I won!
In the nine-person game of Rich Three Treasures, when only the four-faced man and I remained at the table, I ultimately won with a surprise pair of jacks that I bluffed out.
Relying on the belief that not gambling is winning, and a mentality of not competing for anything, I was the last one smiling…
Time flowed by silently.
In the blink of an eye, the first round of the finals, the nine-to-six elimination, was drawing to a close.
Due to the special rules of Rich Three Treasures, and my prior silent exploitation of those rules, coupled with the selfishness of human nature that secretly dug a huge pit, the group led by He Chenguang dared not make any further moves, fearing repercussions.
They desperately wanted to win, but were unwilling to pay the price of being eliminated early, becoming mere spectators.
The complexity and variability of human hearts!
Among the nine participants in the finals, the player already eliminated was You Li, and the player on the verge of elimination was the four-faced man, who had less than two hundred thousand chips remaining, ranking at the bottom!
At this moment, less than half an hour remained until the end of the first round of the competition.
If the four-faced man could not turn the tide and make a comeback, he, along with the player ranked second to last in chips, would be eliminated together in half an hour.
There was a rather tricky rule here, and I wasn't sure if Mr. He had intended it or miscalculated.
A rule common to all three rounds of the finals was that any chips remaining with a player eliminated in a round would not be confiscated but would be zeroed out.
Looking at this rule from a different perspective, its implications were thought-provoking.
Taking myself and He Chenguang, and the different factions we represented, as examples.
If someone on my side (or He Chenguang's side) clearly knew they were about to be eliminated, and given that their eliminated chips would be zeroed out, they would certainly try their best to send warmth to their teammates.
Therefore, before the end of the first stage of the nine-to-six competition, the four-faced man and the long-haired man ranked second to last in chips began to randomly and carelessly give away chips at the table.
With a 6:2 ratio, as long as Yu Shuang and I didn't win, the chips from the four-faced man and the long-haired man would inevitably be delivered accurately to their teammates.
Half an hour later, the first stage of the nine-to-six competition officially concluded.
Before I and He Chenguang could fully gauge each other's strength and depth, the first stage of the competition was inevitably somewhat dull and uninteresting.
But we both knew that the next stage, the six-to-three elimination, was the real main event!
The remaining six people in this round, who could advance without fully displaying their strength, either possessed exceptional skills in calculating human minds, or were masterful gamblers, or had decent luck…
Whichever of these situations it was, it would be fully showcased in the critical battle of the six-to-three elimination!
In the first stage, I led all the other players by a significant margin with a total of two million five hundred and thirty thousand chips.
Next was He Chenguang, with one million six hundred and sixty thousand.
Together, our chips accounted for nearly half of the total chips of the nine participants.
Next, as the large screen began to scroll through the subsequent rankings, I took the opportunity to recognize each of them by their chips in front of them.
The player ranked third with one million four hundred and ten thousand chips was named Zha Meng.
I recalled that Li Wenting had described this Zha Meng as having exceptionally sharp eyes, known in the underworld as "Ghost-Faced Illusory Pupils," able to see through people's hearts!
The player ranked fourth with one million three hundred thousand chips was named Xian Zhongde.
He was born with six fingers on his right hand, nicknamed "Six-Fingered Card Demon," and was extremely skilled in poker cheating techniques.
The player ranked fifth with one million one hundred and seventy thousand chips was named Jiao Changqing.
When Li Wenting introduced this person, she had specifically emphasized to me that this person was the most formidable player in both Texas Hold'em and Stud Poker in Macau over the past two years.
The player ranked at the bottom was, naturally, Yu Shuang, with nine hundred and thirty thousand chips.
In a situation where she had given away over two hundred thousand chips from the start, the Queen Bee demonstrated her ability to survive in the cracks, not only avoiding elimination but almost managing to return to her initial chip count of one million.
This ranking surprised everyone, as the vast majority of people had never heard my name before and found it incredibly unbelievable that an unknown like me could be at the top of the list.
I chose to completely ignore these external discussions.
After the first stage of the competition concluded, the host took the stage and said, "I believe everyone has watched enough and is tired. During the intermission, the organizing committee has prepared a rich late-night supper to ensure everyone is full and energized to continue watching the competition…"
Even though it was already past eleven o'clock at night, the audience present remained enthusiastic and had no intention of leaving to rest.
After all, the King of Gamblers Competition, held once every ten years, was considered the premier event in Macau's gambling industry, with nearly ninety-five percent of people choosing to stay.
So, as soon as the host finished speaking, a large crowd of people immediately headed towards the adjacent restaurant, a vast throng surging forward.
After the intermission,
The first-floor lobby of the Grand Lisboa was packed with people, all waiting to watch the six-to-three competition.
As the host appeared on stage to introduce the second round's competition item and specific rules, the six of us contestants returned to the central competition area on the stage.
The competition item for this round was unexpectedly Stud Poker!
In Hong Kong and Macau, Stud Poker holds an unshakeable position that no other card game can match. Whenever there are any amateur competitions, Stud Poker is invariably the featured event.
However, it had now appeared in the second round, the six-to-three competition, ahead of schedule.
Could it be that the final round would truly keep pace with the times and align with international standards, directly switching to Texas Hold'em?
As I was contemplating this, the dealer responsible for shuffling and dealing cards for the second round had already appeared.
Listening to the host's introduction, the dealer was none other than Hu Dinggui, the person in charge of the Grand Lisboa Entertainment City!
Earlier, I had heard Li Wenting mention this Hu Dinggui.
He was not a member of the cheaters' guild but a genuine high achiever, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, whom Mr. He had hired at great expense to manage the casino.
Bringing the Stud Poker, which should have been the finale, out a round early, and then inviting an outsider to the cheaters' guild to act as the dealer…
These actions, no matter how one looked at them, did not seem like something Mr. He had pre-arranged, but rather like deliberate actions by someone who came later!
Without a doubt, this later person must be He Zhonghua.
Only he, after temporarily changing the competition item and the dealer, could do so without attracting outside criticism.
After all, he was Mr. He's son.
It seemed that my ranking had severely threatened He Zhonghua's plan to seize power.
Therefore, he was willing to go to any lengths to try and change the current situation.