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Poor Card Capping Technique (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Irish
- Start date
OP
OP
Wasn't done on purpose and if you're not paying attention, it's not obvious what you're doing to the cards. You often feel the crease in the card before you see it. It take very little pressure on the chip to make a small crease, especially with a sharp minty capper.
Exactly…. And that’s weird about it…. With a sharp chip above the cards it’s a logical consequence that it will damage the cards while peaking this was….
Marc Hedrick
3 of a Kind
This is a common issue at my games -- And I think a common issue at almost any casino (and likely most home games). I've started to notice it when dealing mostly, although others find it easier to see when the light hits the card just right when it's on the board.
Judging by the randomness of the cards with markings, cheating is pretty much ruled out, especially at my game where I trust just about everyone. I honestly think it's pretty much nothing to worry about at this point -- although I will change the decks out at the end of the game if they are damaged.
I've also noticed this in many poker vlogs, especially Neeme and Owen vlogs. These marks can be seen when they peek at their cards quite often.
Judging by the randomness of the cards with markings, cheating is pretty much ruled out, especially at my game where I trust just about everyone. I honestly think it's pretty much nothing to worry about at this point -- although I will change the decks out at the end of the game if they are damaged.
I've also noticed this in many poker vlogs, especially Neeme and Owen vlogs. These marks can be seen when they peek at their cards quite often.
MrCatPants
Full House
I'm just wondering if I should keep fighting the fight on this. I've been replacing cards before each game, reminding/bitching at players about capping techniques, etc. Ultimately, these aren't easily seeable unless you're flexing the card in the light to look for the reflection having a distortion for players other than the dealer. For the dealer though, I can literally feel one of these cards leaving my hand. If half the cards were marked up, it's not a problem. If only one or two are, it could convey some extra information.
What is the purpose of using a card capper in a home game anyway? Do people have bursts of wind rushing through their rooms that threaten to blow over cards on the table? Seems completely unnecessary
CantSpellPoker
Straight
Mostly it presents the opportunity to put another pretty chip on the table. That’s pretty much why I use one. You can obviously use one from your existing stack, but then people would never say, “Can I see that?” … which is the ultimate satisfaction when you bring a card capper from home.
Now it makes perfect sense!
Same reason people use one in a casino - to keep the dealer from mucking a live hand or to keep people tossing their mucked cards onto your live ones. Believe me, I’m always the one to point out the extra useless stuff that isn’t necessary. But card protectors are always a good idea. (Though I usually just use some of the live chips in my stack to protect my cards)
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The real purpose is to cap your cards so that you protect your live hand. I generally don’t care at my home game, because I can tell someone what my cards were, they can check, and pull them from the muck or seperate them from the cards someone throws into my hand.
Now if I’m at a casino - I’m already nervous enough. I’m there to win some monies, the last thing I need to worry about is them saying I made a fold action or an over aggressive new dealer grabbing my cards or some dickwad throws his cards at me. I cap my cards there. I’m loosey goosey but something about a casino just feels procedural.
If I’m playing a hand that I split - triple hold em, simultaneous hold em and super holdem, simultaneous hold em and omaha - I use card cappers. It’s way easier to lose cards in a muck during these as with a full table you have 24 potential hands on the table. Also, it helps visually. I have 3 hands all capped and only pick one up at a time. 0 way for someone to cheat this way or for someone to claim cheating.
Pretty much what's been said already. It's to protect your hand (s) from getting mucked by an overzealous dealer that may presume uncapped cards are dead/mucked.
...and this.
Yup, I’m done. I’m done swapping out setups mid-game unless a player requests it. I’m done tossing setups because they have somebody’s thumbnail or chip mark on some of the cards. Because it happens to every setup I open, and it’s discouraging. I don’t know who’s doing it, but I’m not about to ruin my nights trying to watch for it. And, as such, I’m done chasing the perfect plastic card. It’s just throwing money down the drain.
I’m seriously thinking about switching to paper and just using new decks every session or even every couple of hours.
Paper decks are unshuffleable (is that a word?) compared to plastic. I could never go back to paper.
grandmeme
Straight
I used to complain about this to one of my good friends, and he helped me out by suggesting to split setup costs with the rest of the group. It's certainly cut down on how many setups I run through, and people don't bring in card cappers anymore as well. People are much more understanding about it now as well. But my home game is very tight, and I've had the same players every single time for like, 5 years straight. So maybe it's worth a shot asking?
JohnnyR80
Pair
what about way thicker plastic cards?
Maybe. I don't care for thicker cards, especially if they're stiffer. But I'll give it a try, especially if they're cheaper. I'm the first guy to say that if you can't handle somebody splashing the pot with your nice chips, you should be playing with cheaper chips. So that's the direction I have to go with cards. I'm not going to stress about how people are peeking at their cards, so I'll just have to find cheaper cards that I don't care about.
ekricket
Royal Flush
How about just mark all the cards in the deck like this. Then it don’t matter.
How about a “dented” card back style from one if the manufacturers.
OP
OP
Won't make a difference, most of the cards I use are thicker card stock (Modiano/Dal Negro/Fournier) and it's the same across the board. Sharp edge applied to card = dent, and it really doesn't take much pressure at all.
Semper247
High Hand
I have seen people do it with there fingernails. Als makes the same mark as a chip.I posted this in the Jersey meetup thread a couple months back, several folks suggested I add it to the playing card section of the forum as an FYI / PSA. Here it is.... better late than never
There were several instances of players finding marked cards on the main black table on Friday night. The decks were changed out when they were found, but I believe we changed out 3 setups in the matter of a couple of hours. Another marked setup was found on Saturday during the tournament on the green hulk table in the shop. The marks on all the cards were very consistent, a slight bend about an inch from the edge of the long side of the card:
This type of mark is typically caused by a poor card capping technique, where a chip is placed over the cards to cover them - then left on top as the player peaks at their cards, like this:
It really doesn't take very much pressure to mark a card like this, the corner of the chip is quite effective at creasing the card. Sometimes it's done intentionally to mark certain cards, as it's really tough to see unless you're specifically looking for it - you often "feel" it before you see it.
Posting this as a PSA to alert folks that this kind of card capping can very quickly destroy a set of cards - and get you into trouble. Some hosts won't take the time to go through and vet the deck and if they notice you doing it, they'll automatically assume you're doing it on purpose and toss you.
TLDR: If you cap with a chip, always remember to remove the chip from your cards before peaking at them.
RagahRagah
Flush
I admit my life is difficult and at many a time I do dumb things that make me shake my head at myself... but then when I see that we apparently need to pin things like this for people I feel a little better about my situation.
I also figure if you can't remember your cards, don't cap them. Only time I cap my cards is when I sit directly next to the dealer, as a precaution.
I also figure if you can't remember your cards, don't cap them. Only time I cap my cards is when I sit directly next to the dealer, as a precaution.
Semper247
High Hand
If i have AA and the flop comes 8JA...i still look at my cards
it is a sort of mind game.But i still use a cardprotector (a real dutch one whenn in the US) on my cards. Just to be sure
And when i get busted out the tournament, i give it away. I always pack more
Attachments
Good thread. I've never really paid attention to it until now and a few decks of 2021 WSOP cards have these markings, which I guess isnt surprising. Guess when I started to play I never really kept a chip on top of my cards and if I did, moved it to peek. Unintentional or not, its annoying.
merkong
Full House
Great. One more thing I have to watch for as host.
More than annoying,, costly. Setups of decent cards aren’t cheap.
That, and some card setups are impossible to replace as they are discontinued and aren't made anymore. If I have a new player coming, I'll put a setup into play that I wouldn't mind if it got beat up before I can trust them with the good/rare stuff. Luckily I've been able to help make @Irish whole on his lost set ups from last year. I'd throw a shit fit if one of my Zero, Piatnik, or rare Dal Negro set ups that I can't easily replace or can't replace at all got marked.
studog
Pair
In my game where this is an issue, we replaced about half a dozen decks before giving up and just living with it. While a larger group, we all know and trust each other so we don't think it's intentional. And it's cards of all ranks and suits, so it's not going to convey much. And if we never figure out the culprit, eventually all the cards will be marked, which makes them... unmarked again. Kinda.
studog
Pair
I came here to post about a weird problem my one game is having with marked cards... and here is this thread! We've always assumed it was a fingernail, a card protector just never came up. I'll bring this back to my group and see if this helps us identify the culprit.
The game's been running for about 20 years, but the marking is newish. Maybe since 2016? Interestingly I play in two games, and it doesn't happen in the other one, so I can rule out myself and about half a dozen other players-in-common. That doesn't narrow it down much because the game with the problem has a fairly large roster.
But if we've been looking for the wrong "weapon" that would explain why we can't seem to track down the culprit.
The game's been running for about 20 years, but the marking is newish. Maybe since 2016? Interestingly I play in two games, and it doesn't happen in the other one, so I can rule out myself and about half a dozen other players-in-common. That doesn't narrow it down much because the game with the problem has a fairly large roster.
But if we've been looking for the wrong "weapon" that would explain why we can't seem to track down the culprit.
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