How to use your smartphone camera to cheat at poker

Have you ever used your smartphone for fraud? Maybe you’ve had a quick look at Wikipedia during a round of bar trivia? Were you super smart and managed to squeeze an entire sheet of crib notes onto your tiny smartwatch screen? Powerful portable technology can just as easily be used for good as it is for nefarious purposes, and this week we’re learning a very clever, yet very immoral way to use smartphone hardware to win. poker.

There are many different ways to cheat in poker, but the vast majority of them come down to the question of knowledge: Who knows more about what cards are in everyone’s hands? In the past, attempts to surreptitiously access this knowledge may have involved the use of marked cards, but the modern approach is highlighted in a new report from the company. Wired includes smart smartphone based hack.

Poker experts have come across a number of questionable patterns of play where people who are winning at a rate far out of balance with their skill level have some sort of small, inconspicuous object sitting on the card table – something like a bottle of glass – as they play. medicine, a battery charger or even an ordinary-looking smartphone in its case. Although there was no direct evidence of cheating to begin with, this summer’s bust in France finally managed to shed light on how some of these players managed to steal an edge.

Fraudsters are reportedly replacing smartphone cameras with tiny mirrors that allow them to see over a card table even if the phone is laid flat — think of it as a hidden version of a phone. periscope cameras some phones use it for high-performance zoom.

Even though the shoes that the dealers remove their cards from are designed to prevent just this sort of thing, it seems that these cameras are still low enough to receive a small punch and all cheaters need to make this system work. The participant watches that camera remotely and can then communicate with their confederate at the table through an earpiece so small that it can only be removed with the help of a magnet.

So what is the solution? Casinos seem to be looking at the idea of ​​re-training the dealers to not offer this opening in the first place by handling the cards in a way that further limits anyone’s chance to take a look. This may involve repositioning the card shoe relative to the players and perhaps placing it in the middle of the table. No matter how much it’s toned down, you can make one safe bet: It won’t be long before fraudsters are dreaming up a more sophisticated way to get whatever advantage they can get.