Three people at the JokerStars Poker Room in Houston learned that all it takes is a little access to be able to run a poker cheating scheme. They also learned that there are security cameras everywhere. On Sunday, an employee of the club and two of his friends were caught using technology to scam their tablemates during a high stakes poker night.
Carlito, who from security footage screenshots appeared to be a dealer at JokerStars, was spotted camera swapping out the table’s regular deck with his own deck. That deck’s cards were outfitted with RFID chips. This is a standard technology in televised and streamed poker, as it allows the cards to be read by a device and then shown on screen for viewers to see. The problem was, this was not one of those broadcast games, so RFID cards should not have been involved.
Carlito’s accomplices, Marcelo and Ivan, used card reading devices to tell them what cards everyone else had. It may be a bit of a surprise to some that they could cheat out in the open without anyone noticing for a while, but when you aren’t expecting that kind of cheating, you aren’t necessarily looking for it.
But let’s not forget – they were caught.
JokerStars owner Jerry Yen posted on Facebook that after club GM Jason Marshall conducted an investigation behind closed doors, he confronted Carlito (no details were given as to what prompted the investigation). Carlito initially denied involvement, but once he was shown evidence, including objects from his own backpack, he confessed. Carlito was permanently banned from JokerStars; Yen did not say if he was going to take any legal action.
Marcelo and Ivan got away during the “commotion.”
“We are deeply saddened by Carlito’s actions as he is a former employee that represented the Jokerstars name. This is a huge disappointment not just to us, but the entire poker community,” Yen wrote.
“We are here to provide the best gaming experience possible for our members and we are diligent everyday to keep our games fair,” he added.
Yen said JokerStars has reimbursed all players who lost money in the game. He also noted that the club is working on creating its own poker decks so that nobody will be able to sneak rigged decks into a game again.
Image credit: Facebook / Jerry Yen
The post Cheaters Caught Using RFID Deck at Houston Poker Room appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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