Never too old to learn

[JK.]

Hello again Brian and other PNW posters,
Brian do you remember when Jim Quinn lost $500,000 playing Backgammon with Valery?
We could not work out how this average player could have such a long and prosperous run
at the game.
Now I know.After so many years.
Last few weeks I was playing Valery and his mate Misha.I hardly won a game.
I lost every day for weeks.
Yesterday Misha came alone.Again he was winning,rolling many 6/6 and 5/5 when racing off the board.
I waited until he went to toilet and tested the dice with a magnet.
The dice went crazy and stuck to the magnet like a limpet.
When I put the magnet on a two the die would tilt over until the six touched the surface of the magnet.
Two of the four dice were loaded.It just happens that he was using both of them.
When he came out of the toilet I said that I was tired and I confiscated the dice.
He didn't ask why but I think he understood.
I will no longer play Backgammon with him but I will not blacklist him as he is a big loser in my Omaha game.
Business is business.
I am just sorry that it took me so long to catch on to these guys.
Like I said it is never too late.

[Brian McDonald]

JK,

I can't say I'm surprised to hear about this. I remember that situation with Jim and valery quite well, no matter what the predicament he seemed to roll magic all the time.

Of course it wasn't helped by Jim's gambling addiction. I remember he was down $50k and I played a few games for him and managed to win it all back. I had to pay a visit to the gent's and told Jim not to play as I figured I'd get a sling when I returned and continued to clean Valery out. Of course by the time I got back Jimmy was down $20k so I watched a few games and he continued to roll like a freak. I told Jim to quit but you know what he was like. On reflection it was a bit strange he was prepared to take anyone on but now we know why. I think Jimmy actually paid him about $200k cash so if he's still in town he might be interested to know the story.

[JK.]

I told Jim but I think he does not believe me.
He is too proud to admit that he got taken by a couple of clever crooks.
Too much pride borders on stupidity.
By the way,they did settle on $250,000 as long as the money was handed over the next day,which it was.
Jim is a slow learner,slower then me.
He forgot that valery was caught by Korona cameras in my poker room palming an Ace.
Valery offered me $10,000 to forget the cheating and let him continue to play.
How many times do we have to catch these guys before Jim believes me?

[JK.]

The story gets worse Brian.
Do you remember the ten Backgammon boards I bought of Yura Akopov?
They were made of wood and very comfortable to play on.
Well a guy comes up to me and tells me to test them.
I thought he was crazy but what the hell.
I took one to pieces and guess what?
They were all lined with magnetic strips.
I heard of loaded dice but "loaded"boards,never.
I thought I knew everything about cheating but this was a new one.
I ,who thinks is a genius at gambling and game protection,have been cheated for ten
long years.
I am not too proud to admit,I have a lot to learn.
So all of you who take things for granted and just assume that everyone is honest and
that casinos and Internet sites would never cheat,take a lesson from my experience.
If anyone has had similar experience please don't hesitate to write.
We can all learn from each other.

[JK.]

Am I the only one who has experiencd rorts and scams?
Or can't you tell when you have been had?
I am not surprised that most of you Lemings think Internet poker is honest.
OK bit of an incentive.
If you write a good story,not made up and something I have not seen or heard before,there is a free trip to Moscow to stay with my girls.
See if this stirs some response.
JK.

[Spikey]

The story gets worse Brian.
Do you remember the ten Backgammon boards I bought of Yura Akopov?
They were made of wood and very comfortable to play on.
Well a guy comes up to me and tells me to test them.
I thought he was crazy but what the hell.
I took one to pieces and guess what?
They were all lined with magnetic strips.
I heard of loaded dice but "loaded"boards,never.
I thought I knew everything about cheating but this was a new one.
I ,who thinks is a genius at gambling and game protection,have been cheated for ten
long years.
I am not too proud to admit,I have a lot to learn.
So all of you who take things for granted and just assume that everyone is honest and
that casinos and Internet sites would never cheat,take a lesson from my experience.
If anyone has had similar experience please don't hesitate to write.
We can all learn from each other.

You also seem to be saying that for 10 long years you couldn't tell that your opponent was throwing too many double 6's.
Also, if the dice were loaded to produce too many double 6's, I think it would have been easy to beat him, you just adjust your play so as to put your men so that his 6's don't play. He should have been easy to beat if his dice were loaded. I think I would like to play with these bananas and give them their loaded dice.
Or are you saying that they can adjust the loading to produce more of any desired number any time they want to?

[JK.]

Good point Mike .Other people with maths credentials told me this .
The problem is that I didn't know the dice were loaded.I thought that it was how they threw the dice.
The other point is that it is hard to play your pieces to protect against the double six when you are at the end game bearing off.
The experience has woken me up.I will check the equipment before any big cash game.
In the old days I treated poker security seriously and Backgmmon rather friendly and social.Not any more.
Pricks cheat at any game or any sitiuation if they think they can get away with it.
It is the same all over the world.
Even that situation at Adelaide casino when they closed the Keno with a Milliond dollar Jackpot and kept the money.
Because they knew they had Government support and could get away with it,they stole the players money.
So ,when gambling or in business,Trust Nobody.Not even family members.
In fact in business the hardest thing to find,is not credit,suitable staff,a good location,cheap rent etc but people you can trust.

[Brian McDonald]

Agent Mulder was right ' TRUST NO-ONE.

It reminds me of that old Armenian guy who used an iron on his board to make it super slippery so he could just glide the dice along it after placing them in the cup the way he wanted them to land.

A friend of 2 chairs if I remember correctly.

[JK.]

He died a few years ago Brian.But others took his place cheating.It is in the family.
Why is it some nationalities are better at cheating than others?

[Brian McDonald]

I just thought of something you could use against these guys. Do you remember what Korona used, to roll the dice for their competitions most nights. It was a big wire cage type thing that the dice would be placed in and then the guy who was the M.C. would give it a spin. Maybe it's still lying around in Korona somewhere if they haven't knocked the building down yet. Talking about it's a small world. The other day I met 3-4 old ducks (our age) at the local railway station. They piqued my attention because they were speaking russian to each other. When I mentioned Korona one of them said she was a member of Metelitsa Casino ( it truly is a small world )