Ma Shu smiled faintly, then said, "Alright, it's just me here, so it's clean and efficient. How about this, to show fairness, everyone else will just watch and not play, while Mr. Zhou and I will both take off our coats and go shirtless to prevent cheating. Let's play Texas Hold'em for the first round. Does Mr. Zhou have any objections?"
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "No objection, we'll do it your way!" After saying that, he first stood up and took off his clothes, leaving only a vest and his bare arms, so there would be no place to hide the token.
Generally speaking, skilled cheaters will hide their tools in their sleeves; speed is all that matters.
Gu Yuan and Hua Jianxing thought Ma Shu's suggestion was good. Seeing that Zhou Xuan took the initiative and generously took off his clothes first, they assumed that Zhou Xuan's cheating method was definitely not through his sleeves, so they were relieved. Before, they had seen Zhou Xuan's skills, and he really did not take off his clothes or sleeves, and did not even touch the cards!
But Zhou Xuan himself was taken aback!
On the surface, he was very proactive and smiling, but in his heart he was very surprised and shocked, because he had long suspected that Ma Shu had cheated, but now he was also taking the initiative to bring up this condition, which completely cut off his escape route.
Zhou Xuan was wondering to himself, could it be that this guy wasn't cheating at all? Or was he not cheating by switching cards, but using some other method?
Zhou Xuan had his doubts, but he still smiled slightly and extended his hand, saying, "Mr. Ma, please!"
Ma Shu then gestured to Gu Yuan, saying, "Young Master Gu, we'll trouble you to shuffle and deal the cards. We don't mind, and we don't want our people to deal the cards!"
Zhou Xuan and his group were all taken aback again!
What do they mean by this? To do something like this, to dare to do it, means they must have an absolute certainty of winning. What kind of certainty do they have? What does absolute certainty mean? Even Zhou Xuan himself, with his ice-energy ability, wouldn't dare say he has absolute certainty!
At this moment, Zhou Xuan even had a very bad, ominous premonition!
Gu Yuan didn't stand on ceremony. Ma Shu himself had said so, so he felt he deserved it and it would be disrespectful to refuse. Just to prove his innocence, he took off his clothes on the spot, leaving only a vest, and took the playing cards out of the box with his bare chest.
This is a new deck of cards, which Ma Shu requested Gu Yuan to buy from the supermarket themselves. Everything was prepared by them, which only added to Ma Shu's mystique.
To be so generous means you're confident.
While shuffling the cards, Gu Yuan asked, "How much is the initial bet? In a game of Texas Hold'em?"
Ma Shu smiled and said nonchalantly, "Ten thousand per game, whatever, it doesn't matter. Whether we win or lose, we're not expecting to pick up the scraps, are we?"
After saying that, he took a bundle of banknotes and threw it into the middle of the table.
Zhou Xuan also put out a bundle, a bundle of one hundred bills, each with a bank's paper seal, totaling one hundred thousand.
Gu Yuan didn't even look at the cards in his hand. He shuffled them a few times based on his feel, and then dealt the cards, first one face up and one face down.
In front of Ma Shu was a two of hearts, and in front of Zhou Xuan was a nine of spades (open) and a seven of spades (closed).
The revealed cards are Zhou Xuan's nine great cards, and Zhou Xuan speaks for himself.
Zhou Xuan didn't use the ice energy to probe Ma Shu's trump cards first; he only looked at his own. He wanted to wait a bit, perhaps until the very end, before probing Ma Shu's trump cards, because he had a very bad feeling about it.
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then put in one million and said, "If it's up to me, then let's start with one million."
It was very calm and indifferent. There were a total of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars on the long table. If you were betting one million at a time, when would it ever end?
Ma Shu smiled and also placed a million, saying, "Mr. Zhou is so refined, I'll follow suit in a refined manner too."
Both sides called and did not fold, so Gu Yuan dealt the cards again. This time, Ma Shu received a three of hearts and Zhou Xuan received a seven of diamonds.
The cards are currently scattered, with no pairs appearing. Zhou Xuan still has the upper hand, with the seven over the three. However, Zhou Xuan's hidden card is the seven of spades, and with this seven of diamonds, there is now a pair.
It was Zhou Xuan's turn to speak. After a moment's thought, Zhou Xuan managed to suppress the urge to hand over a large sum of cash. He then put down two million and said, "Since I'm the one in charge, let's add another million, two million then."
Ma Shu smiled, thought for a moment, and then pulled out two million, saying with a smile, "I'll just follow suit, no extra bets, two million!"
One of them placed a bet with a smile, and the other called with a smile. Ma Shu simply called without saying much, which made Zhou Xuan feel increasingly uneasy, but he just couldn't figure out what was so strange about Ma Shu.
Gu Yuan dealt the fourth card. Ma Shu had a six of diamonds, but Zhou Xuan's card was still higher, a king of spades. Judging from the open cards, both sides had scattered cards, so the decision was still based on the size of the dealt cards, and Zhou Xuan spoke again.
Zhou Xuan still couldn't probe Ma Shu's hand, because judging from the cards, Ma Shu's open cards were two, three, and six. Unless his hidden cards were also two, three, or six, which would make a pair, any other card would be a loose hand. Even if it was a pair, his highest hand would only be a pair of sixes, while Zhou Xuan's hand was a pair of sevens, which was still higher than his.
But Zhou Xuan always felt something was off, and he wasn't at ease at all. However, he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong. After thinking about it, he figured he had a strong hand, so he added another million, betting a total of three million.
Ma Shu smiled, still counted out three million and pushed it to the middle. The two of them went back and forth, and although everyone understood that the final result would be that one of them would bleed and fall down, they still maintained a calm and polite expression.
At this point, Gu Yuan's faction had their last card, one for each person, face down. It was now up to Ma Shu and Zhou Xuan to see their own cards.
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Volume 1, Chapter 280: Mind Reading (Part 1)
Without even looking at his cards, Zhou Xuan considered using his icy energy to test the waters. Suddenly, he realized that for the first round, he shouldn't make anything too surprising!
With that thought in mind, Zhou Xuan still took five playing cards into his hand, and then slowly looked at the bottom cards. The last card was the ten of hearts, which was a very small hand, just a pair of sevens.
Ma Shu also picked up his cards and looked at them, but his way of looking at the cards was different from most people. Many players and gamblers would hold the cards and look at them one by one, looking at the suits little by little, and enjoying the process. He would just glance at the cards and know what the cards were, without paying any attention to the details or the size of his hole cards.
This situation and action surprised Zhou Xuan. Although it was just a tiny detail, Zhou Xuan already felt something was off and had been paying attention to Ma Shu. So Ma Shu's action and expression also caught his eye. The others, however, didn't notice this; they were only focused on the two people, watching to see if they were cheating.
After examining his own hand, Zhou Xuan used his ice energy to test Ma Shu's hand. Ma Shu's first three cards were 2, 3, and 6. Zhou Xuan then tested the remaining two cards and found that one was a five of diamonds and the other was a six of clubs. Ma Shu had actually gotten a straight!
Zhou Xuan lost this hand. Looking at the cards, Zhou Xuan held them for a while, pondered, then put them down and said in a deep voice, "Twenty million!"
After saying that, he lowered his head, counted out a large pile of cash on his side, and pushed it out. Twenty million was not a small amount, but of course, it was still insignificant in terms of their total amount.
However, Zhou Xuan was bluffing in this hand. Ma Shu had a small straight, which wasn't a very strong hand. Just like in poker, a small straight has a good chance of winning, but if the opponent bets a lot, it's a different story. Most ordinary players would choose to fold because a small straight isn't a very strong hand. If the bet is too big, there's no point in gambling on it, and it's not worth losing. They didn't follow the ante much either.
After placing his bet, Zhou Xuan calmly looked up at Ma Shu, smiled slightly, and said, "Mr. Ma, my hand isn't very strong, only worth twenty million!"
Those behind and to the sides of Zhou Xuan couldn't see what his trump card was, but Zhou Xuan suddenly placed a huge bet of 20 million, so they all thought that Zhou Xuan must have a big hand, especially Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, and Zeng Guoyu, who trusted Zhou Xuan even more.
Just as Zhou Xuan looked up at Ma Shu, Ma Shu also looked up and stared into Zhou Xuan's eyes. Their eyes met, and in that instant, Zhou Xuan suddenly felt that Ma Shu's pupils seemed to have changed color. Of course, others might not have noticed, but Zhou Xuan was looking directly at him and that's when he realized it. The color of the pupils had only turned slightly gray, as if in that instant the color of the pupils had become similar to that of a blind person's eyes.
Zhou Xuan was startled, then felt as if something had drilled into his brain and made it transparent through a mirror. Of course, this was just a feeling; his brain felt neither painful nor itchy. Perhaps it was because he possessed the ability of ice energy, making him much more sensitive than others.