Card Markers Caught in China

Marked decks and special contact lenses sound like something out of a spy novel, but for a Chinese businessman they were part of a scam to cheat him out of more than $10,000 in a poker game.

The pesticide businessman, named by news agency Yunnan.cn only as Feng, was tricked into playing poker with the four suspects at a local hotel in Dali – unaware that he was being set-up.

The South China Morning Post reported that:

"One suspect wore the contact lenses that could recognize the backs of the marked cards and reveal what hand Feng was holding. The suspect then reportedly used gestures to tip off his teammates, so they knew what cards to play.”

After losing an initial 10,000 yuan in cash (about $1500) he then wrote an IOU for a further 60,000, also losing this to the scammers.

Afterwards the victim complained to police, claiming he had been drugged by the suspects before playing poker. When police raided the hotel room they “found the four suspects sleeping in the hotel room and seized more than 30 decks of marked cards plus a set of the contact lenses”, according to the report.

WSOP controversy

The use of marked cards hit the headlines earlier this year when Romanian Valeriu Coca was accused of cheating at the 2015 WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up Championship. The allegations were made by several of his defeated opponents, Connor Drinan tweeting and then posting on 2+2 about his strange match with Coca.

Bubbled the HU. Hands down strangest hour and a half of poker of my life. Felt super-used

— Connor Drinan (ConnorDrinan) June 3, 2015

Drinan recounted that:
"Coca was rotating cards and checking them from different angles, although it was clear he had already decided to fold.”

When he messaged friend and fellow Coca ‘victim’ Pratyush Buddiga, he confirmed that Coca displayed pretty much the same behavior during his match.

As fellow PokerTube writer Ivan Potocki explained:

"This led Drinan to dig deeper and he soon found out that Valeriu Coca was banned from a number of Czech casinos for cheating and marking cards. With all these indicators, Drinan and Pratyush decided to go to WSOP officials and ask for an investigation. Connor said that they believed that he probably used some sort of invisible ink in combination with the sunglasses to identify opponents' cards.”

(Photo: Cardschat.com)

Drinan and Buddiga filed an official complaint with WSOP officials, Buddiga tweeting at the time “We're waiting to see what the WSOP does at this time but they took our worries very seriously immediately so cautiously optimistic” - Pratyush ( pratyushbuddiga) June 4, 2015.

His optimism came to naught, however, when the initial WSOP investigation cleared Coca of any wrongdoing, as did a joint probe along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board - although no details were given about the nature of the in-depth investigation.

"Once issues were brought to our attention, we immediately commenced an investigation and worked cooperatively with the Nevada Gaming Control Board,” read the WSOP statement. “The investigation that was performed has now been completed by all parties. At this time, the matter is considered closed and the 5th-place finisher in Event #10 will now have his funds released for payment.”

Coca collected $54,545 for his fifth-place finish, but his opponents had a hard time believing everything was above board.

"It’s a strong statement to accuse someone of cheating,” stated Buddiga. “But even if they don’t find definitive proof, I’m 100 percent convinced that he’s a cheater and these cards, everyone’s been talking about how easy they are to mark.”

Another opponent, Aaron Mermelstein, agreed and gave two explanations for how Coca managed to defeat so many of thw world’s leading heads-up players.

"I would put it this way - either he’s the best ever, or he’s a cheater.”

(Photo: Cardplayer.com)

Not the first or last time

Earlier this year I wrote about yet another card-marking cheat, 57-year old Russian Valeriy Mikhaylets, who cheated almost £60,000 from other players at the Palm Beach Casino in London’s Mayfair district back in 2014, but fled the country after being released on bail, later being arrested when he traveled from Moscow to Finland.

The cheating was discovered after suspicions were raised about his play in several NLHE events at the Genting-operated casino. According to the prosecutors: Between 30 November 2014 and 1 December 2014, Valeriy Mikhaylets cheated on multiple occasions during a Texas Hold'em poker game causing the loss to other players of £57,025.

When arrested he was found to be in possession of two Genting Casino memberships cards, only one of which was in his name, and £2000 in cash. He was also discovered to have playing cards, dice and sandpaper on him, the latter he claimed to be for smoothing out rough edges on the cards –although, naturally, sandpaper can also be used to mark cards

A very similar incident occurred in 2014, when unemployed 61-year old Mihai Lacatos, was able to cheat numerous casinos across the UK by leaving dents on the cards. The Romanian national was also responsible for entering casinos that he had been banned from by using fake ID cards and driver licenses.

As Ines Slatinac reported for PokerTube:

"Lacatos spent hours at the casino tables while leaving tiny dents and bends on the cards, marking them so quickly that his cheating went unnoticed for years. Before being discovered he used his technique to cheat at poker tables in numerous casinos all over the UK including casinos in Leicester, Salford, Nottingham and Birmingham.”

When his card marking was noticed at the Playboy Club by the casino staff, parent company Caesars Entertainment contacted the MPS Gaming Unit which immediately circulated his image around all UK casinos.

He was recognized at the Rubicon Casino where police arrested Lacatos and seized £1,485 from him. When he failed to appear at court in May 2014 detectives tracked him down, catching the cheat at Luton Airport’s departure lounge as he tried to flee. Lacatos admitted 14 fraud charges and was also charged with possessing false documents and in March 2015 he was jailed for 18 months.