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Poker & Gambling Tales

M

mah_magic

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 8, 2002
Messages
165
Hi,

Does anyone have any Poker / Gaming / Gambling related fortean tales.

Just out of interest realy, the related threads seem to just list types of gambling or games.

Has any one ever come across a tale of a cursed game or gambler.

Or on the otherhand any luck stories, someone who never loses.
or who won with impossible odds.

Cheers.
 
What were the odds on this thread resurfacing, eh?! ;)

Casino chain bans gambler who won £28,000 on roulette wheel in two months using secret system
By Daily Mail Reporter

A gambler's winning streak was cut short after he was banned from casinos across Britain after winning £28,000 playing roulette with his 'no-lose' system.
Balvinder Sambhi, from Birmingham, scooped the fortune in just two months using a secret betting pattern which he has spent years perfecting.
But he claims he was so successful that bosses have now banned him from every Grosvenor Casino in the country.
Angry Mr Sambhi, 38, said: 'I've never lost with my system and the casinos don't like that.
'They don't want winners in their premises, just losers.

'I used to go into the casino every day and there was never a problem when I was losing thousands of pounds. 8)
'But after using my system to make £28,000 I was taken to one side and told that I was barred. I can't believe it.'

Garage owner Mr Sambhi, who does not want to reveal his winning formula, is writing a tell-all book for other punters.
He said: 'Experts have always said that winning at roulette is just down to luck.
'But I've spent years developing a system based on simple mathematics which helps me win every time I play.
'In total, I won £28,000 in two months. Some days I won a little and some days a lot.

'My biggest single daily win was just over £4,000.
'But the fact is I was winning consistently and nobody has ever done that before with roulette.'

But his winning streak came to an end on September 15 when the businessman visited Grosvenor Casino in Birmingham city centre and was told he was barred.
Mr Sambhi said: 'I've been a member of that casino for a decade and have never had problems before.
'I spoke to the manager and pleaded to be told why I had been banned but he refused to tell me.
'I said if they thought I was cheating, or money laundering, then they should call the police.

'But he said that was not the case, so the only conclusion is that I was banned because I was winning so much money.
'Yet my system is not cheating it's all about the maths.'

The Birmingham man has since employed solicitors to ask the Grosvenor Casino chain, owned by the Rank Group, for an explanation.
But the company's Director of Security, John Butler, refused and wrote back: 'You will be aware that we are under no legal obligation to give reasons from excluding someone from our premises.
'It is therefore not my intention to assist your client further.'

A spokesman Grosvenor Casinos, which has more than 30 UK casinos, declined to comment.
Mr Sambhi is now hoping to pass on the secrets of his system in his new book, Sequential Roulette: End Game.
He said: 'People have been playing roulette for hundreds of years, yet no-one's ever come up with a system that consistently wins.
'But I've proved that my system works. Now I want to pass it on to other gamblers so they can win big too.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0T3BgscNZ
 
My mate's dad reckoned he played cards with the devil himself many years ago, in a pub in Crewe.
The Masonic, it may have been, in Market Street.
Both the dad and the pub are now long gone, alas.
 
Beware the URBAN LEGEND about a shoeless tramp turing his $400 Social Security cheque into a $1.6 million profit at a Vegas casino.

mooks out
 
Urban and not-so-urban stories of people playing cards with Satan (and only realising after noticing the cloven feet) are not uncommon.

EDIT: Some interesting stuff on Snopes.
 
I wonder if that guy's really been banned from casinos? Or if it's a put up to promote his book?

I can't see them being that worried about losing a few grand a day to him even if it's true.

Or maybe he works for the casinos, and the book is to get people blowing their money because they think they can beat the wheel.
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
I wonder if that guy's really been banned from casinos? Or if it's a put up to promote his book?

I can't see them being that worried about losing a few grand a day to him even if it's true.

Or maybe he works for the casinos, and the book is to get people blowing their money because they think they can beat the wheel.
Click to expand...
He's probably genuine, and if he is, I'd guess that his brilliant money-making scheme is a variation of the time-honoured stake doubling routine.

That's to say, you bet £1 (or whatever initial stake you want) on either black or red. Then, if you win, you bet the same amount again, but if you lose, you double your stake next time - and if you lose again, you keep on doubling the stake until you win, at which point you revert to your initial stake.

That way, after each win, you've netted whatever your initial stake was, and you simply repeat until you're stinking rich, or until the casino gets pissed off with you, whichever comes first! It can't fail, can it? Well, it can of course - sooner or later, you'll get a losing streak of 5 or even 10 losses, at which point you run out of money. Still, it was good while it lasted...
 
Stake doubling routine? It can't fail, you say?

:shock:

*cashes all assets, flies to Las Vegas*
 
Card counters' days are numbered
07 October 2009

GAMBLERS who adopt a well-known probability strategy to beat the house at blackjack beware - UK researchers have developed an automated system that will detect card counters before they can cash in.

Card counting, a strategy made famous by the film Rain Man, involves remembering which cards have been played, and which might be likely to turn up. An abundance of low-value cards in the discard pile can tip the odds slightly in favour of the gambler, and a card counter bets big only then.

The strategy isn't illegal, but casinos will move suspected card counters to a new table, where the counters are forced to start afresh, or simply ban them. Krists Zutis and Jesse Hoey at the University of Dundee, UK, have developed a system to help casinos spot card counters quickly.

A stereo camera mounted above the table records the action. A computer processes the video feed to identify cards as they are dealt, face up, and monitors their value. The camera also records the precise height of betting chip stacks and the computer uses the information to work out betting patterns.

By comparing the cards and gambling patterns, the computer can identify a card counter inside 20 hands - even if the gambler starts off with a run of high bets to confuse the system. The work will be presented at the International Conference on Computer Vision Systems in Liège, Belgium, this month.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... 427294.800
 
Stake doubling is usually a dead loss because casinos have a floor limit to stop people doing that, otherwise a theoretically infinitely rich punter can never lose as long as they keep doubling up until they win.

I'd be surprised if it's what the guy's method involves though, it's not like the casinos didn;t know about that one :?
 
I'm amazed card-counting is 'illegal' - it's bloody hard work, and you can always shuffle.

I'm playing a fair bit of poker at the moment, and while we speculate about how to cheat, it is actually a game of skill that's fun to play properly.
Roulette and to a lesser extent blackjack are really just chance games.

Gambling DEFINITELY leads to superstitious and maybe even OCD-type behaviour though.
 
The strategy isn't illegal, but casinos will move suspected card counters to a new table, where the counters are forced to start afresh, or simply ban them.
Click to expand...

It's not illegal to card-count, but it doesn't help the house edge. The casinos hate that. ;)
 
Hit game shows like Deal or No Deal and Play Your Cards Right could be forced off the air after gambling watchdog claims that they break the law
By Brendan Carlin and Chris Hastings
PUBLISHED: 22:03, 10 March 2012 | UPDATED: 08:24, 11 March 2012

Some of Britain’s most popular TV game shows could be forced off the air after regulators launched a probe into whether they constitute gambling.

Producers of Noel Edmonds’ hugely successful Deal Or No Deal on Channel 4 have been shocked to be told by the Gambling Commission that their £250,000 jackpot games could be breaking the law because they do not involve any element of skill.

ITV’s Red Or Black?, the £1 million a-night game show presented by Ant and Dec, and developed by Simon Cowell, is also understood to have been hit by the investigation.

Meanwhile ITV plans to revive Bruce Forsyth’s perennial hit Play Your Cards Right have also been put on ice pending the outcome of the probe.
It is against the law to run non-skill games for money without a gambling licence – raising the extraordinary prospect of producers being jailed if they defy the warning.
Last night, one legal expert said that in order to comply with a licence, Deal Or No Deal could be forced to move to a time slot after the 9pm watershed, it could also face tight restrictions on the type of advertising allowed to be sold in the commercial breaks and the amount of pre-broadcast publicity it could receive.
Channel 4 may then decide it would be simpler to cancel the show, than be constrained by so many restrictions.

The programme, which has been presented by Edmonds since it was first broadcast in 2005, regularly attracts an audience of more than four million in its afternoon slot.
Viewers watch as contestants guess which of 22 identical sealed boxes contains the show’s elusive jackpot in what programme makers Endemol say is a contest of ‘instinct, gut feeling and luck’.
As boxes are opened, contestants decide whether to accept a cash offer from the mysterious Banker, or play on in the hope of increasing the offer, while running the risk of receiving a much lower prize.

However, a Government source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The Gambling Commission does not seem to think that there is any skill element to the show.
‘Even though at the beginning of the show, contestants do not have to stake any of their own money, the argument is that once they’ve picked a box, which could contain a lot of cash, in subsequent rounds they are in effect gambling with their own money,’

...

One senior broadcasting source, who has been fighting the probe behind the scenes, said: ‘This is an absolutely ridiculous state of affairs.
‘The Gambling Commission has no right to be poking its nose into what are harmless television programmes.
'How can anyone regard Deal Or No Deal as gambling?
'It is probably the most innocent show on television. I think its very telling that this programme is aired in 30 different countries but only in Britain has this become an issue.

‘You also have to look it from the point of broadcaster. They are already heavily regulated by Ofcom. Why on earth would they want to also come under the control of the Gambling Commission as well?
'That means they would be answerable to two different regulators who would be looking into its affairs. The people who make Deal Or No Deal want to operate as a television production company not a casino.’

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1oo0Bp76b

I must admit Deal or No Deal is a waste of time. They could shorten it to about five minutes if the contestent just had to guess straight off which box had the big money! :twisted:
 
If anyone can even give me a hint as to what the hell card counting is I'd be very grateful, I've always wondered that.
 
Cheltenham accumulator wins Nicky Henderson stable lad 'around £1m'
Chris Cook at Cheltenham
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 March 2012 20.56 GMT

A stable worker from Lambourn has gone into hiding after apparently landing the bet of a lifetime, winning a sum that rumours suggest was approaching £1m. The "lad", an Irishman in his late 40s who works for the trainer Nicky Henderson, placed his wager months ago, picking out five horses from his employer's yard, all of which have won at his week's Festival, netting him a life-changing sum.

The news was broken through Twitter last night by Clare Balding, broadcasting from the Festival for BBC Radio 5 Live. "The lad who looks after Finian's Rainbow had a 5-timer on Nicky Henderson winners & has won £1 million!" she tweeted. "Says he'll still be at work tomorrow." Others on Twitter later named him as Conor Murphy.

Reporters scrambled to contact the lucky punter, who is thought to have remained at Henderson's Seven Barrows stable on Thursday while the final runner in his bet was competing here. He was apparently contacted by phone by Sky but did not wish to be quoted and flatly refused the offer of an interview.

In ordinary circumstances, the bookmaker in such a case would attempt to make as much as possible from the related publicity. However Bet365, which is believed to have laid the bet, takes a different approach.
"We're pleased for all our customers who've had a winning day today but we don't discuss individual accounts," said the spokesman, Pat Cooney. "This one particular customer's had an extremely good time of it," he added, but refused to confirm any details.

The bet got off to a flying start on Tuesday when Sprinter Sacre was an easy winner of the Arkle Trophy at odds of 8-11. It stayed alive through Wednesday when Simonsig (2-1), Bobs Worth (9-2) and Finian's Rainbow (4-1) landed a series of top-class races and finally came to fruition on Thursday when Riverside Theatre (7-2) won the Ryanair Chase.

Had the bet been placed at those odds on Monday, to the £50 stake the lad is believed to have risked, his return would have been a mere £32,050. But his bet was placed towards the end of last year, when the odds on offer were much bigger.

David Williams of Ladbrokes estimated that at that time Sprinter Sacre would have been around 7-1, Simonsig 20-1, Bobs Worth 6-1, Finian's Rainbow 12-1 and Riverside Theatre 16-1 for accumulated odds of 259,895-1. An especially clever feature of the bet is that it anticipated Simonsig would run in the Neptune Novice Hurdle, as he eventually did, at a time when most people expected him to take part in a different race at the Festival.

Contacted as he was leaving the racecourse, Henderson said: "It's absolutely wonderful. He's the nicest, kindest, gentlest man and he rides Finian's Rainbow every day. He's got more confidence in me than I have and he obviously took a rather strong view, before Christmas, I gather."
Asked if he expected the lad in question to turn up for work on Friday, Henderson laughed and replied: "He'd better."

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ma ... stable-lad

He obviously got his info from the horse's mouth! 8)
 
Interesting...

The stable lad who won £1m – but did he deserve millions more?
Cheltenham's big winner still turns up to work after record payout is capped by bookie
Jon Freeman Cheltenham
Saturday 17 March 2012

Conor Murphy, the stable lad who became a millionaire at Cheltenham on Thursday, was back at work as usual at 5.30am yesterday, still unable to get his head around his amazing good fortune.

But behind his fairytale win lies a sense of frustration. If the reported odds of his five winners are correct he would have walked away with more than £3m, only Bet 365, which took his bet, has a legitimate £1m maximum payout.

It is believed that the odds taken were 6/1 Sprinter Sacre, 12/1 Simonsig, 6/1 Bob's Worth, 8/1 Finian's Rainbow and 10/1 Riverside Theatre. If that is the case, a straight £50 win accumulator would have netted Murphy £3,153, 100 (once his £50 stake had been subtracted). If the odds are correct, some might question whether the bookmaker should have taken a bet that was large enough to exceed its maximum payout if it came in. Bet 365 was unavailable for comment last night.

In any event, the 31-year-old Irishman remains the chief beneficiary of his boss Nicky Henderson's record-breaking week at the Cheltenham Festival. The Lambourn trainer saddled six winners over the first three days and his loyal employee had five of them in a £50 accumulator.

"I still cannot believe it. It is still sinking in. I haven't even thought about the money yet," he told Newbury Today, before adding to the Racing Post: "I don't have a clue what I'll do with it. You don't expect to win a million, so it's very hard to plan for it. I'll be staying here for the moment anyway because I like it here and sure I'll have a good holiday in the summer.

etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/raci ... 75906.html
 
Hopefully he'll put some money to and enjoy a comfortable retirement when the time comes. Stable workers usually have quite a hard time of it in later life. Good for him.
 
Aww, I'm so pleased for that stable lad, they work really hard for very little pay.
 
Victoria Coren Mitchell makes poker history with double win

Journalist and broadcaster Victoria Coren Mitchell made poker history on Sunday by becoming the first two-time winner of the European Poker Tour.
She beat 556 competitors to win a cash prize of £391,932 and a watch worth more than £4,000 in Sanremo, Italy.
Her victory came after a finale, in which she fought back from eighth place in the Tour, a week-long international tournament.

Coren Mitchell, who presents BBC Four's quiz show Only Connect, won in 2006.
In doing so, she became the tournament's first female winner. Her second victory brings her lifetime winnings to £1.5m :shock: , putting her in the all-time top 10 female earners at the poker table.

"I WON! I bloody WON!!!!!!" she wrote on Twitter after defeating Italian player Giacomo Fundaro.
"Sorry for that language on Easter Sunday. But I WON!!!!!! That is at least partly thanks to the amazing support, God bless everyone."

etc...

--------------------------------

"I've long since lost the sense of what my day job is. Am I a professional writer who plays poker as a hobby? Or a professional poker player who writes as a hobby?”
End Quote
Victoria Coren Mitchell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27101216

Always thought she had a poker face!
 
The Card Counter: Yeah, William (Oscar Isaac) counts cards at Black Jack tables, he is also an accomplished poker player, he honed his skills during his years in a military prison. He was one of the fall guys for the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib He explains the odds in Black Jack, how they change as more cards are dealt, his philosophy of poker and other games is expounded. He likes to fly under the radar, not to win too much. An acquaintance La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) wants him to take on a financial backer so that he can move into big time poker tournaments. William is reluctant until he meets Cirk (Tye Sheridan) whose father was also imprisoned due to the Abu Ghraib events. The senior officers and the contractor, Major Goro (Willem Dafoe) who trained them in "interrogation techniques", weren't charged. They encounter Major Goro, now a consultant speaking at a Security convention, William wants to divert Cirk from his plans for revenge against Goro. The world of competitive poker is explored, leading players all have their own quirks, some crack under the pressure. William has his own demons to contend with as he dreams of the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib. A dark thriller/road movie as William and Cirk travel from casino to casino, there is something of the Eastwood/Bridges vibe from Thunderbolt and Lightfoot between them. Where the film is headed remains open until the final fifteen minutes. Not one you'll forget in a hurry. Written & Directed by Paul Schrader. 8/10.

In Cinemas.
 
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