The card game began, and since everyone was old classmates, there wasn't much tension as they played.
Mostly, they chatted and laughed while casually playing cards.
This situation created ample room for Wang Yu to cheat.
Before even a full round had passed peacefully, this guy couldn't resist starting to cheat...
Every word, action, and even every subtle micro-expression on Wang Yu's face was observed by me.
However, I still had no intention of intervening. Because I discovered something quite interesting...
Although Wang Yu used professional magic playing cards for cheating, he likely wasn't very familiar with his magic card incantations.
And it seemed... his eyesight wasn't great either.
Just like the muscular guy with glasses I encountered before, even with all the cheating tools, his win rate wasn't very high in the end.
Many times, because Wang Yu habitually targeted me, he focused most of his attention on me.
The consequence of this was that sometimes, after he clearly saw my cards and confirmed they posed no threat, he would miss the opportunity to look at others' cards.
After all, Wang Yu couldn't possibly keep an eye on everyone's cards all the time.
Furthermore, Wang Yu's own luck seemed to be quite poor tonight. Without being able to see everyone's cards clearly, even with Zhou Xi secretly assisting with cheating, it was mostly a fifty-fifty game of wins and losses.
Just now, in a hand, Wang Yu misread the cards again.
Not only that, but he also sent incorrect signals to Zhou Xi, causing the latter to help raise the stakes for several rounds.
Unfortunately, all that money ended up in the pockets of others.
To use the classic quote from "Brother Qiang," "I gave you a chance, but you couldn't make it!"
For Wang Yu, who could only win and not lose, this was undoubtedly unacceptable.
After losing nearly two thousand yuan in one hand, Wang Yu's composure visibly wavered.
After giving Zhou Xi a fierce glare, Wang Yu even let out a few curses.
They were all veiled insults directed at Zhou Xi, implying he lacked flexibility.
In response, Zhou Xi could only pretend not to notice and continued to chat with us intermittently.
As for me, during the earlier part of the game, I occasionally and silently "stole" a victory or two using my card-cutting techniques.
The fifty-fifty win-loss situation in the first half-hour made Wang Yu increasingly impatient, and he started clamoring to cut the deck to change his luck.
After he cut the deck like this four or five times in a row, it must be said... the guy actually managed to cut a good hand!
...
This hand was dealt by a classmate sitting to my left, a person named Zhao Wei.
As soon as Zhao Wei started dealing, I knew Wang Yu's wait was over.
And this hand was also my opportunity!
Because my hand... was even bigger than his!
The moment the cards were dealt, I quickly gathered my three cards and deliberately exposed only two of them.
As for the winning card, I hid it at the very bottom.
Since I was to Zhao Wei's left, I was effectively the second-to-last player in this hand.
And Zhao Wei's left was Wang Yu.
In other words, he was the first to act in this hand.
According to Wang Yu's previous habit of looking at cards, he would only refocus his scattered attention and turn to Zhou Xi to give him signals when he received a high-ranking "Golden Flower" hand.
This approach was, in itself, not unreasonable.
Because under normal circumstances, a Golden Flower had a very high probability of dominating the entire table.
So, while Wang Yu was signaling Zhou Xi just now, I quickly hid the most crucial winning card.
My intention was to lull him into a false sense of security, and then strike with a decisive blow!
...
Seeing that he had a Flush, a hand better than a mere flower, Wang Yu immediately started his act...
"I don't believe that after cutting so many times, I still can't get a good hand! Damn it, let's go all in! 50!"
After saying that, he threw down 50 yuan as if in frustration.
Seeing this, everyone chose to call and ante.
There was no choice; for that ephemeral good luck money, even though the possibility was slim, people couldn't help but try their luck.
This is the gambler's mentality!
Similarly, this is also why in our game of Golden Flower, the first round is always an ante.
In Anhai, unless you've agreed beforehand not to accept the rule of the first round ante, if you don't ante and bet, even if you have a three-of-a-kind, a straight flush, or the highest AKJ flush, you won't receive any good luck money!
Including the ante and bets, the pot had already reached 360 yuan in the first round.
Starting from the second round, including Zhao Wei, two classmates chose to look at their cards and fold.
As for Zhou Xi, he strictly followed Wang Yu's orders, anteing and betting, dragging the game out!
Catch whoever you can! Drag it out to the death!
As for another plump classmate, Xu Xiaobo, because he had lost money earlier, his playing style had become exceptionally aggressive since the first two hands.
As long as no one looked at their cards and bet, he would keep anteing and betting.
Earlier, the reason Wang Yu lost over 2,000 yuan in one hand, besides Zhou Xi's considerable contribution, was also "thanks" to this Xu Xiaobo.
But this hand... he was going to be defeated!
Seeing Xu Xiaobo, that big sucker, acting as if he was possessed, blindly anteing every hand, Wang Yu almost couldn't help but laugh after giving Zhou Xi another wink.
And so, the four of us began to continuously ante.
One round, two rounds...
Five rounds, six rounds...
It wasn't until the tenth round that Xu Xiaobo finally couldn't hold on any longer and was the first to look at his cards.
I already knew his hand; it was an Ace high.
Ace high is an absolute chicken rib hand type in ante games with three or more players. Betting with Ace high face-up is too risky, but throwing it away feels like a waste.
Over 70% of people would choose... to take a gamble!
Just like the mandatory ante in the first round, this is the true gambler's mentality.
As expected, because he had lost too much and was getting desperate, Xu Xiaobo directly threw in 100 yuan and chose to call.
According to the previously agreed-upon rules, if someone looked at their cards, the players who anteed could only ante for three rounds.
This meant that before the next person looked at their cards, Xu Xiaobo still had to throw in another 300 yuan.
With an Ace high hand, and with three other families anteing while his cards were still in play, Xu Xiaobo had already thrown in nearly 1000 yuan, including the ante, bets, and face-up betting.
Although it looked imposing, this money... was destined to be wasted!
In the fourth round, when someone bet face-up, Zhou Xi, having received a hint from Wang Yu, switched from anteing to looking and threw down 100 yuan to bet face-up.
When it was Xu Xiaobo's turn again, he no longer dared to be as reckless as before.