Blackjack Cheats: Playing with Dirty Hands

In every game, there will always be those who will try to get the upper hand by cheating. The presence of cheaters doesn't much help the reputation of casino games, and especially card games such as Blackjack.

Perhaps the "oldest trick in the book" is card switching. Like an old magician's trick, this involves hiding at least two cards inside your shirt sleeves and employing some quick sleight-of-hand to swap the actual cards in your hand with them. Another way of switching cards is card mucking, where the player stealthily switches cards in and out of their hands.

Marking cards is another old blackjack cheat, used for identifying the dealer's face-down card. Some cheaters have long, sharp fingernails which they use to leave scratch marks on the cards. Another method of marking cards is card bending, when the player marks cards secretly by bending or crimping them.

Some blackjack cheaters employ strategies that need the help of an accomplice. One such technique is "spooking," wherein someone peeks at the hole card over the dealer's shoulder, then secretly relays the information on to another player.

Dealers are usually trained to spot any instances of cheating at the blackjack table, but what if the dealer is in on the scam? In dealer collusion, cheaters resort to plain old bribery to coerce the dealer to fix the game in their favor. Of course, a dealer who can be bribed wouldn't necessarily make such a trustworthy accomplice either.

There is one kind of blackjack cheating that, technically, isn't cheating at all. Card counting is a system of keeping track of the ratio of high to low cards that remain undealt in the deck. Counting cards doesn't actually break the rules of the game; the player is merely employing good strategy, making use of the knowledge available to them and turning it to their advantage. Nonetheless, card counting is such an effective method that many casinos frown on it for fear of getting cleaned out.

It is not the intention of this article to encourage players to cheat at blackjack. Rather, by being informed on the various techniques of blackjack cheating, players may be able to identify such occurrences and avoid being cheated at the game. For those considering the use of dishonest means to make a killing at the casinos, keep in mind that no amount of money that you collect at the blackjack table is worth the humiliation and dishonor once you get caught in the act.