The Poker Cheat's Modus Operandi
Poker can only be played using playing cards. So, if cheating has to occur in a game, it has to invariably involve playing cards in such a way that it gives the cheater the unfair advantage of knowing the hand of his opponents and manipulating his own hand to win the game. The following are some of the more common methods employed by the poker cheat:
The use of marked cards. To know the value of a card even without seeing its face, poker cheats surreptitiously mark cards during a game by using their fingernails or some other object to nick card corners. Before a game, an almost imperceptible mark at the back of the card may be placed using a pencil or faint but intricate changes in the pattern on the card back may be done. One rank of cards, say for example the Aces, could even be trimmed a bit along the edges so that the dealer might be able to locate these by feeling the sides of the deck.
Second dealing. To be done successfully, this requires a great deal of skill in some sleight of hand trick. A dealer that is second dealing seems to be normally dealing from the top of the deck, but in reality, he is dealing a card that he is sliding from underneath the top card, which might be marked or have slipped on top with a false shuffle so that he can deal that top card to an accomplice at the poker table to win a hand.
Use of shiners. As implied by the name, these are any shiny objects like an ashtray on the table, a ring and even fingernails with nail polish that a dealer uses to see the face of a card while dealing it at the table.
Simulated shuffles and false cuts. A dealer with a skilled hand may seem to be randomizing the deck but is actually working and arranging the deck for his benefit.
Use of holdouts and cold decking. The expression, "an ace under his sleeve" is credited to this modus which literally involves any device or sleight of hand trick that would bring an outside card into the poker cheat's hand. This requires temporarily concealing the card under a shirt sleeve, on the chair or under the table to be later used when needed. Cold decking employs the secret replacement of the real deck with a tampered deck.
Use of covert gestures. This requires the assistance of an accomplice who may be playing at the table or just one of the onlookers. Through the use of an elaborate pre-arranged signals like scratching the head or even as slight as raising the eye brows or twitching the lips, the cheaters send signals to each other to reveal their hands and use the information to run up the bets on other poker players.