For an upcoming character, I was wondering what methods people could think of to cheat at poker in shadowrun, mostly with only one person being involved.

Obviously there are things like astral perception or the adept power Empathic Sense (to detect reactions to seeing the cards), along with more subtle things like cultured pheremones (for all the social bits involved with the game of cards).

The methods I have so far include a 'shiner' (as they are known in the business), which is a small object (purse, mobile phone, lighter, money clip) which has been polished so as to allow a dealer of cards to view the cards in the reflection as they pass over the 'shiner'. The variations on this I see are a tiny camera in one of the fingers (for example, the pinkie) and sitting that at the bottom of the deck (which means dealing from the bottom, which implies some skill at card trickery), or a tiny camera in the 'shiner' so it's easier to see. This could be linked by some data transfer method (radio or cellular link, or laser-beam from the eye) to a headware display system, where the user could use the footage from the camera in the 'shiner', play it back and pause it and see the card much more easily, all whilst seemingly staring into space.

Another method is the tried-and-true marking of cards - a high tech version usable in SR might be the use of a ultraviolet vision (cyber implant or adept power) along with a tiny pen or marking device, which marks cards with a dye or ink that dries very quickly and is invisible in all but the ultraviolet spectrum.

Other useful things I was considering and would appreciate any input on are the usefulness of Photographic Memories (counting cards), SPU Math implants (counting cards and calculating odds), the impact of a high perception (through implants such as Cerebral Booster, adept powers such as Enhanced PErception and the Perceptive edge) and the impact of a Tactical Computer, if any.

Any and all input welcomed.

Card Games (Poker) 5 (7).
Aptitude (Card Games).
Improved Ability (Card Games) if you can convince your GM that it's a proper adept power.
Missile Mastery so that you can defend yourself with the cards when you get caught cheating...

The clairvoyance spell should work well, or just a spotter reading the other player's cards and radioing them to you, either using a transducer to tell you what the cards are, or a cybereye camera, ideally both.

An ally spirit manifesting as a deck of cards!!!

Okay, more seriously...

Astral perception won't work to look at cards, but it can work by assensing the other players. It is too obvious though, and risky. Empathic Sense is much better.

Cyberhand with an independent cybereye in the palm of the hand. (or just a mini-camera there)

Clairvoyance would work wonders, but perceptive card players (and honestly, which professional card players are perceptive??? ) will notice the lack of focus in the cheater's eyes and assume magic foul play (which I assume would be fairly common - they probably have resident magicians at the bigger gambling parlors, just to look for that sort of thing)

Spells like control thoughts to make people fold or bluff or raise the pot (but then, why not have them give you the money directly?), tailored illusion spells to fool players into thinking their hand is something else. Why not a version of Eyes of the Pack that doesn't require voluntary subjects? Then you can look at all the cards, all the time!

Multi-sensory illusions of poker chips.

Influence spell cast on ppl before the game (I think I'm going to bet my life savings today...)

Alter Memory (pair of threes is the best hand in poker...)

Built-in RC deck and teeny-tiny drones that sit on the walls or in the ceiling.

But I think your best bet will be an Adept:
Empathic Sense to 'assense' other players.
Divining metamagic to predict how the game will go.
Sixth Sense and posiby Combat Sense (invaluable if someone is on to you and decides to kill you)
Missile Mastery and Improved Throwing Weapons (to defend yourself using cards, as was already mentioned)
Improved Tacticle Sense to be used along with marking cards (you make little indentures or roughing of certain areas that are almost imperceptible to normal touch, but with your heightened touch you can feel them)
Improved Stealth/Sleight of Hand (to do dirty little tricks with the deck)
Masking metamagic to protect from others assensing you and to penetrate the masking of other magicians at the table.

For the technological variant,
Thumb Fingertip marker of some sort and vision to see the marks.
Enhanced articulation (for smoother card-tricks)
Cranial RC deck and mini-drones
Fingertip camera
Cybereyes with mirrored covers (to hide your eye movements)
Optical Magnification, Microscopic Vision (to spot small marks on cards, to look in distant mirrors)
Math SPU (to calculate odds and count cards, and count losses/winnings)

In either case you want the Perceptive edge, the Friendly Face edge, the Aptitude(Poker) edge and skills in psychology, negotiation, etiquette, and acting, as well as stealth/sleight of hand, and of course poker.

But I think most serious and/or important gambling parlors will use jamming and white noise generators, along with astral protection of some sort, to help prevent cheating.

The Stealth skill will cover the Seven Principles of Sleight-of-Hand - Palm, Switch, Simulation, Misdirection, Load, Steal, and Ditch - so getting Aptitude(Stealth) would be handy. The Sleight-of-Hand knowledge skill should act as a complimentary skill, especially if you specialize in card tricks. Conversely, you could just have Card Games(Poker), and use Stealth and/or Sleight-of-Hand as complimentary skills.

I don't see a magician using Aura Reading as cheating; it's just another tell, albeit one that not everyone can see. And it isn't failsafe, since auras can be faked.

Any joint that takes its poker seriously would try to have someone providing astral overwatch, so spells and spirits shouldn't be relied on too heavily, especially if they have a, er, strict policy against cheats. The shadier joints might just pop your eyes out if they even suspected you of cheating magically.

and I wouldn't reccomend Mirrored eyes... unless you like you opponents to see what you have... though totaly white or black might be fun...

-Mike R.

Perceptive + Improved Smell, or Olfactory Gland should let you tell the emotional state of somebody quite easily from how their smell alters to reflect their current mood. That would let you spot bluffers quite easily as, no matter what your telltale, nobody can alter their chemical signature.

As for the technological side, a body compartment near the wrist to hide cards in which you will swap into your hand as needed could be useful.

Because you fart more often when excited. Or something...

Your natural pheromones will emit different scents depending on your emotional state - I doubt they will be significant enough though, unless you either regularily play with the same people, or the player is really really afraid.

And as for the mirrored eyes - BIG oops on my part might be fun introducing your street sammy friend with the mirrored covers to the game though...

Any casino is likely to have an astral-capable guard to watch out for just such magical trickery, and cyberscanners in front of the high-stakes room, if not the building itself.

I was thinking more along the lines of, say, the movie "Casino". If you catch someone pulling a little sleight-of-hand at the tables, you sleight-of-hand him right back... with a sledgehammer. No bodies to bury and no missing person reports filed. If he ever regains full use of his hands again, he'll think twice before trying to cheat someone again, and even then you can be sure as hell it won't be your joint.

Now, how do you teach a cheating magician the same lesson? Pop his eyes out. Sure, cybereyes come cheap these days (if you don't count the Essence loss), and he may be back at the tables some day, but it won't be your tables. He got off easy, and he knows it.

What appears to be mirrored eyes, but instead is a projection of what cards YOU want to have show up.

Optical Scanning Datajacks and Transducers for two players of a poker game. Quick glances and such to communicate hands and such. Only one need Math SPU and/or Encephalon.

you mean the laser-eye communication thingy? that'd really only work if you were playing in an open area. most high-stakes poker games should be fairly secluded.

Mind Probe

The character I was intending to play is already being designed with some of the key features in mind that would be needed to succesfully cheat at cards in SR and get away with it. She has cyberware but it is Beta grade and costs less than 2.0 essence (thus no negative modifier to the 8 target to detect from SOTA), has cultured pheremones, and will likely be an adept. I was intending to use subtle magic if any (eg Empathic Sense and possibly useful Enhanced Senses) but not overt things like spells or spirits because I assume they will stick out to teh astral security that the casinos/dens will obviously have.

I am basically designing a face, and one of her key (level 2) contacts is a false ID source. I was thinking this would reflect someone who goes to casinos in other cities, cleans the place out until they boot her out and then evades goons and revenge squads and dumps the fake ID she was using.

In terms of ability to defend herself, no problem there - 14 dice for unarmed before applying pools, plus an unarmed attack of 9M stun (plus a ton of impact armour, and a knack with pistols).

The character is essentially the culmination of my ongoing quest to combine face with thief and remain combat effective. The poker addiction is one of her quirks which will make for good background material and the source of games (and enemies).

Thanks to all for the assistance, and keep it coming if you have anything else. I am particularly after things as subtle as possible, and also things that the character can do alone, rather than have a mate or ringer around to assist.

Fake IDs are covered in the SSG. You might want to check that out instead of burning a whole contact.

I know about the new rules in SSG, but you still need to buy your spiffy new ID off someone or otherwise be a decker, and I thought Face + Thief was enough for me, rather than over-generalising to Face + Thief + Decker