was doing a job for gave it to me. The casino’s security department raided the room of a gang of suspected cheaters. They found the device in a suitcase and thought it was a card-counting computer.”
“And you taught yourself how to use it,” Shelly Michael said.
“That’s right.”
Chance Newman placed his hand on Valentine’s shoulder. “Tony’s the best in the business. That’s why I asked him to give us this demonstration. If anyone is going to understand how Deadlock works, it’s him.”
Valentine turned to face Sal. The six decks were ready to be cut. He picked up the laminated cut card sitting on the table and jammed it in. Sal separated the cards at the spot and fitted them into the plastic shoe.
Then Sal started to deal.
Valentine played all seven hands at the table, a hundred dollars a bet. Within twenty minutes, the shoe was exhausted and he was down ten thousand dollars.
“This is cheating?” Shelly asked sarcastically.
Shelly was watching him like a hawk. So were Chance and Rags, only Shelly had breath that could melt your glasses. Valentine wondered if he knew how bad his breath was. That was the problem with rich people. No one was honest with them.
“It sure is,” Valentine said.
“But you’re down ten grand.”
“That’s right. I’m splashing.”
“You’re what?”
“Splashing. It’s a hustler’s term. I’m throwing money around, setting you up.”
“How so?”
“I’ve made you think I’m a sucker.”
Valentine placed his unlit cigarette in the ashtray on the table. Picking the ashtray up, he moved it next to the plastic discard tray where Sal put the cards after each hand was dealt. Beneath the ashtray, Valentine secretly held a “lug”—a piece of rubber band tied in a knot with its ends snipped off. With his middle finger, he shot the lug into the discard tray. Sal immediately put some cards above the lug. Then he removed all the cards from the discard tray and began to shuffle them.
Valentine turned around on his stool, effectively shielding Sal from the three men.
“What should make us think otherwise?” Shelly asked.
“My behavior,” Valentine said. “I lost ten grand, and didn’t start pissing and moaning.”
Shelly didn’t get it. Neither did Chance. But Rags was all smiles, his gold teeth glittering. In and out of prison as a kid, he knew the ways of street people, and said, “That’s a tell.”
“Sure is,” Valentine said.
“So what are you telling us?”
“That I’m about to rip you off.”
Rags grinned. “Sure you are.”
Valentine had been counting time in his head. Twenty seconds had passed, and he turned around and watched Sal finish shuffling. So did the other three men.
When Sal was done, he offered the cards to be cut. Valentine picked up a laminated cut card lying on the table and stuck it into the break in the cards created by the lug.
Sal watched him with a bored look on his face, playing his part perfectly. It had taken Valentine no time to explain the scam to him in the elevator. It was one of the things that made Deadlock so deceptive. A dealer could be easily recruited.
Sal fitted the cards into the plastic shoe and started dealing.
Valentine played all seven hands, a thousand dollars a bet. After ten minutes, he’d won his ten grand back, as well as twenty thousand of the house’s money.
“What the hell you doing?” Rags yelled at him. He was hanging on the table rail, staring in disbelief as Valentine won every single hand he played.
“Cheating,” he replied.
“Ain’t possible,” Rags said, looking at his peers for support. “Is it?”
“That, or he can walk on water,” Chance said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Shelly glared at him, refusing to acknowledge he was beaten. Valentine played another round, winning all seven hands. Rags slapped the table incredulously.
“Are you going to show us what you’re doing, or do we have to lie on our backs and say
Shelly’s timing was perfect. The cards that Valentine was using to win had been exhausted. He
“Be happy to,” Valentine said.
Standing, he undid his belt and let his ill-fitting, three-hundred-dollar slacks fall to his ankles. The three men instinctively stepped backward. They stared at his white jockeys and the keypad strapped to his thigh. It was the size of a PalmPilot and had wires that ran beneath his shirt. Valentine lifted his shirt and let them see the small black box taped to his side.
“Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Deadlock,” he said.
“A couple of years ago, a group of supersmart college students in Japan pulled a little prank,” Valentine said after he’d removed the apparatus and laid it on the blackjack table. Pulling his pants up, he continued. “They read in the newspaper that U.S. reconnaissance jets were flying over their country while monitoring North Korea. So these students made some alterations on a computer in the math department at their school.
“One day, while a U.S. jet was flying over their country, the students sent a beam up from the computer and downloaded all the intelligence in the jet’s computer that had been gathered about North Korea. They e-mailed the information to everyone they knew.
“Needless to say, they got in trouble, and apologized for what they’d done. After a while, things calmed down. Then one day, a guy from Nevada shows up at their school. A gambler.
“This gambler had participated in a blackjack scam in Atlantic City years ago that used a computer hidden in a van, and a gang of accomplices. He explained the scam to the students and challenged them to come up with something that would re-create it, using less equipment and no accomplices. He also offered to pay them extremely well if they succeeded.”
“And Deadlock was born,” Shelly said.
“That’s right.” Valentine picked up the equipment from the table. “In the beginning, the students had some problems, mainly because they didn’t understand how blackjack was played. But eventually they caught on. Here’s how Deadlock works.
“The keypad is strapped to my thigh. With my right fingers, I input the values of the first hundred and twenty cards played through the fabric of my pants. Because my right hand is beneath the table, the security cameras won’t see this. Neither will anyone else at the table.
“Deadlock takes this known sequence of cards, plays out all possible drawing sequences, then outputs the strategy that wins the most money.”
“How many sequences are we talking about?” Shelly asked.
“Millions.”
“How quickly?”
“Ten seconds at most. Deadlock also adjusts for player mistakes, and legitimate players entering the game, all on the fly.” He picked up Deadlock and pointed at the red light on the keypad. Pressing the 1, he made the light come on. “This means Deadlock is ready to pass the information on to me.” He pointed at his right ear. “I’m wearing an intracanal earpiece. In a few seconds, Deadlock will tell me how to play the first round.”
“It will
“That’s right. Deadlock speaks with an automated voice. The instructions are always crystal clear.”
“Wait a minute,” Shelly said, unable to hide his anger. “These cards were shuffled. They were in a
Valentine shook his head. “Afraid not.”
“What do you mean?”
He glanced at Sal. “I had some help. That was one thing the Japanese whiz kids couldn’t solve. The scam
