They outsmarted the casinos

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Tommy Carmichael is a notorious American slot machine cheat active from the 1980s to the early 2000s, renowned for inventing sophisticated devices like the "light wand" to defraud casinos. He caused millions in losses, was imprisoned multiple times, and eventually became a consultant helping casinos detect cheating devices.


There are famous & infamous stories of players who are able to outsmart the casinos.
We've heard about Richard Marcus, Phil Ivey & also the MIT students in the movie "21".
What is your favorite story of how casinos are outsmarted?
Perhaps we have not heard about it.
 
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P.My truth is me, I've been fooling everyone all the time, I've never entered a casino 🤣🤣🤣
 
Cozmin said:
P.My truth is me, I've been fooling everyone all the time, I've never entered a casino 🤣🤣🤣
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I guess you indeed have outsmarted the casinos since they're unable to rake even a cent from your pocket. Wise move bud!
 
I have only heard about outsmarting the casino in the movies. Even the ones you mentioned, I never heard of. Well I heard of Ivey but had no idea about him doing anything.
 
belizebum said:
I heard of Ivey but had no idea about him doing anything.
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Phil Ivey lost major legal battles regarding his use of "edge-sorting" to win over $20 million in baccarat. Courts in the UK (2017) and New Jersey (2019/2020) ruled the technique—exploiting card manufacturing flaws—amounted to cheating, forcing him to forfeit millions in winnings.

Articles can be found in the internet. One such is below.

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The story about Bobby Baldwin letting Tom Dwan beat the limit holdem machine, because he would lose it back on BJ.

Tom was betting his buddies around half a million that he could beat the game. He was only beating the game for a few thousand.
 
They have outsmarted the casinos when they gets banned from casinos for winning too much.
 
A few years ago, a new casino opened near us, and my friend and I would go play blackjack every weekend and beat the dealers because they were so new they made a ton of mistakes. I was making $800-$1,000 every weekend just by spending 4-6 hours there.
 
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dreamer13 said:
A few years ago, a new casino opened near us, and my friend and I would go play blackjack every weekend and beat the dealers because they were so new they made a ton of mistakes. I was making $800-$1,000 every weekend just by spending 4-6 hours there.
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Have you spotted any 'em cash cows lately? Tho the casinos should be able to spot these leaks fairly quickly.
 
This is why slots are favorites; to the lucky, it sets one for a lifetime.

Elmer Sherwin’s Double Mega Millions Miracle

Elmer Sherwin may be the luckiest man in Las Vegas history. Just hours after Mirage Casino opened for business in 1989, Sherwin hit the Megabucks progressive jackpot. This man won a massive 4.6 million dollars that day. But that wasn't the end of his story. Sherwin returned to the slots and struck gold again at the age of 92. This time around, he won 21.1 million dollars from the Megabucks machine. This time at the Cannery Casino in Las Vegas. Elmer had earlier mentioned that he wanted to win again so he could donate more money to charity. And after his second win, he did exactly that. Megabucks is one of the most famous progressive slots in the U.S. Its jackpot starts at 10 million dollars. Sherwin’s double victories are a powerful reminder that lightning can strike twice, even on the casino floor.
 
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YLAN said:
Tommy Carmichael is a notorious American slot machine cheat active from the 1980s to the early 2000s, renowned for inventing sophisticated devices like the "light wand" to defraud casinos. He caused millions in losses, was imprisoned multiple times, and eventually became a consultant helping casinos detect cheating devices.


There are famous & infamous stories of players who are able to outsmart the casinos.
We've heard about Richard Marcus, Phil Ivey & also the MIT students in the movie "21".
What is your favorite story of how casinos are outsmarted?
Perhaps we have not heard about it.
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I really liked the movie “21.” As far as I understand, the script is based on real events, which makes it truly fascinating. It proves once again that things can happen in real life that are hard to even imagine.
 
R.Holynskyi said:
I really liked the movie “21.” As far as I understand, the script is based on real events, which makes it truly fascinating. It proves once again that things can happen in real life that are hard to even imagine.
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That is correct. The story is not fueled by luck. It is all about skill, strategy, and math. It gave inspiration for the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House" that came from that event. Even the Hollywood film "21" came from this event as well. Card counting is legal. Many casinos reserve the right to ban players who use it. Today, with surveillance systems and AI tools it has become difficult to use such tactics. People will seek other ways to outsmart the house.
 
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YLAN said:
That is correct. The story is not fueled by luck. It is all about skill, strategy, and math. It gave inspiration for the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House" that came from that event. Even the Hollywood film "21" came from this event as well. Card counting is legal. Many casinos reserve the right to ban players who use it. Today, with surveillance systems and AI tools it has become difficult to use such tactics. People will seek other ways to outsmart the house.
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I think, as always, the most interesting things are still ahead of us. New technologies and AI can be used both to create safer gaming conditions and to implement fraudulent schemes. Obviously, there will be more and more scenarios for films in the near future 🙂
 
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dreamer13 said:
A few years ago, a new casino opened near us, and my friend and I would go play blackjack every weekend and beat the dealers because they were so new they made a ton of mistakes. I was making $800-$1,000 every weekend just by spending 4-6 hours there.
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How can a dealer make mistakes on BJ? I think the rules are so easy that it should be impossible.
 
YLAN said:
What is your favorite story of how casinos are outsmarted?
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Very nice video and a great story. It's always kind of pleasant to see someone outsmart casinos. It's not like they would go broke or bankrupt. They make tons of money.
The most famous story, my favorite actually, is the real MIT Blackjack team formed in 1979 by J.P. Massar and Bill Kaplan.
 
Richard Marcus would swap low-value chips for high-value ones, or vice versa, depending on the situation. In total, he made over $30 million through cheating. I don't know who did the math, but even if it was just $3 million, it would still be pretty impressive.
And by the way, he now also works as a security consultant 🙂
 
YLAN said:
Tommy Carmichael is a notorious American slot machine cheat active from the 1980s to the early 2000s, renowned for inventing sophisticated devices like the "light wand" to defraud casinos. He caused millions in losses, was imprisoned multiple times, and eventually became a consultant helping casinos detect cheating devices.


There are famous & infamous stories of players who are able to outsmart the casinos.
We've heard about Richard Marcus, Phil Ivey & also the MIT students in the movie "21".
What is your favorite story of how casinos are outsmarted?
Perhaps we have not heard about it.
Click to expand...
Interesting illustration. If there is someone to create systems, there will be someone to cheat them. Money—or the lack thereof—leads to fraud and criminal acts. The proposals are there, and human skills, ethics, and morals are constantly being tested. I believe that today they should monitor who buys slot machines, and with Tommy's help, they are much better at preventing cheating. It took them a while to catch him, but they profited from him. Good luck to you!
 
The blackjack story from the new casino really caught my attention. Making $800–$1,000 a weekend because the dealers were inexperienced must have felt like finding a temporary weakness in the house.
 
Very interesting story but honestly I doubt this guy really outsmarted anyone as he got caught multiple times and also landed in prison.
 
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