Brazen scheme
A baccarat dealer at the Mohegan Sun is facing multiple charges related to allegations that he fixed the deck in favor of a specific customer. The favored player won over $124,000.
The situation dates back to last April, when a pit boss noticed that 64-year-old Yu Wen Fu was handling the cards in a suspicious manner. The pit boss contacted security, which looked at security footage.
According to The Day, police reports show that Fu did not properly wash the deck between hands when a certain player, 62-year-old Haoen Jiang, sat at the table. As those who play live poker are likely familiar, “washing the deck” means to spread the cards face down on the table in a sort of haphazard manner, mix them up, and then gather them back together. It’s a quick, extra shuffle before the real shuffle(s) happens.
Rather than conducting a clean wash, says police, Fu turned some of the cards right side up, arranged them in a specific order, set them aside, and then put them on top of the rest of the shuffled deck. When Jiang sat down, Fu would pretend to shuffle the entire deck before dealing his alleged accomplice the pre-arranged cards.
After reviewing security footage from all the days during which Jiang and Fu were at the same table, police found Jiang had winning sessions ranging from $3,600 to $29,835. All told, Jiang won $124,260 from March 29 to April 20, 2023.
Player cleared, dealer in trouble
Jiang did not know the order of the pre-arranged, cards, but Fu did, and would signal to Jiang when a key card (a Nine) was about to be dealt by placing face cards in the deck before the Nine. So when those face cards came out, Jiang knew the Nine was about to, as well, and could make his bets accordingly.
When police questioned Jiang at the Mohegan Sun on April 21 of last year, Jiang denied any relationship with Fu, even though he had Fu’s phone number in his cell phone. Jiang claimed he had his number because they had discussed some concert tickets. Regardless of whether or not Jiang was telling the truth, he was kicked off the property. He has not been charged with any crimes.
Fu, on the other hand, has been charged with two counts of first-degree larceny, four counts of second-degree larceny and one count of third-degree larceny. He was suspended from his job when the deception was discovered and arrested on November 15.
Fu is currently free on $25,000 bond.
