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So what's your take on us "magicians" gambling at cards?
When I say gambling, I don't mean cheating, by culling cards, switching them or whatever - I mean doing a lil' routine and betting on the outcome.

Let me explain what happened on Sat night. I'd been out on the beer (no change there then ) and I was a "bit" wasted to say the least. Me and my m8 played 2 other guys, whom we kinda knew, at pool. They basically kicked our sad asses and took £5 off each of us. Now I'm not bragging, but I reckon if we were sober we'd beat them 8 times outta 10, so I was a little miffed, but hey, sh*t happens .
All of a sudden my brain started working overtime and I thought to myself that these 2 were only too happy to take advantage of the fact that we were drunk and take our money - I wondered if they would do the same, if a card trick went "wrong" , 'cos I'd messed it up through being too drunk .

I offered to show one of them a trick and that if they wanted, they could bet on the outcome - only if they wanted to though .

He agreed, so I forced the 7 of clubs on him and told him to remember his card, don't show me etc etc. I then "shuffled" the cards and forced another card on him which I placed face down on the table.

I then offered him the following bet:
The 2nd card that he selected, that was face down on the table (that no-one had seen), would be exactly half of the one he cut to initially (the 7 of clubs he was holding in his hand).
Now I "warned" him that I nearly always got this trick right and that if they didn't want to bet then I'd understand.

Now greed obviously got the better or this guy as he promptly slapped a tenner on the table. In my opinion, he obviously thought I'd messed up and he would have been quite happy at taking my money again. I only wanted my fiver back from the pool game, so I said that I was only willing to bet a fiver.
The bet was on - imagine his surprise when the card was turned over and it was the 3 1/2 of clubs lol. He wasn't very happy, but his fiver and mine were now in my possession. He called me a cheat - to which I asked how I could have cheated. He cut to 2 separate cards and one was exactly half the other one - it just so happened that one of the cards he managed to cut to, was the only rogue card in an otherwise perfectly normal deck .

What's your thoughts on this?

Was I wrong or right to use his greed against him?

Anyone else had similar experiences?

(I'm feeling a bit guilty to be honest but hey, sh*t happens )

hey mate. that was perfectly legit...even if you had cheated, it was still legit.

someone only ever bets money when they try to win. i scam people often (not proud of it...but a night in the pub brings many free drinks ) and i have always seen, that when it appears to be that I have messed up, they always bet. the fact that he bet big when he believed you to have screwed up surely shows something?

if he was so certain that you had messed up, and didn't want to con you, he wouldnt have bet.

reminds me of the phrase "you cant cheat an honest man" and it certainly rings true here. if he had been honest, he wouldnt have felt cheated.

Some people need to be cut down to size occationally. If that means showing them they're not quite as clever as they first thought then it's good for them!...And it makes you feel better too! Mind you saying that i'd probably feel bad and give their money back!

I think you can use your prowess over cards occasionally to give someone a little jab below the belt, but you should never bet an extraordinate amount of money. For instance, if you had bet 100 pounds, that would have been wrong entirely, but if you had just taken the ten from him like you did, what's the harm in that? I'm guessing he wasn't dirt poor or that the money wasn't his, so he had what was coming to him. How shameful it is to take advantage of a drunk magician!

I find it was a small friendly bet. Not like a big "hostile takeover". You just won your money back. Think the reaction would've been different if you bet let's say 100€. You also openly showed him that you actually did trick him by forcing the 3 1/2 of clubs. That's a friendly way of saying that he shouldn't mess with you again. I think it's ok in this case. A totally different case if you would hide the fact that you were tricking him and making him bet his house and wife

I think you gave him a lesson in "do as you would be done by"

I think that was perfectly ok, you accomplished what you said you were gonna do, can't be fairer than that.

Id have taken his tenner!! He was only too willing to empty your pockets.. Id have offered him to raise the stakes..

I.D wrote:Id have taken his tenner!! He was only too willing to empty your pockets.. Id have offered him to raise the stakes..

I've gotta admit - I was tempted .

It's not like I was playing a card game and cheated, without him knowing. I offered to show him a card trick (and I even told him it was a card trick ). I did, however, lure him into a false sense of security by saying that I nearly always got it right, so when he saw the 7 of clubs he must have thought to himself that this was one of them few ocassions when I get it wrong. I also reeled him in when he slapped his tenner on the table - I acted a lil' nervous and reckoned on that I may have got it wrong, so I stammered and stuttered and said I didn't want to risk losing a tenner so I'd only bet a fiver - thereby raising his confidence. The look on his face whan I turned over the 3 1/2 of clubs - priceless lol .

I suppose, all in all, I played on his greed .

It felt good to get my fiver back though .

Id have taken the shoes off his back!!

Im with ID. I would have raised the stakes and watched his smug face fall flat. Then I would have offered for him to win it back and on blackjack or poker and stacked his ass in a horrible fashion.


Yeaaaaa I'd win the money back from my last purchase, then use that purchase to win more money

I have always found it peculiar, how so many in magic can justify "cheating" as it were or running a hustle in the spirit of "good clean fun" but the instant someone starts doing Readings (being it thought reading or otherwise) they scream "Scam" and want to tar & feather you.

It all boils down to your own moral fiber and sense of ethics and, when you've earned the right to be that crusty old salt, knowing when and just how to put the predator in his/her place by using their own ideas and energy against them.

I remember a crew out of Chicago, long ago, who mis-used monte and pick-pocket techniques on a steady basis (I'll not name names but you know of a few of these guys)... they were young and dumb with balls of brass e.g. no one was going to tell them different... just life and their own conscience. Fortunately most of us know at an innate level, right from wrong and we tend to be a bit more humanitarian.

I think it is perfectly fine what you did.

As above, I would have probably been more brutal

I woulda took him for everything he had including his house, clothes and car.

I play poker every week with the boris wild deck.....




just kidding