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Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

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Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#131

Post by sandworm101 »

QuadmasterXLII wrote: post #25

This scheme doesn’t really make sense. Once you’ve convinced a wealthy person to play at your underground poker table, you’ve already won - just play better poker than them, ultra wealthy fish don’t have time to learn to play perfect poker and you do. Trying to extract slightly more money per hand via x ray tables etc kills the golden goose and doesn’t even necessarily increase total winnings, since it makes you win…

Organized crime groups are rarely interested in "the long game". They work on the assumption that the party will end sooner than anticipated. Each game must be total victory.

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#132

Post by Scoundreller »

dboreham wrote: post #120
JohnMakin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“just play better poker” like that’s an easy thing to do in a game of chance and incomplete information, with variance having years or decades long tails. not to mention it’s an unsolved game, so “better” poker doesn’t even really have a set definition and depends on tons of variables. and they literally knew what hole cards were coming - that’s vastly more of an edge than playing “better poker” than someone. Besides…

> why the FBI decided to act now is weird to me Someone didn't pay a bribe on time?

Or the wrong person lost

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#133

Post by CGMthrowaway »

mattmaroon wrote: post #102
everdrive wrote: post #75

This is probably a very HN comment, but I cannot imagine why people actually like gambling and poker: - high likelihood you lose money - the point of the game is to lie to friends and strangers - you're stuck sitting at a table and following rules for hours - the only victory condition is that you take money from other people

As a former poker pro: I hated gambling, I just was willing to do it when I had an edge and at poker I had an edge. I almost never gambled at anything else unless I was getting an edge from promotions. Still don’t. There’s a approximately a 45% chance of losing money on any given day, even for the best players, but it decreases over a big sample. It’s definitely a marathon, not a sprint. That’s true of most things wo…

This tracks. Not a pro here, but if you have a 5% edge at a $20 8-seat home game your EV is BEST CASE maybe $20/hour. Which is good for entertainment but not much else

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#134

Post by yieldcrv »

duped wrote: post #70
ecshafer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FBI is going to take time building up the case, flipping people, getting recordings, and trying to get as many people involved to not just stop the games but hopefully take down the entire crime families involved. LA Poker pros will start talking as soon as they suspect something fishy.

The FBI is also struggling for legitimacy at this point in history

I think they’re also doing good investigations into local crime rings that the states and prior administrations didn’t touch

The political prosecution vendettas are dumb but here in LA they are disrupting “Armenian” crime rings

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#136

Post by parineum »

duped wrote: post #70
ecshafer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FBI is going to take time building up the case, flipping people, getting recordings, and trying to get as many people involved to not just stop the games but hopefully take down the entire crime families involved. LA Poker pros will start talking as soon as they suspect something fishy.

The FBI is also struggling for legitimacy at this point in history

Name a decade without a major FBI scandal

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#137

Post by typpilol »

prodigycorp wrote: post #5
Mistletoe wrote: post #2

Between all these recent gambling stories with coaches and players and the Kawhi thing I think I’m done with the NBA. The NBA’s gambling push has done nothing but gross me out. Greed unbridled. They saw the 1919 World Series and said “Let’s bet on this shit.”

This plus a lot of the soft greed. The insistence on a foul-centric game that leads to over 50% longer games, the ridiculous lack of investment on its own broadcast infra, the refusal to shorten the season (which is the longest in pro sports, longer than baseball's season, despite being less than half the games), and the consultant-driven management decisions - I have so much contempt for Adam Silver for making me ha…

There was over 90 free throws shot in 1 game yesterday

It was crazy

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#138

Post by bobafett-9902 »

dboreham wrote: post #120
JohnMakin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“just play better poker” like that’s an easy thing to do in a game of chance and incomplete information, with variance having years or decades long tails. not to mention it’s an unsolved game, so “better” poker doesn’t even really have a set definition and depends on tons of variables. and they literally knew what hole cards were coming - that’s vastly more of an edge than playing “better poker” than someone. Besides…

> why the FBI decided to act now is weird to me Someone didn't pay a bribe on time?

think of the spotlight the NBA had because of opening night! Someone in the FBI/admin wanted this news to drop right when the NBA was trying to make a splash and tarnish their new season

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#139

Post by dec0dedab0de »

prodigycorp wrote: post #99
CGMthrowaway wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a theory that the poker winnings were not the scam. The scam was that the criminal element would HELP the NBA players cheat at poker, and then blackmail them with that info to change the outcomes of NBA games, which they were betting on, from which they could derive greater scale of winnings.

imo that doesn't make sense. All the online betting platforms will cut off the sharps. If you are net profitable and you make too much money from them, you will get banned.

Well first of all, organized crime does not need an online platform to profit off of fixing professional sports games. There are still plenty of bookies running around offering better odds than draftkings. Though, if they really wanted to, they could make smaller bets under hundreds of accounts.

There is also the very strong possibility that they are colluding with the online betting platforms in some way. Coupled with the fact that any difference-maker athlete is getting a huge salary, and blackmail/extortion becomes your best option to getting one on your side.

Re: Poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players

#140

Post by bobafett-9902 »

All this potential jail time and reputation lost for $7 mil stolen over multiple years total??? And how many criminals split those winnings?? So the take home pay for an NBA HOF was like under $1 mil? Billups just signed an extension as an NBA head coach making well over that amount EVERY YEAR. Just sad imo
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