You Gotta Know when to Fool 'em
June 10, 2022 6:30 AM   Subscribe

10 Levels of Sleight of Hand - Cheating at Poker. (YT) "Level 1: this demonstration is based on a routine by Jim Swain, explained on his Miracles DVD set. Level 2: I use a shuffle sequence created by Rod the Hop in this phase and throughout the video. It is explained in Steve Forte's books, Gambling Sleight of Hand Vols. 1 and 2. Levels 3 & 4: these demonstrations are based off of Harry Lorayne's routine Numero Uno, released on Vol. 1 of his "Best Ever" DVD set. Level 5: while different in method, this level is based off of ideas found throughout Jim Swain's act on the first DVD of his Miracles DVD set. Levels 6, 7, & 8: these levels are comprised of a slight variation of Darwin Ortiz's routine Positively Fifth Street, found in his book Lessons in Card Mastery. Levels 9 & 10: this demonstration is a (very) slight variation of the Dai Vernon Poker Demonstration, published in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic."

"Obviously, this video contains a series of gambling demonstrations meant to be at least semi-accurate, but mostly entertaining. This is NOT meant to be an instructional video on how to cheat at cards or on how to protect yourself from cheating. Don't watch this video and then try this stuff in a game or think you can’t be cheated. I make these videos for entertainment so that people can more deeply appreciate the craft and the art of sleight-of-hand. If you find this stuff interesting, go check out the work of people like Steve Forte, Jason England, Richard Turner, Darwin Ortiz, and Jason Ladanye. If you want to learn how to protect yourself at the card table, check out “Casino Game Protection,” “Poker Protection,” and “Gambling Protection Series” by Steve Forte and “Gambling Scams” by Darwin Ortiz. "
posted by storybored (30 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fun watch! I always wonder just how many hours has gone into learning these elements and how many filming attempts to get these perfectly captured. Happy Friday!
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:25 AM on June 10, 2022


Always a good time to link to the laconic, sardonic, ironic, and psyonic MASTER, Ricky Jay

Ricky Jay - Amazing Card trick (3 mins)

If you like that, this will be a REALLY good use of 90 mins of your time

Ricky Jay Plays Poker (29 mins)

Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (59 mins)


RIP
posted by lalochezia at 7:31 AM on June 10, 2022 [24 favorites]


The other authority on the subject is John Scarne, whose parlour trick was to give any deck of cards a single riffle-shuffle and cut to the ace of spades. He was employed by the US Army during WWII to work out ways to cut down on GIs being fleeced at cards, which he did by creating the Scarne Cut--you take a chunk of cards from the middle of the deck, put it on top, and then do a regular cut. Scarne was the technical advisor on The Sting, and it's his hands in this famous sequence.

Scarne on Cards is a fascinating run through the most popular card games of the mid-20th century from the point of view of someone who's thought a lot about how to break them. He'll teach you the weak spots of any game, how to exploit them, and what to watch for to make sure you're not being cheated. It's a great read. There's a simple precis of the main points in this badly digitised but still fascinating film.
posted by Hogshead at 8:25 AM on June 10, 2022 [13 favorites]


James Swain's mystery novels are set in Vegas along the same vein.
posted by nfultz at 8:26 AM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


The Algorithm led me to this video of Daniel Roy reacting to his appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us!, which is also interesting.
posted by suetanvil at 8:51 AM on June 10, 2022 [6 favorites]


He was employed by the US Army during WWII to work out ways to cut down on GIs being fleeced at cards

Seems like fleecers might have needed a ten level video on not getting your ass kicked. Risk reward seems shaky on that one.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:17 AM on June 10, 2022


Fabulous. I don't trust these guys at all, but I sure do enjoy getting fooled by them. The original video is great: pretending to show you how to cheat but clearly hiding most of the magic. Then Ricky Jay...pretending to show you the magic of cheating but you still can't believe a word of it. I don't even know if his demo of dealing is for real or just a distraction so he can set up the next illusion.
posted by TreeRooster at 9:30 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I read Scarne on Cards about a hundred times growing up. A great book that really helped my Gin Rummy game.
posted by Windopaene at 9:42 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I don't even know if his demo of dealing is for real or just a distraction so he can set up the next illusion.

Teller once said that "Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
posted by mhoye at 9:44 AM on June 10, 2022 [13 favorites]


Back in the olden times, when I was in junior high school, I went on a James Bond reading binge. In one of the books, Bond was headed to some casino to stake out somebody and he decided he needed a refresher course in card cheating. So he pulled out Scarne on Cards. I went out and bought it for myself. Watch out for the “mechanic’s grip,” a dead giveaway that the dealer is a cheat. Scarne’s general book on gambling is also great. The chapter on carnival games is wonderful and casinos? Forget ‘em.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:59 AM on June 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


Adding to the things to watch: Richard Tuner.
posted by dobbs at 10:03 AM on June 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


The sequel to Scarne on Cards, Scarne on Dice is also a fascinating read.
posted by rifflesby at 10:21 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


(correction: Scarne on Dice was published first.)
posted by rifflesby at 10:48 AM on June 10, 2022


The artistry is beautiful to watch.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:38 AM on June 10, 2022


The Algorithm led me to this video of Daniel Roy reacting to his appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us!

I don't understand Penn's assessment of Daniel's performance - I heard Hannigan whisper "Memory" as the main song from "Cats" ... what significance does that have?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:42 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


My father had unusual quickness and dexterity. For example, he could snatch houseflies out of the air, hold them between thumb and forefinger for a few moments and then release them to fly away, apparently none the worse for wear.

When he taught me to play poker, I often had long and amazing lucky streaks. And my mother used to tell stories about the hard times they'd had when he was in the army and my older sister was on the way, and he would come home with $5-600 he'd won in a long poker game.

And as a matter of fact he did box Golden Gloves for a year or two with some success. He was nominally left handed, but actually almost perfectly ambidextrous.

I didn’t put all that together until I was away at school, for some reason, and I never got around to asking him about it. I don’t think I really wanted to know.
posted by jamjam at 1:07 PM on June 10, 2022 [8 favorites]


I don't understand Penn's assessment of Daniel's performance - I heard Hannigan whisper "Memory" as the main song from "Cats" ... what significance does that have?

I think the suggestion was that he had memorized the order of the deck, so, e.g., for the "touch" trick he knew what the 13th card from the top was. For the "smell" trick you'll notice he spends some time handling the remaining third of the deck, allowing him to surreptitiously count up from the bottom.
posted by jedicus at 1:26 PM on June 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


Greg_Ace, Penn's comments to the magicians are often coded references to the moves/techniques he thinks the magician used, as a way of suggesting how he thinks the trick was done without actually revealing spoilsome information to the audience. Presumably 'memory' is a reference to some traditional sleight or famous trick that Daniel would recognize, or that the trick worked via Daniel having the deck order memorized, or something like that.
posted by rifflesby at 1:26 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Ahh that makes sense, thanks.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:59 PM on June 10, 2022


Scarne had a trick where he would seriously shuffle a deck of cards, quickly riffle the deck face forward, put the deck on the table face down, and then cut the four aces. He said this wasn’t a trick. He could count the cards really fast as he riffled them. Then he could count the stacked cards and precisely lift the cards to reveal each ace. When asked how he does it, he said something like eight hours a day practice for six months. Dedication…
posted by njohnson23 at 2:25 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I believe it, Ricky Jay was said to have similar powers. More like six years than months though, I gotta imagine.

I read another anecdote about Scarne that he had a regular poker game with his friends, in which he wasn't allowed to deal, and was only allowed to look at his cards by picking them up one at a time with two fingers. One night he was losing particularly badly, and the other guys took pity on him and let him deal a round. He dealt the other four guys straight flushes and himself a pair of deuces, and was never allowed to touch the deck again.
posted by rifflesby at 2:34 PM on June 10, 2022 [16 favorites]


for most games knowledge of which card you left in the box gives you a bit of an edge.
posted by wmo at 5:31 PM on June 10, 2022


Gavin Bryers: A Man in a Room, Gambling. An audio-art project that was broadcast on BBC late at night just before the Shipping Forecast.
posted by ovvl at 7:32 PM on June 10, 2022


Pfft, this is nothing. Have you ever tried to let a 7 year old win at War without her catching on that you're throwing the game? A 6 year old will assume that they are winning because they are awesome and a 8 year old will win enough on their own that you don't need to throw the game, but the 7 year old, man, they are young enough to still need their egos handled carefully and old enough to smell a rat.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:07 PM on June 10, 2022 [8 favorites]


This elicited the same totally helpless feeling I have when I think about cyber security. It all might as well be magic.
posted by Pembquist at 9:40 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I just watched all the links in the FPP and thread, and though I’ve overshot my bedtime, I still have a smile on my face. It’s really beautiful, the art of work. Thanks, everybody.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 10:49 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


Then Ricky Jay...pretending to show you the magic of cheating but you still can't believe a word of it. I don't even know if his demo of dealing is for real or just a distraction so he can set up the next illusion.

Yeah, I realized in another discussion of Ricky Jay how meta his schtick is. His whole image and patter implies that he’s an honest magician, simply a master of the art of sleight of hand and a keeper of its deepest secrets. But I definitely would not take his word as far how he says he does it, when he’s giving those elaborate backstories about finding the one guy in the world who knows the technique for this and that, you know…
posted by atoxyl at 12:14 AM on June 11, 2022


"All right," he blurted, "that's enough; now, how do you do it?"
Scarne had expected it. "The only possible way," he said, "You notice I always give the deck one riffle myself. When I do it I count the cards so I can see the indices. When the ace falls I just count the number of cards that drop into place on top of it. Then when I cut I count down that number of cards and break the deck there, and of course, there's the ace. That must be obvious now, isn't it?"
There was a long silence.
"If that's it," Rothstein said, "it's uncanny."
"You can do it easy, if you practice three or four hours a day, in--hmm--twenty years," said Scarne affably.
"And you're how old?" murmured McManus.
"Nineteen. But," John Scarne added hastily, "I've been practicing ten hours a day."
(from the foreword to Scarne on Cards, by William A. Caldwell.)
posted by Hogshead at 5:02 AM on June 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


This one time, I was in a pretty high stakes game, for me anyway. I suspected cheating with two of them because it seemed when one of them won a big hand the other had been raising too so there were three raises per round but then they would drop out near the end. When I was dealt three kings but folded before the draw I saw those two exchange a glance. I left shortly after.
posted by hypnogogue at 4:57 PM on June 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


Teller once said that "Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
For example, Daniel Roy actually has no card skills at all and just shot this video over and over again until he got lucky.
posted by dfan at 5:14 PM on June 11, 2022 [4 favorites]


« Older The premise of the paper proves itself   |   fascinating article on animal language - SLNY Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments