A Pittsburgh poker dealer was caught stealing $1 and $5 chips
He was sentenced to 1 year of probation and a huge fine
It’s extremely surprising that in the age of technology there still are people that try to cheat and beat the system. And even though we don’t hear about every single case, every once in a while there is one that gets caught in the media whirlwind and it serves as fuel for all those opposed to all sorts of gambling.
This is exactly what happened just a couple of days ago, when it news spread of a former poker dealer at a Pittsburgh casino that was caught stealing from the pot. He used sleight of hand to steal $1 and $5 poker chips from the pot and placing them in a pile of discarded cards that were about to go back in the game. Nobody caught it at first, but his former employees started getting suspicious and proceeded to watch the security tapes. They immediately fired the 26 year old dealer. His troubles didn’t end here, though.
Earlier this week he was prosecuted by an Allegheny County judge, who sentenced him to one year of probation and a $75,000 fine, more than 350 times the amount that the man stole. Matthew Eisenberg, the poker dealer in question here, and his attorney plan on challenging the fine in an appeal. The man pled guilty to his charges.
This isn’t the first time we hear of such an incident. Reports have even come through of such events (albeit not intentional) happening at the highest level the game of poker has ever seen. Earlier last week, during the first stages of the World Series of Poker Main Event, one of the tables played without eight cards from the deck for nearly 40 minutes, before the error was finally spotted and the cards were replaced. Although the game’s course hasn’t been altered by any one player being eliminated from the tournament, the incident still gave birth to a lot of discussions as to how this could be possible at such a high level.
All in all, these types of things should be expected in a game where human interaction is not only possible, but a requirement. And, until a viable replacement is found for poker dealers even in the live tournaments and cash games, it’s a chance that we have to take and hope for the best.
