More Mini-Baccarat Cheating Exposed

But this time it wasn't the usual false shuffling scam. It was removing and holding out a single card from the night before and then using that card as the key card for switching cards in and out of the game during a run of 27 hands. Here's the related news article. Wow! It just seems that mini-baccarat has become the rave of casino cheating. And I can sure understand it, as it is without a doubt the easiest casino game to cheat when you have the dealer in on the scam. Actually, mini-baccarat was the first game I ever cheated in a casino...and I was the dealer. You can check out that chapter in my book American Roulette or Great Casino Heist in Europe.

American Roulette

Great Casino Heist

Here's the article:

$750,000 Jupiters Casino sting

Melanie Pilling

27Nov07

IT took 55 minutes for a Chinese woman allegedly to help swindle more than $750,000 at the mini baccarat table in the high rollers room at Conrad Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast.

Southport District Court was told yesterday that Wei Shan Liu was one of six people who concocted and carried out a scam at Club Conrad on May 17, 2005.

It is alleged an accomplice of Ms Liu, 42, took a casino card from the mini baccarat table the night before, then later used the card to deliberately manipulate the game. The court was told the accomplice hid the extra card in his left hand and secretly traded it with a card he was dealt during 27 hands 'to increase the likelihood of losing'.

Crown prosecutor Judy Geary said Ms Liu's role in the scam was to deliberately bet the opposite to her accomplice.

Ms Geary said that Ms Liu knew about the scam and was therefore able to bet 'confidently' against her accomplice and in large amounts.

It is alleged her bets ranged from $7000 to $40,000.

"There is certainly nothing illegal about winning at a casino," said Ms Geary, "but ... in this case the money was not won but obtained dishonestly."

The court was told that Ms Liu won $400,000 of the group's $750,000 swindle and won 21 of the 27 hands where the extra card was used.

Ms Liu and her accomplices were arrested at Coolangatta Airport later that afternoon.

Ms Liu, 41, pleaded not guilty to one count of fraud to the value of $5000 or more.

In the opening address of the trial against Ms Liu yesterday Ms Geary told the court there were obvious differences in the mannerisms of Ms Liu's accomplice before and after he had the extra card in his possession.

Ms Geary said the accomplice could be seen moving his hands around the table and playing with chips before the alleged cheating.

But after he had the extra card, she said he kept his left hand face down on the table for the hour that the six players gambled.

She showed the jury surveillance footage of the card allegedly being stolen and then later used during several hands of baccarat.

"Clearly there are two different styles of play and the differences are significant," she said.

Ms Geary said the jury would hear testimony from experts that would show how and when the cards were swapped on the video tape, but there were no witnesses who saw the cards being swapped or concealed.

The trial, described by Ms Geary as a 'giant jigsaw puzzle', is expected to last three weeks.