Mumbles, Famous Casino Cheater

The incitement

Mumbles is known as one of the most famous casino cheaters and was considered to be the father of pastposting, one of casino cheating method. In the 1950s Mumbles came across a dealer in Puerto Rico, who made a legitimate mistake, based on which he got an idea. The dealer had accidentally shortchanged a player at a game and Mumbles had noticed that; that idea had struck him.

He went back to the same casino the next day and placed a $10 bet. When he won the hand, he switched the $5 chips with a $25 one and a small $5 chip. Once he did that he claimed that he had been paid wrong amount by the dealer. The dealer apologized to him and he paid $30 to Mumbles. That was how the Mumbles`s casino cheating started. Mumbles then went to the casinos everyday to try the trick at craps and it worked every time for him.

Cheating Practice

Later, he also tried roulette and thought of ways in which he could pastpost at roulette as well. He observed the way the dealers and the floor personnel worked at roulette tables and through of different ways in which he could cheat. The first time he tried cheating at roulette he stole chips from another player and then waited for the player for winning at a bet. When the player did win he pastposted two chips along with the winning chips while the dealer had not been watching him. He managed to win $175 from this one simple move, simply because the dealer had not been attentive. Based on this one move, several other strategies and cheating methods had been developed over the years to win at roulette.

Partnership

Over the years many other players had followed Mumble's lead for as long as 40 years and had tried his cheating methods as well as had added new methods to it. He continued cheating casinos at roulette, but over time he realized that he would need another accomplice if he wanted to make more money doing it. He called one of his friends and asked him to be his partner. They formed a team which is known as the first claimer/mechanic format team. His accomplice had been the mechanic while Mumbles had been the one who claimed the chips. His accomplice, who was in a wheelchair, went up to different tables at casinos and switched the chips and Mumbles used to claim them.

For over a year, they worked as a team till his accomplice passed away. After that Mumbles found another partner, Henry Classon along with whom he played and cheated till he passed away, the same year, in 1954.