7 Genius Techniques used by Gambling Pros to Cheat the Casino

The best way to win money at the casino is to learn how to count cards effectively. But if you insist on looking for an easier way to win, cheating may be right up your alley.

We would never encourage you to cheat as it’s dishonest and sometimes illegal, but this piece provides an introduction to some common ruses used in casino gambling today.

#1: Slot bill validator

This is the most surefire way to cheat the casino on this list. The chances of getting caught are also pretty low, unless the user is picked up on video surveillance. The way it works is that the player inserts a special electronic device into the machine’s bill receiver.

The device tricks the machine into thinking it received real money when in reality just inserted a small device and then pulled it back out.

Winnings are still paid out, and the player isn’t on the hook for any losses! Of course being caught with a bill validator device is not only grounds to be banned from the casino for life, it’s also a criminal offense.

#2: Past posting

This shifty technique is not considered to be cheating in some circles. That’s a matter of interpretation, but no casino would knowingly allow someone to get away with it.

• Casino surveillance is rigorous these days but people still get away with cheating

• Techniques include cheating to win games as well as placing false bets

• Some common techniques are used in blackjack

Usually used in roulette, it refers to placing a wager on the table after the ball has been dropped into the wheel, giving the player a reasonable chance at predicting where it will stop.

This is best done in a group of two. The dealer is likely to catch a single player doing this, but if two players on different ends of the table past post than it is difficult to catch both of them. Casino cheating expert Richard Marcus made this trick his trademark.

#3: Card switching

The classic sleight of hand trick is extremely difficult to pull off, but some American poker room and blackjack table regulars have done it to perfection.

The best way to execute this maneuver is for the player to identify a valuable card and quickly slide it off the table and up your sleeve (or anywhere else you can hid it). He can then play the card when you feel the time is right.

#4: False shuffle

This cheating scheme requires the player to recruit the dealer in on it. When the dealer shuffles the deck they intentionally leave some cards at the bottom.

Because the player has been counting cards throughout the game he knows which cards are at the bottom, so can adjust his betting behavior accordingly.

The infamous Tran crime family made roughly $7 million of dollars bribing dealers to false shuffle games of blackjack and mini baccarat in Las Vegas casinos. By the time the case broke 40 people pled guilty to criminal charges.

#5: Card counting computer

It goes without saying that counting cards is a legitimate advantage play technique, and not a form of cheating. Getting caught will get a player the boot from any casino, but they’re also legally entitles to their winnings and exempt from any kind of prosecution.

That is, unless the player uses an electronic device to help him keep count. Blackjack pro and tech genius Edward Thorp developed a series of such machines during the 1960s and 1970s, getting him a lifetime ban from every casino in America in the process.

His basic card counting machine asked the player to tap their foot when a positive-count card (8-Ace) came out of the shoe. The machine would keep count for him, playing the process much easier.

#6: Using a mirror to read hole cards

Reading the dealer’s hole card is a quick way to success at blackjack, telling the precisely when to hit and when to stand. It is difficult to do, however, and relies on mathematical probability and a lot of guesswork.

What if there was an easier way, such as a mirror that could physically show you the dealer’s hole card? This little technique is extremely lucrative to those who can pull it off, but it will get you the violent boot from any casino and use of which is a violation of American gambling laws.

#7: Color up

Like most forms of casino cheating, this trick requires the player to outsmart the casino staff. This involves buying $1 chips of a certain color, then passing them off to another player.

The other player returns to the table at which the $1 chips were bought, then buys $25 chips of the same color. At the end of his gaming session he cashes in all of his chips for $25 each, even though many of them are only worth $1.

This trick relies on inattentiveness or inexperience on the part of the dealer, but the Nevada Gaming Control Board told members of the media that is has been an ongoing problem in Las Vegas casinos.