Cheating, Cons, Scams & Protection in Gambling

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...

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.

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...

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.

A classic textbook containing numerous swindles for those who desire to take down and rope the public! It is unique in that it has the only written description of the coin purse swindle - complete with photographs. Many of these cons are being used today, some with minor changes and some exactly as they were played when Rich Uncle was written. There are monte mobs working today in the same manner they worked a hundred years ago.

published 1911 by The Exchange Press, Melbourne; later reprinted by Gamblers Book Club, Nevada; 64 pages

Table of Contents

page

3. Foreword
5. Rich Uncle from Fiji Yarn ...

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...

An account of faro gambling and cheating in New York City.

The newspaper that ran this article is not known. The time frame of the article is somewhere in the vicinity of 1890.

PDF 3 pages.

Originally entitled Artifice Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table, is probably the most cited and referenced book about card gambling moves - a classic in the history of magic literature. A must read for any card magician or aspiring gambling expert and an indespensable reference book. While the authorship of this book is hotly debated we are convinced it was Edward Gallaway. (For a detailed work on the search for Erdnase see Hurt McDermott's Artifice, Ruse & Erdnase.)

[A copy of this book is also included in Michael McDougall's Card Mastery. This ebook is also available in a German translation.

Paul Fleming wrote:

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...

This is a treatise on the sucker effects of the Three Card Monte. It starts with an intro by Nate Leipzig, includes a definition of gambling terms and goes on to explain moves, routines and schemes to work the Three Card Monte. John Scarne was a master in performing and demonstrating this sucker effect. Learn everything about it in this digital reproduction, either to be aware of the various ways this can be played and thus be protected, or to learn to perform it for entertainment purposes.

From the preface by Nate Leipzig:

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...

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.

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.

This article describes in particular one marking system of cards. It includes illustrations depicting how the cards were marked. It also touches on a few other ways to cheat.

The article appeared in the Chicago Herald during Mayor Roche's time.

1st edition ~1887, PDF 5 pages.

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 manual exposes cheating at gambling of all kinds including more than 100 methods of rigged machines, tables, dice, marked cards, sleight of hand and more.

It is unclear when this book was originally published, but it does reprint some illustrations from The Expert at the Card Table which means it must be after 1902. Our best guess is that this was published during the 1920s.

From the preface:

Dieses Buch ist in Deutsch verfaßt und ganz dem falschen Spiel mit Karten gewidmet. Es behandelt unter anderem Griffe wie das Falschmischen, Spielaustausch, präparierte Karten und Gehilfen.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

3. Vorwort
7. Die Geschichte der Karten und ihrer Spiele
12. Die Volte
17. Das Falschmischen
19. Das Eskamotieren der Karten
21. Das inkorrekte Abheben
23. Das korrigierte Kartengeben
25. Vorbereitete Spiele
26. Karten-Präparationen
26.    A. Gezeichnete Karten
32.    B. Beschnittene Karten
34.    C. Gebogene Karten
35.    D. Durchstochene Karten
37. Das Vertauschen präparierter Kartenspiele
39. Der Gehilfe...

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 ...

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...

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...

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.

This...

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"...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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:

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...

This is one of the best explanations of the Three Shell Game or Thimble Rig including 24 moves and 3 full routines. Jack Lamonte has drawn 86 clear illustrations to make studying the moves and routines a lot easier.

Excerpt from the introduction:

[Note: You will also be able to download a facsimile version of this manuscript.]

1st edition 1959, 30 pages; 1st digital edition 2013, 49 pages....

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...

This is an exposure of a psychic scam being worked today that is almost foolproof. The unusual thing about this scam is that the sucker in most cases never realizes he was conned. Therefore he never reports the psychic to the authorities and the psychic can operate in the same area for years with immunity!

Millions of people go missing each year and many unscrupulous psychics and mediums claim they can find these people for a FEE.

This is an exposure of a scam that was worked on the author in his younger years. It shows step-by-step how the psychic makes it appear that he has found the...

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....

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...

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...