Champion of Poker

I have seen something during live poker tournaments lately that I have not seen in many recent years. At least twice an hour, the dealer at my table will go through and count all of the cards in the deck after the river has been dealt. Also, other than a drink holder and card protector, many places are beginning to not allow anything on the table at all. One time, a floor was called over and I was asked to take my napkins off the table. The dealer said that she saw me stick something under it. (It was my players card.) Do they think I was cheating? What was going on?

Mike

Mike,

That is exactly what they thought you were doing. I can tell you exactly where this stemmed from. During the 2007 World Series of Poker, a player had a napkin on the table during a NL Holdem event and was using that napkin to hide cards. He wasn’t being really bright about it because he gave himself pocket aces three times in a row, or so the story goes. Anyway, the player was caught, kicked out, and afterward, napkins and the like are not allowed on the table at the WSOP. This has carried over to many properties from what I have seen and many places will not allow you to have napkins on the table.

In regards to the card counting, this is another thing that stemmed directly from the 2007 WSOP and that same cheating incident. Dealers are required now at many casinos to count down the deck once during their down. A down for a dealer is a 30 minute session. This translates to the deck being counted down twice an hour. If cards are missing, the dealer will check to make sure one hasn’t fallen on the floor, and if the card is still missing, the floor is notified. (And while I don’t know this for certain, I suspect that surveillance will then look through the tape to see what’s going on.)

By the way, don’t be upset at the dealer. She is just doing her job. If she didn’t she could be fired.