Gambling: page 3

This is the story of a boy who ran away from home to become a cabin boy on a Mississippi riverboat at age ten. At fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. And for forty years after this point in time he bilked people from all walks of live, businessmen, thieves, soldiers, ... This is the fascinating story of the King of the Riverboat Gamblers.

1st edition, 1887, Devol & Haines, Cincinnati; reprinted, ?, Applewood Books, Bedford, Massachusetts; 300 pages.

22. A Religious Captain
24. A Cold Deck
27. A Woman With a Gun
150. A Shrewd Trick
163. A Paymaster's Bluff
177. A Crazy Man
186. A Good Night's Work
212. A Euchre...

This is a pre-Erdnase description of moves and ruses to cheat at the card table by an unnamed 'retired professional'. However, Bart Whaley's research revealed that this retired professional was Gerrit M. Evans, that his real name was most likely Edward M. Grandin and that Evans/Grandin was not a professional gambler. (Bart is working on an upcoming book about Evans - The Mysterious Gambler.)

This ebook was created from the 1868 edition. There is also an earlier 1865 edition. The 1868 faked edition drops the name of the author who is, of course, Evans/Grandin, pretends that the "anonymous" author is a "retired"...

From the back cover:

A famous reformed gambler reveals a multitude of gambling house and street corner scams, swindles, and cons used to fleece the unwary public in this fascinating text.

Written by H. W. "Kid" Royal, this was originally put up as a pitch book for sale at his various lecture appearances, after he decided to "go straight." In fact, he had a funny way of selling them. He advertised the lecture as free, but he wouldn't let anyone leave until he had collected the price of the book.

While original copies of this book do occasionally turn up, they sell for big bucks ($275 from one recent magic auction)....

This is a fun book to read. Great stories about pickpockets, burglars, bunco men, thiefs, and others. Houdini collected interesting cases talking to detectives, and police chiefs. The book describes the methods used to scam innocent victims. Some of these schemes are still popular, which shows again, that one can learn a lot from the past.

published 1906 by Harry Houdini, Boston MA; later reprinted by Gamblers Book Club, Las Vegas; 96 pages

Table of Contents

page

3. Preface
7. Shot One - Income of a Criminal
12. Shot Two - Professional Burglary
19. Shot Three - Difficulties of Burglary
25. Shot Four...

The record of a career famous for adventure and vicissitude, and in which the jester won more tricks than the gamester.

• Preface
• Chapter I: Birth And Early Peregrinations
• Chapter II: Becoming A Patron Of The Pasteboards
• Chapter III: Early Times On The Mississippi
• Chapter IV: Getting A Sobriquet And Meeting Great Men
• Chapter V: The Turnpikes, The Packets And The Inns
• Chapter VI: Initiated In The Sons Of Malta
• Chapter VII: From The Green Mountains To Pike's Peak
• Chapter VIII: With The Bold Soldier Boys
• Chapter IX: The Fraternity Of Gamesters
• Chapter X: To Point A Moral And Adorn A...

This is a great book on the secrets of how to cheat with cards and dice at many popular games - a guide to dishonest gambling. It offers a good overview of the various methods from mechanical cheating methods to sleight of hand.

1st edition 1970, original 128 pages; PDF 82 pages.

Table of Contents

7. Introduction
13. Cheating at cards
13. Mechanical Methods: marking cards, sorts, deck switches, edge marking, daub, punch/nail marks
33. Strippers: types of strippers, Vernon's "Bathroom Strippers"
36. Locaters: short, corner shorts, thick cards, long cards, ridge/breather crimps
40. Holdouts: Kepplinger...

Ian describes carefully and in detail a number of beautiful and cool flourishes with chips. You are sitting at a blackjack table and you have won a stack of chips during the last plays. The dealer ran out of cards and has to shuffle his six decks, which takes a while. This is the ideal moment to impress with a few chip flourishes. Of course, all of these moves can also be executed with coins rather than chips. You will learn:

• The Pickup Move
• Roll Down
• Double Cut
• Shuffle on a soft surface
• Shuffle on a hard surface
• Shuffling tall stacks
• The Twirl
• The Triple Twirl
• The Reverse Twirl ...

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....

All grafts laid bare being a complete exposure of all gambling, graft and confidence games with stories illustrating the methods employed by the different operators.

This is a wonderful book on all things cheating at gambling (sleight-of-hand and machinery), various confidence games and other scams and crooked methods with several revealing illustrations.

• PREFACE
• ENDORSEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• EPITOME
• CHAPTER I Exposé of Gambling Devices
• CHAPTER II Exposé of Gambling Devices (Continued)
  • The Mechanical Hold-out Poker Table
  • The Revolving Poker Table
  • The Sleeve Hold-out
  • The Bug Hold-out ...

The first part consists of stories about cardsharks and other crooks from Robert-Houdin's recollections. This is very readable and an entertaining part of the work. The second part explains some of the technical details of the methods used by cardsharks. However, the methods are for the most part only described in very rudimentary form. As Robert-Houdin writes himself, this is not meant as a way to teach you how to do it, but merely to give the reader insight in how the different ruses are accomplished. Nevertheless, it provides interesting insight into the ways and means of cardsharks.

Subtitled: Their tricks exposed or the art of always winning

Translated from the French of Robert-Houdin by William J. Hilliar. Robert-Houdin wrote this book primarily as an expose to reduce the number of people being cheated. He writes in his preface: "Enlighten the dupes and there will be no more cheats."

1st edition 1903; original 201 pages; PDF 145

Table of Contents

4. PREFACE
6. PUBLISHER'S NOTE

   CARD-SHARPERS

9. A Dangerous Teacher
15. CHAPTER I: The Modern Greeks
18. CHAPTER II: The Greek Of The Fashionable World
20. CHAPTER III: The Greek Of The Middle Class
24. CHAPTER IV: The Greek Of The Gambling...

This is a collection of poker stores covering the time frame from 1845 - 1895. As the title page clearly states Lillard merely collected and edited them, he did not author them.

• DEDICATION
• PREFACE
• CHAPTER I. TOLD OF STATESMEN
  • Webster And Clay
  • How An Illinois Congressman Was Backed By Uncle Sam
  • A Kentucky Colonel Who Drew On His Salary To Stay In The Game
  • Two Stories About Gen. Schenck
  • A Jersey Congressman's Leather Bluff
  • The Drummer Wilted
  • Hannibal Hamlin
  • The Six-Spot Of Diamonds
• CHAPTER II. MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES
  • Six Aces In The Pack
  • His Chips Were The Wrong Color....

A classic in gambling literature.

• Introductory
• Chapter I: Early Days
• Chapter II: Early Days
• Chapter III: Profession
• Chapter IV: The Club
• Chapter V: Captain William Smith
• Chapter VI: Diplomacy
• Chapter VII: Major George Jenks
• Chapter VIII: Faro
• Chapter IX: Departure
• Chapter X: Phantoms Of The Memory
• Chapter XI: Wheeling
• Chapter XII: "On To Richmond"
• Chapter XIII: The Horse
• Chapter XIV: Washington City
• Chapter XV: Inventors
• Chapter XVI: Incubi
• Chapter XVII: Sharpers
• Chapter XVIII: Scenes At Long Branch
• Chapter XIX: Second-Class "Skinning-Houses"
• Chapter XX: Sharpers
• Chapter...

Sharps and Flats is probably the most important early book on cheating devices and methods. Sharps being the cheaters and flats being the cheated, the mark. Maskelyne details among others, marked cards, holdouts (Kepplinger holdout), reflectors and manipulation. He describes not just cheating at the card table but also cheating with dice, cheating at Sporting houses, and at Roulette. The book is very thorough with many wonderful illustrations.

1st edition, 1894, Longmans, Green and Co., New York and London; reprinted, Gamblers Book Club, Las Vegas; 335 pages.

7. Preface to the Second Edition ...

This booklet was most likely published around 1920 and describes a number of games of chance and how they are being rigged or operated to cheat:

• Dice
• Three Card Monte
• Shell Game
• Faro
• Drop Case
• Paddle Wheel
• The O'Leary Belt
• The Striker
• Upright Roulette Wheel
• Bee Hive
• Spindles

This is essentially a small excerpt from Quinn's primary work Fools of Fortune. A couple of chapters have been taken, some incomplete, together with endorsements and other promotional material, to produce this volume.

1st edition 1895; PDF 68 pages.

The original description read:

This is a massive tome on gambling, the largest one at that time, describing gambling locations, games, scams, fraud and how they are operated, as well as many personal stories from the author. Makes for fascinating reading if you are interested in the subject...

If he'd had a touch of larceny in him, he could have been the number one card sharp of all time. Instead, the author of these fabulous memoirs, born to a mother who considered gambling the "devil's tool," puts his extraordinary gifts to far different purpose.

He has used his incredible gambling sense, his miraculously dexterous fingers, his brilliant mathematical mind, his fascination with carnival and gambling life, to become America's number one authority on gambling and odds.

He was the greatest practitioner and analyst of card and dice sleight of hand. His artistry impressed FDR as...

Some say that John Scarne worked with and for the Mafia, because gambling and the Mafia are often thought as tightly linked. Others will be convinced by Scarne's collection of facts and reasoning in this ebook, that there never was a Mafia. Either way you read this ebook, it is a fascinating recollection of past events around crime, politics and gambling.

You might ask why is this ebook in the gambling section? The reason is twofold. One, Scarne details several interesting gambling facts and stories in this ebook (ex. a gambling glossary), and two it helps to understand the person John Scarne...

This is a sound gambling primer covering Blackjack, Bingo, Poker, Craps, Gin, Lotteries and Sweepstakes, Horseracing, Keno, Numbers, Slot Machines and Roulette. John also touches in various places on cheating and game protection.

From the inside flap of the book:

This ebook can change your gambling future! John Scarne, who is widely recognized as greatest gambling expert, reveals the secrets and strategies you need to increase your enjoyment - and winnings - at the world's popular card game.

Scarne lays down the rules of all 117 forms of poker, including the latest variations, making this ebook invaluable as a source of new games and as the final arbiter of all disputes. Where at one time the ultimate verdict on rules was "according to Hoyle," today it is "according to Scarne." You will learn how to:

• Bet like an expert.
• Protect yourself from poker...

The Amazing World of John Scarne holds revelations and experiences in gambling, magic, carnival and show business; together with startling disclosures about hypnotism, extra-sensory perception and other mental effects.

The once world's number one expert on gambling tells in this no-punches-pulled, startlingly frank book the whole inside story of gambling, and reveals all the dodges, gimmicks and tricks used by cheaters at dice, cards, roulette and other games of chance. His sensational revelations extend also to magic and escape tricks, to the chicaneries of carnivals and even to the blasting...

This is probably the most important work John Scarne wrote. It is complete and authoritative. In this revised edition John provides the reader with a complete look at the world of dice, including for the first time an insider's view of how dice games are played at the Atlantic City casinos.

Scarne covers the history of modern dice and their earliest uses in games, and then analyzes the mathematics behind gambling to give players a solid foundation in odds and percentages. The most popular forms of dice games are then studied in detail. Bank Craps Las Vegas style gets full treatment with coverage...