More Cheat Fallout From Harrah´s Announcement to Delay 2008 WSOP Final Table!

The poker world and poker cheating world is still abuzz about Harrah´s decision in cahoots with ESPN to delay the 2008 WSOP final table for nearly 4 months after the Final Table players are determined. Everyone is talking about the numerous cheating opportunities that will breed during that long lapse in time before the final table convenes in November, especially those concerning collusion and deal-making, which will undoubtedly spawn whipsawing, soft-play, and chip dumping among other nefarious tactics to cut-up the tens of millions in prize money before the first final table round is dealt.

Personally, I am 100% sure that all this cheating will occur. Don´t forget, a former WSOP main-event champion was once my casino cheating partner before he lucked out in the professional poker world. Of course I cannot publish his name, but I will tell you that I spoke to him yesterday, and he assures me that even the biggest poker names will be involved in WSOP collusion, about which I have written magazine articles and detailed in my book Dirty Poker.

After all, when you´re talking about so many millions of dollars in prize money at stake, it will be hard for even the most successful professional poker players to look the other way if they find themselves at the final table. So, believe me, the cheat deals will be in the making long before the first card is dealt at the 2008 WSOP final table...In fact, probably just seconds after the last player is eliminated from the tournament in July!

Slot Cheat To Be Nominated For Nevada´s Infamous Black Book!

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, a new candidate is being readied for nomination and induction into the Nevada gaming industry´s Black Book, which excludes entry into any of the state´s casinos under penalty of arrest for trespassing. It's been almost four years since Nevada gaming regulators added a name to the state's List of Excluded Persons, commonly referred to as the Black Book. Today, the Gaming Control Board will consider the newest nominee.

William Cushing, who spent time in federal prison in the 1980s for gambling-related cheating violations, will face control board scrutiny following his indictment last year for attempting to cheat slot machines at two Clark County casinos. A trial in the case has been set for November in District Court.

Gaming Control Board member Randy Sayre said Monday that Cushing's latest indictment showed regulators that steps needed to be taken to keep him out of casinos. Cushing, who lives out of state, has several other cheating-related convictions in Clark County since 1998.

"Clearly, his actions have risen to the level that we need to take steps to ensure he is not a danger to the state," Sayre said. "Even though his indictment still needs to be taken through the system, his past history clearly indicates from my perspective that we need to keep him out of the industry."

The Black Book now lists 35 people. The law was set up to prohibit people with felony convictions against the gaming industry from entering a casino. It's considered a felony if someone from the List of Excluded Persons enters a gaming establishment. Casino executives can also face felony charges if they knowingly allow a member of the Black Book to enter the property.

Sayre, who was appointed to the three-member control board in January 2007, said there are at least two or three other individuals whom he would like to add to the list. However, he doesn't believe the list should be too encumbered with names, so that it's unmanageable for the casino industry to police.

"I think there are a few others, like Mr. Cushing, who belong on this list," Sayre said.

The control board nominates people for inclusion in the Black Book to the Nevada Gaming Commission, which then decides whether the person will be added to the list. The most recent names added were Eugene Bulgarino and Dennis McAndrew in September 2004.

Some of the names in the Black Book harken back to the 1960s and 1970s, when organized crime controlled Nevada's casino industry, such as reputed mob associates Dominic Spinale, Joey Cusumano and Anthony Cino. The most well-known name on the list may be reputed mob associate Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran several casinos in Las Vegas during the 1970s. His story was depicted in the 1995 movie, "Casino," which starred Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone.

The only way someone can be removed from the Black Book is by dying.

Cushing was indicted in September for using a cheating device on slot machines in the Boulder Station and Fiesta Rancho casinos. According to the indictment, Cushing inserted a device into a slot machine's bill validator in which it would register a wager of $100 when just $1 had been inserted into the machine. The credits were then cashed out through the slot machine's ticket in-ticket out system.

In June 1985, Cushing was found guilty in the U.S. District Court in Reno of transporting stolen property and defrauding the Internal Revenue Service after cheating several Strip casinos out of thousands of dollars in fraudulent slot machine jackpots. He was sentenced to between five and seven years in prison, but it is unclear how much time he spent incarcerated.

Two of Cushing's former associates, John Vaccaro and Sandra Vaccaro, who were convicted with him in 1985, are also listed in the Black Book.

"His associations with the Vaccaros add to his eligibility," Sayre said.

They may even add to Cushing´s eligibility for my Poker and Casino Cheaters Hall of Fame, which already has two infamous slot cheats inductees!

Nat Arem Promises More Poker Cheating From Absolute Poker!

Pocket Fives administrator Nat Arem, one of the people responsible for uncovering the superuser scandal at Absolute Poker, said in a post at P5s that more details likely will be uncovered regarding cheating at AP and UltimateBet and said he wouldn’t blame people who don’t want to play at either site.

He was fairly vague in his post, but Arem is about as plugged into the situation as one can get.

Here’s some of what he said:

I reallllllly want to tell the whole story as I know it, but I can’t. In fact, telling the whole story as I know it could jeopardize the whole outcome of this situation. Once the facts are revealed, people will understand why I can’t say what’s going on right now. You’ll just have to trust me on that.

Okay, now that I’ve said what I can say, I also want to say this: If I were you, I probably wouldn’t play at UB or AP right now either. I can perfectly understand the frustration on the part of the players in a situation such as this and I think it’s perfectly reasonable to boycott the site until you’re satisfied the site is safe. In fact, if you believe that a company that allows (not necessarily intentionally so much as ignorantly) cheating to go on at some point is unable to ever clean itself up, then you should never play at either site ever again. Make no mistake about it — there was blatant cheating on both AP and UB in 2007 and if the players never spoke up, nothing would have ever gotten refunded or fixed. That’s obviously inexcusable and it’s up to AP/UB to show that it has made things right and that it will be clean going forward.

And later in the post, talking about AP’s and UB’s efforts:

Although it may be too much to ask, give them some more time to get everything in order — imo, there’s a good but unfortunate reason for why they’ve taken so long. However, for the time being, I completely understand anyone who wants to cash out from both sites and take a wait-and-see approach. It’s exactly what I would do.

Here’s his post at P5s.

Arem does say that he believes both AP and UB are trying to make right for the past, and they’re trying to make certain “superuser” cheating doesn’t happen again.

New Ultimate Bet Bad Beat Jackpot Cheat Scam!

More Online Poker Cheating In Question!
Ultimate Bet Again!

A player known as "dhc2lovr" has now hit Ultimate Bet´s Bad Beat Jackpot twice! In six weeks! This is hard to believe, and naturally an inside cheating scandal has to be suspected. Well, it´s not 100% a cheating scandal, is it?...After all, the same woman won two Illinois State Lotteries for more than $3 million each in the 1980s, so I guess anything is possible, right?...WRONG! Give me a break!

There is no way that the same player handle could legitimately win TWO Bad Beat Jackpots!....Ever!...let alone in 6 weeks. Such an occurrence just stretches probability way too far. We will soon be hearing about another GIANT online poker scam, a la the Absolute Poker Scandal of 2007. When will this all stop?

An article in 4Flush broke the story:

"The well known online poker room Ultimate Bet has found its way into the headlines on numerous occasions due to its lucrative Bad Beat Jackpot promotion. Past cases have been happy, congratulatory messages to the winner, but this time, the story comes with an interesting, if not distressing, twist.

Yesterday, May 6th, online poker player ‘dhc2lovr’ was awarded a massive Bad Beat Jackpot at Ultimate Bet, pocketing $448,920.71 for losing with an extraordinary hand at a Bad Beat poker table. Only 1-1/2 months ago, on March 25th, ‘dhc2lovr’ accomplished the same feat, claiming an Ultimate Bet Bad Beat Jackpot of $171,498.31.

Congratulations may be in order, but that is not the general mood circulating the online poker community. Instead, many are questioning the legitimacy of he same individual releasing two Bad Beat Jackpots in such little time. Perhaps the player is extremely lucky, or perhaps there are underlying problems that need to be addressed.

What turned this story into a speculative wonder is Ultimate Bet’s direct association with the online poker room Absolute Poker. If you follow online poker news at all, you probably already know that Absolute Poker underwent a dreadful scandal in the last year, overturning a string of corruption from its higher-ups. What it boiled down to was cheating, not just from members, but managers of the online poker room.

Absolute Poker strictly claims to have resolved the issue and that all operations are back to normal - normal implying integrity and stringent security measures to thwart collusion, cheating and other underhanded activities. Even so, Absolute Poker is still feeling the effects of the ordeal, with members slow to trust, and even slow to return.

Members of the online poker community do not feel that the miraculous double win of an Ultimate Bet Bad Beat Jackpot is very plausible, and once again, the trust factor is coming into play. It will not sit well with many online poker players at Ultimate Bet unless a full investigation is held.

Foxwoods Stung by Major Craps Cheat Scam!

It seems that Connecticut casinos have been getting hit hard by cheats the last few months, both from the outside and from their own dealers. After some major poker card marking scams and blackjack cheat episodes, now we have another cheat caught at the craps tables--and it´s a Foxwoods Craps Dealer! And it´s a WOMAN! I love women casino cheaters; the ones I worked with were the best!

The former craps dealer at Foxwoods is accused of cheating the casino out of more than $50,000 by paying players for pastposted bets (late bets) after the dice were rolled.

Mattie Tarlton, 42, of 57 Berkley Ave., New London, was arrested back in December for first-degree larceny and cheating at gambling. She had worked at the casino since 1998. I don´t know why the news hadn´t been released before, but I imagine it´s because there was a major ongoing investigation. Her case is still pending in New London Superior Court, where she appeared on Monday with defense Attorney Anthony Basilica.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit prepared by detective Richard Bedard of the state police Casino Unit, an unnamed craps floor person alerted a shift manager that Tarlton was cheating with players. The information was passed on to the casino's inspector general, who notified state police. The surveillance department reviewed videotape of Tarlton's table and determined she had worked with two players in December. The players placed late wagers on high-paying proposition bets (rather ballsy!) after the outcome of the dice-throw was known by the dealer, according to the affidavit.

The director of surveillance told police, "These are not random mistakes of a new inexperienced dealer, but are deliberate and intentional acts of a person who knows the outcome of the game after the dice are stopped, and then places late bets on the table which negates the random outcome or final results."

She must have been doing it while picking up losing bets, which certainly shows the girl´s got some talent! If I ever get back into cheating casinos, I will be looking to recruit little Miss Mattie!

The arrest warrant did not indicate whether Tarlton profited from the scheme, but I´m sure she wasn´t in it for love...or was she?

She is free on a $5,000 non-surety bond while her case is pending. Her attorney will be reviewing the videotape of the incident and Mattie will appear in court again on June 2.

See! I´m already on a first-name basis with her...

Harrah´s WSOP Announcement Invites Cheats!

When I read that Harrah´s is going to push the play of the 2008 WSOP final table back to November 9, 2008, a full 117 days after the last card prior to the final table is dealt at the Rio, I nearly fell off my poker cheating dinosaur! In cahoots with ESPN, Harrah´s has agreed to this new format to boost the exposure of its hotel even more than the tournament while ESPN gets to crown the new Poker World Champion during a primetime broadcast on November 11.

"It is our hope that this adjustment will add more excitement to what's already the biggest poker event ever...just like when baseball added the wild card or when NASCAR added the "Chase for the Championship" said ESPN senior producer Jamie Horowitz.

"Our goal is to create a greater sense of anticipation for the outcome of the final table," added WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "We're changing the equation, if you will. We want as many people around the world as possible to be asking 'Who will win?' and the best way to do that is to make the decision we've made. If there's more buzz and water-cooler talk, just as there would be around the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, or the Daytona 500, then we've done a great thing for the game of poker."

This is obviously a deal to increase WSOP promotion and create drama during the three-month wait, much like is done with the NFL Super Bowl during the two weeks between the end of the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl kickoff. The final-table players, the tournament and ESPN will all capitalize on this anticipated media frenzy, the players using their sudden fame for lucrative promotional deals, ESPN by adding to the drama with its one-hour special "Final Table Preview" that airs on November 4, and Harrah´s by basking in the WSOP sun for three additional months which will increase their revenues in many diverse ways.

But what about the cheating? The poker community is already abuzz with the cheat opportunities such a delay would bring with more than $20 million on the line. The potential for collusion is too good to pass up. The pre-final table deal-making between the finalists will resemble an Arab bazaar, with cheats hawking cheating.

Commenting on these issues, Pollack had this to say: "There are probably a hundred different scenarios that precede any championship event, whether in entertainment or sports and it's very difficult to anticipate every scenario beforehand. People should be confident in our ability to stage an event that is professional, world-class, and customer-friendly as we always do. If there are extraordinary circumstances, we will deal with them with the good process we apply to anything that comes across our desk."

He added that A new player code of conduct will be released later this week that will include new regulations regarding "unsportsmanlike conduct" as well as clarifications on the use of cell phones in the tournament area. Cell phones must remain silent at the table, and players must be at least one table length away from their seat in order to answer it. The player code of conduct will also address cheating and/or collusion.

GIMME A BREAK!

Okay, I know that this is all about tens of millions of dollars in added revenues that have nothing at all to do with the actual play of the final table, but this is really hard to take! I highly doubt that even the late Benny Binion would have agreed to this.

Shame on Harrah´s for allowing this to happen. It will compromise the integrity of the tournament and open the door for poker cheats who know poker cheats who know other poker cheats with a direct line to any honest players at the final table.

May Scam of the Month is Posted!

May´s scam of the month is actually not a cheating scam against the casinos but rather a scam that clever cheats pull off on other players at the craps table. It´s called "Railing" and to read the details go to the Scam of the Month Page.

Casino Cheats Prevalent in Chile!

Casino Cheats hit Casino Vina Del Mar in front of my eyes!

As my South American casino cheat tour continues, I am now getting ready to leave Valparaiso, Chile, a pretty resort area with a very VULNERABLE casino. Walking through the roulette pit last night (roulette is the most popular game here, which would have been much to my liking had I still been in business popping in monster roulette moves, I stumbled upon what appeared to be a Greek pastposting team doing their thing on a $50-maximum-inside-bet wheel. They were not classic pastposters as my team had been but rather skilled at laying down late losing bets that are supposed to get caught by the dealer while their second late bet gets by unnoticed. Nothing new about the move; it´s been overdone in both Europe and the United States, but as South American casinos are generally a bit behind, the team won about $800 in the hour and a half I watched.

Of course they had no idea who I was, though I did catch a few of their suspicious eyes! Tomorrow I will report from my next South American destination.

Casino Cheating South American Style

I am currently on a tour of Central and South America evaluating poker and casino cheating opportunites and casinos´efforts to combat them. There is no doubt that South America still remains the easiest continent on which to cheat casinos. Cheats abound there, and I came across several professional teams in Costa Rica and Panama (Central America), as well as in Peru and Argentina, which to my knowledge has absolutely no legislation concerning criminal prosecutions of casino and poker cheats. This means that if you get caught cheating casinos or cheating in poker rooms in Argentina, you will only get thrown out with no further risk. I am not 100% sure of this, but it does seem to be the case, and Argentine casinos are ripe for the pickings!

In several Peruvian casinos, notably in Lima, I noticed something for the first time since I learned how to cheat casinos. On blackjack tables, dealers were breaking down the chips of every bet before paying it, even lowly two and three red-chip bets. They refused to just simply cut into $10 and $15 winning bets, instead verifying that no bigger denomination chips were underneath.

This is a very effective measure against many forms of pastposting, including my famed blackjack pastposting moves. When I asked a pit boss about it, wanting to know if any recent cheating teams had been through Lima, he said that breaking down the bets was simply an anti-cheating policy that had been in effect for years! Maybe Las Vegas cam learn a thing or two from Lima, Peru!

In all, South America can still be considered the pampas of casino cheating.

Is Bodog Safe From Online Poker Cheats?

According to Online Gaming Paper, which reviewed online poker-cheating risks for all the major online poker rooms, Bodog Poker is the safest site to play on. Although I agree that Bodog is certainly one of the safest poker sites and has occupied the top spot on my poker safety rankings list, consistently battling cheats, I would not call it the safest, as the statistics compiled by my web people do not rank Bodog the Number 1 anti-cheating online poker room. However, I feel that the Online Gaming review of Bodog merits consideration as it presents solid information. Read it below:

"We do rarely write an online poker site review, but with the decreasing options of honest poker rooms we have to. There are quite a few online poker rooms these days and contrary to the popular belief, a lot of them still allow US poker players to join their tables. But what has become a trend in the past few months is the worst part - people are getting stung constantly by those poker sites, scandals and accusations of cheating players out of their money are an everyday occurrence when playing online poker. And the U.S. government´s desire to push the online poker sites towards the shady side of the Internet, instead of regulating and overseeing their activities, hasn't helped much either (I certainly agree with that!).

But in our opinion, there is one player on the scene which has remained a very secure and trusted online poker site - the Bodog Poker Room (official website). While other poker sites battle cheaters, bots and payment processors, Bodog Poker Room is standing strong, without any complaints from players being cheated or money disappearing. Although the casino and sportsbook section of the Bodog's array of gambling services are well known, for some reason the poker room has been in a way overlooked in the past by the people enjoying this centuries-old card game. But now, with all the bad news surrounding almost every other online poker site, Bodog Poker is becoming the natural choice for poker players throughout the world.

So what makes this online poker site the best in the industry? First and foremost - the security. In the past security was hardly a factor when evaluating an online poker site - the online poker rooms have just popped up and people were "greenhorns". Everyone wanted to play poker online and almost no one knew much about bots and fake accounts, they just assumed they were playing a though opponent. But with time passing by, people smartened up and pretty much every cheating scandal involving an online poker room has been discovered by the players at that particular poker site, rather than the management coming out on the open and admitting wrongdoings. But Bodog Poker not only guarantees security, they deliver as well. You won't find any cheating scandals with their name in it, and nowadays this means a lot. Security at a poker site should be one of your major concerns, but with Bodog this is unnecessary - focus on your game and don't worry about cheaters."

There is more to this article promoting other points about Bodog, such as sign-up bonuses, etc. Whether or not there is some motive for the touting of Bodog´s security and record against poker cheats, I can´t say, but I decided the facts back up the their statement that Bodog is a very good site against online poker cheating.