X-ray tables, marked cards and the Mafia: How the FBI says poker games were rigged play
ESPN | 10/24/25 | Doug Greenberg

A Basketball Hall of Famer. X-ray poker tables. The Mafia. They were all purportedly crucial to an alleged yearslong illegal poker rigging scheme that resulted in 31 federal indictments this week. The case focused on rigged poker games is one of two announced that allegedly involve prominent NBA figures.

Investigators state that the scheme to defraud players at a poker table began in April 2019

So, the mark had a few good years before that…

when defendant Robert “Black Rob” Stroud and other co-conspirators began devising a ruse to use technology to rig illegal poker games, usually Texas Hold ’em, against unwitting, wealthy players whom they called “fish” or “whales,” and who were aware that they were playing in illegal, high-stakes games, but believed these were “straight” games against other wealthy players. In reality, in many cases, every other person at the table besides them was in on the scheme.

Oppo, Oppo, Oppo. When will you ever learn?

The fish were also enticed to play by the presence of high-profile former professional athletes, known as “face cards,” with the biggest names revealed thus far to be Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones.

How did it all work?

The scheme started with the technology, which was primarily inside the card-shuffling machines, which read the order in which the cards were dealt and relayed the information to an off-site operator. Sometimes the games employed X-ray tables and/or hidden cameras in the poker chip tray to assist in reading the cards. Players would also occasionally wear special contact lenses or glasses that would allow them to see marked cards.

Oppo, Oppo, Oppo . . .

“I’ll double down, and win my losings back!”

Microsoft Teams will start snitching to your boss when you’re not in the office — and this update is coming in December
www.tomsguide.com | 10/24/2025 | Jason England

Teams will start tracking office attendance and yes, your boss will know.

Microsoft Teams is about to deal a heavy blow to those who like to work from home for peace and quiet. In a new feature update rolling out December 2025, the platform will track a worker’s location using the office Wi-Fi, to see whether you’re actually there or not. [[[ Shrodinger? Are you here? ]]]

From a boss’ perspective, this would eliminate any of that confusion as to where your team actually is. But for those people who have found their own sanctuary of peaceful productivity by working from home, consider this a warning that Teams is about to tattle on you.

How does it tattle?

As per the Microsoft 365 roadmap: “When users connect to their organization’s Wi-Fi, Teams will automatically set their work location to reflect the building they are working in.” And the location of that worker will apparently update automatically upon connecting.

Duh. I — quite plausibly — assumed they had this capability back in the ’80s.

So now “Back Room at One-Eye’d Pete’s” suddenly isn’t a valid work address?

… My Lil’ Location Finder ™:

I don’t know where Walrus is checking in from — and, realistically, do any of us really want to know?

“I say two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.”

“And I say you’re full of it!”

The two car brothers fought, as brothers often do.

Kostecki was uninjured in the shunt but it’s unclear if the car will be able to be fixed.

“Obviously clipped the tyre bundle and the splitter was a bit damaged and it went under the front wheels and I went straight in head first.

“The boys and girls have got a lot of work to do. Hopefully we can get it back out but it’s not looking so good.”

— Jargon from:

Bystanders injured as Kostecki crash ends Gold Coast qualifying
Speedcafe | 24 October 2025 | Stefan Bartholomaeus