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Those who know me know that I have an unhealthy addiction to the art of the con.

Does anyone use any tricks where the premiss is swindling/conning?

ie. Prop bet style tricks OR routines that talk about conning people like 'Stand up Monte' by garrett thomas etc.

I know pretty much every prop bet published, but not so many magic tricks based around cons.

note - i am not looking to con people, i am looking for tricks that will fit into a comedy routine where i was conned by various means, and i am showing the audience the stuff that fooled me...

Whenever I use Daryl's Ultimate Monte I use patter about how I come from a family of losers - at cards that is. And I proceed to do the routine showing how we always did the wrong thing and would lose lots of money.

You could do some sort of coin matrix under the premise of 'I kept having to guess the number of coins under the cards but impossibly I was never correct' sort of thing. Coins Across could be used under a gambling context.

A big kicker for the climax of any gambling based routine would be HEIRLOOM. The whole patter in that is about a gambling scoundrel of a Great Uncle who lost everything because he gambled on his lucky card!

Yes i have heirloom... GREAT shout! thanks i totally forgot about that trick that would be a niiice finish.

cheers Jordan

no worries

I wonder if you could present out of this world as an account of the time a dirty casino cheated you at the roulette wheel... make it about betting red or black... At the end perhaps the spectator has cheated you?
you could explain the half way switch of piles as moving to another table, requesting a new "dealer" (or whatever the correct word is in roulette - perhaps "spinner"?) or changing your tactics.

There are several classics like the Sidewalk Shuffle and Gypsy Curse routines but if you are looking for a study in this style of work I'd strongly suggest you look at Harry Anderson material as well as some of the stuff put out by Ricky Jay. Close-up wise one of my favorite bits is Vernon's One Handed Gambler, which is a fun story line but if you want things more "legit" in the feel of the con, look to Martin Nash, he did some killer work with deals and set-ups.

Steven's Magic used to offer a complete packaged show on Gambling Expose and Classic Cons, it might behoove you to drop Mark Stevens a note and ask him about it.

Nice one Craig, will start looking through these as suggested - really appreciate the name drops.
One handed gambler - where can i read about the workings?
Was thinking on a few setups for full poker deals, maybe memorised deck for close up.

FTHO, just performed ootw a few times to myself and i think i could definitely work this idea in. appreciate the thought.

My after dinner speech is all about cons and people are always fascinated and ask me a ton of questions so i figure i should tailor a magic routine to match... thanks for the input.

Darwin Ortiz tells some wonderful stories to go with his card magic.

A couple of my favorites are.

"Appointment In Samarra" & "The Quick & The Dead"

CArl...

Also in Michael Ammars Card Miracles he offers up a three or four stage poker routine. I think it's on Vol 1 if memory serves me correctly!

I'm sure you subscribe to scamschool but if you don't, have a look at episode 22

http://revision3.com/scamschool/fastandloose

I think they're up to episode two hundred and goodness knows what. I keep meaning to catch up on what I've missed. You'll normally find something on there to suit your needs. It's free to view and full of all sorts of scams. Well worth a look.

Pip-Pip

K

shuffleshuffle wrote:Nice one Craig, will start looking through these as suggested - really appreciate the name drops.
One handed gambler - where can i read about the workings?
Was thinking on a few setups for full poker deals, maybe memorised deck for close up.

FTHO, just performed ootw a few times to myself and i think i could definitely work this idea in. appreciate the thought.

My after dinner speech is all about cons and people are always fascinated and ask me a ton of questions so i figure i should tailor a magic routine to match... thanks for the input.

If memory serves me, you'll find the Gambler routine in 'Stars of Magic' . . . it's the story where the knife gets stuck in the con-man's hand.

If I remember right, Nash used a memory theme as part of one of his explanations in one of his dealing demos; regardless, I think it could be stitched in with little trouble as could a card at any location type call/deal.

If you ever get to visit the Magic Castle you'll find a gent (he'd be in his early 60's or better now days) named Francis Correa; a slender, classy black gent that has the strangest "round" side-burns and a River-Boat type gambler's persona. He was a student of Tony Slydini and quite smooth when it comes to this genre of work. I think his "theme" works well for certain types of gambling bits because you get that James West (Wild, Wild West) or James Gardner (Maverick) feel for things and too, being tied to the old American West it opens doors for a handful of non-gambling bits such as cons run with drinks and drink betchyas, garder-strap routines, poker chips, even smoking materials, rope/chord magic, etc.

If you go with the fast-talking conman ala Harry Anderson (you should see the film "Flim-Flam Man" with George C. Scott or "The Rain Maker" to get an idea of what this sort of hustler was like. Mr. Haney in the Green Acres TV series was a spoof on this sort and you will find hints of him in "Wizard of Oz" via the old "Professor" with the Wonder Wagon before the twister and of course, later to be seen as the great & powerful Oz).

I'm not aware of anyone doing this sort of character (with any success) in today's world based on today's street scene.



How would you pull an act together playing a Nigerian businessman?

thanks for all the replies.

im toying with this.. Danny Blue style (hustle) - fast talking...

some great advice thanks for all these. Ive got a lot of reading to do!!!

Have you looked into the School for Scoundrels?

scam school ive heard of is that what you mean?

Rountine is coming together nicely now thanks to all the input.

No School for Scoundrels is run by Whit Hayden and Chef Anton, they produce learning materials and props for cons such as 3 card monte, fast and loose and the shell and pea game. Look them up and if you want to know any more let me know as I have most of the things they stock and haven't got a complaint about any of them. All highly recommended resources and props.