Beware of Facebook Poker Cheat Scam!

Source: sportsmedianetwork.com

It seems one of the apparent latest scams going on is for people to open a Facebook account, or an account on a similar social Networking site, and in the guise of being a very well known poker pro. Then the scam begin and when these poker pro players start asking for money transfers between poker sites, or even a small loan, or for you to receive a piece of their winning action. First of all we are under the impression that no legitimate poker pro would ask for money from other online poker players as these matters are held in private and are usually held within a very small group of trusted associates. No matter how legitimate the person appears to be, or how enticing offer they might make to you, make sure you always protect yourself and your precious money. No way should you give anyone person or player instant poker credibility simply because of a name or a picture appears on a social networking site.

How serious has this scam gotten. Well one player reports that he has been friends with no less than twelve (12) Daniel Negreanu’s and another company has reported where the offender posed as the highly respected poker Pro Willie Tann, and other messages from “Mike matusow” in the past about buying a piece of his action in the Sunday Poker Tournaments. All need to keep in mind; it only takes a few minutes and a quick stop at Wikipedia for a person to create a bogus Facebook account. Don’t let yourself be fooled by these scammers. If you want to take a look at a poker site on Facebook look for Poker Host and they are very legit and will answer any and all of your question as they really understand online poker players and the poker community on the Internet.

Iowa Casino Bet-Capping Poker Cheat Banned For Life!

I guess if you're a casino cheat and you have to get banned from an entire state's casinos, it could be worse than getting banned from Iowa's!

Dustin O. Kendrick, 30, was sentenced to two years' supervised probation in Clinton County District Court for the felony charge of prohibited acts at a gambling game. Kendrick got busted for cheating in February 2009 on an Ultimate Texas Hold'em table at the Wild Rose Casino and Resort in Clinton. Apparently, he had palmed two $25 chips and then laid them atop of his original $50 bet after winning the hand, trying to bilk the Iowa casino for fifty bucks. The worst part about this for Kendrick is that the conviction is a felony, a big price to pay for a mere pittance of a crime.

In addition to the lifetime ban from Iowa casinos, he was fined $750, but the judge had the good heart to suspend that. However, Kendrick must seek treatment for his supposed gambling and alcohol addictions.

My take: Well, it's a tough break getting the felony conviction on that. I think Mr. Kendrick oughta keep out of casinos in EVERY state! But for life?
Nah!...Just until he gives up the thoughts of cheating.

Good Casino Cheats Usually Go For the Toughest Moves

People ask me whether casino cheats select the easiest moves or the more difficult ones, thinking the obvious that the easier moves can be performed without much difficulty but might encounter problems getting paid because casino personnel already know about them. The truth of the matter is that the easy moves are usually done by amateur teams while the toughies are the work of experienced professional cheat teams. This is especially true of roulette, the casino table game where the most cheating goes on. If you look at a roulette layout, you probably understand without much cheating knowledge that the easier moves are done at the bottom of the table, the point farthest from the dealer. This is completely true, and 75 to 85% of roulette moves happen there. The most common are pastposts and pinches, the latter being when losing bets are "pinched" off the layout before the dealer can sweep them off.

Good and professional roulette cheat teams, like mine of course, often worked the top of the roulette layout, sometimes directly under the dealers' noses. When a successful pastpost or other cheat move is performed high on the layout like that, the dealer and the supervisor find it difficult to believe that the cheat move was indeed a cheat move. On several occasions I heard dealers and pitbosses say things like "That couldn't have been a move, it was right under our noses!" LOL and I LOL´d when that happened! And to make these top-wheel moves even better, no obvious distractions were used to turn the dealer's head. These type of distractions take the beauty out of the move and sometimes alert the pit that it was indeed a move. We always went up top naked, and the results were devastating to the casinos.

However, I must mention that the best roulette move of all time, the Savannah move, was done at the bottom of the wheel. This was an exception to the rule of the higher the better.

Cheats Continue to Run Amok in Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa Casino!

As I had predicted, casino cheats are having a field day over in Singapore. We've been hearing about people getting caught, but they are the rank amateurs, the latest being forty-six year-old Alice Lau Qian Xiu, who recently got busted for claiming $630 from a cashout ticket that belonged to another gambler. Before her it was a taxi driver who tried a lame $200 pastposting move on the baccarat table. All of this coincides with the dozens of casino infractions being committed to gain entry to the casino and avoid paying the entry tax (only Singapore citizens have to pay it).

But what you're not hearing about, simply because the Singaporean casino authorities have little or no idea it's happening, are the crack professional cheat teams who are wearing out Resorts World Sentosa's tables with cheat moves at a pace that rivals what happened in the rookie days of Atlantic City and Foxwoods in Connecticut. Not surprisingly, my classic ten-oh-five blackjack move is being done on Sentosa's baccarat tables by more than half a dozen teams. The dealers and supervisors don't seem to have a clue. And of course, my Savannah move has been borrowed and is showing her stuff there as well. Italian roulette cheats are in town, doing their very strong pastpost slide moves, and whatever inside dealer cheating is going on, I will let you know as soon as I have it. Expect a lot of that, once the Chinese gangs get a foothold in the casino.

How long do I think this cheat barrage will last?

Well, if we take Atlantic City as an example, it will be a good 3 to 5 years.

If we take Foxwoods as an example...well, it could last forever! Why am I saying this? Simply because Foxwoods, almost two decades after opening, remains the easiest major casino in the world to cheat.

More Comments on Doyle Brunson as a Poker Cheat...But This Time it's in Brunson's Defense!

Rumors about legendary poker player Doyle Brunson being a cheat at poker have been circulating not for years but rather for decades. A well known cash player named Dusty Schmidt who also runs the poker instructional website Drag the Bar had called Brunson a poker cheat, that according to a poster on the 2+2 Forum named Shortbutsosweet who wrote, "Last I heard of him (Schmidt), he was calling Brunson out for cheating Andy Beal out of money. HAHAHHAHA is all I can say about him saying anything about what his thoughts on Brunson poker are all about. Also would love to see this guy take his roll and his mouth to Bobby's room for about a week. Lets see how long that 57 month winning streak could go then. Just saying maybe its time to take a step off that high high horse you ride. Something should start to click about the time Doyle Brunson is calling you out in his blogs."

According to Schmidt, he has never called Doyle Brunson a cheater and doesn't believe that he is one. Schmidt claims Shortbutsosweet had misinterpreted one of his blog posts from two weeks ago where he says he called Brunson the best poker player in the world. Schmidt now says that he has tremendous respect for Brunson as both a human being and poker player. He then goes on to say that "Doyle absolutely never told me to come to Bobby’s room and come play him (whatever this means). Doyle said that he would welcome any action from some of the young internet players who thought they were so great..."

My take: Well, this effusion of respect for Brunson makes me think that Dusty Schmidt is full of dusty shit! Come on, even if Doyle Brunson never cheated a penny out of a penny-ante poker game, can you really believe that? Schmidt more than likely has some ulterior motive for such ebullient praise for Brunson.

Casino Swim-up Tables For the Taking!/Bubble-Bluffing

I recieved a humourous e-mail this weekend from a would-be casino cheat. He revealed to me that he really doesn´t have the balls to try cheat moves with all those surveillance cameras jutting out of casino ceilings, but he said he'd heard about blackjack tables in swimming pools at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino as well as at other casinos. He said that there, inside the swimming pool, he'd gladly take a shot cheating the casino, not having to worry about surveillance cameras in a swimming pool because there weren't any.

LOL! Boy did I get a laugh outta that! I wrote him back explaining that the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino swim-up blackjack tables are indeed actually inside the pool but are housed inside a mini-island on which is built a gazebo-like structure that has the same old casino video cameras on its ceilings. The only difference between cheating inside the casino and outside in the pool, I told him, is that if you fuck up outside, there's always the chance you might end up drowning in the pool!

Another e-mail asked me a more intelligent question: Do all casinos really film every table and slot machine 24/7 continuously?

The answer to that is no, but I can't tell you which ones do and don't. Certainly almost all casinos give the appearance that they are capable of filming every inch of casino floor every second with all those bubbles above you everywhere, but some casinos are certainly bluffing in certain places. Trying to cut costs of operating the digital equipment (or in some cases not-digital equipment), casinos might be depending on the naked black bubble alone to curb the cheating by making cheats afraid they are constantly being filmed. I would say that in major gambling areas like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Macau, it would be extremely rare that a functional camera is not operating inside the bubble, but in secondary casino areas, places like Eaatern Europe and South America, there may be some bubble-bluffing going on.

My advice: Just come up with a move to beat the cameras like I did with Savannah. Then you don't have to worry about cameras catching you cheat!

Vegas Casinos Bust Cheating Gambler For Not Paying $4 Million in Markers! Shame on Them!

Man, I hate when I read about casinos busting people for not paying their casino markers, mainly because the vast majority of those who don't pay their markers already have ruined their lives by losing everything they own in the casinos. I do realize that the casinos don't put a gun to anyone's head and force him or her to gamble, but they are the true masters of both regular and subliminal advertising, right?

The Wisconsin businessman charged with not paying his gambling debts was accused of trying to skate on nearly S4 million in markers, most of it from Caesars Palace (as you all know, my favorite casino!), and the remainder from the Hard Rock Casino.

Christian Peterson, 41, of Verona, Wisconsin, pleaded not guilty to one count of theft in connection with four markers and to two counts of drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with the intent to defraud.

According to Peterson's attorney, his client went on a reckless gambling spree in 2008 and was an addicted degenerate gambler who needs therapy for his problem.

The indictment accused Peterson of trying to flee town like Flint, literally in a run for his life to get out of Vegas before he got caught. He'd moved his chartered flight-time up to evade casino hosts looking for him. They had the right to demand payment before he left the premises.

Peterson made it out of town and into the air--but then the pilot, receiving word from Vegas officials on the ground, actually turned the plane around and brought it back to Vegas.

"All of it is in dispute," Peterson's attorney, Chris Rasmussen, was quoted as saying.

My take: Getting the plane turned around on you like that is one tough beat! If Peterson ever tries a marker scam, he ought to try the Casino Credit/Identity Theft Scam on my Casino Scam of the Month page.

First Singapore Casino Cheating Bust! It Was a Pastpost Move.

According to the Casino Crime Investigation Branch for Singapore, Loo Siew Wan, 53, is the first person charged with a table games crime at the Resorts World Sentosa casino.

Congratulations, Loo! Somebody had to be IT! LOL!

He has been charged with five crimes related to his pastpost attempt: attempted cheating, cheating by impersonation, theft and giving false information to the police upon his interrogation.

He allegedly tried his cheat move on a casino dealer at one of the Casino's baccarat tables. He placed two SD $100 chips on the 'banker' after the cards had been dealt and the banker already won the hand. This was not a chip-switch move, which would have been better, but simply an amateurish attempt of slapping $200 down on banker and hoping the dealer wouldn't notice it was a late bet.

He also allegedly entered the casino illegally (which seems to be Singapore's casino's biggest problem thus far, as dozens have been busted for entering on false pretenses) by posing as Loh Siow Kok, who happens to be his brother. He used the brother's drivers license to get in.

He was then charged with another crime when he again showed the brother's driver's license to police inspectors called to the scene. He was then charged with stealing his brother's license! LOL! Some brother this guy is!!!...I mean Loo, the casino cheat/thief, not Loh, the brother/victim.

Bail was set at SD $15,000 for all of the above.

My take: This guy went through an awful lot to get himself busted doing a rank amateur move. Better luck with the next stolen ID he uses!

Is Ladbrokes Casino's New Live Dealer Blackjack Any Safer or Riskier Than Regular Online Blackjack as far as Cheating is Concerned?

Absolutely not. Although Ladbrokes Casino regularly appears as one of the safest all-around online casinos on my Top-10 Safest anti-cheat online casinos list, their new live dealer blackjack games do not make it any more or less riskier as far as cheating is concerned.

Here's an article by gamingsupermarket.com about Ladbrokes' live dealer blackjack:

Ladbrokes Casino has some exciting things going on for those that love live blackjack. Now, the online casino features a live dealer blackjack game. At the present time, this is the most life like blackjack game that you can find in any online casino. This game has been made possible by Microgaming, a leader in the development of online casino software.

This new blackjack game has some features that are new to online blackjack. The first of these is a feature known as bet behind. With this feature, you have the capability to make wagers on players that are seated at the blackjack table. Therefore, if you happen to observe a blackjack player that seems to have a good grasp of the game and plays well, you can choose to bet your money on his performance rather than actually playing the game yourself. Keep in mind that with this bet behind feature, you have no way of actually interacting with the chosen blackjack player. You will not be able to tell them how to play their hand. This is the same as in live land based casinos.

The other feature that is part of Ladbrokes’s latest blackjack offering is the waiting list. As the name implies, it is a waiting list for a specific blackjack dealer. You would add your name to the list and wait until a seat is open. What is nice about this feature is you can enjoy other casino gaming while on the waiting list. Names are added to the waiting list on a first come, first served basis. Playing while waiting is much more enjoyable than watching a table continually for a free seat to become available.

Along another line, this live dealer blackjack game also adds other aspects to the game in order to make a most realistic blackjack experience. The addition of video streaming technology permits players to see their hands being dealt by a live dealer. Secondly, this technology allows players to interact not only with the dealer but also one another. For those gamblers holding out for a more real life blackjack experience, this is the game for you!

Good Oldfashioned Poker Card-Swapping is NOT a Dying Art!

When you pick up a king with a four in a Texas hold'em game and you get a peek at the guy sitting next to you's cards and notice that he's holding a king with a five, and you think, "Wouldn't it be nice if I had his king and he had my four..."

Well, in some well-groomed and practiced cases this does actually happen, and the cards one player happens to see another player holding happen to belong to his partner in poker crime. I'm talking about amateur and professional card-swapping teams, and the good ones are quite effective and get your money very quickly. Read more about card-swapping here.

And it happens in other games besides poker, usually hand-held blackjack.

But then again, not all these poker and blackjack card-swapping teams are that great. Here's one that recently got busted looking pretty bad:

In South Wales (don't know how much action there is over there), a team of card-swappers got nabbed plying their trade in the city of Swansea's main casino. One 34-year-old poker player ID'd as Ozgur Aytekin (rough sounding name, like a terrorist!) was seen on videotape peeking at the playing cards of the man sitting next to him at the table and then switching a card with him. Apparently there were four members to this team that had claimed to be tourists visiting England and Wales. The three caught were jailed for four weeks while one got away and remains at large.

3-Card Poker Operation

Theirs seemed to be quite blatant. According to a casino official, the members of the cheat-team would discuss openly their strategies while showing one another their hands at the three-card poker table. Then the one member not playing would distract the dealer while the other three removed their bottom cards and swapped them under the table. Of course the main poker cheat, Ayetekin, would end up with the winning hand.

In addition to moving cards around the table blatantly, they also moved chips in the same fashion. Ayetekin was observed passing his chips to a man not playing who was standing behind him.

The casino claims it was cheated out of £75 and an additonal £425 was recovered at the poker table.

My take: What a mere pittance to go through all this for!

But don't be fooled by the misadventures of this bumbling card-swapping team. There are lots of good ones operating, especially in California's huge poker card-clubs. I have written extensively about them in my book Dirty Poker.