Poker Cheating
Cheating at the game of poker is
essentially any behaviour outside the rules of the game
that is intended to give an advantage to one or more
players in the game. In poker terms, players use the
phrase hard cheating to refer to actions where mechanics
are somehow used to stack a deck or refers to forms of
collusion between players. A second form of cheating is
referred to as soft cheating. An example of soft
cheating is when a player sees the bottom card of the
deck that the dealer accidentally exposed but does not
call for a misdeal. While most players are totally
against any form of poker cheating, many are tempted to
"soft poker cheat".
Minimal-Skill Poker Cheating
Methods
The most common methods of poker
cheating include the miscalling of hands (calling a
flush yet showing only four cards when displaying the
hand), shorting the pot by not putting in the full
amount of the bet, and actually looking at the cards of
other players. Such poker cheating is the most common
because it can be very difficult to prove and if a
player is confronted, the cheater simply calls his
action an honest mistake. In most poker games the
standard phrase is that "Cards Talk" meaning that no
matter what a player may say, it's the cards that will
determine who wins the pot. If a player commits an
unethical act as noted above, even in the most friendly
of games, he or she should be called on it. If it were
to happen twice, then it is highly appropriate to insist
that the player leave the game.
One common minimal-skill method of
cheating is a folded player appointing himself in charge
of the pot, organizing and stacking chips, then counting
them before delivering them to the winning player. It is
easy for the player to palm a chip in his hand without
others noticing. This form of cheating is so common it
has a name, check-chopping. At showdown, only the
winning player should touch the pot. Another such chip
cheating option is to toss or splash chips into the pot
instead of stacking them so it is easily discernible if
indeed the player did place the proper bet in the pot.
Poker etiquette states that such chips should be placed
in a easily countable stack in the centre of the table.
Another form of minimal-skill
cheating involves a player discarding fewer cards than
he or she requests in draw poker. For example, a player
might discard only two cards and hide how many he
discarded by placing them on top of another player's
discard pile. The player can easily ask for three
additional cards, giving him one extra to work with for
the hand. Minimal-skilled cheaters are adept at then
ditching this card in their lap, even retaining the card
for future use. It is the dealer's responsibility to
ensure the proper discard and dealing of all additional
cards in draw poker.
Marked Cards
The most traditional method of poker
cheating is by using cards that have been marked in some
manner. There are numerous ways for cheaters to mark
cards, from the obvious such as scratching or bending,
to the less obvious, making well hidden marks within the
card design. Today, there are even decks that may be
purchased that have specific colours embedded that may
be noted only with eye glasses containing a special
light filter. Ultimately, the goal is for the cheater to
tell what a particular card is by seeing the back of the
card.
Skilled Cheating Methods
A skilled cheater may be able to
easily deal a card from any place in the deck. A person
highly skilled with a deck is capable of dealing the
second card if he desires, the bottom card of the deck,
even the second from bottom card and random cards from
the middle. These folks find the best cards then place
them collectively at the bottom or top of the deck.
Using their dealing dexterity, they then deal cards from
another part of the deck to opponents while dealing the
loaded cards to themselves. Stacking a deck is
surprisingly easy as a clever person can collect the
prior show down hand in a manner that places cards in a
certain position.
Anyone gripping the deck with their
index finger in front of it is a candidate for such
action. This particular method of holding the deck has
the name the mechanics grip. This finger placement does
two things for the dealer - it makes it easier for him
to control the cards and it also provides cover as to
where in the deck the card was coming from. This not
only allows better control of the cards, but provides
cover as to where the card came from.
Of course, dealing a power house hand
does not lead to a big payoff unless someone else is
also bidding up the pot. This is where the greatest
cheating skill and deck manipulation can occur.
Essentially the cheater constructs two hands in a manner
that he knows where the cards lie but can control their
distribution. In dealing, he goes randomly form the top
or middle for everyone but say Matthew and
himself. Intentionally, he deals Matthew a strong hand,
perhaps three Queens, maybe even a full house. But in
doing so he also sets up his own hands so that is just a
notch above. In this way he lures some unsuspecting
individual into a significant bet that he then takes in
the showdown.
