Marking
Another way to cheat in blackjack, which is considered to be the most popular one is called card marking. Actually it is not as difficult as it seems to be at first and it means nothing for a professional cheater to use this method.
What is the point?
Well, nothing special. A player tries to mark a card somehow in order to know what will be the hole card of dealer. The easiest way of card marking is using your fingernails. And you are lucky here if you are a woman. As a rule, women have long nails and it is much easier for them to scratch a card. Actually, women often use not only their nails to mark a card but also their lipstick for example or powder.
A short history of card marking.
The card marking is actually an old way to cheat. We can even find this cheating’s “development” in blackjack history. First, cheaters used simple bends or bumps for marking cards. But when cards backs began to have different design and became of different colors, cheaters changed their strategy a bit and began to use inks, scratches and so on . But this method has big disadvantages as all these marks can be seen only if you are very close to cards. And you can easily be noticed when you make some attempts to see something there. Fortunately for casinos, there are no chances for cheaters to cheat online blackjack by using such a method as card marking: it is just impossible to use through the computer.
However, casinos and their dealers are not such fools as some cheaters may think. Today, they can easily detect the cards you marked. Sometimes, everything they need to do is to riffle a deck. While riffling, the marks you’ve made will “dance” at cards and will be easily noticed. Or dealers can use a special light to examine the backs of cards. All scratches or spots from juice and alcohol will be also easily seen then.
Some Las Vegas casinos make holes on the cards they sell to their clients. In such a way they try to prevent the cases when a client comes back with this deck (a marked one already) and tries to cheat.
Just imagine the advantage of you as a player if you know what cards a dealer has! Yeah, the temptation is really great. But do not be very naïve here. If you are noticed during doing this and you are caught then you will have real trouble which can not be compared with that amount of money you could win by using card marking.
