Part I: Card Game Cheating · CARD MARKING METHODS
Crimping and Bending
How it works
Crimping involves intentionally bending or creasing specific cards so they can be identified by feel or sight. Common techniques include corner crimps (bending a corner up or down), center bends (creating a slight bow in the card), or edge curls. The crimped cards can be identified by the cheater during shuffling, dealing, or when cards lie on the table. In Blackjack, aces and ten-value cards are typically targeted. In Poker, the cheater might crimp cards they want to track.
Where it appears
Blackjack, Poker, Baccarat
On the record
Crimping is one of the easiest and oldest marking techniques. Bending or crimping cards is treated as cheating rather than advantage play across the major gaming jurisdictions, and in several US states it is a criminal offence under the gaming statutes rather than a house matter.
Detection & prevention
The paid halfHow a monitoring room catches crimping and bending, and what stops it recurring — written for the desk, not the reader.
Detection · 44 words
Prevention · 28 words
Published as a detection reference for surveillance, compliance and gaming-operations professionals. Thresholds and tuning are set by the property. Nothing here is instruction — the method is described so it can be recognised.