MARKED CARDS


               From personal experience I know that when average people think of card cheating they usually first think of marked cards. Furthermore, whenever the subject of marked cards is brought up, most people usually suspect miniature marks on the backs of the cards. Unfortunately, they don't hit the nail quite in the head.

               First of all, marked cards are just one of the many gaffs that may be used to cheat during a card game. Furthermore, even if marked cards are used, the markings are not necessarily small nor do they have to be on the backs of the cards. Sometimes the marks can be large symbols on the backs, and sometimes they are not even marks (see sorts below). Sometimes the marks are not on the backs, but rather on the sides, or even on the fronts. By now you probably have guessed that cards with those miniature marks that everyone looks for on the backs are usually used by less knowledgeable amateur card cheats.

              Marked cards are also called readers or paper. Card cheats who use paper are called paper players. Another popular term for paper players is painters. This is because expert cheats like to "paint their own paper," as opposed to buying a ready-made marked deck from a crooked gambling supplier.

              An expert painter will only prepare as many cards as absolutely needed for a particular

game. For example in some games, such as blackjack, the suits are irrelevant so there is no

need to mark them. Furthermore in blackjack cheats usually mark only the relevant groups of

cards. The aces, the tens (this includes picture cards), high cards (7's, 8's and 9's) and

low cards (2's to 6's). To use this system the cheat only needs to develop three marking

patterns. One of the four groups (in this case the low cards) will be left unmarked. It

should be noted, however, that another very effective marking system for blackjack would be

to mark only the Aces and the tens. What groups of cards the cheat decides to mark is a

matter of personal preference. As a general rule there is less chance to discover markings

if fewer cards are marked. By the same token, the fewer times the cheat resorts to those

markings, lesser the chance of being caught cheating.

                 In poker the suits are relevant because they can complete flushes. However, contrary to what people may think, expert poker cheats do not often mark the cards for suits. There are

several reasons for that, but the number one reason is to keep things simple. However, there

are plenty of other card games where suits play a much more significant role than in poker,

and those are the card games where the cards are more likely to be marked for suits. But in

this case the values may be omitted.

                 Marked cards have also frequently been discovered in casinos. Under rigorous casino security it is even more necessary to keep things simple and minimize the amount of work put on the cards. So, interestingly enough, the higher the stakes the simpler the work.

It also should be noted that a marked deck is just a tool, but a tool does not do one any

good if one doesn't know how to use it. An amateur cheat who purchased a marked deck from a crooked gambling supply house will not really know how to use it correctly. When you play

cards you don't really have time to study the backs or ask your opponents to please hold

their cards in such way so you can see the backs. Using marked deck is a skill that requires

practice. An expert paper player will spend time developing an effective cheating strategy.

               To better illustrate how hard it is to use marked cards feel free to do the following

experiment. Take a deck face-up in dealing position. Then deal the cards as if for a four-

handed game of poker, in effect into four face-down piles. As you deal you have the chance

to glimpse at the cards while they are in your hand. After the cards are dealt players might

cover them up with their hands and you may no longer have the opportunity to see them, nor

the marks, which is why you dealt the cards face down. As soon as the cards are dealt try to

reconstruct each player's hand. Get the idea? This is obviously a poor strategy for using

paper but nevertheless it is a problem that every inexperienced cheat might face if they

just buy a marked deck and jump into a game without really knowing how to use it.

                Besides using inferior methods of marking, amateur cheats also tend to rely on those marks too much. This gets them caught as they feel too confident and therefore tend to make

illogical decisions during the game. On the other hand, experienced cheats will only resort

to those markings whenever absolutely necessary. To be convincing they need to lose some 
and win some. They will always lose those hands with low stakes and win when there's something worth winning. In fact, the only time they really care to cheat is when the stakes are high enough. The rest of the times they may simply play the game like everyone else.