CHEATING AT POKER (In The Casino)
Cheating at poker in the casino takes place, however the approaches
are more limited than what may be found in the private game environment.
In the casino, there are far less opportunities for a mechanic to use
sleight-of-hand to cheat for an advantage. Perhaps the most well-known
techniques for cheating at poker in the casino are:
Marking Cards During Play - This already been briefly discussed
in the previous section. I mention this again because it is quite
common to find cards that have been nail nicked or bent for visual
recognition (amongst an array of more devious tactics).
Collusion - Collusion is the most common as well as one of the
most deceptive forms of cheating. Collusion is the collaboration of
two or more poker players to gain an unfair advantage at the card
table. Utilizing signals, betting strategies, and sometimes sleight-of-hand,
this is a very hard poker scam to catch when done properly. Sometimes
players will choose to sit next to each other, which will allow them
to cheat by switching one of their hole cards under the table. This
allows the cheaters to land more pocket pairs, as well as complete
more flushes and straights. Other collusion tactics include putting the
best hand forward, so that only the best hand out of the colluding
players will be played in any given hand. Using signals, they
communicate to make the best decision. Clearly this is a very
subtle way to cheat at cards. Other ways that collusion can be used
to cheat at cards is playing soft. Cheaters that go up against each
other will not raise each other hard, and may even check through the
rest of the hand to avoid taking money from each other. During tournaments,
a card cheater may dump his chips to another partner that is
low to keep him in the game.
Betting Tactics - There are many different tactics that can be
used to create a deceitful edge, from string bets variations
(designed to garner a read on an opposing player) to using
approaches such as saying "I'm callin':" in a way that sounds
like "I'm all-in."
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