THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Why Professionals Cheat
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Once a player has detected and confirmed cheating in public poker, he has five options:
1. Join the cheating.
2. Beat the cheaters through the poorer playing, greater readability, and greater predictability that
result from their cheating.
3. Eliminate the cheating.
4. Expose the cheating.
5. Quit the game.
The good player rejects his or her first option as not only dishonest and unhealthy, but also as the least
profitable option. Several of John Finn's encounters with professional cheating described next in this
chapter illustrate the other four options.
Although John Finn played mainly in private poker games because of their greater profitability,
he did recently spend several months playing public poker in the Gardena, California, card clubs
and in the Las Vegas, Nevada, casinos. In both the clubs and casinos, he discovered professional
cheaters operating in the higher-stake games. John's public-game experiences uncovered six
common cheating methods used in public poker (see A-F on the following pages). He also learned
how the good player can routinely beat professional cheaters in public poker. More important, he
learned to identify those situations in which he could not beat professional cheating.
1. Gardena, California
A. Collusion Cheating -- Reciprocal Card Flashing
During his first two days in Gardena, John Finn played in each of its six poker clubs. After the
second day, he became aware of a cliquish network of amateur players, professional players,
floormen, and cardroom managers woven through those six clubs. The continuous circulation of
poker players among the clubs allowed everyone in that network to effectively communicate (and
gossip) with each other. While most of the habitual amateur players in Gardena recognized they
were a part of a clique, few recognized that the professional establishment was using them as
fodder.
In the lower-stake games, John Finn found mainly amateurs; the few professionals were usually
shills. In those games, he detected no cheating. On the fourth day, he graduated to a $20 blind,
lowball draw game. In that game, he discovered from their poker styles and conversations that
players in seats 2 and 5 were professionals involved in collusion cheating. Even before identifying
them as full-time professionals, he knew they were colluding. Their methods were simple, effective,
and unnoticeable. Both players sat low in their seats . . . each slumping a little lower when the
other dealt. On dealing draw cards with smooth quicker-than-the-eye motions, the dealer would
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