Poker Cards

Marked Cards

About one out of every hundred, or 1,500,000 of the 150 million decks of playing cards sold annually in these countries, is doctored at some time or other so that some or all of the 52 cards may be read from the back. Gamblers call marked cards readers, cheats refer to them as paper, and to the average player's bankroll them are poison. They are the most widely used mechanical cheating information device and are used by amateurs, semiprofessionals and top-notch pros because they require no manipulative skill, are surefire money winners and are almost never detected by the average easygoing, unsuspicious card player.

Poker Survey

The survey results show that not more than 2 average card players out of 100 know how or where to look for the markings. Not long ago I invited six card-playing couples to my home and tried an experiment. I gave them a dozen decks of cards still sealed in their original wrappers. "You have all been playing cards for the past twenty years," I said. "Some of you have lost considerable sums of money at cards on your winter vacations in Florida. These packs-four Bridge, four poker and four Pinochle-were made by twelve different manufacturers, and each has a different back design. One deck is marked and can be read from the back. I'll bet that in an hour's examination none of you can find it."
This was a challenge they couldn't resist and they went to work to prove that they could spot marked cards when they saw them. They even examined the pot limit card cases before opening the decks, looking for signs of tampering with the government seal. After taking the decks from the cases they did the same with the glassine paper in which the decks were wrapped. They found nothing. Then they began examining the backs of the cards. It was an arduous task but they stuck to it for the full hour; none of them wanted to admit that they couldn't spot a marked deck, even after having been told the marks were there.
"Okay," one of them said finally. "We give up. Which one is it?" "I have a confession to make," I said then. "I lied when I told you that one deck is marked."
One man, deck in hand, nearly threw it at me. 'That,' he growled, "is a dirty trick if I ever saw one. We spend an hour looking for something that isn't there. Is this supposed to be funny or something?" 'Well," I said, "it proves something. As a matter of fact, all twelve decks are marked."

Spot Marked Card

Since I had lied once, they wanted proof of this statement. I spent the next half hour reading the backs of cards from all twelve decks before my friends were completely convinced. They all agreed then that they would be smart to stay out of any big-money australian poker card games until they had learned how to spot marked cards. Like millions and millions of players who play regularly and who often lose more than they can afford, all my friends had heard of marked cards but hadn't the slightest notion of what to look for or how to examine a deck properly.

Card Gambling Devices

Marked cards are commonplace because they are easy to obtain. Anyone can send a quarter to one of the gambling supply houses whose ads run regularly in certain national men's magazines and receive by return mail an 80 page catalog of crooked gambling devices. One catalog contains 16 pages listing many varieties of marked cards priced at from $5 to $8 per deck. For $20 they sell a do-it-yourself card-marking kit consisting of "two bottles, French type card ink, one Red, one Blue, two brushes, two glass palettes, 24 cellophane wrappers cut to fit, 24 red tear-off strips, one bottle of special cement for cellophane, and full instructions." Marked decks can also be obtained cheaper (about $4 per deck) at many trick and novelty stores whose proprietors sell them "for magic purposes only."