{"id":120443,"date":"2020-01-14T09:38:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T17:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=120443"},"modified":"2020-01-14T09:38:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T17:38:20","slug":"a-look-at-cheaters-always-win-by-j-m-fenster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/a-look-at-cheaters-always-win-by-j-m-fenster\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at Cheaters Always Win by J. M. Fenster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Richard Munchkin and I were sent review copies of this book in order for us to determine if we wanted the author on our Gambling with an Edge<\/em> podcast. It turned out I liked the book very much, recommend it, but don\u2019t feel it\u2019s appropriate for the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is<\/em> some gambling-related content to the book, but generally these are anecdotes about gamblers who cheated. Some of the anecdotes I had heard before. Some I hadn\u2019t. But these kinds of anecdotes don\u2019t lend themselves to follow-up questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book is non-fiction and the writer is amusing. I found myself chuckling numerous times. Her main points are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Most people cheat.<\/li>
  2. People vary in their propensity to turn in cheaters.<\/li>
  3. People cheat more when they think they can get away with it.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Nothing earth-shaking here, but well presented. For me, the most useful thing about the book is how it got me thinking afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Consider the New England Patriots. Clearly the most successful NFL team this millennium, and a team that has been caught cheating (or at least accused of cheating) more than once. How serious the cheating was depends on whom you are asking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For diehard fans of other NFL teams, the Patriots are cheaters pure and simple, and their coach, Bill Belichick, has his last name spelled Belicheat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For people with less emotion attached to who wins or loses, Belichick is considered the best football coach ever and the reason his team wins is because of hard work and preparation, not cheating. Through considerable study, he\u2019s located loopholes in the official rules that others didn\u2019t know were there until he exploited them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Both sides have strongly held views, and neither is likely to give in to the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think the same is true when you consider the subject of Advantage Players. A common definition of an AP is one who legally beats casino games while playing by the rules and without cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s a noble definition, but the simple fact is that many, probably most, APs cheat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Consider that many people cheat on their taxes. APs largely play in a cash-only environment which makes cheating on taxes easier and makes that cheating less likely to be discovered. Do you still maintain that APs never cheat? Keep in mind that if you and I bet $5 on the winner of next year\u2019s Super Bowl, legally the winner of that bet MUST report it as income and pay taxes accordingly. Anyone who doesn\u2019t do that is cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What complicates this is that \u201ccheating\u201d isn\u2019t always well-defined. The famous cases of Phil Ivey and Kelly Sun playing baccarat with an advantage by convincing casinos to use particular cards and then to sort those cards in a specific way has been discussed at length on GWAE<\/em> and elsewhere. From my point of view, what Ivey and Sun did was perfectly legal. According to at least three courts in both the United States and Great Britain, what Ivey and Sun were doing was not<\/em> legal. Each of us can have an opinion on this, but how can we know whether it is cheating — especially in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say I agreed to do a project for you where you agreed to reimburse me for expenses. My actual expenses are $50,000 and I submit a bill saying I had $100,000 in expenses. Most people would consider that fraud, which is a form of cheating. But players routinely find a way to overstate their losses. Sometimes this is because of a rebate, sometimes to get better comps, and sometimes just to keep their welcome. Likely there are other reasons as well. But a case could be made that it\u2019s cheating to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a table games player and correct the dealer when the dealer makes mistakes in the house\u2019s favor, but let it stand when the dealer makes errors in your favor. Smart players do this regularly. There can be a difference of opinion on whether it is cheating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Or how about scouring the rules looking for unintended casino mistakes? To me that\u2019s clever and one of the secrets to my success, but I\u2019ve had a casino manager tell me he considers it cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In some clubs in London, counting cards in blackjack is against the rules — hence cheating. In the United States, counting cards is legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cHole carding,\u201d meaning searching for and exploiting sloppy dealers who expose one or more cards they shouldn\u2019t, is legal in most states. But try to convince the elders of an Indian tribe who need to decide whether \u201chole carding\u201d was legal at their casino or not. Good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A lot of us have someone else pick up our video poker free play while we are on vacation. Some casinos have explicit rules forbidding this. So, we have our picker-uppers play for quarters to minimize detection. Is this cheating?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a big player, get a hotel room at a nice casino, and then sell it to a friend for $150 a night, which would be a big discount over retail and \u201cfree money\u201d to you. At the minimum, casinos frown on this and don\u2019t want you \u201ctaking advantage of them.\u201d Players can easily justify their actions as cashing in something they have earned. Casino managers and players will have different opinions as to whether this is cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I can come up with other examples, but you get the idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Probably a better definition of an AP is a player who beats casinos by using their brains — while not stretching the envelope too much. That definition is unworkable, of course. Your opinion of what is cheating may or may not be the same as mine or anybody else\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Moreover, each AP makes and maintains his own set of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts. At the Blackjack Ball, or any other place where working APs band together for an evening, you could make a list of situations that some players would consider acceptable and others wouldn\u2019t. I was \u201cmore aggressive,\u201d shall we say, when I was struggling to make ends meet. Now that my life is not such a struggle, I more frequently take the high road. I suspect I\u2019m not the only one who has based decisions on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I still consider myself an AP. I still consider myself a non-cheater, generally speaking, although my list of personal peccadillos over the years would not be a short one. And I know from experience that some of my readers are more than willing to condemn me right and left should I express such things in detail.And I thank J. M. Fenster for her fun read, Cheaters Always Win.<\/em> Her book caused my mind to go in the direction that led to this article.\n\n<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Richard Munchkin and I were sent review copies of this book in order for us to determine if we wanted the author on our Gambling with an Edge podcast. It turned out I liked the book very much, recommend it, but don\u2019t feel it\u2019s appropriate for the show. There is some gambling-related content to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A Look at Cheaters Always Win by J. M. Fenster by Bob Dancer","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2,398],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nA Look at Cheaters Always Win by J. M. 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