Marked decks

Pre-bought marked decks are cheap, easy-to-read and difficult to spot unless you know what you’re looking for. Every major brand has a cheat version, factory-sealed and identical to the real thing except for the markings. Get online and view various designs for yourself, and always perform the gambler’s riffle test: to spot any tiny markings on the backs of cards, use the deck like a flicker-book cartoon. You’ll soon see them dancing.

Braille

Don’t just keep an eye on important cards, feel them too. Any bumps, blisters, crimps, scratches, bent corners, fingernail marks, rough patches, smooth patches, frayed edges – demand a new deck. And be aware that opened decks can easily be re-glued with authentic factory seals and cellophane, so check them too. Any markings will be very subtle and subject to plausible excuses –reject them both.

Square the deck

To feel if any cards are, well… not. Belly-stripping is the art of trimming every card minutely but leaving important ones a bit fatter in the middle. Tapering can also be used. Also look for trimming, which turns a simple repeating back pattern into a marked deck. Do they all have the little diamonds chopped in half at the edges, or is it just the Aces?

Facial

Feel the faces of cards near their corners. Nobody thinks cards can be marked on the faces, but they can. Black-line work is the art of using a scalpel to make tiny cuts right on the borders of black areas where they will never be noticed. What’s the point? Because the dealer’s fingertips will feel them as he deals the cards.

Count the deck

Make sure you count the deck every so often. Card mucking is not just the wise practise of binning J-Q suited in the face of a re-raise, it is the surprisingly common practice of ‘borrowing’ a useful card during play and swapping it into a hand when required.