Bent cards and setups

[llcoolez]

I was playing this afternoon at Trump Chicago when the player to the left of me flipped over his hand at the showdown and I noticed that his cards had indentations and were visibly bent (in the middle of the long edge of the card, about 1/2 of an inch from the edge). I pointed this out to the dealer, who responded "Oh, they are all like that." It looked to me like not all of the cards were like this, but just some of them. Another player at the table requested a setup, but the dealer just ignored the request.

Thoughts?

[callydrias]

Blame it on crappy cards and the automatic shufflers. One of the local card rooms down here is the same way. You can ask for a setup, but you'll just get more bent cards. Rest easy in the fact that there are enough bent cards that it's almost impossible for someone to figure out what you're holding.

[slavic]

The mark you described is from the autoshuffler. Not much that you or they can do, and if you are a winning player that autoshuffler is too valuable to let go of.

[stanky]

Like the others said, the shuffle machines bend the cards as do players, mostly by accident. That being said I do suspect a couple of players in East Chicago of marking cards. Look for a nail mark in the center of the card, if it's an Ace don't be afraid to ask for a set up, if the dealer ignores you just ask the floor person directly. Unfortunately the new cards they bring are usually not "new" and end up having the same marks anyway.

[SheridanCat]

You can always bend the card in half and toss it in. You might get a warning, but it gets a bad card out of the game. I think the intentional marking problem occurs most in rooms spreading Omaha. That's my experience anyway.

The bends you saw could easily be the autoshufflers beating up cards that should have been out of circulation long ago.

Regards,

T

[Photoc]

I deal with both KEM and Copag cards at work. KEMs are great when they are brand new, but after about 1 week of use, they become sickly warped now. Ever since they got bought by another company, the brand has been absolute [censored].

Copags on the other hand hold up well, but after they are used for awhile, they just stick together horribly and missdeals are common by multiple cards sticking together during the deal. They aren't warping at all.

The shuffling machines are killing the cards though. They are bending them or denting them.

Any other dealers notice that MOST of the KEMs that are warping do this:
Green bends towards the back of the cards (up if they are face down) and brown is bending just the opposite. (down if they are face down).