“Son, I came here to gamble.”
Valentine burned the top card, then dealt the flop, calling the values aloud for DeMarco’s benefit. The three community cards were the four of diamonds, ace of clubs, jack of diamonds. DeMarco had flopped three of a kind, Rufus four cards to a flush. DeMarco was the odds-on favorite to win and let out a war whoop.
“No diamonds,” he begged.
Valentine burned the top card and dealt Fourth Street. The card was the queen of spades, which helped neither player. DeMarco was jumping up and down. He was one card away from winning. It didn’t seem right, but gambling rarely was. Out of the corner of his eye, Valentine glanced at Rufus. The old cowboy looked like he was enjoying himself.
Valentine burned the top card, then paused dramatically before turning over Fifth Street, and calling out its value.
“Two of diamonds,” he said.
DeMarco stopped jumping. Valentine slid the two of diamonds down to his end of the table, and DeMarco picked the card up, and held it in front of his face.
“Jesus Christ,” he whispered.
Rufus had made his diamond flush and beaten DeMarco’s three of a kind. A hush had fallen over the room. Facing the crowd, Rufus took off his Stetson and bowed deeply from the waist. Then everyone in the room, including the Greek, Marcy Baldwin, and the suckers, gave him his due, and broke into long and hearty applause.
DeMarco stood frozen in place, his face pained and astonished. Gloria appeared by his side, and with Zack’s camera whirring, asked, “Skip, what happened?”
DeMarco spent a moment regaining his composure, and the crowd grew quiet. Even Rufus seemed interested in what he had to say.
“Mr. Steele was the better man today,” he said quietly.
“Were you surprised by how aggressively he played?” Gloria asked.
“Yes. I’ve never played anyone like him. He’s really good.”
“So the old man taught you a few things,” Gloria said.
DeMarco winced. When he spoke again, his voice was subdued. “I’m sorry for the disparaging remarks I made about him earlier in the tournament. I was out of line.”
“Apology accepted,” Rufus called out.
DeMarco nodded solemnly, then placed his hand on the table edge, and used it to guide him to Rufus’s end. Stopping, he stuck his hand out, which Rufus warmly shook. It was the way contests were supposed to end, and Valentine rose from his chair, and joined in the applause. As it subsided, Gloria edged up beside him and squeezed his hand.
“You see,” she said. “Sometimes the good guys do win.”
GRIFT SENSE
FUNNY MONEY SUCKER BET
LOADED DICE
MR. LUCKY
DEADMAN’S POKER
Poker Protection Tips
Cheating at poker may well be the largest unchecked crime in the United States. It takes place on all levelsprivate games, tournaments, the Internet, and in casino card rooms. As any pro will tell you, the best protection is to understand the various forms of cheating so you can look out for them when you play. Here are some of the most common forms of cheating taking place today, and what you can do to stop them.
MARKED CARDS
Recently, a poker book appeared on the market stating that marked cards are rarely used by cheaters. The author claimed that cheaters don’t use marked cards because it was too easy for players to spot them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marked cards (also called paper or paint) are a favorite weapon among poker cheaters. Magic shops and gambling supply houses sell tens of thousands of marked decks a year for “amusement purposes only.” They are easy to obtain. And they are easy to use.
Marked cards give cheaters an unbeatable edge. They can be used in a variety of different games, especially those where cards are dealt face down on the table, then turned over one at a time. Here’s what you need to look for.
Professionally Marked Cards
Cheaters know dozens of different ways to mark cards, many of which are undetectable to the untrained eye. Some favored methods are called juice, block out, humps, white ink, shade, flash, white-on-white, and sorts. Sounds confusing? It is. I’ve been shown cards marked by all of these methods, and I could not spot the marks until they were pointed out to me. The only surefire way to prevent marked cards from showing up in your game is by doing the following:
• Bring new decks to the game every time you play. Use established brands from the U.S. Playing Card Company. Do not use promotional cards. They are often inadvertently marked by the manufacturer.
• Make it a different player’s responsibility to bring the cards for each game. This rotation will ensure that one player doesn’t continually cheat the game by bringing marked cards.
• Open the cards in front of the other players. The cards should still be in the box, and have the plastic wrapping and seal on them.
• Spread the cards face up on the table after they’re opened. Make sure they’re all there, then check the pip configuration on the ace of spades, ace of clubs, and ace of hearts, plus the center pips on the threes and fives of the same suits. The pips should all be pointing in the same direction (top of the box when first removed). If not, someone has tampered with them.
• Do a riffle test. This is still the best way to detect most marking systems. Hold the deck face down just below eye level, and riffle them while staring at the backs. Do this several times. Shift your eyes, and look at different areas of the cards. Most marking systems will jump out when this test is performed.
• Always perform these tests. If a cheater is trying to bring a marked deck to your weekly poker game, this will convince them to find another game.
Cards Marked at the Table
Some cheaters prefer to mark cards during the course of a game. There are three ways to accomplish this. The first is to use a foreign substance to mark the cards. Favorite substances include nicotine and ash from cigarettes and cigars and water. Pros will use a substance called daub, which is normally kept behind the ear, or in a shirt button. The second method of marking is to put bends or warps in the cards during play. The cheater accomplishes this while handling the cards. After six or seven hands, it’s not hard to put bends or warps in the majority of high cards in the deck. The third method is nicking. This is done with a sharpened fingernail. Nicks are put in the short ends of the cards. Cheaters read nicks when the cards are lying face down on the table, or when the deck is held in preparation for the deal. Some cheaters can read nicks when they are several cards down from the top. A famous cardshark named Walter Scott was able to read nicks halfway down in a deck.
Protection Tips: Keep ashtrays and drinks off the table. Encourage players in your games not to bend the cards. Most important, examine the deck between hands. If the cards are starting to look dirty or bent, throw them away. The cost to replace them is far less than getting swindled out of a pot.
Factory Marked Cards
During the famous California Gold Rush of the 1850s, thousands of Americans went west to seek their fortunes. Many found gold, and subsequently lost it in the gambling halls that sprung up in and around gold mining towns. One of the most notorious scandals of this period was the fact that over 200,000 decks of playing cards that had been printed in Mexico were marked, and were being read by cheaters. As a result, gamblers refused to play
