Texas Hold ‘Em Cheating

Learn to master the art of Texas Hold 'Em cheating from our online poker expert 

To begin, if you are playing against a true "mechanic", you're doomed.  Only a trained eye can spot true card handlers' illegal movements.  Many kitchen table gamblers sometimes choose to falsify a deck of cards because of the glorified image of a "mechanic".  They can deceive anyone who isn't looking and that makes them feel like a master trickster.  Mastering the art of card handling and Texas Hold 'Em home game cheating is like a full-time job that takes years of training.  That devotion usually doesn’t appeal to everyone.  Most cheaters depend upon some very basic moves that are easy to spot.  Here are some basic things to look out for…

Holding-Out - This involves a card on your lap, in your sleeve, or anywhere else not visible to other players.  The card is acquired from a previous game by mucking one card and keeping the other one.  This gives the cheating player an extra card to swap with either of his existing pocket cards.  The best defense is to have every player keep his pocket cards above the table, and/or count the deck in between games.

False Shuffles - If one knows the top or bottom card of the deck, it is not difficult to shuffle a deck so that either or both of those cards stays at the top or bottom, while mixing up the cards in between.  The easiest two types of shuffles that can be used to set the top/bottom card are the riffle shuffle and the overhand shuffle.  Cheaters will use these shuffles in combination, along with some false dealing to give any player certain cards.  A simple way to prevent it is to make sure that another party cuts the deck before the deal. The dealer will still have a slight advantage of approximately knowing where the card(s) are in the deck. After the deck is cut, the dealer also has the advantage of knowing that the former top card of the deck is directly beneath the former bottom card after the cut. That is why we have burn cards.

False Deals - This is a deal where a card besides the top card is dealt.  To make it look clean and convincing, it takes a lot of practice. By practicing these deals yourself for a while, you'll become familiar with the difficulties of doing them. This will make a false deal stand out when you watch a potential cheater deal cards.

All of the above things are pretty basic.  Keep in mind these three rules of defense against illegal handling of cards when it comes to Texas Hold 'Em home game cheating...

1. Watch the dealer consistently, just as you should be ritualistically watching players when they look at their hole cards.  Make sure to watch the hands more than the cards.
2. Anyone who can do card tricks has the potential to do them in a game while dealing. If a card handler shows off some fancy tricks with the deck at any point (which they usually can't resist), then look out!
3. If a player consistently gets great hands when they deal, bells should go off in your head.  Don't label a player with good luck but as a cheater and don’t stop watching them.

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