Chapter 351 The Bet
In a poker game, not just one deck of cards is used. Instead, multiple decks of the same type of playing cards are mixed together, shuffled by a shuffling machine, and then dealt by the dealer.
In this case, calculating cards by counting the difference in cards is not a simple task, and even the most skilled person has limited memory. Moreover, how could casino operators not know what each gambling technique emphasizes? To be precise, gambling by memorizing and calculating cards is a form of cheating, or rather, a bug.
Of course, this is a permissible bug, because no gambling method can rely entirely on luck; the randomness is too high. The existence of skilled gamblers is actually a product of the giant organizations that run casinos, designed for their own profit. Of course, with human intelligence, there is no gambling method that relies solely on luck. Human ingenuity manifests itself in countless ways.
However, such a "bug" naturally cannot be used to completely dominate a game. That's why games like Texas Hold'em use so many decks of cards—while the human brain is said to be limitless, its use is ultimately finite. Human memory is also fundamentally incapable of remembering all the cards in an instant. Therefore, increasing the number of cards is a limitation, and for two truly skilled players, the outcome is often decided by the last few cards they can't remember.
Chen Xu did the math: Mad Dog had memorized over fifty cards in just a glance… that was indeed an incredibly impressive memory. Of course, based on Chen Xu's previous research on human cerebral cortex memory, Mad Dog's memory was probably only approximate. Even if he were to memorize all fifty-odd cards by name in an instant, he would likely make some mistakes, but even so, it was still a remarkable memory.
However, it cannot compare to a computer.
According to scientists' experiments, the human brain's memory capacity and processing speed far exceed those of what we now call "computers." However, the way the human brain processes information differs from that of a computer, and scientists have yet to discover an effective method for human brain computation. In this "traditional" area of memory, computers clearly still hold the advantage.
Now, the people at the table have basically all started "stealing chickens".
Using the advantage of an open hand to intimidate the opponent—of course, this cannot be summarized in a few words. This is psychological warfare, a common tactic at the gambling table.
Chen Xu still didn't rush to make a move.
Because he was observing from the sidelines the whole time, he looked like he was half asleep, but nothing that happened in the arena escaped his eyes.
Catching chickens is a typical example of psychological warfare.
Simply scaring your opponent into not betting isn't enough, because the minimum wager for a single round is only $100,000. Winning slowly like that is too little. The "chicken-catching" tactic often involves setting up several rounds to lure your opponent into a trap, and then using your strong hand to turn the tide at a crucial moment.
So, there's no other trick to this method; in short, it's all about deception!
They must be good at lying!
Chen Xu realized then that Mr. Jin was right... Women are born to lie, and the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie!
Knowing all the cards, Chen Xu was essentially watching from the sidelines. He noticed that although Li Chang always had a smile on his face, he was very cautious with each call. Because of this, he had folded too many times, so there was basically no need to consider him anymore. This guy was destined to lose tens of thousands of dollars every round. Even if he could occasionally win back a little bit... it was just a little bit, not much at all. So his fate was to gradually lose all the bets in front of him.
Chen Xu could see his reluctance.
After all, he'd already lost tens of millions of dollars, no small sum. Even though he was the Li family's manager in North America, the amount was still considerable, and he might face a severe reprimand when he got back. So, while he was pretending to be nonchalant, he was trying his best to minimize his losses… but at the gambling table, he was destined to lose everything unless he withdrew immediately. However, judging from his expression, he probably couldn't bring himself to do it. Withdrawing now would be tantamount to openly telling everyone, "I can't bear to lose."
So even if he's putting on a brave face, he has to "lose all" of his chips. Or at the very least, he has to wait until he runs out of chips or until someone else says they're done playing.
Then he can just wait patiently...
That Yu Lang is a bit strange.
According to Xiaomin's analysis, Yu Lang's attention was not on this betting game from beginning to end!
He seemed to be just playing around, raising and bidding as if he didn't think things through. Judging from the frequency and duration of his eye contact, Xiaomin observed that his attention was constantly focused on his left hand!
This is strange.
He wasn't focusing on the gambling, nor on Guan Yi, nor on the others. Instead, he kept looking down at his left hand... What was going on?
Chen Xu asked Xiao Min to take a close-up of his left hand, but all she could see was that his hand was very fair and delicate, like a woman's hand, but he wasn't wearing a ring—Chen Xu's feeling became increasingly strange. If this guy had a ring or other jewelry on his hand, it would be understandable to look at it like this. But what's so interesting about a hand? This guy's attention was mostly focused on his hand.
This guy is mentally ill...
Chen Xu could only draw this conclusion.
As for the others, Mad Dog was focused entirely on the card game; his mental arithmetic skills were indeed impressive. Even if he didn't know what the next card would be, he could compensate for it with his mental calculations. Although he was a bit lacking in bluffing, he could predict the flow of many cards, so Guan Yi was no match for him.
Chen Xu believed Guan Yi's tricks every time he saw them, but after looking at the cards, he realized that the girl was lying.
Moreover, she didn't just lie; in games where she might lose, she would deliberately reveal her true feelings, making the other person believe it was part of her act. The interplay of truth and falsehood, the blend of reality and deception—this woman's deception skills seemed to have reached a remarkably high level.
However, on the gambling table, bluffing is ultimately a minor tactic. If your opponent has calculated your hand, then any attempt to cheat will be futile and will only backfire, causing you to bet even more chips. Therefore, Guan Yi's chips were dwindling rapidly, while the "mad dog" continued to win.
Guan Yi had expected this result. She had received training at the gambling table since childhood, learning to use her eyes, memory, and deception. Due to innate limitations, she couldn't reach a high level in eyesight and memory, but she had mastered deception to a great degree.
So, when it comes to gambling skills, she knew she was only average—not bad, but not very good either. She was far inferior to Cabin, whom she had previously defeated. Therefore, losing to Mad Dog was to be expected. However, Chen Xu had seemed distracted for the past half-day, not making a move, which puzzled her. But strange as it was, the woman knew Chen Xu must have his own plans. His previous boasting meant he was certainly confident, and she believed that.
Sure enough, after this round of cards was finished, a second round was started. Chen Xu smiled and put down his Coca-Cola.
Mad Dog, clearly having relearned the cards, now looked quite smug, because he knew what the next cards would be. It was like everyone being in a room where no one could see each other, and now he could suddenly see them again. This feeling of going from blind to normal made Mad Dog especially proud, and he bet big on several hands in a row.
"Five hundred thousand, anyone want to call?" Mad Dog grinned smugly at Guan Yi, taking a puff of his cigar, looking like he had a very strong hand. But Chen Xu knew that while his face-up card was a Queen of Spades, his hole card was a 5 of Diamonds, neither of them connected. His arrogant raise was actually meant to scare Guan Yi, because if Guan Yi folded, he could get another Queen on his next card, making a pair.
Because there's no cap on betting, Mad Dog is currently at a huge advantage – he has a lot of chips and is confident enough to scare his opponents with such a big bet.
Guan Yi hesitated for a moment. Based on her judgment, she guessed that Mad Dog's trump card probably wasn't much better, but Mad Dog's confidence made her somewhat hesitant. She secretly glanced at Chen Xu and saw that Chen Xu nodded slightly.
“Okay, I’ll bet you 500,000, and then another 500,000!” Chen Xu’s nodding was very subtle, but Guan Yi immediately understood his meaning. Trusting Chen Xu, she didn’t hesitate to raise the bet.
Mad Dog's expression remained unchanged; instead, he laughed even more heartily: "Beautiful lady, I'll gladly accept any money you offer. Okay, continue dealing the cards!"
Li Chang hesitated for a moment and then gave up.
Yu Lang, however, revealed his trump card directly, and he gave up.
Chen Xu smiled almost imperceptibly: "Okay, I'll go with you too."
They pushed up a million chips.
Throughout the entire first round of the game, Chen Xu had barely played any cards, consistently folding. His sudden move now caused a strange glint to flash in Mad Dog's eyes.
Then the cards were dealt. Mad Dog had the best hand, but he didn't get the Queen he wanted. Instead, he got the Ten of Spades. It looked like a good hand, but with that hole card in the deck, he was destined to never turn things around.
Chen Xu's hole card is the 7 of clubs, his face-up card is the 7 of diamonds, and he also has the Jack of hearts that he just got. This hand is already bigger than Mad Dog's.
Guan Yi's hand was a flush.
All three cards were spades, but Mad Dog's hand was also a flush of spades, which looked better than Guan Yi's, so he continued speaking.
Mad Dog hesitated because he didn't know whether Chen Xu or Guan Yi would call or not. If they both called, he would only get an 8 of clubs. If one of them didn't call, he would get a 10 of hearts.
If both of them call, then the 10 of hearts belongs to Chen Xu, and Chen Xu's hand consists of a pair of 7s, the 10 of hearts, and the Jack—he knows Chen Xu's hole cards.
"Forget it, I give up." The situation was beyond his control, and Mad Dog slammed his cards on the table in frustration. The main reason was that he felt he couldn't see through Chen Xu's true nature.
He didn't know if Chen Xu also remembered the cards!
So he didn't take the risk.
After he slammed his cards down, Chen Xu smiled and gave up, and Guan Yi won two million.
Dear reader, the truth is, Mad Dog is no longer in a position to play with Chen Xu. Even if he knows the cards he's dealt, Chen Xu knows them too, and besides, Chen Xu now has two people!
With Guan Yi acting as a buffer, Chen Xu can make Guan Yi bet or fold, which creates a fluctuation in the outcome of a hand!
Don't underestimate the fluctuation value of this card. It's enough for Chen Xu to push away the card that Mad Dog wants, or get the card he wants. Unless Mad Dog is extremely lucky, Chen Xu is almost invincible!
Of course, this was a two-on-one situation, so it was inevitably a somewhat unfair victory.
However, in Chen Xu's dictionary, there was never such a thing as winning unfairly... Bullying the weak and taking advantage of power was his consistent style.
However, Chen Xu did not pursue them to the bitter end.
Why?
It's not time to wipe them all out yet!
This mad dog had a very strong memory; at least among all the real people Chen Xu had ever met, no one could compare to him. However, even the strongest memory has its limits. Human memory generally goes from clear to vague. So, when it came to the last few cards, which were the cards that the mad dog's memory was at its limit, he remembered the cards but couldn't quite recall exactly which ones they were. When doubt lingered, that was when he struck to kill him!
Chen Xu felt like a spider, starting to weave its web.
This web of tactics was set up from the very beginning of this game—Chen Xu didn't know any gambling skills, but those so-called gambling skills were now utterly worthless in his eyes.
Chen Xu felt that he had entered a very strange state.
He leaned back in his chair, seemingly half-asleep, but he was aware of every move made by everyone in the room—or rather, Xiao Min was watching him. Chen Xu could feel the fine hairs on Guan Yi's head and the bead of sweat dripping from Li Chang's forehead.
In this peculiar state, Chen Xu began to make his plans.
By utilizing the rules of the game, Chen Xu controlled the entire gambling table, knowing exactly who received which cards in each round. He tried his best to maintain a balance in the game, preventing anyone from getting an incredibly good hand and then raising the stakes wildly.
Under his control, everyone at the table had a chance to win—of course, winning one hand didn't necessarily mean winning a substantial amount of chips. But with Chen Xu's spider-like web-like strategy, everyone at the table was aroused—except for Yu Lang, who was still frequently focused on his left hand and not really paying attention to the game. The others were experiencing both wins and losses; even though Li Chang lost more than he won, at least he had won one or two hands. The chips on the table weren't constantly decreasing, and Li Chang's enthusiasm was rising; he saw a glimmer of hope in his winnings…
Little did he know, this hope was given to him by Chen Xu. Chen Xu was setting a trap; he wanted to wipe out everyone at the table in one fell swoop.
This is the true level of a gambling god!
A true gambling god can even decide the outcome of the next ten or even fifty cards right from the start, but Chen Xu controlled the entire game!
It's finally time to close the net!
Of course, Chen Xu's goal in this sweeping operation wasn't simply to kill all of them at once. His first target was Li Chang!
Currently, Li Chang has the fewest chips on the table. He had been trying his best to preserve his remaining chips, but after winning several times in a row, Li Chang's chips increased, but his confidence also increased at the same time!
He's been dealt a great hand!
His hole card was the Jack of Spades! He had two face-up cards, a pair of Jacks, which was a very strong hand, and Li Chang's confidence immediately increased.
With the fourth card, only he and Mad Dog remained. Mad Dog had a pair of 5s, and both bet one million dollars.
The fourth card was drawn. Li Chang had a King of Diamonds, while Mad Dog had a Queen of Hearts.
Li Chang felt that the goddess of victory was already beckoning to him!
With three Jacks in hand, he's practically invincible. Even if Mad Dog's trump card is a 5, three Jacks are bigger than three 5s, so he's guaranteed to win!
Now, with such a good hand, Li Chang's confidence swelled to an extreme. He was unwilling to only win one million this time; he wanted to go all in, going all in on the last card!
But I'm afraid this mad dog won't follow!
Li Chang's eyes darted around quickly, he sighed, and glanced at his watch: "Well, it's getting late, and I have something to do later. Mr. Dong, now it's just you and me at this table. Do you dare to bet with me on this last round?"
The mad dog laughed.
He understood Li Chang's meaning. Now that Li Chang had this hand, he was naturally 80% confident of winning. The problem was, he still didn't know the hole cards! He knew what the next two cards were!
Li Chang will get a King of Spades next, but Mad Dog will get a Queen of Spades!
And the mad dog's trump card is also the Queen!
The final result was that Mad Dog had three Queens and a pair of 5s, while Li Chang only had three Jacks and a pair of Kings!
Both players have Fulhouse, which is the second strongest hand after a straight flush and four of a kind! So, if both players have Fulhouse, the comparison is between the three of a kind...
Li Chang is doomed to lose!
But this guy is still very confident that he can win, and he's trying to figure out a way to get me to go all in with him.
Poor child.