confronting a poker cheat

Cheats will do anything rather than admit they cheated. If you think that confronting a

poker cheat about their shady practices is going to embarrass them and make them admit and

repent of their actions, then, you definitely don't know much about poker cheats.

Even if you or others at the table catch a cheater red-handed, they will deny it with all   trick cards


their might. The only thing you can get out of confronting a cheater is a nasty argument,

which may escalate into something more unpleasant, depending on the circumstances and the

feelings of the other players.


Low stakes won't discourage cheaters. Some cheaters are more driven by the challenge of

tricking others than by profit. They can't play without the thrill of changing the game's

course to their advantage and winning. Most home cheaters look for home games in which there

is a balance between the profit stakes and the ability for the other players to catch the

cheater. Therefore, keep in mind that even when playing for pennies, you might be hosting a

cheater who just likes fooling everybody.

Cheaters will try to continue playing after being caught. Even after an embarrassing moment

at your poker night, the cheater will continue trying to get invited to future games,

especially because they will always deny their involvement, and expressing any kind of shame

by not coming back would be like admitting the suspicion was accurate.

Cheaters won't get scared when warned by a knowledgeable host. If you ever thought that   marked cards

warning a cheater that you know what they are up to could deter him/her, you will only be

daring the cheater to improve. Therefore, don't make the mistake of waking the cheating

beast!

According to Richard Marcus, the cheating technique that wins the #1 prize in home games is

marking cards.

Marcus claims that nowadays, the marking trend for home cheaters involves a Mission

Impossible style move: buying several new decks, taking the cards out without damaging the

plastic packages or the sealing blue sticker on the box openings, marking the cards, putting

everything back, and ironing the plastic cellophane wrappings to seal the decks back. Then,

the cheats take the decks to a store near the game's location, especially a store that stays

open until late, and when the vendor is distracted, the cheaters replace the new decks with

the marked ones. Then, at the game, the cheater goes on "tilt" and tears the cards in their

bad hands out of apparent frustration. When all the decks available at the host's house are

ruined, someone will try to go and buy a deck at the nearest store, the one that is open

until late and is now selling the marked decks. And to everybody's surprise, there is no

more deck tearing by the cheater for the rest of the game, only the tearing through

everybody's stacks.