The Open Book
by J. H. Johnson

This is the book that tells the truth about cards, dice, punch boards, gambling wheels, races, and all other kinds of gambling.

Don't be a sucker! The Open Book reveals how crooked gamblers, cheats, and con artists fleece the innocent and unwary public out of thousands of dollars daily. Even that carnival game at the local fairgrounds may not be as innocent as it looks. Get the inside scoop.

Valuable secrets of marked cards, gaffed dice, ink formulas, holdouts and other cheating devices -- all clearly explained. Also included are scams and cons used by the unscrupulous to bilk the unwary. True stories ripped from the headlines, as well as tales from grifters past and present, all make The Open Book a fascinating read.

Robert A. Nelson fans will be pleased to note that this book was sold as item number B660 in the Nelson Enterprises catalogs. So if you're a Nelson collector, gambler, magician, or simply a person who loves a good yarn, you're sure to find something you like in The Open Book.

This amazing volume has been completely reset in new type, with Foreword and editing by B.W. McCarron (author of The Gambling Magician). This is the greatest book ever written on the psychological games that cheaters use to get inside the heads of their victims. Read, learn, and protect yourself and your hard-earned cash.

Original copies fetch upwards of $200 when they surface at auction. Now you can own this valuable and hard to find book as a convenient eBook.

• Foreword
• Writer's Note
• Exposing a Cinch (Royal Flush)
• Introduction
  • A Game Of Noble Lineage
  • When Kansas City Was A. G. H. Q.
  • The Technique Of The Game
  • The Passing Of Old King Faro
• The Air Hold-Out
  • The Kepplinger Hold-Out
  • The Sullivan Arm Pressure Machine
  • The Table Bug
  • The End Bug
• Steering Against the "T" (Meaning the tip-off)
• Four of a Kind: Sitting pretty, are they not?
• Hank's Sure Way Of Making A Flush For His Partners
• Cross Lifting
• Cold Decking
• The Touch System
• The Telegraph System
• Getting The Sucker To Cold Deck Himself
• Card Room Bandits In A Duel To Death With Seattle, Washington, Police.
• Two Gunmen Taken In Hold-Up
• Forewarned Is Forearmed
• The Master Key To Read Cards Marked In The Manufacture Or Otherwise
• The Master Key
• Bee 67 Back
  • Reduced Diamonds
  • Specks
  • All-Over Shade
  • Glazed Work
  • Needle Pricks
  • Color Plates
  • Scratch Work
  • Crimping
  • Montana Edge Work
  • Turgid
• Bicycle Cards
  • The Expert
  • The Nautic
  • The Rider
  • The Acorn
  • The Racer
  • The Lotus
  • The League
  • The Lantern
  • The Angel Back
  • The Thistle
  • Green Star
  • Wheel Back
  • Cupid Back
  • Back 35
  • Tangent Back
  • The Safety Back
• Capping The Deck
• Location
• Capping In Stud Poker
• Playing The Top Hand
• Playing Readers
• The Man Who Beats Every Poker Game And Never Turns A Crooked Card
• Count The Cubes
• The Welcher
• The Check Thief
• The Game-Keeper
• The Key To Cards Not Always A Cinch
• Switching Of The Hole Card
• Dice are Dynamite
  • Tap Dice
  • To Tell Loaded Dice
  • Misspotted Dice
  • Beveled Shapes
  • Suction Dice
  • Transparent Loaded Dice
  • Fair Dice
  • Electric Magnets
  • To Control Fair Dice On A Hard Surface
  • Liquid For Dice
  • Missers And Passers
  • Crap Game
  • Fair Dice
  • The Pad And Blanket Roll
  • First Roll Odds
  • Chances
• How To Call Heads Or Tails On A Coin And Never Miss
• Five Sure Ways Of Getting Work
• Carnival and Fairground Setups: Skin games and games of chance
  • The Bucket
  • The Swinging Ball
  • The Jingle Board
  • Spot The Spot
  • The Trick Knife
  • The Punch Board
  • The Cat Rack
  • The Wheel
  • The Electric Wheel
  • Bent Down Pegs
• Exposing the Short Change Artist
  • The Hard And Soft Hype
  • The Weighing Chair
• Gambling Cons
  • Sensation Pocket Roulette Carried In Your Pocket
  • Put And Take Top
  • The Race Top
  • The Three Shell Game
  • A Story of a Shell Operator
• Microscopic Glasses
• Pea Pool Or Kelly Pool Exposed
• Dice Tops Exposed
• The Blow-Off
• Fair Dice In The Hands Of A Crook
• Qualification
• Pitch - High, Low, Jack And The Game
• A "Cinch" Pitch Hand
• Bridge Whist
• The Three Pluck One System In Bridge
• Pinochle
• Solo
• The Two Pluck One System
• The Boosters In Poker
• Playing The High Card In Stud
• Black Jack Exposed
• The Capping Machine
• Rummy Card Game Crooks
• The Roll-Down
• The Pegs
• High-Powered Land Sharks Driven From Florida
• Penology - Prison Grafters
• Quack Cure-Alls Levy Toll, The Doctors Claim
• Turning The Spotlight On "Fakirs" Of Spirit Manifestations
• The Secrets Of Fortune Telling Exposed
• Tobacco Cure Exposed
• Oil Stocks And The Swindler
• A Little Tip To You All
• High-Powered Grafting
• Money-Making Business Chances
• Treatment For Lost Manhood
• Styles In Quackery Changing
• Twenty-Plus Complete Formulas for Making Ink
• A Few Tricks In the World of Magic Exposed
  • Pick It Out Trick
  • The Phantom Cards
  • The Diminishing Cards
  • The Torn Corner Card
  • The Rising And Changing Card
  • The Spirit Hand
  • The Fire-Eating Trick Exposed
  • To Make All The Kings, Queens And Jacks Come Out Of A Deck Together
  • Wonderful Needle Trick
  • Colored Thread Needle Trick
  • Audiences Like To Be Fooled
  • The Silent Vanisher
• Life For A 70-Cent Murder: Brothers Who Slew Dice Game Companion Start Serving Sentence
• Revenge For "Mr. Bates"
  • Another Man Held
  • Tells Of Publicity
  • "Must Have $50,000."
• The "Cinch Roll"
  • The Game
  • Fully Explained
  • Here Is The Secret
• How Law And Order Came To Skagway, Ending The Reign Of "Soapy" Smith
  • In Alaska A Year
  • Good And Bad Samaritan
  • Beginning Of The End
  • Death Of Smith
• Raid De Luxe Gaming Den: "Big Tim" Murphy And "Nicky" Arnstein Owned Place, Police Say
• Pays Dividends: Haberdasher Is Defrauded by Unusual Method
• Hold Five For Purse Thefts: Four Persons Report Losses Through the Activities of Pickpockets
• Luminous Ink
• The Rounder's Lament

Publisher: Magic World Publishers