What's worse, Jervis's disappearance comes close to the gambling game that will determine the Macau gambling license. Halbert can't find a replacement for Jervis. The top ten people in the world's gambling industry have already been poached by major casinos. He has no chance to make a move. In the end, Halbert can only hastily hire a newcomer who has recently made a name for himself in the gambling industry.
Therefore, it can be almost concluded that Halbert has no chance of obtaining these three Macau gaming licenses.
This infuriated Halbert, who, a few months prior, offered a $300 million reward for Jarvis's whereabouts.
Later, although Halbert learned that Jervis had been kidnapped by Hui Ge's gang, Hui Ge's gang seemed to have vanished into thin air, and no trace could be found. That's why he asked Zhuang Rui now, which was actually a way of venting his anger on Zhuang Rui.
"Sir, I have indeed gambled against Jarvis, but my interactions with him were limited to the gambling table. I think you've asked the wrong person..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head and gave Halbert his answer, which made Halbert's face turn ashen. He had nothing to say, and even if he wanted to vent his anger on Zhuang Rui, he couldn't find any reason to do so.
Chapter 1036 Miscalculation
"Okay, I wish you good luck today too..."
Halbert gave Zhuang Rui a deep look, then turned and sat back down in his chair.
Although the video of that Macau gambling game was erased by Stanley Ho afterward, with Halbert's abilities, he managed to find out Zhuang Rui's gambling style very clearly from other people with a little effort.
Zhuang Rui's gambling style is very simple, and can be summed up in two words: luck!
From the first bet against Stevenson, Zhuang Rui never saw his hole cards. In the second bet, his luck was so good that he got a straight flush with kings, which caused Jervis to lose.
"Damn it, wherever there are people, there's bound to be conflict, huh? I'm just an innocent bystander getting shot at."
Zhuang Rui was extremely annoyed to suddenly have an enemy. Gambling, prostitution, and drugs were all related to organized crime, and Zhuang Rui didn't want to be targeted by someone for no reason.
What Zhuang Rui didn't know was that Halbert was even more upset. One Jervis had caused him a direct loss of $800 million, and the indirect loss was that he had essentially withdrawn from the competition for a Macau gaming license.
As a veteran gambling tycoon, Halbert has already lost all face. If this were in Africa instead of Las Vegas, he wouldn't mind taking his anger out on Zhuang Rui and smashing Zhuang Rui's head.
Fortunately, Zhuang Rui possessed clairvoyance rather than telepathy; otherwise, if he had known Herbert's thoughts, Zhuang Rui would have definitely had Peng Fei secretly eliminate him. He certainly didn't want to experience another desert island ordeal.
Halbert's questioning was just a side note, but the moment Zhuang Rui's name was mentioned, it attracted the attention of everyone in the gambling world.
All twelve companies participating in the bidding for the gambling license had designated seats in the casino. Shaking his head slightly, Zhuang Rui sat down next to Fourth Wife. Even after sitting down, he was still the person who received the most attention in the casino.
Not only were the casino owners curious about Zhuang Rui, but the gambling kings who participated in the game were also very interested in this mysterious Eastern man.
It's important to understand that Stevenson and Jervis are not just pretty faces; trying to beat them by luck alone is virtually impossible, with odds even lower than winning the $300 million lottery in the US last month.
It was almost eight o'clock when a man who appeared to be in charge of the gambling event stood up, took a microphone, and said, "Alright, everyone's here. We won't go into the rules. As per our prior agreement, the companies represented by the last three remaining individuals will receive the three gambling licenses issued by Macau this time..."
"This is Hank, the owner of the MGM Grand Hotel, and the one who initiated this betting game..."
Fourth Aunt whispered in Zhuang Rui's ear. She knew that Zhuang Rui knew nothing about the gambling world, so she tried her best to introduce him to more people and rules.
After a brief speech, Hank handed the microphone to the emcee beside him, and at the same time, eight dealers walked in from outside and stood between the two gambling tables.
"Mr. Jessap, please come forward to draw lots. As everyone knows, Mr. Jessap is the 2001 World Series of Poker Championship winner..."
"Mr. Chartres, please come forward to draw lots. Mr. Chartres is the champion of the 1999 Texas Hold'em Poker King Challenge..."
"Mr. Clayderman, please come forward to draw lots. Mr. Clayderman has won the 2003 King of Gamblers competition..."
Listening to the emcee introduce one gambling king after another with impressive backgrounds, Zhuang Rui almost yawned out of boredom. This wasn't a performance, and there weren't any enthusiastic audience members. Was it really necessary to introduce them in such detail?
However, this kind of introduction is necessary, because every time someone is called out, it's always "The Gambling King!"
Or the champion will have to go to the front and draw a numbered ball.
There are 12 numbers in the box. The six people who draw an odd number and the six people who draw an even number will be divided into two gambling tables to play Texas Hold'em.
Because Texas Hold'em is a very time-consuming game, sometimes a single dealing hand can take more than ten minutes, this game is divided into two days, each lasting 12 hours.
At the end of the day, everyone's chips will be counted, eliminating six people. The remaining six will continue the competition the next day, and the ownership of the three Macau gaming licenses will be distributed according to the chips after 12 hours.
"Please, Mr. Rui... Mr. Zhuang, come forward to draw lots. Um, Mr. Rui Zhuang is... the one who once defeated gambling king Stevenson and Jarvis..."
When Zhuang Rui's name came up, the emcee struggled for a while. After sorting through Zhuang Rui's name, he realized that apart from two gambling games, Zhuang Rui had no other competition or gambling records. At that moment, he could only mention Zhuang Rui's two game records.
Some people chuckled. Almost everyone here had studied Zhuang Rui's gambling techniques and came to a very consistent conclusion: Zhuang Rui's luck was simply incredible.
However, luck is a fickle thing; it may come today but not tomorrow. Almost 99% of the people in the room did not believe that Zhuang Rui's luck could last for several years.
Zhuang Rui ignored the laughter from the audience. He walked to the drawing area, took out his numbered ball, glanced at it, and couldn't help but laugh. He handed the ball to the emcee and said, "Seven? Not bad, my lucky number..."
"Oh, good luck..."
The emcee smiled at Zhuang Rui, then placed the numbered ball in the single row. A few minutes later, the draw was completed, and Zhuang Rui, the "newcomer to the gambling world," took his seat.
Texas Hold'em is a very popular form of gambling in Europe and America. A single table can accommodate anywhere from 2 to 22 people, but it is usually played by 2 to 10 people.
Texas Hold'em, like Stud Poker, uses a standard 52-card deck, excluding jokers. Each player receives two cards as their "hole cards," and five community cards are dealt face-up by the dealer.
At the start of the game, each player is dealt two face-down hole cards. After all the betting rounds, if there is still no winner, the game will enter the "showdown" phase, where the remaining players reveal their hole cards to compete, and the player with the higher card wins.
As for the ranking of Texas Hold'em hands, it is exactly the same as the Stud Poker that Zhuang Rui used to play. The only difference is that there are two hole cards, and multiple people can reveal their hole cards at the same time. This has no impact on Zhuang Rui. Even if there is no face card, he can still know what cards the other party has.
"Huh? What's this for? Oh, it's a chip..."
After Zhuang Rui and the others sat down at the table, casino staff pushed more than a dozen carts into the gambling hall. Behind them were seven or eight security guards armed with live ammunition. Zhuang Rui noticed that each cart had a box on it.
A waiter placed the box in front of Zhuang Rui, and a person behind him opened it with a key. Zhuang Rui saw that it was full of chips.
Like casinos in Macau, the chips in Las Vegas are in cash, so the casinos are very careful and always take strict precautions against the transportation of chips.
"One million per coin, in US dollars, damn, this is... a ten million coin? Now that's a big spender..."
Zhuang Rui picked up the chips and looked at them. These chips were only divided into two denominations, 1 million and 10 million. Compared to the two gambling games he had participated in before, this was truly a game for the rich.
"Gentlemen, this game is a no-limit Texas Hold'em game with blinds of $1 million per hand. Good luck..."
After briefly explaining the rules, the emcee announced the start of the game. Zhuang Rui listened very carefully, since he had never played Texas Hold'em before, and he was worried that something funny might happen.
No-limit Texas Hold'em means that there is no limit to the amount you can bet in each round, but if you want to raise, the raise must be at least twice the amount bet by the player before you.
Compared to limit Texas Hold'em, no-limit Texas Hold'em is undoubtedly a riskier but more challenging and exciting game.
Zhuang Rui liked this method very much, as it allowed him to win back as many US dollars as possible. Of course, that was only possible if he had a good hand. After all, it wasn't easy to bluff someone out when multiple people were revealing their cards.
After the dealer presents a new deck of cards for everyone to inspect, he unpacks and shuffles the cards, then places two face-down cards in front of each player. This is different from Texas Hold'em, making the uncertainty of the cards in hand even greater.
"Hehe, my luck is really good..."
After seeing the bottom cards, Zhuang Rui unceremoniously "looked" at the hidden cards of the other five people at the table, and then "looked" at the remaining cards in the order they were dealt. He quickly deduced that he had the best hand in this round.
When the third card was dealt, the player before Zhuang Rui took action, which is called betting in Texas Hold'em. The gambling king from 2003 carefully threw out a $1 million chip.
"Oh, I'll keep up, I'll give you another million..."
Following the unlimited betting method, Zhuang Rui threw out two million chips, an action that drew stares from everyone at the table.
Generally, the second person will follow the cards in turn, and rarely raises directly, because only three cards have been dealt so far.
Zhuang Rui shrugged and said, "I relied on luck, I don't have much skill, sorry everyone..."
"I fold..."
"I folded too. I've never seen anyone like this before..."
Behind Zhuang Rui, the two gambling kings, whose cards weren't particularly strong, covered their name tags. This gambling game would last for 12 hours, giving them ample time to slowly look for opportunities.
"Fold...fold?"
Zhuang Rui suddenly realized something very bad: this was not a bet between the two of them, and the order in which the cards were dealt was entirely predictable.
However, there are now six people at the table, and if anyone folds, the order in which the cards are dealt will be completely changed.
Chapter 1037 Luck
"Two million? I'll bet on the first round. I'd like to see if you really have that much luck?"
The game had already begun. Since it was the first hand, everyone at the table was very cautious. After the jackpot of one million was placed, no one called again. When Walter called out two million chips, they all threw out their hole cards, indicating that they were giving up on the game.
After the two players folded, Zhuang Rui's next player happened to be Walter, who had lost to Jervis in the previous two gambling king tournaments. As the saying goes, there are no fathers and sons at the gambling table, and at this moment, Walter would not care about Zhuang Rui helping him get revenge.
"I followed suit too..."
The player to Walter's left also pushed out three million chips. Everyone has a different style of playing cards. Some people plan carefully before acting, while others prefer to take risks and can discover the opponent's playing style from some details.
"Mr. Chartres, are you going to call?"
After Zhuang Rui started the betting, and the next two people followed suit, the question now is about the first person to bet. If he doesn't follow suit, he will be eliminated from the round.
"and……"
Chatterley didn't say much, and threw out another two million chips, bringing his total to three million, including his first bet of one million.
"One million..."
Zhuang Rui threw out a bet, and he felt like an adult was bullying a child, with absolutely no sense of accomplishment.
"and……"
"I followed suit too..."
"One million, I'll go with..."
"Fold..."
Some people wanted to try their luck, but others were unlucky. Zhuang Rui's opponent to his left, Chatterley, folded. His three face-up cards were too bad, and there was no need to throw any more money into the game.
"Mr. Walter is speaking..."
Currently, Waters has the best hand, with a pair of nines and a 10. Zhuang Rui's hand isn't very strong, but he knows he can continue this round; something might happen.
The other player also had a card, but no pair, so it was Walter's turn to bet.
"Hehe, gentlemen, 5 million..."
Walter smiled, took out five chips and threw them out. If he didn't bet on this hand, he would definitely be ridiculed. Moreover, the other two nines hadn't appeared yet, which meant that Walter was very likely to have three nines or even four of a kind.
Of course, only Walter himself and Zhuang Rui know what Walter's trump card is.
"I fold..."
The player to Walter's left was silent for a moment before turning his face down. Although he had one face-up card, he didn't have a nine. This gave Walter a very good chance of getting three of a kind, and the player didn't want to take that risk in the first round.
"Damn, are you bluffing with your buddy?"