Marked Card

[Rico Suave]

I am playing 4/8 @ Morongo in So Cal and a hand takes place where this lady raises preflop and ends up taking the down the pot on the river without showing. She slides the cards to the dealer, who places them on top of the muck, and as he slides the chips to her, I notice that there is a distinct indentation on the top card (in the middle of the card)--pretty obvious for me to be able to spot it from the 8 seat. Before the dealer gets a chance to wash and shuffle, I bring it to his attention and he pulls the card and it is the A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. He removes that deck of cards from play and we continue with the other deck without much fuss. Keep in mind there is no auto card shuffler (which I understand sometimes makes indentations on cards) and we just got a setup less than an hour ago.

It seemed pretty obvious to me at the time that the mark was intentional (I did not ask to see other aces in the deck, as no one seemed all that disturbed by the incident)...which is kind of laughable b/c this was a 4/8 table. I am a novice to live play so I was wondering if this happens a lot? Or am I just paranoid and the mark was most likely caused by some random abuse?

--Rico

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

A lot of cards get marked like this by the way that people bend them up and their fingernail creases it or by abusively placing chips on them. I doubt that it would be that easy for you to spot if it was an expert mark.

[Rico Suave]

Patrick:

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I doubt that it would be that easy for you to spot if it was an expert mark.

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True. Doubt there are many expert card markers slumming at the 4/8 (but, it was the highest limit game they had running [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] )

You are probably right that it was just random, but it just seemed too coincidental that it was an Ace, and we just had a set up.

--Rico

[jba]

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You are probably right that it was just random, but it just seemed too coincidental that it was an Ace, and we just had a set up.

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I was talking to a dealer once who said in all his years of dealing, 19/20 marked cards are aces.

[Georgia Avenue]

I have seen this a lot. This is the one sign of cheating that I have witnessed in many seperate spots: casinos, home games, and underground clubs. It's laughable, really ,how useless it is, but that's why it happens so often in 2/4-10/20 more than at higher levels. The degenerates who do this often have a little spikey ring that they flip around and casually indent an ace before throwing it away. Make sure to check the backs of the cards that you have particularly if you have an ace...

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Make sure to check the backs of the cards that you have particularly if you have an ace...

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Alternatively, if you are paranoid about cheating, leave the game. You will not be playing optimally.

[Randy_Refeld]

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You are probably right that it was just random, but it just seemed too coincidental that it was an Ace, and we just had a set up.

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Big cards are played more so they get marked more. Also the set up is pretty meaningless. Often the people doing set-ups dont' check the cards they just do them as fast as they can. Even this deck taken out of play by the dealer very well could come back; they shoudl see the ace and replace it, but it is highly likely the person doing the setup wants to take a break or go outside and smoke so they will put it together as quickly as possible.

[Mackie]

Not to say that was was surely NOT intentional, most of the time when I see a nicked card it's not one that anyone would bother to mark (a 4 for instance).

OTOH I once played Omaha and did notice that all the A's and 2's had nail marks on them. Marked cards, intentional or not, are the ONLY reason I ever ask for a setup.

[Tapin]

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I was talking to a dealer once who said in all his years of dealing, 19/20 marked cards are aces.

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Playing 6/12 LHE at the Bike last Friday, we had a card (I believe it was the 3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]) get bent. Called for a setup, got the deck replaced, fifteen minutes later a 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in the other color deck was dinged. Called for a setup, and Fredi the Floorman huffed and puffed about putting a camera on all of us because someone was obviously marking cards and that's it no more setups and who's the cheater etc etc.

From that point until the end of the session, "call the floor" became the standard response to any question at the table, inevitably followed by gales of laughter.

I still wonder who the brilliant cheat that was skipping the aces and going straight to fives and treys was at our table.

Some cards (not Kem) mark really easily and it's common to find a number of unintentionaly marked cards in any given deck. Regardless, I don't think it's a very big deal.