Thursday, December 31, 2015

Vegas Set for New Year´s Eve Casino Wars!

New Year´s Eve in Vegas
Call it the Great Crusades of Casino and Poker Cheating!

The casino cheats are loading their gadgets; casino surveillance is loading up their cameras; Griffin Investigations and other casino investigatory bodies are beefing up their patrols...everyone´s getting ready for the big New Year´s Eve casino-cheating bang!

And it will come!

New Year's Eve is always the numero-uno prime-time casino and poker-cheat invasion of the world´s casinos, especially in Las Vegas. This is because the vast crowds inside the casinos and the huge action afford the cheats the best possible conditions to work in. There is just too much action in casinos for their security and surveillance staffs to adequately protect their gaming tables and slot machines, and when there is a suspected cheating incident, it is too un-profitable to stop the game and wait while surveillance check the footage from the cameras. Imagine, how much money the casino would lose when stopping a jam-packed roulette or craps game for fifteen minutes!

So how profitable can New Year´s Eve be for a good professional casino.cheat team?

Well, I will tell you this: on New Year´s Eve 1999, which was my last New Year´s Eve working casinos, I entered Caesars Palace with my three casino-cheat partners and did a total of fifteen $10,000 moves, half of them Savannah roulette moves and the other half blackjack pastpost moves. They all got paid without any heat and we cleared $125,000! Not bad for a night´s work, right?

And of course this time of year I get a vast increase in emails, lots of them asking me if Savannah still works in casinos.I do not want to encourage anyone to cheat in casinos, but I cannot lie either, so you can figure out what the answer to that question is.

Overall, I expect Las Vegas alone to lose some $2 to $3 million to cheats tonight, with maybe an arrest or two of those unlucky enough to get caught and busted, But all considering, the odds are never more with the cheats than on New Year´s Eve.

And Happy New Year to you all!

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Now Offering Private Beat-the-Heat Blackjack Card-Counting and Advantage-Play Courses by Skype!

If you want to learn the art, take advantage of this terrific opportunity to get one-up on the blackjack tables. A four-day comprehensive course is priced at $500. A two-day course is $200. Both courses cover all the basics and intricacies of the best casino card-counting and advantage-play techniques. The three-day course gets into more details including internal-security measures needed when playing and more intensive training.

To get the full description of these courses, please go to my card-counting website page. If you want to book either course, contact me for scheduling.

Are Blackjack card-counting and hole-carding considered cheating in casinos?

Legal Peeking?
Card-counting at blackjack is absolutely NOT considered cheating in casinos by any casino jurisdiction that I´ve heard of. 

Blackjack hole-carding, however, is in a much grayer area. There is no doubt that those blackjack players seeking to gain an advantage over the casino by willfully peeking at dealers' hole-cards are attempting to cheat by definition, but the actual carrying-out of the process leaves things much less clear. The obvious argument against hole-carding being cheating is that the blackjack hole-carding player is simply taking advantage of the dealers who expose their hole-cards due to sloppiness and lack of following proper dealing procedure. They don't do anything to cause the dealer to expose their hole-card, even if their intent was to find a dealer that indeed does so. 

This argument does hold water.

There have been some arrests of blackjack players for hole-carding, mostly in Nevada, but I am not aware of any convictions or plea-bargains by those guilty of doing so. So in summation, I guess you are pretty safe when hole-carding at blackjack, even though it is getting harder and harder to find good opportunities to do so in light of the dwindling availability of hand-held blackjack games across the casino world.

Now Offering Private Beat-the-Heat Blackjack Card-counting and Advantage-Play Courses by Skype!

If you want to learn the art, take advantage of this terrific opportunity to get one-up on the blackjack tables. A four-day comprehensive course is priced at $500. A two-day course is $200. Both courses cover all the basics and intricacies of the best casino card-counting and advantage-play techniques. The three-day course gets into more details including internal-security measures needed when playing and more intensive training. To get the full description of these courses, please go to my card-counting website page. If you want to book either course, contact me for scheduling.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Game Protection Blog Coming Soon!

Game Protection.

For all you casino executives and floor supervisors who want to get the latest in game protection news from a source other than the World Game Protection website, a new one is coming! It is a new blog and it will be simply be called "The Table Game Protection Blog. It will discuss all matters relating to Game Protection inside land-based casinos, and it will give NEW informative information from Richard Marcus, someone who really knows all aspects of game protection from both sides of the table, meaning through the eyes of the casino on one side and the eyes of a casino-cheat and advantage-player on the other.

This blog will also be of help on matters concerning whom you hire for game-protection services at your casino.

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Is Daily Fantasy Sports Becoming Illegal in the USA?

Daily fantasy sports betting has become one of the great ways for fans to bet and make money without a long term commitment. Traditional sports betting would require bettors to follow an entire season, but with daily fantasy sports, bettors can bet on multiple events on any day and win immediately after the event ends. The Wall Street Journal has covered this topic and despite the growing interest and popularity of daily fantasy sports betting, it remains an activity that is under much debate in the USA. The business model of daily fantasy sports betting sites have been investigated and that has raised some questions pertaining to the legality of this form of betting. The arguments from FanDuel and DraftKings, both US based companies, is that fantasy sports betting is a game of skill, Since it is not based on luck, it is exempt under the 2006 UIGEA law. It is still a grey area and it is up to each individual US state to allow or ban daily fantasy sports betting.
Betting sites like FanDuel and DraftKings have been advertising to US residents during football games, since the NFL season has just started. This raised a red flag and the legality of these sites is now being questioned. These billion dollar companies may be a household brand name, but they cannot stay under the radar and the explosion of ads and interest has lead to some serious investigating on whether daily fantasy sports  betting is a form of gambling.
Sports Betting Laws per State
The US has recently loosened the laws pertaining to online gambling, but each state has the ability to legalise or ban any online betting. In Nevada, the gaming board deemed sports betting is considered gambling and fantasy sports betting is not covered under the current gambling laws in Nevada. Nevada does offer online gambling at sites that are licensed by the state. At this time, there are no sports betting sites registered or licensed in Nevada, which means that any form of sports betting is in fact illegal.
In Massachusetts, there has been some upset and misunderstandings regarding sports betting since the popular Boston based DraftKings site has been advertising services to US bettors. Based on a recent article in the Boston Globe, the Massachusetts Law prohibits and form of gambling unless it is allowed by the Legislature. Even with the popularity of sports betting, daily fantasy sports sites cannot operate in Massachusetts legally.
Taking the Daily Fantasy Sports Offshore Online
It is quite evident that daily fantasy sports betting is a topic of great debate. Until the dust settles and the laws are clear, a number of US residents are seeking gambling action offshore. At sites that are licensed and regulated in other countries, bettors can enjoy sports betting and other forms of gambling online. The problem of UIGEA is still there and US gamblers have to find alternative ways to deposit funds at these offshore sites. A number of other countries, including Australia, have created laws similar to UIGEA in hoped of deterring residents from engaging in online gambling activities. However, with the offering of prepaid cards and some ewallets, residents of these countries still have the ability to register at offshore sites and enjoy gambling activities.
Understanding UIGEA

In 2006, the US government passed the UIGEA Act of 2006 and this regulation has been the cause of many problems faces by US gamblers. The Act made it impossible for US bettors to use their credit or debit cards to fund off shore casino accounts. Banks and financial establishments are not allowed to process any payment to or from an online casino for any US resident. However, the recent changes in law has allowed individual states the ability to choose whether they will legalise online casinos and gambling for residents. UIGEA is still in place, which is making it difficult for certain players who are accessing online casinos in states that have legalised online gambling.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Hot Trailer to National Geographic Underworld Inc. Las Vegas Hustle Episode!

Chips will be flying!
See this clip and don't miss the episode! It airs Wednesday, October 21 on the National Geographic (NatGeo) Channel. Also, be sure to read the two posts directly below and get some insight into the show and the REAL casino cheats who will be profiled.

Ace Face and Bim to perform Savannah Roulette Move in front of Millions!

Bim and Ace Face
It's true! They will appear on National Geographic's "Underworld Inc." series this Wednesday night, October 21. The name of the show is "Las Vegas Hustle." See trailer here.

You wanna know more about Ace Face and Bim? Here's the real scoop! I did work with them both back in the ´80s and ´90s. In fact, Ace Face is one of the early pioneers of the Ten-O-Five Blackjack Move, which he will also be doing on the Underworld Inc. Las Vegas Hustle TV show. He was simply the best at it, and with his cool, handsome James Bond demeanor, he did a number across the blackjack tables from Las Vegas to London, really terrorizing casinos worldwide..

Bim, whom we actually did call "Bim" back in the day and still do, is a really incredible character. Such is how he got his nickname "Bim." The name is a chopped version of "bimbo," although Bim is not at all a bimbo. He´s just a bim! I guess you gotta spend some time with him to get what I mean.

I will tell you this, however: Bim is always so stoned that he can smoke any Rasti in Jamaica under the table at any time!!! And the more stoned he was, the more he kicked the casino's ass!!! Another thing I can tell you about the Bim: he had absolutely no fear of anything! I used to joke with him," Bim, you're scared shit of these casinos, aren't you?" And he'd chuckle and say, "petrified!" I don't know why he had such balls and no fear, but maybe it was due to his being too stoned all the time to interpret fear???

Ace Face and Bim were not around during the inception of the famous Savannah move but they knew a great thing when they saw it, so they initiated their own Savannah road tour in the late '90s just as I was getting ready to retire. They had it down to a tee and Bim had no trouble playing the drunk-role as he was always already stoned! And to all of you who constantly ask me if the Savannah move can still be done in today's casinos, this should suffice as the answer!

As I was told, Ace Face was out fishing when Bim told him about the Savannah move. With the rod in his hand and a big-one dangling from the hook, Ace Face decided to drop the line in the water, row the friggin´ boat back to sure and get on the next plane to Vegas!

Can't wait to see the show. And neither can you!!!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

National Geographic to Air TV Show on Savannah and Ten-O-Five Blackjack Moves!

NatGeo TV shot
Well, of all the casino-cheat TV shows, this one promises to be the best! It is part of the new and hot National Geographic "Underworld Inc." series which airs every Wednesday night on the NatGeo channel at 10 pm EST.

This episode,called "Las Vegas Hustle" airs this coming Wednesday, October 21st at 10 pm EST. Check your local listings for the time in your area.

I am told that a NatGeo film crew followed a two-man cheat-team,both of whom worked with me years ago, as they practiced their moves and entered Las Vegas casinos to do them.They did both the Savannah roulette move and the Ten-O-Five blackjack move. Read about both those moves here and here.

I was contacted by the NatGeo Production company and I varified that both the cheats depicted in the program are real and worked with me in the past,and are a big part of my cheating-memoirs "American Roulette."

This show should be a blast! Don't miss it!!!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

New False-Shuffle Baccarat Scams Appearing in Asian and US Casinos

Ever since the infamous Tran Organization false-shuffle baccarat scam that corrupted dealers and floor personnel across the US and Canada, beating casinos for some $30 million over a five-year period, every Tom, Dick and Harry casino-cheat and their girlfriends and families have seemingly jumped on the min-baccarat cheating wagon. Just in the last month alone we have seen major cases netting several hundreds of thousands of dollars in several casinos worldwide. These scams continue ramping-up in Asia, especially Singapore, where the crooked dealers and their cohorts seem to be false-shuffling as much as their real-shuffling!

Accounts of the same-type scams are coming in From Ohio,Texas and Louisiana as well. And if this isn´t enough the dealer-agent pastposting scams are also reeling and rocking casinos in the US, especailly at craps and roulette tables, where dealers are just simply looking the other way while their cohorts are adding chips to bets that have already one. Some of these instances are so amateurish that I can hardly believe the six-figure sums coming off the tables in individual casinos.

When will it stop?

Probably never.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Phil Ivey´s Edge-Sorting Casino Baccarat Cheating Case Getting Interesting!

Ivey and his foxy partner in crime cheng Yin Sun have hit the Atlantic City Borgata Casino with a nice little countersuit after that casino had sued the pair for recovery of almost $10 million they took of the baccarat tables by a cheating technque known as "edge-sorting."

Law360, New York (July 27, 2015, 4:20 PM ET) -- A pair of professional pokers players accused of exploiting defective playing cards to cheat Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa out of $9.6 million, told a New Jersey federal judge last week that the casino knew the cards were defective and intentionally destroyed evidence. 

Professional poker player Phil Ivey and a partner allegedly used a technique known as “edge-sorting” to gain the unfair advantage over Atlantic City’s Borgata, raking in $9.6 million. (Credit: AP)
Phillip Ivey and Cheng Yin Sun filed an answer and counterclaim against the casino July 22, seeking to have the claims against them dismissed and to be awarded damages and attorneys' fees for the defense of what they claim is a “frivolous” lawsuit. The players, who are accused of using inconsistent markings on the backs of cards to cheat at baccarat, said the casino knew the cards contained defects but chose to use them anyway.

“Plaintiff’s claims against defendants were waived knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily by the plaintiff, given plaintiff’s knowledge that each deck of playing cards contained industry tolerances with regard to the design backs of its playing cards, and plaintiff did nonetheless and with complete knowledge of those variances place those cards into play on each and every trip of defendants’ play,” the answer and counterclaim said.

Ivey and Sun also said the casino inspected the cards used during the games they allegedly won by cheating, but rather than preserve the decks for evidence, the casino intentionally destroyed the cards.

“Notwithstanding plaintiff’s absolute legal obligation and duty to maintain, preserve and present that evidence in the instant litigation, knowing that defendants could not reasonably obtain access to that very evidence from any other source, plaintiff has intentionally destroyed all such evidence for the purpose of obstructing, disrupting and eviscerating the defendants’ ability to prove the lack of any defective cards utilized by the plaintiff from April through July of 2012,” they wrote.

The pair included counterclaims against the casino for fraudulent concealment by way of intentional spoliation of evidence and negligent spoliation of evidence. The players also wrote that if anyone should be held liable for the claims made by Borgota, it should be Gemaco Inc., the company that makes the cards and is also named as a defendant in the suit.

“While defendants Ivey and Sun deny any and all liability, obligation or damage to the plaintiff, and deny any negligence in any regard to the plaintiff, they assert that their negligence, if any, was passive, vicarious and imputed, whereas the negligence of co-defendant Gemaco Inc., was active and primary.”

According to the complaint, Ivey and Sun — a professional gambler who has been banned from several casinos around the world and who accompanied Ivey during all four sessions — used a technique known as “edge-sorting” to gain the unfair advantage over the casino. Because the Gemaco cards were not cut symmetrically during the manufacturing process, Ivey and Sun were able to exploit the manufacturing defects to “mark” the cards without actually touching or defacing them.

Mini Baccarat is a game of chance in which players bet on the relative value of two hands of two cards each before the hands are dealt or the cards are revealed, according to the complaint. The game is generally played with six or eight decks of cards placed into a dealing “shoe,” and its object is to bet on the hand that will have a total value closest to nine. If a player knows the value of the first card in the shoe before it’s dealt, the player has a significant advantage over the house, the complaint said.

The casino says Ivey negotiated special arrangements to play the game during four sessions in 2012, under the pretext for some of the requests that he was superstitious. The pair used the accommodations — including using an automatic card shuffling device, having Sun as a guest at the table while Ivey played and being provided with one eight-deck shoe of purple Gemaco Borgata playing cards — to “turn” strategically important cards so that they could be distinguished from other cards in the deck, Borgata said.

Their manipulative scheme changed the overall odds of the game from about a 1.06 house advantage to about a 6.765 advantage for Ivey, Borgata said.

The suit survived a dismissal bid earlier this year.

An attorney for Ivey and Sun could not be reached for comment Monday. Gemaco and an attorney for the Borgata could also not be reached for comment.

Ivey and Sun are represented by Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. and Louis M. Barbone of Jacobs & Barbone PA.

Borgata is represented by Jeremy M. Klausner of Agostino and Associates PC.

My take: Well, Ivey and his attorneys are surely getting crafty here, but the reality is: whether the casino knew  the cards were defective or not has no bearing on the fact that Ivey´s intent was to cheat. And I hardly believe the casino actually did know the cards were defective.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

WhiteSand Gaming to Fight High-Tech Poker Cheats and Casino Cheats

I just received this email from WhiteSand Gaming on how they are promising better casino security at their properties. Have a read and see what you think.

The recent data breach into Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Las Vegas that may have lasted over seven months highlights the significant exposures that exist not only from remote access but from wireless access points within the casino hotel itself.  Casino Hotels remain a prime target for many reasons, including customer data, credit card data, corporate data, and theft by fraud (creating or hacking into accounts to receive credit, comps, and slot cash).

In our continuing efforts to protect casinos and gaming patrons, WhiteSand Gaming has launched two new wireless security offerings.  Wireless security is the process of scanning a facility for computer/cell phone/tablet/hot spot WiFi “hot spots” also known as access points.  Hackers use unprotected or poorly protected WiFi access points as a primary means of getting access to the organization’s internal networks.  Most organizations do not have a real time map of their WiFi access points and the existence/location of any unauthorized “rogue” access points.  A similar exposure was reported by United Airlines, with the suspect claiming he gained access to flight controls after hacking in to the entertainment system.

Wireless Mapping
WhiteSand Gaming will use state-of-the-art equipment and tools to produce a wireless map of the designated facility.  The map will include the exact physical location, signal strength, broadcast channel and encryption technology of all wireless access points both authorized and unauthorized.  The wireless map will also include the identification name (SSID) of the access point and the owner to the extent possible.

Wireless Monitoring
Further, WhiteSand will set up a state-of-the-art wireless surveillance system which will continuously monitor the designated area for WiFi activity and will instantly note and fully document any “rogue” access points which may appear.  The presence of an unauthorized wireless access point on a gaming floor indicates a severe vulnerability which must be shut immediately to prevent any hacker exploits against the organization.

My take: It´s always nice to hear that casinos are taking measures to protect their customers (and themselves) at the gaming tables. But rest assured that the high-tech poker and casino cheats will take countermeasures to get your money....Let the poker and casino wars continue!

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Two UK Roulette Dealers Rig Casino Wheel and Share Profits with Friend

Last Laugh?
Don't think so
Not exactly as effective and cool as the infamous French Cigarette Pack Roulette Scam of 1973, but these two roulette dealers gave it their best shot--and got away with about forty grand before they were spun off right to deal, faster than either one of them could "non-spin" the roulette ball.


According to the UK Daily Mail, a pair of crooked casino croupiers and their friend pocketed £23,000 after working out a way to fix a roulette wheel.
Craig Walker and Daniel Johnson - who worked at Coral Island casino in Blackpool, Lancashire - rigged the wheel so that ball would stay in the same slot and win their friend Kevin Traynor thousands of pounds, which they then split between them.
After their scam was uncovered by casino bosses, the three men admitted fraud and the two croupiers have now been jailed.

Preston Crown Court heard Walker, 26, and Johnson, 29, were working together on a quiet shift at the casino when they discovered it was possible to perform a 'no spin' on the wheel - fixing it so the ball stayed in the same slot. When he was given the signal of one of the croupiers scratching their heads, their friend Traynor increased his bet from £25 to £100, securing a win on the roulette wheel and later splitting the cash equally with his two accomplices. Traynor aroused suspicion because he seemed to be gambling small amounts but making big wins, winning £2,100 on one visit to the casino.


When CCTV footage was examined, Walker - a senior croupier with responsibility for overseeing games were being played fairly - was seen scratching his head prior to a ball being anticipated.
All three men were later arrested and admitted their part in the plan, before pleading guilty to fraud.
Sentencing the men, Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC said: 'On eight occasions you operated the game in such a way that your stooge, who you brought in from Manchester, could come in and play the game to win.
'You gave a signal, a no spin was arranged which prompted an increased bet and so secured a larger win than you would by playing by chance or without the knowledge of the wheel.'


Walker, of Blackpool, was jailed for 14 months, while Johnson, also of Blackpool, was jailed for 12 months. Traynor, of Greater Manchester, was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. Patrick Williamson, prosecuting, said: 'All three said their motivation was that they had been in debt.' Fraser Livesey, defending Walker, said: 'He will never again work in the trade he has learned since he was 18. No one is ever going to trust him.'
Brian Williams, for Johnson, said: 'What began as an idle discussion developed into a plan. He can hardly believe they did it.'

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Is 3-time WSOP champ Brian Hastings an online poker cheat?

Big-Time Poker Cheat?
We have been hearing mounting evidence to support this since 2007, and it's not going away. Back in 2009, Hastings was accused of online poker-cheating collusion on the Full Tilt website along with Cole South, but Full Tilt decided that none of its regulations were broken, so no one was canned from the site.

However, this finding did not take the heat away from Hastings on poker-chat forums and information sites like Two Plus Two. Then in 2010, Hastings and South teamed up again against several well-known high-stakes online poker players, where accusations continued flying against the two even when they lost. Hastings then became part of Poker After Dark, along with Phil Ivey, who by now must be suspected of cheating or dishonesty in any event concerning gambling that he engages in.

I have always thought these live-action poker TV shows were bullshit and that no money was really changing hands. I still believe they are nothing more than publicity gigs with the players deciding by themselves how all the money gets be cut-up. So given all this, I am convinced that the latest allegations, that Brian Hastings is a multi-accounting cheater in big-stakes online poker games are true, and that this guy is out to cheat the online-poker with reckless abandon. So watch out for him and his multi-accounts...they're all out to get you!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Push to Induct Phil Ivey into the casino and poker cheats Hall of Fame

We all know about Ivey's multi-million-dollar casino-cheatng exploits by way of edge-sorting at the baccarat tables, both in London's Crockfords Casino and the Atlantic city Borgata Casino. Edge-sorting is the practice of manipulating the decks of cards by a player so that their non-uniformed backs, by way of faulty manufacturing design, may be used to identify the face-values of the cards. This practice has been declared cheating by courts in both the UK and the United States, however, Ivey, who will not be paid outstanding casino-winnings by Crockfords, as ruled by a London court, is not subject to arrest or criminal charges from the incident. And he will most likely keep all his profits from Atlantic City and whatever other casinos he may have cheated.

It is estimated that Ivey has earned as much as $20 million by swindling baccarat tables worldwide, which surely puts him in an elite group as far as casino and poker cheats are concerned. But many varibles in addition to earnings are required to be considered for induction into the Casino and Poker Cheats Hall of Fame.There is of course longevity, variation of cheat moves and avoidance of being court and prosecuted. Since Ivey, who has never been accused of poker cheating during his illustrious career as a poker pro, only appeared briefly on the casino-cheating scene and is most likely retired from casino-cheating activity, it is not likely he will be inducted in the Hall of Fame anytime soon.

But I do believe he will eventually get there...the huge sum of money he pilfered from casinos is just too much to ignore! 

New Online Poker Bot-Cheating Incidents in the millions of dollars!

I've been talking about it every since the publication of my book "Dirty Poker." The poker-cheating beat goes on and on and on, just like that song by Earth Wind and Fire. I predicted this influx of online poker-cheating, and I took lots of heat from it, mainly from online poker cheats disguised as honest online poker players wanting to prevent the online poker community from getting a bad rep.

Well, ladies, gentlemen, and poker bots alike, that rep is here and it's real. If you don't want to hear it from me, just go to the online poker-bot cheating articles linked to below. If you are not convinced that the black holes of the poker Internet world are voided by online poker cheating, think again. It has always  been there and it is there to stay!

Article one

Article two

Okay, now that you have read them, do you want to know why online poker-bot scandals are so common? Because it remains one of the safest forms of online poker cheats. As far as I know, no one has ever been convicted of a crime in any jurisdiction for using poker bots to cheat at online poker.

And I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

Multiple ID-user who is WSOP bracelet winner to serve time in prison for online poker cheating!

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've heard of anyone actually doing time for online poker cheating, but that is the case for this World Series of Poker champion who is going down for having cheated scores of online players through using multiple accounts and player-positions at the online tables.

Darren Woods, a WSOP bracelet winner in 2011, has been sentenced to 15 months in jail over in the United Kingdom and ordered to repay a hefty sum of £1 million after he cheated for years at online poker.

Woods engaged in fraudulent misconduct on 888.com and several other sites by setting up an elaborate scheme to play multiple hands at once at the same online poker table, according to the Grimbsby Telegraph.

The report added that he will receive six more years in jail if he doesn’t pay back £1 million.
Some of the money he has already forfeited will go to online poker operators to help compensate victims of his cheating schemes. The 29-year-old originally denied 13 of the fraud charges, but later changed his plea to guilty for nine of the charges.

The cheating occurred between 2007 and 2012.

Woods’ father admitted to helping him launder £230,000 won from the scams. (What a nice father!)

The poker pro set up fake identities and used private online networks to help him hide the scams from the online poker firms, even cheating on 888 which once employed him as a sponsored player and trusted him with representing the brand. Altogether, he admitted to creating 50 different accounts to help gain huge edges over opponents.

The judge said to Woods: “You are an intelligent, able and even gifted young man but you turned your talents towards defrauding online gambling companies and cheating other players of online poker. In individual games, other people playing against you stood to lose money because the odds had been rigged in your favour by the creation of multiple identities which were undisclosed to other players.”
According to HighstakesDB, Woods’ cheating was uncovered by diligent members of the poker community who determined that his win-rate was too high to be legitimate. Woods came out to defend himself online, but mounting evidence reportedly lead to his conviction in the minds of the poker community well before a court of law sentenced him to prison.

Woods actually claimed he was a victim, reportedly justifying his actions by alleging that other players have cheated in the past too, without getting caught.

My take: You're right Darren, loads of other players have done exactly the same thing, but you're the one who got caught! I don't know if they allow prisoners to play online poker in the UK, but if they do, remember, Big Brother will be watching you!

Is This World Series of Poker Cheating Allegation Real?

Accused poker cheat
The Las Vegas Review Journal published this article about suspicions of cheating at the World Series of Poker. Have a read and then check out my take on it.

 World Series of Poker officials said they are investigating allegations that a player cheated his way to a fifth-place finish in one of its most prestigious tournaments. The alleged incident took place during the $10,000 Heads-Up No-limit Hold ‘em Championship that ended Thursday and were levied against Valeriu Coca of Moldova. “We are aware, monitoring very closely with all the resources at our disposal. Those include surveillance/security, forensic examination of cards, etc,” WSOP tournament director Jack Effel wrote on Twitter.

“We take integrity very seriously, as evidenced by our lifetime bans, and would enjoy nothing more than catching a cheater in our midst.” Coca defeated five opponents in the Heads-Up Championship before losing to eventual winner Keith Lehr in the quarterfinals Wednesday at the Rio Convention Center.

According to PokerNews.com, Connor Drinan believed there were several irregularities in Coca’s play during their match in the round of 32 and posted his concerns on the TwoPlusTwo online poker forum early Thursday. Drinan also spoke with other players who faced Coca in the tournament and had similar suspicions. The players then contacted Effel later Thursday and WSOP officials began their probe.

“We take these types of allegations very seriously & an investigation began immediately upon learning them. It is ongoing,” WSOP spokesperson Seth Palansky wrote on Twitter. “Preliminary testing of cards show no markings or use of any foreign solution. Further tests will be done to confirm initial.” Palansky wrote in a text message Friday morning that the cards from the tournament remain out for testing and that officials will be “thorough in conducting” their investigation.

Coca collected $54,545 for his fifth-place finish and denied any wrongdoing in an interview with PokerNews.com. “This is a fantasy,” Coca told the website through a translator. “The players who lost are very good, so they just don’t believe they could lose to me for an honest reason.”

My take: Well, the only poker-cheat vehicle I see here is card-marking and that would be very unlikely at an event as prestigious as the World Series of Poker. I know that Coca has been accused of marking cards in poker games in the Czech Republic, but to pull it off successfully would be much more difficult at the world's most important tournament. In the '90s the WSOP was rampant with poker-collusion cheating syndicates, but today with such huge numbers of players entering the tournaments, even the ages-old collusion-cheating methods would be difficult to pull of fruitfully. Thus I would have to agree with the accused poker cheat here and say it's just a bunch of losers who don't know how to lose.

However, in the WSOP ring games, where real cash changes hands with rapidity, the poker-collusion cheat teams are much more rampant.

The Big, The Small and the Ugly!

Big-time Casino Cheat
Casino cheat scams range in all types and sizes. Recently there have been two of them as far away from each other on the casino-cheat spectrum imaginable.

So let's start with the Big: A Singaporean man defrauded the Solaire Casino in the Philippines for $8 million using a series of fraudulent bank wire transfers to get the casino to surrender $8 million in gaming chips. The casino eventually recovered $3 million of the chips but it is still stuck the rest. Read the article here and then see my take on it.

My take: Well, just about every casino in the Philippines and Singapore has been the target of all kinds of major scams, both financial and on their very gaming tables. Security and surveillance is terribly weak in these two hot casino spots, so I expect the proliferation of varied casino scams and financial scams related to casinos to continue right on into the next decade, probably even into the decade after that!

Now let's go to Small: A woman got arrested at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course for swiping a $5 losing-bet from a mini-baccarat table. That's right, you heard me! A five-dollar losing-bet! And they actually arrested her! So what is this world coming to...or I should say, What is this casino-cheating world coming to? The woman claimed that she didn't intend to swipe the chip, that the dealer simply didn't take it, so she simply pulled it back from the table.

My take: Well, this might be a tiny, minute variation of my famed Savannah pinch move, but surely is not worthy of an arrest for God's sake!!!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Big-Time Card-Marker Caught in UK after cross-country casino-cheat romp!

It may be the oldest scam in the poker-cheating annals but this guy really took it to the hilt. Card-marking keeps keeping pace with all the surveillance and security apparatus designed to stop it. It's a never-ending war that has few cease-fires and very few truces, and it will never had an end or a winner or loser.

Take a look at this article and you'll see what I mean.

How accurate is television in its treatment of poker cheat and casino cheat moves?

Casino Cheat Documentary shot 
By now you've all seen at least two TV documentaries about poker cheating and casino cheating. In the past ten years there have been a flood of them on the History Channel, Bio Channel, Travel Channel, Learning Travel, and even the National Geographic Channel. They all deal with casino cheating but more from the point of view of surveillance and security people rather than the poker and casino cheats. I have heard, however, that National Geographic will air in October or November a special about scams in Las Vegas, including one about professional casino cheats, which will show how they plan their moves, operate in casinos and divvy up the profits. I believe this show will be quite interesting. It will be an episode of its very popular"Underworld Inc." series

So, overall, do TV documentaries depict casino and poker cheating well?

In fact, they do. The general verbiage about the cheat moves is pretty accurate, and those that include real film segments of real casino and poker cheats can make even people foreign to this casino-cheating underworld understand what is going on. The problem is with the shows that do not use the real cheats to film the poker cheating and casino cheating sequences.

One early example of really bad video is the "Breaking Vegas" series that debuted in 2005 on the History Channel. The very first of its thirteen episodes was called "The ultimate Cheat," the life-story of yours truly. Although its detailing of my career cheating the world's casinos was accurate, the filming of the actual cheat sequences was a horror show! This because they used actors, not my ex-casino-cheat buddies and myself, to film the cheat-scenes at the roulette, craps and blackjack tables. Of course, I'd objected to their doing so, but they informed me that due to contractual obligations with actors' unions, the actors had to film the moves without any participation from me.

However, in more recent documentaries about casino and poker cheating, the quality of the film sequences is getting better, so the viewing public can follow along and understand the logic and design of casino-cheating moves. So with this in mind, stay tuned for National Geographic's Underworld Inc. episode about casino cheating, which I think will be called "Casino hustling in Las Vegas."  

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

How can you get your name removed from Nevada's notorious Black Book?

Okay, you've had a run-in or two with the Nevada Gaming Commission and/or the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and your name is now on the Nevada Gaming Commission's List of Excluded Persons, more commonly known as the "Black Book." And now you're either repentent and want to clear your name, or your a recidivist cheat, or simply an ex-cheat who wants to get back into the business. Once you're on this list you are prohibited from entering a Nevada casino and subject to arrest if caught inside one, although it is only a misdemeanor offense.
So is there any off this list? I konw of only one. You can succeed getting your name removed at a 100% rate of success!
But there is one small "but."
Some of you may have by now guessed it: You're right...you have to be dead. So unless you're a cat with nine lives, or at least two, getting off the NGC List of excluded persons won't do you much good....unless there are gaming casinos in heaven.
And for those of you wondering, Atlantic City and other US gaming jurisdictions have similar "black books" with similar requirements for getting your name off them.
And for those wondering if I am on that list and waiting to die to get off it, the answer is no. I have never been convicted of any gaming crime whatsoever and am clean as a whistle in any casino....at least as far as the law is concerned.
Below is a Nevada Review Journal article about a man who managed to get his name off the list...the hard way!  

Article: 


Commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to strike Bulgarino from the list after regulators determined in a routine update that he died in Phoenix a little more than a year ago.
Bulgarino was placed on the list Sept. 24, 2004, after he served nearly four years in prison. Identified by the state Gaming Control Board as an associate of Philadelphia’s Bruno crime family, Bulgarino had a criminal history dating back to 1955. In 1999, he pled guilty in federal court for participating in a multimillion-dollar slot machine cheating operation as one of four co-conspirators.
Bulgarino purchased slot machine parts that were used to fraudulently manipulate slot machines. In addition, he actively recruited persons to claim fraudulent jackpots. He admitted that from September 1996 through November 1997, he aided an illegal slot machine scheme in collecting 10 separate jackpots at various Las Vegas casinos totaling $6.1 million, including cheating the Excalibur out of $200,500 in 1996.
Bulgarino also has been on the New Jersey Attorney General’s Exclusion List since May 17, 2006, after he was convicted of conspiracy, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering and aiding and abetting.
The Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified him in 1980 as associating with the “Bruno La Cosa Nostra Family.” His criminal exploits were chronicled in a book, “Jackpot: The Story of Eugene Bulgarino,” by Tarvis El Alberty.
The List of Excluded Persons, which now has 31 men and one woman, identifies people who have been convicted of crimes against the casino industry and bans them from entering a gaming establishment.
A representative of the state Attorney General’s Office distributed copies of Bulgarino’s death certificate to commissioners at the meeting.
Thursday’s action prompted Commissioner Pat Mulroy to inquire whether there would be a way to streamline the removal process when the person dies.
Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett said his office always verifies deaths of persons on the list before recommending their removal.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Smart Watch Casino Cheating

Well, we just heard about a chess grandmaster running into the toilet between moves of his championship match to consult with an app on his smart phone that was hidden inside a roll of toilet paper, and more of these "smart" cheating plots are sure to find their way into gambling casinos. I have been getting emails from people curious about this...or more than curious...and here´s one that is really intriguing:

The Apple Watch has what it calls a “taptic engine,” which alerts you to different digital notifications by silently tapping out one of several distinct patterns on your wrist. 

I would imagine that with a little programming, one could combine the ability to speak into one Apple watch, like Dick Tracy, with the taptic engine output received by another Apple watch user. All of that could be done using devices that would not inherently be for illegal purposes. The programming could itself could also serve legitimate purpose. I imagine a legitimate app that provides such a function will likely be offered soon.

I saw that you already blogged about other ways smart watches could be used in casino cheating.  I would imagine that offering those sorts of insight on applications of Apple watches to a mainstream media outlets could get some decent coverage at a time when Apple is in the midst of a big PR push for its watch. I might also indicate that you want to work with some programmers to develop such an app ... of course for legitimate purposes to allow discretely sending quiet messages. 

As an aside, I wonder, but don't know, if the taptic engine could be used in reverse, where you could input information by a pattern of flexing your wrist, or whether it is only a data output method. 

Ummm

Thursday, April 02, 2015

April Fools' Casino Cheating Questions

No longer worth it?
Here we are into April, 2015, and I am still getting loads of ridiculous questions from would-be and wanna-be casino cheats and poker cheats. Leading the pack are those inquisitive novice casino cheaters who are still determined to steal their fortunes from brick and mortar casinos by way of using computers and scanners to beat the roulette wheels.

I have been saying for some time now that the window on roulette computer-cheating has been diminishing with an accelerating rate. This means that the old scanner-devices are no longer effective and that the new devices that are effective are very costly and accessible to a select few, who, unless they are more casino-skilled that just having their equipment, will run into the old casino-cheat-nemesis law known as casino-cheats' attrition. This means that even with the best roulette-ball reading devices, the casimos will catch up to you in a matter of time, usually quite quicker than is worth the investment.

So with this in mind, you no longer need to send me your roulette computer-cheatng queries, or anything else that has been clearly answered repeatedly in my blog.


Friday, March 13, 2015

The Newest High-Tech Casino Cheat Device...You Guessed It!

Time to Cheat!
Of course you did! It is nothign other than the smart watch, the next increment after (you guessed it again!) the smart phone.

So how is it being done...or how will it be done?

Well, let´s start with what these smart watches have, realizing that all these components are neatly tucked into a smaller device than the smart phone any other communication devices and computers that have been used before to cheat casinos.

For starters, there is, of course, the camera. Next comes the accelerometer, thermometer, altimeter, barometer, compass, chronograph, calculator, cell phone, touch screen, GPS navingation system, map display, graphical display, speaker, scheduler, SD cards recognized as mass storage devices by computers, rechargeable battery, and, of course again, the watch.

Add to that the reality that the smart watch can communicate with a wireless headset, heads-up display, insulin pump, microphone, modem and other devices that lots of you (including me) probably never heard of.

So...need I say more?

Well, I guess I have to in order to complete this article.

Just thing about a game like roulette where you want to calculate the speed of the spinning ball and the rotation of the spinning wheel. Does that ring a bell? Now you can throw out that old, grimy roulette computer and get to work tracking the ball on your smart watch.

What about height? I did mention the smart watch´s altimeter, right? Can that help with the roulette ball´s jumps in and out of  the wheel´s number-pockets? You bet (but don´t ask me how!).

What about the thermometer? Well, I don´t know about that one, but maybe you can take a nervous pit-boss´s temperature.

And finally a word or two about the compass and camera. The compass can surely help you with your own logistics inside the casino, especially if you have to escape or hide, and the camera, as all you cheats and casino personnel know, will always be of great use in cheating casinos and poker rooms. Photos and videos will always be an integral part of the casino cheat´s arsenal.

One last question you might ask: Does the $10,000 solid-gold smart watch help the casino or poker cheat more than an ordinary smart watch?

No! In fact it´s a hindrance. It weighs too damn much!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Talk About STUPID with a capital S!

STUPID casino cheat 
Now there are lots of brazen casino cheats and poker cheats out there. Some of them are smart, so of them are not so smart, and some of them are downright STUPID! Read the following article about a long-time Las Vegas based blackjack and roulette-pastposting cheat and you´ll get what I mean. 
Convicted casino cheater Jubreal Chahine may have been slick enough to elude Las Vegas police, who have lodged seven arrest warrants against him for casino-related crimes in the Silver State.
But the 40-year-old Nevada resident wasn't smart enough to fool security at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem this week. Maybe he wasn't on his game.
Despite being listed on the Nevada Gaming Control Board's "Most Wanted" list, Chahine applied for a player's card using his correct name and birth date.
Sands casino officials quickly determined that he was wanted and alerted the Pennsylvania state troopers stationed at the casino. Officers approached Chahine on the casino floor Saturday afternoon and arrested him.
"Sands subscribes to various industry databases, through which they were able to see who he was," state police Sgt. Robert Caprari said. "The trooper confirmed his identity and found that he was also wanted on charges from two other Pennsylvania casinos."
Chahine was arrested without incident, Caprari said.


Las Vegas officials say that Chahine is one of the worst cheaters to stroll the strip.
Court records show he's been arrested 14 times since 1999, in gambling halls all over Las Vegas and Reno. Casino security officers have caught him slipping more chips on roulette tables after the wheel was spun, and surreptitiously upping his blackjack bet after seeing his hand.
There are seven active warrants out for Chahine, for allegedly failing to show up for trial in Nevada for casino-related offenses.
"He's a repeat offender," said Karl Bennison, chief of enforcement for the Nevada Gaming Control Board. "Guys like him, they get caught, and they just come back. He's gone to prison for this, but he keeps doing it."
Chahine was charged in Bethlehem with being a fugitive from justice and jailed in Northampton County Prison under $150,000 bail.
Bennison, who spent part of his childhood in Easton, said he was pleased to hear that Chahine was caught. Although Chahine is well known in Vegas casinos, he's been slick enough to get away with the same crimes over and over.
"Our casinos are pretty open, so it's not hard for people like this to get in," he said. "In some overseas casinos, players go through a turnstile, but we have multiple entrances. And it can get very crowded."
Dealers are trained to thwart scammers like Chahine, Bennison said, but sometimes they get distracted.
"That's why we have the eye in the sky," Bennison said, referring to the numerous security cameras in modern casinos.
Chahine is wanted on seven counts of attempting fraudulent acts in a gaming establishment, a felony. Court records say he uses numerous aliases, including Alexander Allen, Allen Gabriel, Gabriell Allen, Gabriel Alexander and Allen Allen.
If convicted in Nevada, he could face more than a year in prison for each crime, as well as fines exceeding $10,000.
While the casinos are the alleged victims in Chahine's case, Bennison said scammers often don't stop at stealing from the establishments — they target other players.
"They'll take your chips when you're not looking, or reach over and print out your winnings at a slot machine while you're distracted," he said. "Casinos do a lot to protect their guests, but you should definitely be aware of your surroundings and take precautions."