I posted this in the Jersey meetup thread a couple months back, several folks suggested I add it to the playing card section of the forum as an FYI / PSA. Here it is.... better late than never 
There were several instances of players finding marked cards on the main black table on Friday night. The decks were changed out when they were found, but I believe we changed out 3 setups in the matter of a couple of hours. Another marked setup was found on Saturday during the tournament on the green hulk table in the shop. The marks on all the cards were very consistent, a slight bend about an inch from the edge of the long side of the card:
This type of mark is typically caused by a poor card capping technique, where a chip is placed over the cards to cover them - then left on top as the player peaks at their cards, like this:
It really doesn't take very much pressure to mark a card like this, the corner of the chip is quite effective at creasing the card. Sometimes it's done intentionally to mark certain cards, as it's really tough to see unless you're specifically looking for it - you often "feel" it before you see it.
Posting this as a PSA to alert folks that this kind of card capping can very quickly destroy a set of cards - and get you into trouble. Some hosts won't take the time to go through and vet the deck and if they notice you doing it, they'll automatically assume you're doing it on purpose and toss you.
TLDR: If you cap with a chip, always remember to remove the chip from your cards before peaking at them.
There were several instances of players finding marked cards on the main black table on Friday night. The decks were changed out when they were found, but I believe we changed out 3 setups in the matter of a couple of hours. Another marked setup was found on Saturday during the tournament on the green hulk table in the shop. The marks on all the cards were very consistent, a slight bend about an inch from the edge of the long side of the card:
This type of mark is typically caused by a poor card capping technique, where a chip is placed over the cards to cover them - then left on top as the player peaks at their cards, like this:
It really doesn't take very much pressure to mark a card like this, the corner of the chip is quite effective at creasing the card. Sometimes it's done intentionally to mark certain cards, as it's really tough to see unless you're specifically looking for it - you often "feel" it before you see it.
Posting this as a PSA to alert folks that this kind of card capping can very quickly destroy a set of cards - and get you into trouble. Some hosts won't take the time to go through and vet the deck and if they notice you doing it, they'll automatically assume you're doing it on purpose and toss you.
TLDR: If you cap with a chip, always remember to remove the chip from your cards before peaking at them.
