[Swampy]

Yes, it's paranoia. If virtually all dealers had the card handling chops to cheat undetected, they wouldn't be risking prosecution or even working a job as tough as dealing to split winnings or gather a few extra tokes. Maybe in private games, but highly doubtful in casinos. There was only one time (at the Trop, coincidentally) when I thought a stud dealer might have -- emphasis on "might" -- been manipulating the deal. Some a**h*** got abusive and caught the deuce of clubs as his upcard four times running It could as easily have been just a statistical anomaly, or karmic tumblers clicking into place. But as a regular occurrence? Nope.