Sports Editor
The Venetian has become the first major Las Vegas Strip casino to switch to slide dealing, pushing cards across the felt instead of pitching them through the air. The change is intended to reduce the chance that hidden cameras can catch brief views of players’ hole cards during a deal. PokerOrg and Casino.org reported the move on October 14, 2026; neither report says the Venetian detected a specific cheating incident at its tables.
A security measure with a track record
South Point had already made a similar change, according to PokerOrg, while PokerStars announced plans to introduce slide dealing at live events in August 2024 and rolled it out more widely in 2025. Those moves reflect broader concern about the vulnerability of cards briefly exposed during a traditional pitch.
A demonstration at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas showed how a pinhole camera could capture hole cards when they were not pitched cleanly. Players had been advocating for the slide method for about two years, PokerOrg reported. More broadly, poker rooms’ responses to reported cheating concerns have brought table security measures into sharper focus.
With slide dealing, cards stay against or close to the table surface as they travel to players. That approach is designed to limit opportunities for someone using a concealed camera to glimpse a card face; it does not, by itself, establish that a room has eliminated every possible form of cheating.
Speed and retraining remain part of the debate
The switch was visible in a video Matt Berkey posted on October 13, showing a Venetian dealer sliding cards from a shoe across speed felt. The day before, the room was still in transition, and Berkey had noted that the felt had not yet been changed. PokerOrg reported that the video showed no major hindrances to the deal.
There are practical concerns as well as security arguments. Justin Hammer, PokerOrg’s resident tournament director, supports slide dealing, but said operators may be cautious because of potential revenue effects and the work involved in retraining dealers. Matt Savage has presented both sides of the debate, while some players have argued that sliding cards is slower and could mean fewer hands per hour.
Bart Hanson posted about the Venetian’s change on X on October 12, and Joey Ingram has been among the players publicly advocating for slide dealing. The competing considerations are familiar to live-game operators: changing a routine can take time and affect pace, while leaving cards vulnerable to accidental exposure has its own costs for player confidence.
For context, concerns about cardroom integrity extend beyond the mechanics of the deal, including questions around RFID technology and alleged cheating at major live events. The Venetian’s change addresses one particular exposure risk, rather than serving as evidence of a wider fix.
Will other Las Vegas rooms follow?
The Venetian’s transition shows that a major room can move to the method, but the next test may be scale. PokerOrg identified the World Series of Poker as a potential challenge because of the number of dealers working each summer.
Berkey had heard that MGM properties might follow, but PokerOrg reported that there had been no official announcement. For now, the Venetian’s shift puts the question of whether other Strip operators will adopt slide dealing back on the table.
