Cheating at poker is about as common as cheating on your taxes. This is usually something that is more frequent in the wild west environment of the ring game, then the structured atmosphere of a tournament. This doesnt mean that tournament play is immune from this sort of thing. So your eyes have to be open at all times wherever you are playing.
Cheating can be done either by players who take a tag team approach to the game, and use collusion to enable their foul play or by sleight-of-hand tricks, such as: bottom dealing, stacking the deck, switching cards, etc; or the use of cheating gaffs, such as: marked cards, holdout, devices, gleams, etc.
Usually the higher the stakes go, the more likely somebody will be tempted to take fate into their own hands and cheat. It is easier if friendly, no limit, games for this to happen. Cheaters prefer to work together in pairs or small groups to pull the wool over your eyes The groups are often composed of one card mechanic who is in charge of manipulating the cards, one or several shills who pose as regular players, and a muscle who acts as a bodyguard. Street gangs also often employ a wall man who acts as a lookout, however this approach is more common with three card Monte mobs, and back-alley dice gangs.
When the subject of cheating comes up, be aware of the following terms, especially if they are used in reference to a specific player:
- Card mechanic - A card cheat who specializes in sleight-of-hand manipulation of cards.
- Base dealer - Also called bottom dealer, is a cheat that specializes in bottom dealing.
- Paper player - A card cheat that exploits the use of marked cards.
- Hand mucker - A card cheat that specializes in switching cards.
- Machine player - A card cheat that uses mechanical holdouts.
- Crossroader - Originally, any kind of traveling hustler; but now the term is mainly use to describe cheats who specialize in hitting casinos.
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