Welcome to Gakworld Poker

CHEAT PROTECTION

CHEATING
Where there is money, there is corruption,
for some it's their main source of income, so be alert to it.

Playing poker at home or at a friends is meant to be a fun friendly game where you don't have to worry about being shafted at the table. Losing your money to fair play is one thing, but to lose your money to cheats is something else and all home poker players need to take this seriously. Cheating happens in a very small minority of games, so don't be put off playing a great game of cards with honest friendly people.

The aim of this Poker Cheat section is to arm you with the knowledge on how cheats ply their abhorrent trade. Whilst this information won't guarantee you're protected from skilled cheats, it's important to at least know the basics. I don't preach to know all there is to know about cheating, but I hate the subject with a passion & wish I wasn't here writing this section! All I can do is pass on what I have seen & learnt from my own experiences & pray it doesn't happen to you.

On a personal note

I have seen cheating and played in a games where it's happened and worst of all, I've been "a Victim" of it and it cuts deep! So much so I didn't play another game of cards involving money for over 14 years. I started playing seriously again back in early 2006, Sadly I saw it all again in a different form.... So educate yourself before you lose your money, be alert and Don't become a victim!

The different masks of Cheating

Sleight of Hand: A lot of cheating can occur with players who are able to manipulate the deck or cards in their hands. These types of tricks are similar to those used by card magicians, and much of the techniques are the same. I'm not saying its wrong to play poker with card magicians, far from it, but given the reality, a card magician is capable of being a great poker cheat. The first type of sleight of hand described is the Mechanic's Grip. This is a technique for holding the deck from which most sleight of hand tricks are born out.

Other Methods: "Magic tricks" with cards aren't the only way that the poker cheat can operate. There is no end to the ways in which the poker cheat can team up with other cheats in the same game, bring their own cards or chips into another person's game, or interact with the pot. All of the cheating methods described below are real threats and real systems that are used by those who seek to relieve you of your hard earned cash.

Protection: Knowledge of how poker cheats operate is your first line of defence. There are many other ways to protect yourself from potential cheating in your home game. These include establishing clear rules before the start of play & better control over the players in the game, the cards that are used, and the way in which dealing is done. At the end of the day, the goal is to create a home game atmosphere that is protected enough that a poker cheat is put off from playing in that game.

Here is a list of cheating methods I have compiled with the knowledge of my own experiences & that of others, many of whom I shall probably never meet, but am eternally grateful to, for sharing their knowledge with me. I now want to share this knowledge with you. I also wish to give thanks to many of my good friends I have made playing poker, who have given their advice and knowledge on the subject of cheating & helped me with much of the material written here.

Sleight of Hand: The Mechanic's Grip
Cheating can occur through the perfection of sleight of hand in manipulating cards in the deck. This is facilitated by a special manner of holding the deck to perform these cheating manoeuvres. One such way of holding the deck is called the Mechanic's Grip.

To best understand this grip, pick up a deck of cards as though you were preparing to deal some cards out. It is likely that you are currently holding the deck in the palm of your hand with all four fingers on the long side of the deck, and your thumb on the top of the deck. When you deal, you use your thumb to push a single card on to the tips of your four fingers. The thumb holds the card in this place until the thumb and index finger of the other hand grabs it and deals it across the table.

f you have been playing cards for enough of your life, then it is also likely that you have never noticed that this is how you deal. With time, it becomes an acquired natural motor skill that requires no conscious thought.

Now, holding the deck in this manner, move your index finger and middle finger from the long side of the deck to the short side of the deck away from yourself. In a very general sense, this is the Mechanic's Grip. It is through this grip that such cheating as peeking, second dealing, and bottom dealing are created. Note that more of the deck is now being concealed by your hand.

Another Mechanic's Grip is to hold the deck with the thumb on top of the deck, the index finger holding around the front edge, the two middle fingers beneath the deck, and the little finger around the rear edge. This manner also ensures that much of the deck is being covered by the dealer's hand.

Sleight of Hand: The Peek
This manoeuvre is a way in which the cheating dealer sees the top card of the deck before the deal. By doing so, the dealer will know who has been dealt this card in their hand (or in the case of an exceptional card, combine peeking with second dealing to ensure that the card is dealt to himself or herself).

By using the Mechanic's Grip, the cheat ensures that his or her thumb is blocking the top card of the deck from being pushed in that direction. The cheat then slowly pushes against the other long side of the top card using the pinky finger (with help from the other finger on that side, if needed). It is by no means easy to master, but with time, the cheat learns to see the bottom right corner of the top card as it curls. No more than a quick peek is required, and the cheat has learned what the top card is. Cheats will go to any length to perfect and protect their systems to defraud you and leave you helpless to prove anything.

Using this in poker will usually require an additional cheating technique to make effective use of it. For games like Blackjack or In-between, however, its usefulness is far stronger and obvious.

Sleight of Hand: The Second Deal
This manoeuvre is a way in which the cheating dealer deals the second top card of the deck rather than the top card. If the dealer is aware that the top card is one that he or she wants, then that dealer may 'second deal' to everybody else until coming to his or her own hand, dealing the top card then.

Utilising the Mechanic's Grip, the cheat uses his or her thumb to subtly push the top card away from the rest of the deck, leaving about a half an inch of the second card exposed. This sets it off somewhat from the base of the deck, exposing part of the second top card beneath it. The cheat then uses the thumb to ease the second top card outward, and the opposite hand to grab that card to deal it out. Awkward though it may be at first, the cheat learns to deal the second top card of the deck and leave the top card of the deck to be dealt into the cheat's own hand.

This is useful in any game, but only after the cheat has discerned what the top card is. Second dealing is useless unless that top card is being saved for something, most likely the cheating dealer's own hand.

Sleight of Hand: The Bottom Deal
This manoeuvre is a way in which the cheating dealer places the card of his or her choice on the very bottom of the deck and then deals it into his or her own hand.

When that card is at the bottom, the cheat deals normally to all players until arriving at his or her own hand. The cheat then deals the bottom card (using the Mechanic's Grip to hide this action) in such a way that goes un Seen. Even those players looking directly at the deck may not notice that the cheat has dealt the bottom card into his or her hand as opposed to the top card.

A "hanger" is used to describe when the bottom card is mistakenly dealt out with too much force, bringing the next bottom card out a little bit from the bottom of the deck. If noticed, the cheat has been caught bottom-dealing.

Sleight of Hand: Extra Cards
This technique has limited usage in one session, not much to worry about, and only some proven benefit.
When the cheat is dealing, the cheat deals himself or herself an extra card (or worse yet, extra cards) in the deal. This can be done with relative ease, so long as nobody is focusing too much on the deal. When the dealer deals to his or her own hand, the dealer pushes two cards with the thumb of the hand holding the deck, and grabs both cards with the thumb and index finger of the other hand. Performed towards the end of the deal, the extra card(s) fall(s) into the pile of cards already in front of the cheat...nobody notices. This manoeuvre provides the cheat with the advantage of extra card(s), while everybody else has been dealt less cards.

At some point in the game, the cheat will need to liberate his or her hand of the extra card(s), which will no doubt be the card worse suited in the cheat's hand. Before the showdown, the cheat will need to get rid of this extra card and what is worse, keep it hidden for the course of the game session. It will be difficult to reintroduce this card back into the deck, especially if the cheat has 'rid' of it beneath the table.

The calling card of this manoeuvre is certainly to find a low card beneath the table after gameplay is over. If this happens, then it is likely that either a card was misplaced from one deal to the next, or that a player 'discarded' it during gameplay, yet still had a complete hand when the game was over.

Sleight of Hand: False Shuffling
There are several ways of false shuffling:

1) Keeping the bottom card on the bottom. At the ideal opportunity, the cheat will glance at the bottom card, after which the cheat will deal in such a manner as to keep that card at the bottom. This can be done with the "interlocking card" shuffle where the deck is divided in two halves that are shuffled together by interlocking the cards. Ensuring that the half with the correct bottom card is brought down first, that card will remain at the bottom. This trick is useful for a cheat who anticipates bottom dealing.

2) Shuffling the bottom card to the top of the deck. At the ideal opportunity, the cheat will glance at the bottom card, after which the cheat will shuffle that card to the very top of the deck. This can be done with the "undercut" shuffle whereby the bulk of the deck is held in the left hand, with the right hand pulling out portions of cards and shuffling them off onto the top of the rest of the deck in several motions. Ensuring that the final motion consists of only one card -what was the bottom card- this card is dropped by itself onto the very top of the deck. This trick is useful for a cheat who anticipates second dealing or dealing extra cards.

3) Shuffling to keep one card or a number of cards undisturbed at the top of the deck. Either by having used the second form of false shuffling, or by having peeked at the top card, the cheat will shuffle the deck so that the top card remains at the top. This is done with the "interlocking card" shuffle where the two halves are shuffled together by interlocking the cards. Ensuring that the half with the correct top card is brought down last, that card will remain at the top. This trick is useful for a cheat who knows what the top card is, and plans to second deal or deal extra cards.

4) Stacking the deck: This manoeuvre requires considerably greater sleight of hand ability. It is less likely that a poker cheat who is that skilled and experienced will find himself or herself at a smaller stakes table, where the money to be made is not as great. However, a deck stacker may just as soon sit in on such a home game. Stacking the deck is the act of manipulating the positions of cards in the deck while shuffling. Manipulated properly, they allow the dealer to deal himself or herself a specific hand. For example, the cheat shuffles the cards until all four Kings have been positioned at the top of the deck. No simple feat, but this is the easy part. The dealer then proceeds to shuffle the cards in such a way where each King is separated by a number of cards equal to the number of other players at the table. That way, the dealer performs a natural deal with all four Kings landing in his or her own hand.

In these and its other myriad forms, false shuffling allows the dealer to give the impression of mixing up the cards randomly when the cheat is actually manipulating the deck to place certain cards in certain places.

Even the cut is worthless protection if the dealer is allowed to shuffle at all after it. The cut is only effective if the dealer immediately deals after it. Any false shuffling allows the dealer to manipulate the deck.

Sleight of Hand: Palming
This is the act of secretly hiding individual cards, moving them either from the deck onto one's person or one's hand or from one's person into one's hand or back into the deck.

Basic palming involves hiding a card in the palm of one's hand. A playing card can fit perfectly into the palm of one's hand, held at one end by the last bend of each finger and at the other end by the cup of the palm.

From the deck, the cheat may palm cards into shirt pockets, under the leg, onto the floor and covered by a foot, etc. From there, the cheat may bring the palmed card into play by adding it to his hand as an extra card, palming that hand's worst card into the place where the originally palmed card was being kept.

'Holding out' is the act of palming cards from the deck in between rounds. The dealer can hide these cards under items on the table or on one's person for use in this or a future hand. Because a quick count of the deck after a round would show that there are cards missing, the palmer may be required to reintroduce held-out cards back into the deck before giving it up to the next dealer.

Sleight of Hand: Shifting the Cut
Shifting the cut is the sleight of hand solution around the protection of cutting the deck. Honest players developed the tendency towards cutting the deck as a way to foil second dealing, bottom dealing, and peeking. However, advanced sleight of hand permits the cheat to overcome the cut.

The traditional cut involves the dealer pushing the deck towards another player, who cuts the deck into two smaller piles. The dealer then picks up the pile that was on the bottom and places it on the top of the other pile. Therefore, cards that were at the top or on the bottom of the deck are now lost in the middle of the deck. Shifting the cut involves the cheat returning the deck to its original order, while being watched by the other players.

In effect, the cheat is able to place what was the top cards BACK TO THE TOP of the deck. This can be done as follows:

1) With one hand, the cheat simply picks up the 'top pile' and quickly places it on top of the other pile. Such an elementary way would most likely require distraction with the cheat's free hand. If nobody is looking, the cheat may manage to pull it off without anybody even noticing or suspecting.

2) As a more complex move, the cheat passes the 'bottom pile' over the top of the other pile, but quickly drops the 'bottom pile' right beside the other pile, picking up the other pile just as quickly. The cheat then drops this other pile, the 'top pile' back onto the other cards, not disturbing the order of the cards. This would obviously require tremendous speed, and most likely, some distraction.

3) Also requiring great dexterity, the cheat indeed picks up the 'bottom pile' and places it on top of the other pile; effectively, an honest cut. The cheat, however, does not drop the 'bottom pile' on the other pile squarely; the 'bottom pile' sticks out ever so slightly from the other pile (called "the step" by stage magicians). The cheat then picks up the deck as it is, and while pretending to square the deck, actually uses the step to replace the 'bottom pile' at the bottom of the deck. Done quickly enough, the order of cards is not disturbed.

All of these manoeuvres require great skill, but help the cheat overcome the cut. Shifting the cut is worthless on its own, however, and is combined with another form of cheating that takes advantage of having beat the cut.

Protection: Strangers
It has been said that the best defence against poker cheating is to never play with strangers. The flaws in this logic however are:

1. Should the friend of a friend be considered a stranger and not allowed at the table?
2. What is to say that an acquaintance / buddy is not a poker cheat?
3. What about the honest poker player who doesn't cheat and just wants in on a game?

It is at the discretion of the House / host as to whether or not strangers are invited to games. To deny entry to strangers still allows friends of friends at the table, still allows acquaintances / buddies to cheat, and denies honest players from entering in on a game. Therefore, awareness of the fundamentals of poker cheating is still important. Excluding strangers, however, provides many honest players with a greater sense of ease.

Protection: Verification
It is the responsibility of each player at the table to keep each other player at the table "honest". By "honest", it is meant that each player has in their hand what they say they have at showdown, that each player's dealing be normal, and that each player's interaction with the pot be accurate.

Verifying each player's hand at showdown is simple work and obligatory. Catching sleight of hand is trickier, especially for a card player not sure what to look for out of inexperience. It should also be stressed as a house rule that any player's interaction with the pot be slow and obvious; no player needs to be making quick action towards or from the pot. The actions should be clear, precise and deliberate.

Protection: Alcohol & drugs
Alcohol and other substances have a double-effect when it comes to poker-cheating. On one hand, alcohol can encourage cheating (even from a repressed cheater) through lapse in judgement. On the other hand, alcohol can target cheating by making sloppy the techniques and manoeuvres of the cheat. Again on the negative side however is that alcohol & the use of drugs can impair the perception of the honest players, and allow them to be cheated.

The best advice is to drink responsibly while playing poker at any time, but to allow suspected cheats to drink as much as they please. The skilled poker cheat, however, will not drink to intoxication unless he or she did not originally intend to cheat. As for drugs & such like substances they shouldn't be anywhere near a poker table full stop.

Protection: Splitting Up Anglers & collude'rs
Anglers are two or more people who seek to work together at a table to gain an unfair & dishonest advantage over other people. A home game where gameplay is happening at more than one table has the advantage of being able to split up suspected anglers. Anglers can typically (but not exclusively) only work together at the same table, and to deal with suspected anglers, the House can casually suggest a mix-up of players at different tables, splitting up the suspected anglers. Careful tact is required to do so politely, any fair minded and honest poker player will readily accept this.

Protection: Swapping Decks
As protection against marked cards, it is always safe to suggest swapping decks every couple of hours. Established as a house rule, it can be subtly suggested that natural wear of the cards requires deck swapping to be on the safe side. Using good quality plastic cards minimises the risk of card marking.

Protection: Marked Card Protocol
Also as protection against card marking, another subtle method, is the regular check of the deck to ensure there are no marked cards.

This can be done throughout regular deals, by keeping an eye on your own cards and deadcards (which shouldn't arouse too much suspicion). A card marked well enough will be difficult to spot, but crimps and major shading should be noticeable. If you see what looks like a marked card, "SAY SOMETHING", either to the host or house, after all it's your money and your duty to rid the game of cheats & fraudsters.

One trick is to check the entire deck at one's deal. By picking up the cards, and flipping through the corners like an old picture book, one should be able to spot crimps and markings. Done on all four corners and done perceptively enough will indicate that there are no noticeable markings on any of the four corners.

Noticing players overly concerned with looking at the backs of other players' cards is another possible "TELL" of a cheat in action.

Protection: Ending / Leaving the Game
The easiest way to put an end to suspected cheating is also the most extreme...to put an end to the game altogether, or to leave a suspicious one in progress. A great deal of the time, there will be no way to prove with complete certainty that the cheater has been caught. The skilled cheat knows to never, ever admit to having cheated. To never admit to cheating, under any circumstances, is to create the lasting impression of doubt, even the smallest doubt. A cheat knows that its your word against his and proving it is even harder so he or she has the advantage from the start & will exploit this with ruthless efficiency

Ending the home game is sometimes the most sound way to end a dispute between accusers and the irritated accused. Not inviting the accused back to the next game alleviates some of the worry at the next game, albeit at the expense of a potentially honest, falsely-accused player.

Protection: Dealing From a Shoe
The shoe is a plastic container that holds one or more decks of cards in a way where they can be dispensed out of a crack. Cards are slid out of the shoe onto the table to be dealt. They are compulsory in casino card games.

A shoe is one protection against sleight of hand dealing, but is extremely cumbersome and unorthodox in home games. Most observers had never seen a shoe used in a home game, which certainly offers protection, but immediately suggests lack of trust in a "friendly" game. One further disadvantage is that it requires that the shoe be passed around the table along with the deck for every deal which is inconvenient, compared with tables that always have two decks ready for quicker deals.

Other Methods: Collusion (deliberately highlighted red so you don't miss this section!)
This is by far the easiest, and therefore the most dangerous, form of cheating. It is virtually impossible to catch players in collusion, and even more difficult to prove it.

The danger of collusion can not be emphasised enough. Collusion requires minimal skill and minimal preparation, but poses the greatest danger to the honest players at the table.

Collusion involves any number of players (usually two) silently working together at the table. Working together, these players can perform the following manoeuvres:

One uses a signal to identify the strength of his or her hand to the other.

One distracts the table of players while the other (designated as the next dealer) manipulates the deck.

Signals are exchanged to carry through a betting scheme.

All profits between the two are divided evenly and privately in the end.

One quickly flashes their hand for the other to see. One manner of performing this works as follows.

After the deal of a Draw game, for example, one player picks up their cards from the far side of them.

Doing so quickly exposes them to any player who is looking at the perfect moment.

The partners speak to each other in a language not understood by the rest of the table. This is likely more prevalent in private games and casino games than home games.

Sandwiching: This is the tactic used when two colluders remain at the table with a third player.
Under the assumption that the two colluders will be splitting all profits after the game, it benefits them to continually bet back and forth ("sandwiching" the third player), forcing the third player to either see all bets or fold. As long as the colluders are betting maximum, they will most likely intimidate the third player out of the game.

Collusion is used to describe any co-operation between two or more players, for the purposes of:
Pooling and splitting money after the game, revealing any of their cards to each other, using table talk, using gestures as signals, using betting schemes, etc.

This "Rounders"-like activity is most prevalent when two strangers have joined the game, or if one acquaintance has introduced a stranger to play at the table.

Other Methods: Angling
This is characterised as any acting out of turn. It is considered angling when any player folds out of turn or signals to bet when it is not that player's turn. Angling is considered by some to be more immoral than outright cheating. Some House rules may even allow for it.

Two examples of angling are as follows:

1) It is not a player's turn to act, but nevertheless, that player throws their hand away as though to fold. That player is holding a strong hand, but because of the 'fold', other players to the angler's right remain in the hand. When the round reaches the angler, the angler reclaims his or her hand, announcing that they are not going to fold after all.

2) It is not a player's turn to act, but nevertheless, that player signals as though he or she is going to bet. Other players to the angler's right react by not betting or perhaps even folding. When the round reaches the angler, the angler announces that he or she is not interested in betting after all.

A player who uses constant angling is known as an "angle shooter". This may, however, be permitted by the House rules, in that a player may be allowed to reclaim his or her hand if having folded out of turn (hence, the fold did not count), or to change one's mind about a bet before the round reaches him or her.

Other Methods: Marked Cards
Depending on how professional a cheat is, cards can be marked as outright obvious, noticeable up close, or not noticeable at all.

In many cases, these cards will need to have been obtained by the cheat prior to play, which means that it is the cheat's deck, or the cheat had sufficient time with the deck beforehand. There are ways, however, to mark cards during play. Markings typically do not penetrate the entire cross-section of the card, as this would allow light to peer through and this would be noticed by the card's holder.

Markings, therefore, consist of small cosmetic alterations to the backsides of cards. This includes surface scratches, a bend in the corner, or a minute change in design.

The cheat will mark cards as it helps the cheat's game. In other words, high cards will certainly be marked for general gameplay, or game-specific cards.

Shading: The cheat using a very fine ink to manipulate the design on the card of certain cards. The mark is too small to be noticed by anybody not specifically looking it, but to do so requires minute precision.

Daubing and Highlighting: This techniques requires a special ink in the form of a small dauber or highlighter pen and special sunglasses. At an opportune time, the cheat daubs the back of a card with the ink. This special ink is invisible to the naked eye, but clearly visible through the special sunglasses. These type of equipment can be found in most stationers and is also available at such places novelty or joke stores.

Corner Crimping: The cheat who is holding the deck peeps at the top card of the deck or glances at the bottom card of the deck. The cheat then slides this card slightly away from the rest of the deck and bends the corner of the card slightly with his thumb or finger. This physical marking can later be spotted by the cheat, who will remember the card. A more complex corner crimping involves shuffling all Aces, for example, to the bottom of the deck and crimping all four of them.

Thumb nailing: The cheat who is holding the deck peeks at the top card, and then subtly drives the sharpened nail of his or her thumb into the card. It may then remain unnoticed to the untrained eye for the remainder of the playing session.

Other Methods: Misrepresentation of a Hand
A more simple tactic, but one potentially used with a trusting enough group, is the misrepresentation (or bad calling) of a hand.

This is the act of a cheat revealing his or her hand at showdown, and calling it something better than it is; for example, throwing down an all-red Straight and calling it a Straight Flush. If nobody notices the cheat's 'mistake', then the cheat could very well win the entire pot on a lie. If somebody notices the cheat's 'mistake', then the cheat claims that it is just that...a mistake.

Other Methods: Pot Interaction
Through interaction with the pot of money in the centre of the table, the cheat can perform a different sleight-of-hand manoeuvre, one that has nothing to do with cards. Moving money into or taking money out of the pot allows the poker cheat to either not put enough in or take too much out.

A player opening, seeing, or bumping is putting their hand over the pot and dropping a sum of money. It is each player's responsibility to ensure that each other player is placing the expressed amount of money into the pot. Dropping two pennies into the pot instead of two pounds saves the cheat money that everybody else is paying. The best way to stop this from happening is to have all bets kept separate from the pot until the round of betting is complete, then check the amounts and then and only then move them into the pot before the next round of betting occurs.

Most home games allow players to make change from the pot. When this is done, a player should be watched very carefully. Any player with their hands in the pot has the potential to remove more than they are supposed to, and should be watched for good measure. Any honest person will be only to happy to declare to all present visually what he or she puts in & takes out of the pot.

Other Methods: Prepared Deck
This is a simple manoeuvre with a one-time use. It involves little more than a doctored deck being used or introduced part-way into a playing session.

The prepared deck will contain a certain number of cards in the right places, either before they are shuffled, or used by the cheat who may claim that the deck is already shuffled. Anglers may also use this trick as one angler may pass the prepared deck to his partner to use.

The most elementary version of a prepared deck is one that has a one-way design on its back that is not symmetric (ex. a deck with a picture of birds on its back instead of a design). Because the design on the back is not symmetric, all of the cards can be turned 'in the same way', so that the picture faces the same way on each card. In this manner, certain cards can be singled out by the cheat who turns these cards so that the picture on the back is 'opposite' to the rest of the deck. Obviously, this trick has only one use; after the deck is handled by another player, this method of cheating is disturbed.

Other Methods: Phoney Chips
At the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP), phoney $100 chips were introduced into circulation by cheaters who purchased these chips at the Rio souvenir shop. While these chips were missing the red engraving signifying an official WSOP chip, it is difficult to tell the difference when the chips are stacked on top of one another.

When organising a home game, note that some poker cheats will try to gain an advantage by introducing phoney chips or stolen chips into their stack. Here are a couple of ways that it could happen:

A player brings his own chips to the game and introduces these chips into his stack during gameplay. This is not an unlikely scenario, considering the popularity of today's 11.5-gram chips in a suited or diced format. Many poker players are carrying the same kinds of chips in the same colours these days.

A poker cheat takes chips that are left accessible for all players. Either out of trust or because the host is busy organising a large game, the chips might not always be protected under lock and key. Chips left accessible might be picked up and introduced into the game's circulation.

Here are some suggestions for fighting this type of poker cheating:
Do not adhere to standard colour denominations. Many players like to stick to the way that casino chips are coloured. As the home game's host, you decide what colours mean what denominations, and the less reason to it, the better. This way, a player who brings 10 of his own black chips to the game may be surprised to learn that black chips aren't being used or that they represent a small amount as opposed to the typical $100 denomination.

Buy unique chips, particularly if you are hosting a large-scale tournament. If you have a type of chip that nobody else has, they will not be able to introduce phoney ones into the game.

Keep any poker chips in your house guarded as though they were currency. Keep them close to yourself or else ensure that there is a very small number of people that you trust who have authority to be handling the chips. Those of you who host large tournaments, but who participate in the tournament as a player, will find it difficult to manage all aspects of the game while playing. Delegate some responsibility to a select few, and ensure nobody but them are handling the chips.

Zero tolerance: Make it clear that phoney chips introduced into the game will result in an immediate expulsion of that player from the game. The caution with this advice is that some poker cheats may be motivated by the challenge.

Final thoughts & comments

I have not named and explained in detail, every single article on cheating in this section, reasons being it would take so long and I don't pretend to know all there is to know on cheating, I don't want to give a possible opportunist cheat even more ideas to add to his or her repertoire of cheating & defrauding other honest good players.

Whilst I don't endorse violence, I did read the comments of one player who said "break his / her hands with an instrument that would cause extreme damage" if they are caught cheating. Lets be honest right here and now...People don't like cheats & I believe that all cheats should live with their punishments if and when they are caught, no matter how severe & if they don't like it TUFF, the simple answer is DON'T FUCKING CHEAT!

If you have some suggestions & ideas for this section, feel free to contact us & we will of course give it serious consideration on merit. I will be adding a few more cheating methods shortly, so please be patient while the site is still under construction. Many thanks