To test the bottom line of the middle-aged man as much as possible before the new round of gambling began, I pointed to the cards on the table and asked, "Boss, are we continuing with the old cards, or should I get you a new deck?"
Upon hearing my words, the middle-aged man slightly raised his head.
After scrutinizing me from head to toe, he suddenly cursed coldly, "You talk too damn much!"
"Anyone who plays cards knows the saying, 'New cards, new luck!'"
"If you don't understand, then get that other guy back here, and hurry up and get out of my sight!"
For some reason, after the middle-aged man said this, I felt as if this person… harbored a deep hostility towards me!
Or, to put it another way, he was targeting me!
Earlier, Ah Jian had been cold and dismissive, and he hadn't even cursed him once.
I had merely asked if he wanted to switch cards, and now he was directly cursing at me?
Or was he trying to provoke me?
Regardless, seeking momentary satisfaction through words is not my forte.
Since the middle-aged man didn't refuse to gamble with me, I decided to go all in!
With that in mind, I signaled Ah Jian to fetch four brand-new decks of Bee playing cards from another table.
As I opened one of the decks, I tentatively asked again, "Boss, since you want to win money, why don't we just play with one deck of cards? What do you say?"
"You saw it just now. Even when we busted at the end of the deal, you neither won nor lost."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man replied impassively, "Whatever! Stop wasting time!"
"Let's start quickly! I'm betting a heavy ten thousand on this hand!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he threw a bundle of ten thousand in cash onto the table.
Seeing this, I said no more and began to shuffle the cards…
I remembered Uncle Tuo saying that without special training, most card sharks could only control the value of two decks of cards through cheating.
The fact that the middle-aged man could cut sixteen aces from four decks clearly indicated he was a specially trained card shark, as Uncle Tuo had mentioned.
The most effective way to precisely counter such card sharks was to play with a single deck.
Because when cutting a single deck, no matter how skilled the opponent's hands were, there were only a few top-tier cutting techniques, and they involved only a few movements.
To further test the middle-aged man's skill level, I chose to shuffle with the perfect shuffle technique.
I used the perfect shuffle technique, mixed with ordinary hand movements, as taught to me by Uncle Tuo.
As expected, the moment the cards were shuffled, I saw the middle-aged man's expression falter slightly.
Whether he had seen through my perfect shuffle technique or not, at the very least, the arrogant demeanor he had displayed earlier was gone.
Heh! Betting heavily and expecting to win? What kind of place did he think a casino was? A charity organization?
Using the perfect shuffle technique to shuffle the cards meant that for the middle-aged man to win this hand, he would have to have the resolve of a warrior cutting off his own arm, directly disrupting the card order with the "Star-Plucking Hand" and purely gambling on luck against me.
If, if he could see through my perfect shuffle, which was disguised with ordinary hand movements, just like Queen Bee Yu Shuang back then.
Otherwise, no matter what other cutting techniques he used, as long as the cards returned to my hands, I could restore the card order immediately.
I had already pre-arranged the order of the first five cards.
Furthermore, in the deck below, using the four suits, I had arranged three identical card sequences.
As long as the "Star-Plucking Hand" wasn't used, the card order would remain unbroken!
After shuffling, I handed the cards directly to the middle-aged man, making a "please" gesture.
"Boss, you can cut the cards now."
After glaring at me with a look of resentment, the middle-aged man picked up the top stack of cards first.
After his fingers moved rapidly, he then shuffled the cards and inserted them into various layers of the deck.
The cutting technique the middle-aged man used was called "Cloud-Pushing."
Cloud-Pushing, meaning to part the clouds and see the clear sky.
Before the perfect shuffle technique was developed, the Cloud-Pushing hand could indeed be considered one of the top cutting techniques, but…
Now, the Cloud-Pushing hand only ranked after the Star-Plucking Hand.
There are pioneers and specialists in every field.
It was clear that the middle-aged man had taken a niche path, specializing in fancy cutting techniques for card games that required multiple decks.
This had led to him misjudging and misestimating some shuffling techniques for single decks.
However, on the other hand, this also proved that he had not reached Yu Shuang's level.
Although his experience and intuition as a card shark made the middle-aged man subconsciously scramble the card order I had stacked at the top, it was ultimately futile.
The moment the cards returned to my hands, during the brief moment of combining the two stacks before dealing, I restored the card order.
Then, I began dealing normally.
The two cards dealt to the middle-aged man were exactly the same as the ones Ah Jian had dealt to himself after cutting the cards earlier.
A 2 and a King.
The instant the middle-aged man saw these two cards, his face immediately showed an expression of extreme disbelief and shock, as if he had stepped in something foul.
An eye for an eye!
Just as the middle-aged man had made Ah Jian lose earlier, I would now make him lose it all back!
If the dealer were allowed to split cards, in this round, I, Chen Xiang, could also transform into Chen Xiao Dao and instantly kill him with sixteen aces!
What a scoundrel! Since he dared to challenge the establishment, he definitely wouldn't just play multi-deck blackjack; he must have a backup plan!
Therefore, I needed to force him to make his move and reveal his hand as quickly as possible!
Glancing at the middle-aged man whose face had turned red, I asked in a deep voice, "Boss, do you need to hit?"
This seemed like a redundant question, but it was actually me testing the middle-aged man's playing style and setting a trap for him to fall into.
This was an overt strategy!
Whether he hit or not, he was destined to lose!
What I wanted to test was how the middle-aged man would choose after seeing through my overt strategy.
Hitting would indicate that he had a certain degree of wishful thinking, belonging to those who were blindly confident in themselves.
Not hitting would mean that the opponent knew when to advance and when to retreat, was good at hiding his intentions and waiting for the right moment, and was a formidable character.
After much deliberation, the middle-aged man finally said resentfully, "No hit!"
Hearing this, I was slightly taken aback.
It seemed I had encountered a tough opponent!
With that thought, I directly revealed my cards: 17 points.
According to the rules of Blackjack, the dealer does not need to hit when they have 17 points.
This was a safeguard I had put in place for myself, specifically to deal with the middle-aged man standing pat.
In the pre-arranged five-card sequence, regardless of whether he chose to hit or stand, the crucial fifth card I had prepared was the 10 of Hearts.
Although the casino I represented had won this bet of ten thousand, I knew…
This was due to the middle-aged man's carelessness and underestimation of Rui Chi's hidden tactics.
The upcoming gamble was the real battle without smoke, the one that would decide the victor!