Cheating in poker

Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules that is intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players.

Cheating can be done many ways, including collusion, sleight-of-hand (such as bottom dealing or stacking the deck), or the use of physical objects such as marked cards or holdout devices.

Cheating occurs in both friendly games and casinos. Cheats may operate alone, or may operate in teams or small groups.

Following is a list of terms used to categorize specific card cheats:

The easiest and most common types of cheating require no skill of manipulation, but rather merely the nerve. Such methods include shorting the pot, avoiding house fees, and peeking at other players' cards. However, it is very difficult to prove because when confronted, at least the first time, the cheat often calls the cheating an honest mistake.

One minimal-skill method that occurs in non-casino and casino games happens when a player who has folded appoints himself the tender of the pot, stacking chips, counting them, and delivering them to the winning player. Check-chopping is when such a "helpful" player palms a chip. Odorless adhesive can be used for this purpose.

Another minimal-skill method is going south (also known as "ratholing"), where a player covertly removes a portion of his chips from play while remaining in the game, normally in order to preserve the winnings as profit, or prevent a major loss in "big bet" games.

A cheat may hand-muck a card or more than one card. When a cheat is "mucking" the cheat is cleverly hiding cards in his hand, to later switch his/her hand for. This may also be done with a confederate.

A skilled cheat can deal the second card, the bottom card, the second from bottom card, and the middle card. The idea is to cull, or to find the cards one needs, place them at the bottom, top, or any other place the cheat wants, then false deal them to oneself or one's confederate.

One sign of false dealing could be when a dealer grips the deck with the index finger in front of it or his pinky and pointing finger on both short sides of the deck while the other fingers support the deck while the cards are being beveled slightly. This is referred to as the "Mechanic's Grip". It not only allows better control of the cards, but provides cover by showing the back of the top card, and without moving the hand holding the deck.

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