The only way in which I can conceive of bringing this about is by the exposure of every known cheating method. I think I know them all. Here we go. In the following material I propose to detail every artifice, gadget, manipulation, distraction, and device used by cheats. If after reading them you still think you are being cheated at cards, let me suggest to you the joys of marbles and hopscotch. Stacking the Cards There is the popular delusion that when a deck is stacked, i.e., when certain cards have been put in certain positions in the pack for a crooked purpose, every card is in its special place and the gambler knows exactly where it is. The sharper does not live who can riffle the pack and retain in his memory the location of every card. Nor does the sharper live who can stack five or more cards for two or more hands without previous preparation of the pack. The truth is and remember it, whether your game is a beery bout of Showdown in a ginmill or the most recondite. Scrane on cards Contract Bridge at an uptown clubthat a cheater can clean up by knowing simply the location of a very, very few cards. As a matter of fact, knowingabsolutely knowingthe position of just one card of the fifty-two will give the skilled cheater an amazing advantage.Never overestimate a crook. Dont expect him to work miracles. Just expect him to work, The Pick-up The pick-up is the sharpers most foolproof way of stacking the cards. It requires no special skill; it rarely fails; it is hard to detect. Youre a cheater, and youre playing Poker. The next deal is yours. At the end of the game just concluded five hands were exposed. Examining them not too obviously, you have seen that in each of those hands is one card youd like to have for yourself in the next deal. Lets say there four jacks and a deuce, one card in each hand. So you stack the deck in such a way that youll now deal those five cards to yourself. Impossible? Why, its not even improbable. As dealer, you make it your business to pick up the cards on the table. You pick them up a hand at a time, and as you do so you put the card you want at the bottom of each group of five cards. Then you put all five hands together at the top of the deck, and, after some fiummery about shuffling and cutting which you take good care to keep from disturbing the position of the top twenty-five cards, you deal Naturally you get cards Nos. 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25, the four jacks and the deuce you want.Thats darned near all there is to stacking as its generally practiced. Professionals use it for most of the card games covered in this book.hand in and hand out. The Riffle Stack The riffle stack is one of the most difficult of card-stacking methods, but the cheater who has perfected it is by all means one of the most dangerous of adversaries. If you think youve detected an opponent making one of the moves indicative of this stack, bewareyoure up against a practiced, unscrupulous, and perhaps even desperate man, be his game Poker, Bridge, Blackjack, or one of the Rummies.Whats being done: The cheater has, say, the four kings at the top of the deck. In the act of riffling (shuffling) he has to cut the cards into card cheaters and there methos two blocks or groups. It is during the shuffle that be interposes cards between the kings so that in dealingwhich he will do on the levelhell get the spaced kings and his opponents will get cards at random. It may take him three or four riffles to count off the cards as he wants them; but, if the riffle is his specialty he can and will do it in a single move. The result he gets is the same as the pick-ups, only its less likely to be detected. What to look for: This stack is almost detection-proof, but you do have one way of suspecting it; and, if you cant correct matters by forcing the cheat out of the game, you can protect yourself by forcing yourself out. As a rule cheaters, when shuffling the cards, will riffle the lower half of the deck fast and then slow up when they get near the place where the kings lie. And they must keep their eyes intently on the cards when theyre counting them into place. Riffling in this syncopated tempo and a too scrupulous regard for the cards are your danger signals. He may not be a riffle stack expert, but hes acting like one. Look out The Overhand Stack The overhand stack is the stumblebum cheaters best friend. It is used, Ive observed, in kibitzing cards from here to Mexico and back the long way, more extensively than perhaps any other stacking device. It doesnt involve as much skill as the riffle stack or as much risk as the pick-up.The cheater places on the bottom of the deck the cards he wants. Then he shuffles the cards, slipping one card off the bottom of the deck and one card off the top at the same time. The shuffle goes from the right hand to the left, and this stack is executed once for each card you want stacked. As your left hand takes the top and bottom cards, you shuffle out of your right hand two cards fewer than the number of players in the game. When the correct number of cards have been stacked, the cheater throws the cards in the left hand on top of the cards in the right, and the deck is ready for the deal as described under the pick-up stack. False Shuffles: False shuffles are absolutely essential in the arsenal of the accomplished cheater. A man who can false shuffle may look as if hes giving the cards a thorough riffling. He isnt. Hes |
