Seven Days on the Shoe

In 2023 a baccarat crew sat down at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana and, investigators say, left with more than $700,000 in US dollars in less than a week. Court papers later named six men: Jianchu Liu, Fuxiang Liu, Qingyong Zhang, Honghui Wu, Daiqi Wang, and Yuhan Hu. Each now faces felony theft and cheating at gambling in Lake Criminal Court. Charges were filed on 2 June 2025. A court still has to decide guilt.

The Hard Rock week was not the whole job. Prosecutors allege the same group took more than $1.5 million in US dollars from over ten casinos between July 2023 and March 2024. The trail runs through Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, and California. Illinois investigators say the same play turned up at Bally’s in Chicago. That house barred them. Pennsylvania issued its own warrant for Jianchu Liu on two felony counts of winning by fraud or trickery.

Here is what investigators say they actually did. Baccarat is dealt from a shoe. Once the cards are stacked, they come out in a fixed order. If you learn that order, you know when banker wins, when player wins, and when to stay out. The house edge only holds if that order stays hidden.

The group allegedly learned the order while the cards were still being handled, before they went into the shoe. That means the shuffle, and the cut after it, when a player slides a cut card into the deck and the dealer restacks it. Investigators say faces were left in view during that handling. One man made sure those faces could be seen. Another filmed them. Court accounts say the phone was sometimes tucked under a cigarette pack on the rail. Someone held a scorecard up between the cards and the overhead camera, so the surveillance lens could not see the phone. One of the crew then walked off the table, watched the video, and came back. After that the bets jumped, as high as $20,000 a hand.

They did not sit still. Investigators say they looked for dealers who flashed cards during the shuffle or the cut, then moved to another table when staff started watching the wagering. The tell on the floor was the betting itself. A quiet stretch. Then heavy money late in the shoe.

A Hard Rock dealer was looked at early. Interviews and phone records went the other way. Investigators say he had no contact with the crew and did not help them on purpose. The opening was cards shown during the shuffle and the cut, not an inside man.