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Cheating, Cons, Scams & Protection in Gambling

You might think that at a friendly game with your friends or at a professional tournament there is no cheating. Well, think twice, cheating takes place in all kinds of games. It is crucial that you at least know the basic threats of how you can be cheated and how to spot and counter them. If you gamble for a living, you better become a specialist on cheating. The ebooks in this category will tell you all you need and prepare you to not be the mark and the sucker the cheaters steal money from.

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John Scarne
10 Best Proposition Bets of America's Bigtime Gamblers by John Scarne

A proposition bet is one which appears to give the taker an even chance and at times the best of it, but does just the opposite. Like con men, proposition gamblers pretend to be pleasant, friendly, easy-going, good fellows who would never think of double-crossing anyone. They also usually pretend that their prepared proposition bets are something they just happened to think up on the spot. They take great pleasure in beating seasoned gamblers; money is not the main objective. It's the prestige and self-satisfaction they derive from having outsmarted a top gambler, be he friend or foe.

While...

★★★★★ $10
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PDF

S. James Weldon
20 Years a Fakir by S. James Weldon

Weldon traveled this country during the last 20 years of the 19th century, learning and perfecting tricks of the street peddler. Many of these ploys are still used today in one form or another. He helped pioneer the many subleties of "street selling" and "percentage moves." His self-taught mastery of man's basic needs enabled him to manipulate people into buying things, sometimes using their own greed as his tool. Must reading for those interested in studying a true American phenomenon - "The pitch man."

1st edition, 1899, Gate City Book and Novelty Co., Omaha; reprint, 1980, Gamblers Book...

★★★ $4
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PDF & EPUB

Max T. Oz
3 Disk Monte by Max T. Oz

You will get both a PDF and a video (download from your digital shelf).

PDF
3 Disk Monte is a variation of the street hustle often played with cards. Three black face down disks, one with a white dot, are mixed. The spectator tries to guess which disk is the one with the white dot. The disks have increasingly gained popularity due to their visibility and handling. This PDF illustrates and describes the various sleights that can be used while performing this effect. Topics include the basics plus some of the more advanced moves that can be used.

  • The Disks
  • The Mat
  • Working Height
  • The...
★★★★ $15
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PDF & MP4

Mystic Alexandre
A Sweet and Simple Swindle by Mystic Alexandre

Mr. T is an underground gambler, the man who wrote the Pro Guide to the Lucky Log, and the exclusive manual for "Bingo Bango". Now he brings you A Sweet and Simple Swindle. Two of them actually, because the PDF includes an additional bonus swindle with playing cards.

Both dead easy to do, no sleight of hand, no complicated tactics, just a sweet advantage to you, where the mark will believe they have the better of you all along. No marked cards or anything of the sort, both of these use a regular deck of playing cards that can be borrowed, so easy a kid could take advantage of this ... if...

$8.88
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PDF

A Connoisseur
Annals of Gaming by A Connoisseur

The intentionally unassuming grey cover, designed to match the dull-sounding title, suggests a dry emotionless record of events is likely held within. However, this humble exterior belies the valuable secrets hidden within its pages. Annals of Gaming was an article series published over four years, between 1772 and 1775; its sole intention was to expose the sharpers, hustlers, and cheats, by detailing their methods of defrauding the unwary. Now, for the first time, every article in the original series has been retyped in full and published in a single volume of over 200 pages. This work covers over...

$39.50
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hardcover

Professor Hoffmann
Baccarat Fair and Foul by Professor Hoffmann

Being an explanation of the game, and a warning against its dangers.

Excerpt from the preface:

A good deal of public curiosity has been of late aroused respecting the game of Baccarat. The present work is designed, in the first place, to satisfy such curiosity by giving an explanation of the game and a statement of its laws. But it has also a second object. There is perhaps no game which so lends itself to the arts of the card-sharper as Baccarat, and if it be true that "in vain the net is spread in sight of any bird," an exposition of the frauds to which the honest player is liable should...

$10
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PDF

Brick Tilley
Black Jack Hole Card Switch by Brick Tilley

This is an improvement in the handling of the Curry Turnover that makes this move easier to accomplish and more deceptive. A simple get-ready makes the exchange faster and infinitely more rewarding. It was perfected during hundreds of hours behind a Black Jack table without ever once being detected.

It can be used for magical purposes as well. Add this subtle weapon to your card arsenal.

1st edition 2021, PDF 4 pages, video 30 s.

★★★★★ $10
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PDF & MP4

Chris Wasshuber
Blistr by Chris Wasshuber

Blistr is a new card punch with two important differences to more traditional card punches. First, it is built like a pair of small pliers and therefore very easy to use. The pliers are a flexure design 3D printed from durable plastic. (Starting design was created by BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research which I modified to fit my needs.) Second, this punch creates a bigger smoother blister than needle-based punches. The tip is not sharp and therefore does not punch through the playing card. For many, this will be easier to feel than a fine needle prick. The blister is a half-dome about 1 mm in diameter. The...

★★★★★ $55
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KC Card Co
Blue Book 1960 by KC Card Co

Now included is the 8-page yellow supplement.

Just 15 years after WWII, life was good. As the world rebuilt itself, prosperity reigned. Returning soldiers who needed an outlet to keep their competitive edge found what they were looking for in gambling. Neighborhood poker games, back-alley craps, and illegal casinos were everywhere if you knew where to look. Grifters followed the money trail, too, and not all of them relied on skill. Many used devices such as holdouts, shiners, gaffed cards and crooked dice to ensure that they fleeced the lambs just as surely as if the marks openly handed their...

★★★★ $10
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PDF_facsimile

KC Card Co
Blue Book 1961 by KC Card Co

KC Card Company specialized in legit and crooked gambling supplies.

  • Dice and measuring tools to make sure they were properly manufactured.
  • Game layouts
  • Marked cards
  • Crooked dealing boxes
  • Holdouts
  • Books on gambling
  • and more

1st edition 1961, 77 pages.

$10
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PDF_facsimile

Brick Tilley
Bug House by Brick Tilley

A streamlined version of Ray Grismer's Shorty Routine.

1st edition 2017, 4 pages.

$10
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PDF

unknown
Card Cheating Exposed by unknown

A complete revelation of the cheaters' work at Bridge, Nap, Solo, Bluff, Banker, Baccarat, Faro, etc.

Published by Coe & Co. A rare booklet offered at the first 2023 Ricky Jay auction with an estimated price of $500-$800. Excerpt from the introduction:

In introducing this little book to the public it is my intention and desire to expose the multiplicity of ways by which cheating at cards is accomplished. The average honest player is little suspicious of the enormous amount of cheating that is done, but what would astonish him still more would be to learn the simple tricks used by even the...

$15
to wish list

PDF

Floyd Moss
Card Cheats: How They Operate by Floyd Moss

A play-by-play exposé of the tricks of the card sharp's trade.

Moss gives general advice on how to avoid becoming a sucker or losing more money than luck alone would explain. The most interesting part is where he describes several sleights and strategies cardsharps use to cheat at the card table. Many of the sleights are illustrated with photos.

  • Introduction 5
  • Meet the Enemy 7
    • Who Are the Victims?
    • Suckers
    • Addicts
    • Defeating the Enemy
    • Luck
    • Greed
    • Amateurs
    • Advice
  • Modern Cheating
    • False Cut Number One
    • False Cut Number Two
    • False Cut Number Three
    • False Cut Number Four
    • A Reverse...
$15
to wish list

PDF

Chris Wasshuber
Card Punch by Chris Wasshuber

This is a card punch 3D printed from durable plastic. A card punch is used to mark cards imperceptible to people who are unfamiliar with it. If you do not know how to use it this item is not for you. There will be no instructions supplied with the item.

The primary innovation in this model, besides that it is 3D printed, is a screw-needle combination which makes adjusting the depth of the punch a breeze. Simply turn the screw a bit more in or out to set the needle tip deeper or higher. If you have moderately strong fingers you will be able to turn the screw by hand. Or use a small hex key...

★★★★★ $55
currently
unavailable

Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin & William John Hilliar
Card Sharpers by Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin & William John Hilliar

Subtitled: Their tricks exposed or the art of always winning

Translated from the French of Robert-Houdin, first published in 1861, 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."

This work was first translated in 1863 under the title The Sharper Detected and Exposed. In 1881 Prof. Hoffman translated it anew and brought it up to date under the title Card-Sharping Exposed. It is not clear why Hilliar would do a new translation in 1903. Perhaps he felt he could ride Erdnase's coattails after his groundbreaking...

★★★★ $7
to wish list

PDF

Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin & Professor Hoffmann
Card Sharping Exposed by Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin & Professor Hoffmann

A translation of Les Trickeries des Grecs by M. Robert-Houdin, one of the most valuable and interesting works on the subject of card sharping.

Excerpt from the preface:

Meanwhile, the march of science has continued, and the arts of deception, like other arts, have received many new developments. There are fashions in fraud, as in more innocent matters. I have endeavoured in the present pages not only to offer a faithful translation of Robert-Houdin's text, but by the aid of notes to bring down his work, so to speak, to present date. In so doing I have to acknowledge special obligation...

★★★★★ $12
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PDF

Stephen Ablett
Carnival Games Exposed by Stephen Ablett

Have you ever wanted to win that stuffed toy at the fair? Would you like to impress that special someone with your skills? This ebook contains the secrets to many of the most popular carnival, midway and arcade games, along with advice on how to beat them. From the Basketball Toss to Hoopla. Cover the Spot to High Striker. The answers are all here!

The ebook is 68 pages, colour throughout with pictures for every game. It also includes five pages of construction tips for building the games.

  1. Ball in the Bucket
  2. Balloon Dart
  3. Bank a Ball
  4. Basketball Toss
  5. Belt Swindle
  6. Bingo / Lottery
  7. Block...
★★★★ $5
to wish list

PDF

Lee Asher
Catch 33: Three Card Monte by Lee Asher

"Much more than a mere gambling expose, Catch 33 is almost an act in itself! Twenty-first Century magic needs more brains like yours." - Guy G.

3 cards. 2 of them lose. 1 wins.

"..simple! "... Or so your audience thinks.

Each time he plays the game with you, your spectator falls into subtle traps you've set. He receives an authentic lesson on the con game that is not a game at all. Using beautifully choreographed sequences, you continually manipulate your spectator into choosing the wrong card. He just can't help himself.

Perform this routine surrounded; at a restaurant, trade...

★★★★★ $21.95
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PDF

Dustin Marks
Cheating at Blackjack Squared by Dustin Marks

The dark side of gambling.

"Loaded with rare, inside information." - Darwin Ortiz

"Absolutely fascinating and enlightening! Ingenious methods that boggle the mind." - Daryl

"Inside techniques exposed for the first time in print." - George Joseph / Director of Surveillance, Bally Entertainment Co.

It may be shocking and it's certainly dangerous. Nevertheless, this unique ebook represents the definitive resource on how professional con men cheat at Blackjack and other card games. The author, a former high-stakes cheater, explains an amazing array of specific moves with clear, understandable text and...

$10
to wish list

PDF

Dustin Marks
Cheating at Blackjack: and advantage play by Dustin Marks

"Must reading for all card magicians!" - Allan Ackerman

"Outstanding!" - Darwin Ortiz

"This book should be on your shelf alongside The Expert at the Card Table, The Man Who Was Erdnase, The Annotated Erdnase, and Loaded Dice." - William P. Miesel

His name is not "Marks," but when you buy this ebook you will learn why he had to write under an alias. The ebook covers advantage play, cheating, and the moves that get the money.

"Exceptional. Controversial. Highly recommended." - Michael Dalton / Blackjack Review

"WOW! The real world of cheating and the plays that get the money." - Bob Snyder / Gaming Consultants

  • Introduction
  • My Credentials
  • Casino Organization ...
$10
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PDF

David Malek
Cheating at Hold'em by David Malek

How to Protect Yourself from Being Scammed at the Card Table
Cheating at Hold'em is not a cliché exposé. Cheating at Hold'em is a course in protective strategy. Cheating at Hold'em will provide you with all the knowledge needed to become an expert in game protection and enable you to participate in any and all Hold'em games without fear of being cheated.

The top professional poker players are all conversant with the card cheater's ploys. No one can become a top professional Hold'em player without knowing how card cheaters take insurmountable advantages.

The information contained...

★★★★★ $29.95
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Brick Tilley
China's Song by Brick Tilley

This is China's version of the Three Shell Game or the Three Card Monte Game. It is played with three sticks held between the fingers of one hand. One stick has a little string tied to it. The task for the spectator is to identify the stick with the string. As you can imagine this is a crooked game and the performer decides when he lets you win. This game was brought by Ching Ling Foo to America in 1899.

In addition to the PDF, you will be able to download 6 videos that demonstrate several ways to perform this con game as well as videos that show you the modus operandi.

1st edition...

★★★★ $10
to wish list

PDF & MP4

T. Hayes
Collusion Strategy and Analysis for Texas Hold'em by T. Hayes

Collusion Strategy and Analysis for Texas Hold'em gives a focused and comprehensive look into the concept of collusion in the popular game of Texas Hold'em. The first half of the ebook details the many techniques and strategies that may be employed by colluders, as well as some of the considerations associated with each method. The second half of the ebook then analyses both pre-flop and post-flop play in order to determine the effect of various parameters on collusion strategy. This publication represents one of the most in-depth insights into the theory of collusion, currently available. ...

$15
to wish list

PDF

Michael MacDougall
Danger in the Cards by Michael MacDougall

A fascinating casebook of true stories from the self-styled "Card Detective" that reveals the inner workings of backroom poker cheats, dice scams, bunco artists, horse race swindles, rigged games of the carnival and midway and much, much more.

Written in a breezy style, "Mickey" MacDougall takes the reader along for an entertaining and informative ride as he consults with casino bosses and card room owners to stamp out cheaters and grifters.

Swindlers take many forms and purvey their trade anywhere people gather: aboard trains and cruise ships, at the racetrack, in back alleys, military...

$10
to wish list

PDF

Alfred Trumble
Faro Exposed by Alfred Trumble

At one point it was believed that only one copy of this book existed. This and other myths are addressed in the introduction by Frank Lehmann, who has studied this book in detail.

The book exposes various ways in which the game of Faro was crooked. It was a very popular betting game in the United States and usually was rigged in one way or another. It was published by Richard K. Fox, the proprietor of the Police Gazette.

  • Introduction
  • Part I
    1. The Game Of Faro
    2. The Cards In Faro
    3. Dealing The Cards
    4. Keeping The Game
    5. Technical Terms Used In Faro
    6. Laws Of The Game
    7. The Chances Of The...
$19.50
to wish list

PDF

John Philip Quinn
Fools of Fortune by John Philip Quinn

The original description read:

A history of the vice in ancient and modern times, and in both hemispheres; an exposition of its alarming prevalence and destructive effects; with an unreserved and exhaustive disclosure of such frauds, tricks and devices as are practiced by "professional" gamblers, "confidence men" and "bunko steerers."

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...

$10
to wish list

PDF

George H. Devol
Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by George H. Devol

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.

  1. A Religious Captain
  2. A Cold Deck
  3. A Woman With a Gun
  4. A Shrewd Trick
  5. A Paymaster's Bluff
  6. A Crazy Man
  7. A Good Night's Work
  8. A Euchre...
★★★ $6
to wish list

PDF

Michael MacDougall & J. C. Furnas
Gamblers Don't Gamble by Michael MacDougall & J. C. Furnas

A card detective revelations of gambler's secrets.

MacDougall, who refers to himself as magician and card detective, tells of years of tracking down crooks, phony devices, and manipulations in every sort of gambling field. He shares anecdotes of various experiences, and explains several cardshark methods and moves including:

  • Culling and Palming
  • The Slip Cut
  • Bottom Dealing
  • Second Dealing and Sort Edge Cards
  • The Haymaker Shuffle
  • The False Riffle
  • The Crimp
  • Trick Stacking And A Misdeal
  • The Interlacing Riffle

1st edition 1939, 167 pages; PDF 91 pages.

$10
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PDF

Jonathan H. Green
Gamblers' Tricks with Cards by Jonathan H. Green

Scores of street scams, swindles, and card table ruses are explained in this 163 page ebook, guaranteed to separate a sucker from his money just as quickly today as when this tome was first written in the mid-1800s. Don't read this book to cheat -- instead, get it for protection so you don't become a victim.

This a fascinating study, filled with accounts of colorful, larger-than-life characters. Some were victims, others turned the tables and made suckers out of the swindlers. The author, "a reformed gambler," goes beyond playing cards to detail the inside work on thimbles (the precursor...

$8
to wish list

PDF

Jonathan H. Green
Gamblers' Tricks With Cards Exposed and Explained by Jonathan H. Green

This is an unusual mix of contents including magic card tricks, card games and how gamblers cheat at those games, other swindles and scams, a section on dice and cheating at dice games, as well as moralizing against the evils of gambling.

Jonathan H. Green was a reformed gambler, who made a career exposing cheating via lectures, presentations and books.

An earlier shorter edition of this book was published under the title Games and Tricks with Cards.

If you are looking for an edited version and somewhat modernized rendition of this book you can find it here.

  • Chapter I
    • Invention Of Cards
    • Mysterious Trick...
$8
to wish list

PDF

H. W. Royal
Gambling and Confidence Games Exposed by H. W. Royal

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)....

★★★★ $10
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PDF

Scott Edward Lane
Gambling Card Sharps: How to Beat a Cheater by Scott Edward Lane

This is a highly sophisticated work on gambling and cheating with cards. The author, Scott Edward Lane, is not only an expert card handler but also an engineer by profession. You will find formulas, flow charts, and graphs which you will not usually find in similar books on this subject. In that sense it is a unique work written by an expert for experts.

This ebook details mnemonics as applied to card sharping, Lane System for Calculated Cuts, Utility Holding Positions, Impromptu Systems to Cull and Stock, Strategic Communications Management, Utilizing Secret Accomplices, Cull and Stock Error...

★★★★★ $24.95
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PDF_facsimile

Jonathan H. Green
Gambling Exposed by Jonathan H. Green

Full exposition of all the various arts, mysteries, and miseries of gambling.

It is a complete exposure, of the different and various ways of deception and cheating in all the numerous games played, such as Faro, Two, Three, and Four-Handed Poker, Shuffling Cards, Roulette and Rolling Faro, Vingt-Un, Brag, Euchre, Game of Boston, All Fours, Cribbage, Whist, Dice, Stealing out Cards, Palming, Playing by Signs, Marking Cards, Backgammon, Solitaire, Playing Three against One, Spring Tables, Spring Boxes, Pulleys, Ingenuity of Gamblers, Card Manufactories, Lotteries, then modes of drawing and...

$12
to wish list

PDF

Jonathan H. Green
Games and Tricks with Cards by Jonathan H. Green

You will find here card tricks, cheating exposes, card games, and gambling stories.

A later expanded version of this book was published under the title Gamblers' Tricks With Cards Exposed and Explained.

  • Chapter I
    • Invention Of Cards
    • Mysterious Trick Of Thirty Six Cards; Telling The Card You Look At Without Seeing The Pack.
    • To Tell A Card Thought Of
    • Three Jacks As Thieves, Caught By A King As A Policeman
    • To Burn A Card And Fin'd It In A Watch
    • How To Shift Cards
    • The Four Associates
    • To Make A Card Jump Out Of The Pack
    • How To Change Cards To Pictures
  • Chapter II
    • All Fours
    • Deceptions Used In The Game Of All Fours
    • How To...
$8
to wish list

PDF

Clifton R. Wooldridge
Grafters of America by Clifton R. Wooldridge

Here is a rare treat. A fascinating, inside look at how carnival midway cheats, street gangs, road hustlers, rigged racebooks, marriage bureau scammers, 'wildcat' oil frauds and many more were brought to justice by the author, a Chicago police detective.

Many of these scams are still in use today. Don't read this ebook to cheat -- instead, read it for protection so you don't become the next victim.

Colorfully written, this massive book is a true-life encyclopedia of scams, cons, swindles, ruses, devices and methods - and how the cheaters were taken down and brought to justice.

Includes...

★★★ $8
to wish list

PDF

Brick Tilley
Gypsy Switch by Brick Tilley

A shortened, up-to-date version of the 11 Dollar Bill Short Change routine. As a finish, the bills are sealed in an envelope. Upon opening, the envelope is found to contain pieces of newspaper. Here is a demo of the count only:

1st edition 2019, PDF 4 pages + 2 videos

★★★★★ $10
to wish list

PDF & MP4

Edwin C. Hood
H. C. Evans Catalog 1909-1910 by Edwin C. Hood

H. C. Evans was a company specializing in the manufacture and sale of gambling and carnival equipment. They also sold sporting goods like baseball gloves, various balls, hunting and fishing gear. Particularly noteworthy are their offerings for cheating purposes such as hold-outs, or dice which have been altered in a number of ways, or marked cards, etc.

1st edition 1909, 64 pages.

$5
to wish list

PDF_facsimile

Edwin C. Hood
H. C. Evans Catalog 1929 by Edwin C. Hood

In 1929 H. C. Evans was a large company specializing in the manufacture and sale of sporting goods and casino equipment.

  • Casino supplies
  • Trade Stimulators
  • Pocket Novelties
  • Amusement Park Supplies
  • Fair Ground Games
  • Shooting Galleries

1st edition 1929, 160 pages.

$10
to wish list

PDF_facsimile

Professor Hoffmann
Herrman's Tricks with Cards by Professor Hoffmann

This is a reprint of the sections dealing with card magic from Professor Hoffmann's Modern Magic. There are however six new pages (four in the front and two in the back) which are entitled "Canfield's Expose". These six pages expose scams such as 'short changing', the 'soap game', the 'spindle game', ...

Reprint is too kind a word, rip-off is more appropriate since this was an unauthorized republication of Hoffmann's material. Also interesting to note is that the correct spelling of Herrmann is with two r's and two n's, the book title however only shows one n. Probably a deliberate error to avoid legal troubles. (Information...

★★★★★ $2
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PDF

Gerritt M. Evans
How Gamblers Win - Secrets of Advantage Playing by Gerritt M. Evans

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"...

$8
to wish list

PDF

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