THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Why Professionals Cheat
expose key cards as fleeting blurs perceptible only to his partner. The partner would return the
favor on his deal. The cheaters accomplished their card flashing with out suspicion despite the
great pressure on dealers in the Gardena card clubs not to flash cards. (Only once did John
observe a collusion cheater being scolded for his "careless" dealing. Ironically, John observed on
numerous occasions non cheating dealers being scolded for flashing cards.)
By knowing when his own lowball draw card had been flashed, John Finn could outmaneuver the
cheating partners by more accurately predicting what they would do as the result of their knowing
his draw card. The cheaters, therefore, were constantly misled by John's counter actions--they
repeatedly misjudged what he would do. John Finn exploited and beat both collusion partners by
using the cheating counteractions described in his notes on lowball cheating:
1. Save money by folding promptly against a cheater's more readable winning hand.
2. Lure the cheater into making an expensive bluff when he draws a picture card or a pair in
low-ball and knows you have drawn a high card such as a ten or a jack. The cheater's
overconfidence often encourages him to bluff excessively.
3. Set up the cheater for an easy bluff. For example, a strong lowball bluff position develops
when the cheater knows you have drawn a good low card (e.g., a six or lower), but does not
know you paired the low card.
4. When you draw a powerful low hand, the overconfident cheater can sometimes be misled
into believing you did pair, causing him to call a final bet.
5. When the readable cheater bluffs, use his aggressive betting to drive out other players who
have you beat. When the other players are driven out, simply call the cheater's bluff. Or
when necessary, bluff out the bluffing cheater with a final raise.
In each of the above examples, the cheater would have either won more money or lost less money
if he had concentrated on playing sound poker to gain broad information about his opponent
(rather than on cheating to gain information only about his opponent's draw card).
Throughout the night, John Finn used those counteractions to exploit and beat both collusion
cheaters. And on occasion, when positioned properly, John saw cards flash between the partners.
He used what he saw to further improve his advantage. When the game ended at seven in the
morning, the two professional players were big losers. They left the table cursing their "bad luck,"
never realizing that their own cheating had victimized them.
Over the next several days in Gardena, John Finn noticed five trends while moving from lowerstake
to higher-stake games:
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