Roulette Sniff Scam!

That's right, you won't believe this highly intelligent casino cheat scam but here is what happened during the month of August in London's chic Casino at the Empire. Two casino cheats happened upon a roulette game where they noticed that every three spins or so, the dealer sniffed as if he were trying to clear his stuffed nose just before spinning the ball. They then cleverly decided to use this dealer's habit in a roulette cheat scam. Being gifted in overall conning and scamming, they hung out in the casino bar looking to bait some heavy-packing punters (gamblers)for the fleece. They came across a wealthy Egyptian and told him that they had an inside scam working with that particular sniffing roulette dealer. They told him that the guy was able to control the roulette ball with a fair amount of accuracy and could hit a section of six numbers on the wheel about a third of the time. They told him that the dealer would sniff the signal when he was about to launch a controlled spin. Of course the dealer had no clue who the hustlers were, nor was his sniffing indicative of anything more than a cold or stuffed nose.

The cheats brought the Egyptian into the casino where he bought in for 500-pound chips at the roulette table. The deal was that the Egyptian and the cheats would split the profits fifty-fifty. Well, the cheats got real lucky and the first ten times the roulette dealer sniffed, he hit the section of six numbers nine times! The Egyptian increased his bets and by the time the dealer finished his shift, he'd won 60,000 pounds! He gave the casino cheats 30,000 and promptly left the casino.

The pair of roulette cheats worked the scam several more nights as the dealer continued to sniff intermittently. They won with a few marks and lost with a few others. The scam came apart when one of the marks, who'd happened to win, overheard the sniffing dealer tell a pit supervisor that he was having an allergic reaction to something in the casino, presumably the carpeting. The mark, in spite of having won, decided to complain to the supervisor about the hustling cheats. They were immediately tossed out of the casino and barred from entering it in the future.

Well, in any case, I think it was quite a creative little gig, and the least I can say for the two casino scam artists is that they sure knew how to think on their feet!

Tran Organization Biggest Casino Cheat Dealer Charged by Feds For Ripping Off Baccarat Game For a Cool $1 Million!

Not only are the Tran Organization baccarat cheat busts continuing to keep pace with the plea deals and sentencings in the huge international casino cheat case, they're getting bigger! As more than 30 cheating dealers, supervisors and players have already been charged, with many of their cases already adjudicated, now the scam's biggest victim, the Resorts East Chicago Casino in Indiana, is getting the satisfaction of seeing its Numero-Uno cheat dealer, Michael Waseleski, charged by federal prosecutors with several gaming crimes. Waseleski is charged with helping a clan of Tran Org. baccarat and blackjack cheats win more than $1 million by rigging games. The conspiracy charges against Michael Waseleski allege that while he was a dealer at Resorts East Chicago Casino, he was trained by the gamblers in how to perform a false shuffle of card decks. Those players won the money there in the summer of 2005.

Authorities say 31 people have pleaded guilty to charges in the rigged games, which were also carried out in Canada and six other states. The scheme involved bribes to casino supervisors and dealers during blackjack and mini baccarat and use of unshuffled cards.

When will these Tran busts stop! PLEASE!!!

Men the Master Sites Budda in His Poker cheating Denials!

We've all heard the poker cheating allegations against 6-time WSOP bracelet-winner Men "the Master" Nguyen, especially those concerning his running a Vietnamese poker cheat collusion ring. Currently playing in the World Series of Poker Europe Championships, the accused master poker cheat had this to say:

"I see a lot of things they say on the Internet," he said. "If they say that in any magazine I'll sue them for slander, but I've never seen it. They slander me on the Internet, but I talked to my lawyer and he said they can say anything they want on the Internet. If I cheated do you think I would be able to go all over the world and play poker? "They are probably jealous. I earned what I won. I came to the United States empty-handed. I got what I won, I got my name out there and people just talk about me now. Show me. Catch me. Until they can prove it they should not talk about it. It's just gossip."

Nguyen fled communist Vietnam in 1978 and settled in Los Angeles, California. He started playing poker in 1984 and won his first WSOP bracelet in 1992. A devout Buddhist, Nguyen reiterated that he would never cheat and never has. "I'm a Buddhist so I am afraid to cheat," he explained. "If I cheat on anything it will come back to me. If I do something like that God will punish me. If I cheated do you think I would be able to go all over the world and play poker? They would kick me out of every tournament."

An emotional player at the tables, Nguyen has also been accused of being abusive to dealers and floor staff. Again, Nguyen denies any wrongdoing. "The problem is that sometimes dealers make mistakes and I just try to correct them," he said. "If you play with me at the table you will see how good I am and how nice I am. I will always be nice.

"People talk and they don't think. People say 'Oh Men, you did this or that,' but they don't know. The dealer comes in and maybe they don't change the deck, so I ask why they don't change the deck, because it's a rule. I'm just correcting mistakes."

What do I think? Well, I think Men the Master cares as much about Buddha as he does about his cheat victims!

Signed to UltimateBet, Top Poker Pro Joe Sebok Should Help UB Shed Online Cheat Image

Top Poker Pro Joe Sebok has signed with giant and tainted online poker room Ultimate Bet, and he will serve as well in a consulting capacity to help the scandal-ridden online poker site prevent the cheat scams that have plagued it. Long considered to be one of the top poker professionals without a major sponsorship deal, it was announced late Monday evening that Joe Sebok will be joining UltimateBet’s roster of poker pros. Sebok will also take a prominent position inside of the Ultimate Bet organization.

Because of his abilities in the world of internet radio and podcasting, Sebok will accept a position as the site’s Media and Operations Consultant. In this capacity, Sebok will help bridge the gap between the Ultimate Bet brand and poker players. His in-depth knowledge of the online poker world will likely raise the bar and make Ultimate Bet the only place players will want to visit. Sebok had previously gained the industry’s respect for his founding of PokerRoad.com, an online media outlet that provides poker fans with fresh, innovative, and often irreverent content from an insider’s perspective. Online poker fans around the world continue to look to Sebok and PokerRoad.com, where he serves as the company’s CEO, for a unique perspective on everything related to land-based and online poker.

“We are ecstatic to bring Joe onto Team UB,” said Paul Leggett, the COO of Tokwiro Enterprises. “He will not only serve as a pro player representing the brand, but more importantly will be instrumental in helping us create a poker site for and by poker players. His commitment to the brand was invaluable, as he worked closely with me to help begin to bring closure on the details surrounding the cheating investigation from last year. I’ll continue to work with him to ensure that we always do everything possible to satisfy the poker community’s concerns and will continue to work together to make Ultimate Bet the premier poker site. I couldn’t be happier to welcome Joe to the team today.”

“UB and I first started talking about a possible relationship almost four months ago and I made it very clear that I couldn’t commit until that point in time when the names associated with the scandal began to be released,” Sebok stated during the announcement. “Paul Leggett has been instrumental in this process and I now feel comfortable and excited about joining the team as we are heading in such a positive direction. While this process isn’t entirely complete, I consider this to be one of my new responsibilities moving forward and intend to continue working very closely with Paul to ensure it happens. I am very happy to be joining Ultimate Bet today and look forward to our future.”

Tokwiro COO Leggett Says Russ Hamilton is Guilty but Doubts He'll be Prosecuted for Masterminding UltimateBet Scam

In a thorough comment on the Kahnawake Gaming Commission's 11-page report on the huge online poker cheat scam, Tokwiro boss Paul Leggett expressed enthusiasm that his company, Tokwiro, was not found liable for any of the cheating that transpired, with the bulk of the blame going to Ultimate Bet’s previous owners. “It is very important to us that everyone understands that our company had nothing to do with the cheating on UltimateBet,” Leggett wrote in his Tuesday blog entry. In an effort to clear up any confusion regarding other information released in the KGC report, Leggett dedicated the rest of his post to discussing his own thoughts on the findings.

He began by trying to put the scope of both UB’s internal investigation and the one conducted by the KGC into context. Leggett claimed most avenues the investigation explored resulted in dead ends, in part, because the KGC lacked resources of a law enforcement agency since it is simply a regulatory body.

“This limited the Tokiwro and KGC investigations because the only evidence available was data,” Leggett explained, before he moved on to address the data itself. The COO claimed he did not know definitively who the other 31 people listed in the report are, but he said he could “make a very educated guess as to which names were included.”

Many who have read the report chided the KGC for releasing only Hamilton’s name and suggested he is being made to be the scapegoat for the actions of many. Leggett agrees with the KGC’s assertion that Hamilton is the person who masterminded the operation:

“In my opinion, the KGC released his name because there was an overwhelming amount of evidence that showed he was the person using the software and accounts to cheat, that his close associates helped facilitate the changing of usernames and the movement of monies, and that he was the main beneficiary of the proceeds from the cheating,” wrote Leggett.

As for any potential legal action that may be taken towards Hamilton and others in the future, Leggett remains skeptical and blames the lack of regulation of online poker in the U.S. for the difficulty inherent against pressing charges and opening up a legal investigation. He explained, “The current legal environment in the United States, relating to online poker, makes it very complicated for the proper authorities to work with us and for us to bring a claim against individuals in the United States.” He then went on to make his own case for pushing for online gambling regulation in the coming months.

Leggett concluded his thoughts by expressing his own personal frustration and sadness dealing with the investigation over the past several months. He even acknowledged his de facto role as bad guy to several members of the online poker community, but concluded by suggesting the worst is behind Ultimate Bet and the $22 million reimbursement and $15 million settlement with UB’s previous owners are two big steps towards proving that the site is a safe and fun place for people to play poker online.