How to Spot Poker Cheating Signals

In both friendly and private poker games, most players consider a cheater less honorable than a thief. A thief robs from strangers, but a cheater robs from his or her friends. The normal impulse is to banish the swindler from the game, but the good poker player resists acting on emotional impulses and views the situation objectively before acting in the best long-range financial interest. Good competitors can spot the poker cheating signals but never need to act dishonestly themselves. One occurrence is covertly switching cards to alter the value of the hand. In this strategy, cards are purposely flashed to see undealt or unexposed cards and the deck is then stacked to change the sequence of cards that will be dealt. Stealing money from the pot or from other players is another tactic; wrong change is purposely taken from the pot or wrong change is paid. Some even go so far as to use mechanical devices which include marked cards, mirrors, hold-out equipment and techniques like smudging, nicking, or marring cards for future identification. Lastly, secret agreements or partnerships can be made, colluding partners to signal each other when to bet or raise.

Spotting Illegal Behavior

Honest players allow deceptive behavior, but not illegal behavior, which is the only unethical thing in poker. The real trouble is knowing where deception ends and swindling begins. There is a sharp distinction: Deception is taking advantage of situations available to all, while illegal maneuvers are conjuring up advantages that are unavailable to others. For example, when all cards are marked, a sharp-eyed player can find printing imperfections in honest decks. The natural imperfections - such as ink spots, slightly off-centered designs - are identifiers available to any participant.

Poker Cheating Signals and Techniques

Classical illegal maneuvers rarely occur in clubs or casinos. Occasionally amateurs, strangers, or newcomers attempt an illegal move in public competitions, but their techniques are almost always crude and their poker cheating signals are easy to spot. When they're caught, they're banished from the game. New dishonest methods are much more effective in today's play, because people aren't used to seeing them. Professional manipulations are most effective in Hold'Em, and they're the hardest to catch. These involve culling cards, blind shuffling, false riffling, false cutting, and foiling cuts. If you watch someone do the same dishonest maneuver long enough, you might be able to figure out how to spot a cheater in Hold'Em.