THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Club Poker
Combined Techniques-more
common in casino
poker
Collusion and manipulation
(house dealer to partner)
Uses Methods
Most effective and common
in casinos with house dealers
who manipulate cards and
work in collusion with
professional players.
The dealer culls or
manipulates memorized
cards to top of deck. He then
knows everyone's hole cards
and signals his partner when
to bet, raise, or drop.
* Good players train themselves to evaluate the shades of darkness or blur intensities of partially flashed cards (e.
g., darker shades or more intense blurs indicate higher-value cards--valuable information for lowball). If a player
sees flashed cards without dealer collusion, he is not cheating since the same advantage is available to all players
who choose to be equally alert. Alert players also watch for flashed cards as the dealer riffles, shuffles, and cuts.
In club poker, the alert player detects professional cheating most often in the highest-stake lowball
games in which signaling systems and card-flashing collusion are devastatingly effective. In casino
poker, the alert player detects collusion cheating most often in the highest-stake stud and hold 'em games.
Not all public-game professionals are cheaters or part of the professional establishment.[ 35 ] Not all
high stake public games have cheaters, or even professionals, present. But any high-stake public game
free of cheaters and professionals is ripe for exploitation and quickly attracts professionals and cheaters.
Still, out of justice and fairness, the good player never considers anyone to be a cheater until he has
adequate proof of cheating. Moreover, the good player strives to be just and fair in order to know more
accurately what is going on and thus avoid costly errors. Being just and fair boosts his profits.
The good player resists the temptation to blame tough or painful losses on being cheated (rather than on
coincidence or on his own errors). Because of the extra quick folds and the extra-aggressive bets used to
beat cheaters, the good player can make an expensive error by misreading an opponent as a cheater.
Since cheating harms the long-range business interests of all public card clubs and casinos, management
of the major clubs and casinos seriously oppose any form of cheating. They have always taken firm
measures to eliminate and prevent cheating in their operations. For them, cheating means only bad
publicity, lost business, lower profits, and potential legal problems. Without cheating, clubs and casinos
can eventually extract all the money gamblers have to offer. With cheating, clubs and casinos could
eventually go out of business.
Using tight controls and effective surveillance systems, the management of major casinos keeps all
gaming operations (except poker) free of major, organized, or chronic cheating. All casino games,
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