So what's with these tennis gambling scandals involving Russian tennis players? The latest one implicating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, a top-ranked player, has us wondering about many questions, one of which surely is "If he's really tanking a match, why on heaven's earth would he do so?" After all, money can't be a problem for a top-ranked international tennis star, can it?
This recalls another alleged cheating incident involving yet another Russian athlete if not a tennis player, the 2000 gold-medal winning gymnast Vera Shimanskaya who was busted in a Spanish casino in 2003 for involvement in a poker card-marking scheme. The same questions abounded after this shocking news: Why would someone with her fame, success and big-money-earning potential be involved in a scam such as this?
Well, very often if not nearly always, people participating in gambling cheating scams, whether famous or ordinary, rich or broke, are usually involved because of a degenerating gambling problem of their own. In fact, had I not been a bust-out gambler during my teen years and early adulthood, I never would have become a casino cheater, so I speak about this with lots of experience. If these athletes are problem gamblers and have lost fortunes, the natural bail-out avenue for some is to gamble on outcomes of sporting events related to their own sport and maybe their own team if their sport is not a team sport...and maybe even fixing the outcomes. We all know the stories about Art Schlichter, Paul Hornung, Alex Karras, Pete Rose and many others. But this is old news. What about once great athletes in one sport becoming cheaters in another sport? Poker is now considered a sport, isn't it? I mean we see it on ESPN and on sports pages across the nation.
For those of you who don't know, there have been several Russian ex-athletes who have become "professional" poker players during the last decade, even before poker exploded into the mainstream. The most notable of these is of course Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who was also a subject of a tennis-fixing scam back in 2003, when he lost in straight sets to Fernando Vicente, an unheralded player, who hadn't won in months before this match. At the outset, Kafelnikov was a 5 to 1 favorite, but before the match began the odds shifted dramatically, making Vicente the odds-on favorite. There was a big stink over this and Kafelnikov soon disappeared into the poker world.
A year or so later, I got the first of several e-mails accusing Kafelnikov of being part of professional poker-cheating teams. Players swore that he was involved in collusion rackets at the very least. Although I had no specific evidence to support their claims, I did have my own suspicions about ex-athletes implicated in gambling scams suddenly appearing in the poker world, especially in the years at the dawn of the poker explosion. I have also been made aware that some of these Russian pro athletes and those from other countries as well have accounts with online poker rooms and betting sites, and the natural question is whether some of them may also be involved in cheating at online poker, which would be easier if they are capable, because they could hide their identities. In any event, this possible connection is troubling to both professional sports and the poker world, and it is my opinion that this nefarious link does indeed exist.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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.
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.
Poker Bots Continue Their Forward March
Back in November 2005, in an interview with MSN, I stated that within 10 years there might not be any human beings left playing online poker. What I meant is that with the rapid development of highly efficient poker bots and their invasion of online poker sites and infiltration into their games, it would only be a matter of time before honest human players realized that it would be in their best interests to fight bots with bots. Well, according to the latest news about this, my timeline may have been off, erring to the side of too much sooner. Now I'm afraid that my observation in that interview was too farsighted! Here's an article on this out of Australia:
Warning: your next poker partner may be a bot
Asher Moses
November 13, 2007 - 12:44PM
Photo: Rob Homer
Advertisement
The lucrative world of online poker has been put on notice as researchers edge closer to developing software that can outplay even the most skillful humans.
The research poses a significant threat to the multi-billion dollar online poker industry and players, who down the track risk being fleeced by legions of robot-aided scammers.
Computer programs can already beat most humans at checkers, backgammon, scrabble, bridge and connect four. A decade ago, an IBM super computer famously beat the former World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, in a six-game duel.
But the huge amount of money changing hands in online poker games - $US60 billion in 2005, according to some estimates - gives hackers a particular incentive to cheat the system.
In an opinion column for The New York Times, Ian Ayres, an economist and lawyer at Yale, said that, in the very near future, "online poker may become a suckers' game that humans won't have a chance to win".
In July this year, two of the world's best poker players only narrowly beat a computer program at Texas Hold 'Em during the first Man-Machine Poker Championship in Vancouver, Canada.
The program, Polaris, was developed over 16 years by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta. It incorporates a number of fixed strategies but can also adapt based on moves and mistakes made by the opponent.
"We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in," one of the world champion players, Phil Laak, told The Guardian after the match.
Other poker-playing computer bots, such as Bluffbot and WinHoldem, can already be downloaded from the internet but their accuracy and effectiveness when put up against the world's best players has been questioned.
Professor Jonathan Schaeffer, who co-founded the Alberta university's poker research group, said the team was already working on programs that could take on multiple players in both limit and no-limit games.
His group had already "solved" checkers earlier this year, developing a computer program that knew the best move to make in any possible position.
"All games lead to a draw, unless one side makes a mistake," Dr Schaeffer said.
Polaris is today only strong at two-player Texas Hold 'Em games that have a limit on the amount players can bet.
"Building a program that plays on par with the top human players in this domain is something that will happen fairly soon, perhaps even next year," he said.
The goal of the poker research group, as outlined on its website, is to "produce a poker program that is stronger than all human players".
But despite the rapid progress, Dr Schaeffer stressed it could be a while before computer programs could seriously challenge the top humans in no-limit games and games with three or more people at a table.
He denied the university's research posed a significant threat to online poker sites, saying the sites would "do everything in their power" to block players from using software programs to play for them.
"All these sites have programs that look for evidence that a computer is playing instead of a human," Dr Schaeffer.
But Dr Ayres said computer bots such as Polaris were "quite-scaleable", and it would be virtually impossible to prohibit computer-assisted playing. He said bots could randomise their moves to make them harder to detect.
Australian laws prohibit companies from offering online casino-style gambling services here, but the laws have done nothing to stop swarms of Australians from betting through sites based overseas.
This year, an employee of one site, AbsolutePoker.com, was caught cheating.
According to reports, he exploited a security breach in the site that allowed him to see other players' cards and reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The site has since patched up the security hole and, like all online poker sites, is in a constant battle with hackers. The main sites have so far been reasonably successful at blocking third-party bot software, however, this will become increasingly difficult as the bots become smarter and more random.
Warning: your next poker partner may be a bot
Asher Moses
November 13, 2007 - 12:44PM
Photo: Rob Homer
Advertisement
The lucrative world of online poker has been put on notice as researchers edge closer to developing software that can outplay even the most skillful humans.
The research poses a significant threat to the multi-billion dollar online poker industry and players, who down the track risk being fleeced by legions of robot-aided scammers.
Computer programs can already beat most humans at checkers, backgammon, scrabble, bridge and connect four. A decade ago, an IBM super computer famously beat the former World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, in a six-game duel.
But the huge amount of money changing hands in online poker games - $US60 billion in 2005, according to some estimates - gives hackers a particular incentive to cheat the system.
In an opinion column for The New York Times, Ian Ayres, an economist and lawyer at Yale, said that, in the very near future, "online poker may become a suckers' game that humans won't have a chance to win".
In July this year, two of the world's best poker players only narrowly beat a computer program at Texas Hold 'Em during the first Man-Machine Poker Championship in Vancouver, Canada.
The program, Polaris, was developed over 16 years by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta. It incorporates a number of fixed strategies but can also adapt based on moves and mistakes made by the opponent.
"We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in," one of the world champion players, Phil Laak, told The Guardian after the match.
Other poker-playing computer bots, such as Bluffbot and WinHoldem, can already be downloaded from the internet but their accuracy and effectiveness when put up against the world's best players has been questioned.
Professor Jonathan Schaeffer, who co-founded the Alberta university's poker research group, said the team was already working on programs that could take on multiple players in both limit and no-limit games.
His group had already "solved" checkers earlier this year, developing a computer program that knew the best move to make in any possible position.
"All games lead to a draw, unless one side makes a mistake," Dr Schaeffer said.
Polaris is today only strong at two-player Texas Hold 'Em games that have a limit on the amount players can bet.
"Building a program that plays on par with the top human players in this domain is something that will happen fairly soon, perhaps even next year," he said.
The goal of the poker research group, as outlined on its website, is to "produce a poker program that is stronger than all human players".
But despite the rapid progress, Dr Schaeffer stressed it could be a while before computer programs could seriously challenge the top humans in no-limit games and games with three or more people at a table.
He denied the university's research posed a significant threat to online poker sites, saying the sites would "do everything in their power" to block players from using software programs to play for them.
"All these sites have programs that look for evidence that a computer is playing instead of a human," Dr Schaeffer.
But Dr Ayres said computer bots such as Polaris were "quite-scaleable", and it would be virtually impossible to prohibit computer-assisted playing. He said bots could randomise their moves to make them harder to detect.
Australian laws prohibit companies from offering online casino-style gambling services here, but the laws have done nothing to stop swarms of Australians from betting through sites based overseas.
This year, an employee of one site, AbsolutePoker.com, was caught cheating.
According to reports, he exploited a security breach in the site that allowed him to see other players' cards and reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The site has since patched up the security hole and, like all online poker sites, is in a constant battle with hackers. The main sites have so far been reasonably successful at blocking third-party bot software, however, this will become increasingly difficult as the bots become smarter and more random.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Borgata Poker Dealers and Supervisors caught running major Mafia bookmaking and Money Laundering Operations!
Once again the Atlantic City Borgata's poker room is caught up in a major gambling criminal enterprise. Last June it was a high-tech poker scam that was later found to be operating not in the casino's main poker room but rather upstairs in a private hotel room. But this time the scam was not only centered in the Borgata's main poker room but was operated by some of its poker dealers and their supervisors, who are accused of promoting illegal sports gambling and aiding in money laundering operations by concealing certain cash transactions that are supposed to be reported the IRS. In all, 23 people were arrested, including one alleged mafioso who maintained a safe deposit box loaded with cash and Borgata gaming chips at the casino's cage. Here's the news article on the arrests:
18 Nabbed in Atlantic City Gambling Bust
By WAYNE PARRY – Nov 14, 2007
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — An illegal sports gambling ring run out of a high-stakes poker room in an Atlantic City casino was busted Wednesday, and 18 people were arrested, including four with mob ties.
Since March 2006, the ring took in $22 million in bets on college and professional football and basketball in the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, said New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram.
The off-the-books exchanges of cash and casino chips were unraveled only when an informant told authorities what to look for using the casino's eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras, Milgram said.
The suspected ringleader of the operation, Andrew Micali, 32, of Ventnor, is an associate of Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, according to a New Jersey law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal complaints do not mention any reputed mob ties.
Three associates of Micali also were arrested on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and loan-sharking: Vincent Procopio, 41, of Brigantine; and Anthony Nicodemo, 36, and Michael Lancellotti, both of Philadelphia.
"They sought to escape detection by enlisting casino employees in their crimes," Milgram said. "I'm pleased to say they greatly underestimated our vigilance and determination to keep organized crime out of Atlantic City casinos."
Twenty-three people in all are charged, and authorities were seeking five on Wednesday.
Most were charged with promoting gambling or money laundering.
Authorities said the Borgata cooperated with the investigation and let investigators use casino surveillance video.
Borgata spokesman Rob Stillwell said the ring involved "rogue employees." No one was arrested on the casino floor, and the integrity of the casino's operations was never compromised, he said.
The casino employees charged included poker room supervisors, dealers and a bartender.
The state Casino Control Commission was expected to punish the casino workers, commission spokesman Daniel Heneghan said.
If the charges are proven, the case would be among the most serious mob incursions into the Atlantic City casino industry since the first casino opened in 1978.
Milgram said authorities followed the money in the case from the casino to so-called "wire rooms" in Philadelphia. The wire rooms were used to tally the bets and calculate winnings and payouts for the ring.
The ring was publicized mainly by word of mouth among illegal gamblers, who were advised whom to see in the poker room to place their bets.
Authorities said the ring engaged in "massive money laundering" facilitated by casino employees who would not record certain exchanges of cash and gambling chips. This is a common method of money laundering at casinos called "chip washing," Milgram said.
"It involves taking cash, turning it into chips, 'washing' the chips by betting and then turning them in, and taking cash out," she said.
Losing bettors were forced to take out loans from the ring at more than 50 percent interest to cover their losses, authorities said.
In their search Wednesday, authorities seized more than $40,000 worth of cash and Borgata chips from a safe deposit box Micali maintained at the casino. The state also obtained a court warrant freezing Micali's bank account with more than $200,000 in it.
Fear of organized crime led New Jersey to institute tight controls when legal gambling began, but regulations have been loosened over the years.
The anxieties were expressed in a now-famous speech by then-Gov. Brendan T. Byrne when he signed the law authorizing casinos on June 2, 1977: "I've said it before and I will repeat it again to organized crime: Keep your filthy hands off Atlantic City. Keep the hell out of our state!"
Unlike Las Vegas, Atlantic City has no legal sports book.
This is the second high-profile sports betting charge in New Jersey in the past two years. In 2006, a state trooper, NHL hockey coach Rick Tocchet and a third man were charged with running a sports gambling ring. All later pleaded guilty.
Associated Press writers Beth DeFalco in Trenton, Jeffrey Gold in Newark and Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel contributed to this report.
18 Nabbed in Atlantic City Gambling Bust
By WAYNE PARRY – Nov 14, 2007
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — An illegal sports gambling ring run out of a high-stakes poker room in an Atlantic City casino was busted Wednesday, and 18 people were arrested, including four with mob ties.
Since March 2006, the ring took in $22 million in bets on college and professional football and basketball in the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, said New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram.
The off-the-books exchanges of cash and casino chips were unraveled only when an informant told authorities what to look for using the casino's eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras, Milgram said.
The suspected ringleader of the operation, Andrew Micali, 32, of Ventnor, is an associate of Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, according to a New Jersey law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal complaints do not mention any reputed mob ties.
Three associates of Micali also were arrested on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and loan-sharking: Vincent Procopio, 41, of Brigantine; and Anthony Nicodemo, 36, and Michael Lancellotti, both of Philadelphia.
"They sought to escape detection by enlisting casino employees in their crimes," Milgram said. "I'm pleased to say they greatly underestimated our vigilance and determination to keep organized crime out of Atlantic City casinos."
Twenty-three people in all are charged, and authorities were seeking five on Wednesday.
Most were charged with promoting gambling or money laundering.
Authorities said the Borgata cooperated with the investigation and let investigators use casino surveillance video.
Borgata spokesman Rob Stillwell said the ring involved "rogue employees." No one was arrested on the casino floor, and the integrity of the casino's operations was never compromised, he said.
The casino employees charged included poker room supervisors, dealers and a bartender.
The state Casino Control Commission was expected to punish the casino workers, commission spokesman Daniel Heneghan said.
If the charges are proven, the case would be among the most serious mob incursions into the Atlantic City casino industry since the first casino opened in 1978.
Milgram said authorities followed the money in the case from the casino to so-called "wire rooms" in Philadelphia. The wire rooms were used to tally the bets and calculate winnings and payouts for the ring.
The ring was publicized mainly by word of mouth among illegal gamblers, who were advised whom to see in the poker room to place their bets.
Authorities said the ring engaged in "massive money laundering" facilitated by casino employees who would not record certain exchanges of cash and gambling chips. This is a common method of money laundering at casinos called "chip washing," Milgram said.
"It involves taking cash, turning it into chips, 'washing' the chips by betting and then turning them in, and taking cash out," she said.
Losing bettors were forced to take out loans from the ring at more than 50 percent interest to cover their losses, authorities said.
In their search Wednesday, authorities seized more than $40,000 worth of cash and Borgata chips from a safe deposit box Micali maintained at the casino. The state also obtained a court warrant freezing Micali's bank account with more than $200,000 in it.
Fear of organized crime led New Jersey to institute tight controls when legal gambling began, but regulations have been loosened over the years.
The anxieties were expressed in a now-famous speech by then-Gov. Brendan T. Byrne when he signed the law authorizing casinos on June 2, 1977: "I've said it before and I will repeat it again to organized crime: Keep your filthy hands off Atlantic City. Keep the hell out of our state!"
Unlike Las Vegas, Atlantic City has no legal sports book.
This is the second high-profile sports betting charge in New Jersey in the past two years. In 2006, a state trooper, NHL hockey coach Rick Tocchet and a third man were charged with running a sports gambling ring. All later pleaded guilty.
Associated Press writers Beth DeFalco in Trenton, Jeffrey Gold in Newark and Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel contributed to this report.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Casino/Gambling Cheating Turkey of the Year!
Now that it's Thanksgiving, the time is right for my first annual Casino/Gambling Cheating Turkey of the Year. In order to qualify, candidates must satisfy three main concerns:
1) Had to get caught (Obviously!) and prosecuted
2) His or her scam had to be either stupid or poorly conceptualized
3) The person had to have not only embarrassed himself but also others
After looking at two dozen candidates, I narrowed it down to three people. For those of you wondering if A.J. Green (or whatever his real name is) of Absolute Poker Scandal fame was considered for Casino/Gambling Cheating Turkey of the Year, he was not, simply because he made tons of money and never REALLY got caught, meaning formally charged with any crime.
The Bronze Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to RICHARD MARCUS. Yes, that's right, ME! Why? No, I didn't cheat any real or online casino or perpetrate any scam, but I did make one horrible blunder that qualified me for the awards: I cheated in a game of a Strip Poker because I really wanted to get this hot babe, and I got caught! Not only did I end up not getting the babe but I embarrassed myself and others because a great ex-cheater like me is not supposed to get caught by a bunch of amateur drunks and strippers!!!
The Silver Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to STEVE FORTE. Steve has been charged with 3 felonies related to the Borgata Poker scam last June. This is the scam where Forte and his accomplices allegedly set up high-stakes poker players in a private suite at the Borgata Hotel while the Borgata Open tournament was going on in its poker room. Hidden cameras and computer programs were used to peek at the victims' hole cards and then analyze the hands in order to come up with the playing strategy to optimize the pilfered information. But someone recognized that Forte was a celebrated ex-cheat turned casino consultant and then the cops came busting down the door of the fancy suite. Forte certainly qualified for the Golden Cheating Turkey award as he certainly embarrassed himself as well as other casino consultants in the industry, including me!
The Golden Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to Jacob Nickels. Shit, he embarrassed an entire American City! His father Greg Nickels is the mayor of Seattle, and Jacob got caught up and busted in perhaps the most pervasive casino scam in the history of the world! I'm talking about the Tran Organization's major international baccarat scam that got busted after a multi-year FBI investigation found that nearly two-dozen casinos in the US and Canada were hit. Nickels, the son, turned out to be a corrupt pit boss who helped Tran's underlings recruit crooked dealers to perform false shuffles that enabled his casino to be bilked by crooked baccarat players. Nickels copped out, pleaded guilty, and whether or not he goes to prison, he certainly wins the award for being the CASINO CHEATING TURKEY OF THE YEAR!
Don't forget that beginning December I will begin my "Casino Scam of the Month," and at the end of the year rank the top 10 casino scams of 2007, and that will not be easy!
1) Had to get caught (Obviously!) and prosecuted
2) His or her scam had to be either stupid or poorly conceptualized
3) The person had to have not only embarrassed himself but also others
After looking at two dozen candidates, I narrowed it down to three people. For those of you wondering if A.J. Green (or whatever his real name is) of Absolute Poker Scandal fame was considered for Casino/Gambling Cheating Turkey of the Year, he was not, simply because he made tons of money and never REALLY got caught, meaning formally charged with any crime.
The Bronze Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to RICHARD MARCUS. Yes, that's right, ME! Why? No, I didn't cheat any real or online casino or perpetrate any scam, but I did make one horrible blunder that qualified me for the awards: I cheated in a game of a Strip Poker because I really wanted to get this hot babe, and I got caught! Not only did I end up not getting the babe but I embarrassed myself and others because a great ex-cheater like me is not supposed to get caught by a bunch of amateur drunks and strippers!!!
The Silver Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to STEVE FORTE. Steve has been charged with 3 felonies related to the Borgata Poker scam last June. This is the scam where Forte and his accomplices allegedly set up high-stakes poker players in a private suite at the Borgata Hotel while the Borgata Open tournament was going on in its poker room. Hidden cameras and computer programs were used to peek at the victims' hole cards and then analyze the hands in order to come up with the playing strategy to optimize the pilfered information. But someone recognized that Forte was a celebrated ex-cheat turned casino consultant and then the cops came busting down the door of the fancy suite. Forte certainly qualified for the Golden Cheating Turkey award as he certainly embarrassed himself as well as other casino consultants in the industry, including me!
The Golden Gambling Cheating Turkey award goes to Jacob Nickels. Shit, he embarrassed an entire American City! His father Greg Nickels is the mayor of Seattle, and Jacob got caught up and busted in perhaps the most pervasive casino scam in the history of the world! I'm talking about the Tran Organization's major international baccarat scam that got busted after a multi-year FBI investigation found that nearly two-dozen casinos in the US and Canada were hit. Nickels, the son, turned out to be a corrupt pit boss who helped Tran's underlings recruit crooked dealers to perform false shuffles that enabled his casino to be bilked by crooked baccarat players. Nickels copped out, pleaded guilty, and whether or not he goes to prison, he certainly wins the award for being the CASINO CHEATING TURKEY OF THE YEAR!
Don't forget that beginning December I will begin my "Casino Scam of the Month," and at the end of the year rank the top 10 casino scams of 2007, and that will not be easy!
Handheld Blackjack Bet Pressing and Pinching
Are the arts of bet pressing and pinching with the camouflage of cards at blackjack still alive? Yes they are, and as there are still tons of handheld blackjack games available in the United States, the skilled cheaters using this method to beat casinos are still quite successful. In talking about bet pressing, which is adding chips to a bet after you've played your hand, I am not referring to amateurish scams using simple diversions like one guy at first base spilling his drink to distract the dealer while his partner on third base presses his bet. I'm talking about the talented cheats who can do this without the distraction and by himself. From time to time I stumble across them in the casino, and I can't very well take pictures of their actions. However, I did stumble across some videos on You Tube that are pretty good in depicting some of these moves. Go to this page and have a look
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
New Casino Cheating Website!
Welcome to my new richardmarcusbooks.com website!
Firstly, cruise around it for a while and let me know what you think. Do you like the color combinations, the pictures in the gallery? I have really expanded the site and want to make it as interactive as possible, which is why I have added several new features. First, there are going to be videos of me in action and interview, in English, and in Spanish! There's one Spanish video up now, and the rest of the videos will be up shortly. You will notice my Magazine Articles page. I have been writing for poker/gaming magazines worldwide for several months now, and I realize that not all of you have the chance to read these magazines, so I have begun posting articles I have written on this web page. I am trying to get the PDF files for these articles as they appeared in the actual magazines. The ones I don't get I will post in regular Word format, the text being exactly as it appeared in the magazines.
I have also added two new interactive web pages. The first is the "Cheating Tip of the Day," where beginning December 1st I will give a daily tip on how casino and online cheaters operate and how this knowledge can help you. Also starting in December, I will post the "Casino Scam of the Month." These scams will be either in brick and mortar casinos or online and I will give all the details pertaining to them.
If any of you have Cheating Tips that you want to tell me about, please do, and if one of them is named "Cheating Tip of the Year," the person submitting it will receive autographed copies of all my books and have his picture posted in my gallery if he or she so wishes.
The same prize is applicable for the "Cheating Scam of the Month." If someone out there turns me on to a great scam that makes it onto my web page, that person will receive the autographed books and the option to post their photo on my site as well.
So, please, send me your Tips and your Scam Reports. I don't know all of them!
NEW CASINO CHEATING CONTEST!
I am also going to develop a Casino Cheating Knowledge Contest where 4 cash prizes are given out to those who prove the most knowledgable. It will be in a multiple choice format on my blog and there will be elimination rounds leading to the final four contestants, something like the Final Four in college basketball. I think that will be lots of fun.
Lastly, if anyone has ideas about what they would like to see on my website, please e-mail me and let me know.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Firstly, cruise around it for a while and let me know what you think. Do you like the color combinations, the pictures in the gallery? I have really expanded the site and want to make it as interactive as possible, which is why I have added several new features. First, there are going to be videos of me in action and interview, in English, and in Spanish! There's one Spanish video up now, and the rest of the videos will be up shortly. You will notice my Magazine Articles page. I have been writing for poker/gaming magazines worldwide for several months now, and I realize that not all of you have the chance to read these magazines, so I have begun posting articles I have written on this web page. I am trying to get the PDF files for these articles as they appeared in the actual magazines. The ones I don't get I will post in regular Word format, the text being exactly as it appeared in the magazines.
I have also added two new interactive web pages. The first is the "Cheating Tip of the Day," where beginning December 1st I will give a daily tip on how casino and online cheaters operate and how this knowledge can help you. Also starting in December, I will post the "Casino Scam of the Month." These scams will be either in brick and mortar casinos or online and I will give all the details pertaining to them.
If any of you have Cheating Tips that you want to tell me about, please do, and if one of them is named "Cheating Tip of the Year," the person submitting it will receive autographed copies of all my books and have his picture posted in my gallery if he or she so wishes.
The same prize is applicable for the "Cheating Scam of the Month." If someone out there turns me on to a great scam that makes it onto my web page, that person will receive the autographed books and the option to post their photo on my site as well.
So, please, send me your Tips and your Scam Reports. I don't know all of them!
NEW CASINO CHEATING CONTEST!
I am also going to develop a Casino Cheating Knowledge Contest where 4 cash prizes are given out to those who prove the most knowledgable. It will be in a multiple choice format on my blog and there will be elimination rounds leading to the final four contestants, something like the Final Four in college basketball. I think that will be lots of fun.
Lastly, if anyone has ideas about what they would like to see on my website, please e-mail me and let me know.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Casino Scam Of The Month
December, 2007: Las Vegas Chip Cup Scam
This is one of the most simply ingenious scams of all-time. It has happened dozens of times across the world since its invention in the early 1970s. The most well known incident of the Chip Cup Scam occurred in the 80s in the giant Sun City Casino in what was then Bophuthatswana, South Africa. More than 30 individuals were involved, both casino employees and outside players. The method used to steal was a clever, but old-time device known as the "Las Vegas Chip Cup." It's nothing more than a hollow tube painted and designed to look like a stack of small denomination casino chips. The Chip Cup is made slightly larger than a standard 39 millimeter casino chip so that it can easily slide over a stack of standard casino chips. The casino chips then become hidden inside the hollowed cup. A real casino chip of small value is glued to the top of the aluminum cup, which is painted and speckled to look like a stack of five small denomination chips. In Sun City, the Chip Cup was painted to resemble a stack of five 10-Rand chips (South African currency). The beauty of the chip cup is that a player introduces the cup into play and also takes it out. The dealer and player work the scam together. In American casinos, the Chip Cup scam is normally done on a craps table. This is because the dealers stack chips straight up in front of them on a crap table, as opposed to laying them down horizontally in a table rack, as in a 21 game. Chips stacked straight up in front of a dealer make it easier for the chip cup to be placed over the chips, though it can be done without much difficulty in chips lying horizontally in table chip racks. In 1980s South Africa, craps was not popular in casinos, being mainly an American game. The big-money game in Sun City was "Punto-Banco", basically the same game as American Baccarat. In this game, unlike the Las Vegas Baccarat games, chips are stacked straight up in front of the dealers.
The scam works like this: The player/cheater, known as an "agent," sits next to the dealer who is standing. The agent places the hollowed empty Chip Cup on the layout as a bet. It looks like a 50-Rand bet, a stack of five 10-Rand chips. There were other legitimate bettors wagering 100-Rand chips on the game. If the bet wins, the dealer/cheater simply pays the bet as he would any legitimate bet, by stacking five 10-Rand chips next to the Chip Cup. What the cheaters really want is for the bet to lose. When the bet loses the dealer/cheater picks up the empty chip cup and in the process of picking up losing 100-Rand chips, he secretly slips the Chip Cup over four 100-Rand chips, so that there are four 100-Rand chips hidden inside the Chip Cup. If there are no 100-Rand chips in play, the dealer can momentarily place the Chip Cup on top of the stack of 100-Rand chips in his working well, and suck up four of them. By gently squeezing the Chip Cup, the hidden chips inside are held in place.
After the dealer finishes putting the losing chips collected from the table into his working well, he makes sure the Chip Cup sits on top of the stack of 10-Rand chips. Then the agent simply "buys" the loaded chip cup back from the dealer. He throws 50-Rand cash on the table. The dealer simply hands the loaded Chip Cup back to the agent as change. The cheaters have thus netted 350 Rand, the 400 Rand loaded inside the Chip Cup minus the 50-Rand cost to buy it. The real strength of the transaction with the chip cup is that the house has just won big bets from the legitimate players. The process then continues in accordance with the camouflaging action on the table.
A key element in the success of the Chip Cup scam at the Sun City casino was the involvement of bit bosses (known as "inspectors" there). They were key to the scam because they coordinated the dealers' schedules, designating which games the crooked dealers would deal on, how their breaks would be patterned and everything else needed to put the crooked dealers at the tables with the best opportunities to put the Chip Cups into play. The inspectors often sent a crew of three cheating dealers to one game, preferably games where the house was winning. This practice helped disguise the cheating activity, as the inspectors who were not involved and surveillance personnel would be watching the Punto-Banco games where the house was losing money. Crooked floormen were also in on the scam, and could easily alert the cheating crews if a boss not involved approached a table where the Chip Cup was in use.
Another key element to the scam was the involvement of a cage employee. This senior cage cashier allowed the agents to cash out considerable sums of chips without being questioned. At the time, South Africa had strict currency transaction policies. Large cash-outs should have been recorded and brought to the attention of upper management. Finally, it would be the currency transactions outside the casino that proved to be the downfall of the scam and its perpetrators. Many involved in the scam, mainly dealers and inspectors, were noticed spending large amounts of cash around town on various luxury items, which eventually drew suspicion as to where they were getting that money.
Over the course of several months, the cheating group was estimated to have taken the equivalent of $3 million dollars from the Punto-Banco tables.
This is one of the most simply ingenious scams of all-time. It has happened dozens of times across the world since its invention in the early 1970s. The most well known incident of the Chip Cup Scam occurred in the 80s in the giant Sun City Casino in what was then Bophuthatswana, South Africa. More than 30 individuals were involved, both casino employees and outside players. The method used to steal was a clever, but old-time device known as the "Las Vegas Chip Cup." It's nothing more than a hollow tube painted and designed to look like a stack of small denomination casino chips. The Chip Cup is made slightly larger than a standard 39 millimeter casino chip so that it can easily slide over a stack of standard casino chips. The casino chips then become hidden inside the hollowed cup. A real casino chip of small value is glued to the top of the aluminum cup, which is painted and speckled to look like a stack of five small denomination chips. In Sun City, the Chip Cup was painted to resemble a stack of five 10-Rand chips (South African currency). The beauty of the chip cup is that a player introduces the cup into play and also takes it out. The dealer and player work the scam together. In American casinos, the Chip Cup scam is normally done on a craps table. This is because the dealers stack chips straight up in front of them on a crap table, as opposed to laying them down horizontally in a table rack, as in a 21 game. Chips stacked straight up in front of a dealer make it easier for the chip cup to be placed over the chips, though it can be done without much difficulty in chips lying horizontally in table chip racks. In 1980s South Africa, craps was not popular in casinos, being mainly an American game. The big-money game in Sun City was "Punto-Banco", basically the same game as American Baccarat. In this game, unlike the Las Vegas Baccarat games, chips are stacked straight up in front of the dealers.
The scam works like this: The player/cheater, known as an "agent," sits next to the dealer who is standing. The agent places the hollowed empty Chip Cup on the layout as a bet. It looks like a 50-Rand bet, a stack of five 10-Rand chips. There were other legitimate bettors wagering 100-Rand chips on the game. If the bet wins, the dealer/cheater simply pays the bet as he would any legitimate bet, by stacking five 10-Rand chips next to the Chip Cup. What the cheaters really want is for the bet to lose. When the bet loses the dealer/cheater picks up the empty chip cup and in the process of picking up losing 100-Rand chips, he secretly slips the Chip Cup over four 100-Rand chips, so that there are four 100-Rand chips hidden inside the Chip Cup. If there are no 100-Rand chips in play, the dealer can momentarily place the Chip Cup on top of the stack of 100-Rand chips in his working well, and suck up four of them. By gently squeezing the Chip Cup, the hidden chips inside are held in place.
After the dealer finishes putting the losing chips collected from the table into his working well, he makes sure the Chip Cup sits on top of the stack of 10-Rand chips. Then the agent simply "buys" the loaded chip cup back from the dealer. He throws 50-Rand cash on the table. The dealer simply hands the loaded Chip Cup back to the agent as change. The cheaters have thus netted 350 Rand, the 400 Rand loaded inside the Chip Cup minus the 50-Rand cost to buy it. The real strength of the transaction with the chip cup is that the house has just won big bets from the legitimate players. The process then continues in accordance with the camouflaging action on the table.
A key element in the success of the Chip Cup scam at the Sun City casino was the involvement of bit bosses (known as "inspectors" there). They were key to the scam because they coordinated the dealers' schedules, designating which games the crooked dealers would deal on, how their breaks would be patterned and everything else needed to put the crooked dealers at the tables with the best opportunities to put the Chip Cups into play. The inspectors often sent a crew of three cheating dealers to one game, preferably games where the house was winning. This practice helped disguise the cheating activity, as the inspectors who were not involved and surveillance personnel would be watching the Punto-Banco games where the house was losing money. Crooked floormen were also in on the scam, and could easily alert the cheating crews if a boss not involved approached a table where the Chip Cup was in use.
Another key element to the scam was the involvement of a cage employee. This senior cage cashier allowed the agents to cash out considerable sums of chips without being questioned. At the time, South Africa had strict currency transaction policies. Large cash-outs should have been recorded and brought to the attention of upper management. Finally, it would be the currency transactions outside the casino that proved to be the downfall of the scam and its perpetrators. Many involved in the scam, mainly dealers and inspectors, were noticed spending large amounts of cash around town on various luxury items, which eventually drew suspicion as to where they were getting that money.
Over the course of several months, the cheating group was estimated to have taken the equivalent of $3 million dollars from the Punto-Banco tables.
Casino Cheating Tip Of The Day
December 13, 2007
"When playing poker, make sure that all the players at the table speak only the native language of whatever country the poker room happens to be in, unless, of course, everyone is in agreement to speak English (or some other common language), which is often the case in many European countries including Scandinavia."
The reason for this is that players speaking a foreign language at the table, especially a very foreign language like Farsi, Pashto or Dari, may be exchanging information crucial to the game, such as what cards they have in the hole. I am in no way accusing any native speakers of these languages of being more likely to collude than anyone else, just using the uncommon languages as an example of conversation that would rarely be understood by non-native speakers of them. The curious thing about minority players (in terms of being foreigners at the game) speaking their native tongues at the poker table is that often they fall into playing collusion without even realizing it, just having a laugh and innocently telling their comrades what "a lousy hand I have," or "finally I have a pair of bullets!" I'd even say that much more than not, that verbal form of collusion is completely innocent, but it still has a negative effect on your earnings...or losses. So if you find yourself in that situation, gently ask the floorman to inform the foreign-language speakers, "English only please!" These scenarios happen very often in the UK, and a sly professional cheating team can take advantage of it.
December 12, 2007
"While shooting craps and winning, beware of that sexy woman who's snuggling up beside you and rooting for you to roll another winner."
She's not flirting with you because she likes you. She's rubbing her body up against yours to get your attention away from your expanding rack of chips. On the other side of you is her partner, undoubtedly the guy she's sleeping with, who is nibbling away at your chips while your attention is garnered by the babe. Watch out and keep your eyes on your chips...or at least your hands over them if your eyes have to wander.
December 11, 2007
"While playing blackjack, make sure you watch your winning bet and corresponding hand until it is paid."
Dealers take winners for pushes more often than you might think. It happens on average 1.5 % of the time, and believe it or not, more with experienced dealers than those who are new to the game. Conversely, they make mistakes in your favor less frequent, so be vigilant at the blackjack tables. Doing so will save you a betting-unit every hundred hands.
December 10, 2007
"If you play online poker, make sure you have a tracking program at your side."
Programs like Poker Tracker are able to monitor hand histories on the poker sites with a great amount of detail. What they do is create databases of games that occur on the site. Then they run through them to look for statistical inconsistencies. They search for unusual deviations in deck shuffles, draws and other details picked up by their trackers. By using them you not only can analyze your own play and improve on it, you can also analyze the play of your opponents, and by doing so, pick up on various cheating scams going on in the games, especially online collusion.
December 7, 2007
"Good card-counting teams no longer use the old counter/big player method."
Ken Uston and the MIT Blackjack Team just about finished off this decades-old method of beating blackjack games. What do good teams do now? All their members sit at the table and play as ONE person. Of course they all bet, but when the count goes up they mix up their increased increments; for example, one guy betting two units, another three units, and a third only one unit. Then the next hand at the same count they switch around their bets, keeping the same total. Then if the count goes up higher, one player might actually decrease his bet while others at the table bet threefold or even more. This type of betting effectively disguises the card-counting team because if each individual is tracked by the casino, none will be exposed as a counter. This method even fools casinos' card-counting detection software!
December 6, 2007
"Try to avoid poker tournaments that have open seating."
This opens avenues of cheating, mainly collusion, softplay and chip dumping. Most brick and mortar poker rooms have the policy of assigned seating for their tournaments, but many still don't. If you happen to live near poker rooms that only offer open-seating tournaments, just be a little more aware of collusion groups in your tournaments. Watch for the telltale signs of collusion--lots of re-raising, and chips placed in different positions on hole cards by the same player or players. For more on collusion sign languages, see my book "Dirty Poker" or refer to my "Collusionspeak" article in Bluff Magazine's October edition (Bluff Europe as well).
December 5, 2007
"Unless you're counting cards at blackjack, avoid handheld games, especially at small out of the way casinos."
Although cheating by blackjack dealers in casinos is rare, it does occasionally happen. When it does, ninety-nine percent of the time it's in handheld games, where the dealer can peek at the top card and deal seconds. Usually this involves a dealer helping his partner playing on the game win, and in order to conceal this, he must help other players lose. So if you're not counting cards you have nothing to gain by playing the single and double-deck blackjack games. Just go find yourself tables using card shoes and automatic shufflers.
December 4, 2007
"If you're gonna play poker in the neighborhood, best is to play in your own backyard."
This means that there are lots of crooked players in home games, some of whom you may work with or even be friends with, so always be on the lookout. When the games are at their houses, they have more opportunities to cheat you, i.e. use marked cards, hidden mirrors or even cameras to see your cards. But when they come to your house, they can't really insist on using their cards, can they?
December 3, 2007
When playing poker online, track your hands and determine if you are losing more pots on the river to either of two or three players, regardless which one of them wins the pots. Then examine hands that you folded on the turn after a raise or reraise. If the last raisers in these pots are the same two or three players more often than normal, you may be getting chopped up in a collusion game.
December 1, 2007
"Cheat with your head, not over it!".......I'm only kidding!
Here's the real tip: "While playing cardroom poker, don't peek at your hole cards until it's time for you to act."
By adopting this practice you will cut down on opportunities for others to cheat you.
Most professionals won't look at their hole cards until it's their turn to act. There are intelligent reasons for this, and it's definitely something you should do yourself. Why? Because there's simply no upside to looking at your hole cards before it's your turn to act. You shouldn't need much time to decide whether you want to play the hand, especially if you're seasoned. But more important than this, if anyone's out to snatch up your hole card information, they will have more time to do so. With the advent of hidden micro cameras, this high-tech cheating is now a reality.
Most poker players like to believe they have faces of stone. They think they're incapable of revealing any physical tells. This is not true. Everyone has tells, even professionals, and if you watch players at the table carefully, you'll eventually spot them. The same thing applies to you. Pros, or even good amateurs, will catch on to your tells, so in effect, by allowing this to happen you are cheating yourself.
"When playing poker, make sure that all the players at the table speak only the native language of whatever country the poker room happens to be in, unless, of course, everyone is in agreement to speak English (or some other common language), which is often the case in many European countries including Scandinavia."
The reason for this is that players speaking a foreign language at the table, especially a very foreign language like Farsi, Pashto or Dari, may be exchanging information crucial to the game, such as what cards they have in the hole. I am in no way accusing any native speakers of these languages of being more likely to collude than anyone else, just using the uncommon languages as an example of conversation that would rarely be understood by non-native speakers of them. The curious thing about minority players (in terms of being foreigners at the game) speaking their native tongues at the poker table is that often they fall into playing collusion without even realizing it, just having a laugh and innocently telling their comrades what "a lousy hand I have," or "finally I have a pair of bullets!" I'd even say that much more than not, that verbal form of collusion is completely innocent, but it still has a negative effect on your earnings...or losses. So if you find yourself in that situation, gently ask the floorman to inform the foreign-language speakers, "English only please!" These scenarios happen very often in the UK, and a sly professional cheating team can take advantage of it.
December 12, 2007
"While shooting craps and winning, beware of that sexy woman who's snuggling up beside you and rooting for you to roll another winner."
She's not flirting with you because she likes you. She's rubbing her body up against yours to get your attention away from your expanding rack of chips. On the other side of you is her partner, undoubtedly the guy she's sleeping with, who is nibbling away at your chips while your attention is garnered by the babe. Watch out and keep your eyes on your chips...or at least your hands over them if your eyes have to wander.
December 11, 2007
"While playing blackjack, make sure you watch your winning bet and corresponding hand until it is paid."
Dealers take winners for pushes more often than you might think. It happens on average 1.5 % of the time, and believe it or not, more with experienced dealers than those who are new to the game. Conversely, they make mistakes in your favor less frequent, so be vigilant at the blackjack tables. Doing so will save you a betting-unit every hundred hands.
December 10, 2007
"If you play online poker, make sure you have a tracking program at your side."
Programs like Poker Tracker are able to monitor hand histories on the poker sites with a great amount of detail. What they do is create databases of games that occur on the site. Then they run through them to look for statistical inconsistencies. They search for unusual deviations in deck shuffles, draws and other details picked up by their trackers. By using them you not only can analyze your own play and improve on it, you can also analyze the play of your opponents, and by doing so, pick up on various cheating scams going on in the games, especially online collusion.
December 7, 2007
"Good card-counting teams no longer use the old counter/big player method."
Ken Uston and the MIT Blackjack Team just about finished off this decades-old method of beating blackjack games. What do good teams do now? All their members sit at the table and play as ONE person. Of course they all bet, but when the count goes up they mix up their increased increments; for example, one guy betting two units, another three units, and a third only one unit. Then the next hand at the same count they switch around their bets, keeping the same total. Then if the count goes up higher, one player might actually decrease his bet while others at the table bet threefold or even more. This type of betting effectively disguises the card-counting team because if each individual is tracked by the casino, none will be exposed as a counter. This method even fools casinos' card-counting detection software!
December 6, 2007
"Try to avoid poker tournaments that have open seating."
This opens avenues of cheating, mainly collusion, softplay and chip dumping. Most brick and mortar poker rooms have the policy of assigned seating for their tournaments, but many still don't. If you happen to live near poker rooms that only offer open-seating tournaments, just be a little more aware of collusion groups in your tournaments. Watch for the telltale signs of collusion--lots of re-raising, and chips placed in different positions on hole cards by the same player or players. For more on collusion sign languages, see my book "Dirty Poker" or refer to my "Collusionspeak" article in Bluff Magazine's October edition (Bluff Europe as well).
December 5, 2007
"Unless you're counting cards at blackjack, avoid handheld games, especially at small out of the way casinos."
Although cheating by blackjack dealers in casinos is rare, it does occasionally happen. When it does, ninety-nine percent of the time it's in handheld games, where the dealer can peek at the top card and deal seconds. Usually this involves a dealer helping his partner playing on the game win, and in order to conceal this, he must help other players lose. So if you're not counting cards you have nothing to gain by playing the single and double-deck blackjack games. Just go find yourself tables using card shoes and automatic shufflers.
December 4, 2007
"If you're gonna play poker in the neighborhood, best is to play in your own backyard."
This means that there are lots of crooked players in home games, some of whom you may work with or even be friends with, so always be on the lookout. When the games are at their houses, they have more opportunities to cheat you, i.e. use marked cards, hidden mirrors or even cameras to see your cards. But when they come to your house, they can't really insist on using their cards, can they?
December 3, 2007
When playing poker online, track your hands and determine if you are losing more pots on the river to either of two or three players, regardless which one of them wins the pots. Then examine hands that you folded on the turn after a raise or reraise. If the last raisers in these pots are the same two or three players more often than normal, you may be getting chopped up in a collusion game.
December 1, 2007
"Cheat with your head, not over it!".......I'm only kidding!
Here's the real tip: "While playing cardroom poker, don't peek at your hole cards until it's time for you to act."
By adopting this practice you will cut down on opportunities for others to cheat you.
Most professionals won't look at their hole cards until it's their turn to act. There are intelligent reasons for this, and it's definitely something you should do yourself. Why? Because there's simply no upside to looking at your hole cards before it's your turn to act. You shouldn't need much time to decide whether you want to play the hand, especially if you're seasoned. But more important than this, if anyone's out to snatch up your hole card information, they will have more time to do so. With the advent of hidden micro cameras, this high-tech cheating is now a reality.
Most poker players like to believe they have faces of stone. They think they're incapable of revealing any physical tells. This is not true. Everyone has tells, even professionals, and if you watch players at the table carefully, you'll eventually spot them. The same thing applies to you. Pros, or even good amateurs, will catch on to your tells, so in effect, by allowing this to happen you are cheating yourself.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Reckless Driving Card-Marker pulled over in Connecticut
A reckless driver marking cards in the fast lane of the Mohegan Sun Casino's poker room apparently ran one red light too many...he got caught! Was he really using Vaseline?
Here's the article:
CASINO 'SHARK' SHOCK
B'KLYN 'CROOK' IN CONN.
By LUKAS I. ALPERT
November 17, 2007 -- A Brooklyn man played a fast one at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino when workers caught him marking cards while playing Texas Hold 'Em, officials said.
Sholem Weisner, 26, of Williamsburg, had been cheating the casino for several days and was found with $55,000 in his hotel room when he was busted on Thursday night, Connecticut State Police said.
"He obviously was defacing the cards in a way that obviously would not be detected," Sgt. William Griffin told The Norwich Bulletin. "He was good at it."
Staff at the casino - which is located on an Indian reservation in eastern Connecticut - started picking up on the marked cards. They then reviewed surveillance footage and spotted Weisner playing poker at a table in the Casino of the Sky.
When they confronted the brazen gambler, they realized Weisner had been tossed out of the casino in September 2006 for cheating, Griffin said.
Normally, casino officials put known card sharps on a list barring them from ever entering again, but this time Weisner checked in using player reward and Social Security cards that belonged to a friend.
"He came here to get some money from the casino," Griffin said. "He came here specifically to make some money and got caught."
A spokeswoman for Mohegan Sun declined to comment.
Marking cards involves bending or gently creasing specific cards in a way that allows the sharp to track the location of certain high cards as they make their way around the table.
Sometimes, cheaters even use dollops of Vaseline to mark the cards.
Weisner was charged with felony charges of cheating, first-degree larceny and criminal trespass and was released on $5,000 bond.
His name was also passed on to officials at Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino as well as casinos in Atlantic City.
The alleged flim-flammer has a long history of playing fast and loose with money and with the law.
He has several liens against him for failing to pay traffic tickets in New Jersey and for several thousand dollars in credit-card debts.
He is also listed as a persistent violator by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, whose records show Weisner has committed an almost endless list of traffic infractions, from running red lights, talking on a cellphone behind the wheel, speeding, and driving without a seat belt.
And he has failed to pay tickets at least 13 times, according to the records.
Neighbors in his South Williamsburg building on Hewes Street described Weisner, an Orthodox Jew, as little more than a con man.
One woman - who declined to give her name - dismissed him as a "lowlife."
Another said, "He is just dumb. And now he has ruined his life."
Here's the article:
CASINO 'SHARK' SHOCK
B'KLYN 'CROOK' IN CONN.
By LUKAS I. ALPERT
November 17, 2007 -- A Brooklyn man played a fast one at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino when workers caught him marking cards while playing Texas Hold 'Em, officials said.
Sholem Weisner, 26, of Williamsburg, had been cheating the casino for several days and was found with $55,000 in his hotel room when he was busted on Thursday night, Connecticut State Police said.
"He obviously was defacing the cards in a way that obviously would not be detected," Sgt. William Griffin told The Norwich Bulletin. "He was good at it."
Staff at the casino - which is located on an Indian reservation in eastern Connecticut - started picking up on the marked cards. They then reviewed surveillance footage and spotted Weisner playing poker at a table in the Casino of the Sky.
When they confronted the brazen gambler, they realized Weisner had been tossed out of the casino in September 2006 for cheating, Griffin said.
Normally, casino officials put known card sharps on a list barring them from ever entering again, but this time Weisner checked in using player reward and Social Security cards that belonged to a friend.
"He came here to get some money from the casino," Griffin said. "He came here specifically to make some money and got caught."
A spokeswoman for Mohegan Sun declined to comment.
Marking cards involves bending or gently creasing specific cards in a way that allows the sharp to track the location of certain high cards as they make their way around the table.
Sometimes, cheaters even use dollops of Vaseline to mark the cards.
Weisner was charged with felony charges of cheating, first-degree larceny and criminal trespass and was released on $5,000 bond.
His name was also passed on to officials at Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino as well as casinos in Atlantic City.
The alleged flim-flammer has a long history of playing fast and loose with money and with the law.
He has several liens against him for failing to pay traffic tickets in New Jersey and for several thousand dollars in credit-card debts.
He is also listed as a persistent violator by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, whose records show Weisner has committed an almost endless list of traffic infractions, from running red lights, talking on a cellphone behind the wheel, speeding, and driving without a seat belt.
And he has failed to pay tickets at least 13 times, according to the records.
Neighbors in his South Williamsburg building on Hewes Street described Weisner, an Orthodox Jew, as little more than a con man.
One woman - who declined to give her name - dismissed him as a "lowlife."
Another said, "He is just dumb. And now he has ruined his life."
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