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Comment by MetaMalone | Hacker News Reader

“An X-ray poker machine was employed to read facedown cards and a rigged card-shuffling machine was also used in the plot, prosecutors say.”

Would love to know more about such a machine, if anyone has any insight. Are these developed underground? How expensive could they be?

If it can efficiently take in a deck of cards and deterministically return a rigged deck in a reasonable amount of time, I would be fascinated at how they solved that problem.

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Many shuffle machines read all the cards, do the shuffle in software, then sort the cards accordingly. Here's a guy on Wired showing how to rig a poker game:

https://youtu.be/JQ20ilE5DtA

There's a device that can scan the _sides_ of specially marked cards and tell you the complete deck order.

For the shuffling machine there is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ20ilE5DtA

There are _so many_ ways to cheat at poker that you should basically never play a private game outside of close friends.

If you wanted to spend a year or so practicing, you can learn how to do false shuffles and cuts, bottom deals, cold stack a deck etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Mu7jocdew This guy was a professional card cheat for decades before going honest.

As someone who knows a bunch of card tricks myself, I have learned to resist the temptation to do an impromptu 'ambitious card' routine just because a deck of cards and an audience is in front of me before a poker game.

> There are _so many_ ways to cheat at poker that you should basically never play a private game outside of close friends.

Playing in an actual regulated casino or poker hall eliminates most of the technical risk of a fraudulent shuffle. The risk to the enterprise of losing their gaming license keeps things honest. Imagine the net effect of Bellagio’s shuffling machines or dealers being rigged.

But nothing can eliminate collusion of players. You’re best bet for that is your own self awareness. If your spidey sense is tripping, listen to it.

Regulated casinos take a certain % of every pot and players don't want to give up $5 or $10 a pot to pay for regulations/oversight/etc.

The rigged card-shuffling machine method is documented in this recent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ20ilE5DtA

Thanks for the link. So basically, you are at a private game and if everyone has their phones out (and you are also an unsuspecting idiot), you are screwed.

Crazy that there is a USB port exposed outside the machine.

> you are at a private game and if everyone has their phones out

I play private games. At any reasonable stakes electronics have been banned from the room for years now.

The card-shuffling machine is an obvious vulnerability.

But I'm provisionally calling BS on the "X-ray table." Based on (admittedly limited) experience with X-ray imaging, I don't believe that X-rays can read ink on playing cards. It would have to be a backscatter machine, which is even less discriminatory than a transmissive machine. Would need to see some evidence that this is possible.

If nothing else, the sheer size and bulk of such a machine renders the concept incredible. If I could build something like that, I wouldn't use it to cheat at cards, I'd sell it to the TSA!

Couldn't the cards have x-ray opaque ink (like with bismuth trioxide)?

That could be a good point, I suppose. Iron-based ink could have a similar effect. I'll have to see if there's a deck of cards around here to X-ray.

We tried this long ago at a university, the cards we had were entirely invisible to the x-ray.

I think the 'x-ray' table in the article works with IR cameras and illuminators under the table, and tablecloth that is slightly IR transparent.

Maybe it doesn't return rigged orders, but records the order of the output deck with high speed cameras.

Slight of hand? You put the deck to be sorted at the "in" side, the machine shuffles it, then it ejects a different rigged deck.

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