In order to assess the fitout and capabilities of a character I'm designing, I hope to call upon the esteemed members of this illustrious discussion thingy.

I need to collate ways in which a character could cheat at cards and dice games in shadowrun. In particular, I need ways in which someone could cheat at Casino card and dice games and hopefully get away with it.

There are obvious things such as sleight of hand (cheating) skills. I have also thought of the following possibilities:
(1) card marking using UV ink and having UV vision (as an adept power, as an addition to a cool pair of sunglassess, or as a cyber vision enhancement)
(2) the use of the adept powers of Kinesetics, Empathic Reading and Empathic Sense to always know if someone's bluffing
(3) really small cameras secreted on the table, or a 'shiner' (I think that's what they're called), being a way of looking at cards as dealt, such as a mobile phone left on the table containing a miniaturised camera which can transmit.

If at all possible I would like to avoid things involving radio or other transmission, since any half-decent security mob would probably be looking for unauthorised/strange transmissions on the casino floor. I would also prefer things that can be done alone, as opposed to needing multiple people.

Any suggestions of good background books would be well received as well. I've read "King Con" and have considered (and may well use) the unique gas dice idea from that book.

The character in mind is a face who makes a living playing cards professionally, but also does the running on occasion. S/he will likely do conning of non-casino card and dice games most of the time, but things that would work in a Casino would be especially appreciated.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Safest with probably trying to go with reading the person over the cards, but when that can go wrong, it can go very wrong.

Any technological trick like dye or electronics will be found out. Magic too. Passive stuff like adept powers of "natural" perception and knowledge and or skills that help you interpret that information.

Fly-drone + cranial commlink w/ sim module (SR4) or VCR + Remote Control Deck (SR3)...

Its absurdly difficult to cheat a casino these days, I can't imagine it gets any easier. I'm thinking they'll probably scan their patrons for cyberware, and have mages in the astral reading auras on the awakened.

For some ideas, you could try a show on TV called the Take Down. bunch of reformed con artists acting as trouble shooters for casinos and things. Its a bit of a tacky show, but if you can stand all the lameness of reality television they do interesting things. The episodes i've seen have featured computers being used to "count" cards and alot of radio transmissions. It seems to be more a matter of getting as much money out of the casino as possible BEFORE they zero in on you, rather than "NOT" getting noticed. Eventually they'll noticed through one sure fire method... You aren't losing.

Hack the slots. Hack the equpiment they use to test the slots so that it'll alter any alots that are tested.

Cheating a casino and not being caught? About impossible.

The real trick, however, is to keep your face off the Griffin List. That's a big list of people you don't want in casinos, casinos pay to subscribe to the list to keep the undersirables kicked out of other casinos out of their casino.

I imagine that, in Shadowrun times, you can simply pay the right bribes to get off the list. Or you could hack the list and dissapear from it. Or, if you can't manage those, hack the casino you're targeting's own copy of the list and dissapear from that.

I've read SOMEONE's LAS Vegas write up online, possibly even from a dumpshock link. I don't think it was canon. I can not for the LIFE of me remember where it is. Can a Search-Fu Master show this young grasshopper the way?

Photovoltaic cards perhaps?

(Really, it depends on if you're the dealer or just a player. If you're just a player, your hands will be pretty well tied. Even just counting cards, people can get thrown out on their ear from a casino. What makes you think using magic will be taken any more kindly?)

high initiation, masking, kinsetics, aura reading, etc. also, if SR4 rules get all the perception dice you can muster, get hearing mods, filters (for picking up the heartbeats), scent mods for smelling fear pheremones, etc. everyone has a tell, even the best players in the world will have them, they are just better at concealing them.

i agree that it would be nearly impossible in the future. Anything you can to to try and tip the cards in your favor, the casino could do the same 10 fold. UV card marking, magically marking things, you name it,t hey'll be able to counter it.

High perception and some social powers would work great for poker. I doubt it would be consdiered cheating either. Poker has little to do with the cards and everything to do with player skill and social ability.

Blackjack is a different. In blackack you may as well be playing against a robot. In fact, you probably will be at some tables. It is cheaper that way. The house determines when the dealer will hit or stay, it is all standard. Hit on 15, stay on 16, usually. All that matters is the cards. That is where high perception, photographic memory, and some great math skills come into play. A math SPU would be cheating, but counting in your head wouldn't be.

Slots, craps, and such would be a little different. Slots would be electronic meaning that a decker or hacker can fix them. The trick would be getting into the machine so that you can alter the software. Some may have a dataport port on the outside but most won't. The guy who is opening the slot machine is pretty suspicious, therefore you have to get to the slots when they are supposed to be open. Either you rig them at the factory or you rig them during tests. A former employee of the Nevada Gaming Commission actualy did the latter by modifying the testing software to rig the machines.

Cheating craps is a matter of sleight-of-hand and good timing. You have to switch out the house dice for fixed dice and then you have to switch them back again before someone gets suspicious. And you can't get caught with the dice at all.

However, there are certainly going to be matric casinos that are entirely online. Cheating them is considerably safer and easier since computers cannot generate truely random numbers. All one has to do is discover which algorithm a particular electronic game uses to generate numbers and you can predict the outcome every time. It is important to keep a low profile and loose often enough.

Speaking very broadly, it's not possible to generate a random sequence of numbers with a computer. However, given a small amount of entropy (random input) there exist algorithms for generating many random numbers. Those algorithms will likely have improved over fifty years, and gambling is such big business that those involved can surely afford a block of whichever decaying element is the best source of entropy. Better is to just deck in and hand your buddy a huge payout, but I imagine the casino's defenses are pretty well set up...

I wouldn't be surprised though if the house uses all these tricks (and more) against you. At some, perhaps the table will be designed specifically for magical players, players with SPUs, etc. (after all, they are paying customers...) Making new games is not inconceivable at all, to more accurately deal with the quickly rising skills of people.

No matter what though, keep in mind that casinos are big business. They will bend over backwards for extraterritoriality. If they don't get that, they'll pay large donations to LS. Whether you're magical, cybered or just plain lucky, if they decide they're losing money on you, you're out of the game (and very possibly, dead). That's all there is to it.

In the long long ago when I was allowed to play and not GM. The team I ran with played poker once a week and cheated, it was an open game and the general idea was just to spend time with each other. Here is out characters and how we cheated.

Jake Diamond - Mage detecive - Used detection spells and aura reading. Clairvoyance is a good way to go.

Fourways - Shaman - Used illusions entertainment and similar to change the cards he had. Also used magic fingers to switch cards and slieght of hand. Of course still had aura reading.

Headware - A decker with math SPU and a headware deck. Ran programs and counted cards.

Roxy - Street doc, generally lost until it got alot later and when she was the only one left sober (thanks to some implants) generally she cleaned the others out.

Black Juju - Human Samurai generally used slieght of hand to get by. Usually didnt do to well.

There are several ways to cheat in Shadowrun that are not available in the modern world, and Vegas knows them all. However, just because Vegas knows about them does not mean that they will neccessarily catch you immediately.

Magic: Magic is the most obvious new way to cheat that has arrived since the awakening. While you'd think that Vegas would be tempted to throw magicians out, they probably wouldn't because mages have a lot of money. Watchers guard all exits and entrances, so unless you have Masking going on, astral security is going to follow you around like stink on drek - the first time you telekinetically manipulate a roulette ball or read a dealer's mind, you're out on your ass with a Fire Elemental escort. Now you can avoid that if you are masked, for a while. Astral sweeps still happen, so it's a time game for you. Furthermore, any time you use magic or astrally perceive, you're going to be sending info past your masking and the astral security is going to ask you to leave as soon as they notice. A masked magician with sufficiently subtle magic could win several rounds of roulette and walk out with a substantial pile of money before inevitably getting caught. Then, she's immediately slapped on the list. Of course, she can physical mask herself, mask that, and then go back into a different casino. That gets pretty risky, however, if Vegas catches you pulling that crap your escort out may be of a more permanent nature.

Matrix: The gaming machines of the future constantly report on their status to the main computers of their home casino. And while this makes physical tampering a virtual impossibility, it potentially leaves open the ability of a sufficiently good matrix junky to hack their way in. Of course, the strip has patrolling agents with black hammer patrolling the employees only areas of the matrix, so while this is where the big prizes are, this is also something that you only get one shot at. Make sure you're really good before you even attempt this angle, and even then they have people who compare the expected return of those machines to the actual returns at all times, and they will notice your tampering and they will find your entry point, and they will shut it down. Of course, if you hack multiple casinos and your accomplices move around a lot, they might never figure out who is raking in the big money - but that means exposing your hacker to even more dangers. But it's not just slot machines, all the cards in a casino contain RFID tags that are encrypted to prevent sleight of hand and card replacement (which they do pretty handily), but if you hack that database also give you a pretty good map of what the cards are on the table.

Cybernetic Enhancements: This is perhaps the safest way to get ahead in vegas. While casinos will notice your ultrasound emitters and ask you to shut them off, your eyes can contain pretty much any passive senses you want and be good to go. Vegas can't afford to exclude everyone with cybereyes, so if you happen to just have more enhancements than normal there's not a whole lot they can do about it unless and until you start winning more than your share and they subject you to greater personal scrutiny. The cards at a blackjack table were just plain readable while face down by Dwarves and Trolls right after the awakening, but Vegas got wise to that drek decades ago - modern cards are completely opaque in the infrared spectrums. But that doesn't neccessarily mean that other visual enhancements don't do you well. Enough zoom and playback and you can often read those cards after having seen them dealt. Some cards are readable straight through on ultraviolet to this day. A character with enough reflex enhancement and enhanced articulation can roll more (or less) sevens on two dice than is normal. It's not sure-fire by any means, but you can get more than your share of victories at craps as well.

The problem with any of these strategies is that you could still lose. Even as you bring yourself up to a 60% margin of victory, the chance that you could run through your seed money after a run of bad luck is still there. And Vegas is counting on that. Even if the odds are in your favor, the fact that you have to stop playing when you run out of money means that they are often going to be walking away with all your cash even if your system is pretty good. The systems that involve a 100% chance of success if they work involve getting a bullet in the head if they don't, and the systems that involve jacking your win chances past the 50% barrier leave you with no guaranty that you'll still have pants when you eventually leave Vegas for greener lands. Remember, Vegas has essentially infinite money, so they actually can afford to simply match you until you hiccup and lose. Remember to leave as soon as you are noticably ahead.

-Frank

Don't forget that with good enough vision enhancement and zoom capability, it might actually be possible to read a person's cards In the reflections of their eyes.

oooh, that's good.
And a definite arguement for non-reflective eye covers

Also remember that the casino doesn't really care if you whip holy hell on the other people at card tables. The casino makes its money from table fees, not winnings and losings. So while their standing policy of no magical augmentations apply to the cardrooms, your use of tailored pheromones, cybereyes, or math subprocessors to enhance your odds in Texas Hold'em is of no concern to the establishment at all.

The other patrons, however, are going to get pissed off if they figure out what you are doing.

-Frank

They won't have much room to be pissed, because chances are that they're doing all the same themselves.

Hmm, this thread reminds me of a conversation I've had with a few lawyers about exactly what constitutes "Insider Information" in regards to stock market trading.

Effectively, anything that gives you a chance of having your investments pay out more than random chance is probably considered "Unfair" and therefore illegal.

Apparently what I call "playing intelligently" others call "Cheating".

So they honestly expect your investment to take the form of picking a name out of a hat and dropping your dollars on it? o.0

Oh, no. That'd be like trying to play a game without knowing the rules. You are allowed to pick any company that you like, based on any knowledge that is publically available.

However, if you have any knowledge that isn't "Public" knowledge, you are cheating. Stupid really. The idea is that you can't purposely run your own company into the ground to make millions trading it's stock. However, it also can prevent you from making a lot of money when your company is doing well. And really, corporate sabotage for stock manipulation could be covered quite well under "Industrial Espionage", so I don't see why we needed to make up "Insider Trading" as a crime as well.

::Edit:: excessive use of the word really::

If you want real lawyer fun, ask them to define "assault" or "intellectually impaired". Even better is "insanity".

But anyway, thank you all very much for your responses. I hadn't thought of intimidation as being useful in poker, although I suppose that's exactly what bluffing is, so good thinking there. The intention is to create a character ideally suited to cheating at casinos, since a lot of the magic/tech involved will be also useful in shadowrunning terms.

My only real experience with casinos is visiting them in my home town and also watching "Las Vegas", so I haven't had first-hand experience with the really large world-class casinos. Can anyone confirm for me that they refuse to allow anyone to use cell phones in the gaming pit, and don't allow people to leave anything on the table for any card games (ie mobile phones, drinks, handbags etc)?

The subject of the divination can be yourself.

If your GM doesn't let that fly, and I can't imagine why he wouldn't, you can just use a ritual sample.

What do you mean by "traditionally"? As in previous editions? As in general consensus?

I don't think that is what he is talking about. The perception of magic as being real by some people is a topic for a different time.

I think he means in a traditional fantasy setting. Or in fantasy in general. Similiar to 'Elves' have pointed ears.

I was actually unaware of that, although to a cynical mind it would make perfect sense. I'll have to look into it.

Gotta have some excuse to explain to the skeptics why real-world "diviners" are making their living scamming the gullible out of their money instead of just divining themselves some lottery numbers.