This is a simple maneuver with a one-time use. It involves little more than a doctored deck being used or introduced part-way into a playing session.

The prepared deck will contain a certain number of cards in the right places, either before they are shuffled, or used by the cheat who may claim that the deck is already shuffled. Anglers may also use this trick as one angler may pass the prepared deck to his partner to use.

The most elementary version of a prepared deck is one that has a one-way design on its back that is not symmetric (ex. a deck with a picture of birds on its back instead of a design). Because the design on the back is not symmetric, all of the cards can be turned 'in the same way', so that the picture faces the same way on each card. In this manner, certain cards can be singled out by the cheat who turns these cards so that the picture on the back is 'opposite' to the rest of the deck. Obviously, this trick has only one use; after the deck is handled by another player, this method of cheating is disturbed.