How Dustin Marks Outsmarted Vegas! #291

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

They're guys, they do magic. They are The Magic Guys.

Josh Norbido (0:10)

Ladies and gentlemen, what's up? Welcome to episode 291 of The Magic Guys. To my left, we've got Nick Kay.

Nick Kay (0:20)

Hi friends, I'm Nick Kay. Welcome to The Magic Guys podcast, episode 291

Josh Norbido (0:25)

Look at us, creeping up to that 300 Hello, and today, as you know, we just talked about Doug now being the manager at The Magic Room, and he's busy doing that right now with some new additions that have just started there, go requiring his time. My mouth is slowly warming up. Let me have some Jedi juice, and he'll be back next week. Nick, how are you doing, man?

Nick Kay (0:48)

Buddy, it's been a busy, busy week, and it's about to get a whole bunch busier, leading into the corporate Christmas season, so things are good. This is the quietest week I've got for a short while, so I am just buried in projects. Same here.

Josh Norbido (1:02)

I wonder if it's countrywide. Last year, I mean, last week, my brain is still recovering. Last week, I was traveling here and there, and like six different events, and I'm emceeing, so I'm learning scripts, I'm doing a keynote, so I'm tailoring stuff, and I'm trying to blow their minds with this custom magic, which you were just saying, you're being kept up at night, creating new magic for clients too. And then this week, boom, only two events I have to worry about. And they're both just magic, so there's no like crazy preparation needed. And so it's like a week of like, ah, just breathing a little bit, you know? But what a bloody blessing it is to have this situation.

But you know who else we're glad to have in this situation is our friends in the chat, Nick, who we got coming in for the live viewership today.

Nick Kay (1:52)

Well, it's good to see the regulars. We got our good friend, Thomas Conger, Scotty Link, good to see you, bud. Gut Buster Mike, it's always a blast when he's around. Scotty P in the house. Oh, Mike Miranda, good to see it's a new face. And Robbie P.

All righty, howdy, Robbie P. Guys, thank you for being here in the chat. This is, of course, a live show, meaning that you can post your questions in the chat to ask questions for either ourselves or our amazing guest today, which I just, I just want to get into it, my guy. I have so many questions. We gotta go.

Josh Norbido (2:22)

We gotta go straight in. Let's do it.

Nick Kay (2:25)

Yeah. All right. Because today, guys, we are joined by a man who took the artist's lighter hand out of the magical theater and put it straight onto the casino floor. You see, back in the 1980s, our guest spent four years cheating some of Las Vegas' biggest casinos, operating right under the pit boss' noses and surveillance cameras, and absolutely crushing the game with more than 500 cheating plays to his name. He's walked away with some extraordinary winnings, reportedly 150k in a single night. He is remarkable and he's a wealth of knowledge. It is such a privilege to have him on the show. He's a magician, a master of deception, and a man with some unbelievable stories to tell. So please join me in welcoming on The Magic Guys podcast, Dustin Marks.

Dustin, welcome to The Magic Guys podcast. Please tell our friends who are you and what do you do?

Dustin Marks (3:36)

Well, first, thanks, Josh and Nick, for having me. I appreciate it.

I was a blackjack cheat back in Las Vegas in the 1980s, both as a dealer and a player. And like you said, I was involved in around 500 different cheating plays.

And we won every time. And the reason we won every time is because we were playing with a 30, 60, sometimes 100% edge. To put this in perspective for your audience, card counters, the best in the world, had a little less than 1.5% advantage. So there's never a question if we were going to win, only how much we were going to win. And that's important for longevity.

Josh Norbido (4:24)

That is insane. How do we even start? Yeah, how do we do it?

Nick Kay (4:27)

I have questions. Because here's what I'm, I think the origins is so interesting because with the diligence I've done and the little bit of research I was managing to squeeze into my week, it's my understanding you got into magic at the ripe age of seven years old.

Is that correct?