A long time coming
A woman has been arrested for allegedly colluding with a table game dealer at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in 2023. According to KLAS, Yuk Wong faces five felony counts of cheating at a gambling game and one felony count of conspiring to cheat at a gambling game.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board issued a warrant for her arrest last year, but it wasn’t until May 15 – two weeks ago – that she was apprehended. It was, perhaps ironically, unlucky for Wong, as she was pulled over by a police officer for driving with an expired registration. He ran her information, saw she had a warrant out for her arrest, and took her into custody.
Wong allegedly conspired with the dealer in the game “I Luv Suits Poker.” Both of their Facebook statuses were set as “in a relationship” with the other. Wong told investigators that she “she had seen [the dealer] previously before and likes to gamble at games he is dealing because he helps her understand the game and helps her win.”
According to security footage, the dealer was helping her win by paying off her losing hands.
Standard table game
In I Luv Suits Poker (what a name, right?), the player(s) and the dealer are dealt seven cards face down from a standard 52-card deck. Players must initiate the betting before the deal with an ante, similar to blackjack. The goal is to make a flush with as many of the seven cards as possible and beat the dealer’s best flush.
The greatest number of cards a player has of a suit is called their “maximum flush.” The maximum flush is the first ranking method, so if a player has four clubs, they beat the dealer’s three hearts. The second ranking, if both the player and the dealer have the same size maximum flush, is by value, just like in poker. Thus, A-9-8 beats K-J-4.
After looking at their cards, players can decide if they want to fold or raise. If they fold, they lose the ante bet. Raise values are based on a player’s maximum flush. After all betting decisions have been made, the dealer flips over their cards and compares them to the players’ hands. The dealer must have at least a nine-high, three-card flush to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify, everyone wins their antes and the raises push.
Not subtle about it
Back to the Mandalay Bay case, investigators allege 17 total instances of cheating between Wong and the unnamed dealer. In court documents, investigators wrote, “It should be noted, during all hands that Wong fraudulently concealed a faulty flush, she fraudulently placed the card so that it is hidden in the middle of her hand.”
It sounds like the dealer paid Wong’s losing hands, but they felt that she couldn’t just lay her seven cards on the table, as it would be obvious to observers and security cameras that the hand didn’t win. Thus, Wong would hide a card among the others, which would still make it look like a losing hand, but would also cause anyone who noticed to doubt themselves, thinking that maybe they just didn’t see the hand correctly. Basically, it’s harder to prove a negative.
Of course, once the alleged cheating was reported and Nevada Gaming Control Board agents took a close look at video, they could see what was going on.
