[El Sol]

Some of you know my story, most do not. I'm in my forties, a 35 year grizzled Gambler, a 22 year hustler and a Con man. I made my first bet when I was nine pitching my lunch money, and never looked back. No, I don't siphon money off of old ladies retirement accounts or anything nasty like that, but, meet me in a pool hall, poker room or golf coarse and I will happily accept any funds someone wants to pony up.

I'm writing this because one, I just pulled off a successful con and want to share it anonymously (I can't out of job security share this with my fellow gamblers), and two, its important for someone new to this game to understand what they could be up against.

When the poker boom hit, there was rush of kids flooding the local poker rooms. All of them thought they were the next Phil Ivey. Cocky, arrogant and loaded with cash. Some were trust fund kids, and others were genuine online wizz kids trying their luck live. All of them disappeared after a few months bewildered, broke and wondering what the hell happened.

What most don't understand is the concept of the long con, and its applied more often than you might think. Here's my story:

The Place:

I was at Oceans Eleven Casino in Oceanside. Its a small room, but profitable as its right next door to Camp Pendleton Marine corp base. Bored Soldiers come in with their checks looking to blow off some steam, with little worry of repercussions as they have the guaranteed bed and meal to go back to. So, they almost always leave with all their money on the table. The problem is they rarely play the 5/5 $1500 or 10/10 unlimited so when I play there , I usually hang out at the $300 tables.

The Victim:

Then I noticed a 21 or 22 year kid playing at the 5/5 table. He had a couple of thousand in front of him and I didn't really care until I saw him again over the next few days. But what got my attention was that he started to enter the nightly $70 tournament. My daily pattern has always been the same. I would arrive at 1:00. Play Cash games until 7:00, then play the tournament to cap off the night. Very little money to be made in tournaments, but I'm to fatigued to take notes and study my opponents in the cash games so tournaments are a good way end the night.. He didn't know my local reputation and never played against me on the 5/5 table. This was the perfect scenario.

The Set up:

As all these punks do, he badgered players for bad play. Constantly talked about how certain hands "Should be played" and saying things like "...oh, I had the Odds to call" when he really didn't. The perfect fish. So what did I do? I befriended him of course.

He earned my trust because I started to pretend he was teaching me something. I gave him high praises and told him I didn't like to play against him. Carefully showed him the hands I wanted him to see, told him how I played certain hands in certain situations(which weren't true). I almost always folded to him when we were in a pot together (remember, this was a $70 tournament, I wasn't really losing money, just chips,but the effect is the same). When he saw me at the final tables, I made up some story how I sucked out some players with some lucky stupid play. I fed him this Bullshi* for about two months until I was convinced he saw me as a fish and dead money.

The Con:

One thing that players never think about is tipping the floor man. Novices have zero concept of this action, but professionals know perfectly why you should. Without going into further details, the floor man came over near me and yelled "Seat open at 5/5!" I quietly put down my fork and calmly sat down two spots to the right of my target. Said my hellos and and bought in for the table max of $1500.

It took maybe 20 minutes in that first session before he bluffed off all his money to me while I was holding the nuts and the con continued. We played for weeks, he won some, I won some, but in the end I was slowly bleeding him. He was completely oblivious that one, I was only playing only against him, ignoring the rest of the table and two that I was setting him up. I was also writing down everything that ever happened between us. How much I won against him, How much I lost, what hands when and in what position. I had an entire spiral notebook dedicated to playing against him. I had him pegged. After a month or so of work, I was able to manipulate him to the point that he would call when I had it and fold when I didn't.

As expected, he wasn't as friendly towards me anymore. Maybe he realized he was being conned or just mad from losing I don't know but he started to come in less and less and then he moved down to the $300 tables, than I saw him at the $100 tables than I never saw him again. All told, I siphoned about $15,000 off of him. Not bad for two months of preparation and one month of work which was supplemental to my regular game.

Final Thoughts:

I try to explain this to family and friends all the time with blank stares looking back at me. Poker is not a card game, Its a Con game. I think the reason people don't believe it is that they only watch poker on Television and witness the push fold mentality of Tournament or internet poker. Or they don't believe that someone will take the time to take notes or to set up people like I did. Trust, me they do and its far more frequent than you might think. Just look at Internet Poker. It didn't take long before HUDs, Trackers and Hand Analyzers flooded the market to find players an edge. So in saying that live Poker is much, much older and every trick in the book has long been perfected.

So, If you are planning to play live poker, or are deciding to move up in stakes. Keep these things in mind. Don't talk about how you would or should play a hand against anyone. Stay inconspicuous. Never, absolutely never, show your hand and never badger people about how they play. Be wary of some old dude chatting it up with you. Keep the conversation friendly, but never reveal anything about how you play and don't believe anything he tells you, especially if you realize he is an everyday player. If you ignore this advice, you may be the target of a long con....