Li Heshan picked up his first hole card, glanced at it, and quickly covered it back up.
The people standing behind him could hardly see what it was.
Following that, the second card was handed over by the croupier with a wooden scraper.
This card was face-up, and Li Heshan looked at it before flipping it over right away—it was the 10 of Hearts.
His opponent, upon receiving his cards, picked up his first hole card and seemed to not even glance at it before securing it face-down; he didn't even preview his second, face-up card before turning it over for everyone to see.
The man was brimming with confidence, flipping over that face-up card without even a look.
He then hit the raise button and threw a one million yuan chip on top.
It was then that the onlookers got a glimpse of his face-up card.
The Jack of Spades.
This fellow's hand was indeed larger than Li Heshan's, warranting the first bet.
But...
He obviously hadn't previewed his own cards, so how could he be so sure his hand was bigger than Li Heshan's to bet first?
Was he just overly confident and arrogant?
Or...
Had he actually seen his cards previously, just with movements too quick for the audience to catch?
Li Heshan observed his opponent, his expression unchanging.
Yet inwardly, he felt a subtle pressure.
Li Heshan had been playing cards for over ten years, having faced countless Gambling Gods and Saints, and had rich gambling experience. Although his hand speed wasn't very fast, he could deduce his opponent's hand through subconscious micro-movements like facial expressions, gestures, and eye direction.
And by gauging his opponent's psychology, even if his own hidden cards made his hand inferior, he could often bluff with fierce confidence, playing the dragon that swallows the tiger!
But now, facing such a master of gambling skills, he found it hard to analyze his opponent's hand using his experience.
Because his opponent might also be bluffing on various fronts!
Particularly since he could've used the advantage of the venue, with surveillance cameras to peek at his opponent's hand and relay messages to him, but now, his opponent hadn't even looked at his hole cards; how could the cameras keep track?
Li Heshan, being used to cheating, felt even greater pressure at this moment.
His casino dared not employ cheating everywhere; if detected, he would be in grave danger of getting his hands chopped off.
Thus, when the croupier dealt the cards, they could not look at them or even touch them with their hands, visibly preventing any suspicion of cheating.
"Not following?"
Li Heshan's ordinary-looking, middle-aged opponent, with a domineering sneer on his face, saw Li Heshan making no move, raised an eyebrow, and taunted.
"Then let's fold and play the next hand!"
"I'll follow!"
Li Heshan responded and pressed the call button, tossing his one million yuan chip into the bet.
Their starting bet was five hundred thousand.
They could have started betting at five hundred thousand, but since his opponent had already raised to one million yuan, he had no choice but to match the one million yuan bet.
The croupier continued to deal cards.
When it came to the fourth card, Li Heshan's opponent chose to fold.
Because although he had a pair, Li Heshan had three of a kind, and he couldn't overpower that.
Three of a kind, as the term suggests, is having three cards of the same rank.
Li Heshan won, feeling considerably less pressure. His expression betrayed nothing, but inwardly he was very pleased.
Then they started the next hand.
Mu Jinyu stood aside, watching their betting game. Although he hadn't been taught by anyone, he gradually understood the rules of Showhand.
They played five more games. Li Heshan's opponent never once looked at his hole cards and maintained his domineering smile, but he won four of the games.
"Ha, the boss is really generous!"
The middle-aged man gathered the chips on the table, revealing a smug smile.
They had played six rounds in total, and by the third round, he seemingly found the five hundred thousand starting bet too paltry and directly raised it to ten million yuan a hand.
Afterward, he had won three consecutive rounds and now had more than three billion yuan in chips in his possession.
Li Heshan listened to his opponent's taunting, feeling his composure start to crack, but he forced himself to calm his mind, reminding himself not to rush and to avoid self-sabotage.
He was silent for a moment, adjusted his mindset, and then said, "Continue!"
The two of them continued, playing another five rounds.
After these five rounds, Li Heshan's composure had crumbled even more.
In the first four rounds, they had had their wins and losses, but when it was all tallied up, it was his opponent who had lost over fifty million yuan.
However, in the last round, with their face-up cards, Li Heshan's hand was slightly better.
Adding in his hole card, he could form a three-of-a-kind.
From the previous dozen or so exchanges, Li Heshan felt he had grasped his opponent's mindset and thought that he was sure to win this hand.
But then, who would have thought, his opponent actually had a flush!
He went all-in, eager to win back all the money, only to end up losing more than one billion yuan at once.
"Hahaha, does the boss want to keep playing?"
The middle-aged man laughed wildly, collecting the chips on the gambling table, and said provocatively, "If you can't afford to play, let's call it a day!"
At this point, Li Heshan could no longer maintain his unflappable facade; his face was extremely sullen.
Today, this guy had won over one billion yuan from him alone, coupled with the three billion plus he had scooped up, the casino had already lost over four billion to him.
But he had no way to strike back at this guy.
What he could do now was either let him leave, the casino would concede, or make this guy disappear from the world.
But the risk of the latter was too great; unless absolutely necessary, he didn't dare make such a decision lightly.
The reason he had dared to prepare to deal with Mu Jinyu last time was because Wang Zhengbiao had his back; no matter how big the fuss, in the end, Wang Zhengbiao would take the fall.
But now, he felt it was very tricky.
Mu Jinyu saw through Li Heshan's helplessness and unwillingness to concede. Having watched from the side for a long time and feeling the itch to play himself, he said, "Let me take over!"
Hearing this, Li Heshan turned in surprise, only then realizing that Mu Jinyu had already come up behind him.
He had been too focused earlier and had not noticed.
Let Mu Jinyu take over?
It crossed his mind that given Mu Jinyu's gambling skills, it might be feasible!
But...
Didn't Mu Jinyu only gamble in dice last time? It seemed he wasn't very good at playing cards, or even if he was, he wasn't as skilled as with dice!
Was he planning to challenge that guy to a dice game?
Mu Jinyu gave Li Heshan a reassuring look and said, "Let me do it, you step down!"
Li Heshan had no choice but to get up.
Mu Jinyu's appearance, along with his conversation with Li Heshan, suddenly reminded all the gamblers present of his identity.
"Isn't that young man the Gambling God who won 1.1 billion in the casino last time?"
"Is that him? I wasn't here last time, he's so young!"
"Eh, judging by his tone, it's as if he has become the owner of the casino now?"
"Yeah, I thought that after winning so much, he might run into trouble, but looking at the situation now, not only did he not get into trouble, he was even recruited by the gambling house."
The middle-aged man sitting at the gambling table heard the crowd's discussion, and his initially disdainful attitude toward switching to Mu Jinyu gradually turned serious!
He had thoroughly investigated Mu Jinyu's impressive feats when he came to sabotage the casino.
Now, seeing him stepping up to gamble against himself, how could he not be worried?