With poker's accelerating popularity and millions of new players nationally and internationally looking to get in on the excitement of live action at the tables and computer games on Internet, people will always wonder about cheating.
They will argue, they will question the rules, they will suspect that some crossroader is sitting across the table from them just waiting to snap them off and take their money. While we have some access to cheating in video format, few books go into deep detail about how cheaters operate in poker games, probably because there are few authors who are experts in the field.
In his book Casino Games Protection, published three years ago, Steve Forte covered cheating at all casino games including (a small section on) poker. Because we now see poker as a major player in gaming, many individuals inside and outside the industry asked Forte to expand that section to a stand-alone book on protecting America's hottest game. He's done just that with Poker Protection- Cheating...and the World of Poker. Forte draws a small portion (about 30 pages) of this book from Casino Games Protection, which sells for $200, and adds more than 300 more pages to create this vital resource for everyone who specializes in this game.
Until the new wave of televised gaming arrived, casinos pretty much ignored poker when they set up their surveillance because they believed they didn't need to protect something in which they had no vested interest. After all, the house didn't have any cash interest, other than the rake, because the money at stake belonged to each individual player. The players themselves where the house, so it's likely the casino fi gured they should protect themselves. Now, however, with the growth of multi-million dollar tournaments and the eyes of the world watching on TV, with many corporate sponsors nervously following the action, casino management should pay more attention to the game for the protection of their new customers, for their own reputation as an honest establishment, and for future need, should they become involved in the bigger poker picture. And that's where Forte's book becomes a must-read.
In the ground-breaking effort, Forte explains how cheaters operated a century ago and how they operate today. He discusses the opportunities for cheating, including collusion in tournaments. He points out how, for instance, how fi nal table deals occur and how this can result in chip dumping. He points out why deliberate slow play should alert novice players, supervisors and tournament organizers to actions that could devastate their casino or reputation. In the online area he discusses the "core of every online poker hand," the RNG (random number generator), including an explanation of how serious security issues surfaced in 1999 allowing astute computer players to dissect one site's technology to predict the hole cards of all players and what cards would hit on fourth and fi fth street.
Forte is not intimating that poker is riddled with fi xers and cheaters. In truth, he expresses an optimistic opinion and he praises those responsible for watching and supervising the game for their diligence in keeping the action-live and on the net--clean and honest for the most part. At the same time, he presents a checklist for those who prefer home and private games. This list includes questioning who is hosting the game and where, how long the game has been running, who is dealing, who are the other players, are the cards shuffl ed and cut properly, are the discards safe, who supplied the cards, what kind are they and have they been opened prior to the start of the game. Each of these (and other) segments leave room for cheating.
All in all this work should steer readers away from trouble games and put them on the alert for potential scamsters. But it should also allow supervisors, dealers, gaming enforcement personnel in every state and in every nation the opportunity to keep their games above reproach by making them aware of danger zones.
-Howard Schwartz
