No casino owner wants you to win.
Despite pleasantries like "May your wealth flow in, may you conquer all, may fortune find you," it's all bullshit! They'd rather you lose money every single day!
Essentially, almost every gambling game out there has a catch.
Some casinos tamper with playing cards, while others manipulate machines and equipment.
However, most casinos hire professionals who, through overt and covert cooperation, aim to fleece gamblers of their money.
Among these, the most formidable are the hidden dealers and cheats.
The best among them don't even need to resort to cheating techniques; they can directly observe gamblers' micro-expressions and body language to gauge the strength of their hands.
Nine out of ten bets are rigged; nine out of ten gamblers lose, ending up worse than pigs!
At this pure rake-based gambling table, there are six players: five men and one woman.
Based on my current observation, that woman is very likely someone arranged by the casino.
Women are the weaker sex at the gambling table.
While easily overlooked, anyone who sits at a gambling table and consistently wins, regardless of gender, is almost certainly up to something.
Sure, winning purely by luck is possible!
But I can guarantee you, it's exceptionally rare!
This is because anything involving luck is first and foremost related to probability, and secondly, it requires a perfect confluence of timing, location, and people – all three are indispensable!
Unfortunately, those involved are blinded by the game, while the observer sees clearly.
For the gamblers, they are like looking at flowers through fog or the moon in water, deeply immersed and unable to extricate themselves.
After observing several hands, I noticed that whenever this woman raised the stakes, she would almost always win.
What's more peculiar is that she never dealt.
Even in winning hands, she always chose to skip her turn as the dealer.
While I can't definitively say if this woman is a cheat, I am one hundred percent certain that... she's definitely suspicious!
Take the last hand, for instance. Not only did she win, but she also skipped her turn again.
The current hand being played has the dealer as the woman's downline.
A middle-aged man in his early thirties, with a greasy face and a bulging belly.
The middle-aged man was so fat that sweat dripped down his face, and when he squinted, his eyes were reduced to mere slits.
While dealing, the middle-aged man continuously cursed, spewing vulgarities directed at the woman.
However, the woman remained unperturbed, simply offering a gentle smile, lighting a cigarette of the "520" brand, and smoking it leisurely.
Whether it was the middle-aged man's incessant curses finally taking effect, or the woman's decision not to pocket more money, the final winner of this hand was the middle-aged man who was dealing.
This made him ecstatic.
While he was busy raking in the chips, I took a thousand-yuan chip and squeezed into the last empty seat at the table.
"Gentlemen, mind if I join?"
As I said this, starting with the middle-aged man, I offered a cigarette to each of the six people at the table.
Perhaps due to wariness of a stranger, or perhaps they simply disdained my red Nanjing cigarettes, only the middle-aged man, who was shuffling cards, reached out and took one, placing it in his mouth.
"Kid, I usually smoke Yuxi, but today I'm making an exception for you!"
"On that note, you better lose some money to me later, right!"
"Hahaha! Well said!"
"Newcomer, new luck! Let's go big!"
"Five little cows, turn your luck around in one hand!"
Seeing my naive demeanor, no one, including the middle-aged man, took me seriously. They all clamored to use me to turn their luck around.
Want to turn your luck around with me? Heh. Fine!
Later, I'll help each of you turn your luck around!
Enough talk, let's get down to business!
After sitting down, I started placing bets along with them.
Since there was no dealer at this table, the rules were decided by consensus.
I observed that the minimum bet to be the dealer was around 2,000 yuan, and the minimum bet as a player was 100 yuan.
The winner of the last hand was the middle-aged man. Seemingly wanting to press his advantage, he immediately declared his intention to continue dealing.
Seeing no objections, he began gathering and shuffling the cards.
I glanced at the pile of scattered chips in front of the middle-aged man. There were large and small denominations, totaling around 4,000 yuan when pieced together.
Greed turns into poverty!
Since you won't step down as dealer, I'll play until you lose it all and step down!
For the first hand, I only bet a 100-yuan chip, and I have no intention of using any cheating techniques.
Betting a large amount right after sitting down and then winning money, even if other gamblers don't suspect you, the house's commission collector on the side will definitely suspect something is amiss.
Therefore, I decided to hold back for now and observe the situation.
The middle-aged man, who had just boasted about turning his luck around with me, indeed had his luck turn.
However, it was his bad luck that turned!
With a payout of one to six for all bets, nearly a third of the chips in front of him vanished.
"Damn it! Is this that cursed?"
"Heh! I don't believe it!!!"
"If no one speaks up, I'll continue dealing this hand!"
Actually, when playing Niuniu privately, whether you know each other or not, you usually agree on the rules beforehand.
For example, how much is the dealer's stake, at what point can one step down as dealer, whether to rotate dealing or let those who prefer to deal continuously, and so on.
However, at this casual table in the Huadu Casino, it was clear that apart from the middle-aged man, no one else had a strong desire to deal.
So, after throwing the cards onto the table with a thud, seeing that no one voluntarily offered to deal, the middle-aged man grumbled and started shuffling the cards again.
From the middle-aged man's eagerness to deal, I could analyze and conclude: this guy is a scoundrel.
Those who like to deal in Niuniu generally have a common trait: they enjoy holding cards that triple their bet or more, relishing the thrill of a clean sweep!
Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with doing that.
After all, who deals if not to win money?
But unfortunately, high returns are always accompanied by high risks.
Although the dealer can sweep away all the players' bets, it's also easy to hit a losing streak and pay out for everyone.
And just like that, in this hand just dealt, the middle-aged man had another complete payout!
The chips in front of him, which were originally over 4,000 yuan, were now reduced by more than half, leaving only about 1,500 yuan.
After much hesitation, the middle-aged man finally abandoned his intention to deal again and threw the cards he was tightly holding onto the table.
Subsequently, the winner of the previous hand, a young man who looked about my age, with tattoos and a bare chest, started gathering chips to deal.
Although the young man had a strong presence, the chips he gathered to deal were in stark contrast to his aura.
Barely two thousand yuan, which was all he had.
As the young man took the dealer position, the middle-aged man began to continuously raise his bets against the dealer.
Initially, he only placed a 100-yuan chip, but then he gradually added more, up to 500.
It seemed he intended to take down this young man single-handedly.
I have to admit, luck is truly mysterious at times.
The middle-aged man, who had just paid out as the dealer, got a "Niuniu" on his very first hand as a player, and his 500-yuan bet tripled!
In just one hand! The 2,500 yuan the middle-aged man had lost while dealing was almost entirely recouped!