Canterbury Shenanigans

Justin A · #1 06-12-2007, 08:46 PM

This may be better suited for B&M, but I'm posting it here cuz I know you guys and because there's a lesson to be learned in here somewhere.

I came in late last night for a short 30/60 session. After about an hour and a half I racked up, and as I was leaving, the guy to my left who had sad down about 15 minutes before asked to buy some chips. He spread out six $100 bills so I gave him three stacks, picked up the rest of my chips and walked over to the cage with the bills still in my hand.

When I got to the cage I slid my chips to the cashier, and then took a closer look at one of the bills. It seemed slightly odd so I held I held it up to the light to see the watermark on the right side of the bill. Unfortunately instead of seeing Ben Franklin staring back at me, it was Abe Lincoln. The bill was a counterfeit that had been made from an old five dollar bill that had been washed clean and reprinted. I immediately asked the guy at the cage what I should do since I just got passed a fake bill. He told me to go talk to the poker room manager about it. Luckily for me this whole time the bill never went into my pocket or got mixed up with the other cash I had on me.

So I first walked over to the guy to see if he would make good on the bill he just passed me, but he gave some crappy excuse about getting all his bills from Canterbury, so I took my case to the poker manager. After some deliberation and phone calling, she came back and told me it wasn't CP's responsibility since it was a player to player transaction. I asked to talk to the bill passer again, and I told him he could either make good on the money or I'd have the cops called in. He refused so the security guy called the cops.

They basically took both of our accounts, checked the tapes, and eventually someone came to me and handed me a $100 bill. I asked what happened and they told me the bill passer had decided to pay up. I can only assume the tapes collaborated my story and the guy decided to avoid any further questioning from the police.

So the whole point is that now because of one stupid guy, I will no longer be selling chips at the table or to anyone except the casino cashier. The guy may have done it on accident, but I'll never know. Either way this sucks and you guys should make sure you're getting real bills when doing transactions at the table. Also I'd like to point out that I think it is a coincidence that this happened at Canterbury, and probably could have happened anywhere. The floor staff and security personel handled it very well IMO.

private joker · #2 06-12-2007, 09:00 PM

Well played, Justin. I've never heard of this happening before but obviously it can. I doubt the bill passer was innocent here; buying chips from an unsuspecting/leaving opponent is the best way to launder counterfeit bills at a casino. An ass-kicking should be in order for him but since you got your $ back it's not a huge deal.

I don't like taking cash at the table, so usually as soon as I get a bill (e.g. if someone threw a C-note into the pot in lieu of a stack) I'll sell it to the dealer or a chip runner. Mostly it's because I just don't like having cash on the table, but some small part of it is not wanting to take random bills from people and being responsible for its value.

I don't think anybody at the table in the future will think ill of you, Justin, for not taking cash from them. It's easy enough for them to just call over a chip runner or let the dealer take care of it. But this speaks well of CP that they actually reviewed the tapes and helped you out.

rafiki · #3 06-12-2007, 09:19 PM

I would disagree on the whole buying chips being the smartest way to pass that off (implying this guy was dumb). I'd take my chances in some strip clubs way before a place with all cameras. But that's neither here nor there [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

MitchL · #4 06-12-2007, 09:53 PM

A shame this happened. I hope this guy was kicked out. It seems hard to believe that Cbury would not notice counterfeit bills. The cashout girls are like bank tellers; so experienced w/ handling money that should spot a fake instantly. I guess it could happen, but it seems extremely coincidental that he decided to buy chips from an out of towner with a counterfeit bill.

3rdCheckRaise · #5 06-12-2007, 09:57 PM

Mixing 1 bill in 6 is not very bright, but mixing 3 in 20 is much more likely to go undetected. He should have bought into a bigger game...

Vehn · #6 06-12-2007, 11:43 PM

name?

and this is why when someone wants to buy chips I have the dealer count it.

HOWMANY · #7 06-12-2007, 11:46 PM

As if I wasn't paranoid enough already, I have to watch out for this now.

PokerBob · #8 06-13-2007, 01:02 AM

did you see rampant collusion as well?

i heard about this as i was cashing out tonight. wow.

The DaveR · #9 06-13-2007, 01:05 AM

Takeaway: When counterfeiting hundreds, make sure to use bills with bald, not bearded, Presidents.

Bob S. · #10 06-13-2007, 04:37 AM

About a year and a half ago I was on one of my Vegas trips and had a decent NL session at the Wynn where I stacked a guy who had several bills in front of him. I never thought anything of it. 2 weeks later back home at the casino I'm buying chips and end up having a counterfeit that I couldn't even tell, tried buying chips at the cage and it was caught by the pen. Since then I've made it a policy not to buy or sell chips at the table and if I win any pots with bills I immediately call for a chiprunner. The casino said it was one of the best fakes they ever saw so I might not have even gotten it from that game but that was my best guess.

Bob S.