As a professional gambler, I never believe in "coincidences" at the gambling table.
Gambling games are always fraught with unpredictable twists and turns, with victory and defeat uncertain. Where are there so many coincidences? If there are...
It must be a predetermined event, meticulously designed in advance!
Therefore, the moment Jiang He revealed his jQk three-of-a-kind, I knew something was amiss.
To catch a thief, you must find the stolen goods; to catch a cheat, you must find the evidence.
I believe Jiang He's earlier restraint was not solely for this four-times multiplier three-of-a-kind hand.
Choosing to cheat implies he had already observed and considered the current gambling environment.
He likely proceeded only after confirming there were no risks.
The subsequent hands would inevitably be his prime opportunity to gain momentum.
Stopping him from gaining momentum is simple: find the flaw in his cheating and catch him red-handed. He would then be utterly defeated.
However, I have no intention of doing that.
My purpose for coming here is for Zhang Chengxiang.
Han Jinlun mentioned that Zhang Chengxiang intensely dislikes and even despises cheaters. To impulsively catch a cheat and then reveal my identity...
Frankly, I don't believe that would immediately change Zhang Chengxiang's perception of gamblers.
Only by using Jiang He as a prime example, by presenting him as the extreme opposite of a gambler to Zhang Chengxiang, can I achieve my goal.
Let him deeply understand how unscrupulous and unprincipled cheaters are, those who would even betray their acquaintances with malicious intent.
When I later intervene from a position of righteousness, he will experience a significant emotional shift due to the stark contrast.
At that point, his defenses and vigilance against cheaters will likely be less pronounced and intense than before...
...
While I observed from behind the table, Jiang He was already reaping the rewards of his first act of cheating.
"Hahahaha~ Fortune truly turns! If even a shoe-shiner like you can win money, why can't I?!"
"The moment I saw the first jack, I had a feeling this hand would be three-of-a-kind!"
"Indeed, heaven still favors me!"
"Come, come~ Hurry up and pay!"
"Four times, four times, everyone pays four times!"
In this game of San Gong among the six people from Longxi, the concept of being the banker is quite similar to the popular Dou Niu in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.
When you are the banker, any hand that can sweep all players and also doubles the payout means a massive profit.
Take Jiang He's current jQk three-of-a-kind for example.
A four-times multiplier payout means Han Jinlun and the other four players must each pay four times their bet to the banker.
Assuming everyone bet the maximum of two hundred, a four-times payout for one player would be eight hundred, and for five players, it would be four thousand!
So, does anyone still think that San Gong, with bets ranging from fifty to two hundred, isn't a high-stakes game?
Especially for Jiang He, the banker, whose true identity is not a gambler but a cheat. No matter how much money you bring to gamble with him, if he decides to fleece you, you can never win enough!
In just one hand, Han Jinlun lost more than half of the over one thousand yuan he had won earlier.
Besides Han Jinlun, three of the other four players, including Zhang Chengxiang, had also bet the maximum.
With an income of over three thousand in a single hand, the gloom on Jiang He's face instantly vanished.
While collecting the money, he distributed cigarettes not only to Han Jinlun and Zhang Chengxiang but also to us onlookers without exception.
After receiving the cigarette, I didn't light it immediately but played with it in my hand.
As long as there is a gambling game, whether on or off the table, I try not to smoke cigarettes offered by others.
As the big winner, Jiang He began to gather the cards after distributing the cigarettes.
At this moment, I noticed a subtle detail.
The instant he combined the other players' cards with his own three cards, Jiang He's left thumb, with its incredibly sharp nail, paused for a moment on a particular card.
However, in the next second, he mixed his cards with everyone else's and began to shuffle them with feigned casualness.
Seeing this, I immediately understood how this guy was cheating.
If I'm not mistaken, Jiang He had cards hidden in the sleeves of both his hands. As for the quantity...
It definitely wouldn't be too many, but certainly not too few.
When acting as the banker, after shuffling the cards using conventional methods, Jiang He would decide whether to cheat based on the situation and his own hand.
The method of cheating is also very simple: Sleeve Concealment! He would switch cards directly during the moment of "bo pai" (card exchange).
The reason I didn't see what happened clearly earlier was that Jiang He wasn't using a shuriken but a "tool sword," meaning a spring-loaded device or similar.
Unless one spends a year or half a year practicing the "Sleeve Concealment: Shuriken" technique, the mechanical speed of a "tool sword" is obviously faster than human hands.
Originally, Jiang He wouldn't have been exposed so quickly.
But perhaps because Zhang Chengxiang was watching the game closely, and Jiang He didn't want to leave any evidence on the table, he took the risk of "hui pai" (returning cards) before shuffling.
This involves replacing the stolen and hidden real cards back into the deck.
The biggest drawback of Jiang He doing this is that if there were any cheaters among the spectators, even if he hadn't made any moves during the shuffling process, he would be exposed by the act of returning cards.
Therefore, he has now been exposed.
Having deciphered Jiang He's trick, my current thought is to watch from the sidelines.
I'll wait for Jiang He to ignite the fire and let it spread, preferably to a point where it becomes uncontrollable, before I intervene...
...
Midway through the shuffling, Jiang He suddenly turned to Han Jinlun and said, "Friend, you got a nine points just now, which means you can be the banker according to the rules."
"How about you take the bank for this hand?"
Hearing this, Han Jinlun, unaware of the situation, quickly shook his head and replied, "Forget it, I'm just here to join the fun. You continue to be the banker."
As if he had already anticipated Han Jinlun's response, Jiang He smiled and nodded, "Since that's the case, I won't refuse!"
"It's a good opportunity to use the momentum from the last hand to win more and then settle down and play casually!"
"Come on, brothers and friends! Keep betting, the more you bet, the more you pay, and the more you win!"
Jiang He was speaking common gambling platitudes, often heard from gamblers with a gambler's mentality.
Typically, these gamblers believe they will turn their luck around by riding the momentum of a single hand.
Unbeknownst to them, gambling is often a rigged game, and the so-called "turn of luck" is merely the beginning of sinking deeper into the mire!
After shuffling the cards properly, Jiang He placed them in the center of the table, indicating that players could cut the deck.
After the outside players cut the cards, Jiang He flipped over the top card according to the rules.
The rules for dealing in Dou San Gong are similar to Dou Niu in some regions: flip over a card, and the point value of the card determines where the dealing begins.