In the few minutes it took for the stranger, acting as a temporary dealer, to shuffle the cards, Feng Xihua and I had been secretly observing each other.
The highest art of card manipulation is to manipulate the manipulator.
Only by accurately calculating what the opponent is thinking can one's own chances of winning increase.
Whether Feng Xihua and I had accurately calculated each other was something neither of us could be sure of.
Therefore, in tonight's all-in poker game, the so-called advantage of drawing cards first was both an advantage and an extremely unfavorable disadvantage.
This was because neither Feng Xihua nor I could figure out the other's intentions.
After an unknown amount of time...
Finally, under Xu Qihan's secret instruction, Feng Xihua spoke before me.
"Since you, the guest, are unwilling to draw cards first, then don't blame me, the host, for taking advantage!"
"I'll draw first!"
As he spoke, Feng Xihua paused slightly before reaching into the deck and drawing a card, which he then revealed on the table.
Although the process was seamless, the card he drew... greatly surprised me.
It wasn't a spade, but a conspicuous heart.
The Ace of Hearts!
Why would he not draw the Ace of Spades first, but instead take the Ace of Hearts?
After a moment's thought, I immediately figured out his purpose in drawing the Ace of Hearts.
It was a blatant ploy, a trap to lure me in!
Feng Xihua, going first, did not prioritize drawing the Ace of Spades. Instead, he left it exposed, deliberately to entice me to draw it.
If I drew it, he would then play a cut-off, taking one card from Ten of Spades to King of Spades to block my royal flush.
If I wanted to ensure I was on equal footing with Feng Xihua, then when it was my turn to draw in the second round, I would have to follow his rhythm and draw a cut-off card from Ten of Hearts to King of Hearts.
This would essentially mean I was being led by the nose.
Most importantly, in the first two rounds of drawing, Feng Xihua and I had essentially exposed each other's card paths without accomplishing anything substantial.
As I said before, memory has a strong logical component.
Once my memory rhythm was broken, the direction of the remaining three cards would become uncontrollable.
Then, under the rule that cards must be revealed simultaneously after drawing, I wouldn't even be able to make a move to cheat.
Because I had no idea what cards Feng Xihua was holding.
No wonder Xu Qihan had signaled Feng Xihua to draw first; she had already figured out how to utilize Feng Xihua as a pawn.
Xu Qihan, who held a position on the Star Ranking of new manipulators, was indeed powerful.
On the surface, I was in a duel with Feng Xihua.
In reality, Xu Qihan was remotely controlling Feng Xihua, attempting to gauge my strength first.
Therefore, to avoid capsizing in the gutter, I had to go all out and find another way to break this stalemate...
With this thought, when it was my turn to draw, I aimed for a card in the center of the deck and drew it decisively.
The Ace of Spades.
This was a card I had to draw.
The second round began.
As I had expected, Feng Xihua directly targeted a spot in the deck, drew the King of Spades, and revealed it.
I followed suit, drawing the King of Hearts that Feng Xihua needed as a cut-off.
With both Aces in my hand, for subsequent cut-offs, I would have to cut off the second-highest card in the straight flush.
After the second round of drawing, neither Feng Xihua nor I could get the straight flush we wanted.
The real showdown of this poker game would begin with the third card.
...
With a 52-card deck, completely shuffled, it was practically impossible to remember and lock down the exact position of all the cards.
At most, one could remember no more than half.
When we card manipulators memorize, we start from the highest cards downwards, meaning Ace to Ten of all suits.
After accurately memorizing the positions of the 20 key high cards, the remaining 5 to 6 cards would be memorized sequentially from Ten downwards.
Each card remembered was a gain, regardless of suit.
Remembering one more card could increase the winning percentage by a few points.
Now, starting from the third card, Feng Xihua and I would first compete in memory, and then in strategy.
We would see who could penetrate the other's thoughts.
Before drawing the third card, Feng Xihua frowned, his eyes showing deep thought as he gazed at the deck spread out in a fan shape on the table.
This card was crucial; it determined not only the card path but also the ultimate direction of victory tonight!
His gaze swept back and forth across the face-down deck. After a brief hesitation, Feng Xihua took a deep breath and decided to draw a card.
As he decided to draw, Feng Xihua's hands moved in coordination.
His left hand swept across the cards, while his right hand slid underneath,夹ing the card.
He drew the card so quickly that I couldn't see which specific card he took from the deck.
I only vaguely remembered it seemed to be from the right half of the deck.
This was because his hand had paused briefly over the right half of the deck.
When Feng Xihua's right hand left the deck, the remaining 47 Bee playing cards, with their neatly ordered backs, caused my eyes to twitch slightly.
With a swift, dragonfly-kissing-the-water speed, without revealing any flaws, I could only try to infer the approximate value of the card he had just drawn.
It seemed Feng Xihua was fully prepared for this battle.
And behind him, there was the guidance of a master like Xu Qihan.
Since I had unknowingly fallen into Xu Qihan's meticulously designed trap, I could no longer draw cards according to my original plan.
After a rapid mental calculation, I reached out to draw my third card.
Under immense pressure, although my fingers were held together, the tips of my index and middle fingers, used for drawing the card, trembled uncontrollably.
I didn't want this, but lives were at stake.
As soon as I finished drawing the card, I hurriedly took out a cigarette and lit it, hoping the smoke would conceal the pallor on my face.
According to the rules Feng Xihua had just added, drawing cards did not require a distinction between drawing first or last, but cards had to be revealed simultaneously after drawing.
Thus, Feng Xihua and I, with tacit understanding, chose to reveal our cards at the same time.
An Ace of Clubs, and a Three of Hearts.
The Ace of Clubs belonged to Feng Xihua, while the Three of Hearts was mine.
The moment I saw Feng Xihua reveal the Ace of Clubs, I knew I had misjudged earlier!
If nothing unexpected happened, in the crucial third round, Feng Xihua must have used a sleight of hand, drawing the Ace of Clubs hidden in the left half of the deck.
As for the movement on the right side, that was deliberately shown to me!