Greatest Gambling Cheats Part 2:The Roulette Mix-Up

The Roulette Mix-Up

This casino cheat is slightly unusual, in that it is based on the use of psychology. The roulette mix-up started life, as many cheats do, as a past-post move; that is, swapping low denomination chips for high denomination chips, quickly, following a winning bet. The aim of the cheat is to exchange low denomination chips for black chips (valued at $200) on bets were the pay-off will be $7,000, these figures are fairly standardised across the globe, but can be modified to suit the casino.

The scam was first carried out by a group of four professional past-posters. within the team, members had various roles; the first, the ‘mechanic’, is the person who swaps the higher denominations into the game once the dealer has placed the dolly on the chips that were placed on the straight-up bets, and the ball has landed; the second person is the ‘claimer’, their job is to set the casino up for the scam, and then collect the money once it is paid; the third and forth members of the group are the ‘chip-bettors’, these individuals are not involved in the claim or the set-up, but they create the right circumstances for the move by placing specific bets that allow the team to control the movements of the dealer, this gives the mechanic the time to make the switches and to know beforehand the time-frame needed to make the swap- these two are all about creating a legitimate distraction for the dealer.

The Methods: 

Often, the claimer will be a pretty woman, she comes to the roulette table with five $100 chips, black, and she places herself at the top of the table, opposite to the dealer. She then places one chip on layout table, buying-on for the lower table limit, usually $1. She will then be given 100 brown chips, in five stacks of 20 chips. Once in receipt of the chips, the lady then places them in a 2-2-1 formation. So, there will be two stacks at the front of the chip stacks, closest to the dealer, two stacks directly behind the first, and then one stack closest to the lady herself. The last stack is thus concealed from the dealer by the two double stacks in front. Subsequently, the claimer then places the four remaining black chips (totalling $400), surreptitiously, into to the stack closest to her, which are completely concealed from the eyes of the dealer. The way in which the chips are divided in the rear stack are such that a black is placed either side of a brown chip, rather than all the black chips being clumped in together- this type of chip stack is known as a ‘mix-up’, and stays concealed from the dealer up until the critical point, as you will see presently: 

At this point, the claimer will start to bet the brown chips on the layout table, ensuring that she does not accidently disturb the rear stack, by knocking it over, for example. If the game arrives at a point where the brown chips are dwindling beyond a critical point, the claimer will buy more brown chips in order to ensure that the rear stack remains hidden. The first betting sequence the claimer undertakes is to place three brown chips on a low number located in front of the mechanic, he then quickly removes them from the table, whilst placing his own bet. Subsequently, the claimer bets five brown chips on all of the bottom nine straight-up bets; these are the numbers from 28 through to 36. As the same time, the mechanic, who has two black chips (total value= $200) already, then quickly mixes his black chips into the claimers three brown chips which he had taken off the table earlier. The chips that the mechanic now has palmed in his hand are equivalent in sequence to the chips on the lower part of the claimers rear stack, the mix-up stack, which is hidden from view of the dealer.

Say the number 32 has come in, the dealer will then mark it with a dolly. Because the other two team members, the chip-bettors, have strategically placed their bets, the dealer will take his eyes off the layout table for a fraction of a second. The mechanic, who should be very good at sleight-of-hand, using a two-handed move, will lift the dolly, remove the claimers chips (5 brown) and replace them with the chips that he has palmed in his own hand. So, there will still be 5 chips underneath the dolly, but they are now of a different denomination. There will now be $203 placed on the bet, rather than $5.

At the point that the claimer sees the switch has been made successfully, she begins to play the rest of the scam, and this is where the psychology of the trick comes in. Firstly, the claimer will pick up the mix-stack from the back of her collection of stacks, and place it on top of a stack that is closest to the dealer; this means that the dealer will be able to clearly see the sequence of the chips, a sequence that matches the one on the winning bet. Next, the claimer begins to feign panic, pretending that she has lost two of her black chips and has no idea where they are, she begins acting frantically, looking around everywhere for them. She plays out the role like a Hollywood actress, checking pockets...The dealer will, inevitably, look at the stacks that the woman has on the table, and see the mix-up stack, noticing the mix of brown and black. Then, once the claimer has seen that the dealer has noticed the stack and looks herself, she then looks over at the laid bet, and then feigns complete excitement and claims that they were accidently bet, without intention on the lay-out table. This hoop-la seems so natural that the dealer falls hook-line-and-sinker.  

Together, the team have painted in the mind of the casino workers, a perfectly legitimate, if unusual, scenario. Through various illusions and orchestrated steps, the perception is relatively easy to portray. And if someone begins to doubt the lady, that she has past-posted, they will think that impossible, because she is sat so far away from the bet. Sending the roulette dealer a ‘toke’ or a tip, will also add to the casinos impression of her, as a straight-up lady. Of course, this technique can really only be done once per casino, and now that the scam is public, probably will not work anyway- but at the time it was a novel approach. And the team who carried out the scam did make a lot of money- of course you have to be brave, or a little stupid, to have the guts to carry this scam out anyway.

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