Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is normally a day off for cheaters. Like the rest of the nation, the holiday usually found me sitting back and pigging out on turkey and all of the trimmings. Happily, today was no exception.

This afternoon I was reminiscing, about one particular Thanksgiving in the late 1970s when I learned the rich history of casino cheating team into which I had recently been beckoned. I spent this notable Thanksgiving with my mentor Joe Classon and his mother, a rather stylish woman in her seventies, who actually referred to her son as “my son the casino pastposter.”

Over a lavish traditional meal Joe and his Mother regaled me with tales of how Joe and his brother Henry, came to be professional casino cheaters. It was then that I heard of the pioneers who taught Joe’s brother Henry.

Mumbles and Wheels, two World War I vets, developed an early batch of casino tricks that they plied in the casinos in Puerto Rico and Cuba before venturing off to future gambling Mecca of Las Vegas. Being pioneers at their craft probably required a unique level of courage, but those were also the days before the casinos offered much of a meaningful defense against skilled cheats. I learned about how Mumbles and Wheels had a hand in changing casinos ideas about defensive tactics. In direct response to these early cheating pioneers, casinos began to use those little plastic roulette markers the size of a salt shaker placing them on top of the chips on the winning number.

When Wheels passed on, Henry joined Mumbles and learned more than a few valuable craps and roulette moves, which Henry then taught Joe. Less than a year after Mumbles had died, in the mid fifties, the two brothers found themselves in Las Vegas standing frozen in disbelief upon encountering their first roulette marker. The casino industry's first coordinated counterattack aimed at roulette pastposters, those plastic cylinders were invented by an ex-cheater working in surveillance for the Sands. Its purpose was to deny pastposters access to the winning chips underneath, as well as prevent the laying down of naked cappers.

All the casinos in Las Vegas were suddenly using the salt shaker-like anti-pastposting device. Within a few months, every American or English style roulette table in the world was using it. Henry and Joe considered foregoing roulette in favor of craps moves but Henry quickly came up with a different idea of working the splits. For some time they then pastposted where the marker doesn't touch the split bets between two numbers. The bets still paid 17 to 1. Then, as is the case now, adaptability is the key to a successful cheating operation.

As I celebrate Thanksgiving, and recall all of the many holidays I shared with my family of casino cheating partners, I am definitely thankful for having met Joe, through whom I became a part of such a rich heritage of skilled professional casino artisans.

Bats at work in Reno & Vegas

I spoke to Bats the other day. Mentioned in an earlier post, Bats is one of the cheaters that had to be edited out of my book out of concerns over its length.

Bats and his crew run a staple ‘move’ of tracking aces and reading hole cards at blackjack. He told me he spent most of the last few weeks with his team up in Reno, where one can still find quite a few handheld blackjack games and dealers who still unwittingly flash their hole cards before tucking them under, giving Bats and his cohorts a super edge. Back in Vegas, they boldly stood tall against the six and eight-deck shoes and tracked enough aces to beat the pants off the MGM, Bellagio and the casino where my surveillance friend spotted the Italians, which of course I cannot divulge.

Their current plans are to head out east to give Atlantic City a whirl before going back to Vegas for New Year’s Eve, always the most profitable evening of the year for casino cheaters, scammers and even those who legitimately count the cards at blackjack.

I was disappointed with not being able to include Bats and many other cheaters and stories in my book, wherein I could more ably portray him as the unique character that he is. But, what can I say, if St, Martin’s had let me write 1000 pages, I would’ve done it.

On the positive side, it seems as if Bats likes my blog. He indicated he is amenable to providing updates of his cheating adventures for me to pass along to readers from time to time. Plus, I’ve got plenty more stories to tell about him as well as many other colorful characters.

I selected the best stories to include in AMERICAN ROULETTE, ones that work well to paint an accurate portrait of a 25 year career cheating casinos. On the whole, I think the edited version of AMERICAN ROULETTE worked out well. After all, my entire marriage was edited out -- I wish my editor had been able to make my ex-wife disappear from my real life as easily as he did in the book.