Chapter 394 - 357: The Tenderness of a Japanese Woman, the 10 Million Dollar High-End Gambling Game

As soon as Wu Yun entered, a server led their group to a buffet area and said, "Gentlemen, you’re welcome to dine first. Someone will be by to arrange the subsequent activities when the time comes."

Wu Yun wasn’t hungry at the moment, so he casually picked up a drink and began to survey the hall.

’Since this is the floor below the casino upstairs, its area must not be too small.’

’But looking at the size of this hall, it seems to be only about half the size of the floor above. The rest of the space must have been made into private rooms.’

By now, there were already three or four hundred people in the hall.

As Wu Yun glanced around, he saw several other men who, like him, were accompanied by bodyguards and beautiful women. Even those without bodyguards had a gorgeously dressed girl by their side.

Just then, Nick walked up to Wu Yun and asked, "Mr. Wu, would you like to continue with dice tonight, or play poker?"

Wu Yun glanced around the hall and saw no tables set up specifically for games, so he asked, "Do we go to a designated location depending on the game we choose?"

Nick nodded. "Yes, there are separate private rooms prepared for each game, with the number of people arranged according to the game type. Of course, you can also choose to be a spectator and watch from the gallery."

Wu Yun didn’t immediately decide whether to participate. Instead, he continued asking, "What poker games are available tonight?"

"Blackjack, Texas Hold’em, Stud Poker..." Nick listed off a series of games. "Mr. Wu, I was wondering, would you prefer to play or spectate?"

Wu Yun wasn’t particularly fond of gambling. The fact that he’d won over three million US dollars the day before yesterday was purely due to luck.

So when Nick asked, Wu Yun replied, "Let’s wait a bit. I want to see how things go first."

Nick nodded without trying to persuade him. Instead, he said something that piqued Wu Yun’s interest. "By the way, Mr. Wu, tonight is the table game social. Tomorrow, from afternoon to evening, there’s a bare-knuckle boxing competition. You can watch or place bets then."

"Oh! I definitely have to attend that!"

No sooner had Wu Yun spoken than a passionate, booming voice echoed from the hall’s sound system.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Venetian Casino’s monthly social!..."

Seeing the host begin to speak, Nick left to fill out a form for Wu Yun.

"Of course, this social also has tiered entry levels, divided into US$1 million, US$5 million, and US$10 million tables. I’m sure our old friends here know what that means—for these tables, you must put up the corresponding amount in cash or collateral as your buy-in!"

"Oh, one more thing! Real estate, stock equity, and the like can be used as collateral at a discounted rate. For details, please consult the advisor at your side!"

"Alright! Let’s cut to the chase and get this started!"

Just then, Nick returned to Wu Yun’s side and said, "Mr. Wu, I’ve arranged a spot for you in the US$10 million Stud Poker room. You have the best spectator seat. Please, follow me."

Stud Poker is one of the more popular poker games. It uses a standard fifty-two-card deck, and the winner is determined by the combination, rank, and suit of a five-card hand. Anyone who’s seen a movie knows the specific rules—the straight flush is king.

A single game of Stud Poker can be played by two to five players.

Since Wu Yun was observing the highest-tier game, each player’s initial buy-in was ten million USD. Of course, if they lost it all, they could rebuy or ask if anyone in the audience wanted to take their seat.

As long as you had enough money and your opponents were willing to keep playing with you, the game could go on indefinitely.

In practice, this type of game is very difficult to cheat at. The tricks seen in movies—relying on gambling skills or supernatural abilities to swap cards at will, see through an opponent’s hand, or even rub cards to change them—are simply impossible in reality.

Moreover, getting caught cheating is an extremely serious matter. The lightest punishment is being expelled from the casino and blacklisted; the most severe is having your fingers chopped off.

Here, a new deck of cards is used for every single hand. They are never reused; once a hand is over, the deck is destroyed on the spot, giving cheaters absolutely no opportunity to mark the cards.

Furthermore, all these playing cards are custom-made at a designated factory and transported to the casino under armed guard. They are by no means something that can be seen through with X-ray glasses.

As for swapping cards, that’s even more impossible. Every card has a special marking on it. After the game, a specialist inspects the cards, and any swapped-in card lacking the special mark would definitely be discovered.

After all, the casino doesn’t act as the house in a game like this. It only provides the venue and takes a cut from the pot.

Wu Yun now understood the layout of the room.

The players sat at a table inside a glass room in the center, while a large ring of spectator seats encircled the outside of the glass room.

The glass room was constructed with double-paned, hollow-core glass, making it completely soundproof. Even if someone fired a gun outside, the people inside wouldn’t hear a thing. Furthermore, the glass was one-way; those sitting inside could not see the audience outside at all.

Wu Yun and Ayaka Sanji were seated in the front row. As for bodyguards and attendants, they were placed in the attendant seating further back.

From the front row, one could clearly see the players’ faces inside the glass room. Someone with good eyesight could even make out the cards in the players’ hands.

If you couldn’t see clearly, it didn’t matter. Several televisions were mounted overhead, but they only showed the players’ hands and the tabletop—never their faces.

Under these circumstances, with so many people watching, it was impossible to use either technology or dirty tricks.

When Wu Yun took his seat, four guests were already seated at a massive gambling table inside the glass room.

A handsome dealer with sharp features and a perfectly proportioned physique stood in the middle of the traditional oval-shaped table, with two guests seated on his left and two on his right.

A moment later, the final player also took his seat. Wu Yun found the last player’s face a bit familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

However, Wu Yun was certain that this last person to arrive was a Huaxia person.

The Huaxia man who had just sat down happened to have his back to Wu Yun.

So, Wu Yun decided to test the effect of his Detection Glasses. To his surprise, they successfully penetrated the glass and detected the Huaxia man’s information.

Name: Wang Jike (Fictional character, any resemblance is coincidental)

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Height: 181cm

Weight: 74kg

Skills: Table Tennis (Master Level), Badminton (Proficient), Track and Field (Proficient)... Gambling (Proficient)

Affinity: 0 (Stranger)

Wu Yun finally remembered who this was. He was an athlete Wu Yun had seen on TV before, one of the top competitors in the country. ’No wonder he dared to sit at this table.’

While Wu Yun’s mind was wandering, the dealer began the procedure of unwrapping and inspecting the new deck of cards.

The dealer, wearing white silk gloves, first picked up the sealed deck of cards and presented it to the players before unwrapping it and shuffling in front of everyone.

Afterwards, he allowed each player at the table to cut the deck.

Having completed these steps, the dealer began the first round of dealing.

The first round of cards dealt was each player’s hole card.

Next came the second round: the up-card.

The dealer skillfully and accurately dealt one card to each of the five players.

Through the overhead view of the table, Wu Yun could clearly see that the first player, an ordinary-looking white man in his forties, had received the highest up-card in the second round: the Jack of Spades. Thus, the white man earned the right to bet first.

It had to be said, from this god’s-eye view, as soon as a player peeked at their hole card, the card’s value would appear on the overhead television. The right edge of the screen also listed the player’s two cards that had been dealt so far.

Except for a Black man wearing sunglasses who didn’t look at his hole card, everyone else couldn’t resist lifting a corner of theirs.

At least for now, it looked like the white man’s hand had the advantage.

Just as everyone saw, the white man’s voice came through the sound system: "Since it’s just the beginning, I’ll be gentle. Ten thousand!"

CLACK! A ten-thousand-dollar chip was tossed into the middle of the table.

Perhaps because the amount wasn’t large, everyone else chose to call.

In the third round, the middle-aged white man received another card: the Queen of Spades. He said excitedly, "I’ll keep going! Fifty thousand!"

Perhaps feeling his cards weren’t strong enough, the Arab man wearing a turban threw in his hand and said, "I fold!"

His voice seemed to open the floodgates. The Black man in sunglasses and another short, stocky East Asian man hesitated for a moment before also throwing in their hands.

Now, only Wang Jike and the middle-aged white man remained in the game.