How to Mark Cards

To avoid being detected by other players or dealers, card marking is an art that must be mastered. Some marks are easy to detect and others can only be seen by special eyes that have been trained to see them. Magicians also use this type of marked cards as part of their tricks.

This ink can only be seen by those who are trained to read it. This ink can only be seen with special contact lenses and filtered sunglasses. It is applied to a specific area on the back of a playing card. There are several different types of inks that can be used for marking, but luminous invisible ink is the best for making a deck of cards look legitimate.

Other ways to mark cards include block-out, coloring or daubing. Block-outs are small and can only be detected by a gambler’s eyes or a careful riffle. However, they allow for more complex reversal. Tinting is a similar method to block-out, but instead of coloring all the card, it uses a tinting agent.

Daubing, a very intriguing method, can be done during a game or even while a card is being played. A special paste can be applied by a player on the spot to the back side of a card to indicate a reversal in the value of the cards during a game. This can be very useful in poker, as well as magic performances, and it eliminates the need for a deck of pre-marked cards to be brought into a game.