Cheating Players, Cheating Casinos: It Hurts Everyone.

 

With a real-world casino the practice of cheating is not widespread, this is because the sanctions are severe and the penalties harsh, most countries have strict laws in operation to prevent casinos from cheating their customers. Additionally, most gambling jurisdictions will keep close tabs on all the casinos within their particular remit, they will revoke any licence issued to a casino that is subsequently found cheating and criminal charges will be bought against all individuals involved. And in actual fact, casinos have little motivation to cheat their customers, they make huge profits from their games and to cheat would be to risk these profits in the long-run, because if they are caught they will subsequently have their licence taken away.

 

Nonetheless, cheating still occurs in a bricks-and-mortar casino and it is usually down to a few employees in a racketeering ring. These cheating employees are usually found in locations where the games are less regulated, cruise liners for example a notorious for cheating casino staff. Because cheating still happens; it is useful for anyone visiting a casino to be up to scratch on their knowledge about the techniques employed by the casino cheats. Many of the techniques that will be discussed in the following article can be practiced by either the casino staff, or the players themselves. We recommend highly that you do not adopt these methods yourself as the legal repercussions of cheating also apply to the gamblers themselves, and hefty jail-terms have been known for such scams.

 

The most efficient way that casinos can cheat their customers if via the manipulation of their gambling equipment, the most commonly modified equipment being decks of cards:

 

Casino employees may remove a single 10-value card from the deck in order to increase dramatically the value of the house edge; it would take very keen observation skills, as well as an exceptional memory, for any individual to notice the absence of one card in a 52 card deck. It is estimated that the average human is only able to count around four units when viewing by eye, so the absence of even 5 cards from a deck will be extremely difficult to judge.

 

In a similar vein, another method used by cheating casinos is to add low-value cards to the deck, especially 5 & 6 value cards; this will substantially reduce the players’ odds of winning.

 

Both of the above techniques can also be used by players wishing to cheat the casino, or in games such as poker, to cheat their opponents. If a player wants to incorporate it then they will have to be highly skilled in sleight-of-hand, in order to add or remove cards from the deck undetected when the dealer is laying the cards or picking them up, the player needs to be able to evade the CCTV, the croupiers, security staff and the pit boss- unless your name is Derren Brown, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to successfully manage to pull-off this feat.

 

When there is a dealer involved in a game and they are actually charged with holding the deck, it is a lot easier for them to manipulate the cards than it would be for a player. They are able to, for example, pick up the deck in such a manner that they ensure the placement of certain cards, making it easy to deal high value or low value cards depending on their requirements- a particularly winning target in blackjack.

 

With a fair amount of practice, it is within the means of most dealers to be able to manipulate the deck in such a way that they are actually choosing which cards are to come out and in what order. They can use a trick known as ‘double dealing’, which involves sleight-of-hand, where they deliver a card other than the card located next in the deck.

 

In shoe games, where a shoe is used to hold the cards, the healer can use what is called a ‘holdout shoe’, this is a special device using mirrors and prisms that allows the dealer to see the value of the next card in the deck and thus deal the next one instead if appropriate for their cheating needs.

 

The latter two examples of casino cheats can really end up stinging the players, and by the same token can only be used on the side of the casino, unless a dealer is in cahoots with a player at the table.

 

Another deck manipulation involves the use of marked cards, these can be used by cheating players and cheating casinos alike, although the greatest rewards will always be reaped by a cheating casino rather than a cheating player as the first have control of the gambling equipment.

 

With marked cards used by players to cheat, the markings are usually visual as they are not able to handle the deck, the visual cues used are commonly smudges, folds, marks or tears. When casinos cheat using marked cards they are able to use alternative cues, such as tactile markings (using indentations, for example) that the players will be unable to perceive with the naked eye.

 

In marked cards the markings are used to represent the values of the cards, in this way the player or casino, whichever is cheating, will be able to play the deck as if it were face up, thus knowing the value of each card, they will know whether it is worthwhile to hit, stick, fold, check, draw.....depending on the game. This information will be able to gain the cheat a great advantage, far outside the determined odds.

 

However, the warning with any type of manipulation with cards is as follows; do not undertake these methods as the decks are checked regularly, at least once a day, and if caught the person using such decks will be in serious trouble.

 

Sleight-of-hand is another commonly practiced cheat that can be used by both the casino and the player, usually cards will be swapped out of the deck. The cards that are swapped are always those that have yet to be revealed, such as the dealer’s hole card or the cards dealt to individual players. One very common way that players cheat is to play more than one hand and swap cards out between each hand so as to rearrange the hands so that one hand can be made the very best of the full combination of cards. Here, the player is at a disadvantage as the attention of the house security is firmly focused on them, rather than the casino staff.

 

A common cheat that is used solely by players involves the addition or subtraction of cheques following a deal, this is one reason why casinos are so paranoid about players who touch their cheques during the course of a game.

 

In games certain games, players can sometimes position themselves at the table so that they have a greater chance of seeing the dealer’s hole card, the best position in a handheld game is the third base, and in a shoe game the best position is the first base.

 

Additionally, reflective items, such as watches or Zippo lighters can be used by players to see hidden playing cards when placed strategically somewhere on the table, however, security is hot on this and confront players who have such items placed on the tables.

 

The cheats that best allows a player to rip-off the casino are those that are played in teams. Players signal to each other using predefined gestures, while it is prohibited in casinos for players to signal each other, it is still possible to construct a subtle, unobtrusive composite of signals that can be used to communicate to other members of the team, without detection on behalf of the casino. Signalling can be used to communicate such things as counts when a team of players is card counting, or tracks when they are tracking. N.B. it is a lot easier to signal to a player on the opposite side of the table than it is to communicate with a player on the same side of the table.

 

Having said all this, our advice is that, when it comes to cheating, the best means of approach is avoidance. If you are savvy and you have picked up on the fact that a casino is cheating, then leave, but do it discretely, making a show and dance about it can end in trouble, the casino may bring the heavies out, for example, plus, it is very hard to actually prove that the casino is cheating, and by making such  a claims then subsequently being unable to substantiate it can mean that you find yourself having to defend yourself in court on charges pertaining to liable, or the such.

 

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