There's a 1/2 PLO game with a $5 mandatory button straddle and UNLIMITED restraddles on Mondays at Tampa Greyhound Track aka Lucky's that's been running for a long time. I only started playing it within the past year. I'm a nit, but a profitable one, and had done well at this game.
Two Cubans were always playing in the game, always sitting in seats 1 and seat 6 so they can "Cuban Sandwich" people between them for raises. Myself and other players have noticed them signal one another through different hand motions, way they play with their chips, etc. When one of them has AAxx and there are other players already all-in and they are trying to entice another player who is deciding if they want to call they'd show the two side cards like a 5 and 8 and say they have a wrap, not showing the AA. I haven't seen it but plenty of players and dealers talk about how they also snort coke in the bathrooms
Despite this, I put up with it because they were SO bad. Calling off stacks preflop with shit holdings like Q983 double s00ted or Q976 one suit or Q932 suited to the three or J934 double s00ted (they won all of these btw).
Generally I played from 10am - 4pm and then left, and had done pretty well over the past year. I always left before the Cubans did so wasn't seeing how they were ending their sessions.
Over the past two months I've become REALLY suspicious, because I've noticed as the session progresses they have been getting involved in hands where their opponents have monsters and can never fold, and they have little equity or reason to be in the hands, but come out smelling like roses over and over.
They will run it twice with very specific players, and only go once with most others.
EXAMPLE HANDS
I have QQ55 and Cuban in Seat 1 has KJ65 all diamonds. Flop is QT3 with two spades. He check-calls my pot size bet OOP. Turn is a 5, bringing a club draw to the board as well. Now he LEADS into me for almost all his chips when I still have the nuts and he doesn't block any of the flush draws or even have a complete wrap. I repot, he binks the red Ace on the river to scoop
Cuban in Seat 6 has J943 double s00ted and gets it in preflop for $1,500 against AAK2 one suit and QTT8 one suit, only runs it once. Board comes JJ3Q9 and one opponent makes the straight, one makes the flush and he boats.
Cuban in Seat 1 has straddled to $10 in the blinds, bunch of callers, I call with KK54 one suit. Gets to him, he pots to 75, bunch of callers, I limp-repot to 680. He calls and leaves himself 130 behind???? He has Q932 with the 32 of diamonds, I shit you not. Flop is Q-high, we get it in, he binks the third Q on the turn and wins.
Cuban in Seat 1 gets it all-in preflop with 8665 one suit for $1,500 (he's CALLING these all-ins) when he's up against KKT9 and AAxx and flops a set, turns a straight and rivers a flush to scoop it
Seat 1 again in a straddled pot we see a flop of 377 with two diamonds. I have QQJ7 with two diamonds as well, I pot it, he calls with 2456 NO DIAMONDS and rivers the straight, dodging all my outs
Seat 1 straddled from BB to 10. Solid player UTG calls, I call from button. Seat 1 pots it OOP, both UTG and myself call. I hold AK76 double suited (to the Ace and King). Flop is AK5 with one of each of my suit giving me two backdoor nut flush draws, top two pair and backdoor straight outs as well. The Cuban knows both UTG and myself are solid players and this board is likely to have smashed our ranges, yet he leads out again, I pot it and he stacks off holding................JJT2 for the gutshot. He binks the J on the turn AND the Q on the river to further cement it.
Now this room has dealers that hand shuffle and use a burn card, but no automated shufflers. After two months of losing these 70-80% spots my spidey senses are tingling. I don't know what they're doing, I don't know how they're doing it, but I know something is off. No one is this lucky to play garbage in spots where their opponents have monsters AND win every single time for stacks. I also hear about Seat 6 potting pre to 135 with TT65 one suit, calling a repot and 5 ways to a flop of 9TK getting it all-in multiway in a 13K total pot against a guy with KKQJ who has him dead to rights. Cuban binks the T and wins 13k
So anyway, you're probably thinking I'm crazy, I'm out of my mind, there are burn cards, how is this happening???!!! It's just blind luck and I'm just bitching because I'm tilted. Well fortunately I wasn't wrong. I did some searching online and found a thread on Twitter from a year ago about two Cubans who were booted from Commerce, always sat opposite one another and were suspected of marking cards. So I get involved in the thread and start sharing details and I'm told it sounds like the same guys I'm dealing with. I notify the manager at Tampa Greyhound Track who tells me he's been in this business for 25 years and he'd love to ban them but he needs proof, and even if they were marking cards the burn card should make that relatively useless as far as them knowing the outcome of the hands. But states the next Monday he'll put in a fresh deck and check it throughout the day to see if anything is going on.
I stop playing there at this point because I've had my fill. But two weeks after notifying the manager I hear from a friend that both Cubans were escorted out by security and given a lifetime ban! I then notify the manager at Best Bet Jacksonville because both Cubans have been wearing hats from there, who lets me know they had been banned a couple weeks prior.
The manager at TGT lets me know they were "banned for multiple reasons" but I never get any clarification to exactly what they were doing. I've been told by others it's suspected they were marking the edges of cards, so by being in seats 1 and 6 they could see both sides of the deck the dealer has. Whatever the case, these guys travel around, heard they've been to Texas, etc. so hopefully this will help keep others from getting cheated by these scumbags
I don't know their names and I didn't take these pics but had someone send them to me (pics taken pre-covid obviously as we are required to wear masks at the table these days)
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