Please inspect the cards!"
Without touching them, the middle-aged man merely glanced at them casually and indicated that everything was fine.
Then, Ah Jian began to shuffle the cards.
As the shuffling commenced, the crowd of gamblers gathered around the table grew larger and larger.
This scene was a manifestation of the herd mentality.
It was the same principle as those small food stalls in the night market.
Regardless of whether the taste was good or bad, customers would only flock to the stalls with long queues.
After shuffling, Ah Jian signaled the middle-aged man to cut the cards.
With four decks of cards for blackjack, the middle-aged man cut the cards four times.
The middle-aged man's cutting technique was very fast, so fast that I could only get a rough idea.
It seemed somewhat similar to the "Star Picking Hand."
Apart from that, his four cutting gestures were also varied, which is why I said it was somewhat like Star Picking.
Whether it was or not, we would soon find out.
After cutting the cards and before dealing, the middle-aged man placed ten thousand yuan in cash in the betting area. Experienced cheats usually don't bet heavily at the start.
This was why I didn't confront him immediately.
He was testing all of Ruichi's plainclothes security.
And I, in turn, was testing him!
After the middle-aged man placed his bet and the cards were dealt... Ah Jian began to deal.
As soon as the cards were dealt, I sensed that something was amiss.
The cutting technique the middle-aged man used was definitely not the "Star Picking Hand"!
The "Star Picking Hand" aims to disrupt the card order, completely scattering and scrambling any discernible patterns.
Under such circumstances, the probability of getting good cards is lower than winning the lottery!
Yet, the reality before me was that Ah Jian had dealt two Aces directly to the middle-aged man!
Without a doubt, I knew that he must have cheated while cutting the cards!
It seemed the middle-aged man had employed a "feint" during his card cutting!
He deliberately revealed a "Star Picking" technique so that the plainclothes security hidden among the onlookers couldn't call him out.
[PS: It was mentioned earlier that the Perfect Shuffle Technique and the Star Picking Hand are considered legitimate techniques by the Thousand Gate Blue Path, so those who are unaware, please refer back. I will not elaborate further to avoid being accused of rambling.]
This scene made me instantly realize that I had misjudged the situation!
Unfortunately, the hand had already begun, and even if I wanted to step in, I could only do so after the game concluded.
As soon as the two Aces appeared, the middle-aged man immediately asked to split the cards.
As soon as he said it, before Ah Jian could even react, another ten thousand yuan in cash was placed on the table.
At this moment, I had already guessed why the middle-aged man was using cash as his chips.