2011 News Archives |
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Bee
Erdnaseum Commemorative Playing Cards
This commemorative deck was designed in conjunction
with the Genii article which asserts that W.E.
Sanders is the true identity of S.W. Erdnase who
wrote the classic 1902 about cheating at cards. The
back design features a special Scott Kim Inversion
which looks the same in both directions while
spelling both names. The deck is printed on Bee
stock using their older faces and a worm back
design. The limited edition deck was printed by the
USPC for Dan & Dave and Conjuring Arts. For more
information or to purchase from Gambling
Incorporated click: HERE.(9/2011) |
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Gambling
Museum
Richard and Mary Schulte who opened "The Green
Elephant Antique Gambling and Saloon Museum" are
featured in a Jackson Citizen Patriot article that
reported, "Cheating came hand-in-hand with gambling
and that’s also covered at the museum with loaded
dice, a 90-year-old rigged roulette wheel Richard
Schulte loves to demonstrate and contraptions that
card players snuck up their sleeves to hold cards
that might better their hands. "The players weren’t
the only ones cheating," Richard Schulte said. "The
slot machines had things called ‘bugs’ inside them
that stopped the machine from paying out. If I had a
dishonest bone in my body, I could probably make a
few bucks, but I don’t." To read the September 23
article by Leanne Smith titled "Couple brings
gambling history to life" click:
HERE.(9/2011) |
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A
Family Affair
A 57-year old and his 34-year old son help a dealer
cheat at the Resorts Worlds Sentosa casino in
Singapore. A Channel News Asia article reported
that, "Deputy Public Prosecutor Ruth Wong said that
as part of the plan, the Lims would approach Oh to
exchange either 500-dollar or 1,000-dollar chips for
those in smaller denominations. The then-dealer
would hand them more 100-dollar chips than what they
were entitled to." To read the September 12 article
by Shaffiq Alkhatib titled "Father and son jailed
for conspiring to cheat casino" click:
HERE.(9/2011) |
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Erdnase's
Identity Revealed
According to a 28-page feature in the September 2011
issue of Genii Magazine the identity of S.W. Erdnase
is actually Wilbur Edgerton Sanders (1861-1935). The
mystery around the seminal 1902 card cheating and
magic book titled "The Expert At The Card Table" has
plagued researchers for more than 100 years. There
have been many articles, books and even plays about
the elusive Mr. Erdnase and what could be his true
identity. Until now it was assumed that his name was
E.S. Andrews (S.W. Erdnase spelled backwards). This
compelling article changed all that and opened up a
new era of investigation about the author. To
purchase a copy of the magazine from Gambling
Incorporated click:
HERE.(8/2011) |
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Cop
Caught Capping
A police officer pleads guilty to cheating at
Blackjack at the Sycuan Casino in California while
channel 10News airs a surveillance video of him
repeatedly capping his bets. The story reports,
"'This is good evidence we have. The camera tells no
lies,' said Steve Van Slyke, director of
surveillance for the Sycuan Gaming Commission. …In
the video shot by an overhead camera, [the cop], in
the first three hands, adds a $25 chip when the
dealer is looking in the other direction at a player
on the other side of the table. …Despite three
capped bets, [he] ties the dealer on two of the
hands and only wins one hand. He earned an extra $25
because of the cheating." To read the August 17
transcript titled "Video Shows How Ex-Officer
Cheated At Casino" and watch the video click:
HERE.(8/2011) |
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A
Gang 70 Strong Hustling
A Popular Science article featured a story about a
scam that ran at the new Cosmopolitan casino in Las
Vegas last January. According to the story, "…a gang
called the Cutters cheated at baccarat. Before play
began, the dealer offered one member of the group a
stack of eight decks of cards for a pre-game cut.
The player probably rubbed the stack for good luck,
at the same instant riffling some of the corners of
the cards underneath with his index finger. A small
camera, hidden under his forearm, recorded the
order." To read the August 8 article by Andrew
Rosenblum titled "Spy vs. Spy" click:
HERE.(8/2011) |
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Card
Sharking Show
Magician Guy Hollingworth presented his magic
show/play about S.W. Erdnase and his 1902 book "The
Expert at the Card Table" at the Broad Stage in
Santa Monica, CA. A Variety review described it as,
"Guy's openness is a sham, of course. Every trade
secret he demonstrates is just a come-on into the
real jaw-dropping magic. We're twice as baffled when
a vanished or torn-up card reappears, or the deck is
dealt out incredibly ordered by suit, because we
think he's already told us the secret." To read the
July 18 review by Bob Verini click:
HERE.(7/2011) |
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Bee
Erdnase Acorn Special Edition Cards
One-way, monogrammed playing cards were produced
with a unique back design. The illustrations from
the classic 1902 book "The Expert At The Card Table"
were reduced and used to form a Bee like back
design. Unless you look carefully you will not even
notice the illustrations. The limited edition deck
was designed by Guy Hollingworth and printed by the
USPC for Conjuring Arts. They are available in a
Cambric finish and the rarer Ivory finish which
facilitates certain cheating techniques. For more
information or to purchase from Gambling
Incorporated click:
HERE.(7/2011) |
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Dealing
Winners
A crooked Blackjack dealer helps scam Golden Eagle
Casino. A Star Phoenix article reported that, "Two
men have admitted cheating by taking advantage of
opportunities provided by an allegedly crooked
dealer. ...The dealer did not shuffle properly but
dealt specific cards that guaranteed wins for the
players, flashed cards so they could make favourable
playing decisions, helped them mitigate losses by
telling them when to "buy insurance" and sometimes
allowed them to take back chips from lost bets...
[He] also stole high-value chips the dealer slid
back to him under lower-value chips, court heard."
To read the July 29 article by Betty Ann Adam titled
"Pair sentenced in casino scheme" click:
HERE.(7/2011) |
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Card
Shufflers With Cameras
Card shuffling machines with embedded cameras were
used to identify and transmit the information. An
article in The Standard reported that, "Macau police
have smashed a mainland syndicate that allegedly
swindled casinos out of more than HK$24 million
using camera-embedded card shuffling machines,
arresting seven men." To read the July 28 article by
Natalie Wong titled "Casino cheats raked in $24m"
click:
HERE.(7/2011) |
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Baccarat
Markings
Two men caught at Mohegan Sun and charged with
cheating at Baccarat. An article in The Day reported
that, "[They] allegedly paid casino dealers …to mark
the seven, eight and nine cards in baccarat and mini
baccarat games, giving them a 21.53% advantage of
winning each hand. ...Their gambling records
indicated that both men had lost more money than
they won until they started cheating. ...The two
former casino dealers have also been charged and
have cases pending in the same court." To read the
July 5 article by Karen Florin titled "Two men
allegedly paid Mohegan Sun dealers to mark cards"
click:
HERE.(7/2011) |
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Decades
Old Crew Caught
An international three person crew who has been
ripping off casinos for decades is caught. According
to a Ham & High article, "Over the course of two
lucrative decades the trio became the scourge of the
gambling establishment. With a travel itinerary that
would be the envy of many, the well-oiled team hit
casinos in Australia, Macau, Las Vegas and in
countless European cities. Using a technique called
'top hatting', they would dupe croupiers during
roulette games by placing a high value chip on top
of a winning number after it is called." To read the
June 13 article by Sanchez Manning titled "World’s
biggest gambling cheat stopped in tracks" click:
HERE.(6/2011) |
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WSOP
Marked Cards?
Misprinted/Marked cards used at the World Series of
Poker in Las Vegas. A Bluff Magazine article
reported that, "Though the card controversy began in
the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event, the
repercussions of the discovery that players could
still see the printing defect on the deuce, trey,
four, and five of spades ended up resulting in some
shuffling and scrambling in the Championship event.
…eventually the tournament switched entirely to the
black decks, where the defect is more difficult to
see than on the red decks. …The cards were replaced
within a day or so and WSOP staffers told BLUFF that
the US Playing Card Company (USPC) could feasibly
reprint the more than 10,000 decks needed for the
WSOP in the span of a day or two." To read the June
10 article by Jessica Welman titled "WSOP End of
Day: Card Controversy Continues, Stars Shine in
Shootout" click:
HERE.(6/2011) |
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Chips
Used To Mark High Cards
Blackjack team caught in Delaware. An ABC Action
News story reported that "Authorities say Huang used
a gaming chip to make indentation marks on
"ten-valued" playing cards. Allegations say Yu and
Li were players at the same blackjack table and
attempted to use the knowledge of the marked cards
to their advantage. ...Police say a subsequent
search of Yu's rented vehicle outside the casino
yielded evidence that the group of men were
targeting casinos across the country. Police say
they are suspected of being part of a larger
organized cheating team working out of New York City
and San Francisco." To read the May 25 article
titled "Delaware State Police have arrested three
men and charged them with cheating at a blackjack
table at Delaware Park Casino" click:
HERE.(5/2011) |
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Bee
Erdnase Smith No. 2 Cards
Playing cards were produced with a unique back
design. The illustrations from the classic 1902 book
"The Expert At The Card Table" were reduced and used
to form a Bee like back design. Unless you look
carefully you will not even notice the
illustrations. The limited edition deck was designed
by Guy Hollingworth and printed by the USPC for
Conjuring Arts. They are available in a Cambric
finish and the rarer Ivory finish which facilitates
certain cheating techniques. For more information or
to purchase from Gambling Incorporated click:
HERE.(4/2011) |
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Sandpaper
Card Marking
An Express-Times article reported that "An Oak
Ridge, N.J., man has been accused of using small
pieces of sandpaper to mark playing cards at the
Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, court records say."
The article also pointed out that "Some of the cards
that were used at poker table number one had
abnormal wear marks on different portions of the
back. The wear corresponded to the value of the
cards. For example, an ace was marked in the upper
left corner and the marks continued in descending
numerical order." To read the April 11 article by
Michael Buck titled "N.J. man accused of marking
cards at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem" click:
HERE. (4/2011) |
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Singapore
Roulette Scammers
Roulette scammers in Singapore get convicted.
According to a Channel News Asia article "…[a
croupier] who manned a Roulette table, also overpaid
his accomplice a total sum of about S$1,700. …[He]
controlled the movement of the ball used at his
Roulette table such that it would always land within
a pre-determined area….And should the ball land
elsewhere, [he] would deliberately overpay the next
time he won to make up for the losses." To read the
March 22 article by Shaffiq Alkhatib titled
"Croupier and punter jailed for cheating RWS of
nearly S$29,000" click:
HERE.(3/2011) |
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January
29 Cheating Auction
On January 29th at Potter & Potter Auctions in
Chicago there will take place a gambling and magic
auction titled "Card Table Artifice & Legerdemain."
It features a vast array of gambling and cheating
equipment and books that you are unlikely to ever
see in one place again. Many very rare first edition
books like Erdnase, Ritter, Green and much more. The
auction takes place live and online. To visit the
online auction site click:
HERE.
>>>To purchase a catalog from Gambling
Incorporated click:
HERE. (1/2011) |
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New
Hold'em Cheating Book
Cheating At Texas Hold'em is a new book by magician
John Born subtitled, "A Modern Guide to the Art of
Deception and Illicit Play at the Card Table." It is
full of all of the latest gimmicks and techniques
used to cheat at cards and Texas Hold’em in
particular. Along with all of the classic methods
which are presented in a modern context you will
find many new approaches and ideas developed by Born
and some of the people he knows. What makes this
book stand out from many of the rest is that it was
written in a manner that even the most uninformed
card player will be able to understand. For more
information or to purchase from Gambling
Incorporated click:
HERE. (1/2011) |
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Hold-Out
Use At Foxwoods
Four men were arrested at the Foxwoods Resort Casino
in Connecticut for cheating at Baccarat and taking
in close to $900,000 during 14 visits between
September 8-October 20. The method they used appears
to be a "Hold-Out" attached to one of the player's
left arm. The switches were made behind cover of a
scorecard that was waved by a second crew member. It
seems that the team also ran this scam in Atlantic
City and police are investigating the possibility of
the team being part of a Korean syndicate. To read
the January 4, Norwich Bulletin, article by Greg
Smith titled "Foxwoods cheater hid cards up sleeve"
click:
HERE.(1/2011)
>>>To read the January 7, The Day, article by
Izaskun E. Larrañeta titled "Police: Foxwoods card
cheats had something up their sleeves" click:
HERE.(1/2011) |
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AC
Tropicana Fined
The Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City was fined
$40,000 for not catching a dealer and customer team
which cheated at Blackjack for seven months during
2008-2009. The scam involved the dealer not
collecting losing bets and over paying winning bets.
It is estimated that this happened on 20-30
different occasions. To read the January 5
Associated Press article by Wayne Parry titled
"$115K in Casino Fines for Cheating, Underage Cases"
click:
HERE.(1/2011) |
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Video
Poker Scam
A software glitch allowed players to inflate the
jackpot payouts in IGT video poker machines. Two men
in Las Vegas were charged with stealing more than
$400,000 by exploiting the bug. It seems that once
the machine is set by an attendant the players can
play single coins until they hit a jackpot and then
make the machine think they played a maximum bet.
The scam was also used in Pennsylvania. A Las Vegas
Review-Journal article reported that, "A player can
stumble onto a glitch, but one also can be
discovered by a dedicated slot cheat who buys a
machine and experiments to find vulnerabilities." To
read the January 5 article by Brian Hayes titled
"Two men charged in slot plot" click:
HERE.(1/2011) |
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