Dustin Marks was born in the 1950s and is known as one of the most famous insider cheats in the United States. Marks worked at several well-known casinos in Las Vegas during the 70s and 80s. He developed different cheating methods and dealing techniques for blackjack.
He traveled the US for 10 years and scammed casinos for millions without getting caught. No one would have known about the cheating if it wasn’t for a blackjack book where Dustin Marks writes about his cheating career.
The Smell Of Money
Dustin started out as a casino cheat, using magic tricks. Two key things for any magician are card tricks and misdirection. These two key tricks are also valid for casino tricks. Marks was passionate about magic from a young age. He tested his skills in Las Vegas after graduating from college, hoping wazamba to become a great magician. But then something better came along.
People usually think of casino cheating as one-player cheating. This is wrong. You need an inner man. In this case, the dealer is the insider or a cross-roader.
Dustin Marks was the man. This person is very good at fairspin casino games, especially Blackjack. To cheat at the casino, you need a team of at least two people. Dustin reveals many of his secrets in his book Cheating at Blackjack.
First Method, The Card Stacking
Dustin’s favorite is Card Stacking, which requires the most skill.
The dealer rates the cards as they are dealt to the player. Casino protocol says all cards must be picked up and placed in the discard tray in a certain order. This lets the dealer know what the deal order would be if the cards were just dealt from the discard tray without shuffling.
The dealer deals a strong hand to the player. A 20-fair spin or Blackjack is good, and doubling down is even better. The cross-roader shuffles the cards and asks the player to bet big. This move can be done in single-deck games dozens of times an hour with great results.
This takes a lot of practice to get right. To succeed with this strategy, you must know how the cards are placed in the discard tray and how they are dealt. Also, you must perfect false mixing so it’s undetectable. Marks often practiced shuffling and arranging the cards for hours on video.
Second Method, The Cooler
The most profitable maneuver a casino cheater can use also involves the greatest risks. This is called a Cooler. A Cooler is 6 decks of cards that are pre-arranged to give the player a maximum advantage. It has been found that such an arrangement of cards in Blackjack can easily be worth $100,000.
Marks says it takes a lot of people wazamba and precision to pull off this maneuver. He and his team did it perfectly. This takes a lot of practice. One wrong move can ruin it for everyone.
Third Method, The Chip Stack
This is a way to cheat at the casino without the dealer. It’s done by changing the number of chips bet after the first two cards are dealt.
If the player has a strong hand, they add more chips. If they have a weak hand, they take some back.
Fourth Method, The Card Mucking
Dustin Marks’ last technique is to change a card to improve a hand. Card mucking uses sleight of hand and comes from magic. There are two fair ways to do card mucking. The first is where the player draws a high-value card and puts it back later for profit.
The second way is for two players to swap their cards so the player who bets more has a strong hand. Timing is important for these moves. Do them when the dealer isn’t paying attention, and the supervisors are busy.
Dustin Marks is perhaps the most successful cheater in the history of casino games. He not only managed to cheat at casino games but also became famous for revealing his methods in his book.
