Poker Winner Blog

Slot machines are always popular because they pay out potentially huge jackpots for small stakes. A Las Vegas woman won the world’s biggest slot machine jackpot in January 2000 at the Desert Inn on The Strip. After staking just US$27, she won nearly $35 million on the Nevada Megabucks slot machine. The jackpot is paid out to winners over a 25-year period and shortly after winning she received her first instalment - a cheque for over US$1 million. The Nevada Megabucks slot machines are located in 157 Nevada casinos. Each time a machine is played at any location, the jackpot increases until it is eventually won.

Using Computers to Win

Casinos ban players from using computers while on the gaming floor as the rate at which computers process information can help players win. Spotting a pattern on roulette or keeping track of cards dealt at blackjack is made easier with a computer. New technology poses problems for casinos because computers are getting smaller and can be easily concealed.

An interesting use of computers occurred in 1977, when a US team led by Ken Uston developed a computer that could be built into shoes and programmed to help players win at blackjack. Data was fed in by using the toes to manipulate buttons and information relayed back by spikes which touched different parts of the feet. The shoe computers netted the team over $100,000 at an Atlantic City casino. As a result, one of the computers was confiscated and investigated by the FBI who concluded that the team had not cheated, as the computer had processed public information.

Cheats

Cheating is as old as gambling itself. Archaeological digs of Roman relics have turned up dice made from various materials including ivory, gold, silver and gemstones, but loaded dice have alsobeen found. Dice are loaded by incorporating weights on one side to make them land more frequently on desired numbers.

There are many ways to cheat at card games. In poker, knowing your opponents’ hands is extremely useful. This is achieved by marking the backs of certain cards in a subtle way so they can be ‘read’ by the cheat. Methods used include applying a small amount of a chemical that shines or glows, or using a spiked implement to make an indentation in the card.

A skilled card sharp can shuffle the cards in an apparently normal manner but will put them into a specific order to ensure he gets a good hand. Cutting the cards is not a problem. A card with a slight crease down the centre is used to mark the cut and a quick one-handed shuffle puts the cards back into their original position. A card sharp can also deal cards from the bottom of the pack or deal the second card from the top, saving the top card for himself.

Values are printed on the corner of cards so cheats need to see just a small piece to know another player’s hand. Metallic lighters, glass ashtrays and specially adapted rings containing mirrors are used as reflectors. The cheat positions the object on the table and passes them over the reflector as the cards are dealt.

Cheats also collude with one another. Working in a team they make pre-arranged signals to ensure that the player with the best hand stays in the game whilst the others fold.

Cheating seldom pays, especially not for some 19th-century professional gamblers who made their living on the Mississippi riverboats. Their profits came more from cheating than from fair play, resulting in the lynching of five card sharps.

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