Great Gambling Scams. Howard Monte/Nigel Montgomery
the time he had finished shuffling, and was ready to lace the cards, Harold the floorman had acknowledged the fact without even turning his head. ‘Two, seven,’ Richard told Joe, and then he received a tap on the shoulder, and his replacement arrived, a small Korean girl. The coup was on.
Of course, Richard wasn’t there to witness the finale himself, it was relayed to him back at Joe’s room, over bottles of champagne and much joy just over an hour later. Everything had gone to plan, just as Richard had said it would. The girl dealt seven winning hands in a row, and the team scooped $24,500. By the time the men in suits arrived, the offset procedure was already under way, and, soon after that, the conspirators slowly peeled away from the table, leaving the poor little Korean girl dealer staring at an empty table with hardly any house chips left. Joe divvied up the money among the team. Richard received his first pay day as a casino cheat, and he now started to wonder what Joe had in mind for their next scam, what Joe was going to teach him and when it was going to happen. He had the buzz. He could hardly wait.
Ten days later, on the way to Joe’s flat, he phoned the Four Queens and handed in his notice. When he arrived at Joe’s flat, he was about to learn the tricks of the trade that were to make him the best casino cheat in the world. Richard Marcus’s new career had begun.
‘What would you say,’ Joe asked him one day, ‘if I told you I could bet $15 on a hand of blackjack, or on a roll of the dice, and get paid a thousand bucks if the bet wins, and only lose the 15 if it doesn’t?’ He led Richard into his study, where he had a full-sized blackjack table set up. Joe took hold of a stack of red $5 chips from the dealer tray, and placed three in each of the seven betting boxes. ‘Go behind the table and deal me seven hands as you would in the casino.’
The shoe on the table was loaded with six decks of cards, just the same as it would have been in a proper casino. Richard dealt Joe the seven hands, and he played each one as any other casino punter would, ensuring he didn’t bust. Richard ended up busting, and then Joe told him, ‘Pay all the hands exactly as you would in the casino.’
Richard removed a stack of red chips from his tray to pay all the winning hands, and, as he just finished cutting down the three red $5 chips to pay the first box, Joe screamed, ‘Hey! That’s not right! I’m betting $500 chips here and you’re paying me with reds! What’s going on here?’
Richard could not believe his eyes. On the first betting post in front of him sat two Tropicana purple chips with a face value of $500 each, capped with a red chip on top of them with a face value of $5. And to make the effect even more dramatic, towards the edge of the table where high rollers keep their valuable chips there was a stack of some more purple chips to complete the illusion. Richard hadn’t even noticed him palm the purples on to the table, let alone switch the original bet. Richard was absolutely gobsmacked and was certain any other casino croupier would be too. But he had many questions and reservations as to how this move would pan out in a real casino, with floormen, pit bosses, overhead camera surveillance and of course the possibility of a fellow player on the table grassing on them. Joe set to work to iron out all of Richard’s concerns, and explain the move in greater detail. At this stage, as far as Richard was concerned, one thing was certain: the move certainly worked, it was a beauty. It was known in the trade as pastposting, and Richard couldn’t wait to get to work on it with Joe and his team in the real environment of a casino, in real life and for real bucks.
The newly formed team practised the move for the rest of the afternoon. Joe explained that the dealer knew in the deep crevices of his brain that the original bet was $15, as most dealers – experienced ones, at least – scan the table carefully before even dealing the cards. But now he sees the $1,005, two purples and a red staring him in the face with the back-up purples on display, all reason and what he has stored in his memory goes completely out of the dealer’s head, and he is completely bowled over. And he reaches into his chip tray, fetches out the valuable purple chips and pays, 90-odd per cent of the time. Occasionally, there is heat, and Joe then went on to explain how they had created a sophisticated signalling system between themselves in case they got steam, and had to make a quick exit out of the casino.
Then Joe explained how it worked at the craps table, too. The idea and move was the same, it was just that the method differed somewhat. At craps, as opposed to blackjack, a two-man team was used. The claimer stood behind the mechanic on either end of a busy craps table. The mechanic bet $15, three red chips on the pass-line where players betting with the shooter placed their chips. If the shooter rolled a 7 or an 11 on his first roll, he won. If he rolled a 2, 3 or 12, he lost. Any other number rolled was called a ‘point’ and had to be rolled a second time before a 7 in order for a pass-line bet to win. If the 7 came out first, pass-line bets lost, and the team were down a mere $15.
If the pass-line bet lost, the mechanic simply bet again after the dealer removed his losing chips. Eventually, the pass-line bet would win, and the mechanic’s hand would reach down to the layout as soon as the dealer paid his bet and made the switch, removing the three original red chips and replacing them with two purples and a red. He did this by picking up the three reds with one hand while laying down the move chips with the other, all in a fraction of a second. Then the mechanic yielded his place to the claimer, who immediately put his stack of purple back-up chips in the players’ rack along the rail and began claiming that the dealer had paid his bet incorrectly, that he had bet purple chips and only been paid by reds. The cleverness of this move was that the dealer and the boxman (an inspector seated between dealers at either end who watches their payouts and keeps an eye on all the action) had never set eyes on the claimer until that moment. This move was vital, because, if the same person betting $15 on the pass-line for several losing rolls all of a sudden shows up a winner on a thousand-dollar bet nobody has seen him make, the pit would become much more suspicious than if it was evident a new player’s thousand-dollar bet was his first bet, plus the valuable purple back-up chips in evidence to back him up as a high roller. It was for this reason – and to keep the pressure on each team member to a minimum – that the team changed who claimed at regular intervals. Joe, of course, was in charge of the security, and would position himself at the end of the craps table, to signal the go-ahead (thumb and index finger on chin), the all-clear to claim the bet (chin) or the quick exit signal (nose) if the heat came on too strong.
Joe decided that Richard was to be the new claimer at the very next game, and gave him this final piece of advice. ‘After you have been paid, bet back $205, two black chips with a red on top. That bet makes the original winning bet of the two purples with the red on top look more legit; they will probably think you have a superstition of placing a red chip on top of all your bets. Win or lose, you leave the table after that bet. Sometimes, steam comes after you have been paid, so keep an eye on me and, if I give you the nose, don’t even place the bet back, simply say thanks, and leave the table right away. We will have a designated “safe house” to go to where we all meet if there is steam. I will then hang around the table for a little while to see what happens when the pit bosses huddle together, and the suits arrive. They won’t know me as I wasn’t part of the operation, and would be out of the camera shots from the eye in the sky. Then I’ll join you at the rendezvous. All clear?’
That Friday night, Duke, Jerry, Joe and Richard descended on the MGM Grand, where Richard was to claim his first pastpost on a craps table. They found a busy table, with only one boxman, which was a bonus, and were soon in action. Jerry placed his $15 bet, the roller threw a 7, the dealer paid the front-line winners, and in a flash Jerry leaned over and made the switch, turned and walked away. Within a fraction of a second after that, Richard was making his claim, strong and loud. ‘Hey, what you doing, man? I’m betting a thousand here, and you’re paying me in reds!’
The dealer turned to the boxman, who merely shrugged, and Richard got paid. He then bet the $205 back-up bet, which lost, and then left the table to meet up with the rest of the team in the keno pit, their appointed point of call. Everyone was in awe of Richard’s coolness. He had excelled himself on that first go, but the night was still young, and they decided to hit the Dunes as well. There they found another busy craps table with only one boxman, and made a couple more moves, which went like silk. They had cleaned up over three grand on that very first night, and celebrated over a late-night breakfast next to the Dunes. To his delight, Richard realised