Greatest Gambling Cheats Part 10: The Poker Exchange.

This move is one of the cheekiest casino cheats ever carried out, involving card swapping, it’s truly sneaky! Rather than the usual swapping that goes on between married couples, this involves swapping cards, not keys. There is a couple within the casino cheating world who are renowned for this particular scam, and they are really good at it. They have been carrying out this scam for well over a decade now.

 

Our source has informed us of a scam that he saw them perform in an L.A casino, whilst they were watching a $20 small blind/$40 big blind game of Texas Hold’em. One of the team members sat two seats away from opposite to the dealer and another woman was sat next to him. The woman was sat to the right hand side of the man. They were both dressed in such a way as to appear completely un-obtrusive- rather like spies ‘everyman and no-man’. They fitted the scene so perfectly that you would not even notice them. To most people they would not afford a second glance- the perfect set-up for a casino scam.

 

The first thing to note about the way in which the couple were comporting themselves was the way in which they appeared to make certain ‘bobbing’ shoulder movements at the same time- not in an obvious way, everything about this couple was subtle. Our source, a cheat himself, was intrigued by this couple, without really knowing why; he remained near the table, watching them closely. At the flop, the man decided to fold his hand, but the woman remained in the round. From his vantage point, our source was not able to see the community cards, although he could see who around the poker table remained in the game. After the turn, the woman also decided to fold her hand.

 

At this point, the dealer swept the pot to the player that won before going on to deal the next round. Once the couple received their cards, our source began to watch them carefully. Again, they began bobbing their shoulders. This time the man raised the pre-flop and the woman folded her hand. The pot began to grow quite substantially and at the end of the round, the dealer swept the winning chips towards the man.

 

On the next round they started shoulder bobbing again, at this point our source decided that the couple were definitely cheating and decided to get closer to the table to observe them more closely. So he descended into the poker tables pit and stood directly behind the couple, he did not linger, but remained long enough to look at their cards, and as he looked, his curiosity grew. In the moment when he was looking at their cards, they suddenly swapped cards, our source said it was so fast as to be imperceptible to most people, because normally people would not be aware that a cheat was going down, as it was our man was already suspicious and thus looking out for such a move- he wasn’t disappointed.

 

With only a slight movement of the shoulder, the man had managed to pass a card to the woman. Each of them had palmed one card and then slid it below the wrist of their other hand. Because they used the length of their arms for the move, this made the action easier to conceal from the dealer; the arm acted as a barrier to the other players, the dealer and the casino staff- only by being stood directly behind the couple did our source manage to see the move. They repeated the action on almost every hand and managed to win a great many hands- more than luck would predict.

 

Our source then wanted to see more of this move, so he decided to actually join the table. Luckily, he managed to secure the seat directly opposite the couple. The woman was wearing tinted glasses, to begin with our source thought that was a little ridiculous, it was winter and they were sat indoors. The act of wearing sunglasses would surely draw attention to them he thought. But when he looked around the poker room he noticed that she was not the only person wearing sunglasses. He was also a little annoyed that he had not thought to wear glasses either, it would have made his observations of them a lot easier, he did not want to scare them off as he wanted to know exactly what they were doing.

 

On the first hand that was played once he was seated, they both folded their cards. Clearly this must have been because both hands were poor and no playable hand could be made from the cards they had been dealt. On the following hand though, the action really started. He made sure to judge carefully the times when he watched them- he did not spend his time spying on them. The woman was dealt her cards first, then the man. A split second passed before the shoulder bobbing started again. The shoulder bobbing was only the beginning, this was how they managed to shift positions and look at each other’s cards, if they decided that a playing hand was in the offing then a slight signal passed between them and a few arm jerks followed as they palmed and then swapped their cards.  

 

Our source decided the best course of action was to fold his hand, he knew he was going to lose. The only reason he had sat at the table in the first place was so that he would be able to observe their cheat. He said that their talent was exceptional; the sleight-of-hands were amazing.

 

When the flop arrived a King a 9 and an 8 were dealt all of the same suit, so a flush was possible. But when the woman raised the first bettor, it seemed unlikely that she was going after a flush. Our source thought that she probably had a pair of kings or maybe three-of-a-kind. The man then folded his hand while acting a little disgruntled.

 

At the turn a queen was drawn and then a 4 at the river. The suit and ordinance of the cards meant that all the straights and flushes were eliminated. The woman then went all-in, was called and ended up winning the pot. At the showdown she revealed a pair of black kings, making a set.

 

Our source remained at the table picking up hints and tips and documenting how much money they had scammed from the casino, it equated to roughly $1,500 in profits.

 

The same couple have been spotted in numerous casinos in the area, and have even been spotted playing alongside another couple of cheats- this could indicate that an army of new swappers is being created, but once they reach a certain threshold it will become too obvious and the scam will be revealed to the casinos who will then be on the lookout to ensure that they do not fall victim again.

 

So, the burning question for you? How do you protect yourself from such people when you are playing at your favourite casino? Unless you are clued up to the scam you are highly unlikely to notice it and therefore likely to fall victim to it yourself........hopefully this article will open your eyes up tot eh necessity of keeping your wits about you when playing in any casino anywhere in the world.

 

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