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Peeking -- seeing a card in the deck while dealing -- without making any suspicious movements is easy to master and can be worth a fortune. In fact, certain peeking maneuvers are so easy and invisible that they are Neocheating. Peeking can be an especially useful Neocheating tool for stud poker and blackjack. And knowing (by an invisible peek) the last card dealt to an opponent in lowball offers a crushing advantage. Even in gin rummy, a Neocheater can through an invisible peek always know the next card to be drawn from the deck by his opponent.
The first peeking technique is particularly suited for stud and blackjack (but is also useful for draw poker, especially lowball). Suppose the Neocheater is dealing seven-card stud, and only he and one other player are left in the action. One face-down card remains to be dealt. The Neocheater's opponent has raised, probably on three fours plus a four-card flush. The Neocheater must now drop, call, or reraise. With three wired aces, he has his opponent beaten, but could be destroyed if that opponent improves on the next card.
To know the next card, the Neocheater simply grips the deck in his left hand as he normally would when dealing -- his index finger curled across the top edge, his three fingers wrapped around the bottom, and his thumb across the top card. With understandable caution, the Neocheater then decides to "recheck his hole cards". To help camouflage his peek, he may check his two hole cards one at a time -- not peeking while checking his first hole card.
But as he lifts his second hole card with his right thumb and index finger, his left hand moves in (ostensibly to prevent opponents from seeing his hole card). During that shielding process, the dealer inverts the deck in a casual and normal manner as shown in Figure 27. Now with the top of the deck concealed from everyone's view except the dealer's, his left thumb slides back slightly and then pushes forward on the top card to warp that card just enough to see its value in the upper corner. Immediately, his left thumb releases the pressure, and he casually brings the deck face down again while simultaneously releasing the hole card from his right thumb.
In private blackjack, the dealer follows the same procedure to peek at the hit card to be dealt to himself as he checks his hole card or cards. (This peek is not practical for casino 21 because the dealer hits himself according to fixed rules.)
The peek is done without hesitation or hurry. With both hands synchronized, it takes only a few minutes of practice to execute smoothly. When inverting the deck, arrange your finger and hand positions as shown in Figure 27 to completely shield the peek. Ironically, during this natural-appearing move, the most an opponent might object to or worry about is someone seeing the relatively insignificant bottom card flash (without ever realizing that the dealer is simultaneously peeking at the crucial top card). To avoid that objection, simply hold together your left fingers that are wrapped around the bottom card to completely conceal it. But the Neocheater may purposely expose that bottom card to the other players in order to diabolically distract them by letting them think that they are gaining a sneaky advantage over the dealer (since he cannot see the bottom card from his angle).
An alternative peeking technique designed for stud poker is illustrated in Figure 28. As the top card is turned over while being dealt, the dealer holds that card in his right hand momentarily over the top of the deck while announcing the card's value. As shown in Figure 28, that card provides a shield for the peek. And that peek is especially effective when only one opponent remains because that peeked-at card will be dealt to him on the next round.
This peek differs from the previous two peeking techniques in that the bottom corner rather than the top corner of the top card is read. Figure 29 shows the position of the deck for this peek variation. The dealer holds the deck well down in the left palm with the middle finger meeting the right corner and with the left thumb resting parallel across the top. He wedges the upper left edge of the deck tightly against the fleshy base of the thumb. His left thumb then reaches slightly forward (across the top card) and slides back that top card so it can be read as shown in Figure 29. After the peek, a push with the base of the thumb quickly moves that top card back into normal position for dealing.
As with peek variation #2 the dealer does not have to feign looking at his hole cards to execute this peek. He peeks in conjunction with any natural movement that momentarily conceals the deck, such as when putting chips into the pot with the right hand while peeking with the left hand (as shown in Figure 29) or when counting chips or bills with the right hand. Some peekers keep an ashtray to the front and left of their chips and peek while using the right arm as a cover when putting out a cigarette or flicking ashes. ... Neocheaters always glance, never stare when peeking. And they expose only enough of the card to glimpse its value.
The bottom-card peek is easy. The deck is held in the left hand. The right hand then comes over to either square the deck or put it on the table. As the right fingers grip the top of the deck, the left index finger slips beneath the deck. The first joint of the left index finger then presses against the bottom card and slides it out about a half inch from the rear of the deck. Immediately the right thumb grips that bottom card and bends it up, flattening it against the rear of the deck (as shown in Figure 30) so the card can be quickly read. The entire move can be done in one or two seconds. The moment the card is read, it is released and the left index finger pulls the card forward, square against the deck again.
A player does not have to be a bottom dealer to take advantage of this peek. Simply knowing that bottom card can give him a slight edge and at times a very important edge, especially in stud poker.
The gin-rummy peek is used in rummy games or in any game in which cards are drawn off a deck that sits on the table. The dealer's right center finger slides the top card towards him with just enough pressure to drag the second card out slightly over the edge of the deck. The right thumb then lifts both cards at the same time as shown in Figure 31. Immediately after glimpsing at the second card, the forefinger quickly flattens both cards down again before removing the top card from the deck. With a little practice, this maneuver is invisible and undetectable.
Neocheating is a concept -- a concept of safe and easy cheating . Actually, any cheating technique including any traditional or classical technique that is safe and easy is Neocheating. Even collusion cheating becomes Neocheating when it delivers safe and easy advantages. In fact, one of the ultimate Neocheating ploys involves collusion.[ 27 ]
That collusion ploy is one of the subtlest and most potent of all cheating techniques. The anecdotes in the first chapter show two examples in which John Finn encounters collusion Neocheating in stud and hold 'em poker in public casinos. Even with all his poker expertise, John cannot beat that kind of cheating.
Such collusion Neocheating involves a dealer who casually remembers the sequence of gathered cards. He then blind shuffles and false riffles those cards. Thus after dealing, he knows everyone's hole cards and proceeds to signal the appropriate moves (bets, raises, folds, calls) to his partner. With those instructions from an all-knowing dealer, the partner gains natural-appearing but unbeatable advantages. ... The dealer in effect makes his partner function as a super good player who plays flawlessly by "reading every hand perfectly". Moreover, by being totally indifferent to the fall of the cards, the Neocheating partner cannot be read. To beat that kind of collusion Neocheating, a player would have to know what the dealer knows (i.e., everyone's hole cards) through perfect reading of all opponents. But unfortunately, perfect reading of all opponents is not possible.
Collusion Neocheating flourishes in casino poker because the house dealer totally controls the cards and deals every hand -- no player ever touches or cuts the deck. (Ironically, one reason casinos employ poker dealers is to prevent cheating.)
Recently, a similar form of potent Neocheating has begun penetrating private games. In private games, however, the Neocheater does not need a partner. He simply learns (by methods described in previous chapters) and remembers all opponents' hole cards during his deal. While unlike the casino dealer and his partner who have their collusion advantages available for every hand, the Neocheater's advantages in private poker are available only once every round --during his deal. Still, that advantage is sufficient to generate unbeatable long-range advantages in most games. And most importantly, that Neocheater cannot be caught because he not only never needs to use tell-tale devices or gaffs, but he never even needs to stack the cards. In fact, no direct evidence is ever available for accusing him of cheating.
Detect peeking by:
Defend against peeking by:
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[ 27 ] For details on that and other forms of collusion cheating, see Chapters 1, VII, and XI.
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