In present-day Las Vegas, a trio of hustlers-"cheaters" in gambling parlance-join forces to take a renowned casino for $25 million. Eddie, 35, withdrawn and highly intelligent, is the accomplished card sharp and casino defrauder who masterminds the complex scam. Marla, the beautiful young woman who becomes Eddie's lover, is a novice at cheating but, under Eddie's tutelage, proves to be a quick study. Clay, Eddie's mentor, is a veteran scam artist, former casino boss, and now Eddie and Marla's partner-in-crime. Each has committed his share of sins but, despite the heady rush that goes along with the cheating lifestyle, each swears that this unprecedented score will be his last. Cheaters charts the formation of the scheme, its step-by-step implementation, and the many twists that threaten to blow it apart. To pull off their coup, Eddie Marla, and Clay must descend into a world of mobsters, crooked cops, compulsive gamblers, murderous casino insiders, and ingenious scammers. Their bag of tricks-computer chips, ultrasonic sound transmission, and good old sleight-of-hand-provide the reader with a virtual education in the larcenous ways of today's professional cheats. Cheaters taps into America's vast and growing interest in casino culture. Witness the proliferation of televised high-stakes poker, as well as recent books like Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Moreover, Cheaters is the first contemporary novel about high-end casino scammers written by a consummate insider. As a former general manager of a casino in Aruba and manager of the surveillance room at a Las Vegas outfit, I am aware of the endless varieties of casino scams. As a 21 "mechanic" for blackjack back in the1960s and '70s, I cheated players for the casino. And as a gambler, I learned not only how to cheat at 21, but also how to manipulate slot machines, cheat the roulette games, and rake in the rewards.