Casino Cheating Expert Reviews Card Counting and Casino Scams From Movies | Vanity Fair

you want to have some fun at home with your friends you take out three cards take out the queen of club ace of diamond and the jack of spades watch that ace of diamond because when i put it onto the table you have to bet where it is and when you bet where it is believe me you're gonna guess wrong because i put the ace of diamonds over here and all i did was when i showed you those three cards i made that ace of heart look like an ace of diamond hi my name is sal piazzante i'm an expert on casino cheating casinos all over the world hiring me to help protect their assets today we're going to be reviewing some clips from tv shows and movies on casino cheating this scene is from rain man [Music] what's your secret guys i'm sure he was joking there but a lot of people do think card counting is illegal and it's cheating it is not crowd counting is not cheating well he's not catching the whole card he's not past posting this i don't see him using a computer surveillance made some good observations he's not catching a dealer's hold card which means when the dealer takes his card you're not seeing the card underneath he's not past posting which means he's not adding to his bet and he's not using computers now when they talk about using computers these are just some of the things they could be referring to for example if you look at these shoes right here this shoe is the only shoe i have that's cut away so you can actually see the switches inside it but these computers are called perfect strategy computers they keep track of every card that's being dealt and know exactly what's left once the computer decides on how to play your hand it vibrates on this little sega noise right here through a series of morse code dots and dashes and tells you to play your hand these computers right here could play blackjack better than the brain could possibly imagine what he was doing was doing what these computers could do but he was doing it in his head he was able to keep track of how many cards were left if somebody is actually playing like that and they're winning and surveillance can't figure out what's going on sooner or later they're just going to label them as a card counter they're going to back off that player and say sir your play is too good for us we're allowed to play any game here except blackjack something's not right you know there's no one in the world can counter this six deck shoot that's obviously a false statement because counting down with regular conventional card counting is very easy to do on a six dick shoe just as easy to do as a single deck all you're doing is keeping track of the ratio of high cards versus low cards when a deck becomes really rich in high cards it favors the player for three reasons you're gonna get more black jacks you're going to get more 20s number two you don't have to hit your 12 to 16s the dealer must and then three you have additional options the dealer don't you could hit ensure split surrender double double after split and no matter what card counting system you use they are all designed to do one thing to let you know when a deck becomes rich in tens this scene was from rounders so what are you guys playing 20 40 stud that's the so when they say 2040 that's just a betting pattern that's set up for that game stud means they're playing seven card stud everybody gets two cards face down and then they get the rest of the cards face up and then the last card is dealt face down and you got to play the best five out of the seven [Music] that was a real false shuffle this is the shuffle that worm used and these cards look like they're being shuffled and this is exactly what he did and you can see they're not being shuffled at all he did a bookmark he actually stepped back that top card and then he shuffled and then he just put those cards right back on top also the way worm held the deck this is called a mechanic's grip a mechanic is another name for a person who cheats because a mechanic can fix things and this guy could fix games with the deck being held in this position i can do so many cheating moves i can peek the bottom card right now when i square the deck up i can look right at it now i know it's an ace of hearts as i'm squaring the deck up in my hand like this i'm looking right at it i'm buckling that card but it's all hidden right here i can peek the top card my thumb comes to the other corner and pushes it forward so that card buckles it's called a buckle or a bubble peek i could pick the top card by bringing up on my heel i could do the bottom deal i could deal seconds and in many of the old books they say if you ever see anyone hold a deck like this stay away but the truth of the matter is if you go to any casino this is how dealers are taught to hold the deck it's a very secure grip so just because someone does hold a deck like this doesn't mean they are cheating well i like what i have that is 20. i know that look people might not realize why mike mcdermott folded three kings well cheating isn't about the moves it's about judgment and he knew that getting three kings was going to be too strong and that's why he folded that that hand so mike mcdermott in that scene used proper judgment and that's why he got out all right here we go hold on there whoa this son of a is base dealing caught a hanger sarge what is a hanger let's suppose i want to deal the second card instead of the top well when i come out that might happen that's called a hanger you can see the second card is coming out but it didn't make it i left that second card hanging out so catching a hanger does indicate cheating what are you saying i don't even know what you're saying you're saying you're dealing off the bottom of the deck bottom dealing means that ace i'm not going to deal it from the top i'm going to deal it from the bottom so if i was dealing when i get to myself i'll take it from the bottom obviously the most important part is getting the card you want on the bottom so when i go for the shuffle if you watch the shuffle i peek down right there i just saw an ace now i got an ace on the bottom so i want to keep this ace on the bottom for the deal when worm is dealing the person on his right the officer was always looking down at his hand there were probably some strong hands that woke him up or alerted him worm wasn't that observant he was just going for the money this next scene is from the sting stack me a cooler flight come on oh we'll be in the station in another hour the other guys are the big losers you're still okay fix me back crazy nines i'll cut it in on clayton's deal the term cooler means that you're gonna cool someone out give him four threes give me four nines which is two really good hands for any poker player receives four threes they're gonna go all in his partner is gonna take a deck of cards same back design same brand and he's gonna set him up he's gonna pre-arrange him so when he comes out this deck goes on top of that deck and then the blue deck gets switched and it comes out like that and then this deck gets dropped into a handkerchief so there's four people in the game everyone's gonna get four good hands paul newman's gonna get a great hand but lonerman is about to get one better four nine four jacks the switch that he used right there of course it's hollywood but that would have been a vest switch here with my four threes right here so if i was gonna play this hand right here [Music] you can see they just got switched london his partner just knew paul newman received four threes but when paul newman turned over the four jacks he double-crossed them he was the better cheat this next scene is from austin powers 17. [Music] [Applause] [Music] hit me you have 17 sir i like to live dangerously 4 21. there are cards like that that you can only see with the either a red lens on for luminous readers or with contact lenses but normally it's just done with series of dots what i'm about to show you right now is a deck of cards that they call a juice deck this deck does have a substance on it that if your eye is not trained to see this i promise you you're not seeing it if you look at this card right here on the table it appears to be a regular card but when i look at it there is one part of the card right here that is slightly darker that indicates a king there's a little dot dead center that means it's a four here there are two dots right here diagonal that means that's going to be a seven so once you just memorize that pattern that's how you know what the card is to train your eye to see it first the deck is made very very very very strong where anybody can see it and then after a while it's made lighter and lighter and lighter where pretty soon you're the only one that can read it looking for you sir the three for you [Music] one major flaw that i've noticed in this clip is the way they were dealing everyone in blackjack gets two cards when they showed austin power's hand he had a three just all by itself and then the dealer dealt with his second card when austin powers should have had those two cards dealt in front of him from the start i also like to live dangerously as you wish sir twenty beats your five i'm sorry sir this next clip is from casino now here's this guy reading the dealer's whole card and signaling his buddy at this table [Music] the device he used is a real device it's called a thumper these are the ace bandages where it gets strapped onto your body and this is the whole device right here this goes behind your back and this goes on your thigh the thigh is the most sensitive part of the body one of the most sensitive parts and then this is a toe switch this goes on your toe or this goes in your pocket either way you want to do it this device right here is made for signaling anywhere you want to get information from point a to point b this could be used and when you press down with your toe you can definitely feel this thing when this thing is vibrating you'll feel it if it's poker i can tell you what hand i have i could tell you to check i could tell you to raise if it's blackjack i can tell you the whole card silently greatest gambling movie made in my opinion it was it's so real world this next scene is from ocean's 13. everything all right i've never seen surveillance rooms that were that secure usually you get it with the passcode again said it's in lockdown as far as getting locked into a surveillance room and system's going down i'm telling you right now that's not happening i have never heard i've never seen anything like that you'll always be able to get out of the surveillance room should the systems go down snake guys all of it [Music] the dice acted very very suspiciously these are magnetic dice right here so these will always get ones if i've reversed the polarity now you're gonna get sixes on those dice [Music] when he had the lighter in his hand that's what was controlling the magnet when he hit the lighter or hit the switch that's what activated the magnet to control the dice that's the hardest part about using magnetic dice is to make him appear natural you hit that magnet at the wrong time you're just going to see a guy flip over when it shouldn't one of the biggest flaws on that scene remember the casino does not have to cash out those chips if they think something happened the casinos can refuse to cash those chips out until they do a review this next clip is from the cooler oh my god oh my god i can feel a kick the dice do not drop out of the sleeve into the hand they're usually in the hand before them just to show you how dice can be introduced into a game let's suppose i want to switch these blue dice for these red dice watch the red ones let's switch for blue and if i want to bring him back i bring him back see how his dice switch works like this is the dice are in the palm already and when you reach down to pick them up these dice drop from the palm at the same time these dice trapeze up one of the first things that boxman is taught is when you see a shooter throw the dice always look for a clean hand to see if someone is switching dice the way dice is spotted opposite sides total seven so if i have a six on top on the opposite side of that six there will be a one when misspotted dice are really used here's what they look like okay they're called tops or t's these dice only have the numbers four five six on them these dice right here are the most preferred method of cheating by professional dice cheats they're percentage dice they win the money fast and you can't lose with magnetic dice they can act differently the dikes don't hit the magnetic field things can happen loaded dice these are guaranteed and the only reason why they work is because the human eye can only see three sides of any cube if i put this dye on that table right now you can only see a four five six i'm assuming that the person sitting across from me is looking right now at a four one two but guess what we're all looking at four five sixes guys i thank you so the cheetahs will make their money switch in the house dice and keep playing till they lose and then when they lose it appears that the streak is over walk away and that's the end of the scam this scene is from runner runner if he doesn't know this crap out this is gonna cost you a hundred grand housekeeping sweat the money hey shooter the sick person never passes the dice out with a seven showing that's taboo or bad luck so that's something you'll never see how about this i'll fade your action fade the action means i'm gonna book the bet whoever whoever wants to bet i'll take it don't roll if a stick person thinks something happened they have the right to say no roll that means this don't count shooter can't slide to dice no raw that is a real cheating move watch how that looks when the other die is thrown with it so watch this six get slid and watch the other die go with it but when you see this on a full 12 foot craps table and that die is being spun rapidly it never tumbles it's being spun it's a really good illusion that both dice are being thrown legitimately on the back wall they have this rubber that has like little triangle shapes we call the alligator and also the wall has a lip a 45 degree angle so if the dice just touch it or hit those alligator part they're going to tumble to ensure a player cannot slide the dice we shot jesse james at 45. if you look at that dice on this clip you see the two and the five are next to each other but remember the two and the five have to be on opposite sides because opposite sides of the dikes always total seven on a legitimate paradise this scene is from shit's creek i don't think it's an accident that bob keeps winning what are you talking about haven't you noticed how gwen circles the table with appetizers constantly eyeing bob and then he lays down a big fat bed and wins signaling is very very dangerous it's probably the number one scam that goes on the casinos every day undetected when two people get involved with collusion and when you signal to a partner you could do it right in front of everyone to demonstrate signaling i want to bring in my wife dee so if we're playing poker remember my wife is sitting across from me with this hand i call if everybody else stays in dee what do i have straight my wife said i have a straight is she right she is h2345 so in a case like this i'm sitting there with a straight i just called now she'll raise me she has nothing but she's going to raise me when it gets to me i'm going to re-raise her if everybody falls now when it gets to her she'll look at her hand and she'll she'll say take it and now she'll fold and look how much money i just won she knew i had a straight by the way i held my fingers on the back of the cards because i had my finger down here that told her i had a straight okay this is a fine hand so if i go like this right now d what do i have two pair two pair if she signals to me she has two pair i want to tell her what i'm holding d what do i have eights and deuces eights and deuces and that was done because of my wording i said the word fine fine means h induces so we have many different ways of signaling this next clip is from now you see me too go go sunsol you're not telling your soul ninja time there are little flourishing moves you could do that to conceal a card i'll give you one example when i put the deck down right there i palmed the card so i have a card in my hand then i cover the card with this hand as i come out like this like my wrist but it's still covered now i come back so i'm nonchalantly want to show you both hands as i conceal it but as far as flipping this card behind my back and flipping it 12 feet in the air that's not happening this next scene is from shade so you know the situation we uh we need a third to take down some of the big pots what they meant is they need someone else to help win the pot you can't always have the same person winning the money it's a big game soft game if they say it's a soft game that means pretty much you're playing with suckers that you can get away with anything with so what's your manager you play on the square during most of the game that means just playing honestly just play as you normally would yeah i like my hand that's what's known as bass or bottom dealing but i will vary it by stacking as well and dealing the punch whatever it takes but you know don't worry you'll end up a winner every time all stacking the deck means is setting the cards up as you shuffle them let's suppose it's just me and you in a game and i want to set these cards up as i shuffle so now if i deal these cards out [Music] i'll give you a good hand so you got me beat deal on the punch means that's a form of mark cards where they put a little bump in the card like a pinhole so that way when you're dealing you feel the bump so all the queens and kings might have like a braille system on it and then when you deal as soon as you feel that braille that means you know a queen is coming up then you deal seconds [Music] so all you did right there was uh multiple shifts to control the aces and then a bunch of false shuffles so here go to four aces when you put them into the deck they look like they're going in you could do a push through move so they come out the other side and then from here [Music] now he just does a bunch of false shuffles where this deck looks like they're being mixed but honestly they're not so anytime i want to find those aces they're going to be there for me this next scene is from 21. being part of a team has many advantages over being a solo counter for the simple reason is you're playing with more tables and then when the count gets rich they call in the big money also you have better camouflage because you're calling people in in the middle of a shoe is that guy card counting no he just came in the middle of his shoe he can't be counting well guess what his teammate was when she leaned back and crossed her arms that was a calling signal that means come over to the table we have a good count here changing ten thousand sweet too sweet that's a pneumonic aid to transfer the count so when she said sweet she told him the count was plus 16. obviously they didn't want to get too technical for the viewers but in card counting you have two counts the running count and the true count the running count tells you the ratio of high cards versus low cards in all of the cards that remain the truth count tells you the ratio of high cards versus low cards in each single deck that remain how do you get that number the true count you take the running count which in that case was sweet 16 and you divide that by the number of decks remaining let's suppose it's a six deck game if there's one deck played already that means there are five decks remaining five goes into 16 three times that means the true count would have been plus three everything in card counting works off the true count eight split eights uh can i split those jack counts plus fifteen plus 14. him splitting eights was the correct basic strategy always split eights when you're playing blackjack the 16 is the worst hand you can have so you always taught split eights when you have a high count you're going to do things you normally wouldn't for example insurance that's a big tell when a dealer offers you insurance which means do you want to benefit have a blackjack it's not the right thing to do for the simple reason is there are a lot more non-tens than tens and a single deck of cards but when the deck becomes advantageous and there are a lot more tens than non-tens then you do take insurance well if i was in surveillance and i'm watching this play the first thing that's going to tip me off is the money the first thing you're taught in the casino is always follow the money so if i'm watching the money and this person obviously is counting but guess what he came in mid shoe that tells me well guess what somebody on his table is with that person well if you want to go to a casino and you want to be guaranteed to come home with a small fortune go with a large one and you'll come home with a small one thank you so much for watching and thank you vanity fair

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 4,438,301

Rating: 4.9530311 out of 5

Keywords: 21, austin powers, card cheater, card cheating, card counting, card counting explained, card counting movies, card counting review, casino, casino game cheating, casino scams, expert review, explain card counting, game cheating, how to card count, illegal card deals, illegal deals, oceans thirteen, professional cheater, rain man, reviews, rounders, sal paciente, trick dice, vanity fair, vanity fair reviews

Id: ki4Fbctwnjs

Length: 23min 24sec (1404 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/datesboy]

This was such an interesting video. Was not really prepared to watch the whole thing when I started it. This guy really knows his stuff.

[u/todd10k]

Genuinely the most interesting video i've seen all week, thanks for posting.

[u/James_H_M]

Hire those who cheat to find the cheaters.

IMO, The guy knows his way around the gambling world for sure and found employment on the opposite side of the table.

[u/FruitCakeSally]

This is a fun video. I think WIRED has a similar video but the expert is way more unlivable than this guy. I practiced card counting and it’s really not difficult to do at home for me the hard part is keeping up with the speed of the game when you’re actually in the casino. Also most people don’t have a large enough bankroll to efficiently count cards. It’s a lot of fun to practice though!

[u/Djabber]

This was a really nice video. The guy certainly knows his stuff.

[u/happybarfday]

This was great except for the fact the camera's focus was off on a few shots, and for some reason they chose not to film a nice closeup of the "juiced" deck so we could actually see the little markings on the cards he was talking about...

[u/n00bvin]

I really enjoyed discount Bill Goldberg.

[u/TheDongerNeedsFood]

Awesome video!

[u/Bleezy79]

Perfect video. tempo on point