How can you protect yourself in private poker games?

Question

Greg Himmelbrand · Accepted Answer

I’ve played in private games for nearly 20 years now. The best advice is knowing the games as you said, but I’ll expand on ‘paying attention to your surroundings’ to include specifics- The norm now is for games using shuffle machines to always riffle once out of the machine. If this isn’t happening request it, if they won’t that’s a 🚩- For hand shuffle games the dealer should come in with a suited deck each half and spread it face up. If they spread it face down or don’t do a wash that’s a 🚩- Cell phones should not be on the rail, especially 2nd cell phones. When a dealer is cutting the cards it should be natural speed without any pause-Watch for players awkwardly staring at the cards of players. To this day I still cover my cards with my hands even in casino play out of habit-If something feels off it probably is. A player not playing many hands then randomly 3betting a junk hand that makes the nuts etcThere’s constantly revolving technology, so being at games you trust is the most important, but being aware of the technology is ver helpful as wellDespite how it sounds (why would anyone play in these games?!) this isn’t the norm, and the games can be good

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