Cheaters and Angle-shooters: Poker’s Steroid Problem

With the attention steroids is currently receiving in baseball, I’ve decided to do a column on the different ways poker players try to gain an advantage over their opponents: Whether it’s finding a gray area in the rules, or an outright disregard for the rules.

While I’m sure there are poker players using steroids --I’m not sure how they would affect performance, unless you had one of those ‘WSOP final table stacks’ you need to haul around—I decided on the steroids analogy because of how it ties into the baseball culture, which I feel has a close resemblance to the poker world.

You see, there are many ways for baseball players to flat out cheat: Steroids, corked bats, or foreign substances on the ball to name a few. However, there are also many ways a baseball player can skirt the rules a bit, such as stealing signs or arguing that they foul-tipped a ball when they know they didn’t. In the same way, a poker player can skirt the rules or flat out cheat.

In poker we call someone who skirts the rules an angle-shooter. Peeking at other player’s cards, or declaring a hand you know you don’t have hoping the other player mucks the winning hand, are examples of the methods an angle-shooter will employ.

Angle-shooting is technically illegal, but it resides in a very gray area of the poker rule book, and poker is basically a self-policing game: Which is why you have poker axioms like “Always protect your hand”. It’s up to each player to guard against angle-shooters, in the same way a pitcher has to make sure he’s not tipping his pitches, and a catcher must make sure signs are not being stolen.

Then you have flat out cheaters: Someone who marks cards, short-changes pots, or colludes with another player at the table. These are poker’s steroid users, and just like ball players they are extremely difficult to catch.

Angle-shooters and cheats have one thing in common; they are almost without exception losing players, which is the main reason why they need to resort to these tactics. Yes, you may run into a well-trained pack of colluders but they don’t last: Their greed eventually brings them down. For the most part, your angle-shooters and cheaters will be seasoned poker players who have some type of flaw that keeps them from winning, so they resort to under-handed tactics to try to recoup their money.
The best way to guard against these players is to stay focused, keep an eye on any play or player that seems in the least bit suspicious, and follow those old poker axioms they are there to protect you:

• Protect your hand


• Keep your cards down


• Cards speak

One other thing, if you see someone violating these rules, don’t be afraid to call them on it. If people are talking about a hand being played, tell them to stop: If you see a player inadvertently exposing his hole cards to another player, tell him to protect his hand: If someone is declaring a hand they don’t have, correct them.

I have no problem calling a cheat a cheat, or an angle-shooter an angle-shooter, and you shouldn’t either. However, you need to be aware of the rules in the card-room: For instance, at Foxwoods, any player at the table may declare another player’s hand that has been turned over. So, if someone doesn’t realize they have a straight you can tell them what they have. I have played in card-rooms where this is against the rules as well – some places feel it is each player’s responsibility to know what they have.

Taken from Ruff Poker