Wynn Las Vegas has filed a lawsuit against Veronica Dabul and Leonardo Fernandez, who are with Team PokerStars, for allegedly cheating the casino of $700,000 at Craps. The duo stand accused of collaborating with other players to scoot or slide dice, a system of throwing the dice in such a way that at least one of it shows a winning number. Dice sliding, however, is not easy and players hardly use this method to cheat the casino.
According to Craps experts, the objective of dice sliding is to get at least one six, which enhances the slider’s odds of collecting a large payout. Even if dice sliding does not result in two sixes, it is guaranteed to turn up a number greater than seven, enabling dice sliders to win large prizes if they bet on numbers greater than seven.
Legally, dice should be shot in such a manner that they bounce and rebound from the table’s back wall. Experts say that a dice slider distracts the dealer so that he/she fails to observe that the dice are being scooted. If the Craps dealer observes that the dice are not shot in the proper manner, he/she must announce the move invalid and ask the shooter to toss the dice once again.
Leonardo Fernandez of Buenos Aires is part of Team PokerStars Pro at present. He finished 257th and collected a large prize of $35,383 in World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2008. In January 2011, he finished second and collected $554,924 in the High Roller PCA $25k tournament.
Veronica Dabul is no longer a sponsored pro at PokerStars. She finished 235th and won $35,383 at WSOP 2008 Main Event. In 2009, she won the Shark Conservation Poker Tournament, which was held in Costa Rica. Dabul has won a total of $200k playing poker so far.
Wynn Casino has a series of video tapes showing the duo sliding dice at the Craps tables over a period of one month. The two hardly played together, and Fernandez never bet on the results of dice slid by him. According to the lawsuit, different teams of players indulged in dice sliding at different times and at different tables.
The office of the district attorney has not booked the two on criminal charges although they were arrested and Dabul was in jail for two days before being released, owing to which the lawsuit filed by Wynn Casino is of a civil nature.
My take: Wow! This is big stuff! I guess some of these online pros we heard about with contracts to represent online sites such as PokerStars aren't earning as much money from these online giants as one might think. This scam had been going on for a month and apparently included a significant group of people. We may be seeing this dynamic duo cheating brick and mortar poker tables by way of collusion...if they're not doing it online already!!!
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