Two Poker Cheats CAUGHT at The Lodge, BANNED

Two long-time poker cheats have been caught earlier this month plying their unscrupulous commerce at The Lodge Card Membership in Spherical Rock, TX. Norberto Pardo, 49, and Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, 43, have been marking playing cards to achieve an unfair benefit. Administration found what was happening and completely banned them from the institution.

What Had been the Cheaters Doing?

Apparently, the 2 miscreants have been performing as a crew. They might occupy seat 6 and seat 1 of a desk.

They have been marking the playing cards by gouging them with their fingernails. Aces and broadway playing cards have been marked on the perimeters close to the highest or backside of the cardboard whereas middling playing cards have been marked close to the middle of the cardboard. Low playing cards remained unmarked.

The Lodge Card Membership in Spherical Rock (close to Austin)The place the Cheaters Had been Caught

The individual in seat 1 was in a first-rate location to view the aspect of the present deck and spot whether or not there was a preponderance of excessive, medium, or low playing cards developing quickly. He would sign his accomplice, and they’d each use this info to achieve an understanding of how the remaining neighborhood playing cards have been more likely to play out.

For instance, if both of them held low gap playing cards and the following few playing cards have been excessive, he would have a simple fold. Conversely, if certainly one of them held center connectors and the following playing cards to be dealt have been additionally of middling worth, then he may stick round within the hopes of constructing a hand.

One other facet of their crew play was trapping people in between them for a number of raises. To coordinate their efforts, they’d gesture to one another and use different-value on line casino chips as card protectors to convey info.

Poker Vlogger Speaks Out

It wasn’t simply by happenstance that the employees at The Lodge managed to catch the cheaters. Quite, poker vlogger Anthony Martino acknowledged one of many cheaters and determined to take motion.

Poker Vlogger Anthony Martino

Martino began a dialog with a flooring supervisor about that particular person. The ground admitted that a number of different gamers had raised suspicions concerning the two individuals in query, however no one knew in the event that they have been dishonest or what precisely they have been doing.

Anthony then defined precisely how the underhanded shenanigans labored. The ground examined a deck from the $1/$2/$5 PLO recreation that the cheaters had been enjoying in. Certain sufficient, he discovered the playing cards marked precisely as Martino described. Pardo and Mosqueda-Perez have been then completely banned from The Lodge.

How Did Anthony Martino Know?

This raises the query: How did Anthony Martino know what the 2 cheaters have been as much as within the first place? Nicely, it seems that he had seen them utilizing the identical technique to achieve an unfair benefit in card video games a number of years in the past.

It began in 2020 when Martino would typically frequent the Tampa Greyhound Observe and play poker there. He noticed the 2 cheaters enjoying within the video games. So relentless was their want to occupy seat 1, that if it was already occupied, they’d supply $50 to the occupant to vacate it.

Tampa Greyhound Observe Poker Room

Anthony Martino continued to play in that recreation for a number of months, after which he defined that his “spidey senses” have been triggered and he simply knew that he was being cheated. Anthony did not know exactly how the dishonest labored at the moment, however he was uncomfortable sufficient with the video games to inform the poker site supervisor that he wouldn’t be enjoying on the Tampa Greyhound Observe anymore so long as these two Cuban gamers have been current.

After a few weeks, Martino heard that that two gamers had been banned from the Tampa Greyhound Observe. Following conversations with sellers, Anthony Martino realized how the crookery labored and was in a position to look out for comparable situations sooner or later.

Touring Fraudster Pair

By evaluating notes with different observant gamers all through the nation, Anthony Martino was in a position to piece collectively the duplicitous duo’s modus operandi. Evidently, they’d journey to cardrooms throughout america. Each time they bought banned from a selected institution, or in the event that they felt too keenly the warmth about to meet up with them, they’d merely relocate someplace else for some time.

The venues the place the pair have been noticed over time embody The Commerce On line casino in Los Angeles, Chasers Poker Room in Salem, New Hampshire, and lots of cardrooms within the Florida and Texas markets.

Extra Data

The poker neighborhood has put collectively some normal information on Norberto Pardo and Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, which can be of use to these attempting to find out if the pair are lively in any particular cardroom. They’re of Cuban extraction and are believed to be primarily based within the Miami space though they transfer round steadily and are sometimes encountered in different Florida cities and certainly different locales across the nation.

Their major technique of dishonest includes gouging enjoying playing cards after which counting on the crew member in seat 1 to learn the marked playing cards and convey details about them to the accomplice in seat 6. They impart particulars concerning the marked playing cards to one another through hand indicators in addition to the positioning of things round their playing cards (i.e., card protectors, chips, et cetera).

Although there have been remoted accounts of the pair utilizing ink to mark playing cards or dishonest by way of the usage of a bootleg “gadget,” these situations haven’t been confirmed. For now, the telltale signal of their particular type of dishonest lies within the gouging of the playing cards with fingernails primarily based on the worth of the playing cards.

The 2 grifters favor to conduct their misdeeds in Pot Restrict Omaha video games. Their division of the deck into excessive, medium, and low playing cards helps them select their actions when holding rundowns (like AKQJ or 8765), that are particularly vital beginning palms in PLO. Nonetheless, they’ve been recognized to have interaction of their duplicitous machinations whereas seated at NL Maintain’em tables too regardless of it not being their favored recreation.

Mugshot of Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez, 43

Moreover poker dishonest, the 2 Cubans are suspected of dealing cocaine or at the least consuming it themselves. They each have prison data in Florida. Yaiquel Mosqueda-Perez was arrested in Miami-Dade County in April 2023 on unspoken prices. Norberto Pardo was arrested in Miami-Dade County in July 2022 for possession of a managed substance, grand theft within the third diploma, and resisting an officer with out violence.

Mugshot of Norberto Pardo, 49

Path of Lawlessness Coming to Finish?

After recognizing the Cuban poker villains at The Lodge in Spherical Rock, Anthony Martino unfold the phrase about them on his vlog and on social media. He additionally referred to as round to native cardrooms to alert them to the menace.

Having struck out at The Lodge, the 2 malefactors did what they’d efficiently executed previously. They headed out to what they presumed have been greener pastures, particularly Houston, a few two-and-a-half hour drive from Spherical Rock.

Nevertheless, it appeared that particulars of their transgressions had preceded them, and so they weren’t welcomed to the Houston poker scene as they’d anticipated. Quite, they discovered themselves proven the door at multiple institution. Spades Poker Home is one location that they tried to enter however have been denied as a result of administration bought wind of their rip-off and refused to allow them to play.

Private Assaults Ensue

After Anthony Martino began alerting the Texas poker neighborhood to the hazard posed by the 2 cheaters, they ultimately realized what had occurred. Martino acquired Fb and Instagram messages from certainly one of them. The messages have been despatched in Spanish; right here is the English translation of certainly one of them:

Hey, pay attention, take a look at the whole lot you are doing, the whole lot has penalties, okay, you fats, ugly faggot, you do not know a rattling factor about me, okay?

It does not finish right here, I will report you.

The place the hell are you aware me from, you smelly dwarf?

Clearly, Martino bought underneath the pores and skin of at the least one of many crooked gamers. And for that we applaud him extremely.

Cleaner Video games On-line

There’s at all times a gradual crowd of observers chanting ceaselessly about how on-line poker is rigged and is vulnerable to all types of collusion and different unfair practices. Nevertheless, the type of edge-gouging that happened at The Lodge is inconceivable to duplicate on-line just because there aren’t any bodily playing cards to deface over the web.

After we take a look at different underhanded doings in stay poker, just like the Mike Postle scandal, we regularly see that the troublemakers employed ways which are inconceivable or very troublesome to realize on-line. Due to this fact, we’re inclined towards the view that the sport of poker, as performed on the web, tends to be cleaner and extra trustworthy than when it is performed stay.

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Jan. 19, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief