November 17, 2007 -- A Brooklyn man played a fast one at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino when workers caught him marking cards while playing Texas Hold 'Em, officials said.
Sholem Weisner, 26, of Williamsburg, had been cheating the casino for several days and was found with $55,000 in his hotel room when he was busted on Thursday night, Connecticut State Police said.
"He obviously was defacing the cards in a way that obviously would not be detected," Sgt. William Griffin told The Norwich Bulletin. "He was good at it."
Staff at the casino - which is located on an Indian reservation in eastern Connecticut - started picking up on the marked cards. They then reviewed surveillance footage and spotted Weisner playing poker at a table in the Casino of the Sky.
When they confronted the brazen gambler, they realized Weisner had been tossed out of the casino in September 2006 for cheating, Griffin said.
Normally, casino officials put known card sharps on a list barring them from ever entering again, but this time Weisner checked in using player reward and Social Security cards that belonged to a friend.
"He came here to get some money from the casino," Griffin said. "He came here specifically to make some money and got caught."
A spokeswoman for Mohegan Sun declined to comment.
Marking cards involves bending or gently creasing specific cards in a way that allows the sharp to track the location of certain high cards as they make their way around the table.
Sometimes, cheaters even use dollops of Vaseline to mark the cards.
Weisner was charged with felony charges of cheating, first-degree larceny and criminal trespass and was released on $5,000 bond.
His name was also passed on to officials at Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino as well as casinos in Atlantic City.
The alleged flim-flammer has a long history of playing fast and loose with money and with the law.
He has several liens against him for failing to pay traffic tickets in New Jersey and for several thousand dollars in credit-card debts.
He is also listed as a persistent violator by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, whose records show Weisner has committed an almost endless list of traffic infractions, from running red lights, talking on a cellphone behind the wheel, speeding, and driving without a seat belt.
And he has failed to pay tickets at least 13 times, according to the records.
Neighbors in his South Williamsburg building on Hewes Street described Weisner, an Orthodox Jew, as little more than a con man.
One woman - who declined to give her name - dismissed him as a "lowlife."
Another said, "He is just dumb. And now he has ruined his life."
Mohegan Sun Poker Cheat Caught! 
