• Publisher: Undercover Publishing
• Pages: 256

Book Review by: Robert S.

In Dirty Poker, an exposé of the poker underworld, Richard Marcus profiles the weapons and “dirty” tactics of poker cheaters, as the title promises. Marcus, the self-proclaimed “greatest casino cheater in the world,” aims to give his audience an insider's look at the techniques poker cheaters use in both land-based and online card rooms to swindle people out of their money. Having the unique perspective of being a 25-year veteran of casino cheating, the author's narrative is as believable as it is eye-opening.

Having stepped away, at least temporarily, from the glitzy and glamorous life of casino thievery, Marcus currently writes books about his life experiences. In his decades of going to town on casinos, Marcus primarily targeted the house as the object of his cheating. His legendary blackjack and roulette scams helped earn him a perfect record, as he's never once been caught in his career.

Poker, however, is a game in which players win money from one another rather than the house, and thus, the cheats involved are different from other games. The now-”retired” casino thief chronicles “every trick in the book” that cheats have used at the poker tables to rob other people blind. Marcus seems to have followed his heart in this book, as he aims to warn the millions of poker newbies out there about what to expect when pulling up seats next to seasoned card sharks whose sole aim is to squeeze unsuspecting “fish” for all they're worth.

Dirty Poker is obviously intended for an audience of poker fans, to the extent that having seen certain poker shows and poker-themed movies is taken as a given (Introduction, page 6, page 119). While this could be a potential turn-off for relative newcomers to the game, the author's employment of a multitude of poker references is eye-candy to the true poker aficionado. Throughout the narrative, the author poses excellent questions that are likely to be on the minds of millions of poker players today (p. 135).

Marcus hooks readers right from the outset, as within a few paragraphs he asserts that collusion and conspiracy go on behind the scenes of some of the largest poker tournaments in the world, including the World Series of Poker. He also claims that collusive scams sometimes even involve a number of the “great” poker players whom audiences have come to know and love through endless hours of televised poker coverage. As opposed to the wild assumptions of your run-of-the-mill conspiracy theorist, however, Marcus' knowledge of all forms of cheating chicanery qualify his remarks and observations as undeniably plausible. In fact, he stakes his entire reputation on the fact that online cheating is epidemic, and that land-based casino cheats will never completely disappear from the poker landscape. (p. 157)

Particularly gripping throughout the book is Marcus' colloquial language choice when telling stories of his past scams; you feel like he's talking to you right there at the table as he's cheating. Marcus' vivid descriptions can really keep an audience riveted. For example, when he says “They beat the shit out of the huge cash games (p. 123),” it won't fail to get an audible chuckle or guffaw from an avid reader. Unfortunately, however, Marcus sometimes gets too bogged down in the details of exactly how cheating operations are performed by collusion teams, repeating sequences on how chips are stacked and what each combination and position indicate to other colluders.

Though the entire book makes for interesting reading, it would have been nice if Marcus could have made some chapters shorter and divided content more evenly among them. Chapter five in particular feels out of place, as his detailed account of the history behind poker cheating could have set up a nice preamble to his modern text, especially given his highly entertaining anecdotes and asides. Chapter eight is phenomenally entertaining, with Marcus' description of five of the greatest scams of all time. Though not all of them have to do with poker, and though they truly don't have much to do with the bulk of Marcus' narrative, these stories greatly add to the enjoyment factor and enhance the reading experience as a whole. The author peppers his work with odd tidbits of gambling knowledge along with tips for the perplexed poker player on how to combat all the cheating going on while still remaining honest.

The main topic covered in the book is collusion, in all its facets and on all levels, from local to center stage in televised events. Some of the various subtopics Marcus covers include the differences between cheating in the U.S. and in Europe, dealer-player collusion, pre-tournament agreements between professionals, and even actress Jennifer Tilly! With great attention to detail, Marcus speaks of a “poker consortium” comprised of some of poker's brightest stars, dedicated to working together during poker play to defeat all competition.

While tournaments have gotten most of the spotlight on TV and in the media, Marcus casts a magnifying glass over high-stakes cash games, where colluders work together to milk piles of cash out of unsuspecting wealthy casino patrons. Marcus concludes by saying that he has covered every poker cheating method he knows of, and that, by far, collusion is the best method, as it is structurally sound and cannot be proven.

As for the online gaming arena, Marcus details all there is to know about random number generators, poker bots, and the various security measures taken by online poker giants. Along the way, he provides fascinating insights into the virtual world of online poker, essentially describing it as a field full of land mines to trip up the unsuspecting poker player who's there just to have a good time. As for the cheaters themselves, Marcus refutes the people who hawk software and methodology that can “make you a millionaire,” effectively arguing that such knowledge and power wouldn't be so freely advertised. Only the “peeker” software, which cracks encryption codes to reveal opponents' hole cards, is worthwhile in his opinion, as this truly makes the online poker player unstoppable. He furthers this assertion with an amazing description of seeing his friend capitalize with the “peeker” to win hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With the surge in poker's popularity and the growth of the game worldwide, Marcus' book is poised to become one of the hot new poker books of 2006.