News & Reviews

WORD: Author Steve Forte drums up publicity for card cheating book - by getting arrested

Self-published authors are known to get creative to try and drum up media coverage of their books, but two-time author Steve Forte pulled off the mother of weird publicity stunts by getting arrested in Atlantic City. Forte, who published a book this year called "Poker Protection - Cheating and the World of Poker," faces charges of conspiracy and using cheating devices in a theft after allegedly robbing fellow poker players.

Forte evidently parlayed his experience as a consultant -- paid handsomely by casinos to detect card cheaters -- into a grand scheme during a recent $5,000 buy-in poker tournament at the Borgata Hotel & Spa, where officials say he set up private high-stakes poker games at a room rigged with  hidden cameras to reveal the cards of his opponents.

Poker pros at major tournaments often play "side games" away from the casino floor. At the Borgata, Forte and his cronies allegedly had one conspirator monitor the cameras and state the players’ cards to a weasel playing at the table, who listened in an earpiece. Meanwhile, another goon would calculate the odds of hands on a computer in another room. Last, they used the oldest of card rackets by simply marking the cards.

Forte penned a book called "Casino Game Protection" a few years ago that casino security forces consider the benchmark title on how to avert card cheating. While his scheme may have garnered widespread publicity, it hasn’t helped Forte’s Amazon ranking much. Through Saturday, Poker Protection still had a lowly 190,147 ranking.

In addition to authoring two books on poker cheating, Forte has worked as a card cheat consultant for most of the top casinos in Las Vegas, as well as several in the Caribbean.

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