THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Why Professionals Cheat
In any case, collusion cheating of all varieties among establishment professionals is becoming
increasingly common as they silently extend to one another their mutual, professional "courtesies." In
fact, some California card clubs have compiled lists of suspected collusion cheaters who are either
barred from the club or are not permitted to play at the same table.
But whenever a poker player cheats, the quality of his play declines because his time, energy, and
thought must shift from sound-poker actions to cheating actions. He usually becomes overconfident and
careless about playing poker--his objectivity, concentration, and discipline diminish as his thinking
efforts become diluted. His betting becomes distorted and usually overly aggressive. And most
importantly, his hands become more readable and his actions become more predictable whenever he
cheats.
The classical card-manipulation type of cheating is rare among the Gardena professionals. John
encountered that kind of cheating only once, and he made a quick profit from the cheater by
pulling an old ploy against him--the torn-corner flash:
In his final lowball game at Gardena, John sat to the left of a collusion cheater who had switched a
card with his partner to win a pot. After the hand, John saw the cheater ditch a face card on the
floor. No one noticed the missing card. On the next hand, the cheater summoned the floorman for
new cards. The cards were exchanged, but the ditched card remained on the floor. Two hands
later, when the same cheater was involved in another pot, John leaned under the table to pick up
some money he had purposely dropped. While under the table, he quickly tore the corner off the
ditched card and slipped the corner into his jacket pocket.
Several hands later, John had a powerful six low. The cheater on his right had a callable low hand.
John reached into his pocket, withdrew the torn face-card corner, and positioned it at the top edge
of his cards. Then while concealing his other cards, he accidentally-on-purpose flashed his hand to
the cheater, who immediately spotted the "picture card" in John's hand. John bet the $20
maximum. Now positive that John was bluffing a busted lowball hand, the cheater raised. John
inconspicuously dropped the torn corner beneath the table and reraised. Since they were the only
two players remaining in the hand, the number of raises was unlimited. They reraised each other
the maximum $20 bet many times. Suddenly the cheater stopped betting. He choked, pushed back
his chair, and looked on the floor. Dropping his hand face down on the table, the red-faced man
promptly left the game without even calling John's last $20 raise. John pulled in the $460 pot.
John Finn left Gardena knowing that he could consistently beat both the professionals and the
cheaters to earn a regular income from any club game, except possibly from the highest-stake
lowball games that were dominated by the best professional players and cheaters.
2. Las Vegas, Downtown
B. Collusion Cheating with House Dealer-- Natural-Play Technique
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