Four Chinese men were arrested after defrauding a small business owner out of 70,000 yuan (approx. $10.5k) in a poker game. And a police investigation uncovered that they used marked cards and special contact lenses in the crime.

The victim, identified by his surname Feng, was lured to Dali, Yunnan by four men who promised to recruit customers for his pesticide business.

I can't help admiring the efforts of Stefano Ampollini, a 56-year-old Italian who won €70,000 cheating at cards. His method was so ingenious, his preparations so meticulous. Back in 2013 Stefano Ampollini managed to rake in £60,000 in one evening ($78,000) after using a similar method to count blackjack cards at Cannes’ Les Princes casino. Issues like this have stopped former online poker players from revisiting and playing at the Lock Poker website. However, one such high profile poker player who prefers to be anonymous recently confirmed that he had a Skype conversation with a senior official from Lock Poker who offered him the privilege of a preferred cash out policy, provided. Stefano Ampollini was sentenced 2 years in prison, after a court in Grasse found him guilty of cheating the ‘Les Princes’ casino in Cannes. For days, judge Marc Joando marvelled at the techniques used by Italian Stefano Ampollini, known as ‘Parmesan,’ who along with a small gang of accomplices, was able to take Les Princes Casino.

The suspects brought Feng to their hotel room in Dali and began playing poker with him. According to a police report, Feng lost every single hand that he played with the men.

When the poker game was over, Feng dropped 10,000 yuan in cash along with another 60,000 in promissory notes.

Suspecting that he’d been cheated, Feng contacted authorities and they raided the Dali hotel room.

According to the South China Morning Post, police found the four men sleeping in the hotel room, along with 30 packs of marked cards, and a pair of special contact lenses.

The suspects later admitted that they marked the cards with a special ink that can only be seen with the contacts. One of the men wore the contacts and signaled what cards Feng had to his opponents.

Feng originally told police that he’d been drugged too, but reports haven’t stated anything about the police finding drugs on the scene.

This isn’t the first time that gamblers have used special contacts in a cheating scandal.

The Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut caught Bruce Koloshi marking cards in a stud poker game. They found that he was also wearing infrared contact lenses that allowed him to tell what the cards were based on markings.

Koloshi’s case is an interesting one because he was busted doing the same thing in Louisiana and faced trial there. His goal was to generate enough money that he could pay court costs in Louisiana.

Another interesting case involving infrared contacts centers on an Italian gambler named Stefano Ampollini.

The 56-year-old was also caught in 2013 during a scam at Les Princes casino in Cannes, France. Ampollini spent €2,000 to purchase special contacts that allowed him to see markings on cards.

A twist in this case is that Ampollini had inside help from a dealer who sorted cards in a way that allowed him to see the markings better. There was another casino employee who marked the cards for Ampollini.

The trio made almost €100,000 before Les Princes security uncovered their plot. Ampollini was sentenced to two years in prison as a result.

When you play poker at a brick & mortar casino, it is a simple and straightforward process. Yet when you enter the world of online poker, there are a different set of rules that come into play.

The terms and conditions that govern when and how an online poker player can withdraw his winnings, is most likely to have an amount or time stipulation attached to the withdrawal process. This often proves to be a deterrent, especially given the negative publicity online poker has received in the U.S over the last couple of years.

Full Tilt Poker had a similar setup when it came to player withdrawals and that is the reason why a number of online poker players still have their winnings locked away and have had to wait for a lengthy period of time to start a claim reimbursement process.

Lock Poker is another online poker company who has had its fair share of cash out problems and hence has an F grade in the PAS US Online Poker Payment Processing Report. Issues like this have stopped former online poker players from revisiting and playing at the Lock Poker website.

However, one such high profile poker player who prefers to be anonymous recently confirmed that he had a Skype conversation with a senior official from Lock Poker who offered him the privilege of a preferred cash out policy, provided he could rake in more than $10,000 per month.

This anonymous poker player released a Skype conversation and published the same on ProfessionalRakeback.com. The Skype conversation is said to have taken place with Lock Poker’s Shane Bridges. The anonymous poker player told Shane

I really don’t know how it works, but if u sat here and told me i would get 1-2 month [cashouts] if i raked 6k next month … im snap putting 5k-10k on lock.

Stefano Ampollini Poker Games

In response to this, Shane Bridges is alleged to have replied by saying

Ive been told that with your VIP status and playing history with our site if you can hit 10K a month I can guarantee a monthly payout for you.

Stefano Ampollini Poker Game

However when contacted to confirm if there is indeed a privileged policy extended by Lock Poker to its VIP players, Shane Bridges refused to confirm the same.

Stefano Ampollini Poker Player

The damage that Lock Poker has suffered during the last 12 months has caused enormous concern in the online poker community and unless and until further information is officially provided by Lock Poker, the online poker community will continue to play elsewhere.