Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
The ordinary player also thinks the cards are marked when they are
The ordinary player also thinks the cards are marked when they are printed. They aren't; reputable card manufacturers are not on the side of the cheats. But their cards do get marked later. The gambling-supply house or the cheat himself buys honest decks of standard brands. They heat and soften the adhesive and remove both the box sticker and glassine wrapping. Then the cards are marked by hand with a special marking ink. Finally the glassine wrapper is replaced and neatly repasted, the deck reinserted in its case, and the box sticker glued on again.
Markings may be "light work" or "strong work," that is, marked
Markings may be "light work" or "strong work," that is, marked with fine lines or with easier-to-see heavier lines. Light work is used by professional cheats against smart or alert opponents; against the chumps the strong work goes in because it is easier to read during play. Amateur cheats use strong work, which can often be read from across the table five or six feet away. Cards are marked near both ends so that they can be read no matter which end is exposed to the Poker cheat.