Cheating, Scams & Protection

This ebook presents an analytical review of works on card cheating that are written in English and published before 1900. Given this scope, The Reference Guide to Early Works on Card Cheating takes 151 publications, and documents the card cheating techniques that they describe. Only card techniques discussed in the context of cheating at card games are considered. The 146 defined techniques are used to evaluate the publications based on their breadth and their contribution to the literature. The breadth is indicated by the absolute number of techniques each work describes, and the contribution...

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...

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 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.

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...

This work covers a lot of ground, from various parlor tricks, chemical tricks, card tricks, to a section on two person codes, and a section on artifices of cardsharks.

• description Of The Magician's Table
• How To Make A Person Jump
• The Invisible Chicken, Or Enchanted Egg Bag, As Performed By The Celebrated Wyman
• Scrap, Or Blowing Book, As Performed By Potter
• Gun Cotton - How Prepared
• Sympathetic Inks
• Apparatus For Writing In The Dark
• Dancing Turkeys
• The Self-Balanced Pail
• Sympathetic Lamp
• The Gas Candle
• Ice Made In A Red Hot Vessel
• Magical Colours
• The Magic Nosegay Blowing At The...

Reveals the inside story on how the con artist forces you, or a store, or even a bank teller to hand him too much change.

This bit of larceny gains the criminal five, ten, or more dollars each time -- and that from a $2 purchase. Also shows how to keep from being shortchanged. Almost defies detection, and practically works itself. This is no pie-in-the-sky con. Newspaper and TV stories report that victims of every age and ethnicity are taken in by this technique.

Audiences are hungry for this information, to avoid being "taken." Makes an excellent lecture to provide to banks, stores, senior...

From the back cover:

This ebook exposes the scams and swindles used by carnival midway cheats, street gangs, road hustlers, and crooked mail-order businesses to cheat the public. Written by a Chicago police detective.

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

Colorfully written, this handy guidebook ebook reveals the true-life scams, cons, swindles, ruses, devices and methods of the cheats and how they were taken down and brought to justice. Also includes descriptions of rigged carnival...

From the preface and introduction:

The Ace to Six of each suit are placed on the table, and the two players turn cards face down alternately and a running total of the pips is maintained. The winner is the one who takes the total to no more than 31. Even after the spectator is told the secret to winning, the magician still wins. Ends with an extra kicker.

PDF 10 pages

This short ebook focuses on one of the most popular tactile card marking systems, in the context of Texas Hold'em Poker. Punch Work for Texas Hold'em begins by commenting on the history of the technique and detailing the numerous methods in which the marks can be created. Following this, how the marks can be utilised is explored from the perspective of each stage in standard Hold'em game procedure. The ebook then considers the ways in which these tactile marks can be varied to convey more information. Finally, given the ambiguity inherent in the way this marking system is commonly implemented,...

A false cut that uses the action of burning a card as misdirection. Particularly useful for cheating at BlackJack.

Chuck Smith was recorded doing this cut. (A letter from Chuck Smith to Brick Tilley is reproduced in the PDF.) He used it to beat players during the years of WWII. The sequence of actions is the following. You first openly cut the cards and complete the cut. Then you take the top card, turn it face up and place it as the bottom card. During the action of burning the top card you undo the cut. The demo video will prove how honest and fair this looks.

You will receive a PDF...

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.

This short ebook considers the game of Texas Hold'em, in which a cheat has knowledge of a single card that will appear on the flop. Whilst a couple of methods for achieving this are briefly described, the main contribution of this work is in highlighting the advantage that can be gained with knowledge of only a single card that will appear on the flop. Using analysis of how the cheats pre-flop range may be adjusted, the results show that even knowing only the suit of a flop card will give a significant advantage.

1st edition 2019, 8 pages.

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

Here's an entertaining, 25- to 60-minute lecture that you, the magician or mentalist, can present on the topic of scams and cons. And it's a money-maker.

Become an Expert on Cons and Swindles...
Or just talk like one. This is a new field for most magicians and mentalists, allowing you to give your lecture to civic groups, security seminars, government agencies, corporations -- anywhere people gather. And these organizations have deep pockets, too, able to pay you well for your time.

Fabled Bunco Games of History...
Now become practical, effective tricks in the magician's hands, each...

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 ...

This is the review of Robert-Houdin's The Sharper Detected and Exposed that appeared in Saturday Review on May 9th, 1863.

1st edition 1863; PDF 5 pages.

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.

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.

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...

If you play dice games, or if you have friends who play, you can't afford to be without this information.

Written for the craps player, King delivers the facts in such a way that the dice player will understand and be able to instantly recognize the principal forms of cheating now in use.

The author has eliminated what is usually the bulk of other gambling books - including historical background, rules of the game, statistics, anecdotes, memoirs, and moral admonitions. Instead, he cuts to the chase with the exact methods used by dice cheats, so that you may understand and protect yourself...

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. ...

This ebook focuses on the use of killing cards and the stripper deck to gain an advantage in the popular game of Texas Hold’em. The first part of the ebook is a short investigation into the art of using the cut to take cards out of play. Initially, the mathematics of killing cards is presented along with an assessment of probabilities when all the aces, tens and five value cards are killed. After highlighting the fact that very few cards are exposed during a round of Hold’em, the second part of the book looks at some different types of stripper deck that are available. This covers multiple...

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...

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.

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.

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...

A great book on the tricks of the trade of professional gamblers, how they cheat and get an advantage in the game. From the introduction:

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...

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.

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 Of Thirty Six Cards; Telling The Card You Look At Without Seeing The Pack ...

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.

Concerning marks and stamps, portable and fixed devices, manipulation of cards and other matters of interest to lovers of draw.

This is one of the better early books on card advantage play. We can be almost certain that Erdnase read this book.

• Preface
• Introduction
• Marks And Stamps
• Watermark
• Disfigurement Of Edges
• Nail Impressions
• Ruffling
• Roughening
• Bleaching
• Crimping
• Erasing
• Evaporating
• Glazing
• Enamel
• Acidulated
• Other Marks
• Pricking
• Trimmed
• Briefs
• Wedges
• Strippers Or Humps
• Scratches
• Filling And Burnishing
• Assorted
• Cut-Off
• Shading
• Scrolling
• Stamped Or Readers
• Portable...

An underground classic, now available as an ebook! This amazingly insightful book, written by a newspaper reporter, contains full details of gambling devices and methods used by professionals to beat and cheat casinos and other players.

Also described and illustrated are rigged carnival and gambling games, card gambling games, marked cards, holdouts, and much, much more.

Not content to describe methods that others may also have exposed, Meyer went the extra step to purchase the rights to gambling systems that sold for as much as $25 each. These are also detailed, in their various author's...

This very rare, and highly sought after, gambling book from 1915 is finally available. This book was the first to publish the fact that eight out-faro shuffles brings the deck back in its original order.

• Preface
• Stacking Or Running Up Cards
• Controlling Four Aces And Four Kings By Stacking And Bottom Dealing
• Stacking Cards With The Faro Riffle
• Combination Cold Deck And Faro Riffle
• False Cuts
• Marked Cards
• Controlling Cards In The Draw
• The Tip
• Telling Hole Cards In Stud Poker
• The Draw Out In Stud Poker
• Edge Work For The Draw Out In Stud
• The Spread
• Second Dealing
• Cold Decking ...

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...

A streamlined version of Ray Grismer's Shorty Routine.

1st edition 2017, 4 pages.

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...

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...

The classic 1941 treatise on the grifter's short-change con, now available again. Don't let it happen to you!

Short-changing is is used by unscrupulous ticket takers, food vendors, carnival workers, clerks, cashiers - anywhere that money changes hands. This ebook contains the "inside dope" on how it works and how to protect yourself from becoming a victim.

Described are various short-changing techniques, including the Bar Room Clip, Carnival and Circus Take and the Bill Slip-Over.

Original copies of this privately printed book are extremely hard to find. A recent copy sold at auction...

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.

1st edition 2016, 4 pages.

Any red showing loses!

The spot game is the black widow of the midway because an untrained player has little chance to cover the red spot using the five zinc plates supplied. Rules: the player must drop the plates one at a time from a distance of at least an inch attempting to cover the entire red area. He is later allowed to drop fewer plates bettering his chances of winning.

The spot game is seldom seen these days because law enforcement consider it to be beyond the possibility of chance. It is an excellent aid to the magician, especially when combined with a demonstration of a short...

Available again at last. This privately printed gem contains the real work for some of the best card marking inks, daubs, shading and blockout inks that the world has ever seen. Even the infamous luminous reader formula is explained, as is an easy method to produce short or narrow cards that doesn't require a card trimmer!

Best of all, this revised edition includes modern alternatives to the chemical and dye-based compounds, making it easier than ever to obtain professional results in the privacy of your home workshop.

"Your Red Daub is very fine. I find that Daub is the secret of the...

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...

This ebook takes an academic look at the second deal and its use at the card table, specifically in the game of Texas Hold’em poker. This is achieved by first examining the mathematical rules of the second deal. These rules are then applied to the basic structure of Texas Hold’em and the use of the move is advanced by also considering poker strategy. In addition to this, the probabilities of dealing target cards, when using a binary marking system, are derived. The use of the second deal in conjunction with stacking techniques is also considered, with a focus on the block transfer. Whilst...

This is probably the best short-change swindle every created. In his younger years, Devin Knight worked at a carnival doing Robert Nelson's Horoscope Pitch. During his stint with the carnival, he met a professional short-change artist, who showed him the most ingenious short-change scam Devin had ever seen. It made the scammer $10.00 every time he walked into a store and bought an inexpensive item.

Devin was familiar with the sometimes crude short-change methods used by carnies, but he had never seen a swindle as sophisticated as this one. The scammer would very slowly and deliberately count...

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....

If you love scams, hustles, cons, bar betchyas, flim-flam, stings, snow jobs, bamboozles, chicanery, shams, fixes, baloney, and other dirty tricks then this ebook is for YOU!

In this follow-up to his popular eBook How to Sell Bridges, David Devlin teaches the finer points of some of the many scams and hustles that have made him a lot of money. He also discusses some of the more elaborate cons that have been used throughout history and the cons who pulled them off. Also discussed are cons used today including selling ridiculous products, phony business "opportunities", scamming major corporations out of thousands...