Lin Xinyu pushed the face-down cards towards my pile with a card shovel, about half a meter away.
The moment I reached out and touched the face-down card, everyone in the private room turned their gazes towards me almost in unison.
Without even guessing, I knew that from this moment on, the high-definition surveillance cameras hanging in the four corners of the room and on the gambling table had also locked onto me.
If nothing unexpected happened, as soon as my hand showed the slightest suspicious movement, someone would immediately jump out from the shadows to stop the game, and then directly pin me down.
If anyone thought that under such circumstances, no cheater would dare to make a move, they would be a complete fool!
Even magicians dared to boldly display their skills under the spotlight in front of everyone, let alone cheaters!
Of course, under immense pressure, a person's psychological resilience would definitely fluctuate.
It was just that everyone needed different amounts of time to adjust their mentality.
In the past, under such immense pressure, let alone cheating, I might not have even been able to control some subtle expressions on my face.
But now, everything was different.
As the ancient saying goes: "One who has thunder in his chest but a calm lake on his face can be a great general!"
The thunder hidden in my chest was not about emotional fluctuations, but the raging thunder transformed by the vengeful soul!
...
My left and right hands overlapped, firmly pressing down the fifth face-down card. In the short two to three seconds it took me to move the face-down card to my pile...
Beneath my left hand, my right thumb, on top of the face-down card, gently flicked upwards and then snapped shut. A corner of the fifth face-down card instantly flashed and disappeared.
Since the fifth face-down card had already been moved in front of me, and my entire back was straight, coupled with my left hand constantly resting on my right,
Therefore, none of the shadowy figures behind me noticed the small move I had just made.
After viewing the fifth face-down card before Uncle Qiu, I decisively slid the fifth face-down card under the first face-down card, and then, as if casually, gently flicked and snapped again.
At this moment, the first face-down card, which should have revealed its true face in the first round, finally showed its true colors.
Immediately after, I quickly stacked the two face-down cards, pretending to prepare for a shuffle.
But the real purpose was to prepare for cheating!
At this time, Uncle Qiu, upon receiving the fifth face-down card, made the exact same move as me.
Birds of a feather flock together.
The person who most resembles a cheater... is indeed a cheater!
In Stud, when a gambler makes this move, it usually means they are preparing to secretly change the cards based on the value of the face-down card they drew.
To put it bluntly: swapping the first and last cards.
Turning the first face-down card into the fifth face-up card, and then turning the fifth face-down card, which was about to be revealed, into the first face-down card.
Any serious Stud player has done this more than nine times out of ten!
But if a cheater makes this move, it's not for the same reason as a gambler.
Stacking two face-down cards together means that both cards... are likely to be replaced!
It was obvious that Uncle Qiu was preparing to go all out.
After picking up the face-down cards, Uncle Qiu and I, in unison, began to shuffle the cards bit by bit.
However, his hands moved a step ahead of mine!
I knew he was already cheating!
And most likely, he was using the same "Sleeve Sword" technique to complete the card swap and concealment.
There was no other way, the home advantage was clearly there.
As for me, I utilized the internal pushing action that I had already set up twice. The moment I raised my hand, my left fingers flicked inwards slightly, while my right hand, with slightly clenched fingers, pushed outwards.
Card swap, card concealment, all in one go!
What this move is called, I'll keep it a secret for now.
By the time I completed the card swap and concealment, Uncle Qiu had also finished his cheating and had revealed his last face-up card.
A conspicuous Ace of Hearts.
At this point, Uncle Qiu's face-up cards were an Ace of Spades, a Seven of Spades, a Four of Hearts, and an Ace of Hearts.
Uncle Qiu's face-up cards directly formed a pair of Aces. If the face-down card was also an Ace, it would be three Aces.
Seeing the opponent reveal his cards, I followed suit.
A King of Clubs.
After revealing the last face-up card, my hand became an Ace of Diamonds, a Ten of Hearts, a Queen of Spades, and a King of Clubs.
Just one card short of a Jack of any suit, and I would have a straight...
In this round, both Uncle Qiu and I knew exactly what was going on.
When the crucial fifth card was revealed, it would be the moment of truth!
...
Just as Uncle Qiu and I were sizing each other up, Lin Xinyu suddenly spoke.
"A pair of Aces speaks..."
As she said this, Lin Xinyu's expression instantly turned serious.
With bloodshot eyes staring directly at me, Uncle Qiu first casually picked up a chip, then put it down, but finally...
*Clatter!*
"Kid, just bite the bait obediently! I'm all in!!!"
As expected, Uncle Qiu was tempted by the chips and didn't intend to let me take away a single cent, instead preparing to make me lose both my money and my face.
Before the truth was revealed, I still pretended to hesitate and ponder...
A cigarette's worth of time passed.
"I'll call! All in!!!"
As I pushed all the chips in front of me into the pot, the atmosphere in the entire VIP room reached its peak at this moment!
Everyone, including Cheng Minglang, was staring intently at the gambling table.
Some of the shadowy figures around even involuntarily took a step forward.
As for the three Lin brothers and Lin Xinyu, who was acting as the temporary dealer, they all showed varying degrees of nervousness on their faces.
According to the rules after going all in, Uncle Qiu was the first to reveal his cards.
Without the slightest hesitation, Uncle Qiu directly revealed his hole card in front of everyone.
An Ace of Clubs, forming three Aces.
"Kid, don't tell me... you coincidentally have a straight that can beat three Aces!"
"This kind of plot is only dared to be shown in cliché gambling movies!"
"Even if you can actually reveal it, we won't believe it!"
As soon as Uncle Qiu finished speaking, the extremely tense atmosphere in the room instantly relaxed.
The implication was clear.
If my hole card was a King, he would directly resort to forceful means to catch me cheating!
Hearing this, I didn't speak immediately, but just stared coldly at the other party.
After lighting a cigarette and taking a puff...
"If I show a straight and you don't believe me, then why do you think I should believe you when you show three Aces!?" I asked coldly.
"Heh heh."
After a cold laugh, Uncle Qiu, appearing confident, said in a threatening tone, "Just because this is Tianqi Tower!!!"
"Alright, kid! Reveal your cards."
"If you don't make a move soon, I don't mind finding someone to help you open them!"
As soon as he finished speaking, almost all the shadowy figures rushed to my side, staring at me with fierce eyes.