I think it is funny that we are talking about life at a casino and you say : " you can bet ... "

Anyways, thanks for the response, and I do agree that a geeky type like Hiro would go down easy.

I don't gamble, so if most high stakes players have thugs then maybe they don't have powers. The motion that the guy used to throw his punch was still wierd though...

From what I've seen on this board no one on the whole planet thinks that the cowboy or his three friends have any powers... Well I for one want to go on record that I think they do.
NO SPOILERS PLEASE !
This thread is intended for discussion between people who know what has been shown in the for comics and four episodes ONLY.
Anyway, it is already a coincidence for Hiro to cheat someone who personally would take revenge in an alley. I mean would you, sitting at your PC right now, kick someone's butt if your cards mysteriosly changed? Or wold you let the authorities handle it? Or would you be freaked out that he can change your cards with no one noticing and leave him alone. This guy is bold, co.cky. Like the "new" Peter who makes Simone hot, he is confident because he has powers. ( ? ) We already know HRG and Mysterious Guy have access to the secrity cameras and guest rooms. Maybe HRG is a big shot at that hotel and lots of his super powered hench-men or as he says "special friends" hang out there. Do you all really thing MG is HRG's only "special friend" ? Why does no one else think these may be some more super-villans?
People comment on how easy Hiro went down... maybe this would explain it.

I doubt that they have powers, the show would start going downhill if every character they introduced had powers. you can bet that any guy that is at a high stakes table would have enough friends and enough power to have any cheaters taken care of. As to why Hiro went down so easy, aside from his time tricks he is just a normal person and as of right now just learning how to use his powers and being an obsessive video game/comic guy he is probably not that strong, making him a one hit wonder.

Hiro wasn't very smart for taking cards from someone's hand. He should have taken what he needed from the house deck. Guess he needs to be a better cheater.

I don't think it is out of the realm of possibilities at all for the cowboy to have gone to the casino manager to report it, and take a look at the cameras. Maybe HE is a bigshot in there, and could get the security to conveniently "drop" Hiro and Ando off at that door at that time.

I agree that not everyone can have powers. It would be pretty lame that way. The point of the first season, as far as I could tell, is them learning how to deal with their powers in relation to "normal" people living around them.

He is a Vegas High Roller. If his cards suddenly changed, he would want to get some revenge on it.

Also, Hiro's powers are time and space manipulation, other than that, he is just a nerd.

A lovable one at that.

I think the punch was just comedic underscoring to Ando's INSANE declaration (at the current context, anyway) that Hiro could kick their ****** The thug took one look at Hiro and figured he didn't need to spend all that energy on one little Japanese geek... and he was right.

Well i dabble a little here and a little there with gambling and i can assure you if you had about 10 grand riding on three cards you'd have friends willing to get your money back if you got cheated out of it especially if you had connections with the casino.