Unfortunately, the scene I had envisioned in my mind earlier did not materialize at all.
As the man with long hair flipped over the card, which he had already crumpled, a conspicuous Ten of Diamonds appeared.
It was evident that he had not tampered with the second card in any way.
This shouldn't be! It absolutely shouldn't be!
If he didn't choose to tamper with the second card, and instead gambled on the third card with the automatic draw, if he happened to draw an 8 or a 9, the dealer would likely become suspicious.
After all, this was Baccarat played in a casino, where luck wasn't the only factor.
If the long-haired man truly intended to do this, it would only accelerate his exposure.
Just as I was feeling puzzled and perplexed by the long-haired man's actions, the dealer had already drawn another card for him.
According to the rules of Baccarat, if the player's total points are 5 or less, they must draw a third card.
As soon as he received the card, the long-haired man immediately adopted the same stance as before.
He gathered the card between his hands and slowly revealed it.
At the same time, the long-haired man continued to shout with conviction.
"Three edges! Three edges! Three edges!"
"Beautiful!!! Perfect!!!"
"Just need to hit the mark."
"Hit it! For me... hit it!!!"
The so-called "hit" meant that you had already received a low card and, before looking at the next card, you hoped the card in the middle would have a certain value to "hit" the desired score.
And cards with three edges were also the easiest to judge the points from.
After a single glance, I was certain that the card the long-haired man had "hit" was a 6.
As for how I judged it, it was simple.
If the edge of the card had three flowers, you would push it in from the short edge to see the value.
If there was nothing at the front, it was likely a 6.
And as the long-haired man pushed the card, there was nothing at the front edge, so I concluded that he had drawn a 6.
As expected, after the process of revealing the card and slowly pushing it, the card the long-haired man revealed confirmed my earlier deduction.
A 6.
The moment this 6 was revealed by the long-haired man, an infinite wave of doubt washed over me.
In a hand where he had bet twenty thousand yuan, he ended up with a 6. This was far from a sure win and completely contradicted a cheater's theory of winning and losing.
If the dealer drew a 7 or higher, the long-haired man's twenty thousand yuan stake would essentially be lost.
What was going on!? Did this guy have no intention of cheating, but rather wanted to intentionally lose a large sum and then slip away???
However, at that moment, the dealer's revealed card shocked me immensely...
Since the dealer's previous two cards totaled only 2 points, they were also required to draw a card.
Logically speaking, there were quite a few cards that could bring a 2 up to 6 points or more.
But for the third card, the dealer had only drawn a 2!
In other words, the dealer only had 4 points this round, and the long-haired man's twenty-thousand-yuan bet had thus been won so cleanly and decisively!
To be precise, during the long-haired man's process of drawing the third card, my eyes had never left his hands.
I had been watching him intently the entire time, hardly missing a single movement he made with his cards.
Therefore, I was certain that he had not cheated!
Yet, under these circumstances, the long-haired man had still won.
This left me somewhat stunned and incredulous.
Could the problem lie with the dealer?
Or perhaps, he and the long-haired man were in cahoots, deliberately letting him win?
Although, based on the current situation, this possibility seemed the most likely, I knew in my heart that it was probably unrealistic.
Analyzing the previous hands I had observed, the reason the long-haired man could maintain a stable upward trend in his winnings, even with a roughly 50/50 chance of winning or losing, was that he always won the hands where he increased his bet.
While his increases were always modest, the continuous wins naturally added up.
Furthermore, no dealer would be foolish enough to specifically draw good cards for a gambler when they increased their bet, allowing them to win continuously.
If they dared to do that, the dealer would have been taken away by the people at the establishment long ago!
Therefore, the root of the problem most likely lay with the long-haired man himself.
With this thought, and taking advantage of a lull while the dealer was distributing chips, I feigned friendliness and offered the long-haired man a cigarette, saying with a smile, "Brother, your luck is truly incredible!"
After taking the cigarette, the long-haired man put it in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag, saying to me with a spirited air, "Hahaha! How about that, brother? Didn't I tell you?"
"Just follow my lead with confidence, and you're guaranteed to feast!"
As the long-haired man spoke these words, many gamblers at the table began to look his way.
Among them, several gamblers showed eager expressions.
It was clear that these people wanted to bet alongside the long-haired man, hoping to get a taste of the "hot broth."
Seeing this, after nodding heavily, I immediately said, "Brother, I'll treat you to supper tonight! Oh, and what should I call you?"
Upon hearing this, the long-haired man casually replied, "Don't keep calling me 'brother.' Just call me Zhang Liang."
...
As time quietly slipped away, Zhang Liang maintained his previous rhythm, methodically controlling his wins and losses.
Before long, the chips in front of him began to pile up at a visible speed.
Although there weren't many large-denomination chips, there were almost always thick stacks of medium-sized chips, like 1000s and 2000s.
Through several rounds of coming and going, Zhang Liang not only won back all the chips he had deliberately given away earlier but also won an additional tens of thousands.
If my calculations were correct, Zhang Liang was close to winning 200,000 yuan at this Baccarat table!
If he were playing solo, winning 200,000 yuan in a single night in a casino would be considered an absolute over-fulfillment of the mission.
Remember, this was 2008, and outside of well-known first and second-tier cities, 200,000 yuan would essentially be enough for a two-bedroom apartment!
If Zhang Liang chose to quit now and leave the casino, he would have essentially earned himself an apartment in one night.
But Zhang Liang... was still here!
Had he gotten carried away? Or had his eyes turned red with greed?
Since Zhang Liang wasn't leaving, I was naturally eager for him to stay a while longer, preferably until I could find a flaw in his game!
Unfortunately, for the next period of time, I still couldn't find any flaws or problems with Zhang Liang.
However, this didn't mean that my suspicion towards him had been cleared, or that there were no issues.
Subsequently, I began to shift my attention to the dealer.
After observing him intently a few times, my suspicion towards the dealer... was also cleared.
This was truly baffling!
Given my skills in cheating and my sharp eyes, even if Zhang Liang wasn't directly cheating, the way he played his cards and calculated wins and losses was definitely problematic.
But I just couldn't figure out or pinpoint where his problem lay...