You seem to have gotten the story a bit confused. They didn't ask for a dealer that spoke Mandarin for superstitious reasons, they asked because the person act

You seem to have gotten the story a bit confused. They didn't ask for a dealer that spoke Mandarin for superstitious reasons, they asked because the person actually doing the edge-sorting was Phil Ivey's partner in this, Cheng Yin Sun. Their request to turn cards was under the guise of being superstitious, not their request for a Mandarin speaking dealer.