New Poker and Casino Cheat Catchers Page Coming Soon!

Those of you familiar with this site know that it supplies tons of information about famous and infamous poker and casino cheats, covering their histories, cheat moves and how they ended up, that being rich, broke, in jail, or some combination of all three. Now I am adding a new page, which will be entitled "POKER AND CASINO CHEATCATCHERS." This page will do the same for well-known people who have spent careers pursuing, catching and bringing professional poker cheats and casino cheats to justice, including online poker and casino cheatcatchers. Some of these people, as you will see, are quite colorful characters with life stories as interesting as some of the cheats profiled on my Poker and Casino Cheats Hall of Fame page.

If you want to nominate someone for this page, send me the info for the person and I will gladly consider it.

The main text for the new page will read as follows:

For as long as there have been poker and casino cheats and online poker and online casino cheats, there have been poker and casino cheatcatchers hot on their trails. The cheatcatchers profiled on my new cheatcatchers page have been responsible for uncovering the biggest poker and casino scams in history, including the megascams that have happened in online poker rooms and casinos.

Should I Write Poker Cheat or Casino Cheat Novel?

What do YOU think about me writing a poker cheating or casino cheats crime novel?

As most of you probably know, I have written four factual books during this decade about poker and casino cheating. "American Roulette" ("Great Casino Heist" in the UK and Europe) was my first book which of course is my personal memoirs as a casino and poker cheat. To read a little about that and my other books, you can see them here.

My last book "World's Greatest Gambling Scams" came out in the spring of 2007. Now, more than two years later, I am getting the itch to write again, but this time I would like to try my hand at fiction. I have been thinking of a good crime novel with poker and casino cheating woven into its plot. I would have corrupt dealers and casino owners, cheating gamblers and, of course, some juicy homicides. Naturally some of the cheating gambling part would borrow some of the best moments of my professional poker and casino cheating career, but the plot and characters in the book, which I am thinking of entitling "Deadly Dealer," will be completely fictitious and original.

The reason I'm posting this entry is to see what kind of market exists out there for me as a fiction writer. I don't want to deal with publishers anymore. I prefer publishing the novel myself and selling it directly from this website. I would price it at $10.95. If you would be interested in purchasing the book when it is finished, please drop me a note telling me. Remember, I am not selling the book now. I am only trying to get a feel if it's worthwhile for me to write it.

I would appreciate your response.
Thanks, Richard

Poker Faced Baccarat Cheats Sentenced in Huge Cheat Scam!

In the biggest poker or casino scam ever pulled off (outside of online poker cheat scams), four poker-faced Asian baccarat cheats belonging to the Tran Organization were sentenced to serious prison terms and ordered to reimburse casinos in the US and Canada huge amounts of money. The $20 million false shuffle scam they laid down by recruiting crooked dealers and floor personnel was actually my first cheating experience when I dealt baccarat in Las Vegas in the late '70s. I am not sure that I was the first person to do this scam but imagine I was one of the early ones. IT has since been done many times across the world.

To read about the scam itself click here.

To read about the sentencing of the Tran Organization click here.

The Ins and Outs of Online Poker Cheating

Okay, we have been besieged by online poker cheat scandals the last two years, right? Right! In light of this fact, I have been getting tons of e-mails asking how online poker cheats work and what online players can do to defend themselves against cheats playing poker online. Well, the best advice I can give is to first learn and understand the various methods of online poker cheating and semi-online poker cheating. With that in mind, I have outlined just about every method of online cheating poker rooms have been victimized by. Some of these methods only border on online poker cheating, but nevertheless they are effective in getting your money. Some are as well scams that have nothing to do with cheating in the actual online poker play, but you can still fall victim to them and lose your money.

Collusion

Collusion is when two or more players at a table work together to defraud one or more other players at the table by sharing information. It could be as simple as two guys using IM to warn each other when they have a big hand. More intricate collusion methods include employing specific strategies to get other players to put more money in the pot. The standard method is the squeeze play. In the squeeze play two players trap a player between them and raise and re-raise each other forcing the player in the middle to keep calling. One of the two colluding players will have a monster and the other can have anything because he will fold his hand on the river.

Fortunately, collusion is one of the more simple forms of cheating for both players and the poker room to detect. Watch out for telltale signs of collusion such as two players who always play at the same table and exhibit the same playing patterns with lots of raising between them. If you're suspicious, report it to the site and they should investigate it.

Poker Bot Software

A bot is simply a piece of software that can take certain actions. A poker bot can be programmed to push fold, call and raise buttons based on some sort of semi-complex array of if/then statements and scoring. Although it has never been proven that bots can beat intelligent players, there are bots with a kind of "artificial intelligence" that may be able to do just that. The main limit of a bot´s success is the intelligence and poker intelligence of the person programming its strategy. I will say that the bots you see for sale online are generally cheating you and not the online poker players you want to use them against. In short, they´re bad!
However, the artificial intelligent bots are very expensive and not for sale online, at least not real ones. These bots are sophisticated and can learn and adapt to different online games. People able to program AI bots are highly intelligent and know how to avoid giving off signals of their bot activity in the games. What usually ensues is a cat and mouse game between them and the online sites. The sites find a way to detect and block the bots and then the programmers find a way to circumvent the defense. In conclusion, I would say that it is rare that you will come up against a really good AI bot that can beat you, and even if you do, it's only one player (or bot) at the table!

Hacking via Trojans, Keyloggers, Phishing and Viruses

Don´t download and install suspicious software on your computer! That is how you get scammed for huge money! The main ways this happens is that the hackers get your passwords and see your hole cards. And usually they don't have to work that hard. Most victims fall prey to simple e-mails notifying them they need to confirm their personal info in order to collect bonuses. Don't give it up!!! Watch out for hackers in chat rooms posing as system administrators wanting to verify your account details. No legitimate online poker room will ever ask you to confirm your personal and login info. And don't click on a link in a dealer chat window that doesn’t go to the site you are playing on. Beware of sites imitating other sites, such as absolutepokerroom.com trying to fool you into thinking it is absolutepoker.com

Inside Scams

These are the most brutal and almost impossible to protect yourself from. As what happened at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, employees or ex-employees who have access to the poker room’s systems manipulate it to gain unfair advantages against other opponents. At UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, the scam was using source codes to see everyone's hole cards.

The biggest problem here is that the online sites themselves usually take a long time to admit online poker cheating has happened on their sites. Both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet denied cheating was happening for months until the evidence became overwhelming. The key was online players doing their own research into suspicious play. However, because of the Absolute and UltimateBet scandals, future online poker cheats will be more careful. Instead of being greedy and trying to win every pot, they’ll only use their advantage in big pots or critical hands in tournaments. In that fashion, insiders working with the knowledge of your hole card can go on indefinitely without being caught. And since there is still no regulation of online poker, expect to see more of these huge online cheat scams in the future.

Multi-Accounting

Multi-Accounting is when a player plays multiple accounts at the same time on the same online poker room. Several high-profile cases have been uncovered over the last few years where a player entered a tournament under several different accounts. The worst case scenario is the player has two of his own accounts at the same table and thus could engage in all sorts of acts considered to be collusion. That is random and relatively rare compared to the fact that this one player simply gets multiple shots at the same prize as everyone else.

Account Selling

This has come to light more recently and basically when a player plays a tournament and is then offered the opportunity to sell his stake in that account to another player who then takes over the account and completes the tournament for him. The biggest problem created by this is that this is usually done when the tournament has worked its way down to a final few players (maybe the last 2–3 tables or even the final table). All of a sudden another player takes over the account and plays much differently than the original player eliminating any tells other players may have picked up on that player over the course of the tournament. Compounding the problem is that the purchaser of the account can ask the seller for his read on all the other opponents and can even go back through hand histories and figure out all the other player’s playing styles. In some cases this form of cheating can show itself obviously, for example: one player logging in from Las Vegas suddenly disconnects in the middle of a tournament and then logs back in from London a few seconds later. But if the two players happen to be in the same room and they simply swap seats it is a very difficult accusation to prove because many players will change up their playing style at various stages in a tournament. The poker room would need to go back and look at a large data set of previous tournament data and see if this was an unusual shift in playing styles. And even if they did conclude it was out of the ordinary, who’s to say that the player didn’t just get done reading a chapter on late stage tournament play and was following the advice given in the book?

Chip Dumping

Chip dumping can be done for various reasons but the one that tends to impact players is during tournaments or cash games where one player intends to give all of his chips to another player. In cash games it can result in lots of unnecessary re-raising which drives other players out of pots and during tournaments the goal is to give the target player a nice big stack so he can go late into the tournament. Both are a form of collusion though the two (or more) players involved in the collusion may not have any concern about taking chips off the other players. Their goal is to pass chips from one player to the other.

Angle Shooting and Disconnect Protect Abuse

Many poker sites offer tables that have disconnect protection. The way this works is that if the software detects that the player has become disconnected the player’s hand will not be folded and he will be allowed to see the river without putting any more money in the pot. This allows a player who thinks his opponent has him beat to pull the internet connection on his computer and thus see whether or not he has the best hand without putting any more money in the pot.

Poker rooms typically attempt to stop the abuse of this feature by only allowing players a set amount of disconnect protects. After they have reached their limit they will be folded if they fail to act in time. However the abuse still continues because players will often ask to have their limit reset, and barring other players complaining, the poker room will typically honor the request. Obviously, the best way to avoid people shooting this angle on you is to complain when you feel another player is abusing it. When he asks for a reset the poker room will see that other players have complained and will likely not reset his limit.

Short Stacking

Some players will buy into a no-limit table with the minimum buy-in and look for the opportunity to get all their chips in the pot on a big hand. After they double up they leave the table and go sit at another table with the minimum buy-in and repeat the process. This isn't cheating but it is a disadvantage to you at these tables.

Outright Fraud

While online poker rooms directly ripping off customers is fairly rare it has happened in the past and will likely happen in the future as long as the industry remains relatively unregulated. Many of the early card room failures were the result of player monies being co-mingled with the casino’s assets which can often prove to be a tempting pool to dip into if a cash-strapped casino/card room is looking to make a big marketing splash or perhaps even an acquisition.

If you play at any of the top card rooms the chances are very low you’re going to get ripped off like this. However if you play at some unknown, incipient site, it could happen.

Player to Player Online Poker Scams

The creativity of scams is only limited by the imagination of the scammer. The most common types of scams are other players asking for loans, handouts, or some sort of trade. For instance a legitimate player on Party Poker may need to get money into his William Hill account. He posts on a message board that he’s willing to trade $550on Party Poker for $500 deposited into his William Hill account. Then a scammer accepts the offer. The legit player transfers the $550 first and the scammer never transfers back a dime.

Since the poker site can’t confirm whether or not a transfer has occurred on another site, they usually will not get involved in these sorts of disputes. Your best protection against this type of scam is to never transfer money to other players that you don’t know very well and trust. Set up proper deposit and withdrawal methods that will allow you to handle your own finances rather than relying on the kindness (or greed) of strangers to move money from one place to another.

Okay, that about covers online poker cheating and the various cheats who do it. Play smart and protect yourself!!!

Early Online Poker Cheat Bonomo Has Come a Long Way Since Cheating

Justin Bonomo´s poker career has come a long way since he (as "ZeeJustin") was implicated in several online poker multi-accounting cheat scams. In recent times, he has been doing his best to support the integrity of online poker as a Bodog online poker team member and he seems to be credible at this. But his real thrust forward has been as a professional poker tournament player. Bonomo has become a force at the WSOP and other major tournaments throughout the world, not only in no-limit hold'em but in a variety of poker games including Omaha Hi-Lo and pot limit events. In addition to having already earned more than $2 million in tournaments, he has been raking in the chips in cash games. The Bodog online poker team member is quickly becoming one of the top ten live poker players in the world.

And it appears he's doing all of this without cheating the poker tables!

Possessing a great intuitive poker brain and using a fearsomely aggressive style that he combines with his online poker skills, Bonomo is going to continue to be one of those special few poker players who can dominate both brick and mortar and online poker.

Let's just hope that his career as a poker cheat is over!

Hellmuth Takes Poker Cheat Barb on ESPN WSOP Main-Event Table!

In the middle of yesterday's WSOP Main Event action, Phil Hellmuth, who is teamed up with the online poker scandal ridden site UltimateBet, raised under the gun while his table was being featured on ESPN. Suddenly, Todd Witteles, who goes by the name "Dan Druff" and was playing at the same table, said sarcastically to Phil, "Can you see my cards? Oh wait, I forgot, we're not on Ultimate Bet." Of course he was cracking about the huge UltimateBet cheating scandal, in which UltimateBet employees Russ Hamilton (1994 Main Event winner) and others used their master accounts to cheat players out of millions of dollars by reading their hole cards. Hellmuth defended himself by saying, "So a company has some low-level employees do some dishonest things that people don't know about for awhile. Do you blame everyone in the company for that?" Before the argument could escalate, a WSOP floorman intervened and gave each player a warning.

No, Phil, you're not responsible for the UltimateBet cheating scandal, but you're still a poker brat!

Australian Casinos Bit By Major Rash of Recent Casino Cheating!

Australia has long been a favorite haven for professional casino cheat teams, and I myself used to love going Down Under only to resurface with loads of profits! With its giant casinos that rival the size of the biggest US casinos, and perhaps its less capable or nonchalant surveillance departments, casino cheat teams have found some friendly confines in which to ply their crafts.

I have been receiving steady reports through June and the first week of July of pastposters, shuffle-trackers and poker and slot machine cheats. Conrad Jupiters seems to be the Foxwoods of Australia, meaning, of course, that Conrad Jupiters is Australia's most cheat-prone casino. Strangely enough, that casino has also been the target of dozens of complaints about gamblers leaving their kids unattended in and around the casino.

There have been more than 1400 complaints of casino cheating within the last year at Brisbane and Gold Coast casinos, including sharp rises in the theft of casino chips and coins. There have also been credit scams and reports of cheating in poker rooms. I imagine the Russian card-swapping and collusion teams are having a field day there!

Conrad Jupiters' managing director Stuart Wing said the company was happy for the information to be in the public domain. Mr Wing said the company's commitment to regulations was displayed in any increases in statistics. That he would have to explain to me. Remember a large number of reported cases does not mean surveillance is doing a good job catching the cheats. It means that the casino is rather easy to cheat.

"We work to close any loopholes that are found," Mr Wing said. "It shows we are responsible managers of a casino operation. We have a very pro-active stance on regulation."

In spite of Mr. Wing's supposed commitment to regulation, Conrad Jupiters and other casinos have also had problems with licensing dealers, such as breaking the law with "official" letters showing a dealer worked the tables at the Gold Coast casino last December despite being unlicensed.

In some of the 525 internal procedural breaches last year, a three-month audit of the operation of the game of craps found violations at the same Broadbeach venue. It found "dealing inconsistencies" had occurred for some time but the details have been blacked out by FOI officers for commercial-in-confidence reasons. In another case at Jupiters in Townsville in December, the integrity of 12 decks of the casino's official playing cards were compromised when a staff member left them on top of a roulette touchbet terminal.

Wow!...It might be a long flight to get Down Under, but it sure as hell seems worth it--if you're a poker or casino cheat.

New Blackjack Advantage Play Technique! "Sorting"

Over the past several months, several casinos in Northern Nevada have been subject to an advantage play attack of their blackjack games known as “sort” play. In order to take advantage of “sorts”, the advantage player must first find a casino that offers a hand dealt blackjack game where the players handle the dealt playing cards. Second, the advantage players need a casino that also uses playing cards that have a pattern back that covers the entire playing card. One particular brand of playing cards that has been attacked is the US Playing Card company’s “Aristocrat” brand. Any of the other manufactured brands with a full back pattern could be subject to sorts as well. Sorts are created when a card is not symmetrically cut during the deck’s printing process. All casino quality playing card decks are printed on 60 card sheets, and are cut from the sheet using a two-step process. This process, although done with an automatic cutting machine, is not perfectly symmetrical. The cut may result in all cards of that deck having a very slight pattern difference on the sides or ends. Since the cards are printed with a full back design of diamonds, gems, or intersecting lines, sometimes cut pattern differences can be noticed by the trained eye. Although this is not common, it can happen. If the difference is too great, and the cut patterns can be read when sitting within several inches of the dealer held deck, the casino is open for a sort attack.

Sort play occurs when a group of players take over the entire table. After the cards are dealt, the team of players will position or turn their cards in a particular manner so one of the miss-cut pattern sides faces in the same direction when they slip their hand under the wagered chips. For example: the sort players may opt to position the ten value cards with all elongated diamonds on the back pattern facing to the right when the cards are positioned under the wagered chips. In this case, all non-ten value cards will be rotated 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The sort players will continue to keep turning the cards in the same manner throughout the dealing of the deck. Once the dealer shuffles the cards and begins to deal the next deck, the player will resume turning the cards until they have a majority of the playing cards positioned so they can be read to indicate the top card of the deck is either a ten or non-ten value card. In essence, the advantage player uses the miss-cut sort patterns to gain information just like a cheater uses marked cards.

How effective is blackjack sorting overall? It can be very effective when the right conditions are found, but I would not suggest it as a bread and butter advantage play weapon for advantage play teams. It serves best as an additional advantage play when you are already working your main advantage plays, such as card counting and ace-tracking.

Black Widow Sleight of Hand Device Has Casinos and Poker Rooms Worried About Inside Cheating By Dealers

Sleight of hand and cheating at gambling has long been a marriage made in griftingland, but now the Black Widow Cheating gadget, which is being called the best sleight of hand illusion switching device in history, has got casinos worried that crooked dealers will start using it to snatch big-denomination chips off their casino tables. Cheating casino dealers have long used palming techniques and various gadgets up their sleeves for ripping off their blackjack, craps and roulette tables of chips, but the Black Widow apparatus is reportedly so good and so fast that even if casino surveillance cameras filmed a dealer in the act of using it, nothing would show up on video.

This seems like real HOT SHIT to me! As of now, no evidence has come up concerning the use of a black widow in a casino, but you can bet your last chip that they are already out there on the tables. If you want to see a black widow in action, just go to YouTube.

Wharton School of Business Ivy Leaguers on Blackjack Card Counting Binge in Connecticut!

I don't know if these University of Pennsylvania business students read on my blog how Connecticut's two casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, are easy pickings for professional casino cheat and card counting teams, but if they didn't they sure learned about it somewhere! Reports have been coming in to me that highly advanced card counting teams made up of business students at the Wharton School of Business, the highest regarded business school in the US, have been doing a number on these two casinos, which I had visited just a month ago. I did see some good card counting teams at work there, but I can't say if I saw the Ivy Leaguers working the blackjack tables. According to my source, these teams are highly sophisticated and are playing mainly black $100 chips. I have been told they are as good as the MIT blackjack card counting teams of the '90s, but in any case, this is not mindboggling that blackjack card counting teams can still beat the hell out of casinos for big money after all the publicity the blackjack card counting movie "21" shined on the card counters. This is because the casinos can still be fooled by it, and they probably don't care that much anyway as the same movie has brought them many more wannabe card counters who are really just losers to the blackjack tables. To date, Connecticut's casinos are in the hole over a million bucks to these Wharton guys, and that is just this year!