gca tapes

I just made a post on rgp about the tapes, with some questions for gca. There are no bombshells on the tape, but there is some good information for players like me who are naive about cheating.


One of the parts I found interesting was when Caro read a list of players to these guys and asked what they knew about them. For most of them, Russ replied, "He must know more than he is saying." By this he meant that the player is not an idiot and knows more about cheating than he admits.


The thought crossed my mind that Sklansky and Zee know a lot more than they are saying.

Just read your post on RGP, and Russ's response. At least you got some semi-straight answers from him, which is better than most do.


I haven't seen the tapes, and since you say the quality is terible and that the 6 hours feel like 60, I'll probably pass.


It is interesting that Russ claims changing the decks does not help. He claims that all the decks in a dishonest game are marked, I assume, with the knowledge or collusion of management. Of course, he named no specific names in management, despite your request that he do so.


Let's face it: wherever there's gambling, there's cheating. Sklanksy and Zee have been around the block, so they must indeed be knowledgable. But the way the whole thing has been handled in such an amateurish and almost comical way practically cries out "keep away." I can't think of anything constructive that can happen by further contributions by Zee or Sklansky to the GCA travesty. Another forum, another time, we in the poker community would certainly benefit by exposure of cheats and cheating, but the GCA circus has very little credibility.

i too am pretty naive about cheating. And although I feel that the great majority of games in which I've played in were clean, I'm 100% positive that some cheating is constantly being tried/executed in any place where a lot of poker is being played, from the very crude (which I've seen) to the professional (which I have not experienced). Some form of cheating/fraud has occured in all types of fields, industries, games, stock market, etc., why not in poker? IMO nothing else is possible, especially in an environment where millions are casually being tossed around every day. Cheating will always exist.


If any suspected cheater were to respond at all in this kind of situation versus direct or indirect accusations, it's lose-lose for them. If they deny knowledge, some people will always have doubts, if they reveal knowledge their reputation is tarnished.


For example, suppose it was publicly known that I made a great deal of money playing poker and I was a "great player." And I said that I never cheated. I can't win no matter what I say, even if I know in my heart I am telling the truth; as long as there are losers in poker, there will always be some doubters.


The fact is, if you are a professional player, the live ones are your lifeblood, lose them, and you don't eat. No cardroom would exist without a steady flow of bad players coming in. And if those players became aware of cheating the majority would quit immediately. Suppose 60 minutes ran a piece on how much cheating goes on in poker, as GCA talks about. All cardrooms would suffer severely and most would go out of business. It's absolutely essential for professional players and management to cover up/condemn/downplay cheating as much as possible. Otherwise they lose their livelihoods, even if they do/did operate honestly.


I believe that much of what GCA writes is worth at least a look. But they really need to do something about their presentation and be a lot more specific.


Regards, sucker