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Casinos> Gambling Articles > Using the Riffle Test to Detect Marked Cards
Using the Riffle Test to Detect Marked Cards
Amazingly enough, most marked cards can be detected using a
simple test. Marked cards have a
history probably as old as poker itself and many people go to extreme lengths
to engage in this practice. Even
players who don’t really need marked cards in order to win have been known to
use them with the stakes are high enough.
Of course, most high stakes players use high quality marked cards that
can’t be detected by the riffle test, but most amateur marked cards can pretty
easily be undone by using it.
To perform the riffle test, simply hold the deck in your
hand, with the back up. Then, starting
from the bottom riffle the cards to the top.
Do it several times and look at the all parts of the back of the cards
while doing so. Basically what the
riffle test is doing is recreating one of those primitive animation books. You know, the kind where each page differs
just enough to give the illusion of animation when riffled quickly. The riffle test on the deck is basically to
give you a chance to see if there is any animated effect. If the riffling contains any kind of
movement, then you know the cards have been marked.
Obviously, if you see movement, then it’s time to get either
a new deck or find somebody else to play with, but even if the riffle doesn’t prove
the cards are marked, that’s no guarantee that you are out of the woods
yet. There are ways to get around the
riffle effect if you want to. One method
is as simple as using correction fluid to cover up the errors on the
cards. White-out dots on cards with
white borders will also make them immune to the riffle test. Same idea can be accomplished using nail
whitener. This method is especially
liked by gamblers who use marked cards during play. By using a nail pencil, they can quickly and
easily muss with the cards either right before use or even during a bathroom
break. The way they use them is by
keeping an eye out for glare on the cards and how the whitener effects that
glare. Making this marked card method
even better is that you really have to be quite schooled in how it works to
catch on.
Since the riffle test is no assurance that all marked cards
can be caught, what’s the point? The
riffle test should always be conducted because while there are certainly ways
to get past it, the fact remains that most people using marked cards are
amateurs and therefore most tampered cards will be detected by the riffle
test.
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