My conclusion was that the mysterious young woman was signaling the dealer.
The four cards were Q, K, K, with two ten of diamonds and K, one queen of hearts, and one king of spades.
With this hand, if the young woman wanted to ensure a win, she would have to go for a straight flush.
If, before the community cards were dealt, the dealer had given her two diamonds, for example, a Jack of diamonds and a Queen of diamonds, then all she needed was a Nine of diamonds or an Ace of diamonds to complete the straight...
The young woman was guaranteed to win!
If this deduction was correct, then I couldn't continue playing this hand!
Because the dealer was cheating on the community cards, even if I called him out, it would be useless.
As the saying goes, you have to catch the thief with the stolen goods!
Earlier, when the dealer used the "touching two cards" technique to deal the young woman hole cards, I didn't call him out in time, meaning I had missed the best opportunity to catch him red-handed.
Now that he was cheating on the community cards, it was at best an act of disrupting the fairness of the game. Calling him out would at most result in a different dealer.
Once that happened, the group led by the young woman would inevitably become alert.
At that point, it would be even harder to catch her cheating.
So, after much deliberation, I decided to fold.
Three Kings were not a guaranteed winning hand. The two hole cards held by the bearded man and the man with glasses were definitely not much different from mine, and might even be better.
After I chose to fold, the bearded man hesitated for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and giving up.
As for the mysterious young woman, she chose to call.
Seeing this, I immediately concluded in my heart... she had won.
As expected.
Because when the dealer dealt the fifth community card, he actually cheated!
As the cards were dealt, the fat dealer's palm, the moment it reached for the deck, suddenly made an upward blocking motion.
This inconspicuous action, though very quick, happening in less than a second, did not escape my sharp eyes, which had been honed to perfection under Uncle Tuo's guidance.
From this scene alone, I concluded that the fat dealer was a master of cheating.
Because cheating techniques, like martial arts, all emphasize speed.
The fat dealer was using the "Sleeve Sword Hand" technique, the most unpretentious card-switching method.
But any cheating technique, when taken to the extreme, is like the principle of "greatness lies in simplicity" and "all methods return to one."
In less than a second, even a high-definition camera couldn't capture anything.
Because from the outside, there was no problem at all.
As I was deep in thought, I saw that the dealer had already dealt the most important card.
The man with glasses suddenly looked at the river card about to be revealed with a nervous yet expectant gaze, and shouted loudly, "Ten, ten... come a ten!"
Hearing the man with glasses shout, I had already guessed that his hole cards must be a pair of Queens, because I already had one King.
He dared to bet a million before the river card was even dealt, being only slightly worse than my three Kings, so he was likely making a desperate gamble.
With this kind of hand, there was no need to hide anything.
After all, no one was stupid.
Even without speaking, one could deduce it from the cards on the table.
Therefore, the man with glasses decided not to hide it any longer and prepared to go all-in against the young woman with his cards face up.
But the result of doing so was destined to be: a moth to a flame!
Because a conspicuous Ace of diamonds had already appeared.
Heh heh! This fat dealer was quite considerate, choosing the safest Ace of diamonds between the Nine of diamonds and the Ace of diamonds.
Putting aside the suit of diamonds, the Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace already formed a royal flush, which was on par with the supreme straight flush.
With the appearance of this Ace of diamonds, the man with glasses immediately knew he had lost the gamble, but folding was out of the question.
Just like a gambler who, knowing his cards are inferior, doubles down to expose the opponent's hand, the man with glasses directly called for the last bet, going all-in to minimize his losses.
In a regular Texas Hold'em tournament, in a heads-up match, after the player with fewer chips goes all-in, the player with more chips only needs to match the bet.
If the player with more chips goes all-in first...
You either have to match the bet or reluctantly fold. There's no such thing as going all-in for a million and then calling with five hundred thousand.
The man with glasses chose to go all-in, which seemed like unwillingness but was actually a move of absolute desperation.
The young woman's eyebrows slightly lifted, and the mouth covered by her mask let out a cold, disdainful laugh.
"I call!"
As soon as she spoke, the young woman chose to call.
The result was obvious.
Just as I had guessed, in this round, the young woman's two hole cards were the Jack of diamonds and the Queen of diamonds, which, combined with the Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of diamonds on the table, directly formed a royal flush.
She won. In my eyes, the young woman had won the match without any suspense.
This round was incredible, with all the chips adding up to about four million.
Converted into points, that was a full 400,000 points.
In just one hand, the young woman not only consolidated her top position but also further widened the gap between herself and all of us.
If I couldn't pull her down from the top spot to third place or lower, my mission would be a complete failure.
As for Shen Mengqing and Xu Peiyu...
I dared not think further.
...
A new round began.
This round skipped the prelude and went directly to the betting scene after all five community cards were revealed...
The five community cards were: Three of Spades, Six of Hearts, Seven of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, and Jack of Clubs.
The possibilities for flushes and straight flushes were all gone.
In other words, the final hand showdown would start from three of a kind downwards.
In this round, the man with glasses spoke first.
Eager for revenge, the man with glasses immediately threw out 500,000 chips to bet.
My hole cards were not good. If I forcefully swapped for two Jacks, it would inevitably attract attention.
Therefore, I chose to fold.
When it was the young woman's turn, she covered her hole cards with her slender, fair hands and slowly fanned them out.
The young woman had a habit when fanning her cards: she liked to imitate the God of Gamblers, Gao Jin, by twirling her ring finger and pinky finger of her right hand.
Just as the young woman subconsciously twirled her fingers...
"Wait a moment!"
Suddenly, the man with glasses shouted.
Then, he immediately stood up and pointed at the young woman, saying, "You're cheating!!!"
As soon as he said this, all the other contestants at the table were shocked.
After recovering from the shock, the first four-character appraisal that came to my mind for the man with glasses' action was:
Seizing the initiative.