How a Broke Single Mom Cheated Every Casino in Las Vegas — Run by the Mob

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How a Broke Single Mom Cheated Every Casino in Las Vegas — Run by the Mob

She was 21 years old. Her marriage had fallen apart, she had two small children to feed, and she was working as a cocktail waitress for about fifty dollars a week. Five foot three. Barely a hundred pounds. The last person anyone in Las Vegas would ever watch at a blackjack table.

That was exactly the point.

Ida Summers learned the casino business as a teenage shill in Newport, Kentucky — until the government shut the illegal gambling town down in 1961. She followed the money to Las Vegas, where the casinos were run by the mob and watched by some of the toughest security in the world. And there she met Buddy, a smooth blackjack card mechanic who taught her how to switch cards with her bare hands.

Then she wanted more. Not one card — an entire deck.

For nearly two decades, by her own account, Ida and her crew beat the house night after night: switching cards, slipping in pre-arranged "cold" decks, and staying one step ahead of the casinos, Gaming Control and eventually the FBI. Until one night, the trap finally closed.

So how does a broke single mom outsmart the most dangerous casinos in America? And how much of her legend is actually true?

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CHAPTERS

0:00 - Broke, Alone and Out of Options
0:50 - First Step Into the Casino
2:15 - A New Life in Vegas
5:05 - Buddy
6:36 - Quick Hands
12:53 - The Perfect Deck
17:48 - The Iceberg
19:34 - The Trap

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING

1. Breaking Vegas, S1E11 "Vegas Vixen" (History Channel, 2005) — episode listing: https://archive.org/details/breaking-vegas-s-1-e-11-vegas-vixen
2. Wikipedia — Breaking Vegas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Vegas
3. The World's Greatest Gambling Scams — "Most Daring" (2006): https://thetvdb.com/series/the-worlds-greatest-gambling-scams/episodes/8306285
4. Richard Marcus — Casino Cheating Hall of Fame: Ida Summers (2013): https://richardmarcus-pokercheats.blogspot.com/2013_04_14_archive.html
5. CDC Gaming Reports — The cheating queen who eluded the law: https://cdcgaming.com/commentary/cheating-queen-eluded-law-escaped-the-black-book-wound-up-working-for-casino/
6. Wikipedia — Newport, Kentucky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport,_Kentucky
7. Wikipedia — Federal Wire Act (1961): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Wire_Act
8. Las Vegas Sun (30.07.1982) — Eight indicted in cheating scheme: https://lasvegassun.com/news/1982/jul/30/eight-indicted-cheating-scheme/
9. Nevada Gaming Control Board — Excluded Person List: https://www.gaming.nv.gov/divisions/enforcement/excluded-most-wanted/home
10. Wikipedia — Cheating in casinos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheating_in_casinos

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ABOUT THE CHANNEL

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If you like documentary-style stories that are sharp, cinematic, and impossible to forget, subscribe for more.

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#LasVegas #CasinoCheat #Blackjack #TrueStory #TrueCrime #Documentary #Lume
Category
Las Vegas Casino
Tags
las vegas casino, old las vegas, true crime
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