Poker Insider Reveals Cheating Secrets

HOUSTON -- If you're one of the millions caught up in the Texas Hold 'Em poker craze, the odds may not be in your favor and you'd never know it. The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters uncovered cheating secrets from a poker insider.

The Texas Hold 'Em poker craze is no bluff. Millions still watch it on television, spend millions playing poker on the Internet, and Houston-area home games and tournaments are playing to a full house.

"This is all going on and I am talking about it," said Richard Marcus, author of "Dirty Poker."

Marcus said his ace in the hole could kill the craze.

"There's rampant cheating going on," he said.

That's right -- cheating. And Marcus should know. He spent 25 years making a living cheating casinos. He said his former cheating colleagues have followed the money to poker.

"What makes poker especially appetizing for the cheater is you're not cheating the house. You're cheating the other players," he said.

That means if you're caught up in the craze, especially online, Marcus said you've likely been cheated already. How? Teams of players work together -- collusion.

Marcus said everyone on a cheating team knows what cards every other team member has. It's all done by signals -- the way you play with your chips or where you set them down lets the team know your hand.

The team works together inflating the pot, helping the best hand win, knocking other players out.

"In the long run, the odds favor the collusion team and they will win," Marcus said.

In his new book, "Dirty Poker," Marcus said collusion happens in casino poker rooms, local tournaments and even in poker's premier event, the World Series of Poker.

"These people are now cheating in these poker events. Some of them are household names," he said.

"People like conspiracy theories," said Matt Dean, a World Series of Poker finalist.

Dean said he is not convinced. He lives in The Woodlands but traveled to Las Vegas in 2004.

"People thought I had a really good poker face, but I was really just scared," he said.

In his first tournament, Dean finished seventh in the World Series of Poker, bringing home $675,000.

"I don't think the top pros would want to put themselves in the position to get caught," Dean said. "They don't want that for the sport."

But Marcus said the most blatant cheating in poker may be online. He claims players battle against a stacked deck 50 percent of the time.

Collusion online is easier. Teams can talk on the phone or through instant messaging.

One person could even work as his own team using several computers to play different hands.

"You're the same guy and you're looking at eight seats," Marcus said. "And you're playing against two honest players. What chance do they have? None."

Cheaters also buy what are called Bots -- software programs where robots play the hand for them, calculating odds and making statistical decisions.

"What safer means for them to get rich and commit major crimes than going online and playing poker because no one is prosecuting that?" Marcus said.

Dean also plays online and is much more worried about cheating there. He plays only two hours a day, but makes his living doing it.

"I know people who will talk on IM -- instant messenger -- and tell each other what they have when they're playing at a table," he said.

Marcus predicts poker cheating will only get worse and said the online companies know it.

"There's a lot of people very upset with me. I didn't write this book to make any friends," he said.

The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters spoke www.partypoker.com, the largest Internet poker site. They said that they have surveillance teams using software looking for cheating and collusion. They have already caught several cheaters and said they have zero tolerance for it.

The World Series of Poker told the Troubleshooters that while the tournament is about prestige as well as the money, anything is possible. But they said they have never had any complaints or seen anything to raise suspicions. More than 400 cameras are watching players during the tournament.