No, this story isn’t the plot-line for an upcoming Ocean’s Eleven movie, this actually happened. According to an article first published on FoxNews.com it seems that a small group of Italian poker players were cheating other players at the table by marking cards that was only visible to players wearing infrared glasses.

It seems that the perpetrators had some inside help, as a casino employee and a dealer were swept up in the sting operation that nabbed the three Italians on their second trip to Cannes. The three players, the dealer, and the casino employee were all arrested after the group won a further $27k. According to the FoxNews.com story the French newspaper Le Paresien stated that the Italians were linked to “Serious Organized Crime”.

The authorities first became suspicious when the trio pocketed over $60k on a trip to the French Riviera in August, and a sting operation was put in place on their next visit, which took place just prior to the World Series of Poker Europe’s first visit to Cannes, France. The group’s pictures are now being circulated to other casinos in Europe to see if they worked their scam in other locales.

This story comes soon after a pair of Argentinean poker pros were detained in Las Vegas after allegedly cheating the Wynn Casino out of a reported $70,000 playing craps, allegedly using a technique known as “sliding” to manipulate the dice. So, apparently cheating is not confined to online poker at all. Perhaps it’s safer to play online blackjack after all!

Tags: Blackjack, Cannes France, Casinos, Foxnews Com, French Riviera, Italians, Online Poker, Organized Crime, Perpetrators, Plot Line, poker players, Poker Pros, Second Trip, Series Of Poker, Small Group, Sting Operation, Trip To Cannes, world series, World Series of Poker, Wynn Casino

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