My new Cheating Scam of the Month for February is now posted. And you will love it! Why? Because I was the victim! That's right, Richard Marcus, the World's Greatest living Poker and Casino Cheat got swindled by someone better than he!
Read about it here.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Poker Cheats Accused!
POKER CHEATING IN THE PHILIPPINES
For more than three years now, I have been reporting about poker cheats getting everything from "away," caught, busted and worse. But here's a flip: In Quezon City, located in Metro Manila, a crooked high stakes poker game ended tragically...not for the cheaters but for the accusers. After accusing a group of men of cheating them at Texas hold'em, a man and his brother enraged the accused cheaters so badly that the accused group ended up mauling the man and his brother. The man died and his brother is in critical condition.
There is a point to this story beyond mere reporting: Sometimes it is better when you suspect being cheated to just leave the game without confronting the suspected cheaters. ESPECIALLY in a home game where there is no official security to protect you. Just harken back to the Old Wild West where many an accusing man got shot up in a poker game because he accused someone of cheating. And what makes it worse, if you are right you are in more danger!
In a legal public poker room environment, you can of course voice your suspicions to the authorities.
For more than three years now, I have been reporting about poker cheats getting everything from "away," caught, busted and worse. But here's a flip: In Quezon City, located in Metro Manila, a crooked high stakes poker game ended tragically...not for the cheaters but for the accusers. After accusing a group of men of cheating them at Texas hold'em, a man and his brother enraged the accused cheaters so badly that the accused group ended up mauling the man and his brother. The man died and his brother is in critical condition.
There is a point to this story beyond mere reporting: Sometimes it is better when you suspect being cheated to just leave the game without confronting the suspected cheaters. ESPECIALLY in a home game where there is no official security to protect you. Just harken back to the Old Wild West where many an accusing man got shot up in a poker game because he accused someone of cheating. And what makes it worse, if you are right you are in more danger!
In a legal public poker room environment, you can of course voice your suspicions to the authorities.
Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!
Poker Cheats, Poker Cheating, Gambling Cheats, Gambling Cheating. These are some of the most popular search engine phrases that have led people to my American Roulette Poker and Casino Cheating Blog for more than three years now. And I am proud to say that my blog has been elected the "Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!"
By whom?...Well, this is a little embarrassing. You see, I don't know. Yesterday I received a e-mail that was rather anonymous, meaning the sender's e-mail address gave no indication of a name, and the message was left unsigned.
The content, though: "Dear Mr. Marcus, we want you to know that for us, your American Roulette Poker and Cheating Blog is the Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!"
I sure felt good hearing that...and notice the words "we" and "us." That means that at least more than one person enjoys reading my blog! I hope you do too.
By whom?...Well, this is a little embarrassing. You see, I don't know. Yesterday I received a e-mail that was rather anonymous, meaning the sender's e-mail address gave no indication of a name, and the message was left unsigned.
The content, though: "Dear Mr. Marcus, we want you to know that for us, your American Roulette Poker and Cheating Blog is the Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!"
I sure felt good hearing that...and notice the words "we" and "us." That means that at least more than one person enjoys reading my blog! I hope you do too.
Singapore Casinos Worry about Cheating
Singapore Casinos are not even up yet, though two of them are slated for a 2009 opening. Due to the recent stories about widespread cheating and corruption in Macau's casinos, Singapore is now feeling the "Asian cheating pinch." Last April I spoke at the 2007 Asian Casinos Executive Summit. Naturally my platform was cheating, and as a new casino and gambling territory, many of Singapore's casino regulatory officials were in attendance and quite attentive to what I was saying. Some asked me privately for my opinion about how vulnerable their casinos would be to cheaters. "Well," I responded, "isn't this where thieves and criminals get flogged in public?" They looked at me funnily and one said, "Yes, if you're talking about a half dozen or so strokes of the dreaded "ratan." Which, if you don't get it, is the whip. Remember Michael Fay? He's was the young American in '94 who got a half dozen whips or slashes for vandalism and mischief. In fact, while I was in Singapore last year, I did get enthralled by my conversations with native Singaporeans about the public floggings. They told me about it so distinctly that at times even the conversations hurt! Stuff about not being able to sit on your butt for months. Dire pain when sitting on the toilet bowl, etc., etc.
But after the flogging exchange talk with the casino regulators, who told me that harsher penalties would be in store for casino cheaters and thieves (although short of the Muslim tradition of cutting off hands!), I told them candidly that whenever a major new casino territory opens, the cheaters flock together like birds of a feather. In other words, the two new giant Singaporean casinos will get hit hard. They seemed to be taken a bit aback (pardon the tongue twister) by this, and before leaving I handed each one my casino game protection consulting business card. I imagine I will be hearing from them shortly.
Here's an article about these cheating concerns:
ASIAN CASINOS NEED STRONG SURVEILLANCE AGAINST CHEATS: NEVADA OFFICIAL
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Asia's casinos need strong internal controls and surveillance to guard against organised efforts to cheat them, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Wednesday.
While Las Vegas once had a reputation for mafia infiltration, Randall Sayre told reporters that those now attempting to cheat its casinos "are not necessarily connected to traditional organised crime as one would anticipate."
He said "smaller groups that are very adept at cheating techniques" are attempting to compromise the casinos' controls, and gaming operations anywhere are vulnerable.
"It can be organised crime or it can be organised groups that conduct criminal activities," he said after addressing the Interpol Global Conference on Asian Organised Crime.
"So you've got to have strong internal controls and you've got to have strong surveillance."
Gaming receipts from the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, where casinos have burgeoned in the last few years, last year overtook revenues pulled in by the 40 gaming centres along Las Vegas' famous Strip.
Recent official figures in the former Portuguese colony said Macau had 28 casinos last year.
Among the three Nevada operators with major Macau operations is Las Vegas Sands, which is also building a multibillion-dollar casino development in Singapore.
According to a survey of industry executives polled by the South China Morning Post newspaper and reported last month, illegal under-the-table betting is depriving Macau casinos of up to 50 percent of all gambling revenues.
Sayre said his agency had close cooperation with both Macau and Singapore, which has sent its agents to Nevada to gain a better understanding of procedures there.
The first of two casinos in Singapore is to open in 2009.
Sayre said his message to the conference organised by the global police agency Interpol was that, "no matter where you're... located in the world, if you have legalised gambling you will be a target for the infiltration."
He said the problem of loan sharking outside casinos themselves was also "an issue on everybody's radar screen."
Singapore officials said they were aware of the threats posed by casinos.
"This industry has traditionally been associated with organised crime and sleaze, and there would surely be criminal elements who would try to exploit this," Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee told the gathering of law enforcers from around the world.
Singapore Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui told reporters that organised crime was not "physically present" in the city-state -- one of Asia's safest cities -- but police were ready for the worst.
"Just to assure you that we are well prepared," he said.
But after the flogging exchange talk with the casino regulators, who told me that harsher penalties would be in store for casino cheaters and thieves (although short of the Muslim tradition of cutting off hands!), I told them candidly that whenever a major new casino territory opens, the cheaters flock together like birds of a feather. In other words, the two new giant Singaporean casinos will get hit hard. They seemed to be taken a bit aback (pardon the tongue twister) by this, and before leaving I handed each one my casino game protection consulting business card. I imagine I will be hearing from them shortly.
Here's an article about these cheating concerns:
ASIAN CASINOS NEED STRONG SURVEILLANCE AGAINST CHEATS: NEVADA OFFICIAL
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Asia's casinos need strong internal controls and surveillance to guard against organised efforts to cheat them, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Wednesday.
While Las Vegas once had a reputation for mafia infiltration, Randall Sayre told reporters that those now attempting to cheat its casinos "are not necessarily connected to traditional organised crime as one would anticipate."
He said "smaller groups that are very adept at cheating techniques" are attempting to compromise the casinos' controls, and gaming operations anywhere are vulnerable.
"It can be organised crime or it can be organised groups that conduct criminal activities," he said after addressing the Interpol Global Conference on Asian Organised Crime.
"So you've got to have strong internal controls and you've got to have strong surveillance."
Gaming receipts from the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, where casinos have burgeoned in the last few years, last year overtook revenues pulled in by the 40 gaming centres along Las Vegas' famous Strip.
Recent official figures in the former Portuguese colony said Macau had 28 casinos last year.
Among the three Nevada operators with major Macau operations is Las Vegas Sands, which is also building a multibillion-dollar casino development in Singapore.
According to a survey of industry executives polled by the South China Morning Post newspaper and reported last month, illegal under-the-table betting is depriving Macau casinos of up to 50 percent of all gambling revenues.
Sayre said his agency had close cooperation with both Macau and Singapore, which has sent its agents to Nevada to gain a better understanding of procedures there.
The first of two casinos in Singapore is to open in 2009.
Sayre said his message to the conference organised by the global police agency Interpol was that, "no matter where you're... located in the world, if you have legalised gambling you will be a target for the infiltration."
He said the problem of loan sharking outside casinos themselves was also "an issue on everybody's radar screen."
Singapore officials said they were aware of the threats posed by casinos.
"This industry has traditionally been associated with organised crime and sleaze, and there would surely be criminal elements who would try to exploit this," Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee told the gathering of law enforcers from around the world.
Singapore Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui told reporters that organised crime was not "physically present" in the city-state -- one of Asia's safest cities -- but police were ready for the worst.
"Just to assure you that we are well prepared," he said.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Poker Cheating: Strip poker
Strip Poker Cheat: I got an interesting e-mail today that really made me laugh. A young lady complained that she was cheated in a game of strip poker. Before I read the next line, I was already guessing ahead to what she could mean...actual cheating with cards or some guy somehow trying to cheat her clothes off. Well, it was about the clothes alright, but not about a guy!
It was a Lesbian Strip Poker game!
She said that she was drunk and one of her fellow players...or "playerettes" took advantage and removed two articles of clothing off her body instead of the one that was dictated by the rules. Naturally, you can all guess what that second article of clothing was, and she did tell me, but then I wondered why she was writing me about this. After all, I might be a world-renowned sleight of hand artist but I only worked with cards and chips, not bras and panties...well, at least as far as cheating casinos is concerned!
Anyway, I e-mailed her back and asked her exactly that, why was she telling me that a lesbian suitor was cheating clothes off her body?
Her answer was "I just wanted a straight guy's opinion." Weird enough, huh?
But there's one thing I left out: she sent me a picture! No, it wasn't a nude photo, but I will tell you this: Damn, how I would've liked to have been in that Strip Poker game!
It was a Lesbian Strip Poker game!
She said that she was drunk and one of her fellow players...or "playerettes" took advantage and removed two articles of clothing off her body instead of the one that was dictated by the rules. Naturally, you can all guess what that second article of clothing was, and she did tell me, but then I wondered why she was writing me about this. After all, I might be a world-renowned sleight of hand artist but I only worked with cards and chips, not bras and panties...well, at least as far as cheating casinos is concerned!
Anyway, I e-mailed her back and asked her exactly that, why was she telling me that a lesbian suitor was cheating clothes off her body?
Her answer was "I just wanted a straight guy's opinion." Weird enough, huh?
But there's one thing I left out: she sent me a picture! No, it wasn't a nude photo, but I will tell you this: Damn, how I would've liked to have been in that Strip Poker game!
Poker News: Online Gambling / Identity Theft
Online Gaming Ban...If there's one state in the US serious about banning online gambling, it's Washington. I came across this article that appeared in several Washington newspapers and it gives a chill up the spine to those who are involved in the multi-billion-dollar online gambling business. Heck, they're even mixing it up with Identity Theft:
DON'T BET ON INTERNET GAMBLING IN WASHINGTON
Internet poker is one of the more popular forms of online gambling, which is illegal in Washington state. The Seattle Seahawks set a Super Bowl record in its 2006 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately for ‘Hawks’ fans, it wasn’t on the field. The game drew a record $94.5 million in Nevada sports books bets, as reported by the USA Today. Last year’s Indianapolis Colts-Chicago Bears matchup fell $1.5 million short of the Seattle-Pittsburgh action.
Gambling experts believe next Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants may top $100 million in bets for the first time in history, but Washington State gamblers need to be aware of the rules.
Online betting is against the law.
As of 2006, Internet gambling is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Other class C felonies include possession of child pornography and animal torture.
Gamblers and Web site administrators are at risk of conviction if caught engaging in illegal gambling. State officials are focusing on Web site operators and service providers in an attempt to reduce scandals and cheating, according to Washington State Gambling Commission spokesperson Susan Arland.
“If we hear of an operator, the procedure is to contact them and advise them to stop. Normally they will,” Arland said.
The commission recently shut down an illegal gambling site operated out of North Seattle called Betcha.com. The site owners filed an appeal on Dec. 5.
Gambling has three requirements in order to be considered illegal in Washington. It must involve a paid fee, or a buy-in. It must involve chance. And a prize must be the ultimate goal.
Removing any of those three factors legalizes the activity. Fantasy sports played for money are considered illegal gambling, Arland said.
Internet gambling was changed to a felony in 2006 because offenders were not deterred by a misdemeanor, said Arland. The state’s goal is to encourage voluntary compliance.
But state officials say the threat of a $10,000 fine should be the least of an online gambler’s worries.
Identity theft and scams are a large factor in the state’s attempt to crack down on Internet gambling.
“You have no idea who’s behind that computer screen,” Arland said. “There’s no recourse if you’re not paid or if you’re cheated. It’s extremely risky.”
Internet gambling is a $1.5 billion industry involving more than 15 million players worldwide, according to the National Law Journal. Many experts believe the popularity of online gambling can be partly attributed to the emergence of Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments broadcast on major TV networks.
In 1995, the Journal of Gambling Issues reported 24 Internet gambling sites, according to the state gambling commission. In 2006, the number had increased to 2,500 sites.
Sports media like ESPN have had conversations centered on the odds of the upcoming Super Bowl on Feb. 3. Commentators have discussed oddsmakers in Las Vegas who continue to close the gap between the favored Patriots and underdog Giants and what affect that will have upon the betting industry.
About 80 percent of bets to this point have been placed on the Giants, according to USA Today, but most bets are usually placed 72 hours or less before kickoff. The state’s enforcement of Internet gambling laws has come under scrutiny since the law was passed in 2006.
A Bellingham man was reprimanded by the state for writing about gambling on a Web site. He posted reviews of online casinos, links and listed casinos that were known to cheat people out of their money.
State officials called it “aiding and abetting” online gambling, according to a Seattle Times column. The paper itself drew fire for posting a poker how-to column on its Web site with a link to a poker site where people can discuss the game.
Although Washington is one of the nation’s strictest states on gambling, according to Arland, certain methods are allowed. Businesses can conduct a sports board where players bet $1 on each numbered square. The winning number is the square with the combined score of both teams in the Super Bowl. All winnings must be returned to the players, businesses cannot make any money on sports boards.
DON'T BET ON INTERNET GAMBLING IN WASHINGTON
Internet poker is one of the more popular forms of online gambling, which is illegal in Washington state. The Seattle Seahawks set a Super Bowl record in its 2006 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately for ‘Hawks’ fans, it wasn’t on the field. The game drew a record $94.5 million in Nevada sports books bets, as reported by the USA Today. Last year’s Indianapolis Colts-Chicago Bears matchup fell $1.5 million short of the Seattle-Pittsburgh action.
Gambling experts believe next Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants may top $100 million in bets for the first time in history, but Washington State gamblers need to be aware of the rules.
Online betting is against the law.
As of 2006, Internet gambling is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Other class C felonies include possession of child pornography and animal torture.
Gamblers and Web site administrators are at risk of conviction if caught engaging in illegal gambling. State officials are focusing on Web site operators and service providers in an attempt to reduce scandals and cheating, according to Washington State Gambling Commission spokesperson Susan Arland.
“If we hear of an operator, the procedure is to contact them and advise them to stop. Normally they will,” Arland said.
The commission recently shut down an illegal gambling site operated out of North Seattle called Betcha.com. The site owners filed an appeal on Dec. 5.
Gambling has three requirements in order to be considered illegal in Washington. It must involve a paid fee, or a buy-in. It must involve chance. And a prize must be the ultimate goal.
Removing any of those three factors legalizes the activity. Fantasy sports played for money are considered illegal gambling, Arland said.
Internet gambling was changed to a felony in 2006 because offenders were not deterred by a misdemeanor, said Arland. The state’s goal is to encourage voluntary compliance.
But state officials say the threat of a $10,000 fine should be the least of an online gambler’s worries.
Identity theft and scams are a large factor in the state’s attempt to crack down on Internet gambling.
“You have no idea who’s behind that computer screen,” Arland said. “There’s no recourse if you’re not paid or if you’re cheated. It’s extremely risky.”
Internet gambling is a $1.5 billion industry involving more than 15 million players worldwide, according to the National Law Journal. Many experts believe the popularity of online gambling can be partly attributed to the emergence of Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments broadcast on major TV networks.
In 1995, the Journal of Gambling Issues reported 24 Internet gambling sites, according to the state gambling commission. In 2006, the number had increased to 2,500 sites.
Sports media like ESPN have had conversations centered on the odds of the upcoming Super Bowl on Feb. 3. Commentators have discussed oddsmakers in Las Vegas who continue to close the gap between the favored Patriots and underdog Giants and what affect that will have upon the betting industry.
About 80 percent of bets to this point have been placed on the Giants, according to USA Today, but most bets are usually placed 72 hours or less before kickoff. The state’s enforcement of Internet gambling laws has come under scrutiny since the law was passed in 2006.
A Bellingham man was reprimanded by the state for writing about gambling on a Web site. He posted reviews of online casinos, links and listed casinos that were known to cheat people out of their money.
State officials called it “aiding and abetting” online gambling, according to a Seattle Times column. The paper itself drew fire for posting a poker how-to column on its Web site with a link to a poker site where people can discuss the game.
Although Washington is one of the nation’s strictest states on gambling, according to Arland, certain methods are allowed. Businesses can conduct a sports board where players bet $1 on each numbered square. The winning number is the square with the combined score of both teams in the Super Bowl. All winnings must be returned to the players, businesses cannot make any money on sports boards.
Casino Cheats: Skimming Macau Style Side-Betting
Remember the old term "skimming" for the mob stealing money from Vegas casinos and which reminds us of the movie "Vegas" with Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone? Well, in Macau with its tremendous casino boom, mobsters have taken skimming to new heights! Over there it's called "side-betting."
Here are two articles to explain exactly how they do it:
SIDE-BET SCAMS DWARF BAD OLD DAYS WHEN MAFIA RAN VEGAS
"Let me tell you a little bit about skims. There is no casino, in this country at least, that is capable of defending itself against a skim. There are no safeties. You can't prevent a skim if a guy knows what he's doing." So warned Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the former boss of the Stardust casino in Las Vegas, where officials in the 1970s and '80s exposed one of the city's largest mafia skims.
The revelation that Macau may have lost more than HK$100 billion in casino winnings and HK$40 billion in tax revenue over the past five years due to side betting is reminiscent of Las Vegas before it became an American conventioneer's paradise dominated by billion-dollar resorts. The Nevada gambling hub was for decades the target of large-scale, systematic casino skimming operations ultimately directed by the country's top mafia bosses.
From the 1946 opening of notorious gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's Flamingo casino to the '80s, when Mr Rosenthal's reign at the Stardust ended with Nevada authorities adding him to a blacklist, the mafia skimmed millions of unreported, untraced and untaxed dollars out of casinos in Las Vegas.
In the Stardust operation, documented in the book Casino by journalist Nicholas Pileggi and turned into the 1995 film of the same name with Robert De Niro playing Mr Rosenthal, the key was infiltrating the casino's supposedly secure money-counting room. Complicit staff underweighed coin winnings from slot machines and set aside bricks of paper money for mafia couriers, who simply walked it out the door.
"Even when you know what can happen, it's almost impossible to keep a casino from leaking cash," former Stardust casino manager Murray Ehrenberg, who previously worked at Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget casino, told Pileggi.
"The systems for skimming casinos are as varied as the genius of the men doing the skimming," Pileggi wrote.
While it is a different type of skimming, the Macau scam probably dwarfs anything that ever took place in Las Vegas.
Five senior executives at licensed Macau casino operators polled by the South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) estimated side-betting volumes in Macau at between 20 and 200 per cent of the officially reported market for VIP gaming.
Macau reported VIP gaming revenue of 46.88 billion patacas in the 12 months to September. Based on the lowest estimate from the Post survey, side-betting volumes in Macau were around 9 billion patacas or US$1.1 billion in the last year. At the time of the Stardust skim, which involved three other Las Vegas casinos owned by the same company, Nevada officials estimated the operation never netted more than US$20 million.
The key figures behind side betting in Macau are the players themselves and the junket operators - middlemen who bring high-rollers to casino VIP rooms, issue them credit to gamble with and collect their debts in exchange for a commission on the sales of gaming chips.
MACAU SAYS REPORTS OF SIDE-BETTING SCAMS ARE OVERRATED
A report suggesting more than US$12 billion has been bet under the table in Macau casinos during the last five years is an exaggeration, said the director of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) yesterday.
The report in the Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post said a poll of five senior executives from Macau casinos put the average total of side-betting in local venues at equivalent to 78 percent of the total VIP gaming market.
Reported VIP gaming revenue of the 12 months to September was 46.88 billion patacas.
Side betting takes place when casino junket operators, who supply VIP gamers to Macau casinos, also wager with their clients.
“I don’t believe it’s the amount the newspaper suggests, it’s almost impossible,” Manuel Joaquim das Neves, director of the DICJ told the Macau Daily Times.
“Side betting involves many risks for the player and the junket promoter, first they play on credit, if someone has bad debts you can not use any legal way to claim your money, so there is no logic to the amount in the newspaper.
“The majority of junket promoters don’t take this risk.”
Yesterday’s report suggested the practice was wide spread in Macau with the five unnamed executives putting the total of the side-betting market in Macau at between 20 and 200 percent of� total VIP revenue.
An executive of a licensed Macau casino told the Macau Daily Times he was not surprised by the report.
“I think side betting is going on in every casino and every VIP room in Macau,” he said, wishing to remain anonymous.
One of the most common forms of the under-the-table betting is when operators offer the high-rollers a multiple of what happens on the casino tables.
An often used method is to offer players the value of bets in another currency, for example US dollars.
The two parties agree that the value of the chips on the table is multiplied, for example by a factor of 7.8 if the US dollar value is used.
If a player bets HKD10,000 in chips, the real bet between the player and junket operator is HKD78,000.
Side-betting removes the casino’s take from the turnover and the 40 percent government tax from the gaming equation, leaving all of the revenue with the players and operators.
Mr Neves admitted their was no way his bureau could know the extent of the practice in Macau casinos.
“We take some measures with the Judiciary Police (JP), but nobody tells if they are taking side-betting, it’s impossible to prove it,” he said.
“If I go with you to a casino and bet with you according to the result of the table, nobody knows if you don’t tell.”
LVS
Stephen Weaver, Asian region president of Las Vegas Sands, owner of the two largest casinos in Macau, Sands Macao and Venetian Macao, said he did not believe side betting was prevalent in the company’s venues.
“We are not aware of it going on, on an ongoing basis, in our operations but I’m not sure how you would know because of the nature of how that practice would be conducted,” he said.
“I would have thought the government regulators carefully regulate the industry and if it was possible to discern the existence of side betting, the government has a bigger stake in it than we do given the rate of taxation.”
Junket operators have the opportunity to run side-betting scams because of the access they get to VIP gaming rooms in Macau.
Each room is leased by the casino license holder to a third party operator. The operator reportedly pays a deposit upwards of HKD100 million to secure a 15 table room and must provide at least the same amount in working capital. The control the operator has over the room depends on the license holder. In all rooms the dealers and pit-bosses are supplied by the casino, however in rooms provided by Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the operator also runs the room’s cage, or chip cashier. This allows the junket operator to keep track of each players chip volume and therefore multiply any side-bets.
The operators also employ marketing agents, who are generally female, to accompany players and track their level of play.
Players also receive other benefits from the junket operators, such as a discount of chips if they bet over a certain level.
All debts and payments are then taken care of once the operators and players return to the mainland.
Macau casino operators with venues in other jurisdictions in the USA and Australia are prevented from turning over control of a room’s cage due to the overseas regulations that extend to all of the company’s venues.
Prior cases
Proving alleged side betting is even more difficult than catching suspects, suggests Mr Neves. Although no charges have been laid since the handover in 1999, two previous cases were dismissed because of a lack of evidence.
Prior to 1999 Mr Neves recalls two cases where players were caught discussing a side bet at a table.
“The Judiciary Police and my bureau put two cases in the court and nothing happened because there was not enough proof,” he said.
The JP also regularly undertake sweeps of casinos where customers, including those in VIP rooms are questioned.
One such action occurred the week before the opening of the Asian Indoor Games in October.
“Sometimes the police go to a casino and check many people and certain people in the VIP rooms they ask about side betting or if anyone tells you to do side betting,” said Mr Neves.
“… until now nobody has said anything about side betting.”
Necessary evil
The practice of side-betting appears to be an accepted cost of doing business in Macau. Removing the junket operators, who provide credit to Chinese VIPs who could not otherwise take currency outside of the mainland, would collapse the market.
“Junket’s bring in positive benefits for the gaming industry in Macau because it brings in the high rollers,” said Mr Neves.
The practice is also not restricted to Macau, he believes.
“This happens in all jurisdictions. I talk with my colleagues from other jurisdictions such as Nevada, they believe they have side betting but it’s difficult or impossible if nobody tells.”
Here are two articles to explain exactly how they do it:
SIDE-BET SCAMS DWARF BAD OLD DAYS WHEN MAFIA RAN VEGAS
"Let me tell you a little bit about skims. There is no casino, in this country at least, that is capable of defending itself against a skim. There are no safeties. You can't prevent a skim if a guy knows what he's doing." So warned Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the former boss of the Stardust casino in Las Vegas, where officials in the 1970s and '80s exposed one of the city's largest mafia skims.
The revelation that Macau may have lost more than HK$100 billion in casino winnings and HK$40 billion in tax revenue over the past five years due to side betting is reminiscent of Las Vegas before it became an American conventioneer's paradise dominated by billion-dollar resorts. The Nevada gambling hub was for decades the target of large-scale, systematic casino skimming operations ultimately directed by the country's top mafia bosses.
From the 1946 opening of notorious gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's Flamingo casino to the '80s, when Mr Rosenthal's reign at the Stardust ended with Nevada authorities adding him to a blacklist, the mafia skimmed millions of unreported, untraced and untaxed dollars out of casinos in Las Vegas.
In the Stardust operation, documented in the book Casino by journalist Nicholas Pileggi and turned into the 1995 film of the same name with Robert De Niro playing Mr Rosenthal, the key was infiltrating the casino's supposedly secure money-counting room. Complicit staff underweighed coin winnings from slot machines and set aside bricks of paper money for mafia couriers, who simply walked it out the door.
"Even when you know what can happen, it's almost impossible to keep a casino from leaking cash," former Stardust casino manager Murray Ehrenberg, who previously worked at Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget casino, told Pileggi.
"The systems for skimming casinos are as varied as the genius of the men doing the skimming," Pileggi wrote.
While it is a different type of skimming, the Macau scam probably dwarfs anything that ever took place in Las Vegas.
Five senior executives at licensed Macau casino operators polled by the South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) estimated side-betting volumes in Macau at between 20 and 200 per cent of the officially reported market for VIP gaming.
Macau reported VIP gaming revenue of 46.88 billion patacas in the 12 months to September. Based on the lowest estimate from the Post survey, side-betting volumes in Macau were around 9 billion patacas or US$1.1 billion in the last year. At the time of the Stardust skim, which involved three other Las Vegas casinos owned by the same company, Nevada officials estimated the operation never netted more than US$20 million.
The key figures behind side betting in Macau are the players themselves and the junket operators - middlemen who bring high-rollers to casino VIP rooms, issue them credit to gamble with and collect their debts in exchange for a commission on the sales of gaming chips.
MACAU SAYS REPORTS OF SIDE-BETTING SCAMS ARE OVERRATED
A report suggesting more than US$12 billion has been bet under the table in Macau casinos during the last five years is an exaggeration, said the director of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) yesterday.
The report in the Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post said a poll of five senior executives from Macau casinos put the average total of side-betting in local venues at equivalent to 78 percent of the total VIP gaming market.
Reported VIP gaming revenue of the 12 months to September was 46.88 billion patacas.
Side betting takes place when casino junket operators, who supply VIP gamers to Macau casinos, also wager with their clients.
“I don’t believe it’s the amount the newspaper suggests, it’s almost impossible,” Manuel Joaquim das Neves, director of the DICJ told the Macau Daily Times.
“Side betting involves many risks for the player and the junket promoter, first they play on credit, if someone has bad debts you can not use any legal way to claim your money, so there is no logic to the amount in the newspaper.
“The majority of junket promoters don’t take this risk.”
Yesterday’s report suggested the practice was wide spread in Macau with the five unnamed executives putting the total of the side-betting market in Macau at between 20 and 200 percent of� total VIP revenue.
An executive of a licensed Macau casino told the Macau Daily Times he was not surprised by the report.
“I think side betting is going on in every casino and every VIP room in Macau,” he said, wishing to remain anonymous.
One of the most common forms of the under-the-table betting is when operators offer the high-rollers a multiple of what happens on the casino tables.
An often used method is to offer players the value of bets in another currency, for example US dollars.
The two parties agree that the value of the chips on the table is multiplied, for example by a factor of 7.8 if the US dollar value is used.
If a player bets HKD10,000 in chips, the real bet between the player and junket operator is HKD78,000.
Side-betting removes the casino’s take from the turnover and the 40 percent government tax from the gaming equation, leaving all of the revenue with the players and operators.
Mr Neves admitted their was no way his bureau could know the extent of the practice in Macau casinos.
“We take some measures with the Judiciary Police (JP), but nobody tells if they are taking side-betting, it’s impossible to prove it,” he said.
“If I go with you to a casino and bet with you according to the result of the table, nobody knows if you don’t tell.”
LVS
Stephen Weaver, Asian region president of Las Vegas Sands, owner of the two largest casinos in Macau, Sands Macao and Venetian Macao, said he did not believe side betting was prevalent in the company’s venues.
“We are not aware of it going on, on an ongoing basis, in our operations but I’m not sure how you would know because of the nature of how that practice would be conducted,” he said.
“I would have thought the government regulators carefully regulate the industry and if it was possible to discern the existence of side betting, the government has a bigger stake in it than we do given the rate of taxation.”
Junket operators have the opportunity to run side-betting scams because of the access they get to VIP gaming rooms in Macau.
Each room is leased by the casino license holder to a third party operator. The operator reportedly pays a deposit upwards of HKD100 million to secure a 15 table room and must provide at least the same amount in working capital. The control the operator has over the room depends on the license holder. In all rooms the dealers and pit-bosses are supplied by the casino, however in rooms provided by Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the operator also runs the room’s cage, or chip cashier. This allows the junket operator to keep track of each players chip volume and therefore multiply any side-bets.
The operators also employ marketing agents, who are generally female, to accompany players and track their level of play.
Players also receive other benefits from the junket operators, such as a discount of chips if they bet over a certain level.
All debts and payments are then taken care of once the operators and players return to the mainland.
Macau casino operators with venues in other jurisdictions in the USA and Australia are prevented from turning over control of a room’s cage due to the overseas regulations that extend to all of the company’s venues.
Prior cases
Proving alleged side betting is even more difficult than catching suspects, suggests Mr Neves. Although no charges have been laid since the handover in 1999, two previous cases were dismissed because of a lack of evidence.
Prior to 1999 Mr Neves recalls two cases where players were caught discussing a side bet at a table.
“The Judiciary Police and my bureau put two cases in the court and nothing happened because there was not enough proof,” he said.
The JP also regularly undertake sweeps of casinos where customers, including those in VIP rooms are questioned.
One such action occurred the week before the opening of the Asian Indoor Games in October.
“Sometimes the police go to a casino and check many people and certain people in the VIP rooms they ask about side betting or if anyone tells you to do side betting,” said Mr Neves.
“… until now nobody has said anything about side betting.”
Necessary evil
The practice of side-betting appears to be an accepted cost of doing business in Macau. Removing the junket operators, who provide credit to Chinese VIPs who could not otherwise take currency outside of the mainland, would collapse the market.
“Junket’s bring in positive benefits for the gaming industry in Macau because it brings in the high rollers,” said Mr Neves.
The practice is also not restricted to Macau, he believes.
“This happens in all jurisdictions. I talk with my colleagues from other jurisdictions such as Nevada, they believe they have side betting but it’s difficult or impossible if nobody tells.”
Casino Cheats: Macau
"Macau casinos are the world's most secure": Macau Gaming Inspection chief
Well, I beg to differ. I have been to Macau twice since the casino development boom and I can tell you that, first off, Macau has a long way to go before they even get close to making that claim a reality. There have already been several major multi-million-dollar baccarat scams there (baccarat is the game of choice in Asia), and that in spite of their multi-million-dollar surveillance systems. The problem is that these casinos are truly gigantic, in every sense of the word. They dwarf Vegas casinos. And they do not have the best surveillance personnel over there. As I have always said, what makes the tightest and most efficient security and surveillance operations is the human element, not just state of the art equipment. If people don't know what they're watching on video or don't know how to react, the equipment becomes worthless. My ex-partners Pat and Balls have worked over Macau pretty good in the past year and they delighted in telling me that it was easy pickings.
The following article appeared in some Asian newspapers:
"Macau casinos have the tightest and most modern security of all the world's gaming venues," said the chief of the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) yesterday.
Arriving back from a 10 day trip to London, which included informal discussions with European gaming regulators, Manuel Joaquim das Neves said the security in Macau is the best he has ever seen.
The statement comes after a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said last week that Asian casinos are vulnerable to small groups that are “very adept at cheating techniques”.
On the sidelines of an Interpol Global Conference on Asian Organised Crime, held in Singapore, Randall Sayre said Asian casinos need strong internal controls to guard against organised efforts to cheat them.
He said those attempting to cheat casinos “are not necessarily connected to traditional organised crime as one would anticipate.”
“It can be organised crime or it can be organised groups that conduct criminal activities,” he continued.
The Nevada board member's statement can not be applied to Macau, said Mr Neves.
The DICJ is responsible for ensuring casinos in Macau have adequate surveillance measures and comply with the SAR's financial regulations.
It is the level of technology Mr Neves has seen in the local casinos that gives him the confidence that Macau operators have the most advanced surveillance equipment in the world.
Once a casino is built, the DICJ inspects the surveillance equipment before the venue opens.
“We have new casinos and the systems are more modern than in other places,” said Mr Neves.
“Our security systems that we have in Macau casinos are the best in the world.”
The equipment in Macau is “without a doubt” better than “older” systems in Las Vegas, said Mr Neves.
Digital imaging technology is used to follow the activity at each of a casino's tables. Players and dealers are not only tracked live, the images are also used to resolve disputes and prove crimes.
The DICJ receives on average 20 reports a day from casinos about suspicious activities and alleged illegal behaviour.
“Fortunately they are (mostly) small things, such as stealing chips from the table and disputes over chip ownership,” said Mr Neves.
The casino's high resolution images are then called on to show what really happened and pinpoint an alleged crime.
“The video is used to clear up a lot of cases,” said Mr Neves.
“The zoom is very powerful, you can even see someone's fingernail”.
No trouble at MGM
The vice president of casino operations at the SAR's newest casino, MGM Grand Macau was also left scratching his head over the Nevada board member's comments.
“We don't have any problems with them (small groups of organised criminals),” said Gabe Hunterton.
“Our surveillance team is extremely talented and doing a very good job.”
The number of reported incidents in Macau has risen with the number of casinos, but as a percentage of overall play the cases are falling, said Mr Neves.
Casinos are yet to adopt face recognition software to pick-out previous trouble makers, said Mr Neves as “the probability of failure is very high, it is not workable”.
The DICJ has a team of 200 inspectors that work around the clock to keep tabs on Macau's 28 casinos.
The commission is particularly interested in the movements of money.
“We concentrate on money counting and (chip) refills (of tables) which can have a big effect on a casinos profitability,” said Mr Neves,
On average each of the 4,375 gaming tables in Macau refill with chips between four and five times a day.
VIP crime
Instances of reported problems in VIP rooms are “very little because the number of players is so few,” said Mr Neves.
Casino staff are able to keep track of chip movements in the small and high stake gaming rooms. However it is what happens under the table that is still a problem, admits Mr Neves.
Last year the the South China Morning Post reported that an anonymous survey of gaming executives in Macau concluded casinos had lost USD2.5 billion a year to a practice known as side-betting. The scam involves gamers and gaming promoters agreeing to multiply the value of chips on the table, thus cutting out the casino and government from their shares of any win.
“Side betting is a problem that the police are following but this is not easy to detect,” said Mr Neves, adding that he believed the reported size of the scam to be exaggerated.
Civil servants off the leash
The board will be stepping up its efforts during next week's Lunar New Year celebrations. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected, Macau civil servants, usually banned from walking onto a gaming floor, are allowed to gamble from February 7 to 9, said Mr Neves.
“17,000 more potential gamers, that is a lot of people,” he said.
Well, I beg to differ. I have been to Macau twice since the casino development boom and I can tell you that, first off, Macau has a long way to go before they even get close to making that claim a reality. There have already been several major multi-million-dollar baccarat scams there (baccarat is the game of choice in Asia), and that in spite of their multi-million-dollar surveillance systems. The problem is that these casinos are truly gigantic, in every sense of the word. They dwarf Vegas casinos. And they do not have the best surveillance personnel over there. As I have always said, what makes the tightest and most efficient security and surveillance operations is the human element, not just state of the art equipment. If people don't know what they're watching on video or don't know how to react, the equipment becomes worthless. My ex-partners Pat and Balls have worked over Macau pretty good in the past year and they delighted in telling me that it was easy pickings.
The following article appeared in some Asian newspapers:
"Macau casinos have the tightest and most modern security of all the world's gaming venues," said the chief of the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) yesterday.
Arriving back from a 10 day trip to London, which included informal discussions with European gaming regulators, Manuel Joaquim das Neves said the security in Macau is the best he has ever seen.
The statement comes after a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said last week that Asian casinos are vulnerable to small groups that are “very adept at cheating techniques”.
On the sidelines of an Interpol Global Conference on Asian Organised Crime, held in Singapore, Randall Sayre said Asian casinos need strong internal controls to guard against organised efforts to cheat them.
He said those attempting to cheat casinos “are not necessarily connected to traditional organised crime as one would anticipate.”
“It can be organised crime or it can be organised groups that conduct criminal activities,” he continued.
The Nevada board member's statement can not be applied to Macau, said Mr Neves.
The DICJ is responsible for ensuring casinos in Macau have adequate surveillance measures and comply with the SAR's financial regulations.
It is the level of technology Mr Neves has seen in the local casinos that gives him the confidence that Macau operators have the most advanced surveillance equipment in the world.
Once a casino is built, the DICJ inspects the surveillance equipment before the venue opens.
“We have new casinos and the systems are more modern than in other places,” said Mr Neves.
“Our security systems that we have in Macau casinos are the best in the world.”
The equipment in Macau is “without a doubt” better than “older” systems in Las Vegas, said Mr Neves.
Digital imaging technology is used to follow the activity at each of a casino's tables. Players and dealers are not only tracked live, the images are also used to resolve disputes and prove crimes.
The DICJ receives on average 20 reports a day from casinos about suspicious activities and alleged illegal behaviour.
“Fortunately they are (mostly) small things, such as stealing chips from the table and disputes over chip ownership,” said Mr Neves.
The casino's high resolution images are then called on to show what really happened and pinpoint an alleged crime.
“The video is used to clear up a lot of cases,” said Mr Neves.
“The zoom is very powerful, you can even see someone's fingernail”.
No trouble at MGM
The vice president of casino operations at the SAR's newest casino, MGM Grand Macau was also left scratching his head over the Nevada board member's comments.
“We don't have any problems with them (small groups of organised criminals),” said Gabe Hunterton.
“Our surveillance team is extremely talented and doing a very good job.”
The number of reported incidents in Macau has risen with the number of casinos, but as a percentage of overall play the cases are falling, said Mr Neves.
Casinos are yet to adopt face recognition software to pick-out previous trouble makers, said Mr Neves as “the probability of failure is very high, it is not workable”.
The DICJ has a team of 200 inspectors that work around the clock to keep tabs on Macau's 28 casinos.
The commission is particularly interested in the movements of money.
“We concentrate on money counting and (chip) refills (of tables) which can have a big effect on a casinos profitability,” said Mr Neves,
On average each of the 4,375 gaming tables in Macau refill with chips between four and five times a day.
VIP crime
Instances of reported problems in VIP rooms are “very little because the number of players is so few,” said Mr Neves.
Casino staff are able to keep track of chip movements in the small and high stake gaming rooms. However it is what happens under the table that is still a problem, admits Mr Neves.
Last year the the South China Morning Post reported that an anonymous survey of gaming executives in Macau concluded casinos had lost USD2.5 billion a year to a practice known as side-betting. The scam involves gamers and gaming promoters agreeing to multiply the value of chips on the table, thus cutting out the casino and government from their shares of any win.
“Side betting is a problem that the police are following but this is not easy to detect,” said Mr Neves, adding that he believed the reported size of the scam to be exaggerated.
Civil servants off the leash
The board will be stepping up its efforts during next week's Lunar New Year celebrations. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected, Macau civil servants, usually banned from walking onto a gaming floor, are allowed to gamble from February 7 to 9, said Mr Neves.
“17,000 more potential gamers, that is a lot of people,” he said.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Poker News
Poker News coming to my Poker Cheating Blog!
As I am continuing to expand the information available on this website, my American Roulette Casino cheats and Poker Cheating Blog will now include posts about poker news not necessarily related to cheating. Of course I will continue reporting on that side of poker as well, but now you will be able to read articles with my insight pertaining to multi-faceted issued in the poker world. Much of these postings will pertain to the online poker world, which has been so much in the news lately, unfortunately more for online poker cheating than online poker playing. I will give constant information and updates concerning what is going on in the various online poker rooms, in addition to my online poker safety ratings, which are found on its separate page.
My first poker news item is on the Stars Sunday Million:
Online Poker Weekend: 'SNo0oWMAN' Tops 'roosterbill' in Stars Sunday Million Duel
The big story of Sunday's major online tourneys was a long heads-up duel to determine the winner of the Stars Sunday Million. 'roosterbill' and 'SNo0oWMAN' began their battle after the exit of third-place finisher 'batoelrob', a screen name frequently associated with Dutch star Rob Hollink. The end came after 64 hands and included four double-throughs before SNo0oWMAN emerged as the winner.
PokerStars Sunday Million
The final Sunday of the month meant it was time for the $500+30 version of the PokerStars Sunday Million. The turnout remained outstanding, however, with 3,192 entrants making for a $1,596,000 purse. 486 players cashed, with the winner
Daily tournaments scheduled to receive $278,502. 'jonop56' led the way to this final table by amassing over 6.7 million in chips.
The first knockout took place eight hands into the final table, when 'Demonrob' was all in against 'roosterbill' after a (3-Diamonds)(8-Hearts)(5-Spades) flop. Demonrob showed (Q-Spades)(Q-Diamonds) to roosterbill's (7-Spades)(7-Hearts), but a tough (7-Diamonds) turn put roosterbill ahead and the (10-Diamonds) river ended Demonrob's run. Several dozen hands elapsed before eighth place was decided, when 'mjh0318' was eliminated. The knockout hand saw the chips in preflop, with mjh0318's (K-Diamonds)(J-Clubs) against 'SNo0oWMAN's (A-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts), with the (Q-Clubs)(2-Hearts)(8-Clubs)(9-Spades)(2-Spades) board giving SNo0oWMAN the pot.
Another lengthy stretch of hands elapsed before the next knockout, with SNo0oWMAN again doing the honors. This time early leader jonop56 was the victim, with the chips again all-in pre-flop. jonop56's (A-Hearts)(7-Diamonds) started out ahead of SNo0oWMAN's (K-Diamonds)(J-Diamonds), but a board of (10-Diamonds)(6-Spades)(8-Spades)(A-Diamonds)(8-Diamonds) gave SNo0oWMAN a winning flush.
The next knockout occurred after a preflop raising war between 'oogee' and 'batoelrob', with batoelrob showing (A-Clubs)(A-Diamonds) to oogee's (A-Spades)(K-Diamonds) and having oogee covered. The board of (9-Spades)(9-Hearts)(4-Hearts)(K-Hearts)(10-Spades) didn't improve oogee enough, giving him a sixth-place finish. It marked the start of a surge in knockouts, with a short-stacked 'Suck My Ace' exiting only three hands later. On that hand, Suck My Ace pushed with (A-Clubs)(10-Hearts) and was called by roosterbill with (A-Spades)(K-Diamonds), and the board delivered (10-Spades)(K-Spades)(6-Hearts)(K-Clubs)(5-Clubs). Eleven more hands brought the departure of 'Kenjh', whose (A-Spades)(8-Spades) went nowhere against batoelrob's waiting (A-Diamonds)(K-Hearts) as the board brought (9-Spades)(J-Hearts)(6-Clubs)(4-Diamonds)(7-Hearts).
Three-way play between batoelrob, SNo0oWMAN and roosterbill see-sawed until roosterbill sent batoelrob to the rail in third. In that hand, batoelrob committed the last of his chips to a preflop, reraise push with (A-Clubs)(8-Spades), and roosterbill made the call with (A-Spades)(Q-Diamonds). The board rolled out (J-Hearts)(10-Spades)(3-Diamonds)(4-Hearts)(5-Clubs), bouncing batoelrob and setting the stage for heads-up play.
First, the two survivors tried but failed to agree on a chop, and a lengthy string of small pots and few flops seen marked the early heads-up play. roosterbill expanded his lead slightly during this stretch, but saw the tables turned when the chips went in with his (Q-Diamonds)(Q-Clubs) against SNo0oWMAN's (A-Hearts)(J-Diamonds). The board brought SNo0oWMAN not once ace, but two, moving him out to a more than 2:1 advantage, which lasted only six hands until roosterbill doubled through himself to regain the lead. Again, though, SNo0oWMAN surged back to the lead.
The end came on the 64th hand of heads-up play, when the chips went in preflop to reveal a classic race: (9-Clubs)(9-Spades) for roosterbill against the (A-Spades)(J-Clubs) of SNo0oWMAN. The flop decided it, coming (4-Hearts)(A-Diamonds)(10-Hearts), and the (2-Hearts) turn and (2-Clubs) river left SNo0oWMAN's aces in front, securing for him the $278,502 victory.
Final Results:
1. SNo0oWMAN — $278,502
2. roosterbill — $140,607.60
3. batoelrob — $101,026.80
4. Kenjh — $79,800
5. Suck My Ace — $62,563.20
6. oogee — $46,2284
7. jonop56 — $33,516
8. mjh0318 — $21,067.20
9. Demonrob — $12,488.80
Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
The night's largest attendance among the online majors was at Full Tilt, where 4,430 players spent $200+16 each to join the $750,000 Guarantee. This made for a total prize pool of $886,000, with 585 players making the payout spots and first worth $156,458.74. 'JSchnett' was narrowly in the lead when this event's final table began, with a total of 2.5 million in chips that was narrowly ahead of three other players.
'GrMonkey' bowed out immediately, making a short-stacked, all-in reraise with (A-Hearts)(J-Spades). JSchnett had only to add a few more chips to make the call and did so, showing (A-Clubs)(Q-Clubs), which held up when the board arrived (9-Diamonds)(2-Hearts)(7-Hearts)(2-Diamonds)(5-Clubs). 'busyboy' was next to fall when he tried a reraise steal with (A-Diamonds)(2-Diamonds), pushing all in, only to have 'jonnyblaze23' find (K-Hearts)(K-Diamonds) in the big blind and move all in over the top. The board came (10-Hearts)(J-Clubs)(5-Diamonds)(10-Diamonds)(9-Clubs), and the field was seven.
Another picked-off steal attempt meant the exit of 'Squirrely1' in seventh. Squirrely1 pushed from the cutoff with (J-Spades)(10-Hearts), and 'd0wnosaur' called from the button with (A-Clubs)(8-Diamonds). The (3-Diamonds)(9-Spades)(2-Hearts)(9-Diamonds)(3-Hearts) board helped neither player and left downosaur's A-high the winner. Sixth went to 'Hustensaft', whose (K-Clubs)(10-Clubs) started off behind JSchnett's (A-Diamonds)(8-Hearts) and went nowhere when the board brought (A-Spades)(7-Hearts)(2-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts)(9-Diamonds). 'MoormanI' dropped a couple of big pots and bowed out next, his last chips disappearing when his (K-Clubs)(3-Clubs) couldn't connect against d0wnosaur's (A-Diamonds)(6-Diamonds). The board on that hand finished (7-Hearts)(J-Clubs)(2-Diamonds)(9-Clubs)(6-Clubs).
However, d0wnosaur exited next after a huge race pitting his (A-Spades)(K-Hearts) against 'jonnyblaze23's pocket tens. The (9-Spades)(9-Clubs)(5-Spades)(2-Hearts)(6-Clubs) board left jonnyblaze23's hand in front and narrowed the field to three. Another huge race unfolded soon after, with JSchnett's (2-Spades)(2-Diamonds) against 'deanoll's (K-Diamonds)(Q-Spades). JSchnett remained ahead through the (7-Diamonds)(9-Diamonds)(8-Spades) flop and (8-Diamonds) turn, but the (9-Clubs) river counterfeited JSchnett's baby pocket pair and gave deanoll the knockout.
deanoll and jonnyblaze23 began heads-up play virtually deadlocked, and deanoll moved out to an earlier lead before jonnyblaze rivered trip tens in a big hand to take command. The end came in a hand where deanoll made a button raise with (9-Spades)(4-Spades), and jonnyblaze reraised with (A-Diamonds)(K-Hearts). The flop came (3-Spades)(4-Diamonds)(10-Clubs), and deanoll moved all in with middle pair. jonnyblaze23 was behind with his overcards, but watched the board complete with (5-Clubs)(2-Clubs) for the runner-runner wheel straight and the win.
Final Results:
1. jonnyblaze23 — $156,458.74
2. deanoll — $94,713.40
3. JSchnett — $62,020
4. d0wnosaur — $48,730
5. MoormanI — $36,591.80
6. Hustensaft — $27,111.60
7. Squirrely1 — $20,378
8. busyboy — $15,948
9. GrMonkey — $11,872.40
PartyPoker $300,000 Guaranteed
1,723 players made it to the Sunday $300,000 Guaranteed at PartyPoker, making for a total prize pool of $344,600. Barring any late chops, the winner could expect to receive $67,197, and 250 players made the money. Tight play marked the final-table bubble, with 'TheLimitRush' narrowly assuming the lead --- with about 1.45 million in chips --- when the last ten players came together.
The shortest of the ten stacks departed first. Barely scraping through to the final was 'ozisaz', and his last chips went in with (J-Diamonds)(10-Spades). He was quickly called by 'idiotmonkii' with (J-Hearts)(J-Clubs), and the board of (K-Diamonds)(K-Clubs)(4-Diamonds)(7-Diamonds)(2-Spades) meant okisaz's departure in tenth. idiotmonkii exited next, getting it all in after a flop of (8-Spades)(3-Spades)(7-Spades) while holding (K-Hearts)(8-Hearts) for top pair against 'HallonKaar's flush draw ((A-Hearts)(9-Spades)). The (Q-Diamonds) turn missed HallonKaar's flush draw but the (9-Spades) river connected, narrowing the field to eight.
Early leader TheLimitRush bowed out in eighth after his all-in with A-K faced a tough battle against HallonKaar's kings. The board brought nothing higher than a ten and TheLimitRush's no-limit rush was over. Seventh went to 'ATCFaust', the next shortest stack after ozisaz's exit, whose own last stand went for naught when 'casinoice' was ahead with an ace and paired it on a (9-Spades)(5-Spades)(7-Hearts)(A-Diamonds)(10-Clubs) board. casinoice picked up the next knockout as well, sending an aggressive 'HouseRentBoogie' to the rail in sixth after getting the chips in ahead with (A-Spades)(9-Clubs) to HouseRentBoogie's (K-Clubs)(J-Clubs), and watching the board roll out (3-Diamonds)(7-Clubs)(10-Hearts)(6-Hearts)(4-Clubs).
casinoice made it three in a row after being priced in to seeing the board after trying to steal against the shortest remaining stack, 'Gnubas', who was in the big blind. Gnubas was way ahead to start with (A-Hearts)(K-Diamonds) to casinoice's (J-Hearts)(2-Hearts) but a fortunate river on an (8-Diamonds)(7-Diamonds)(8-Spades)(7-Spades)(J-Spades) board trimmed the field to four. Gitte26 was the extreme short stack of the four, but made trip sevens to top casinoice's unimproved A-K and then cracked 'connieoffski's pocket aces a few hands later to move back into the hunt. connieoffski departed in fourth a dozen or so hands later after getting all his chips in with (A-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts) against casinoice's (K-Diamonds)(K-Hearts) and seeing the (5-Diamonds)(J-Clubs)(3-Clubs)(4-Spades)(3-Diamonds) board miss his holdings. At this point the three survivors easily agreed to a chip-count deal for the remaining prize money, with casinoice the official winner of the event.
Final Results:
*1. casinoice — $56,369.70
*2. Gitte26 — $36,125.91
*3. HallonKaar — $35,178.20
4. connieoffski — $18,263.80
5. Gnubas — $14,817.80
6. HouseRentBoogie — $11,371.80
7. ATCFaust — $8,787.30
8. TheLimitRush — $6,030.50
9. idiotmonkii — $4,479.80
10. ozisaz — $2,929.10
As I am continuing to expand the information available on this website, my American Roulette Casino cheats and Poker Cheating Blog will now include posts about poker news not necessarily related to cheating. Of course I will continue reporting on that side of poker as well, but now you will be able to read articles with my insight pertaining to multi-faceted issued in the poker world. Much of these postings will pertain to the online poker world, which has been so much in the news lately, unfortunately more for online poker cheating than online poker playing. I will give constant information and updates concerning what is going on in the various online poker rooms, in addition to my online poker safety ratings, which are found on its separate page.
My first poker news item is on the Stars Sunday Million:
Online Poker Weekend: 'SNo0oWMAN' Tops 'roosterbill' in Stars Sunday Million Duel
The big story of Sunday's major online tourneys was a long heads-up duel to determine the winner of the Stars Sunday Million. 'roosterbill' and 'SNo0oWMAN' began their battle after the exit of third-place finisher 'batoelrob', a screen name frequently associated with Dutch star Rob Hollink. The end came after 64 hands and included four double-throughs before SNo0oWMAN emerged as the winner.
PokerStars Sunday Million
The final Sunday of the month meant it was time for the $500+30 version of the PokerStars Sunday Million. The turnout remained outstanding, however, with 3,192 entrants making for a $1,596,000 purse. 486 players cashed, with the winner
Daily tournaments scheduled to receive $278,502. 'jonop56' led the way to this final table by amassing over 6.7 million in chips.
The first knockout took place eight hands into the final table, when 'Demonrob' was all in against 'roosterbill' after a (3-Diamonds)(8-Hearts)(5-Spades) flop. Demonrob showed (Q-Spades)(Q-Diamonds) to roosterbill's (7-Spades)(7-Hearts), but a tough (7-Diamonds) turn put roosterbill ahead and the (10-Diamonds) river ended Demonrob's run. Several dozen hands elapsed before eighth place was decided, when 'mjh0318' was eliminated. The knockout hand saw the chips in preflop, with mjh0318's (K-Diamonds)(J-Clubs) against 'SNo0oWMAN's (A-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts), with the (Q-Clubs)(2-Hearts)(8-Clubs)(9-Spades)(2-Spades) board giving SNo0oWMAN the pot.
Another lengthy stretch of hands elapsed before the next knockout, with SNo0oWMAN again doing the honors. This time early leader jonop56 was the victim, with the chips again all-in pre-flop. jonop56's (A-Hearts)(7-Diamonds) started out ahead of SNo0oWMAN's (K-Diamonds)(J-Diamonds), but a board of (10-Diamonds)(6-Spades)(8-Spades)(A-Diamonds)(8-Diamonds) gave SNo0oWMAN a winning flush.
The next knockout occurred after a preflop raising war between 'oogee' and 'batoelrob', with batoelrob showing (A-Clubs)(A-Diamonds) to oogee's (A-Spades)(K-Diamonds) and having oogee covered. The board of (9-Spades)(9-Hearts)(4-Hearts)(K-Hearts)(10-Spades) didn't improve oogee enough, giving him a sixth-place finish. It marked the start of a surge in knockouts, with a short-stacked 'Suck My Ace' exiting only three hands later. On that hand, Suck My Ace pushed with (A-Clubs)(10-Hearts) and was called by roosterbill with (A-Spades)(K-Diamonds), and the board delivered (10-Spades)(K-Spades)(6-Hearts)(K-Clubs)(5-Clubs). Eleven more hands brought the departure of 'Kenjh', whose (A-Spades)(8-Spades) went nowhere against batoelrob's waiting (A-Diamonds)(K-Hearts) as the board brought (9-Spades)(J-Hearts)(6-Clubs)(4-Diamonds)(7-Hearts).
Three-way play between batoelrob, SNo0oWMAN and roosterbill see-sawed until roosterbill sent batoelrob to the rail in third. In that hand, batoelrob committed the last of his chips to a preflop, reraise push with (A-Clubs)(8-Spades), and roosterbill made the call with (A-Spades)(Q-Diamonds). The board rolled out (J-Hearts)(10-Spades)(3-Diamonds)(4-Hearts)(5-Clubs), bouncing batoelrob and setting the stage for heads-up play.
First, the two survivors tried but failed to agree on a chop, and a lengthy string of small pots and few flops seen marked the early heads-up play. roosterbill expanded his lead slightly during this stretch, but saw the tables turned when the chips went in with his (Q-Diamonds)(Q-Clubs) against SNo0oWMAN's (A-Hearts)(J-Diamonds). The board brought SNo0oWMAN not once ace, but two, moving him out to a more than 2:1 advantage, which lasted only six hands until roosterbill doubled through himself to regain the lead. Again, though, SNo0oWMAN surged back to the lead.
The end came on the 64th hand of heads-up play, when the chips went in preflop to reveal a classic race: (9-Clubs)(9-Spades) for roosterbill against the (A-Spades)(J-Clubs) of SNo0oWMAN. The flop decided it, coming (4-Hearts)(A-Diamonds)(10-Hearts), and the (2-Hearts) turn and (2-Clubs) river left SNo0oWMAN's aces in front, securing for him the $278,502 victory.
Final Results:
1. SNo0oWMAN — $278,502
2. roosterbill — $140,607.60
3. batoelrob — $101,026.80
4. Kenjh — $79,800
5. Suck My Ace — $62,563.20
6. oogee — $46,2284
7. jonop56 — $33,516
8. mjh0318 — $21,067.20
9. Demonrob — $12,488.80
Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
The night's largest attendance among the online majors was at Full Tilt, where 4,430 players spent $200+16 each to join the $750,000 Guarantee. This made for a total prize pool of $886,000, with 585 players making the payout spots and first worth $156,458.74. 'JSchnett' was narrowly in the lead when this event's final table began, with a total of 2.5 million in chips that was narrowly ahead of three other players.
'GrMonkey' bowed out immediately, making a short-stacked, all-in reraise with (A-Hearts)(J-Spades). JSchnett had only to add a few more chips to make the call and did so, showing (A-Clubs)(Q-Clubs), which held up when the board arrived (9-Diamonds)(2-Hearts)(7-Hearts)(2-Diamonds)(5-Clubs). 'busyboy' was next to fall when he tried a reraise steal with (A-Diamonds)(2-Diamonds), pushing all in, only to have 'jonnyblaze23' find (K-Hearts)(K-Diamonds) in the big blind and move all in over the top. The board came (10-Hearts)(J-Clubs)(5-Diamonds)(10-Diamonds)(9-Clubs), and the field was seven.
Another picked-off steal attempt meant the exit of 'Squirrely1' in seventh. Squirrely1 pushed from the cutoff with (J-Spades)(10-Hearts), and 'd0wnosaur' called from the button with (A-Clubs)(8-Diamonds). The (3-Diamonds)(9-Spades)(2-Hearts)(9-Diamonds)(3-Hearts) board helped neither player and left downosaur's A-high the winner. Sixth went to 'Hustensaft', whose (K-Clubs)(10-Clubs) started off behind JSchnett's (A-Diamonds)(8-Hearts) and went nowhere when the board brought (A-Spades)(7-Hearts)(2-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts)(9-Diamonds). 'MoormanI' dropped a couple of big pots and bowed out next, his last chips disappearing when his (K-Clubs)(3-Clubs) couldn't connect against d0wnosaur's (A-Diamonds)(6-Diamonds). The board on that hand finished (7-Hearts)(J-Clubs)(2-Diamonds)(9-Clubs)(6-Clubs).
However, d0wnosaur exited next after a huge race pitting his (A-Spades)(K-Hearts) against 'jonnyblaze23's pocket tens. The (9-Spades)(9-Clubs)(5-Spades)(2-Hearts)(6-Clubs) board left jonnyblaze23's hand in front and narrowed the field to three. Another huge race unfolded soon after, with JSchnett's (2-Spades)(2-Diamonds) against 'deanoll's (K-Diamonds)(Q-Spades). JSchnett remained ahead through the (7-Diamonds)(9-Diamonds)(8-Spades) flop and (8-Diamonds) turn, but the (9-Clubs) river counterfeited JSchnett's baby pocket pair and gave deanoll the knockout.
deanoll and jonnyblaze23 began heads-up play virtually deadlocked, and deanoll moved out to an earlier lead before jonnyblaze rivered trip tens in a big hand to take command. The end came in a hand where deanoll made a button raise with (9-Spades)(4-Spades), and jonnyblaze reraised with (A-Diamonds)(K-Hearts). The flop came (3-Spades)(4-Diamonds)(10-Clubs), and deanoll moved all in with middle pair. jonnyblaze23 was behind with his overcards, but watched the board complete with (5-Clubs)(2-Clubs) for the runner-runner wheel straight and the win.
Final Results:
1. jonnyblaze23 — $156,458.74
2. deanoll — $94,713.40
3. JSchnett — $62,020
4. d0wnosaur — $48,730
5. MoormanI — $36,591.80
6. Hustensaft — $27,111.60
7. Squirrely1 — $20,378
8. busyboy — $15,948
9. GrMonkey — $11,872.40
PartyPoker $300,000 Guaranteed
1,723 players made it to the Sunday $300,000 Guaranteed at PartyPoker, making for a total prize pool of $344,600. Barring any late chops, the winner could expect to receive $67,197, and 250 players made the money. Tight play marked the final-table bubble, with 'TheLimitRush' narrowly assuming the lead --- with about 1.45 million in chips --- when the last ten players came together.
The shortest of the ten stacks departed first. Barely scraping through to the final was 'ozisaz', and his last chips went in with (J-Diamonds)(10-Spades). He was quickly called by 'idiotmonkii' with (J-Hearts)(J-Clubs), and the board of (K-Diamonds)(K-Clubs)(4-Diamonds)(7-Diamonds)(2-Spades) meant okisaz's departure in tenth. idiotmonkii exited next, getting it all in after a flop of (8-Spades)(3-Spades)(7-Spades) while holding (K-Hearts)(8-Hearts) for top pair against 'HallonKaar's flush draw ((A-Hearts)(9-Spades)). The (Q-Diamonds) turn missed HallonKaar's flush draw but the (9-Spades) river connected, narrowing the field to eight.
Early leader TheLimitRush bowed out in eighth after his all-in with A-K faced a tough battle against HallonKaar's kings. The board brought nothing higher than a ten and TheLimitRush's no-limit rush was over. Seventh went to 'ATCFaust', the next shortest stack after ozisaz's exit, whose own last stand went for naught when 'casinoice' was ahead with an ace and paired it on a (9-Spades)(5-Spades)(7-Hearts)(A-Diamonds)(10-Clubs) board. casinoice picked up the next knockout as well, sending an aggressive 'HouseRentBoogie' to the rail in sixth after getting the chips in ahead with (A-Spades)(9-Clubs) to HouseRentBoogie's (K-Clubs)(J-Clubs), and watching the board roll out (3-Diamonds)(7-Clubs)(10-Hearts)(6-Hearts)(4-Clubs).
casinoice made it three in a row after being priced in to seeing the board after trying to steal against the shortest remaining stack, 'Gnubas', who was in the big blind. Gnubas was way ahead to start with (A-Hearts)(K-Diamonds) to casinoice's (J-Hearts)(2-Hearts) but a fortunate river on an (8-Diamonds)(7-Diamonds)(8-Spades)(7-Spades)(J-Spades) board trimmed the field to four. Gitte26 was the extreme short stack of the four, but made trip sevens to top casinoice's unimproved A-K and then cracked 'connieoffski's pocket aces a few hands later to move back into the hunt. connieoffski departed in fourth a dozen or so hands later after getting all his chips in with (A-Diamonds)(Q-Hearts) against casinoice's (K-Diamonds)(K-Hearts) and seeing the (5-Diamonds)(J-Clubs)(3-Clubs)(4-Spades)(3-Diamonds) board miss his holdings. At this point the three survivors easily agreed to a chip-count deal for the remaining prize money, with casinoice the official winner of the event.
Final Results:
*1. casinoice — $56,369.70
*2. Gitte26 — $36,125.91
*3. HallonKaar — $35,178.20
4. connieoffski — $18,263.80
5. Gnubas — $14,817.80
6. HouseRentBoogie — $11,371.80
7. ATCFaust — $8,787.30
8. TheLimitRush — $6,030.50
9. idiotmonkii — $4,479.80
10. ozisaz — $2,929.10
Poker Cheating Poker Cheats at B&M and Online Casinos
American Poker Cheats vs European Poker Cheats: Who's best at poker cheating? Read my Bluff magazine article and decide for yourself.
DOES EUROPEAN STYLE B & M POKER CHEATING DIFFER FROM THE AMERICAN?
Of course we Americans do not hold a monopoly on poker cheating. Europeans, South Americans and Asians are just as capable as we are in figuring out ingenious ways to cheat in public cardrooms. It might be true that Americans represent the greatest percentage of poker cheats in the world, but they also represent the greatest percentage of honest players. But what about the types of cheating that go on in brick and mortar cardrooms on both sides of the Pond? Are they different? Does the cheating going on in Las Vegas and Atlantic City vary from that happening at poker clubs in London and Paris? And what about the cheaters? I’ve said that Americans represent the greatest percentage of cheaters, but, relative to their poker population, does the same ratio hold true for European cheaters? Do they make up the same percentage of the Continent’s professional players?
Let’s start off with cheating before getting to the cheaters. The answer to whether cheating differs on either side of the Atlantic is both yes and no. Cheating in its basic forms is more or less the same on both sides of every ocean. Collusion in the US works exactly the same as it does in Europe, follows the same basic principle of whipsawing victims between the raising and reraising of cheaters. The same goes for card-switching, card-marking, tournament chip-dumping and softplay. In short, no cheater in, say Sweden, is going to come up with a new way of marking cards unknown in Vegas. By the same token, Vegas’s oldest sharpies are not going to come up with marking methods that boggle the minds of Europe’s most diligent cheaters.
But wait! What about high-tech cheating? Does that vary between the two continents? For the time being, it does. I’m not saying the technology is different; it’s the same: mainly tiny hidden digital cameras filming hole cards that are screened on monitors outside the casino and transmitted back to the cheaters inside via cellphones and audio devices. But what is different is the prevalence of high-tech cheating. Whereas in the US high-tech (non-slot) scams are virtually unheard of, in Europe they have indeed been happening. First it was the roulette cell phone scam in London’s Ritz Club in 2004, then the hidden-camera three card poker scam that rocked several more London casinos a year later—and I have heard of others happening in European poker rooms. Why the lack of computers and hidden cameras in American poker scams (besides the private-game con in Atlantic City’s Borgata)? The answer is obvious: In the US, employing any kind of equipment to cheat at gambling is a major felony; in most of Europe it is either a much lesser crime or one of unclear classification. What is clear is that the world’s cheaters are much less inclined to try high-tech poker scams in the US than they are in Europe.
There are also subtle differences between European and American poker cheating. The most important one lies in the first difference that Americans will (hopefully!) notice upon stepping foot in Europe: people are speaking languages other than English. This is even true in the United Kingdom. On my last trip to London it seemed that White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants actually formed a distinct minority, and when you get inside the city’s card clubs, sometimes that doesn’t change.
So how does the use of multiple languages at the poker table affect cheating? Well, first of all, a lot of players can’t understand what a lot of other players are saying. This breeds countless opportunities for players to say things to other players they don’t want non-targeted players to understand. Things like “I have ace-king suited” and “Raise me after the flop.” And sometimes this information-sharing is completely innocent, though it can still lead to collusion play by players ignorant to the fact they’re involved. Take this example: Two Mideastern gentlemen sitting in a pot-limit game at the Victoria Casino speaking their native Pashto or Dari tongue. In oblivious high spirits, one says to the other without intention, “I finally have a pair of bloody aces! It’s about time!” Unbeknownst to them, a third person sitting at that table understands their language. If he so desires, that person can now use the compromised information to his benefit, and if both their hands are verbalized between them, the third speaker of the language has that much more of an edge. It’s not a big edge, but that verbal form of collusion when done with intent will have a negative effect on your earnings...or losses. I have noticed foreign-language speakers in Europe, especially in the UK, who upon entering a poker game without any ill-willed intensions, turned to their native language to give each other a boost after taking bad beats.
As in the States, UK poker clubs prohibit the speaking of any language at the tables other than English. But in order to totally enforce this, poker rooms would need bugs installed in the tables—which, by the way, is not an unheard of practice in Great Britain. But still, the anti-cheating spies clandestinely listening to the flows and crosscurrents of all that poker-table gibberish would have to be fluent in many languages to weed out the cheat talk from the normal poker chat.
In reality, this English-only rule cannot be strictly enforced. I mean, how many times can a floorperson keep coming over to admonish certain players at the table to “Speak English, please!” You would think such harassment would both tire out and embarrass most floormen charged with that disciplinary function. It would also chase a lot of honest foreign-language-speaking players from the games. And if the British ever went to extremes in order to enforce this speak-English-only edict at UK poker tables, imagine what the French would do! As most of you veterans of European travel know, the French have more pride about their language and safeguard it more than any other people in the world do theirs. If French players at poker tables in London are subject to “Speak English, please,” aren’t native Anglophones playing poker at the Aviation Club in Paris going to get a huge dose of “Parlez français, s’il vous plaît?” You can bet your Anglo ass that the French, who in general terms plainly despise the British, will not put up with the English language on their poker tables if the English are going to reject the language of Molière on theirs.
So all in all, neither country enforces the language rule strictly and therefore many foreign languages prevail at European poker tables, which at times results in collusion play.
Another significant difference pertaining to European cheating is one that has nothing to do with the method utilized but rather the consequences of getting caught. In American casinos and cardrooms, any attempt of cheating at gambling, no matter what the game or the amount of money in question, and whether or not equipment was used, is an automatic felony (with the exception of some Midwestern states and Indian reservations). This means that if you’re caught shortchanging a poker pot by a $1, you can theoretically be arrested and charged with a felony. In all of Europe, however, cheaters caught in the act are handled differently: a lot less severe. In Great Britain, for instance, all gambling establishments, whether they’re full-fledged casinos or just poker rooms, are private clubs policed by their own security. Brick and mortar casinos in the UK are not permitted to advertise and likewise do not want any negative publicity. Cheating is negative publicity, so instances of it are normally hushed up very efficiently. A prime example of this was the roulette scam that beat the Ritz Club out of $2 million in 2004. Although the scam received widespread publicity when it was uncovered, three other London casinos that fell victim to it kept quiet.
When poker cheats are spotted committing their act in a typical UK cardroom, even if it’s as flagrant as marking cards, their punishment often consists of nothing more than being rounded up by the internal security staff and hustled off the premises without further incident. Any of those caught cheating who are members of the establishment will automatically have their memberships revoked, and word of the episode will spread to all casinos and cardrooms throughout the UK, whose committees will follow suit with swift revocations. But this is not nearly as serious as it sounds. The key element is that the police are generally not called and no charges are ever pressed against the cheaters (with rare exception). Whereas in the US players face real prison time when caught cheating, their British counterparts are only subject to getting tossed out the door with a warning not to come back. With the revolving-door entry of guests in UK gambling establishments, those barred find ways to reenter using fake ID and disguise kits.
But what about these European cheaters? Have they kept pace with the Americans? We certainly know they’ve kept pace as far as legitimate poker players go (the Swedes have even outpaced the Americans). But answering this question is not as readily obvious as the expansion of poker in Europe. However, I do have a way of measuring it. Many Europeans who read the blog on my website richardmarcusbooks.com report both confirmed and suspected cheating incidents in their home brick and mortar poker rooms. As my book “Dirty Poker” has been just as available in European bookstores and Amazon websites as it has been in American bookstores and Amazon US, and as I write for both European and American poker magazines, I get equal exposure proportionate to the populations of both continents, therefore, I can derive a pretty fair opinion based on the e-mails I get from players on either side of the ocean. Based on reports and suspicions of collusion play, card-switching, card-marking and tournament cheating that includes chip-dumping and softplay, there is no question that—and for you Europeans this is good news—cheating incidents in direct proportion to US cardrooms are happening less in European cardrooms. By following mathematical formulas based on the number of rooms, tables and players in each country and dividing them by the number of estimated Americans and Europeans who play live poker, and then inserting the cheating complaints into the equation, I feel quite confident with my statement. My overall conclusion is that you are less likely to be cheated at any given time at a European B&M poker table than a US one, including in tournament play.
Why? Does it have something to do with the general fact that US cash games and tournaments have higher limits and prize money? Partially. Which brings us back to the question of whether or not European players make up a percentage of professional cheaters equivalent to their populations. Well, I am quite aware of several European professional poker cheating teams, but in spite of that, I can tell you that they do not yet quite match up to their demographic numbers when compared to Americans. Why? At that I can only guess. Being an ex-professional cheater myself, I would think that history and levels of cheating experience have something to do with it. I would also say poker cheating is just more in Americans’ blood than in Europeans’. It’s probably got something to do with a connection to America’s Wild West days, where two of every three players were cheating at least some of the time.
Another good thing I can tell you honest European players is that those among your countrymen who cheat on a professional level spend most of their time doing so in the good old USA. Why ? Come on, you know the answer to that one! There’s a heck of a lot more cash over there than there is here! And that’s not deflated by a weakened dollar.
DOES EUROPEAN STYLE B & M POKER CHEATING DIFFER FROM THE AMERICAN?
Of course we Americans do not hold a monopoly on poker cheating. Europeans, South Americans and Asians are just as capable as we are in figuring out ingenious ways to cheat in public cardrooms. It might be true that Americans represent the greatest percentage of poker cheats in the world, but they also represent the greatest percentage of honest players. But what about the types of cheating that go on in brick and mortar cardrooms on both sides of the Pond? Are they different? Does the cheating going on in Las Vegas and Atlantic City vary from that happening at poker clubs in London and Paris? And what about the cheaters? I’ve said that Americans represent the greatest percentage of cheaters, but, relative to their poker population, does the same ratio hold true for European cheaters? Do they make up the same percentage of the Continent’s professional players?
Let’s start off with cheating before getting to the cheaters. The answer to whether cheating differs on either side of the Atlantic is both yes and no. Cheating in its basic forms is more or less the same on both sides of every ocean. Collusion in the US works exactly the same as it does in Europe, follows the same basic principle of whipsawing victims between the raising and reraising of cheaters. The same goes for card-switching, card-marking, tournament chip-dumping and softplay. In short, no cheater in, say Sweden, is going to come up with a new way of marking cards unknown in Vegas. By the same token, Vegas’s oldest sharpies are not going to come up with marking methods that boggle the minds of Europe’s most diligent cheaters.
But wait! What about high-tech cheating? Does that vary between the two continents? For the time being, it does. I’m not saying the technology is different; it’s the same: mainly tiny hidden digital cameras filming hole cards that are screened on monitors outside the casino and transmitted back to the cheaters inside via cellphones and audio devices. But what is different is the prevalence of high-tech cheating. Whereas in the US high-tech (non-slot) scams are virtually unheard of, in Europe they have indeed been happening. First it was the roulette cell phone scam in London’s Ritz Club in 2004, then the hidden-camera three card poker scam that rocked several more London casinos a year later—and I have heard of others happening in European poker rooms. Why the lack of computers and hidden cameras in American poker scams (besides the private-game con in Atlantic City’s Borgata)? The answer is obvious: In the US, employing any kind of equipment to cheat at gambling is a major felony; in most of Europe it is either a much lesser crime or one of unclear classification. What is clear is that the world’s cheaters are much less inclined to try high-tech poker scams in the US than they are in Europe.
There are also subtle differences between European and American poker cheating. The most important one lies in the first difference that Americans will (hopefully!) notice upon stepping foot in Europe: people are speaking languages other than English. This is even true in the United Kingdom. On my last trip to London it seemed that White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants actually formed a distinct minority, and when you get inside the city’s card clubs, sometimes that doesn’t change.
So how does the use of multiple languages at the poker table affect cheating? Well, first of all, a lot of players can’t understand what a lot of other players are saying. This breeds countless opportunities for players to say things to other players they don’t want non-targeted players to understand. Things like “I have ace-king suited” and “Raise me after the flop.” And sometimes this information-sharing is completely innocent, though it can still lead to collusion play by players ignorant to the fact they’re involved. Take this example: Two Mideastern gentlemen sitting in a pot-limit game at the Victoria Casino speaking their native Pashto or Dari tongue. In oblivious high spirits, one says to the other without intention, “I finally have a pair of bloody aces! It’s about time!” Unbeknownst to them, a third person sitting at that table understands their language. If he so desires, that person can now use the compromised information to his benefit, and if both their hands are verbalized between them, the third speaker of the language has that much more of an edge. It’s not a big edge, but that verbal form of collusion when done with intent will have a negative effect on your earnings...or losses. I have noticed foreign-language speakers in Europe, especially in the UK, who upon entering a poker game without any ill-willed intensions, turned to their native language to give each other a boost after taking bad beats.
As in the States, UK poker clubs prohibit the speaking of any language at the tables other than English. But in order to totally enforce this, poker rooms would need bugs installed in the tables—which, by the way, is not an unheard of practice in Great Britain. But still, the anti-cheating spies clandestinely listening to the flows and crosscurrents of all that poker-table gibberish would have to be fluent in many languages to weed out the cheat talk from the normal poker chat.
In reality, this English-only rule cannot be strictly enforced. I mean, how many times can a floorperson keep coming over to admonish certain players at the table to “Speak English, please!” You would think such harassment would both tire out and embarrass most floormen charged with that disciplinary function. It would also chase a lot of honest foreign-language-speaking players from the games. And if the British ever went to extremes in order to enforce this speak-English-only edict at UK poker tables, imagine what the French would do! As most of you veterans of European travel know, the French have more pride about their language and safeguard it more than any other people in the world do theirs. If French players at poker tables in London are subject to “Speak English, please,” aren’t native Anglophones playing poker at the Aviation Club in Paris going to get a huge dose of “Parlez français, s’il vous plaît?” You can bet your Anglo ass that the French, who in general terms plainly despise the British, will not put up with the English language on their poker tables if the English are going to reject the language of Molière on theirs.
So all in all, neither country enforces the language rule strictly and therefore many foreign languages prevail at European poker tables, which at times results in collusion play.
Another significant difference pertaining to European cheating is one that has nothing to do with the method utilized but rather the consequences of getting caught. In American casinos and cardrooms, any attempt of cheating at gambling, no matter what the game or the amount of money in question, and whether or not equipment was used, is an automatic felony (with the exception of some Midwestern states and Indian reservations). This means that if you’re caught shortchanging a poker pot by a $1, you can theoretically be arrested and charged with a felony. In all of Europe, however, cheaters caught in the act are handled differently: a lot less severe. In Great Britain, for instance, all gambling establishments, whether they’re full-fledged casinos or just poker rooms, are private clubs policed by their own security. Brick and mortar casinos in the UK are not permitted to advertise and likewise do not want any negative publicity. Cheating is negative publicity, so instances of it are normally hushed up very efficiently. A prime example of this was the roulette scam that beat the Ritz Club out of $2 million in 2004. Although the scam received widespread publicity when it was uncovered, three other London casinos that fell victim to it kept quiet.
When poker cheats are spotted committing their act in a typical UK cardroom, even if it’s as flagrant as marking cards, their punishment often consists of nothing more than being rounded up by the internal security staff and hustled off the premises without further incident. Any of those caught cheating who are members of the establishment will automatically have their memberships revoked, and word of the episode will spread to all casinos and cardrooms throughout the UK, whose committees will follow suit with swift revocations. But this is not nearly as serious as it sounds. The key element is that the police are generally not called and no charges are ever pressed against the cheaters (with rare exception). Whereas in the US players face real prison time when caught cheating, their British counterparts are only subject to getting tossed out the door with a warning not to come back. With the revolving-door entry of guests in UK gambling establishments, those barred find ways to reenter using fake ID and disguise kits.
But what about these European cheaters? Have they kept pace with the Americans? We certainly know they’ve kept pace as far as legitimate poker players go (the Swedes have even outpaced the Americans). But answering this question is not as readily obvious as the expansion of poker in Europe. However, I do have a way of measuring it. Many Europeans who read the blog on my website richardmarcusbooks.com report both confirmed and suspected cheating incidents in their home brick and mortar poker rooms. As my book “Dirty Poker” has been just as available in European bookstores and Amazon websites as it has been in American bookstores and Amazon US, and as I write for both European and American poker magazines, I get equal exposure proportionate to the populations of both continents, therefore, I can derive a pretty fair opinion based on the e-mails I get from players on either side of the ocean. Based on reports and suspicions of collusion play, card-switching, card-marking and tournament cheating that includes chip-dumping and softplay, there is no question that—and for you Europeans this is good news—cheating incidents in direct proportion to US cardrooms are happening less in European cardrooms. By following mathematical formulas based on the number of rooms, tables and players in each country and dividing them by the number of estimated Americans and Europeans who play live poker, and then inserting the cheating complaints into the equation, I feel quite confident with my statement. My overall conclusion is that you are less likely to be cheated at any given time at a European B&M poker table than a US one, including in tournament play.
Why? Does it have something to do with the general fact that US cash games and tournaments have higher limits and prize money? Partially. Which brings us back to the question of whether or not European players make up a percentage of professional cheaters equivalent to their populations. Well, I am quite aware of several European professional poker cheating teams, but in spite of that, I can tell you that they do not yet quite match up to their demographic numbers when compared to Americans. Why? At that I can only guess. Being an ex-professional cheater myself, I would think that history and levels of cheating experience have something to do with it. I would also say poker cheating is just more in Americans’ blood than in Europeans’. It’s probably got something to do with a connection to America’s Wild West days, where two of every three players were cheating at least some of the time.
Another good thing I can tell you honest European players is that those among your countrymen who cheat on a professional level spend most of their time doing so in the good old USA. Why ? Come on, you know the answer to that one! There’s a heck of a lot more cash over there than there is here! And that’s not deflated by a weakened dollar.
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