Game protection becomes more challenging in the era of ‘edge sorting’ and other scams

October 12, 2018 11:48 PM
  • Richard W. Munchkin
October 12, 2018 11:48 PM
  • Richard W. Munchkin

Surveillance operators often feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of the casino.  “I get no respect.”

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It was no surprise that the game protection seminar at the Global Gaming Expo was on the last day at the end of the show. “Game Protection: Why the Pros Don’t Get Caught” was moderated by Vic Taucer, retired chairman of the Resort and Gaming Department of College of Southern Nevada. The two speakers were George Joseph, president of Worldwide Casino, and Sal Piacente, president of Universal Game Protection Development Inc.

First up was Joseph. He began his talk standing at a table shuffling a deck of cards. After five or six shuffles, he revealed the deck was still in new deck order.

Joseph went on to demonstrate card switching, dealing seconds, and showed video of various scams done in casinos. He then talked about the difficulty the pit has given that now one floorman has to watch eight tables and has a lot of paperwork to fill out.  In addition, given all the new carnival games, they are often watching games they have never dealt.

Joseph’s mantra was, “The procedure is stronger than the move.”

Putting the proper procedures in place will stop many of scams in their tracks, and he gave many examples. Joseph is adept at dealing the second card off the deck. He did this quite rapidly with a deck of Bee cards, and it was impossible to see. Then he demonstrated the same second dealing with a pack of casino cards with a logo on the back and instructed the audience to watch the logo. It was obvious when the second card was being dealt because the logo never moved. He pointed out that the cameras on hand dealt games had to be able to see that logo.  This the proper procedure would be stronger than the move. Beware that dealer who constantly tilts the deck away from that camera.

On baccarat squeeze games – where the players hold the card – there have been many scams where players switch cards in and out. Joseph demonstrated this move several times where a bad hand became a natural nine. He used both hands, and the cards would go in and out of both sleeves. The move was totally invisible.

He then showed the display boards used for baccarat that read the cards as they come out of the shoe. If you use one of these display boards on a squeeze game the move is stopped cold.  If someone were to switch cards they would turn over their natural nine, but the display board would say they had ten, queen.

“The procedure is stronger than the move,” he said.

Piacente also offered demonstrations. In one he took eight decks of cards, cut them as procedure for baccarat, and popped them into the shoe.  He proceeded to call out the first 10 cards of the shoe before he dealt them. He pointed out that this is only two hands of baccarat, but with today’s new stadium seating there are 60 places to bet on those two hands. An enormous amount of money can be won in just two hands.

How did he do it?

Before cutting the deck he very slightly spread the back ten cards under cover of his hands and memorized them.

Piacente then went into many demonstrations involving edge sorting.  People were interested in this technique because of the Phil Ivey edge sorting case. He showed the back of a new card that is supposed to be immune to edge sorting.  He said that a major casino chain in Las Vegas had just purchased 2 million of these decks to protect themselves from this move. He popped them into a shoe and proceeded to call them big or little as fast as he could pull them out. He had “edge sorted” them. He told the audience that any deck can be edge sorted.

Both Joseph and Piacente were polished, professional, and entertaining. Either could work as a professional magician if that was their desire.

But what of the central question?  “Why the pros don’t get caught.” Here is a quote Piacente: “I dealt every game. I was a dual rate, I was a full-time floor supervisor, I was a backup shift boss, and then I worked surveillance as well. I started banking games, and I started playing with a guy named Rick Blaine, and that is where I got my education. Not in the business. I told him, ‘You guys know more about the business than the guys who work in the business.’” Rick Blaine is an advantage player and the author of “Blackjack Blueprint.”

So what is a casino to do? How do they protect themselves? It all boils down to procedures, and training. Procedures and training can stop some of the scams demonstrated at this seminar, but Joseph and Piacente made it clear it is an uphill battle.