But catching someone cheating is one thing, and actually catching them is another.
This is because the way a woman is caught cheating is entirely different from how a man is.
If a man is caught cheating, he's apprehended on the spot and searched. If the marked cards are found, it's a clear-cut case.
But with a woman, she's first taken away from the scene.
During this time, if the woman manages to transfer the marked cards out of her possession, and then someone accuses her of cheating without any evidence, the accuser will be declared the loser.
This is why, from last night until now, very few female contestants have been publicly called out.
For a high-stakes event like the Gambling King competition, catching a woman cheating carries considerable risk.
It's similar to suspecting someone of theft in a public place.
If the suspect is a man, you might not even bother with procedures and just reach out to search him. If you find the stolen goods, it's a clear case of being caught red-handed, followed by a beating.
But if the suspect is a woman, would you dare do that?
Putting aside whether she actually stole anything, the moment you dare to search her, she can accuse you of sexual harassment.
So, getting back to the point, I chose to remain silent, wanting to see what the referee, Gu Jingjing, would do.
If she also noticed something amiss, it would save me the trouble.
She had been so confident earlier; surely she couldn't have missed it, right?
Unfortunately, the result disappointed me.
After seeing a slight downward movement in the purple-haired woman's arm, Gu Jingjing merely cast a cursory glance before looking away.
Clearly, that extra glance hadn't revealed anything out of the ordinary.
Of course, this also indicated that the purple-haired woman's card-switching technique, concealed within her sleeves, had reached a level of perfection.
With such a technique, unless you apprehend her on the spot, by the time you try to catch her red-handed after she leaves the table, she might have already transferred the marked cards.
...
After switching cards, the purple-haired woman boldly pushed all her chips forward and said coldly, "I'll go all-in with you!!!"
As soon as she spoke, the other contestants at the table were stunned.
Once they recovered, they all raised their eyes, staring intently at the purple-haired woman and me, afraid to miss the most exciting concluding moment of this sudden all-in gamble.
"Bring it on!"
After going all-in with all her chips, the purple-haired woman flipped over her hole card and said with a hint of impatience, "Handsome, I have three Aces. If you have a full house, I'll admit defeat!"
Hearing this, I replied with a blank expression, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to admit defeat."
With that, I picked up my hole card, first raising it high, and then slamming it onto the gambling table.
The Queen of Hearts, forming a full house with three twos.
Upon seeing the Queen of Hearts, the purple-haired woman's expression became incredibly complex.
First, there was shock, an extreme, unbelievable shock, which then turned into deep suspicion, and finally, she suddenly became expressionless and closed her eyes.
"Heh... hehe~"
"You can't always walk by the river without getting your shoes wet!"
"The world of gambling, as expected, always has new talents emerging!"
Compared to the uncouth man with glasses in the first half, who was also outmatched, this purple-haired woman, despite her flamboyant style and numerous tricks, displayed excellent sportsmanship.
She immediately and decisively gave up struggling and conceded.
Not only that, but when she uttered her last sentence, she managed to swallow the word "cheating" that was about to escape her lips and replaced it with "gambling world."
The moment the purple-haired woman stood up to leave her seat, the other four people at the table let out a sigh of relief.
After the sigh, their gazes towards me all changed.
There was no fool at the table; even if they couldn't see anything wrong on the surface, they had all guessed something in their hearts.
Even the referee, Gu Jingjing, looked at me with intense suspicion.
I didn't avoid Gu Jingjing's questioning gaze; instead, I met it directly, without flinching.
As a seasoned gambler, once you've made a move, you shouldn't be timid or worried about this or that.
As long as no one calls you out for cheating, just play your game with confidence.
Outwit your opponents and remain unassailable!
...
After the purple-haired woman was eliminated, Gu Jingjing immediately announced, "The competition continues!"
With that, she took out a new deck of cards from the card box, opened it publicly, and as usual, asked if we wanted to inspect the cards.
Everyone shook their heads and declined.
Seeing this, Gu Jingjing skillfully began shuffling the cards.
While Gu Jingjing was shuffling, we had already placed our ante bets.
The ante was ten thousand, with no upper limit.
After shuffling, Gu Jingjing, as usual, dealt each of us a hole card first, followed by a face-up card.
In this round, my face-up card wasn't great, just a single 8, giving me no leverage.
The first to bet was a young man smoking a cigar, whose face-up card was a Jack.
After glancing at his hole card, the cigar man picked up a chip and threw it into the pot, saying in a stiff Cantonese accent, "I'll see your bet, I'll see your bet, ten thousand!"
The player seated above me was a young man wearing a baseball cap and hip-hop attire. He folded.
When it was my turn, I chose to look at my hole card first.
My initial thought was that for a ten-thousand-dollar game like this, if my hole card wasn't good, I wouldn't play, to avoid the situation where I might call and get a mediocre hand, only to be strung along by others.
Upon seeing an Ace peek out from my hole card, I ultimately decided to call.
In a 52-card game of Texas Hold'em, anyone who doesn't call with an Ace as their hole card is not just a fool, but a complete idiot!
The player seated below me was a middle-aged woman in a professional OL uniform.
Without hesitation, she chose to call.
The player below the OL woman was a man who looked only in his early thirties but had a head full of white hair.
His face-up card on the table was quite small, and his hole card was likely not much better, so he folded directly.
It was evident that the two who folded in this round had truly terrible cards.
The third round had just begun, and with two players folding, only three of us continued to gamble.
Gu Jingjing continued dealing.
The cigar man received another face card, a King, but it was of a different suit than his Jack.
After a moment of thought, the cigar man raised the bet to fifty thousand.
Frankly, I couldn't quite figure him out.
With a Jack and a King showing, why would he only bet fifty thousand? Wasn't that clearly giving us others an opportunity?
If this were a regular game, I would have dismissed the cigar man as a novice at Texas Hold'em, but in the Gambling King competition, I dared not think that way.
Because I knew there were no such foolish people.
Without being certain of his intentions, I decided to call one more time to see how things unfolded...