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Two Years In Prison For Using Infrared Contact Lenses To Cheat At Poker

Posted by Soulskill on from the somebody-warn-levar-burton dept.

dmfinn writes "It was back in 2011 when Stefano Ampollini and two accomplices cheated a French casino out of over €90,000 thanks to the help of Chinese-made infrared contact lenses. According to French authorities, Ampollini and two casino workers marked cards using an invisible liquid that would be picked up by the infrared lenses, which Ampollini then used to read his competitors' cards. Though the contacts themselves cost over €2,000, the crew managed to take €71,000 in their first night. However, the trio was finally caught when a lawyer working for the casino became suspicious after Ampollini folded with an unbelievably good hand, which suggested he knew the croupier's cards. This week, a French court sentenced Ampollini to two years in prison and a €100,000 fine. His main accomplice was handed an even harsher sentence; he was forced to pay the same fine and given a 36-month sentence. It appears, despite their best efforts and advanced tactics, that the men were still unable to beat the house without raising significant alarms. So, at least for now, it seems modern technology still can't simulate good old 'luck.'"

12 of 320 comments (clear)

  1. They were greedy by bartron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Be greedy and you raise suspicion. If you have a hand that you would consider a winning hand under normal circumstances then you play it, regardless if you know you will lose. Start doing impossible or improbable moves and you may as well be wearing a huge neon arrow sign on your head.

    1. Re:They were greedy by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The only surprising thing in this story is that casinos don't have infra-red cameras.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:They were greedy by Tom · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This. Every cheater knows that to stay undetected, you can't win too often. Even aimbots quickly included code to intentionally miss a shot every now and then.

      There are only two ways to get away with stealing money at a casino. One is to remain within the margin if probability - appear to be lucky, but not impossibly lucky. Either win some, lose some, with a total just slightly in your favour, or lose mostly, but then get the jackpot and stop playing after that. Make it a huge thing. Celebrate, rent a limo, marry a stranger, whatever. Don't pocket it and vanish, that'll be crazy suspicious.

      Oh, the second way. That is, of course, to own the casino.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    3. Re:They were greedy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Even aimbots quickly included code to intentionally miss a shot every now and then.

      but that's a terrible method of hiding an aimbot.. what gives them away isn't high accuracy, but inhuman movements.. the best way to hide it is to not have it aim for you, but only to have it shoot for you when you mouse over a target yourself.

      source: i wrote hacks for cs and cheated in the highest ranks of CAL without ever being suspected let alone caught.

  2. Information missing from summary and articles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most people associate "poker" with games where the players compete against each other, rather than the house. Texas Holdem and Draw poker are two well known variants. Many casinos have poker tables now - they provide a dealer, and make their money by taking a small percentage of each pot.

    The article talks about Stefano Ampollini knowing which cards the croupier had. The croupier would not have any cards in a normal game of poker.

    Looking at their website, it appears that the Les Princes Casino in Cannes does not have any normal poker tables. Instead, they run a casino game called "Casino Stud" or "Caribbean Stud Poker". It is a normal casino game that gives the house a 5% edge if the player uses the best possible strategy.

    The players must ante before each game. After they have seen their cards, if they want to continue they must place a "raise" - a bet which is double the ante.

    When the cheat decided whether or not to raise, he looked at the dealer's face down hand. He knew if the dealer would win or lose before he made his "raise" bet.

    It's likely that the casino knew the cheat's cards from the video surveillance footage.

  3. Your Bullshit is BS by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You're leaving out something really important and the real reason that he got caught: the casino was cheating too. Otherwise they wouldn't know that he had good cards when he folded. When he, or anyone else, folds, they just throw in their cards face down and those cards are not exposed for all players to see. The casino can't legitimately claim that they know he was cheating because he folded on good hands unless they were cheating and knew what his hands were.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:Your Bullshit is BS by wvmarle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It was not the croupier, but some casino lawyer who got suspicious. For all we know this lawyer could have been in the audience, just standing behind the player looking at the player's cards.

      Besides, the casino's play is usually bound to fixed rules, and the croupier has no influence on it.

    2. Re:Your Bullshit is BS by InvalidError · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Normal floor staff does not communicate with the security and anti-cheating staff.

      What likely happened:
      1- anti-cheating staff noticed someone with statistics-defying luck
      2- the staff couldn't figure out how he was cheating with their normal monitoring
      3- the table was instructed to change decks and save the player's hand (it is a common procedure)
      4- the anti-cheat staff looked at the discarded hand, concluded that no normal player would have folded on it under normal circumstances, analyzed the cards and found out about the IR markings
      5- anti-cheat staff investigated who handled those decks and put them under increased surveillance
      6- next time "lucky" showed up and showcased his odds-defying luck, they busted him and his accomplices to find out what his IR detection method was

  4. Infared Contact Lenses? by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Shut up and take my money!

    How do you make these? You need something that will convert a frequency our eyes can't detect, in your focal plane (it's a contact lens) into something you can detect without changing direction of the light wave. Never mind they cost allegedly $2000 I want to know what the science behind them is.

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  5. IR contact lenses can be bought here by bactus · · Score: 5, Informative

    https://www.gambleromania.com/5-sets-ir-contact-lenses

  6. get real by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In such a poker game, the player does not willing expose his cards for either a spectator or a casino camera to see. If that happened then someone else sitting at the table would have a team of accomplices watching everyone's hands and giving pre-arranged signals. Poker is not played with spectators watching all of the cards in any player's hand. Even casino cameras are generally overhead watching the cards to insure that none leave the table or are added, but players wouldn't play if they believed that the casino could read their cards when they took a well guarded glimpse of their dealt hand. Too much chance for a player to be cheated by the cameras if that could happen, as it would be extremely easy to signal to a house player or shill and win hands. No, if the casino knew what was in his hands they were cheating. Most likely they knew because the controlled the deal and dealt him some very good hands, expecting him to bet big and then lose to better hands they dealt themselves. When that didn't work they suspected that they were not the only ones cheating.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  7. Re:Outliers and out and out liars... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Where does the article say that? It mentions "the cheater knew the croupier's cards" - are you suggesting that the croupier participates in the action in a standard poker game like Texas Holdem?

    It seems that they were playing Caribbean Stud Poker, which is a game where the players compete against the house, and where the croupier does indeed have a hand representing the house.