The Second Deal is a knowledgable cheat’s most common move. This cheat involves the dealer holding the deck with the mechanics grip then dealing the second top card instead of the top card. If the dealer has peeked or is otherwise aware of what the top card is, and it happens to be a card that they want, they may Second Deal the cards to the players across the table. The cheat does this until the deal comes around to them and they simply deal the top card out to themselves, giving them an unfair advantage.
To effectively use the second card deal, a cheat must use the mechanics grip. The cheater takes their thumb and carefully pushes the top card away from the rest of the deck, leaving less than a half of an inch exposed (even less if the cheat is an expert) to slightly offset the card from the others. This will expose part of the second top card and allows the cheat to use their thumb to slide the second card outward. The cheat then takes their opposite hand and takes the second top card rather than the first one.
Although it may take the poker cheat awhile to perfect this maneuver, the skill becomes second nature and they will consistently be able to deal the second card across the table and the top card to themselves. Cheaters can use this in just about any game, especially poker games, but it is only useful when used when they glimpse at cards in the deck.
