1. BACCARAT GAME PROTECTION Presented by Ron Buono

2. BACCARAT Some of the standard tells you might find in other games
are sometimes not apparent in Baccarat
It is not uncommon to sit out several hands at a time
All players betting on the same side
Drastic fluctuation in wage size
Betting at the last second
Harder to case layout wages cause they vary so much, from sitting out hands to switching from Player/Banker.

3. GAME DESIGN Even the game design can lead to aiding the cheat or scam.
Midi & Mini Baccarat layouts
End spots stretched out closer to dealer
Distractions on layouts
Shoe
Discard Rack
Shufflers (optional)
Display screens
Game information racks
Bank tray bigger

4. THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE GAME OF BACCARAT IS THE SHUFFLE
Know your house shuffle inside & out
Watch it closely
Flashing cards during the shuffle & stacking process
Just pinpointing the exact location of two or three cards will give the player a huge advantage over the casino
Washing the cards can expose cards & sequences
False Shuffles
Cooler

5. COMMON SCAMS Dealer/Agent Scams
Not collecting/charging correct commission/vig
Pinching/Capping wagers
Bet switching - sides and amount
Card switching - no other player to switch with
Card mucking - much harder cause of set number of cards and handling procedures
Past Posting
Card Flashing
Card Marking - mini bac’s only
- Use of discard rack covers
- Cover plate/brush on dealing shoe
Playing dumb and just putting out a bet after losing or after not making a wager & hoping to get paid

6. BACCARAT
Common indicators, which would be noted if the player handling the shoe
was exposing the top card.
Arm will always be resting on the shoe between rounds, shoe direction never changes
Hand will always be on the port of the shoe
Player with the shoe will usually not be paying attention to his bet as quickly as normal
Player with the shoe will usually sit on a corner chair and expose the card to the player opposite him on the same end of the spotter while payoffs are being made
Players on the other end of the game all bet on the same side as the spotter
Player with shoe will distract attention by occasionally making smaller and opposite bets of the others
The shoe is always passed back to the same player as often as possible
Distract dealers/floor with player tracking cards, commission, etc.
Why is it important that the “caller” does not keep his hand on the shoe
port constantly between rounds?
This would be the time for the caller to expose the first card if he so chooses to
List some common indicators, which would be noted if someone were
Capping, Pinching or Switching a Bet.
Movements towards the player’s bet when the dealer is facing away
Touching the bet
Odd movements toward the bet
Hands and cheques very close to betting circle
Hands moving over bet as a distraction
General distractions occurring on the game.

7. TECHNICAL SCAMS False shuffle – Tran Group
Card mucking - Arm in the sleeve
Both hands going out at some time
Sitting very close together
Tall chairs
Blockers standing between chairs
All betting same side
Hand motions are very flat to table
Hand in sleeve from behind
Holding out card, then inserting in on first hand dealt from shoe
Watch dealers hands on the last part of the shuffle
Infra-red cards in London
Bar Coded Card Scam
Chip plaque implanted with a reader-microfilm on the chip plaque
Would place the plaque on top of cards and strike it 3-4 times chanting, Good Luck!
Proper cut then performed
Plaque removed by a 3rd person and taken to another location
Card sequence analyzed for exact order of hands to play
Information relayed back to players by cell phone vibration

8. Common indicators, which would be noted if someone was Mucking or Switching in cards.
Picking up cards with one hand and replacing them with the other hand
Hands going back and forth
Hand flat on layout, fingers on hands close together to block view of palmed card
Unusual hand movements
Looking at hand very fast
Larger than normal wager winning after suspicious move
Distractions on game

9. Mini-Bac Scam
The details of the scam and how it operates are as follows:
Casino employees are approached to participate in the scam. Both Dealers and Supervisors have been known to be involved. It is believed that the Scam Team has inside information as to which Dealers and Supervisors may be financially vulnerable.
The Dealers and Supervisors are paid by the number of shoes that are set up. The known rare is $2,000 to $5,000 for the Dealer and $5,000 to $10,000 for the Supervisor.
The Scam Team meets with the Dealers and Supervisor away from the casino to set up the details of the scam event
A player, known as a “Recorder”, sits close to the discard rack in spot 8 or 9. His/her job is to record the cards and suites played in sequences on a Mini-Bac Tracking Card in some sort of code. The code utilized by the Recorder has changed from each known scam.
Once the Dealer begins a desirable slug, he signals the Dealer and/or Supervisor.
The inside Dealer or Supervisor will have “taken out” the shuffler, by disconnecting the electrical supply.
Once the Dealer begins the manual shuffle, the cards are spread across the table. At this time, The Recorder signals the dealer again as to the location of the slug.
The Dealer then begins to wash the cards, but not the slug of approximately 1 to 1 ½ decks of cards, keeping the slug of cards in order.
The Dealer will then shuffle the rest of the cards, leaving the slug off to one side.
The Dealer will load the ‘shuffled’ cards into the shoe.
The Recorder will continue to play his/her minimal bet watching for the card sequence that indicates the arrival of the ‘known slug of cards.- Players might also bet opposite of each other until the slug hits.
Immediately after the ‘big money players’ receive the money from the Cashier, the exit the building.
The Recorder always throws the Mini-Bac Tracking Card in a trash receptacle as he/she leaves the area shortly after the event.

10. Some precautionary procedures:
Notify Surveillance anytime a shuffler goes down.
Notify Surveillance of any high action or unusual play on Mini-Baccarat
In the event of a manual shuffle, notify Surveillance before the shuffle begins.
Perhaps remove the spread and wash from the Shuffle process.
In the event of a manual shuffle, Surveillance will utilize all available camera angles and study the shuffle very closely.
(Or) require that a shuffler is ALWAYS used on a Mini-Bac game.
All Mini-Bac tapes are saved.
Surveillance scans the Mini-Bac areas at least every hour, providing close-up shots of all players and bystanders. This information is also included in the Daily Log.
Keep a camera on the shuffle at all times.
Know your players.

11. From a Surveillance viewpoint, here are a few red flags:
A manual shuffle with no call.
High action with no call.
Is the Floor Supervisor not watching the games?
Any usual players and/or wins?

12. Understanding the safety features built into the Baccarat dealing shoe
Roller can not roll in reverse
Top cross bar- Inside
Top cross bar- Outside
Ridged and snap down cover lid
Cross bar on the back of the cover lid
Thickness of the front lip
White tip on the front edge of the cover lid
Watch what the players are writing down on their table cards
Pay attention to the charting of individual cards as opposed to just charting winning and losing sides and totals

13. BACCARAT Can a Baccarat shoe be counted down?
In Baccarat the shoe almost always favors the Casino, thus we use a counting system to determine on which hand the Casino earns the smallest percentage
Counting might reduce the H/A by a small percentage versus playing straight BANKER bets, but these favorable wagers would occur so seldom and the win would be minimal.
Using this or any kind of count method resulted in betting the “BANKER” hand approximately 90% of the time
Mostly any style of card counting would occur very late in the shoe
The game is symmetric enough so that there are no cards that massively favor one bet over the other, the way Aces & Tens help the player in Blackjack
Approximately 10 times the number of cards of the same type must come out in Baccarat to have the percentage impact of one card of that type at Blackjack
Removing 2,3,4,5(plus count cards) tends to make the remaining mix of cards more favorable to the BANKER hand
Removing 8,9,10 & paints (minus count cards) tends to make the remaining mix of cards more favorable to the PLAYER hand
Removing 6,7 & Aces(0 count cards) have no appreciable effect one way or the other
The initial advantage is too large to overcome in Baccarat(1% vs. .25% - 75%)
Baccarat is usually dealt from and 8-deck shoe, so the volatility in the edge is low
A Baccarat count cannot be used to improve playing efficiency, because the drawing rules are fixed.
Cards are as likely to be dealt to one side as the other
Practical card counting is easily eliminated by shuffling the shoe with 26 cards remaining

14. BACCARAT FIRST CARD ADVANTAGES
PERCENTAGE
Ten
Banker
5.5%
Ace
5.4%
Two
4.9%
Three
4.3%
Four
3.2%
Five
1.1%
Average
4.7%
Six
Player
0.7%
Seven
7.4%
Eight
17.3%
Nine
21.5%
9x4.7% + 4 x 11.7% = 89.1/13= 6.8%
Overall Average
11.7%

15. ROULETTE
GAME PROTECTION
PRESENTED BY
RON BUONO

16. ROULETTE The only way to win any money at
Roulette is if “the player steals chips
when the dealer isn’t looking”
No other game like Roulette
Built in blind spots, impedes the dealer’s view
Players naturally leaning in over layout
Can block the dealer’s view and bet late
Can act like a typical tourist or novice
Natural to always be playing with your cheques
Natural to have your hands by your wager when getting paid

17. ROULETTE Common indicators, which would be noted if someone
was attempting to “Past-Post” the game.
Player attempting to past post wrong number by going over the top of the winning number – “Top Hat” move
Dealer habit is to catch last move seen
Losing bet will usually be more cheques of less value
Late and unusual hand movements across the layout
Late cash buy-ins
Distractions at the top of the layout
Hands and cheques very close to the outside bets and columns
The majority of the time the player will be standing, not sitting down at the game
Player is always playing with cheques
Watch for the player at the end of the game having different color non-value cheques in his possession – Team play
Two handed play, one hand blocking with minimum wagers the other hand past posting

18. Common indicators, which would be noted if someone was
attempting to make a “Bet Switch” on the game.
Usually the bet is made with folded cash on an outside or column bet
Will grab up the losing wager with one hand and return the bet with the other hand. Player will usually be at the far end of the layout
Player will usually be standing, not sitting
Constantly playing with cheques
Bet will usually come in late
Hands and cheques very close to the outside and column areas
Will draw attention to the dealer’s mistake very quickly
Why do the dealer’s clear and pay the layout from the
outside in and top to bottom?
This helps prevent past posting and bet capping and pinching
Why is it important for the dealer to push tall stacks of
cheques to the back line on even money wagers before
paying?
This to will make it harder for a player to past post a bet behind the tall stacks

19. “DEALERS DUMPING GAME”
Cash outs incorrect/short stacking
Mis-value on cheques (incorrect lammers)
Dealer’s “Capping” winning wagers
Not locking up losing wagers
Paying losing wagers
Overpaying payoffs
Moving losing wager to a winning wager
Stealing cheques from the game

20. Dealer setting dolly correctly with one hand capping bet with other
Dealer will correctly set dolly palm up
Will cap cheques(s) with other hand when verifying the number of winning cheques
Be aware of a large dolly
Large base dolly can conceal cheques easier
Observe dealers going directly to winning bets after clearing
the layout without clearing hands first
Concentrate on the top color of the winning number
Dealer can clear that color last before touching winning number
Watch for a “Wave off” after the ball has landed
Dealer will appear to wave off properly, but the ball has already landed
Dealer will wave off game very low to the layout dropping a cheque on the winning number
Dealer should never be allowed to wave off lower than 12” above layout
Two handed wave should always be used
The wave off is also essential for G.C.B.
Sliding cheque with coat sleeve from losing to winning wager
Attempts to go to inside numbers to place bets for the next
round - play dumb

21. Watch the dealer when he is clearing the layout of losing cheques
Layout should be cleared from the outside in, and bottom to top
Losing cheques should be swept away from the wining number
Dealer can slide a losing cheque to the corner or split of the winning number very easily
Watch the dealer when he is doing a color up for a player
Dealer will count down a full stack of 20 cheques and restack
Dealer will palm 2 or 3 cheques adding these to the next stack counted and so on, the process will go until all stacks have been counted
Player will end up with 10 plus extra cheques to his overall color up
Watch the dealer when he puts the cheques back into he table bank, he will have to make up for the short stacks somehow
Coffee cup or drink glass scam
Dealer will push cup or glass off to the patrons just as he finishes clearing the layout
Dealer will palm cheques and deposit it in the cup or glass
Dealer will pick up cup or glass just after clearing the layout and put behind the discard rack for the cocktail waitress

22. Make the Big Bet up front then remove/switch if the wager loses.
Small cheques on top of large cheques
- Bet for dealer explains small cheques
Large cheques in front of you, as decoy
Larger stacks to hide bet
Color from back of working stack furthest from the Dealer
Color roulette cheques that matches color of large wager
Smaller “Departing Wager” if you win
First column box being the furthest betting point on the layout from the dealer – ideal for hiding cheques
Using prop, glasses/cases, drinks, bottles, etc. to hide view from the dealer

23. ROULETTE CHIP SCAM The Set Up
The associate plays Roulette and buys in for a color of
cheques requesting that there value be set at usually $1.00.
He will play for a short period of time making minimum wagers
on the game. He will remove and hide some cheques from
play and put them in his pocket. Once the cheques have been
removed from the game he will depart the immediate area and
meet up with his partner. The cheques will be exchanged
and now the partner will return to the same game that the
associate just left and request the same color cheques
when buying in, but this time he requests that the cheques be
made $25.00 in value. Then he will play minimum wagers and
slowly add the cheques from his pocket to his stack and
proceed to cash out all cheques for $25.00 each.

24. ROULETTE CHIP SCAM Indicators Of The Scam
Asking for a color that has cheques missing
The color may be one that is not right in front of dealer
Minimum wagers being made combined with short play
Hands and cheques going off the game
Player may scatter his cheques on the layout so casino staff/surveillance can not determine how many cheques there are
Keep one hand covering his cheques from view
Placing a bottled beverage in front of his cheques to block the Dealer’s view

25. ROULETTE CHIP SCAM Casino Protection Procedures
Retire any color that is missing 20 or more cheques from play
Requested color that is missing cheques can only be valued at $1.00
Casino par of 280 cheques is maintained between the table bank and chipper champ – This will vary from Casino to Casino

26. ADVANTAGE PLAY Bias wheel play Individual number and section bias
Visual wheel tracking
Dealer’s signature
Wheel signature
Can the dealer control the ball?

27. Ball Track Bias (BTB)
A wheel showing a “Ball Track Bias” must be used. BTB is defined as a point on the ball track where the ball falls off most of the time.
A clock-able rotor speed must exist. Slower is better but the most important element is a predictable, consistent speed from the dealer.
The ball should bounce, consistently, forward and less than 16 pockets from its drop point.

28. Casino Scam Takes On New Spin
Using a laser scanner hidden in a mobile phone and linked
to a microcomputer.
“On a wheel with a definite bias and a manageable scatter, a prediction
device of this nature, when operated by a ‘skilled’ roulette player,
could obtain an advantage when used in a casino.”
Used a laser in a mobile phone to scan the speed of the ball as it spun around its track along the circumference of the roulette wheel.
The information was transmitted to a microcomputer, programmed to calculate the ‘decay’ speed of a ball dropping towards the spinning numbers.
The microcomputer would not be able to specify precisely which slot the ball would fall into, but it would be able to calculate that quadrant of the roulette wheel in which the ball would land. This information could be transmitted to the men’s mobile phones and bets placed on numbers in the quadrant – greatly increasing the chances of big winnings.
Regularly pointing mobile telephone at the spinning ball and two friends glancing at the screens of their cell phones before placing bets.
Made easier by the layouts having the ovals on them, the cheats don’t have to set up so many wagers in a short period of time

29. SHORT SERVICE 2 TIMES WEEKLY, MONDAY & FRIDAY
Clean dust & felt from wheel head (especially the ball track) & pockets.
Clean any foreign matter from laminate, number ring & pockets.
Check spin of wheel.
Roulette wheel ¼ turn.
Clean plastic shroud on table.
Play few games to check roulette display.
Level wheel

30. INTERMEDIATE SERVICE 1 TIME WEEKLY USUALLY WEDNESDAY
Clean dust & felt from wheel head (especially the ball track) & pockets.
Clean any foreign matter from laminate, number ring & pockets.
Remove turret & turret base, place a few drops of oil on pilot bearing, replace turret.
Check canoes & frets for tightness
Check bottom of pockets for tightness (bounce test)
Clean plastic shroud around wheel.
Play a few games to check roulette display.
Level wheel.
Rotate wheel ¼ turn

31. FULL SERVICE COMPLETED AT 3 TO 4 WEEK INTERVALS, UNLESS A NEW LAYOUT WAS INSTALLED, THEN IT WILL BE SERVICED WITHIN 10 DAYS, AND AGAIN AT 20 DAYS. AFTER THE 20 DAY SERVICE, THE SCHEDULE WILL RETURN TO NORMAL.
Clean any foreign matter from wheel head (especially the ball track) & pockets .
Clean any foreign matter from laminate, number ring & pockets.
Remove wheel cylinder from bowl.
Remove turret, turret base & ring.
Remove height adjuster from cylinder.
Clean & inspect pilot bearing (replace if necessary).
Inspect top bearing, if dirty remove & clean (replace if necessary).
Remove housing plate & inspect bottom bearing if dirty remove an clean (replace if necessary).
Inspect bearing seats and clean.
Re-oil bottom bearing & replace
Inspect gaming seals on bottom of cylinder (verify they’re not broken).
Verify serial #’s on all parts of the wheel match.
Re-oil top bearing and re-install, install the height adjuster.
Clean bowl & liner.
Clean main spindle & inspect for wear, re-lube spindle.
Re-install wheel head & adjust the ride height.
Test spin for length of time & consistency.
Clean plastic shroud around wheel.
Play a few games to test display.
Rotate wheel ¼ turn.
Level wheel.

32. Q & A