New Gods of North America.

Chapter 747 Character
After that, everything was "normal" at the banquet.

These bigwigs tend to speak in roundabout ways. Those unfamiliar with the inner workings might pick up on their veiled meanings, but due to the lack of a clear central thread, it's difficult to decipher their true intentions.
Wayne watched the card game from the sidelines, and was occasionally asked a few questions. He managed to say quite a bit about himself and the detective agency, albeit in fits and starts.

Sometimes, after Wayne answered, these important figures seemed to be focused on the poker table, but their follow-up questions often got straight to the point. For example, Andrew Pryor Sr. was curious about Wayne's intentions in organizing a labor union in the docklands.
Some of the casual conversations even seemed to have a deeper meaning. For example, after Wayne mentioned that he had only become a witness to the Auster family's will, Adam Stephens turned to talking about a senator from New York, leaving Wayne wondering if the guy was hinting at something.

In contrast, even the wealthy landowner Leo Clark at the card table seemed much more approachable.

He is more inclined towards the bold and straightforward "knightly style" that Southerners admire. His downside is that he cares about face and is not subtle enough, but his advantage is that he seems to be without much guile. He doesn't understand many things that Wayne doesn't understand, so when he speaks up and asks questions, at least Wayne can get some useful information.

There were quite a few people qualified to watch the game, but Wayne was of relatively low status among them. Unlike Governor Letcher, who could occasionally come over for a quick look, chat for a bit, and then leave, Wayne could only stay put and passively respond.

However, it wasn't entirely without gains. It felt like the detective agency's presence in the dock area had been put on a "whitelist" in a sense, at least after being lightly mentioned in the discussions of several important figures. They seemed more concerned about the follow-up with Wayne and the Auster family, while their minor squabbles with the dock area gangs were considered trivial and not worth paying much attention to—provided, of course, that they didn't interfere with anyone else's business.

There was a little incident that gave Wayne a glimpse into the personalities of these important figures.

Midway through the game, the old Basque man left his seat for a short while, and then asked Wayne to temporarily fill in for him. He agreed to pay for any losses and split any wins with Wayne.
Since they were almost out of cards and this wasn't a serious casino, Wayne did some quick calculations and figured that one player's straight was definitely not going to make any more, and that player's flush was definitely not going to be complete. So Wayne kept raising with his pair of face-up "6s," acting humble in his attitude but quite daring in his actions.

There are plenty of smart people at this table.

Like Andrew Pryor Sr., when he got the third face-up card and knew he had no chance of getting a straight, he decisively folded.

Governor Leitch, who replaced a large estate owner halfway through the game, glanced at the discard pile and guessed that Wayne's hole card was most likely a "6". Knowing that he had no chance of getting a third "J", he also folded.

As for Adam Stephens, he is both good at "calculation" and somewhat "brave".
The wealthy plantation owner, Leo Clark, was a relatively unskilled poker player. Whether he called or not depended mainly on his mood, and whether he won was largely a matter of luck. He dared to play even the worst hands to the end, and occasionally he would actually pull off a miraculous comeback.

Adam Stephens's otherwise impossible flush was disrupted when he seemingly made a casual remark to Leo Clark, which provoked the latter into a "not wanting to lose face" attitude. This caused the latter to keep calling despite having a bad hand, resulting in two extra cards being used up in the deck. So when it was time to deal the cards to Adam Stephens again, the deck was empty and the waiter had shuffled the cards.

Finally, the waiter dealt the cards, and Adam Stephens revealed his hole cards, and he actually managed to get five cards of the same suit.

Then everyone took turns revealing their cards. Before it was Wayne's turn, his gaze had already fallen upon him: "Young man, you have good courage and good luck. You win this round."

He said "good courage" because when the deck ran out of cards, he confirmed that Wayne's hole card wasn't actually a "6". He realized that Wayne had been bluffing using the pair of "6s" he was dealt first.
His comment about "good luck" stemmed from the fact that Wayne indeed received three 6s, and with everyone else's hole cards revealed, Wayne's final hand was a "three-of-a-kind with two extra cards." Adam Stephens was essentially betting on this hand; according to the rules, a "flush" beats a "three-of-a-kind," but is less than a "three-of-a-kind with two extra cards."
Luck did indeed give him a flush, but it also made Wayne's hole cards a pair. Both sides gained something, but the outcome was already decided.

Wayne then officially revealed his cards, and around the table, some cheered in surprise, some were surprised by the reversal, and others confirmed, "Just as I expected."
As he gathered the chips the waiter pushed over, he lowered his head and smiled humbly, saying, "It's all luck, just a coincidence."

In fact, Wayne had already toned it down considerably; otherwise, he could have easily raised the stakes significantly before the cards were revealed, which would have made him even more aggressive and, if he had won, even more money.

However, this kind of thing is not very necessary. Tonight's game is more about "killing time". With a face value of $20, the average chip change per person in a normal game is only about 10 or 20, and at most it will not exceed "several dozen". So Wayne just calls normally and plays casually.

Wayne then played two more hands, folding quickly both times and giving away several "minimum spend" chips.

Then the old Basque man returned, and Wayne stood to the side again with the audience as a responder and background wall. He also took the opportunity to whisper some trivial chatter with the "audience" next to him to get acquainted with them—he couldn't really forget the purpose of "socializing".

After the banquet ended, the guests regrouped in the hall and then gradually dispersed.
Before leaving, the old Basque gentleman gave Wayne a check, saying, "This is the part you won earlier."

Ok?
If you divide the 46 Big Double Eagle gold coins in half and multiply them by the face value of $20 each, shouldn't the total be $460?
Seeing Wayne's slight surprise, the old Basque gentleman offered a brief explanation: "Tonight is just a bit of fun, nothing too serious, one chip is $100." After saying that, he joined the other guests of honor, accompanied by the host George Randolph, and they chatted as they walked out the door.

Goodness, $2300!

The detective agency has been busy collecting taxes in the dock area for quite some time now, and the profits from playing a few rounds of cards tonight are almost as high as what they've made. If you exclude the bounties from wanted criminals that they collect from time to time, this is probably equivalent to the earnings of an entire office's agents working hard for more than a quarter.

No wonder so many people were hesitant to sit at the table; this was a really big game.

Thank goodness I didn't lose just now...

Compared to these "old money" amassed over years of plantation profits, the detective agency is indeed far behind.
No wonder that after so many years of no one in the Constantine family running a business, Wayne still ended up with a considerable amount of shares... Back then, they mainly spent their money on building the town and repairing the railroad.

(End of this chapter)