This video has made me paranoid. Considering I could barely pick up on half of the stuff in slow-mo I figure I'm screwed if anyone is trying this when I'm playing in a real game.

I will definitely need to be more vigilant when I play at games without a professional dealer. Thankfully OP has devoted a lot of time to perfecting this.

I still learned a lot and the OP did a great job of pointing out things to be wary of and solutions to possible problems. I play in some home games and underground games. If there is any cheating going on I have no doubt that this COTW will have the best impact on my bankroll.

Thanks to OP for an amazing video and an educational video.

That was a truely amazing video!!!

LOL, Im same as Flow73 above, couldnt pick up most of it in slo-mo from the tables perspective, its an eye-opener seeing how "normal" everything you showed us looked.

Thank you for vid and Ive definately learnt something new today.

Reminds me of an amazing video I watched on TED.com...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/le...ard_magic.html

Just finished watching... great video.

And props for dedicating yourself to your chosen artform for so long. You're very impressive.

Great video!

I have run a home game before, and knowing how to recognize this stuff is crucial. Although I personally have no skills as a mechanic, having a basic knowledge of recognizing how they work allowed me to catch 2 cheaters in my game.

For more info, read Gambling Scams by Darwin Ortiz. Even if you don't host a game, this is vital to know to protect yourself and not a bad read. Using this knowledge, I caught a terrible mechanic dealing in a RENO CASINO (wtf???!). He had a mechanics grip, dealt air, caught a hanger (sarge), had the double friction sound, an unlevel deck, and very unconventional delivery method. ALWAYS keep your guard up.

Thanks for the effort and an outstanding CotW.

nice vid. makes me wonder about the indian casinos.

sick vid

Great video, thanks for the effort!

Mostly true. However in the cold deck example, I could stack the deck, you can cut it and deal it and I'll get quads while you get a boat. Instead of making you cut to an ace, I could make you cut to a stack. The cold deck and shiners are definitely the most dangerous techniques.

Also with the pineapple, if a stack isn't prepared, the cheater could just deal himself 4 cards and pick and choose.

Bottom dealing, 2nd dealing and hops are done when people start putting their guard down. Keeping the deck level is a good rule but many people would be too lazy to observe this.

Glad to see everyone liked it.

Thank you for this. I tried to follow each of the manipulations but even in slow-motion couldn't see where the Hop took place. Scary.

You're the second magician I've heard recommend to always make a three-way cut, making it harder to stack the deck. Incidentally, it's also the cut my mom (!) taught me from the very beginning - from the age of six or so. Apparently it's next to impossible to reverse such a cut, and it screws up both the top and the bottom of the deck for a mechanic.

To make it easy for everyone to follow, I did a simple diagram:


You showed that a mechanic mostly deals either seconds (skipping cards from the top) or from the bottom of the deck. Doing a three-way cut moves both of these "known card" regions to the middle of the deck.

I "know" that this cut is effective against a mechanic, but I'm left wondering exactly how big the difference is in practice.

Great thread, loved it.

This is awesome. I still can't see what's going on with the hop after about 20 slow motion views.

That was scary. I was planning on playing some underground games this summer, I might skip after all.

thanks chilli - scaring all the soft online money into staying home


Seriously, how much of this is avoided simply by using a cut card?

This is similar to the cut I've used for years! Some suggestions:

A) instead of always reversing the deck, mix it when you restack:
1) Hand goes left to right, dropping piles (vary the size ftw)
2) Hand comes back to the left, pick up the middle pile, then the bottom
3) Hand comes back to the right, picks up the original top portion

Reverse if you're left-handed... or bored from folding constantly.

B) If you shuffle, someone else cuts/stacks and deals. If they shuffle, they don't cut or deal. If you want to add a third person to the mix, feel free.

C) I vary my cuts, using 3 or 4-pile stacks and leapfrog (B LM HM T becomes HM B LM T). Once you get used to the back and forth, you have minimal hand motions and good speed, so you're not holding it up.


If a card mechanic can beat that, then they're better than I am and I'll have to hope I can catch them making a mistake.



On a different topic- everyone once in a while, take it upon yourself (on your deal) to count down the deck before washing and shuffling up. When you count down the deck, count in piles of 10 so you can recheck quickly if needed.
Again, practice makes speed.

First, it's better to be aware... and if you have some knowledge, you're less likely to falsely accuse someone of cheating when card percentages go screwy.


Second... I'm pretty sure a good mechanic can get around a cut card. It makes it harder, from what i've read, but not impossible.

Not much honestly. I can still do hops even while using the deck box as a cut card at the bottom of the deck. The only thing it would prevent would be a bottom peek and pineapples BUT there's a way to go around it by palming cards (as shown in the video) and placing the cards at the bottom of the deck after the cut. These cards can then be bottom dealt out when needed and since the deck is always supposed to be kept level, there's no reason that the bottom of the deck will flash to show that the cut card isn't there.

LOL you're a home game shark and I'm sure a cheater wouldn't risk it with you around :P

As a side not though, it is possible to set up multiple cold decks/stacks within the same deck so that when you cut the deck into 3 piles each of the piles (bottom and middle) have a cold stack on top giving the initial shuffler the best hand no matter what.

I was a bit rushed in the video and I didn't make it clear enough. As seen in the vid, my mum cut to the ace/stack twice and that would mean that the cheater just has to shuffle the deck, stack it up, do a cold deck, hand it to my mum to cut and deal and the cheater would have the best hand.

Truth.

Games can be beaten with a combination of cheating and skill and that would be useful in a hard game to cheat at (e.g Lottery Larry's). The knowledge of having the burnt card (and using it if needed by 2nd dealing another card instead) on the flop turn and river gives the cheater an edge no matter what every 9 hands.

Still though if I were a shady cheater (which I'm not) I just wouldn't bother playing at Lottery Larry's and I'd play elsewhere. No point making my life difficult and I'd just pick on drunk guys playing hold 'em.

Hi Bostik, in your cut diagram, you can still be cheated by a cold deck. A cheater would make you cut to the cold stack at the bottom (like what my mum did in the video) and even after the assembling of the piles, the stack will end up on top. The best way to prevent this is to do a short table shuffle (slows the game down a lot) and then cutting the deck once.

As a side note though, there are VERY VERY VERY few people in the world (probably less than 10) who can deal out directly from the center. It's called center deal and it's the most effective deal of all.

If you're carrying out a home game, just use a proper poker table, ensure there are no shiners around, use a cut card and during the cutting sequence (maybe once ever 5 hands?) ask that a table shuffle is done as well as a cut. Ensure that the dealers hands are empty (no palming of cards) at this point. A cheater could still do top peeks and 2nd deals however he probably wouldn't risk it once you start getting so detailed.

Very good point. And it reminded me of this: http://www.benjoffe.com/holdem

Wow... awesome video. Thanks for putting it together.

Jesus.. That my friend will be useful in some of my future parlour shows. Hehe, thanks.

Very nice COTW. I have one friend wich brother is an amateur magician. Last month they where to a magic congres here in Spain (you need had acreditation for enter, my friend entered working as "security controller"). They bought 30 or 40 decks and sold some with our friends. Do you know what cards are? Bicycle !!! same as you use in the video.

Well, I will be attent ¬¬ jeje but with our house games I don't think that cheating is profitable. We play tournaments of ~2.5€ buyins, nearly nearly just for fun

omg that's so sick. Great cotw

nice work OP

KILLER VIDEO

Super entertaining, nice work