How To Shuffle
TOO MANY PEOPLE, including some who gamble for big money, do not know how to shuffle a deck of playing cards properly or even thoroughly. They start exposing cards to their opponents even before the riffle begins. Typically, they pick the deck up off the table, break it into two parts, and square up the packets as shown in Figure 78, exposing at least two cards. Then they riffle the packets away from themselves, again exposing cards, as shown in Figure 79.
After the riffle, they expose the bottom cards blatantly to the players across the table by squaring the deck as shown in Figure 80. Or else they bow the packets and flutter the cards back together, as shown in Figure 81.
The riffle shuffle that I recommend isn't nearly so fancy, but it exposes no cards.
Here's the procedure:
1. Place the deck flat on the table. Cut off the top half and place it flat on the table with the bottom half. Square up the two packets, as shown in Figure 82.
Figure 90
Figure 91
Figure 92
Figure 93
Figure 94
2. Angle the packets slightly inward and riffle with the thumbs, as shown in Figure 83. This may seem a little awkward at first, but it's really easier than the usual method after one gets the hang of it. (And it mixes the cards more thoroughly.) Remember that both packets stay flat on the table; in fact, the fingers push down on the outer edges of the packets while the thumbs lift the inner edges slightly.
3. Push the packets together as shown in Figure 84 when the thumb riffle is completed.
4. Square up the deck as shown in Figure 85. Then repeat the whole procedure for the next riffle. Thus, several riffles can be made, quite quickly, without taking the deck off the surface of the table.
Figure 95
Figure 96
Figure 97
How To Cut
THE CUT is a card player's best protection against a stacked deck and shifts. Often a single cut will either hit a crimp or allow a locator in the game to follow the relative position of a card or a stock of cards. Although I often make a single cut when I have no reason to be suspicious, I recommend the Scarne cut as standard procedure.
First, remove a packet (about one third of the deck) from the middle (Figure 86).
Place it on top (Figure 87). Now make a regular cut (Figure 88).
This cut will foil almost any stacked deck. But if you suspect a locator in your game, go through the procedure two or three times.
Figure 98
Figure 99
Figure 100
How To Deal and Draw
SOME DEALERS EXPOSE the top card on the serve, as in Figure 89. Others expose the bottom card from time to time, as when checking their hole card in stud poker (Figure 90). The best advice is to be careful and to form the habit of tilting the front of the deck slightly downward when dealing, as shown in Figure 91.
When dealing some card games, or when drawing from a stock in others, it is a good idea to spread the deck as shown in Figure 92. The top card can be slid off a fanned stock easier than it can be picked up from a square stock, and with less danger of exposing (or peeking at) the second card. I recommend the fanned deck for dealing the up cards during the later rounds in stud poker and for drawing from the stock in gin rummy.
Figure 101
Figure 102
Figure 103
Figure 104
Books About Cheating And Related Topics
Asbury, Herbert, Suckers Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America from the Colonies to Canfield. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., 1938.
Binstock, Judah, Casino Administration. London: The Bodley Head, 1969.
Cameron, Judson J., Cheating at Bridge. Philadelphia: Dorrance and Company, 1933.
Chafetz, Henry, A History of Gambling in the United States. New York: Clarkson N.
Potter, 1960.
Davis, Clyde Brion, Something for Nothing. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1956.
Devol, George H., Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi. New York: Henry Holt, 1926.
Erdnase, S. W., The Expert at the Card Table. London: Entered at Stationer's Hall, copyright 1902. (Several reprints available.)
Foster, R. F., Fosters Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of Indoor Games (rev. ed.).
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1953.
Garcia, Frank, Marked Cards and Loaded Dice. New York: Bramhall House, 1962.
Goodman, Mike, How to Win. Los Angeles: Holloway House Publishing Company, 1963.
Herald, George W. and Edward D. Radin, The Big Wheel: Monte Carlo's Opulent Century. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1963.
Ireland, Laurie L., Lessons in Dishonesty. Chicago: Magic, Inc., 1938.
Jacoby, Oswald, Oswald Jacoby on Gambling. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1963.
Albert H. Morehead (eds.), The Fireside Book of Cards. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
James, H. K., The Destruction of Mephisto's Greatest Web. Salt Lake City: The Raleigh Publishing Company, 1914.
Livingston, A. D., Poker Strategy and Winning Play. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1971.
Ludovici, L. J., The Itch for Play. London: Jarrolds, 1962.
MacDougall, Michael, Card Mastery. New York: Louis Tannen, 1944.
J. C. Furnas, Gamblers Don't Gamble. New York: Garden City Publishing Company, 1940.
McGuire, Eddie, The Phantom of the Card Table: The Real Secrets of the Phantom Walter Irving Scott. Las Vegas: Gambler's Book Club, 1969.
McQuaid, Clement (ed.), Gambler's Digest. Northfield: Digest Books, Inc., 1971.
Mario, Ed., Seconds, Centers, Bottoms, n.p., n.d.
Maskelyne, John Nevil, Sharps and Flats. London: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1894.
Merlin, Jack, And a Pack of Cards. New York: Louis Tannen, 1964.
Moss, Floyd, Card Cheats—How They Operate. New York: The William-Frederick Press, 1950.
Newman; David (ed.), Esquire's Book of Gambling. New York: Harper and Row, 1962.
Quinn, John Philip, Fools of Fortune. Chicago: The Anti-Gambling Association, 1892.
Gambling and Gambling Devices. Canton: J. P. Quinn Company, 1912.
Radner, Sidney H., How to Spot Card Sharps and Their Methods. New York: Key Publishing Company, 1957.
Radner on Dice. New York: The Key Publishing Company, 1957.
Radner on Roulette and Other Casino Games. New York: The Key Publishing Company, 1958.
Reese, Terence, Story of an Accusation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.
Reid, Ed and Ovid Demaris, The Green Felt Jungle. New York: Trident Press, 1963.
Scarne, John, Scarne on Cards (rev. ed.). New York: Crown Publishers, 1965.
Scarne's Complete Guide to Gambling. New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1961. -, The Odds Against Me. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.
Silberstang, Edwin, Playboys Book of Games. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1972.
Stein, Clem, Jr., Bridge and Gin Gambitry. New York: Cornerstone Library, 1963.
Thorp, Edward O., Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One.
New York: Random House, 1962.
Turner, Wallace, Gamblers Money. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965.
Welcome, John, Great Scandals of Cheating at Cards. New York: Horizon Press, 1963.
Wilson, Allan N., The Casino Gamblers Guide. New York: Harper and Row, 1965.
Wykes, Alan, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Gambling. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1964.
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