Two long-time poker cheats had been caught earlier this month plying their unscrupulous commerce at The Lodge Card Membership in Spherical Rock, TX. Norberto Pardo, 49, and Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, 43, had been marking playing cards to achieve an unfair benefit. Administration found what was occurring and completely banned them from the institution.
What Have been the Cheaters Doing?
Apparently, the 2 miscreants had been appearing as a crew. They’d occupy seat 6 and seat 1 of a desk.
They had been marking the playing cards by gouging them with their fingernails. Aces and broadway playing cards had been marked on the edges close to the highest or backside of the cardboard whereas middling playing cards had been marked close to the middle of the cardboard. Low playing cards remained unmarked.
The Lodge Card Membership in Spherical Rock (close to Austin)The place the Cheaters Have been CaughtThe individual in seat 1 was in a primary location to view the aspect of the present deck and see whether or not there was a preponderance of excessive, medium, or low playing cards arising quickly. He would sign his accomplice, and they’d each use this info to achieve an understanding of how the remaining group playing cards had been prone to play out.
For instance, if both of them held low gap playing cards and the subsequent few playing cards had been excessive, he would have a straightforward fold. Conversely, if one among them held center connectors and the subsequent playing cards to be dealt had been additionally of middling worth, then he would possibly stick round within the hopes of creating a hand.
One other side of their crew play was trapping people in between them for a number of raises. To coordinate their efforts, they’d gesture to one another and use different-value on line casino chips as card protectors to convey info.
Poker Vlogger Speaks Out
It wasn’t simply by happenstance that the employees at The Lodge managed to catch the cheaters. Reasonably, poker vlogger Anthony Martino acknowledged one of many cheaters and determined to take motion.
Poker Vlogger Anthony MartinoMartino began a dialog with a flooring supervisor about that particular person. The ground admitted that a number of different gamers had raised suspicions in regards to the two individuals in query, however no person knew in the event that they had been dishonest or what precisely they had been doing.
Anthony then defined precisely how the underhanded shenanigans labored. The ground examined a deck from the $1/$2/$5 PLO recreation that the cheaters had been taking part in in. Certain sufficient, he discovered the playing cards marked precisely as Martino described. Pardo and Mosqueda-Perez had been then completely banned from The Lodge.
How Did Anthony Martino Know?
This raises the query: How did Anthony Martino know what the 2 cheaters had been as much as within the first place? Effectively, it seems that he had seen them utilizing the identical methodology to achieve an unfair benefit in card video games a number of years in the past.
It began in 2020 when Martino would typically frequent the Tampa Greyhound Observe and play poker there. He noticed the 2 cheaters taking part in within the video games. So relentless was their need to occupy seat 1, that if it was already occupied, they’d supply $50 to the occupant to vacate it.
Tampa Greyhound Observe Poker RoomAnthony Martino continued to play in that recreation for a number of months, after which he defined that his “spidey senses” had been triggered and he simply knew that he was being cheated. Anthony did not know exactly how the dishonest labored at the moment, however he was uncomfortable sufficient with the video games to inform the poker site supervisor that he wouldn’t be taking part in on the Tampa Greyhound Observe anymore so long as these two Cuban gamers had been current.
After a few weeks, Martino heard that that two gamers had been banned from the Tampa Greyhound Observe. Following conversations with sellers, Anthony Martino realized how the crookery labored and was capable of look out for related situations sooner or later.
Touring Fraudster Pair
By evaluating notes with different observant gamers all through the nation, Anthony Martino was capable of piece collectively the duplicitous duo’s modus operandi. Evidently, they’d journey to cardrooms throughout america. Every time they acquired banned from a specific institution, or in the event that they felt too keenly the warmth about to meet up with them, they’d merely relocate some other place for some time.
The venues the place the pair had been noticed through the years embody The Commerce On line casino in Los Angeles, Chasers Poker Room in Salem, New Hampshire, and plenty of cardrooms within the Florida and Texas markets.
Extra Info
The poker group has put collectively some common information on Norberto Pardo and Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, which can be of use to these making an attempt to find out if the pair are energetic in any particular cardroom. They’re of Cuban extraction and are believed to be based mostly within the Miami space though they transfer round incessantly and are sometimes encountered in different Florida cities and certainly different locales across the nation.
Their major methodology of dishonest includes gouging taking part in playing cards after which counting on the crew member in seat 1 to learn the marked playing cards and convey details about them to the accomplice in seat 6. They impart particulars in regards to the marked playing cards to one another by way of hand indicators in addition to the positioning of things round their playing cards (i.e., card protectors, chips, et cetera).
Although there have been remoted accounts of the pair utilizing ink to mark playing cards or dishonest by using a bootleg “machine,” these situations haven’t been confirmed. For now, the telltale signal of their particular type of dishonest lies within the gouging of the playing cards with fingernails based mostly on the worth of the playing cards.
The 2 grifters want to conduct their misdeeds in Pot Restrict Omaha video games. Their division of the deck into excessive, medium, and low playing cards helps them select their actions when holding rundowns (like AKQJ or 8765), that are particularly vital beginning palms in PLO. Nonetheless, they’ve been recognized to have interaction of their duplicitous machinations whereas seated at NL Maintain’em tables too regardless of it not being their favored recreation.
Mugshot of Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, 43Apart from poker dishonest, the 2 Cubans are suspected of dealing cocaine or at the least consuming it themselves. They each have legal data in Florida. Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez was arrested in Miami-Dade County in April 2023 on unspoken fees. Norberto Pardo was arrested in Miami-Dade County in July 2022 for possession of a managed substance, grand theft within the third diploma, and resisting an officer with out violence.
Mugshot of Norberto Pardo, 49Path of Lawlessness Coming to Finish?
After recognizing the Cuban poker villains at The Lodge in Spherical Rock, Anthony Martino unfold the phrase about them on his vlog and on social media. He additionally referred to as round to native cardrooms to alert them to the menace.
Having struck out at The Lodge, the 2 malefactors did what they’d efficiently executed up to now. They headed out to what they presumed had been greener pastures, particularly Houston, a few two-and-a-half hour drive from Spherical Rock.
Nonetheless, it appeared that particulars of their transgressions had preceded them, and so they weren’t welcomed to the Houston poker scene as they’d anticipated. Reasonably, they discovered themselves proven the door at multiple institution. Spades Poker Home is one location that they tried to enter however had been denied as a result of administration acquired wind of their rip-off and refused to allow them to play.
Private Assaults Ensue
After Anthony Martino began alerting the Texas poker group to the hazard posed by the 2 cheaters, they ultimately realized what had occurred. Martino acquired Fb and Instagram messages from one among them. The messages had been despatched in Spanish; right here is the English translation of one among them:
Hey, hear, have a look at every little thing you are doing, every little thing has penalties, okay, you fats, ugly faggot, you do not know a rattling factor about me, okay?
It would not finish right here, I will report you.
The place the hell have you learnt me from, you pungent dwarf?
Clearly, Martino acquired below the pores and skin of at the least one of many crooked gamers. And for that we applaud him extremely.
Cleaner Video games On-line
There’s all the time a gentle crowd of observers chanting ceaselessly about how on-line poker is rigged and is vulnerable to all types of collusion and different unfair practices. Nonetheless, the type of edge-gouging that came about at The Lodge is not possible to copy on-line just because there aren’t any bodily playing cards to deface over the web.
After we have a look at different underhanded doings in reside poker, just like the Mike Postle scandal, we frequently see that the troublemakers employed ways which can be not possible or very tough to realize on-line. Subsequently, we’re inclined towards the view that the sport of poker, as performed on the web, tends to be cleaner and extra sincere than when it is performed reside.
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Jan. 19, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief
