Chapter 81: Learning Gambling Techniques
Tang Xiu?
Ouyang Lulu deeply etched this name into her heart. She knew perfectly well that if a person could make Chu Yi and Bai Tao greatly pay attention to, he must be an outstanding person. Much less that this was a person who was greatly admired by Long Zhengyu, which meant that he was absolutely not a small fish.
In addition, if the legendary gold manager Kang Xia really went alone to Star City to find him, then he was really amazing. Certainly, that regardless if Kang Xia would work for him or not, being able to make Kang Xia personally act, meant that he had a marvelous method.
“Hey, now my interest on this Tang Xiu is even bigger compared to my interest in wanting to meet Long Zhengyu.” With a smile blossoming on her face, Ouyang Lulu handed 2 cups of tea to the two of them.
With shock still filling his heart, Bai Tao took the tea cup and said, “I also feel the same. Chu Yi really got my curiosity and interest sparked up. If he’s really that amazing, I even want to be more than a friend.”
Chu Yi shook his head and said, “I don’t think it would be easy to befriend Tang Xiu. When we were in Star City, if I did not wrongly analyze, Long Zhengyu is not Tang Xiu’s genuine friend. Even if he gave Tang Xiu his villa, it seems like he didn’t give everything to keep him. In this world, there are some people who would be easy to be friends with, had there been no conflict of interest between them. But once the benefits rise, wanting to become real friends is on par with soaring to the sky.”
Ouyang Lulu gave a shallow smile, “Well, let’s just forget about this first. Didn’t you two come to visit Jingmen Island, to find this old classmate of yours and talk about the old days? Let’s just talk about something fun, let’s see if I can help.”
Bai Tao and Chu Yi glanced at each other as Chu Yi chuckled and then spoke, “I got a call 2 days ago. My Little Brother in Jingmen Island had a gambling dealer subordinate and he told me that a kid recently gambled. The kid lost, after which, this kid’s old man showed up, of which, my Little Brother got a high-quality jade from. You do know that I’m very interested in these kinds of jades since I’m also in the jade business industry. So I come here to look at it.”
Ouyang Lulu laughed, “I know this. The pitted old man is called Jia Ruidao. He’s quite a well-known professional gambler and could barely be regarded as a Gambling Master. Unfortunately, he hit a solid rock this time. His opponent is one of the top 3 gamblers from Macao, the Golden Finger Ye Taifu. And, Jia Ruidao ended up losing miserably. Not only did he go bankrupt, but he also borrowed several hundred million from a few of his friends here. I think he will soon lose that money too.”
Chu Yi laughed, “I am not interested in gambling, but I do want that piece of jade.”
Ouyang Lulu looked at the clock and said, “Today, coincidentally is their gambling bout. You wanna pass some time and have a look? Ah right, since you came to my place, you should know that Ye Taifu and Jia Ruidao will have their game in my Paradise Club.”
“Knock knock…”
The door was knocked, and a middle-aged man entered the room.
“What’s up?”
Ouyang Lulu asked casually.
The middle-aged said, “Boss, the following gambling house, Ye Taifu VS Jia Ruidao. Jia Ruidao suddenly called the stop and left our Paradise Club. He said he wants the game to be rescheduled for tomorrow.”
Ouyang Lulu’s brows pricked as she looked at Chu Yi and smiled, “It seems today you cannot see the fun, eh? Anyways, let’s go! We’ll have dinner tonight, on me.”
“Alright!”
Chu Yi and Bai Tao didn’t look forward to the gambling house to begin with, so they didn’t feel disappointed.
Jingmen Island…
Outside the 5 Star Jarvis Hotel, Jia Ruidao’s face was full of excitement. His eyes were fixated toward the intersection in the distance. At his side, his Second Apprentice, Zhang Tiechun was also filled with anticipation. Their savior has come, finally! They knew very well that the honored guest they were waiting was their last line of hope.
“Master, Master Tang should be coming soon, right?”
Zhang Tiechun raised his wrist and looked at the watch as he said that.
Jia Ruidao said, “Yes! They should have arrived by now. Could it be there was something on the way?”
Zhang Tiechun’s eyes squinted as he pointed to the street, “Master, it should be that car, right?”
Jia Ruidao looked toward the direction his Second Apprentice pointed. He was suddenly struck with excitement and spoke, “Yes, it’s your Youngest’s car. Let’s meet up with them.”
The car stopped.
Jia Ruidao sprinted to the car extended his hand to open the door.
“Brother Tang!”
At the first glance, Jia Ruidao saw Tang Xiu and then excitedly greeted.
However, his remark made his three disciples look at each other in dismay, with an ashamed expression on their faces. After all, even the youngest amongst them, Jia Yelei, was 5 or 6 years older than Tang Xiu. This remark, dropped their rank by one generation.
Tang Xiu nodded and said, “Eh, aren’t you having a gambling bout? How come you’re here?”
“I don’t have much money and I have to keep some for you for tomorrow’s gambling match. So I stopped midway and hurried back.” Jia Ruidao spoke with a bitter expression.
Tang Xiu said, “Let’s go! We’ll have the talk inside.”
Inside the presidential suite at the top floor, Tang Xiu and Jia Ruidao were sitting on the living room’s sofa. And Jia Ruidao’s three apprentices were standing behind him. Jia Yelei’s eyes glanced over toward his father from time to time with anxiousness, fear, and other expressions.
“Brother Tang, I don’t know what to say for this huge grace. You flew from thousands of miles away to help me. This gratitude will be carved inside my heart. If you need my assistance in the future, even if I have to pass through mountains of flames and millions of knives, I will neither cower nor will I ever back off!” Jia Ruidao spoke sincerely.
Tang Xiu said, “Tell me about the opponent.”
Jia Ruidao immediately turned and nodded to the Second Apprentice, Zhang Tiechun. Shortly after, the information was handed to Tang Xiu. Whilst Tang Xiu was still reading the information, Jia Ruidao spoke, “Our opponent is called Chen Kai, a famous Young Master hedonist in this Jingmen Island. He spent a huge amount of money to invite Ye Taifu. Not only have my apprentices lost to them, but I also lost many times. Ye Taifu is one of the top 3 gambling Masters from Macao. He is also well-known as the Golden Finger, due to his cheating skill in gambling. I thought that even if he was better than me, the level wouldn’t be far away, but… alas..!”
Whilst trimming the documents, Tang Xiu also listened to Jia Ruidao’s story. After which, he finally knew the whole process of the story, as well as had a general knowledge about the opponent inside out.
“He’s an expert that’s hard to deal with.”
Tang Xiu secretly sighed. He looked at Jia Ruidao and said, “I can help gamble on your behalf with them, but with conditions.”
Jia Ruidao replied, “Do tell me!”
Tang Xiu said, “First of all, I need to clear out some points. About my gambling techniques, you also clearly know about it. The first time we met in that gambling bout, I stole your ability. So, if I were to lose this time, you cannot blame me.”
Jia Ruidao earnestly replied, “I absolutely will never do that.”
Tang Xiu said, “If I were to win, regardless of how much the value is, I’ll take half of it.”
Jia Ruidao without hesitation complied, “I only need my wife’s memento. Everything you win, all of it will be yours.”
Tang Xiu shook his head, “No, as I’ve said, I only need a half.”
Jia Ruidao hesitated. But seeing that Tang Xiu seemed to not want to haggle over it, he could only nod, “Alright.”
Tang Xiu looked at Jia Ruidao’s three disciples and then spoke, “I have said my condition. You also know that I don’t know anything about gambling techniques except for the dice game. As for the other types, I know nothing about them. So, what I need today, is for you to explain all gambling types for me, and also teach me those skills.”
“Alright!”
It was exactly what Jia Ruidao had in mind, so he happily complied.
Jia Ruidao promptly told his three apprentices to find a variety of gambling tools. Amongst all of them, Jia Ruidao was focusedn teaching Tang Xiu Dice, Five-Card Stud, Domino, Mahjong, Blackjack, and Tie Golden Flower…
“You have played the Dice and you’re very good in this one, so I won’t teach you this. I’ll first teach you Blackjack, which is the most common gambling method. The games I usually play with Ye Taifu in the past few days, most of them were Blackjack.
“Blackjack usually uses 1 to 8 cards. The dealer gives two cards to each player with one card opened up. This is called as open card. The other face down card is called the dark card. The both of them will then be summed up…
“Average gamblers perhaps rely heavily on luck to win or lose. But real gambling experts rely entirely on various techniques. Frankly speaking, nearly all those techniques are smokescreen to deceive the opponents’ eyes.
“It’s as the saying goes, ‘out of ten games, nine cheat’.”
Along with his explanation, Jia Ruidao also demonstrated it for Tang Xiu. His hands were constantly changing as though shadows, as he skillfully shuffled and mixed the cards with lightning speed, even Tang Xiu was secretly praising him. In the myriads of the embodiment of life, there will always be one who mastered the skills of their field. Practicing gambling techniques to such a superb degree, the money one could get would absolutely overturn the sky.
But of course, the premise, was there had to be the opportunity to win the money and still be alive to enjoy it.
“The second is the Five-Card Stud…”
“The third is the Pai Gow…”
“The fourth is …”
“…”
Time flew by slowly as night then came in the blink of an eye. Jia Ruidao and Tang Xiu didn’t have a meal as though they forgot the feeling of hunger. They both felt like they were having fun in teaching and learning, enjoying themselves to the fullest, they didn’t even realize that night had come.
“The last one is, Tie Golden Flower.”
Jia Ruidao took a pair of new playing cards and pulled out the King and Queen cards. He looked at Tang Xiu and said, “This game’s rules are…”
Tang Xiu waved and said, “I can play this game, because I have seen others’ play. You only need to teach me the techniques for this Tie Golden Flower.”
Jia Ruidao knew that Tang Xiu was outstanding. He had once experienced it before and today, his horizon was hit and opened. Each and every gambling skill he taught Tang Xiu, everything was learnt very quickly, even his proficiency and skills were progressing rapidly. So he didn’t have even the slightest anger when Tang Xiu interrupted him, and instead, was secretly happy.”
“Tie Golden Flower mainly has two key aspects that we must pay attention to. First is cheating and deception. The quote from The Art of War is best to explain this that, ‘all warfare is based on deception’. This play relies on the mind. Some people might get small cards, but they could win big with this ‘cheating’ technique. Some might hold big cards, but due to the fear that the opponent has bigger cards, they give up.
“The second one is, steal the rhythm when switching cards. A lot of powerful Gambling Masters have secret cards hidden on their bodies. These kinds of cards are nearly impossible for others to see. And knowing them depends on the other’s ability. Hence, fast hands plays a major role in gambling, especially such as this Tie Golden Flower…”
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Note:
I just wanna say… F**K this chapter. I don’t know much about gambling, so I spent too much time to find about Pai Gow and Tie Golden Flower.