He lifted the cards so high I could see every face when riffling and he himself was staring very closely at all the cards on every riffle. THIS IS NOT STANDARD PROCEDURE ANYWHERE. I politely asked him about it and his reaction gave me a knot in my stomach, like he worried he had just been caught in the wrong. I gave him the benefit of good grace for the time being. Later he dealt around me while I was sitting in my seat but looking down and another player asked why. Instead of announcing misdeal and re-dealing myself a hand as should have been done like I've seen 1000 times before, he just looked at me like "oh well". Again, gave me a knot in my stomach and really felt like he did it intentionally to personally attack my presence.
Bottom line, as players we all have to PAY MORE ATTENTION to how dealers shuffle and follow, or do not follow, standard procedure.
When riffling the deck, the dealer should ALWAYS keep the cards low enough to the table so that no one, even the dealer, can see ANY faces of the cards. Also, the dealer should not be looking intently downward at the deck while riffling.
I've sat down with a professional magician who showed me all the tricks and performed them in front of me to show me how easily dealers, or more appropriately "magicians", can actually cheat by setting the deck right in front of everyone without anyone noticing.
If you see a dealer lifting the cards high enough to expose the faces while riffling, the chances you are being cheated are vastly increased to say the least.
Sadly, I've been noticing this may actually be much more common than any of us players realize ACROSS THE COUNTRY. I feel this especially after learning this from a professional magician who himself admitted to cheating in the past and to having knowledge of others cheating as well.
The simplest scam is just to give winning hands to friends, by second-card or middle-card dealing, in big pots who then throw the dealer a FAT @#$% tip or will actually split winnings later off the felt.
Pay more attention everyone, don't argue with the dealers, if you notice something you feel is suspicious trust your instinct and address it directly with management as well as making it public. THIS NEEDS TO BECOME WIDESPREAD KNOWLEDGE TO SAVE THE PURITY OF THE GAME OF POKER. In my opinion, it's in serious danger and I'm just about ready to walk away from poker forever myself and I think everyone should be very alarmed. Also, don't even play poker in Texas AT ALL because there is no gaming commission to even regulate or investigate potential cheating.
As for the other states, bring all concerns to the GM of whichever room you notice suspicious dealing because the floor supervisors may not be equipped to even investigate it themselves, and again, MAKE IT PUBLIC.
Watch the documentary "Dealt" to see how smoothly and effectively someone can set a deck when shuffling. It's an extreme example, but it exemplifies the potential anyone has to effectively fool everyone at the table.
I hope the management from Lebanon Poker Room reads this post and takes the appropriate actions to correct these issues with all of their dealers. Personally, I don't think there should be any leniency whatsoever in regards to cheating, and in situations where there is only even potential for it, or dealers are not following proper procedures, management should seriously lean towards serious consequences up to and including recommending termination of employment to these dealers and the revoking of their gaming license by whichever states gaming commission. WHERE THERE IS ONE BAD APPLE, THERE ARE LIKELY MORE.
Again, I always give people the benefit of good grace and I'm certainly not stating for a fact there was cheating in this situation, but it's left me with a really bad taste in my mouth and sickness in my gut and has me up at 5:30 a.m. typing away at this post.
And I ask all of you, how do you think this would make you feel if it happened to you?
Stay aware, WATCH the dealers, report suspicious observations, and always MAKE IT PUBLIC for everyone to decide together what is real or ILLUSION.
THE PURITY OF THE GAME DEPENDS ON ALL OF US!
I like to end on a positive note so I must mention that the action in this room was great and the overall vibe was friendly, professional, and fun from the majority of players and staff.
