- The severed hand of a hotel casino owner is found on the California-Nevada state line. While the CBI suspects it's a mob hit, Patrick uses the opportunity to win big by counting cards.
- The right hand of the Calida casino's boss, James Meier, is found just on the Californian side of Nevada's border, marked '43' like the mob did to thieves. Patrick promptly proves he can win by memorizing cards, and spots the cheating dealer, Alexandra, and her accomplice. He helps CBI find and disentangles her. The Meier family's dirty links with several suspects, from the manager to whale Cal Trask, then sets his trap.—KGF Vissers
- When a severed hand is found on the border of California and Nevada, Teresa Lisbon and her team are assigned to investigate the case. Soon they identify the hand of the manager of the Calida Casino James Meier and interview his dysfunctional family. Then Lisbon and Jane head to the casino, where they are received by the chief of security Matt Etienne that gives the surveillance tape to them. Patrick decides to play and wins a large amount and learns that the dealer Alexandra is cheating. Further, the whale Carl Trask is also included in the long list of suspects. Soon, Patrick decides to play cards in a selective room and set a trap to catch the killer.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- The show opens with the C.B.I. gang called to a check out a severed hand in the middle of a highway on the California/Nevada border. Using his intellect Jane figures out that the hand, which had the number '43' written on it, belonged to someone in the gaming industry. The ID from Lisbon confirms it is a Jim Myers, manager of a local casino.
Forensics tells us the hand was severed post-mortem, so Jane and Lisbon visit with the victim's family as part of a murder investigation. They learn that that Jim was a workaholic, wore a $100,000 casino chip around his neck and that his son-in-law worked for him at the casino. Rigsby calls Lisbon to say most severed hand cases in the data base involve old school organized crime and punishment for stealing.
Jane, Lisbon and Van Pelt arrive at Jim's casino and are greeted by Matt, the head of security. Jane spots a high-roller surrounded by women and chips. Matt tells him the man is Cal, a local whale. Not surprisingly, Jane borrows $100 from Lisbon to go hit the tables.
Lisbon and Van Pelt find out Jim's last appointment of the previous day had a '43' written next to it. Matt tells them it is unlikely organized crime had anything to do with Jim's death, as the casino is owned by share holders.
Jane absolutely destroys the blackjack tables, Turning Lisbons $100 into $250,000 before Matt comes over and asks him to stop since he's been counting cards. As he's asked to leave, Jane tells Matt his second dealer, Alexandra at Table 43, is stealing from the casino using an accomplice at the table.
They bring Alexandra in for questioning, and Cho finds out she's been stealing to help pay for a liver for a dying mother. Alexandra was going to get fired by Jim the day after he was killed, hence the 43 on his hand, but when she came in for the meeting and realized he wasn't there, she decided to go to work. Jane spends his winnings on expensive gifts for the department, buying Lisbon and Van Pelt diamond necklace/earring combos and getting watches for Rigsby and Cho.
The group goes out for drinks that night, where Jane explains his pneumonic device for memorizing cards and schools Cho and Rigsby in poker. Lisbon and Van Pelt give back their jewelry, which Jane sticks (along with most of the cash) in a clothing donation drop-box.
Jim's widow, Ann, calls Lisbon to tell them she's been having a two-year affair with Matt but had nothing to do with the murder. After the confession, Jane asks Daniel, Jim's son-in-law, to get him into a high stakes poker game with Cal. Jane and Lisbon follow Matt home and confront him about the affair. Matt tells them he didn't mention it earlier because he didn't think it was relevant. Moments later Matt follows Jane and Lisbon into his garage where they find Jim's body in the freezer, cause of death being blunt force trauma.
Matt tells Cho in the interrogation room that Jim and Ann were in a loveless relationship, and that Jim didn't care what Ann did. He also mentions that Jim was obsessed with the casino, spending most of him time watching surveillance video of high-rollers. It's also discovered that Jim's poker chip which he wore around his neck, has been stolen.
Jane begins his poker game at a table of gambling stereotypes, while Cho and Rigsby find a high-roller DVD Jim had been watching in the victim's library. While watching the video they spot Jim's daughter, Jessica, arrive late-night at Cal's door dressed in a risqué outfit. Lisbon talks to Jessica, who admits that she and Daniel, a "professional gambler," have been in dire financial straits. Lisbon tells Jessica her father was watching the video the night he died.
Jane and Daniel (who also played in the game) clean up in the poker game, eventually deciding to go head-to-head when Cal loses his chips. Cho and Rigsby talk to Cal after he leaves the game. Cal tells them Daniel lost $50,000 to him in a poker game and had used his wife as collateral. The night Jessica showed up in his room and they had sex as Daniel's payment for the gambling loss.
Back at the poker match between Jane and Daniel, Daniel is almost out of chips. On the last hand, Jane uses a distraction to cut the deck a certain way. The result is that Daniel is dealt four kings, a seemingly unbeatable hand. Realizing he only has the few grand left in front of him, Daniel pulls from his pocket a $100,000 chip (with a necklace hole in it, no less). Jane wins the hand with the straight flush and Cho and Rigsby are outside the door to grab Daniel.
At the station Daniel tells Lisbon that Jim confronted Daniel after watching the tape of Jessica at Cal's room. Jim called Daniel a degenerate low-life and fired him, at which point Daniel got a baseball bat out of his car and killed him. Jane gives Ann the $100,000 poker chip, which she promptly hands to her daughter.
Rigsby and Cho asks Jane what he did with his $300,000 in poker winnings. The final scene is Alexandra, the dealer with the sick mother, receiving a briefcase full of cash.
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