Smart card players, especially those who play for large amounts of money, closely watch the person who deals the cards.
They are watching to make sure he is dealing honestly. They want to be sure that he is not dealing off the bottom of the stack of cards.
A dealer who is doing that has stacked the deck . He has fixed the cards so that he will get higher cards. He will win and you will lose.
The expression, dealing off the bottom, now means cheating in business, as well as in cards.
And when someone tells you that the cards are stacked against you , he is saying you do not have a chance to succeed.
In a poker game you do not want to let your opponents know if your cards are good or bad.
So having a poker face is important. A poker face never shows any emotion, never expresses either good or bad feelings.
