I used to play at least every week in the old days, and I never found a game that played for $5 or more in which somebody was not trying to do something (cheat). The more advanced cheap game cheaters would "run up" the cards (stack the deck) and "cold deck" the game (slip in a deck of prearranged cards after the cut). The average type things would be card sequencing (putting a clump of memorized cards on the bottom of deck to avoid shuffling them, and then positioning them to come into play on the deal (this is a very popular cheat in gin and knock rummy); marked cards (factory made, or home made by scraping tiny bits of paint off the back of the cards to indicate the number and suit); bent cards to track various cards, aces, kings, etc. I never saw seconds, bottoms, smudging, sanding, pin pricking, shiners, strippers, card holdouts, or other techniques used in cheap games. The main trick was the marked cards, both factory made and homemade. It's easy to defeat, because you can usually prevent the cheater from seeing what you have when you want to, and then you can use his own marked cards against him. if you're so disposed. In the old days, I might do so, but nowadays I would just quit. Cheating cheaters no longer interests me. I just refuse to play in private games except nickel quarter stuff with co-workers or neighbors or club members.
For more expensive games, no holds are barred. I have seen holdout tables, peeps in the ceiling, bottom dealers, seconds dealers, and all the above. Also, but I've never seen them, they have electronics that can see through the bottom of the table and see everyone's cards, and even electric shuffle machines that can record the position of every card in the deck. I knew of a guy, dead now, who operated a blackjack game in a prestigious country club he belonged to. The shoe allowed the dealer to see the next card and to either deal it or hold it back and deal the next card. It could be examined and nothing discovered by those who did not know the gimmick.
The long and the short of it is, your chances of not being cheated are best in a casino operated game in a large and reputable casino. Even there, as far as I know, the house does not scrutinize poker games for cheating, other than cheating by the dealer, unless there is a complaint. But they are, by and large, pretty safe, Correct me if I'm wrong.
