[pfapfap]

What I feared has resurfaced. Somebody is marking cards. I had two fresh setups today, and many aces are clearly marked now. It was a tournament, so I've been able to narrow down to five potential people who were on both tables. I've been running cash games with these new setups for a couple of weeks without problems. I think this is the first tournament with them, and we get a larger crowd for those.

What the hell do I do?

Of the five most likely candidates, here's what I have...

* One is an old friend whom I've been playing with for years. I told him about the problem when I noticed before so he could help keep an eye out, so it would be ridiculously stupid of him to keep doing it. Also, he was at the second table for hardly any time at all, and those decks are also marked.

* One is someone who seems a rather nice and trustworthy fellow, my own age, similar interests, etc. He seems an earnest student of the game.

* One is someone I know through my music scene, aslo a trustworthy guy, but I don't really know him that well. He only made it to the second table when we combined for the final, and I took over dealing shortly after that point. Action moved a lot faster then, so I don't think he'd have had the time to mark them up.

* One is someone I know from a game among chemistry grad students. He plays a straightforward game, but I don't want to trust him just because he's more educated. Someone who would do this has a sickness beyond class distinction. But he seems a nice trustworthy guy, and I've sent an email to someone who used to run another game he played in, but that was a while ago and with paper cards, so doubt I'll get much info there.

* The most likely candidate is a mildly shady character, is more of a "player", and has been involved in some of the more heated discussions from time to time. He's not the most well liked of the players, and he plays an emotional game. He's our current league leader and plays a very good game, but has a lot of ego tied up in it. I'd hate to accuse him based on just a character description, but he's been at more of the games than anybody, with access to all the decks previously marked. However, he also comes to a lot of cash games, and I haven't noticed any markes after cash games.

Any guidance here from anybody? This really sucks. Should I keep using the setups? I noticed one because I felt it while dealing, but you can't really tell by looking at them. Buying these is getting expensive, and it would be a long process to eliminate candidates, considering the tournaments are only monthly and most of these guys only play in the tournaments. That's a long time to be suspicious and uneasy.

What would you do? What should I do?