Inside Asian Gaming

greatest allure was the privacy of the game. No onlookers. No curious eyes. No eyes that were more than curious—both those of lurk- ing criminals looking to part the high rollers from their cash and IRS agents looking to do the same in the name of the US govern- ment. The federal currency law requires the reporting of any cash transaction of $10,000 or more to the IRS—a major nuisance to high-stakes cash players. There is also its sister law that requires the reporting of the same amount of cash carried into or out of the United States. Players winning millions in cash in a private game can evade both the IRS and potential thieves. Although the eight players were fa- miliar with luxury hotel suites, they had to notice that this one at the Borgata was bathed in opulence. Extremely large, it was the plushest of the plush, used only for super high rollers. Baroque double-doors opened into a marbled foyer underneath a garish chandelier. Magnificent leather and teak furnishings regally graced the beige velvet carpeting. The walls sported artworks encased in gold frames. The living room beyond boasted a regulation pool table, a Steinway piano and a mini-theatre with state-of-the-art sound system. Amidst this splendor sat a very ordinary green-baized poker table with eleven chairs. Suspicions allayed Naturally, the eight players invited to the game had some questions that needed an- swering before they would play: Who had set all this up?Who was paying for the suite? They were told that the casino had supplied ev- erything on the house because the suite had been given to friends who were high rollers in themain casinowithmillion-dollar credit lines. Nothing was more believable in the big-time casino world. The game itself had been going on and off for weeks, the eight were told, but several of its players had busted out and gone broke. A new influx of cash was needed. The newcomers were glad to oblige. Another added sweetener to the big private game was room service. They could order whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. During the course of play, every- thing from pineapple boats, lobster tails and bottles of Cristal champagne arrived with the chime of the suite’s majestic doorbell. They poured the sparkling wine into Lalique crys- tal glasses and toasted and sipped between hands. One player even enjoyed a cham- pagne bubble bath with a pair of lovelies who had come into the suite during a break. Inside but out Everything ran according to plan. But like in any international spy operation, not ev- eryone was privy to the plan. In this case, it was the eight high rollers who were left out in the cold, ignorant to what the other two players in the game were aware of. Embed- ded in the room’s four walls, camouflaged by artworks and strategic lighting, were tiny cameras whose lenses zoomed in on the players’ hands as they picked up their hole cards. More often than not, the unsuspecting victims exposed them. They felt comfortable as there were no “peeping toms” watching the action the way they did downstairs in the poker room. Even though the three ro- tating dealers hired for the game were legit, the cards they dealt were not.The tens, jacks, queens,kings and aces were marked.The two crooked players wore special contact lenses that allowed them to see the markings. Even if the eight intended victims suspected any of this in their wildest dreams, they would have had trouble imagining what was going on next-door. Next-door was not a fancy suite. It was a regular hotel room, but large enough to house the equipment needed by the other two cohorts, both high-tech geeks, to pull off the biggest poker scam of all-time. They huddled like cops working a stakeout in a van, surrounded by their high-tech arsenal. They had five laptop computers. On four of their screens appeared images of the players’ hole cards, each screen taking the feed from a camera shifting between two hands at the poker table next-door. And just in case peek- ing at their opponents’ hole cards wasn’t enough of an advantage, the fifth computer ran automated simulation programs adapted to poker probability. The techies’ fingers scrambled over their keyboards processing information, which they transmitted back to their two cohorts at the poker table.The cohorts at the table wore tiny, undetectable earpieces through which they received the information. Even when the techies could not furnish all their oppo- nents’ hole cards, the cohorts at the table still had the advantage of being able to read the marked cards They also used key “team-up” playing strategies when they had to, careful not to overdo it as they already had a huge advantage going in. Easy money The four grifters had everything going their way. It was the perfect scam. The dealer dealt another round. While their opponents at the table carefully peeked at their hole cards, the two cheats at the table paid close attention to the soft voice in their ears. They listened to the methodical report of the eight players’ hole cards, even the ones that had been tossed in the muck as that knowledge was still valuable information. It came across like the recital of stock quotes: “Position- One, ace-king; Position-Two, pocket threes; Position-Three…” They processed it quickly, added the marked cards that flashed in their eyes, then made their decisions. They played loosely, as they could afford to. They knew that the more hands they played, the quicker The Borgata Summer Poker Open 20