How to Protect your game from this Mini-Baccarat Scam

In this video you'll learn how to protect your mini-baccarat game from marked cards.

Typically people don’t think of marked cards when they think of Mini-Baccarat, because the players don’t touch the cards. If there is going to be any marked cards happening on Baccarat more than likely it’s going to be happening on Big-Baccarat or Mini-Baccarat where the players actually touch the cards. The thing with Big-Baccarat and Mini-Baccarat is they only use the cards once then the cards are discarded. They are thrown away. So even if the player did mark the card, it wouldn’t really matter because the cards are only used once and they are thrown away. However on Mini-Baccarat the cards are used over and over again.

So, marked cards! People actually do it. We are going to talk about it right here, right now.

How do Players Mark the Cards?

Players don’t touch the Mini-Baccarat cards, so how can they mark the cards if they don’t touch the cards? What will happen, the way they will mark the cards is the cheater will sit in the position that is closest to the discard rack and they will watch the cards come out, and what they are looking for is a seven, eight, or nine. They will try to mark these key cards. So if you have a seven, eight or nine out here, more than likely this is the part/section that this person is going to try to mark the cards. So if you have a seven, eight or nine in your hand be especially aware of the discard rack because this is a vulnerable section of your table. Make sure you are watching this at all times.

Now after the hand is over, so for example, we have a seven in this one. After this is over, the cards will be put in the discard rack, and the cheater will mark the top card for the discard rack.

Usually they will do it in several different ways which we will talk about in just a second. But typically when they are doing this, they are working as a team.

Scammers Often Work in Teams

Now as a dealer you have to be aware of this because people will typically work in teams. Team environments meaning more than one person.

There will be a team member sitting in first base and a team member sitting in third base. The team member sitting in first base is supposed to distract the dealer and the team member in third base is going to mark the card.

Beware of Distractions

As the dealer, be aware of distractions. You know distractions are the red flag that we always talk about. If there is a distraction, immediately make sure you are looking at the whole table at all times. Know your vulnerable areas. As a dealer if you know your vulnerable areas, if you know what to look out for, you are going to be much better to protect your game, than if you had no clue as to what is going on.

Again, the discard rack is a vulnerable area. If there is a distraction, make sure you know what’s going on in this area, in the discard rack area.

The Tracking Sheet Method

So again there will be a distraction on first base and that is when the player on third base will mark the top card with dog or some other method. Another thing that they will do is they will try to hide this action from the cameras, by using their large tracking sheet. The large Mini-Baccarat tracking sheet.

So if the player has this tracking sheet and he is over by the discard rack holding it up and he is like messing around with his tracking sheet, be especially aware of that.

They will use this tracking and they will try to hide from the cameras and from you, exactly what they are doing with this card. If they are holding the tracking sheet. If they are messing around with the tracking sheet or anything around the discard rack, make sure you know about it.

Make sure you are aware of it. Don’t turn your body away from the discard rack. Again if there is a distraction and you focus your attention… see how the back is turned to the discard rack? You can’t see what’s going on. If there is a distraction that is a red flag that something is happening and you need to know that you have vulnerable areas and make sure you are watching those areas for anything suspicious going on around it at all times.

Watch the Discard Rack

Moving on to the next section. Remember when you are dealing if you have a seven, eight or nine. Here we go, we have a nine right here. If you have a seven, eight or nine, be especially aware of this.

If you end up putting this in the discard rack and that seven, eight or nine is that last card, you need to realize that this is when the player is going to mark the card. Be aware of the discard rack and make sure you don’t turn your body, or react to any distractions that could possibly happen.

If you are aware of what they are going to do, it’s not going to surprise you as much and you will look out for. You will know where to focus on to make sure that they don’t actually get away with cheating.

Putting Money on the Player

Let us continue. When they are marking the cards they are going to mark a seven, eight or nine and the reason why is because the cheater obtains important top card information that results in the theoretical edge of about 15%, whenever one of these marked cards sits in the window of the dealing shoe. So when the dealer notices that the marked card is in this area, they are going to always play on the player. So they are going to have their money on the player. If you think that they are marking the cards and you notice that they are putting money on the player at certain times, this is an indicator that this is going on.

This is indicating that they are marking the cards and they are seeing this information in the shoe. So this is something that you have to look out for.

How They Mark the Cards

Since the first card dealt from the shoe is always given to the player's hand, that’s one of the reasons that they bet on the player. In Baccarat the cards are usually marked in one of two ways.

The Diagonal Crease

The first method that they are going to use to mark the cards is they are going to place a slight diagonal in the card. So they are going to use their thumb and put a slight diagonal in the card. It’s going to bend the card. That bend alters the light shining on the card and you can see this light in this position in the shoe. So you can see what’s coming out there. When you are looking at your cards to see if it is a marked card, check to see if there are any nicks or bends in the card that might indicate that this is a marked card. So you are looking for a bend, or you are looking for a nick.

The Daub

The second method that they could be using is daub. Daub is not something you can see with the naked eye. You have to put it under a certain type of lighting or you have to have certain contacts on. There’s a lot of daub out there so there are several different options. If it is daub, that is something that the managers are going to have to take and look at. They have the light, they have the specific lighting that shows if it is a marked card or not. So again that is something you are going to have to give to your managers.

Q & A

Q: What is the worst customer you had to deal with at a casino?

A: There are a lot of them. A lot of really bad ones. We had a high roller at a game one time, and the highroller was losing. He was mad and everything. He was very belligerent and cursing and calling me names and everything. It was 20 minutes before I had to leave for the day. He was throwing cards at me. He was throwing chips at me. He was yelling at me and calling me names. That’s not so bad, because I just remembered that I had one guy that threw the ashtray at me with ashes in it. It didn’t hit me, it hit my floor supervisor behind me because the dude was drunk so I was able to move in time. There was that guy.

I have had people pee on my table. That was sorta creepy. Oh! I had a stalker that staked me for a while and he would meet me at my car and he would be on my table eight hours a day. He was this old guy that was like 80 or 90 years old. And he would say the nastiest thing on the table. Like there would be a full table, an entire table full of people and this 90 year old guy would be on the table, just saying the dirtiest nastiest porn/R rated stuff you could possibly imagine and I am trying to deal.

I have had a lot of them. I don’t know which one is the worst. I’m not sure I would have to think about that. Good question.

Casino Story: I will give you a couple stories.

When I first started working, I was working two jobs. I was very sleep deprived, and I didn’t drink coffee, which changed after this. I totally drank coffee after this. I was dealing with Mini-Baccarat like so, and I was falling asleep. It had been like forever since I had some sleep. I was totally sleep deprived. So I fell asleep. I dreamed that I was dealing the game. In my dream the player has natural nine, banker has seven. Player wins. So I start taking the banker bets and I hear people yelling at me! I wake up and I realize that I am taking the banker bets and I look down and I have a tie. Like a natural eight, eight. Like there is no way I can screw this up. I am sitting here and I am taking all the banker bets and I have no idea what people bet. I could not even tell it’s all red. I had no clue who was betting what. I was mortified! Completely and utterly mortified. I had to call over my floor supervisor and I had to sit there and explain why I am taking all of these banker bets when I obviously had a natural eight, eight tie. I was completely mortified. After that I started drinking coffee so I wouldn’t fall asleep on the table again because I was so embarrassed.

Heather did some dancing. You might want to check out the video for that!