Ex Poker Pro

The other day I sat down into a game and the first hand I get is AQ. But what I notice is that both cards have finger nail marks dented in the middle of the card. Where someone would have either accidentally or purposely bent the card when looking at them. I immediately after I folded the hand asked for two new cards. But I ask you this, was that the correct thing to do? Or should I have just sat back and remembered that the A and Q were marked? I have very good eyes and could have seen the mark on at least half the table so it would have been used to my advantage. However here are the reasons for not doing that. First and most important, poker is tough enough to play why do you want to confuse yourself with new variables that you are not use to dealing with. Also if you get these cards someone else will have the same advantage against you. The problem is you wont know if they know your cards. This adds another unknown variable to the game. For moral reasons its not fair, and although not really cheating because you didn’t mark the card yourself it is trying to use an unfair advantage. I have also found that as I focus on that I don’t focus on other things going on at the table, sometimes I even get the wrong information. As I sat around and played a little longer I noticed that lots of the cards were marked. The place I was playing at the time replaces one card at a time so I didn’t want to slow down the game with one card at a time. Instead I waited until I knew 4 cards and asked for a deck change because so many cards were marked. Which they were then happy to do. Another reason I didn’t want to slow down the game is because the fish in the game had just won a bunch of money and was getting ready to leave. I knew if I stopped the game he would pick up and go. Which was the result of the deck change unfortunately. The card grader then came back to me and told me that 14 cards in the 2 decks had been marked. Not all big cards so it was most likely some idiot who didn’t know how to look at their cards, and not a cheater.

The point of this is that if I were trying to use the nail marks to my advantage there would have been no way of knowing which cards were which. Instead of relying on what I am good at ( poker reads ), It always amazes me at how much work it is to cheat. You have to be really good at it to make it work and at any time you could get banned for life. If you put all the same energy into playing well you would be much better off. The only real reason to cheat is if you really want that rush of trying to get away with something. But you can just rob a bank if you want something like that.

So what I do and also my point is, always take out the marked cards no matter how small they are. Don’t worry if other people get mad because its such a small mark. I have even been made fun of by dealers that say you cant see that from far away, I just say would they play blackjack with that card? Obviously the answer is NO. So Us poker players deserve the same perfect condition cards as everyone else.