Poker cheating isn't new. In fact, cheating in poker has been around for as many years as the game itself. As long as their are high stakes and money to be won, you can be sure there will be thieves lurking in the shadows waiting for the right opportunity to spring into action.
Con artists and thieves apply their craft through a variety of methods, including collusion, sleight-of-hand, marked cards, and physical devices such as card holders. Card cheats are often masters of one or more of the previous mentioned cheating methods. The following classifies the various cheating methods:
- Bottom dealers (sometimes called base or second dealers) are card cheats that deal from the bottom of the card deck. Bottom dealers are a particularly notorious breed as they are in a position of trust and created a false sense of security to the players.
- Card mechanics specialize in sleight-of-hand. These sort of card cheats are often difficult for casinos to discover as their methods are almost indistinguishable from normal play mechanics. Master card mechanics perform sleight-of-hand that would make the best magicians in the world envious.
- Hand muckers are another breed of sleigh-of-hand specialists. These muckers use their quick hands to switch cards during game play. For example, a hand mucker may be holding a hand of Q-J-10-2-2 and use their sleight-of-hand to switch in a full house consisting of A-A-Q-Q-Q.
- Machine players are dubbed as such due to their use of machinery and gadgets to help them cheat. A machine player often uses mechanical devices concealed in their sleeves that hold cards that are not of the deck of cards in play.
- Paper player is the title bestowed upon players who play with marked cards. Marked cards give players a significant advantage as it's a window into knowing which hand others are holding or which card is next in the playing deck.
Card mechanics, bottom dealers, hand muckers, paper players, and machine players are by no means amateur thieves or con artists. They're highly skilled professionals who have perfected their craft through years of practice and application. There are, however, those who use less sophisticated and less skilled forms of cheating.
Cheating With Minimal Effort
Every now and again, a player accidentally sees an opponent's cards, short changes the pot, or avoids paying a house fee. They're just honest mistakes that happen... or are they? Players without the skills of a professional cheat may give into the temptation of making a play to cheat at the appropriate time. Perhaps out of desperation or purely out of nerve, a player may short the pot, take a quick "peek" at another player's cards, or just completely bypassing the fee structure. It can be tempting, and if one gets away without being busted the first time that temptation may soon give way to habit. If caught, it's just an "honest mistake by a newbie". All ones need to avoid some serious trouble is convincing acting skills and an honest smile.
Partners in Crime: Collusion
Friends, colleagues, partners in crime. No matter what their relationship, when two or more players act together in secret with the intention of gaining an unfair edge in poker, they're committing an act of collusion. Collusion occurs when two players share a common strategy and work together with the intent of splitting their winnings. These players may apply several common collusion practices. These include whipsawing tactics, where two players raise and re-raise each other in order to trap unsuspecting player between them, or dumping in which one player deliberately loses to their partner.
Collusion is a common practice in online poker rooms due to it's difficulty in detecting. Since players are in the privacy of their own homes, they can use high tech devices such as voice-over IP, instant messengers, or even a simple telephone call to pass signals that would otherwise be impossible in a traditional brick and mortar casino or poker room. To combat collusion, online poker rooms have sophisticated software algorithms that track every hand and analyze records to look for patterns.
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