One hand touching the cards?

Why are players only permitted to use one hand to touch the cards when playing games like Mississippi Stud, Texas Hold 'Em Bonus or Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em. I would assume it's to prevent cheating, but is there some reason that having only two cards makes it more likely to happen? I think I've seen that rule enforced for Let It Ride as well, even though you get three cards for that game.

CHEATING is easy with 2 hands

I had no idea because haven't played in years, but that is too much for me. So many rules tellingyou what to do, they should give employee benefits to the customers.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

I had no idea because haven't played in years, but that is too much for me. So many rules tellingyou what to do, they should give employee benefits to the customers.

I think in this way, gaming rules are like aviation rules; there is almost no rule that gets made in a vacuum, because enforcement is a pain, so it's fair to assume that every rule is developed to prevent a cheating method already observed somewhere.

Digressing slightly; when I became a controller in 1985, the controlling document was in its 3rd edition, less than 200 pages and the prevailing wisdom was that the less written, the easier it was to do the job because there was room for interpretation, "grey areas", and creativity. When I retired 25 years later, the same document was in its 23rd edition, over 500 pages, and contained 20x the hard-and-fast rules; every effort had been made to eliminate "grey areas". Nearly every added rule was generated by studying an accident or dangerous event and learning from it (though the "lesson learned" was often either the wrong one or overkill).

Gaming, IMO as a 30 year customer, has made a similar progression into game protection mode. In AC, for example, I was playing a lot of PGP from the 2-3 spots in 2002 (playing 2 hands, as I've mentioned before). (3rd base on a BJ table, but they deal PGP backwards, with dealer #1.) It was a comfortable corner to sit, near the Shufflemaster autodealer mounted on the table, with the card catcher about 6 inches above the table. However, my first visit I recall in 2003, there was now an enormous lucite shield bolted to the table, curling around the machine and taking up 1/2 of the 2 spot. I asked about it, and they were kind enough to explain what had happened; they didn't like it there, either. However, someone had figured out that if they sat in that spot with a shiner ring or toy, or a small camera in a ring, the ring in either case on their left hand, it was a natural movement within the player's area of the table to hole-card every hand and the burn packet coming out of the shuffler. So, until the shufflers came out inset into the table, this huge cheat-guard was on the table to keep players from getting under the feed tray enough to get a viewing angle.

The downside, of course, is that it made the 2-spot nearly useless, though I'm guessing they adjusted the felts or did whatever to make it work, but that's why they did it; somebody got taken for a few hundred thousand before they caught on, according to the pit supervisor who told me about it.

I'm sure there was a similar situation with 2-handing cards; someone (probably lots of someones) was playing 2 hands, or 1 with cards to substitute on their person somewhere, or two people sitting next to each other, and they had worked out a way to switch cards, but the move required both hands (like palming the sub card with the left, spreading with the right, palming one with the right, collapsing the hand into the left, and setting it on the table, now containing the sub card). They got caught, and the 1 handed rule was born.

Most places I've played enforce this on 3CP and LIR as well as 2-card hands, even though it's awkward to spread 3, because it restricts the sleight of hand opportunities. So, not to take an attitude against the creative AP's on here, but nearly every rule is a result of a play, and the players pretty much have themselves to thank for the existence and enforcement on them, as poorly as some casinos do it (very insulting, some of it, IMO, but I can hardly blame them for instituting the protections.)

Folks where I play use two hands. Many 3 Card and LiR players like to squeeze-spread the cards. I never even knew there was a one hand rule until now. However, I'm not always the most observant one of the group, so there's that.

With more than 3cards you need to use two hands.So that's why they only enforce it on two and three card games. Having to use one hand is only a deterrent to amateurs. For the real professional cheaters it doesn't matter.

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Baccarat players regularly use 2 hands to squeeze the cards.

It's my understanding that nowhere in las vegas or atlantic city is there actually a rule that players must use one hand to handle their cards.

I read in Darwin Ortiz's excellent book on casino gambling that dealers simply invoke this nonexistent rule when players handle their cards in a way that makes the dealer uncomfortable, such as picking them too far up (or off) the table, or exposing them too much to other players.

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It's easier to conceal marking cards with both hands. They may believe that it prevents card swapping, but a skilled cheat can do both with one hand. In poker you can put one hand over the other and press down hard in the spot where you need to without anyone seeing. The games where you only have two or three cards can suffer the most from marked cards, so it makes sense to implement this if you believe it will provide any protection.

With a sophisticated cheater, casino personnel will very likely be unable to detect the marks even if they knew they were there. The only way to defend yourself is to look for certain "tells", like a certain finger being kept away from the cards most of the time deliberately, repeatedly going back to the place where they keep the solution, etc. If you allow players to use both hands those things can be harder to observe.

Quote: tongni

It's easier to conceal marking cards with both hands. They may believe that it prevents card swapping, but a skilled cheat can do both with one hand. In poker you can put one hand over the other and press down hard in the spot where you need to without anyone seeing. The games where you only have two or three cards can suffer the most from marked cards, so it makes sense to implement this if you believe it will provide any protection.

With a sophisticated cheater, casino personnel will very likely be unable to detect the marks even if they knew they were there. The only way to defend yourself is to look for certain "tells", like a certain finger being kept away from the cards most of the time deliberately, repeatedly going back to the place where they keep the solution, etc. If you allow players to use both hands those things can be harder to observe.

That's really interesting, tongni! Thanks!