Rookie Casinos Overzealous in Busting Casino Cheats Getting in Trouble With the Law!

I have been blogging about new casinos in Pennsylvania, Delaware and other areas overzealously arresting casino cheats (in some case over $5), and now this practice appears to have jumped up and bitten one of these new casinos on the nose.

Derek Maple, a 27 year-old former blackjack dealer at the Mardi Gras Racing and Casino near Charleston, West Virginia, has sued the casino and two state agencies for false arrest, alleging they falsely accused him of cheating while dealing his blackjack game. He is also suing the casino, the West Virginia State Police and the Virginia Lottery Commission for civil rights violations, false imprisonment, mental anguish and damage to his reputation, self-esteem, among other things.

Back in September, 2009, the Mardi Gras casino and state police accused Maple of voluntarily revealing his hole card to players at his blackjack table. He was later arrested and booked, and at a preliminary hearing the charges were passed over to a grand jury for indictment. But the grand jury never indicted, and since a year had passed, the case was automatically dismissed under West Virginia law, opening up the door for Maple to sue, whether or not he was actually guilty of the casino-cheating charges. Maple is seeking unspecified damages, but to me it sounds like a lot! Probably millions.

And this is not the first false-arrest/civil rights-violation suit against the Mardi Gras casino and West Virgina state police over a casino case. A woman named Thuhuong Nguyen also filed suit last January, alleging she was wrongly arrested for cheating at gaming. Cheating charges against her were dropped after a review of video surveillance. The casino had accused her of being an accomplice of Maple in the hole-card cheat scam.

My take: You've all heard the poker saying "...gotta know when to hold 'em...know when to fold 'em," right? Well, these casinos gotta "know when to hold 'em...know when to let 'em go," right?

You bet

Just How Much Will Poker Bots Cheating Evolve in Online Poker?

The answer to that question is "LOTS!" You may have heard about the recent Korean and Chinese online poker-bot scandals, all of which have been significantly profitable, but this is just the tip of the "botberg!" Poker bots with artificial intelligence and anti-detection programming built-in are already good enough to be profitable in fifty to sixty percent of middle-limit and high-limit games, as well as tournaments. In the lower-limit games they are already cleaning up.

This situation will only get better for the botters. I predict that within 5 years sophisticated and VERY intelligent poker bots will dominate the online poker scene and consistently beat online poker's best "botless" players. I also think that within 7 years the majority of ALL online poker players will be using poker bots, for if they don't they will be at a real disadvantage.

My take on my take: Wise up now and get your bot!

Ex-PokerStars Employee Says That Giant Online Site Gave Up Battle Against Poker Cheats Online!

all the online poker sites are fighting an almost hopeless war against the cheats these days, and many of them, including PokerStars, the biggest of 'em all, are attributing it to the huge growth the entire industry is experiencing.

A former member of PokerStars' staff has said that the giant site even gave up on trying to stop the cheats. Speaking anonymously to the BBC "5 Live Investigates" program, he said, "We had a hard job keeping up, just because of the volume of complaints from players about suspected cheating incidents. Not that all of the complaints were legitimate...ninety-five percent were from bitter customers because they lost, and there was no collusion. But Pokerstars still pledged to investigate them all."

My take: At least the guy is honest!

However, the former employee went on to state that during his time working for the site, the staff turned off the automatic alerts that red-flagged possible cases of collusion and other forms of online poker cheating because they were simply overwhelmed by the huge number of alerts hitting the system.

UK's BBC Airs Big Investigation into Online Poker Cheating and Collusion and Bot Cheat Play...Anything New?

In the US, the CBS News magazine show "60 Minutes" aired its own investigation into online poker cheats and cheating, especially detailing the huge poker cheating scandal at UltimateBet.com (now UB.com) and former WSOP World Champion Russ Hamilton's role in orchestrating it.

Now, in reaction to the recent Chinese bot/collusion poker scam that hit the world's largest online site, PokerStars.com, the UK's BBC network has over the weekend broadcast its own investigation into online poker cheating. I will not even bother linking to it...not becasue it isn't a quality and thorough look at online poker cheating and all its various methods but simply because it is nearly an exact copy of what CBS News told the world on its "60 Minutes" segment nearly a year ago. There's nothing new in the BBC version, so the beat goes on--until another big online poker cheat scam hits the airways!

That I promise to link you to!

Pennsylvania Casino Arrests Cheat Over Five Dollars!

Well, you always knew that new gaming areas would be overzealous in showing everyone that they have great surveillance staffs and tolerate no cheating, but arresting someone over a petty $5 blackjack capping-move is a bit much, I think.

56 year-old Abul Fazal Hussain, who sure as hell doesn't have a name that sounds like a casino or poker cheat, was charged by state authorities for cheating at blackjack at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino yesterday.
He was arraigned on one count of fraud and released after posting $2,500 bond.

The Pennsylvania state police gaming enforcement division stated that Hussain tried to add a $5 chip to his $10 bet after he saw his hand had won. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 14.

My take: Well, it's tough to see a guy take a bust for a $5 chip, but I guess the Pennsylvania casinos feel they have to cut off the monster's pinky in order to cut off his head.

Cheating Accusations Hit French Partouche Poker Tour!

Well, with a name like Partouche, I guess there has to be some cheating going on. What does the word Partouche actually mean? Well, I speak fluent French and can't recall a specific meaning, so I guess it's just the name of the French casino group who runs the Partouche Poker Tour.

I have been receiving a lot of poker cheating complaints out of France lately, especially involving Partouche. One is that players already signed-up into Partouche tournaments are being suddenly removed when hot-shot pros like Mike Matusow arrive at the last minute and want to play. Directors seem to be taking bribes to let these pros play while comping the frustrated evictees to dinners in nice French restaurants (I think French food sucks anyway!).

Another cheat complaint is that French players are showing one another their cards as they muck their hands, and the dealers, even upon request, are not showing them to the rest of the table. These same players are speaking in French as they're doing this, all which smacks of collusion play. It is also going on as such in live ring (cash) games. What makes this more despicable is that when non-French players do the same thing, the dealers seem to automatically show their cards to the rest of the players at the table, made up undoubtedly of Frenchmen. There seems to be a collective collusion among French poker rooms to help French players against Americans and others--to the point of endorsing cheating.

More direct cheating incidents are happening as well. A French player went on break on the first day of the Partouche tournament with 43,000 euros in chips in his stacks. But when he came back, there were only 33,000 euros in his stacks. The chip stacks had been counted before the break and surveillance was supposedly notified of the descrepancy in the French player's chip-count, but nothing was done to either rectify it or penalize the player who undoubtedly passed off 10,000 euros in chips to a collusion associate.

All in all, this is very unacceptable behavior for any poker tour, and since French is spoken by only a minority of professional poker players worldwide--and since English is spoken by a majority of the French players, both languages should be permitted at all tables...and French dealers should be warning French players about collusion talk, not only when these players are mucking their hands but as well during the entire time at the tables.

Was Online Poker Cheat Sorel Mizzi Cheated Out of $500,000 in Live Poker Home Game?

This would surprise me, as it is seldom that a supposed master cheat falls victim to any cheat scam within the realm of his own cheat expertise. However, I have heard that Sorel Mizzi, the online poker whiz who's been accused multiple times of multi-accounting and other poker online cheat scams and who's admitted to the former, was victim to a high class poker card-marking team posing as a group of European high-rollers to the tune of half a million bucks! Supposedly this happened in London, and in a top-shelf hotel room (reminscent of the Steve Forte poker scam at the Atlantic City Borgata).

If this actually happened to Mizzi, should we give him a pass on the latest online poker cheat accusations leveled at him? If you've missed it, he was accused only last week of several more online poker cheat violations concerning the rigging of multi-table tournaments, some of which revolve around what he's already admitted to: multiaccounting.

You know, maybe we can look at Mizzi as a victim gone bad, something like the main character on the TV series "Breaking Bad" who becomes a drug dealer after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in the aim of leaving his family financially stable when he's gone.

Or maybe we can't...Of course we can't! Whether or not Mizzi was cheated out of five hundred grand or not, he is still a cheating piece of...!

New Idea: Online Poker CHEATING ONLY Site!

Do you get it?...Okay, you're not sure...it's exactly like it sounds. Why not start up a brand-new online poker site using whatever software network and have only one requirement for online poker players to play on the site: they MUST cheat. Am I being facetious? Well...not really. I mean with all the cheating and all the cheating again and all the cheating again and again, why not start up a new online poker cheating site that levels the field so all online poker cheats can compete against each other and cheat each other out of their online poker money. I guess this sounds like a good satire film, something like "Thanks For Smoking," in which the cigarette industry is defended for putting out such a necessary product. To me it seems that cheating poker online has also become necessary to some degree.

"Thanks For Cheating." Good name for a satire film as well, but it's really the same with online poker. It seems nowadays that everyone is cheating or scheming to cheat, whether it be through collusion, bots, hacking, or just plain-out conning and stealing funds out of player accounts. So then imagine if we had an online poker cheating room where players would have to cheat or be banned from the site. Then the only online poker cheat scams we'd have on that site would be players being banned for not cheating, which would of course constitute cheating on that particular online poker site.

You know what...I think I want to do this...I mean seriously! Why not start the richardmarcuscheatroom.com or richardmarcusonlinepokercheatroom.com...or maybe some of you could come up with a better name for my online poker cheat room. In fact, maybe some of you would like to invest in this online poker-cheat cheating venture? Or better yet...maybe someone out there wants to start this up on his own and simply use my name for the site (of course paying me for that privelege!)

I think this could really work. Of course we would probably have to set up the online poker cheat site with separate tables for collusion, bot-play, hacking hole-card play, etc...But wait a minute! We wouldn't have to do that! Why not just make every table an online poker cheat free-for-all!

If anyone out there is taking this post seriously, then do contact me at once!!!

Mizzi Responds To New Online Poker Cheat Allegations

Already condemned online poker cheat Sorel Mizzi this time says he's innocent and that the recent possible online-poker-cheating-intent conversations he had with Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein were tied to threats that Mizzi himself received online.

On August 20, 2010, "waxonchris" posted to the MTT Community forum on TwoPlusTwo.com a lengthy chat transcript between Sorel Mizzi and Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein, which generated a bunch of cheating speculation involving Mizzi once again. Mizzi states that these transcripts are nothing more than a melange of conversations between himself, Weinstein and other online poker players that took place during a whole year. He went on to say that in December of 2009 he was threatened and extorted by someone demanding money against a threat he would release the very same transcripts. Mizzi claims he did not succumb to the blackmail.

Mizzi's words:

"I am saying this to clear the names of the people mentioned in the conversation and because there are actually people I know and respect who are curious about whether or not this conversation did in fact take place."

My take: I wouldn't trust Mizzi or anything he says as far as I could throw him or it!

Sorel Mizzi (Imper1um) Allegedly Involved in Another Online Poker Cheating Scandal!

Source: Poker News Daily

Recent activity across several of the online poker forums are once again indicating that noted online/live poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and potential accomplices may have been involved in an attempt to rig multi-table tournaments.

Threads appeared on the TwoPlusTwo forum on two occasions over the weekend, with one being squelched by the moderators and a second taking on life and quickly zooming up to 537 posts. Another form of the thread came to life on the PocketFives forum over the weekend (and following the closing of the original thread on 2+2) and has blitzed its way to 282 posts. In both instances, the transcript of an IM chat between Mizzi and an alleged co-conspirator are the main topic of discussion.

This is one thing that the different threads have in common: an undated AIM or MSN Messenger chat transcript allegedly between Mizzi and another top online poker player/backer, Steve “thorladen” Weinstein. In a rambling discussion allegedly between the two, Mizzi and Weinstein discuss their issues with players who are in “makeup,” or owe money from backing arrangements. The conversation then allegedly has Mizzi making assertions to Weinstein about how to violate many of the terms and conditions of online sites using a common business tool.

Mizzi proposes to Weinstein the use of remote PC access programs, such as GoToMyPC.com, PCNow.com, or Laplink, to access computers in different locations. These programs allow a person from one location to be able to use another computer – using the accessed computer’s IP address – from a different location. Mizzi notes to Weinstein in the alleged conversation that usage of such programs “revolutionizes teaching/ghosting in poker (and) can also be used for multiaccounting.” Weinstein comments (verbatim) that “while im certainly interested in whatever u thinking, if u want me in, but obv I have to know woh knows cuz I cant get busted… I have alot of maoney online.”

As the alleged conversation continues, Mizzi goes on to name players who would be willing to take part in the suggested plot. Named by Mizzi as potential co-conspirators are such players as “cdbr” (FTOPS champion Chris Dombrowski) and “Intervention” (Aditya Agarwal). Mizzi goes on to allegedly comment to Weinstein the full context of the plan after discussing who could be involved.

“Now there’s more than 1 way we can profit from this program obv,” Mizzi allegedly says in the IM. “The most obvious is just watching and taking over for your stakes when they’re deep in a tournament. The beauty of it is ur not logging in from another IP, all you’re doing is controlling their mouse and keyboard and they can take it over again right away with the click of a mouse.” Mizzi allegedly also proposes a scheme where, “Hypothetically, imagine if 20+ PC’s were set up in various locations or in the same location but with various IP’s and different people could login to any of them at any given time?”

Although the alleged IM in question is undated, many on the forums have deduced that the time frame may have gone back as far as 18 months ago. At that time, Mizzi had been fleeced by cardsharps with a marked deck in Monte Carlo, leaving his bankroll decimated. It can be likely concluded, as many have done, that the alleged IM between Mizzi and Weinstein was to curry Weinstein’s backing for the escapade.

What has been remarkable about the discussions on the forums is the reaction from those potentially named in the discussion. Weinstein, under his “thorladen” handle on the PocketFives forum, simply states, “I have not engaged in this activity with Sorel. I would not engage in this activity ever. I am voluntarily cooperating completely with Full Tilt in an investigation of these alleged activities.”

Agarwal says in the same thread, “I wasn’t gonna post but general consensus among my frnds is tht I shud. Neither me or chris hv had any knowledge or been involved in any of the activities mentioned in the chat log, as everyone knows it was around the time period sorel was hving money issues, both me and chris hving cleared our MU voluntarily left sorel and went to vivek/yev and hv been with them since.”

Mizzi has made a statement regarding the subject on the TwoPlusTwo forums in an attempt to clear up the situation. “The conversation in question contains bits and pieces of information from several conversations I’ve had with Thorladen and others over the course of about a year,” Mizzi writes in his lengthy post. “It was quite a while ago, but if I had to guess I would say the conversations occurred from 2008 to 2009 while I was sponsored by Betfair.” Mizzi is now a Titan Poker pro.

Mizzi states that, in late 2009, he was contacted by a potential extortionist who was “threatening to release what he had fabricated if I didn’t send him money online. I chose to completely ignore the threats.” Mizzi also clears Dombrowski and Agarwal by writing, “As far as Chris and Adi go, they were my horses about 2 years ago and neither of them have ever been involved in any shady activity that I know of. They are both good guys and both very trustworthy/loyal, so much so that I allowed both of them to calculate their own makeup.”

Mizzi also stands up to the continued attacks on his character by writing, “I strongly dislike coming on internet forums to read unfair, untrue, libelous BS judgments about my character. The only people who have the right to attack my character are the ones who know me well personally and I don’t think anyone who’s posted thus far does. I don’t blame them. As soon as anyone posts anything to defend me they get verbally attacked and accused of “sticking up for a cheater.”

He finishes his post on TwoPlusTwo by saying, “There are serious things that I’d like to address in a subsequent thread that I’ve been thinking about posting for a long time. I’m not sure whether or not I’ll post it because I truly don’t owe anyone here explanations about anything I do. But I’ll give it some serious thought.” Poker News Daily attempted to contact Mizzi, who is in Cyprus for the Full Tilt Poker Merit Poker Classic. At this time, Mizzi has not returned any request for comment.

Wherever the truth is in the most recent hubbub regarding Mizzi, his track record in the online poker world has been a turbulent one. He has served multiple suspensions for various violations of the terms and conditions of the top poker rooms, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and continuously has to defend himself from the “cheater” tag. It is also apparent that Mizzi has an extreme poker talent; the Canadian has over $3.2 million in live tournament earnings since his first venture into the arena in 2006.