Thursday, January 06, 2011

Caught or Not, At Least Korean Casino Cheats Show More Mettle Than Their Asian Counterparts

One thing recent casino-cheating history has taught us: Asian casino cheats, especially the Chinese and Vietnamese who have been dominating Asian Cheat scams, almost invariably use inside casino employees, mainly dealers and pit supervisors, to cheat casinos. The Chinese have long been into the false shuffle scams on the baccarat tables, beating the Hilton, MGM Grand and old Desert Inn for more than $3 Million on their Las Vegas baccarat tables in the early and mid 90s. In each of those casinos, fellow Chinese dealers were recruited to rig the cards via false shuffling. In most major Chinese casino cheating cases, the dealers come from the same province in China as the organizers of the scams who recruit them. That is their common ground, and almost always there are affiliations with the infamous Chinese Mafia Triads.

With the Vietnamese, it works almost the same but with a twist. Like their Chinese counterparts, professional Vietnamese casino cheats recruit casino dealers and floorpeople to perform the mechanics of their scams while they themselves take the money off the casinos' tables. The Vietnamese twist to this is that they don't always recruit fellow Vietnamese like the Chinese do Chinese. In the recent international baccarat megascam pulled off by the Vietnamese Tran Organization, Caucasian American dealers and casino supervisors were recruited as well. Even the Mayor of Seattle's son played a part in the Tran scam by selling out his Washington State casino to the cheats.

But the Koreans cheating casinos are showing a bit more mettle and ingenuity, and their casino scams are netting the same big dollars that the Chinese and Vietnamese cheats do. In this latest baccarat cheat scam at Foxwoods in Connecticut, not only did the Korean cheats not use any inside help, they worked with an old American cheat device called the "holdout." This device is as American as apple pie and its origins trace back to the Mississippi Riverboat Gambling Days as well as the Old Wild West. Cheats like George Devol (Poker and Casino Cheat Hall of Fame member) and Wild Bill Hickok knew a thing or two about the holdout devices, so how much more American can these Koreans get?

I am also getting reports of good old-fashioned roulette pastposting moves being performed around the world by Korean casino-cheat teams, especially in Singapore's casinos where they must feel a bit closer to home. Believe it or not, Korean poker cheats (who have been running online poker bot collusion rings) are working brick and mortar poker rooms as well. They specialize in collusion, but who's to say they are not working the same old holdout devices as well? Whatever they are doing in poker, they're doing it in California, Vegas, Atlantic City, Connecticut...and just about anywhere else poker cheating is worth it.

My feelings: More power to the Korean poker and casino cheats!