Part I: Card Game Cheating · Collusion & Electronic Cheating at Card Games

Scam #19: Hole Carding in Pitch Games

How it works

In pitch-style blackjack (where the dealer holds the deck and pitches cards face-down to players), sloppy dealers may inadvertently flash the value of cards during the pitching motion. A player seated in the right position can read these flashes. Similarly, when dealers check hole cards under tens or face cards, they may expose the card to certain seats. This also applies when dealers handle their own cards in poker variants. The technique requires careful seat selection and keen observation.

Where it appears

Pitch blackjack, single/double deck games, dealer-handled card games

On the record

Pitch games are increasingly rare in modern casinos due to vulnerability to hole carding and card counting. Most casinos have switched to shoe games or continuous shufflers for multi-deck, reserving pitch only for single or double-deck games with trained dealers.

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.