{"id":23949,"date":"2020-08-18T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=23949"},"modified":"2020-08-07T04:24:10","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T09:24:10","slug":"stealing-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/stealing-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"R. Paul Wilson On: Stealing Machines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Believe it or not, an ingenious contraption\ninvented over 130 years ago is still in use today both in private card games\nand casino table games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the hands of an expert, it renders incredible\nsleight of hand completely invisible and in at least one example, this\nseemingly clunky mechanism was caught beating a casino for almost a million\ndollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet Kepplinger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Kepplinger\"
Kepplinger getting caught in the act. [Image: offbeatoregon.com]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Around 1888, a poker game somewhere in North\nAmerica came to a sudden end when three players leapt upon the fourth and\ndragged him away from the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protruding from PJ Kepplinger\u2019s sleeve was a\nmetal \u201cthief\u201d with a card clipped to it, ready to be pulled into that sleeve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between his legs, a cable was connected from\nknee to knee and by moving them apart, a system of pulleys would operate the\ndevice strapped to Kepplinger\u2019s wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first discovery of the most complex\nmechanical holdout ever invented but Kepplinger did not go to jail, or even to\nhospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After demonstrating how his machine worked, the\nthree players he\u2019d been cheating just a few hours before, commissioned him to\nbuild three identical devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stealing Machine: Knee vs Toe Spread<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Kepplinger
The design of cheating holdouts is still the same today as it was all those years ago. [Image: liveauctioneers.com]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since that day, Kepplinger\u2019s holdout has evolved\ninto a simple, elegant design with two variations: the knee-spread and the\ntoe-spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knee-spread works by cutting small gaps in the inside leg of the operator\u2019s pants so a cable can be stretched between the knees when seated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cable continues into a series of handmade brass tubes with specially designed hinges that extend up the side, past the waist and down the arm via a small pulley system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strapped to the wrist is the thief mechanism on\na rail. It travels straight and true when the cable is pulled with an elastic\nband (a modern addition) to pull the thief back into the sleeve when the cable\nis relaxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knee-spread is the most common variety, but\ntoe spreads are preferable to some machine operators. This is so the cable is\nnot stretched between their legs but extends to their foot where it is anchored\nand operated by tilting the ankle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toe spread takes more practice to perfect as\nthe action requires a muscle to develop. Painful cramping is common when\nlearning to hold the foot at the necessary angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toe Spread Gone\nWrong<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Years ago, a good friend called me from Spain\nafter buying a toe-spread holdout for his magic show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a great solution for magicians since\nit\u2019s designed for a single purpose and is meant to be worn while seated,\nquietly waiting for the right cards to switch in or out of a hand, but my\nfriend had a good idea and wanted to experiment so I\u2019d connected him with the\nright people to obtain a machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he called me, he was having serious\nproblems making it work, which was not surprising since working with such a\ndevice is about as easy as learning to play the bassoon. My friend was seeing\nno progress, so I agreed to visit and help him work out the wrinkles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got to his place a few weeks later, he\nwas limping and told me the machine was threatening to cut off his big toe!\nSure enough, when he removed his shoes and socks his toe was more black than\nblue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To resolve this, he had made a tiny metal helmet\nto protect his toe and proceeded to hook up the cable, replace his socks and\npainfully push the now-connected foot into his shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I laughed so hard I fell off my chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called a toe-spread but you don\u2019t actually\nuse your toe!\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, cheaters often wore cowboy boots as the\npointed toe was a good place to loop the cable since it required a lot of\npressure to pull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting the wire around his big toe, my friend\nwas two pulls away from cutting his toe clean off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Work Involved<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As my magician friend soon learned, the sleight\nof hand required to accompany the machine is both extremely difficult and\nparticular to the actions of normal card play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, if you\u2019re being dealt cards,\nlooking at them and sorting them; the methods used in combination with the\nhidden device look exactly the same as the honest actions of a typical card\nplayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my friend, this was the final straw and he\nultimately abandoned the idea for a much better one that fools people badly to\nthis day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For expert machine players, the Kepplinger\nallows cards to be stolen from play, hidden in the sleeve and returned to their\npalm invisibly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, if you ever saw someone play the\nmachine properly, you\u2019d marvel at how there\u2019s absolutely no visible sign that a\nswitch is happening even when you stare at the mechanic\u2019s hands as it\u2019s\nhappening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Two Stealing Machines Are The Same<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The only reason there are just a handful of\nmachine players out there is that the work is incredibly difficult to do well\nand the holdout device requires constant maintenance, so the operator needs to\nbe an expert card cheat and<\/em> a competent machinist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason is that there are several details\nabout how to use the Kepplinger that remain well-kept secrets. Without that\nknowledge it\u2019s only a matter of time before a cheater is caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every device is a little different once it\u2019s\nbeen used under fire, having been adapted by each owner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kepplinger
Using one of these devices requires skill and practise. Would you take the risk? [Image: Wikipedia]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I own a couple, one of which was made\nspecifically for me and is pristine while the other is a hodgepodge of welded\njoints and additional pieces including the solution to a common problem for all\nholdout workers designed by its former owner, Wilbur Kelsey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pristine version works well but has never been \u201cworked in\u201d while the Kelsey holdout is smooth like butter and is the one I strapped to Sylvester Stallone when working with him on the movie Shade<\/a><\/em> (more on that another time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s A Reason People Still Use Them<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I know there are still machine workers out\nthere, stealing from private games and a good friend was perhaps one of the\nbest machine operators who ever lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had learned from another expert player and\nwas able to switch cards without the slightest tell but even he admitted it was\na lot of work and a lot of risk for not a lot of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he put it: \u201cYou can\u2019t tell them it\u2019s just an\nass scratching machine when you get caught!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was of the opinion that the best use for it might not be to steal cards and had an intriguing idea that I don\u2019t think he ever pursued that would effectively turn any pack of cards into a marked deck<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might seem that the Kepplinger is old-hat; an\nintriguing artefact with few applications in the modern world of community card\ngames like Hold \u2018Em. But just a few years ago an American casino caught someone\nplaying Baccarat with one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll discuss how they might have used it another\ntime but consider this: if you\u2019re not even going to touch the cards, what use\nis a 130-year-old holdout machine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When caught, the Baccarat players had already won $900,000\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want more from our scams and cheating expert? Check out:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
R. Paul Wilson On: Modern Card Crimes<\/a><\/blockquote>