A high-tech poker scandal and a chemistry test controversy

Operation Royal FlushEvery now and again, this Newscriptster enjoys a game of poker—Texas Hold’em, to be precise. It’s all fun and games, but even without betting real money, it’s nice to win. So recent news about Operation Royal Flush raised the question: Was there any science behind this cheating operation? In October, law enforcement agents arrested more than 30 people in a high-stakes poker scandal known as Operation Royal Flush, which involved unsuspecting wealthy gamblers, aka “fish”; the famous people recruiting them, including former NBA players and other professional athletes, whom prosecutors described as “face cards”; and New York mafia families.It was nearly impossible for unwitting gamblers to spot the trickery in these rigged games. The organizers allegedly used sophisticated technology: playing cards marked with invisible ink, specially designed sunglasses and contact lenses to read these markings on the backs of cards, hacked shuffling machines, rigged poker tables, and analyzers in poker chip trays.Marked cards and light-filtering contact lenses and sunglasses can be easily purchased online on sites like eBay and Amazon or specialty poker-cheating websites. Poker tables can be built specifically for cheating, often with a camera or an imaging sensor mounted underneath the felt “that can read players’ whole cards,” says Sal Piacente, a casino games security and cheating expert.Card-shuffling machines may be altered to read the cards in the deck. Poker chip trays can have hidden cameras that read invisible markings on the cards and transmit that information to external operators who are part of the scam,