Chapter 428: Chapter 427: The Game Begins, Sherry + Gin + Vodka

Monte Carlo Casino’s third floor, a room decorated in the style of last century’s Europe.

In the center of the room stood a massive oval poker table, with the dealer seated along the long straight side.

Dressed in a black suit, with pale blue eyes, Brenekoff-Robert sat at the farthest curve of the table.

Straight across from the dealer, from left to right, sat a suspected CIA, a white woman named Perna, Mrs. Hanover, and a blond white man suspected to work for MI6, named Vincent.

At this moment, Luo An sat at the other curve on the far right of the table, directly across from Brenekoff-Robert, with Vincent on his left.

Upon seeing Luo An pick up his glass, Brenekoff-Robert smirked slightly, then bowed his head to organize his chips. Mrs. Hanover glanced at Luo An, then indifferently withdrew her gaze, Vincent remained silent, while Perna tapped on the table, urging:

“Shall we begin?”

Luo An glanced at the chips in front of Perna and noticed she had lost the most, already by half.

Mrs. Hanover followed close behind, also with significant losses, yet she appeared unconcerned.

“Please draw a card each, to determine the dealer based on the rank of the cards.”

The game played at this table was Texas Hold’em with a slight tweak in the rules. The dealer handed out five playing cards, one to each player. As the cards were revealed one by one, Mrs. Hanover had the highest, and the dealer took back the playing cards with a nod:

“Mrs. Hanover is the dealer, please place your bet.”

With a laid-back attitude, Mrs. Hanover casually tossed a red chip onto the table, to which the dealer declared:

“Mrs. Hanover has placed the small blind, $10,000.”

Quickly after, the dealer dealt anew, laying out ten cards flat on the table, distributing them among the five players. Luo An looked casually at his two cards, his expression unchanged, as he began to utilize “Emotion Perception” to gauge the moods of the other players.

Soon, the first round of the game concluded. Luo An checked out mid-game, losing five hundred thousand. Nearby, Caroline’s expression did not change, yet her gaze shifted ever so slightly.

A few rounds later, Luo An continued to lose, nearly three million in total. His starting capital of two million four hundred thousand dollars for the day at the casino was now completely gone.

Caroline, who was sitting not far at the bar, in order not to give herself away, stopped watching who was winning or losing at the table, instead lightly chatted up with the woman Brenekoff brought with him.

Perna, who had been consistently losing at the table, started winning a few rounds against Luo An, her previous anxiety on her face started to fade as she gave Luo An several smiles of gratitude.

Brenekoff and Vincent also won several rounds. Mrs. Hanover, seeing Luo An continuously losing, furrowed her brows briefly but then resumed her neutral composure as if nothing had happened, and continued to bet.

A new round began, the dealer distributed two playing cards to each of the five players, and the four betting rounds ended swiftly. In front of the dealer laid five face-up community cards. All five players at the table had stayed in until the final round.

“Betting is completed.”

After all five players finished betting, the total chips at the center of the table had accumulated to twelve million. The dealer spread his hands:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please show your hands.”

An excited and flushed Perna was the first to reveal her hand, her two hole cards along with the five community cards laid out by the dealer, just managed to form a straight.

Unfortunately, Vincent and Mrs. Hanover both had higher hands than Perna.

And Brenekoff’s hand was higher than Mrs. Hanover’s.

The rapid rise and fall, from the jaws of victory to the brink of defeat, left Perna with a terribly unsightly complexion; Vincent didn’t look great either.

Mrs. Hanover remained indifferent, unconcerned about the money lost, just like Brenekoff, she turned her gaze towards Luo An.

After four rounds of calling, Luo An was left with just over a million in chips, the rest had been placed on the table. If he loses this hand, unless the next hand Luo An gets is the exceedingly rare royal flush, he’s highly likely to leave the table.

Brenekoff was also staring intently at Luo An; in this round, his hand was a four of a kind, the strongest at the table, and it wouldn’t be easy to win against him.

Amidst the varied expressions of the spectators, Luo An chuckled and pushed his cards towards the dealer.

The dealer revealed Luo An’s two cards, combining them with the five community cards on the table, and said in a calm voice:

“Flush. Mr. Brian’s (Luo An’s new alias) hand is the highest.

The game is over, collect the cards.”

Upon confirming that there were no objections, the dealer gathered the cards from the table and pushed all the chips towards Luo An.

In this round, Perna, Vincent, Mrs. Hanover, and Brenekoff each lost over two and a half million, not only did Luo An win back his capital, but he also earned an additional three million.

“Shit!”

Perna, who had lost another hand, cursed under his breath and then raised his hand, calling out loudly,

“Bar server, bring me a Gordon’s gin with ice.”

Upon hearing this, Vincent also called out loudly:

“Same for me!”

Mrs. Hanover and Brenekoff didn’t speak; Luo An glanced at the two and then at Caroline, who was chatting with someone at the bar but still pricking up her ears to listen to the situation here, and smiled slightly before saying to the bar server:

“Three Sherries, one Gin, one Vodka, one Tequila, with ice shaken, and a slice of lemon.”

“…Yes sir.”

The bar server twitched at the corner of his mouth when he heard the order; it was the first time he had come across such a cocktail request, but his professional demeanor prevented him from questioning it, promptly nodding in agreement.

Soon, the mid-game break ended and after the mixologist delivered the drinks that had been ordered, a new round of the game began.

In the subsequent rounds, Luo An had both losses and wins, but mostly wins. Mrs. Hanover, Vincent, and Perna hardly won at all, while Brenekoff won even more frequently than Luo An.

As time ticked away, more than two hours later, Vincent had lost his ten million in chips and left the table with a grim expression to sit and chat with others at the bar.

Mrs. Hanover had lost a full seventeen million, but with ten million in chips still in front of her, she continued to sit lazily in her chair, seemingly indifferent to winning or losing.

Perna burned through his chips even faster than Vincent but stepped out of the room for a moment after losing his initial nine million, quickly returning to the table with his head held high and twelve million in chips.

This turn of events attracted sidelong glances from everyone in the room, and even Luo An couldn’t help but glance at her a couple of times.

Luo An didn’t know whether this money was Perna’s own or from the CIA… If it was the latter, all he could say was that the CIA certainly lived up to its reputation for being wealthy and powerful.

At the table, only two people were winning money: Luo An and Brenekoff.

Brenekoff, who initially had a substantial capital of twenty million, together with the money won from others, had accumulated about forty-eight million in chips in front of him.

But it wasn’t the blue-eyed Brenekoff who was the most eye-catching; it was Luo An, sitting opposite him, occasionally sipping his drink, who was attracting the most attention from the onlookers in the room.

Initially, Luo An had the least starting capital of the five, just six million seven hundred thousand US dollars.

But now, the stacks of thick and high chips Luo An had accrued in front of him totaled a staggering thirty-four million.

A new round of the game began, and after four betting rounds, Perna stopped betting midway, leaving only Luo An, Brenekoff, and Mrs. Hanover still in at the end, with the chips in the middle of the table accumulating to thirty million.

Mrs. Hanover still reclined lazily in her chair, Brenekoff’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Luo An, who took a sip from his glass. The dealer arranged the five community cards and said:

“Please show your hands.”