Ｐｏｋｅｒ　Ｋｉｎｇ　ｏｆ　Ｃｈｉｎａ

Ｙａｎｇ　Ｄａｏ

Two things happened to Zheng Taishun in 2006. On June 10, 2006, he broke a Gunnies world record by putting a pack of shuffled cards back to order in 39.28 seconds. And in 2006 he rose to national fame after a show at Shandong Satellite Television.

The 46-year-old Zhengs legendary poker-playing career started long before 2006.

He was born into a poverty-stricken family in rural Fujian, a province in eastern China. While his father worked as a railroad construction contractor, the junior did some minor manual jobs at construction sites and watched his father and other adults play poker games, the only recreational game in their leisure times. The boy soon developed an addiction to poker games.

The turning point of his life time came in one day when he saw a peddler selling a book of poker game tricks in a street. He bought a copy for three yuan, a small fortune in the early 1980s. It turned out that the peddler was actually the author of the book. It related a few dozens of essential tricks. When Zheng Taishun failed to figure out a trick, he went to see the vendor for an answer. Gradually he got the hang of poker and mahjong games. Looking back now, he observes that the cards printed 30 years ago were of poor quality and that it was easy to recognize some very small and almost invisible details on the back part.

By studying books and practicing his sleight of hands, he mastered many tricks. And his fellow players were no longer his rivals. The ambitious but inexperienced boy decided to try his luck with adult masters. After being defeated in some games, he realized that what he had mastered was just rudimentary and that he had a long way to go. In the next few years, he learned tips from many masters. By learning from masters and inventing his own tricks, he soon became a real master.

Now the teenager boy authored a book of his own which explained some simple tricks. He checked himself into a small hotel and used the hotel room as his base and started his book-selling business. He charged three yuan for a copy and his small business brought him 100 to 200 yuan a day. It was a big fortune in the 1980s.

Zheng Taishun regarded himself a pro when he turned 18. He began to travel around and do street shows. During his travel, he ran into a troupe from Shanghai. He managed to get himself hired by the troupe and traveled with the magicians and acrobats. Traveling together with the troupe gave Zheng an opportunity to study under the guidance of Ye Xinrong, a master card magician with the troupe. Zheng also would seek out local masters wherever he went. Many card players or mahjong players made a living on games. They all knew a trick or two. But Zheng Taishun never gambles. That was how he found it easy to make friends with these masters and learn from them, for the traveling poker magician was never a threat. If he spotted a trick and didnt understand, he could ask questions and get answers.

During all these years of studying and traveling, Zheng met with one real master of tricks. After watching Zheng Taishun performing in a show in Foshan, Guangdong Province, a man in his 60s came backstage and spoke to Zheng. The old man said that he had played cards since childhood years and he thought Zheng was the only man who he had seen could do card tricks so neatly. The two hit off immediately and chatted happily. Then the old man showed Zheng a simple but impossible trick. The old man showed two cards to Zheng and then put the cards face down on the table. The old man then held Zhengs hand and placed it on the cards. Then the cards were turned over. To his astonishment, Zheng discovered the numbers of the cards had changed. He didnt understand how the trick worked. Zheng Taishun immediately realized that the old man was a real master. The old man declined to teach him the trick. After the old man left, Zheng followed him all the way to his home. With the best wine and the best cigarettes, Zheng went to see the old man. He finally managed to persuade the master and learn the trick. Zheng is now certain that the old man and he are the best two poker tricksters in China.

Zheng Taishun now knows all kinds of poker and mahjong cheating tricks. Having studied all the cheating tricks in movies, he has concluded that the tricks in these movies are really simple. At the invitation of the organizers of the annual poker championship in Fujian province, Zheng nowadays supervises poker games at the championship. Nothing escapes his sharp eyes.

And his card games are amazing and incredible. He can guess cards. He can distribute the cards you want or he wants. Sometimes he moves his fingers slowly but still nobody can see how he gets what he wants with a pack of cards. Some of his tricks have been filmed by a few cameras at a television show and still no one can find out how he does these tricks. You give him a deck of cards or a set of mahjong chips, you show him the back sides and he can tell you these cards one by one without any mistake.

Many people wonder what if he gambles. And their answers seem to be the same: he would win forever. But Zheng disagrees. He advises people to stay away from gambling. His reasoning is simple, straightforward and convincing: if he won millions, losers wouldnt let him live. If he lost millions, he would jump off a high building and kill himself. If he cheated, his fingers would be chopped off. None of these things look appetizing at all.

After his shows at Shandong Satellite Television, letters and requests flooded in. In 2008, he staged his poker shows at CCTV channels and other television programs and he appeared in some talk shows. Generally, there are two kinds of answers people wish to find out form him: some want Zheng to help them gamble and some want to figure out how they lost their fortunes.

He never hires himself out for gamble games. Occasionally he agrees to watch whether rivals cheat if his friends play a game and ask him to watch for tricks. But he never teaches others how to cheat. Instead, as a master of card and mahjong, he gives this piece of advice to people: stay away from gambling.

One day, a woman came all the way from Harbin to visit Zheng Taishun. She asked how on earth she had lost her games. Zheng found out by playing mahjong games with her. He let her win and let her lose. After a dozen rounds of games, she understood in despair that she wouldnt be able to go home and that she would never be able to repay tens of millions in debt. One of her fingers was missing. Zheng helped her start a small retail business in Fuzhou.

Zheng says that many people on the mainland think the casinos in Macao are fair and that bankers never cheat. He points out that your game rivals are very probably on the payroll of the casinos. Incompetent players never see what hit them when they lose and they do not understand how the casinos manage to have its business under control.

Nowadays, Zheng Taishun operates a business. The business organizes regular national poker and mahjong games and holds lectures on essential techniques. His employees answer phone calls from all over the country. Many a loser has called to ask how he or she lost millions. His office is heaped with packs of poker cards, some still sealed with wrapping paper. Whenever he has time, he gets a deck of cards and practices.

Gunnies recognition came in March, 2009. Now he enjoys life to his hearts content. His two daughters are in school. In addition to his card and mahjong consultancy business, he has also investment in real estate. All this gives him a comfortable life. □