âHow do you want to play?â
Joe Locke eyed Cole Barnett with a playful look.
Cole Barnett said, âStraight up one million, bet on win or lose, do you dare?â
Joe Locke curled his lips disdainfully and said, âOne million is too little. If you want to play, letâs go straight to five million. Do you dare?â
âFive millionâ¦â
Cole Barnett hesitated.
Joe Locke snorted coldly, âIf youâre too scared to play, then just fold and stop wasting time!â
âFive million it is, then, transfer the money!â
âTransfer it, then!â
Joe Locke was also stunned for a moment, not expecting Cole Barnett to actually follow through, but since things had come to this point, he steeled his heart.
Both transferred five million to Quinton Creed.
âAlright, we donât need to put down chips anymore, just reveal the cards.â
Joe Locke couldnât even be bothered to pretend anymore, confidently flipped over his hole cards, and taunted Cole Barnett:
âThree aces, again three aces. When my luck comes, nothing can stop it, haha!â
He laughed out loud, leaning over the table, about to scoop all the chips towards himself.
Just then, Cole Barnett suddenly held his hand, looking at him with a half-smile, âWhatâs the rush? Arenât you going to see what cards I have? What if itâs a 235?â
In the game of Dou Shou Qi, thereâs an infrequently used rule where the weakest animal, the mouse, prevails over the strongest, the elephant.
In the game of poker, thereâs similarly an obscure rule: the smallest scatter hand of 235 beats triple aces!
This rule is very rare because the odds of 235 meeting triple aces are incredibly small.
Moreover, without knowing what the other personâs hand is, itâs rare for anyone with 235 to continue to follow.
Thatâs why Joe Locke had never imagined that such a once-in-a-millennium event would happen to him!
He looked blankly at Cole Barnettâs cards, then looked up at the sarcasm on the otherâs face, and suddenly felt something was wrong, saying solemnly:
âAre you fucking playing tricks on me?â
Cole Barnett was taken aback and frowned, âMr. Locke, what do you mean? When you won against Greg Jensen with triple kings, no one said anything.
How come when I win against you with triple aces, you accuse me of playing tricks?
Moreover, itâs a blind hand for both of us, I didnât see the cards, so how could I know what I had?â
Seeing this, Quinton Creed followed up, âHarold, the deck is new, there was no chance for him to tamper with it.
Plus, I dealt the cards. You donât think I colluded with this guy to cheat you, do you?â
Joe Locke glanced at Quinton Creed, also feeling that he might have overthought it, hesitated for a moment, and nodded, âItâs my bad, I was confused. Sorry.â
âHaha, we are all friends here. Once itâs out in the open, itâs all good.â
Cole Barnett smiled, deliberately saying, âAlright, itâs getting late. Letâs just call it a day.â
Upon hearing this, Joe Locke immediately objected, frowning, âWhat do you mean by that, Cole Barnett? I just lost five million, and you want to stop playing? Planning to run off after winning the money?â
Cole Barnettâs face also turned cold, and he scoffed, âI figured you were just unlucky and didnât want you to lose everything you have. Really biting the hand that feeds you.â
âWho the fuck are you calling a dog? Say it again!â
âHarold, donât get mad, okay? Itâs just words getting ahead of themselves, that wasnât what Cole meant.â
Seeing Joe Locke about to get angry, Quinton Creed quickly stepped in to mediate, persuading Joe Locke, then said to Cole Barnett:
âCole, why donât we play a bit longer?â
Cole Barnett, uncharacteristically not smiling, replied with a cold tone, âIf heâs not afraid of losing, then letâs play. Itâs not like I have anything else to do.â
Joe Locke sneered, âEven if you lose everything, I wonât.â
Max Milton said, âOkay, since weâre going to play, letâs recalculate the chips, especially since Mr. Lin no longer has any.â
âRight, Iâll settle the chips for you guys.â
Quinton Creed took out his phone, made the necessary transfers and collected the money, and then each was dealt a million in chips, and the four sat down at the table again.
Joe Locke startet, âLetâs change another deck of cards, Aiden, I just donât believe it!â
Quinton Creed smiled, fetched a new deck, shuffled well, and the game started again.
Joe Locke, true to his reputation as an old gambler, kept glancing between the three men, but what he didnât realize was that the cheater wasnât any of the three.
It was Greg Jensen, who sat aside drinking like nothing was the matter.
Even when Joe Locke hadnât looked at his cards, Greg had already signaled his hole cards to Quinton Creed and the others.
One player, ganged up on by four, was bound to lose money.
In just half an hour, more than half of Joe Lockeâs million in chips was gone.
Seeing this, Max Milton quickly signaled the other two with his eyes.
A few minutes later, Joe Lockeâs luck started to turn, and he managed to win some money back.
Overjoyed, Joe Locke shuffled the cards while laughing loudly, âMy luck is back, baby!â
âHaha, it sure is a case of âtime brings great changesâ.â
Quinton Creed offered a little flattery.
Pleased with himself, Joe Locke said with a smile, âItâs my turn to be the banker, how about we play a few rounds in silence?â
Max Milton looked at Cole Barnett and said, âIâm fine with it, itâs up to old Cole.â
Cole Barnett smirked, âQuiet rounds it is then, whoâs afraid of that?â
âAlright, letâs all go silent,â Quinton Creed laughed.
A cold gleam flashed in Joe Lockeâs eyes, and with swift hands, he dealt the cards to himself and the other three, then threw in five thousand, saying, âStart with a silent five thousand?â
Cole Barnett frowned, âThatâs too much trouble, just make it one million straight.â
âHoly shit, do you have to go that big?â
Max Milton was startled and looked at him in surprise.
Cole Barnett said impatiently, âSince itâs a silent round for all four of us, isnât it easy just to place a bet and compare the biggest cards? Why bother with round after round?â
âHey, Coleâs got a point. But a million is too little, how about we go straight to five million?â
Joe Locke suggested with a smile, âAfter all, five million isnât that much, right guys?â
âFive million it is then, scared of you?â
Quinton Creed and Max Milton exchanged glances and nodded together.
âThen letâs make the transfers.â
Quinton Creed glanced at Greg Jensen sitting on the side and said, âHow about we transfer the money to Mr. Jensen, itâs not quite appropriate for me to take it since Iâm in the game.â
âSure, letâs transfer it to the kid then.â
Without overthinking it, Joe Locke agreed, as it made no difference who received itâthis round was a sure win for him since he had dealt himself a set of three Aces.
The others had either straights or flushes, and Cole Barnett had the highestâa small three-of-a-kind.
He was determined to win back the five million he had lost before, and if the 235 hands came out again, it would truly be a ghostly affair.
Seeing that, Greg Jensen picked up his phone and came over, showed everyone his bank card number, and had them transfer the money.
After the transfers were done, he checked the balance on his bank card and said, âOkay, you four can reveal your cards now, the money has all been transferred.â
âAlright, letâs see what Iâve got!â
Joe Locke flipped open his hand of cards and slammed them on the table, then pretended to be shocked, âHoly shit, Iâve really got the golden touch, another trio of Aces!â