For the love of God, have someone else cut the cards!

[jedi]

In the last month, I've read several threads about suspected home game cheaters. It's always the same thing. Someone shuffles, and either the cards aren't cut or are cut by the dealer. MAKE SURE THE CARDS ARE CUT BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE DEALER! If that was the standard procedure, none of these cheating posts would have been made.

Sorry about the rant, but geez guys it's not that hard to stop that type of cheating.

[KornGeek]

Sadly, this thread should not even be necessary.

My feeling is that if you suspect somebody is cheating, you still allow them to shuffle their own deck, and you don't insist on a cut, then you aren't being cheated. At that point, you are allowing them to stack the deck.

[Lottery Larry]

Rant on, brother!

(Now, I ranted on this several times in the past few weeks. If I do not possess The Force, as you do, should I have been pooh-poohed?)

[Lottery Larry]

Preventing this type of thing in the first place, without casting suspicion, is why home games should adopt this practice anyway from the getgo.


That is why I set my rules up with the dealer cutting, but not shuffling the deck about to go into play.

[KenProspero]

Previous dealer shuffles, next dealer cuts. Standard in my games. Sometimes the next dealer declines to do so, but he is ALWAYS offered the deck.

[gmunny]

Ditto for our home games. We use the same procedure as Ken. It doesn't matter who is playing, if there is are new persons playing for the first time in our group or all old friends, everyone abides by this rule. Proper procedures can eliminate a lot of future headaches.
G$

[Lottery Larry]

(if anyone wants to lift and adopt them for your own use)

"8. Dealer responsibility rotates around the table clockwise; the button indicates the dealer position. Two decks are provided for the table; we will alternate decks, shuffling one deck while a hand is being played with the other.

SHUFFLING- The player to the right of the active dealer is responsible for shuffling the previously-used deck each hand. The shuffler should insure that the deck is properly randomized before play, using a mix of shuffling techniques. This shuffling should include at least 5 and preferably 7+ riffle shuffles.

Once the deck has been sufficiently randomized, the shuffler should square up the shuffled deck, put the cut card on top and pass the deck to the appropriate dealer.
If the deck is fumbled, a card is exposed, or any question arises as to the randomness of the shuffling or the exposure of some of the deck to another player, the shuffler should take back the deck, reshuffle for randomization and then pass the deck carefully in the preferred manner.

WASHING- Once every few rounds or less, the deck should be “washed” by the shuffler. Without impeding the progress of the hand currently dealt, the shuffler should spread the cards out, face down, and then mix them together-the cards should remain face down and flat on the table.
Once washed, the shuffler should gather up the cards and shuffle thoroughly, then pass the cards on to the proper dealer-to-be with the cut card on top.

COUNTDOWN- When possible, the shuffler should first count down the deck, in order to insure that the proper number of cards are in the deck.

CUTTING- The player receiving the shuffled deck- who will be dealing the next hand with that deck- should cut the deck, making sure the cut card is on the bottom to hide the bottom card while dealing. The cut should be preferably 3 or more piles of varying size.
Again, if the deck is fumbled, a card is exposed, or any question arises as to the exposure of some of the deck to another player, the future dealer should take back the deck, reshuffle for randomization and then pass the deck carefully in the preferred manner to a player not in the current hand to be cut."

Hope that helps someone,
LL

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
The cut should be preferably 3 or more piles of varying size.

[/ QUOTE ]
Technically, this is a "box", not a cut. Many casinos require a riffle to follow any box, not end with a box (as you have).

Do you really countdown the deck DURING the game? I think that would slow-down the table to no end. I can wash and shuffle the cards during hands, but I guess you can count faster than I can. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
The cut should be preferably 3 or more piles of varying size.

[/ QUOTE ]
"Technically, this is a "box", not a cut. Many casinos require a riffle to follow any box, not end with a box (as you have)."

** Wait, if you cut the deck into two piles, it's a cut, but 3 or more piles is called a "box"? Why?

Here's what I personally do- I read this somewhere, but I can't find the post now:

Deck is made up of piles 4 3 2 1 (four being on top, 1 on bottom). I "cut"/"box" the deck like this: 1 2 3 4. I pick the cards back up like this: 3 1 2 4

I then deal. That gets rid of the top and bottom cards and should make cold-decking or arranging cards tough to do, for whoever shuffled the deck and handed it to me.

Sometimes I'll do it 1 2 3 and pick up 2 1 3 to break up the pattern. Once in a great while I will do the typical 2-pile cut.

"Do you really countdown the deck DURING the game? I think that would slow-down the table to no end. I can wash and shuffle the cards during hands, but I guess you can count faster than I can. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]"

*** I'm usually the only one who counts down the deck semi-regularly, unless a card is dropped/missing and we know it. We use two decks, remember, so I can do this quickly while I'm shuffling for the next dealer.

I almost never wash and count down in the same hand. As you said, takes too long.

Yes, I've learned to count down pretty quickly. Make piles of 10 cards- that way it's easy to go back and catch mistakes. That also serves as a semi-wash, if you pick the piles up in a different order than you counted them out (and then shuffle/strip some more).

With a little practice, I bet you can do it also. Let me know if you try it.

LL

[KenProspero]

Undoubtedly, you're right, but ......

I can just imagine the looks I'd get if I tried this in my game. Maybe this defines the problem. Since cut/shuffle policies in home games are as much custom as anything else, maybe in some cases, changing the 'way things are done'would bruise the spirit of the game as it had been played.