"The final showdown determines the winner. This round, we must work together to lock down He Chenguang, ensuring he doesn't win!"
Yu Shuang's text message was concise and clear, asking me to cooperate with her in keeping a close eye on He Chenguang, leaving him no chance to cheat.
After reading the message, I fell into silent contemplation.
I knew very well that with He Chenguang having the first advantage, if we wanted to drag the competition into the final round, we had to go all out to win this round and snatch 3 points.
Distracting ourselves with other matters would easily give the opponent an opening.
Don't be fooled by Yu Shuang's talk of cooperation; she's always been cunning and unpredictable. It's possible she just wants to use me as her free labor.
Moreover, this is an open stratagem, and Yu Shuang isn't afraid of me seeing through it. She's only worried about whether I'll be willing to accept it...
After emerging from the restroom, seeing that everyone was present, Hu Dinggui immediately announced that the second round's event would be decided by He Chenguang drawing lots.
As everyone had likely noticed, the order of drawing for the competition events was based on the chip rankings from earlier.
This was a form of consolation from the organizing committee after they temporarily changed the finals format.
Even though the chips were no longer useful, higher rankings allowed for earlier draws.
At Hu Dinggui's signal, He Chenguang reached into the transparent glass box filled with plastic balls, stirred them several times, and then grabbed one out.
Under the flashing lights, cameras, and the eager, expectant gazes of the audience, He Chenguang slowly opened the plastic ball...
Instantly, the entire venue erupted in cheers.
Then, the large LCD screen displayed the five characters printed by computer on the slip of paper He Chenguang had revealed.
Poker!
A game that any skilled gambler is extremely proficient, even masterful at! It boasted both high topic relevance and visual appeal!
While it would be exciting for the audience, I sensed a hint of conspiracy.
According to the finals rules proposed by Hu Dinggui, the specific gameplay of each round's event could be slightly adjusted by the player drawing the lots.
In the first round, the Sic Bo game, no matter how it was adjusted, it still revolved around shaking dice and comparing numbers, so Yu Shuang had readily forfeited.
But poker was a different story.
Besides its varied gameplay, poker also possessed multiple functionalities.
Allowing the player drawing the lots to make their own adjustments was equivalent to the organizing committee handing over all the privileges for that round to the player without reservation!
It now seemed that from the moment they decided to change the finals format, all subsequent procedures were designed by Hu Dinggui to deal with people!
After the previous six-to-three match flipped at a crucial juncture, Hu Dinggui likely received orders from He Chenghua to do everything possible to help He Chenguang win the finals.
Therefore, from the very beginning of the finals, Hu Dinggui had designed it so that He Chenguang would win the first two rounds and directly secure victory with 6 points!
If this deduction was correct, it meant Hu Dinggui knew the contents of all the slips of paper inside the plastic balls in the glass box clearly and precisely!
This was no longer just a case of referees manipulating matches with biased calls; it was a complete blackening of the entire organizing committee!
...
Indeed, while I was lost in thought, He Chenguang on the other side had already made some "adjustments" to the poker game he had drawn.
According to his explanation, it was simple.
It was a pure draw of cards to compare numbers, with two Jokers included, 2 being the lowest and the King of Spades being the highest.
Three people would take turns dealing and shuffling the cards. If one was the dealer, as long as the other two players (the "idle" players) did not draw the highest single card, the dealer won and the idle player lost.
Conversely, the dealer lost and the idle player won.
Whether dealer or idle player, winning earned 1 point, losing earned no points. The one with the highest cumulative score from three mini-rounds would be the final winner of that round.
Furthermore, cheating was allowed, provided it was not discovered by the opponent.
If discovered and caught red-handed on the spot, the player would be immediately declared a loser, and all points for that round would be forfeited!
After explaining the rules, He Chenguang took a brand new deck of poker cards from a nearby bunny girl, unsealed it, and spread them all out on the table, shuffling them thoroughly.
"Come on, you two, let's each draw one card from this deck to decide the order of play!"
"2 is the lowest, the King of Spades is the highest!"
With that, He Chenguang began drawing first.
Seeing this, after exchanging a glance with Yu Shuang, we both reached out to draw cards.
After all, in some respects, He Chenguang had the final say in this round.
After drawing the cards, we revealed them in turn.
According to the card ranks, Yu Shuang would be the first dealer and shuffler, I would follow, and He Chenguang would be last.
Once the order was set, the observant bunny girl immediately took a new deck of cards from the tray and handed it to Yu Shuang.
Silently taking the cards, the moment Hu Dinggui announced the start of the match and the new poker cards were unsealed, the Queen Bee's fingers intertwined, and she began by shuffling the deck.
I wasn't surprised by this sight.
As a qualified gambler, the first thing to do upon receiving a deck of poker cards is to shuffle them.
This can disrupt the opponent's rhythm and, to some extent, confuse their memory.
For a gambler who has reached a certain level of skill, when playing poker against an opponent, the game truly begins from the moment the opponent starts controlling the cards, and the mutual contest is already underway!
Based on the sequence of cards before the opponent's control and the techniques displayed, they would build a memory palace in their mind and subconsciously continue to deduce and extend it indefinitely.
Otherwise, why do you think top gamblers can remember the complete sequence of all cards in a shuffled deck?
And those "Super Brains" on TV, who can remember everything after just one glance and then restore it with such precision?
It's all traceable, based on the principle of inferring the whole from a part.
Therefore, disrupting the rhythm is crucial! Even though it might cause you to lose your own rhythm!
All techniques related to poker gambling are like precise formulas.
These precise formulas have accurate algorithms and cannot be easily executed.
To maximize your winning odds, you must know the formulas that others know, and also the formulas that others don't know!
Thus, poker gambling techniques require not only increasingly proficient skills but also eyesight as precise as a camera.