Don't be a Prey to Poker Cheats
You can never completely trust everybody when it comes to money. And when it comes to a game like poker where money is at stake, some people will go to any length to cheat. In fact, poker was referred to as "the cheating game" when it was first introduced and played on board riverboats that plied the Mississippi River. To succeed, most cheats need an accomplice at the table and usually that loathsome job falls squarely on the shoulders of the dealer. Nowadays, the crooked dealer has become an almost extinct species on the modern casino floor because of numerous "eyes in the sky" installed on the walls and ceilings and the long jail terms waiting for those who are caught. Cheating has been largely confined to home poker games and other less than formal venues where the dealer's button rotates around the table. All that the partners in crime have to do is to wait until one of them gets to deal the cards and put their nefarious act in place.
Cutting the deck is one surefire way to frustrate the cheater. If you have reason to suspect some hanky panky going on, you should be permitted to cut the deck of cards before the deal and even before every hand. The most popular way is to separate the deck of cards into two bundles right from the middle and put the lower half on top of the other bundle. If you suspect something really wrong with the cards themselves, ask for a new deck. However, this is not guaranteed to stop the poker cheat since a lot of cards can be marked and then sealed again in the plastic wrappers that they come in to make the deck look fresh and new.
But if you notice that unbridled cheating is going on, it would be best for your wallet and your health to just stand up and walk away. If you're in a venue where the house gets a percentage from each pot, inform the manager of your reasons for quitting the game. Cheating is a pretty big deal in a casino, and if you strongly believe that you were cheated talk to the floor manager so that the surveillance tapes can be reviewed. Casinos actually encourage poker players to report occurrences of cheating at the tables because a business like a casino thrives on trust and confidence and the biggest loser when cheating happens at the tables is the casino itself.