Two Years In Prison For Using Infrared Contact Lenses To Cheat At Poker 320
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.'"
Your Bullshit is BS (Score:5, Interesting)
Infared Contact Lenses? (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.
Re:They were greedy (Score:5, Interesting)
The only surprising thing in this story is that casinos don't have infra-red cameras.
Re:Your Bullshit is BS is bullshit (Score:1, Interesting)
So I get modded down for knowing actual facts about the casino industry?
I get modded down for bothering to find out that the player was cheating at a house game (Caribbean Stud Poker) rather than a player vs player game like Texas Holdem?
I don't see why using CCTV to monitor a house game where one player is winning heavily would count as the "casino cheating". Does anybody have an explanation?
get real (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:They were greedy (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.
Re:They were greedy (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:They were greedy (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes actually.
Currently most casinos have 1080P 120fps broadcast quality security cameras on the tables. They can see the slightest thing and zoom in to check the sex on the fly that just landed.
They also have cameras UNDER the table edge watching you if you try to hand off something to someone sitting next to you.
Re:Glass tables (Score:4, Interesting)
Also of note is that high limit casino poker games are often filled with players that are playing quite badly. The phenomena is sort of based on the players "threshold of pain" when it comes to what limit they are playing. There are several common types of players that sit in the highest stakes game in a public poker room but cannot play well for long period of time precisely because they are in that particular game.
The first common type is the player with a very big ego that cannot admit to themselves or let others know that the game is too large for their bankroll: Every time they lose a pot it hurts like a motherfucker because they cannot afford it, leading to them going on tilt or otherwise making decisions that arent even an approximation of optimal.
The second common type is the player that has an obscene amount of money in the bank. They are in the largest game in the room because there isnt a larger game in the room. Nothing that happens in the game will meaningfully effect their lives in any way, so sooner or later they start gambling-it-up because thats a lot funner than trying to play a solid game of poker when the results dont really matter.
As far as this story goes.. these guys werent playing actual poker.. they were playing a house game.
Re:They were greedy (Score:4, Interesting)
By definition, people can't see infrared. If they could, it would be "red".