|
Cheating in poker is any action outside the rules and regulations
which is taken to give an unfair advantage to one or more players. The cheating is generally grouped in hard and soft cheating. An example of hard cheating would be
the distinction in
mechanics, collusion, and the like and soft
cheating would be noting the bottom card that the dealer happened to expose
without calling for a misdeal. While the rules are explicit on the subject of
cheating in general, many otherwise fair players are tempted to "soft cheat".
Miscalling your four hearts a flush
is cheating, while offering alcoholic drinks is not, because each player can
decline.
Cheating is more common in
poker than most
people would care to believe. While most cheating occurs in private games that do
not follow strict gaming procedures, it is also very common in regulated card
rooms and casinos or online poker sites.
Cheating can be done either by means of collusion,
sleight-of-hand (such as
bottom dealing,
stacking the deck, switching cards etc), or the use of cheating gaffs (such
as
marked cards,
holdout devices, etc).
A card
cheater may operate alone, but most of them operate in pairs or small groups.
The groups are often composed of one card mechanic who is in charge of
manipulating the cards, one or several shills who pose as regular players, and a
muscle who acts as a bodyguard. Street gangs also often employ a wall man who
acts as a lookout.
Following is a list of terms used to categorize specific card cheaters:
|
Card Mechanic |
A card cheater who specializes in
sleight-of-hand manipulation of cards. |
|
Base or 2nd Dealer |
Also called
bottom dealer/second
dealer is a cheat that specializes in bottom/second dealing. |
| Paper
Player |
A card cheater that
exploits the use of marked cards. |
| Hand
Mucker |
A card cheater who
is an expert in switching cards. |
|
machine player |
A card cheater that
uses mechanical holdouts. |
| Crossroader
|
Traditionally, any
kind of traveling hustler. Now the term is mainly use to describe cheaters
who specialize in hitting casinos. |
|
triple f**ker |
Describes how a
player makes rude and loud noises to attract attention while he/she cheats. |
|
|
