Bent Corners

Vaagn Galustyan, 52, and Armin Martirosyan, 53, sat down at Pala Casino to play Mississippi Stud. A third person came in separately and took a seat with them. San Diego County prosecutors say the two named men then marked the high cards, tens through aces, by bending the corners. Surveillance cameras caught it more than once.

Staff shut the game down. They left without cashing the chips. Five hours later they came back in different clothes and split a cash-out across two cashiers. Pala’s loss, according to the district attorney, was $19,250 in US dollars. The next week the same play turned up at Harrah’s in Valley Center. That house lost $13,410. Together it is more than $30,000.

Mississippi Stud is a poker-style table game against the house, not against the other seats. Each player gets two cards. The dealer gets two cards. Three community cards come out in stages. After each card you can raise or fold. The dealer needs at least a pair of sixes to qualify. If you already know which of the dealer’s cards are tens through aces, you know when to put more money out and when to get up.

That is what the marks were for. A bent corner can be read from across the table when a card sits in front of the dealer or comes out again later. You do not need to turn it over. Prosecutors say the men marked the high cards they were dealt so those cards would still be readable in later hands. District Attorney Summer Stephan called it an old method that cameras now catch.

They were arraigned in San Diego County Superior Court on two felony counts of conspiracy to commit a crime. If convicted on both, they face up to three years and eight months. A preliminary hearing was set for 15 January. A court still has to decide guilt. The third person at Pala has not been named.