Ok, a little bit of the background story. Me and a few mates get together most friday nights and play poker (Hold 'em). We have a good time and have a points system and 'season leader board' and stuff like that. Usually have around 8 people playing. We had a new player come in about 4 weeks ago (he is a good friend of ours). And after the game on friday night, i was thinking about it, and it just clicked that he was cheating. Firstly he has won 4 of the 8 games he has played, and come second or third a few times. This is what happens...... for 3 weeks in a row now he has had an unbelievable string of good cards. Im talking pocket aces 5 times a game, pocket kings, ace - king, pocket whatever you want. It seems that whenever there is an ace on the board, he has one in his hand - accompanied by a good kicker. Last week he hit quads twice (taking players out both times - who had made full houses). This week he hit quads twice. He gets full houses like it was 3 of a kind. He always has something. Now im not saying he cheats every hand, but when he wins but nEVER out plays anyone, it gets suspicious. Whenever he wins, he wins because he has the flat out better hand every time. This week i noticed him hiding his cards under the table, but thought nothing of it at the time. I also noticed his sort of fidling around undert he table. The last 2 weeks we have found cards on the floor under the table. This is what i think he is doing.... We use 2 different decks of cards - that cannot be interchangable because of different colour backs. One deck gets shuffled while the other is in play (just for a quicker game). I think when it is his turn to shuffle he looks through the deck, takes a few cards out (aces kings whatever) and sometimes even 'rigs' the deck so he knows what cards are coming out. He puts the cards under his leg or under the table or something like that and uses them when he wants or needs to. Im 99.99% sure he is cheating, the 0.01% is only because we havent caught him yet. Now we play for money and that makes thing worse because he is basically cheating us out of money. So the question.... How would you suggest we catch him??
In the middle of a game next week casually remark "So how long you been cheating at poker?" If you are any good at poker... his face will tell you the answer. Or just kill him
I was pretty much in the same predicament with my friends. This guy was clearly dealing from under the deck and he hid the cards under the table. Thing was though, he hosts the same poker game each week with his roommate (who is actually a straight up cool guy). He got called out on it a couple of weeks ago when he hit frickin' quad 8s, which for some "strange" reason, he felt bad and gave the money back...after of course being called out on it. You guys should just keep a close eye on his deals, and make it a rule where the cards must be placed above the table and on the table until it's time to deal out the community cards. And just make sure it's a straight up shuffle and no funny business. I guess it's not fair to the two people, but you could just have two people you trust be all time dealers. I was gonna pull out my phone and record the guy's action from under the table but didn't get the chance.
I don't think all of that's really necessary. As Astros101 mentioned, make it a rule that you have to shuffle above the table. You should be able to see both decks at anytime. If I'm ever at a game and see someone shuffling out of my eyesight, I ask them to shuffle above the table. I used to know a guy who would automatically fold every hand he dealt, because he knew he could easily set the deck and didn't want to be tempted. If your friend always has a good hand on his deal, game after game, you have to at least wonder if something's going on. Shuffling under the table is simply unacceptable, however.
When he slides the deck over to be cut, simply take the deck and count the cards. Although you could make a couple of rules or circumvent the suspected method of cheating, bottom line is you're still playing with a suspected cheater.
I musta missed that part abuot him shuffling under the table. If they are allowing him to do this, they deserve to be cheated out of their money, pure and simple...hell I wish I played with them if that was the case.
I watched a guy shuffle an Ace to the top of the deck, the 2 cards deep, 3,4, then 5. He said he could not go 5 deep. He even showed me what he was doing and I still couldn't see it. Basically, don't let the guy shuffle or ask a trusted player shuffle every deal until the game is over. That bothers some people, but those people are bothered for a reason. Also, don't quit playing, it's a fun game.
It shoulda never gotten to the point where he got even a buck. I wouldn't let anyone playing with me do anything until the cards were above the table. That should be obvious. If he's a "friend" of yours and is doing that, then he really sucks as a person.
Tell him that he is "lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut" Get up, turn over the table, then start the guns a blazin'.
Samething I was thinking.. Or you could make him feel really bad and say things like.. "Do you need money? I can help you out if you need help." make him feel really bad about what he's doing, not just getting mad at him..
Do what they used to do in the old west. Find the biggest knife you can lay your hands on. After you take a tough loss or even at the beginning of the game... pull the knife out, jam it into the table and announce that the penalty for cheating is death.
