Gambler Details How She Won $15 Million Using 'Hole Carding' and Edge Sorting
A professional gambler who amassed $15 million over two decades revealed the sophisticated techniques she employed to outsmart casinos.
Gina Fiore, 48, a professional gambler who earned more than $15 million over a 20-year career, has detailed the specific strategies she used to win against casinos. Fiore, who is the subject of an upcoming HBO series, explained that she began her gambling career at age 24 after working as a blackjack dealer.
Her mother, also a casino dealer, taught Fiore how to deal blackjack, but it was discovering card counting that inspired her to pursue gambling professionally. "A couple of years after that, somebody at my job was quitting to count cards for a living and it was a light bulb moment for me," Fiore told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I was like, 'This is a thing that you can do for money?' And that was it."
Fiore attributed her significant winnings primarily to a technique known as "hole carding," which involves observing the dealer's face-down card. "I learned how to hole card blackjack games and I learned how to sort cards, edge sorting," she said. By closely watching dealers, she estimated that one in 300 would inadvertently reveal their hole card. Fiore also utilized "edge sorting," a method of identifying subtle imperfections on the backs of cards to distinguish them while face down.
These methods allowed Fiore to accumulate $15 million from casinos worldwide. She recently published a memoir, "Advantage Player: A Memoir of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings," in which she shares her insights into advantage play. "I give away a ton of gambling information, the actual inside secrets," Fiore stated.
Emmy-nominated actress Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is slated to portray Fiore in the HBO series. Fiore emphasized that while the series creators have creative freedom, the character must never be depicted as cheating. "They can never do anything illegal in the casino because then they go from advantage player to cheater," she said.
While Fiore's techniques are not illegal, casinos, as private establishments, reserve the right to refuse service to any patron. A premiere date for the HBO series has not yet been announced.
