Before rambling gibberish riddles I’ll do my best to answer questions yet to be asked...
The Score is a playing card marking system designed for any deck, printed on standard (or likewise) card stock, that has a white boarder. For specific clarity, by ‘card stock’ I simply mean playing cards that are card, as opposed to plastic or any other non-card material. By ‘white boarder’ I mean the white edge that reaches the very edges of the card to the central design and for further clarity this white boarder is the faded edge on a Bee Stinger playing card.
For the few that may be oblivious to the concept of a ‘marked deck,’ I shall briefly explain... The 52 cards in a deck each have a unique face yet they all share the exact same back design to conceal their identity. The concept of a marked deck calls for the application of secret markings to the shared back design, thus making the back of each card as unique as their faces. The markings tend to be minute and invisible to the unsuspecting eye but plain to read for the card cheat.
There are many ways to mark a deck, the use of ink is quite common; used to fill in parts of the design thus creating a unique image. Some systems requite removal of parts of the ink by use of a sharp blade, a special rough-edge tool or chemicals. Some of the more advanced methods call for special inks to make parts of the design only readable through special lenses used in glasses, contact lenses or camera lenses. Another similar method calls for a special ‘juice’ to mark the cards with (specifically but not limited to Bee) which causes the cards to have something of a magic-eye effect - whereas the reader would change the focus of his sight in order to see the markings. Each mentioned system requires the preparation of a marked deck but there are many interesting tools and techniques for marking cards during play - such marking concepts call for the cards’ shape to be effected in specific ways, such as blisters, nicks and bends.
And so, without giving too much away, I will offer as much information as possible...
I specifically set out to find a system for use with Bee Stinger playing cards, subsequently this system can be applied to most decks on the market - that have a white boarder as explained. The Score does not use or remove ink, nor does the system require any special unattainable tools for the application of the system. The system is a code by which two small markings reveal the identity of the card, the markings are apart, very subtle and extremely easy to apply. Due to the nature of the markings the system can be applied to the deck secretly during play. I do not claim to own or be the originator of The Score System, I have simply exercised concepts that have existed for many years and found a system that I find great comfort in that does not rely on ink or solely on tools. I would not suggest this is a revolutionary system for the advanced (crooked) gambler but I would offer it as a sterling starting point for those searching for an early fortified system
With great help from slight-junkie Randall3man and an anonymous card cheat, we spent almost a year developing and fine-tuning the Score idea. For the most part of the past year I have employed this system in poker games and felt safer than with my previous choice of system. I would never go as far as to say that The Score is invisible, like most marked decks it is identifiable under scrutiny, but designed to hide as a defect if ever discovered, and through marking a local deck during play one would only suspect the deck’s owner. I am very aware that the majority of my readers are performing magicians, for which I think this system would bring more delight and use than offered with BLOOD.
So this is The Score, I’ve been as open as possible with explanations here as to give more of an insight into the system than the actual product page and am open to questions regarding the book or specifics about the system. You can ask your questions in the comment box below this post.
To anybody considering purchasing The Score, I’d highly recommend you download the BLOOD pdf free of charge HERE so that you can familiarize yourself both with coded systems and my approach to the development and application of creative deceptions.
'You may be through with your past, but your past is not through with you.'
To write the book INSIDE, I scoured every page I'd ever written and released to decide which effects from each book were my favourites. The chosen effects were then stripped bare and re-written to offer the basic handling and suggested performance. My intention was to encourage the reader to think from inside the box and adapt my ideas to their own performances. I intended to replace all of the original PDF's with INSIDE but many readers wanted to get their hands on the original PDF's.
And so, without attempts to cut and cap my legacy, I have crammed all 13 books into a single download, and for extra effect I have added FOUR, PSYCHO and the DECEPTIONS volumes to the package.
Anthology contains 17 books, over 170 effects and sleights: £200 worth of material for only £50 saving you a stupid £150.
You can still purchase each PDF individually but will now only be able to find them at the Anthology page...
CARDISTRY & FLOURISHINGPosted by Daniel Madison 08 Jul, 2010 06:10PM To offer a little something for the learning cardists and to encourage enthusiasts to give it a shot, I've just posted a free video tutorial of the flourish 11:14 from the video download Madness.
Named after one of my favorite movies, 11:14 is a simple yet effective 3-packet multi-phased flourish that doesn't rely on speed to offer a strong visual.
It’s been a while since I posted a Spotlight Blog, and on the anniversary of his death some 112 years later, I wanted to pay my respects to a confidence artist who despite living a short life, is the subject and influence of many tales of deception, hustling and crooked gambling, and although I could write acres for him, I will share with you the things that make him most interesting to me...
Jefferson Randolph Smith is considered a legend and perhaps the most famous confidence man of the Old West. At 20 years of age Smith began his career as a bunko artist and formed a small gang of crooks and thieves who he would conduct from city to city performing short-cons, he very quickly became the "King of the Frontier Con Men,"
Smith scored the nickname ‘Soapy’ from his most famous con; Guised as a soap salesman, Soapy would openly place money in the packaging of one of the Soap bar’s, customers were lured into the chance of purchasing the prize, but with the help of sleight of hand and shills from the ‘Soap Gang’ no losses ever occurred.
In 1879 Soapy moved his gang to Denver to expand his short-cons into larger scams. He opened the ‘Orleans Club’ where crooks dealt the cards and rolled the dice, con men took the queues outside with three-card-monte and crooked cops were hired to arrest the suspecting victims in the gaming rooms. Soapy was untouchable, his loyalty to friends strengthened his leadership, his generosity to charities and the city made him something of a local hero and he could afford to buy his way out of any kind of trouble. Soapy soon proclaimed himself to be the boss of Denver's underworld crime empire but it would be a force of nature that would hex the racket when the club suspiciously burnt down.
Although con artistry is an invisible act that should host no role models or even known artists, in 1888, Soapy opened the crooked gambling hall and saloon ‘Tivoli Club’ and posted a sign above the entrance that read ‘Caveat Emptor’ (Let the buyer beware) supporting the proverbial con mans’ lust for recognition and an openly brave middle finger to his ignorant marks. (related previous blog entry reference)
Following an arrest for the attempted murder of a saloon manager, Soapy escaped from prison and fled to Skagway, Alaska. Having conned $2,600 worth of gold from a local miner at the hand of three-card-monte, he found himself in a gunfight that would take his life.
For me, Soapy offers an image for the maxim ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ and although his passion for money, power and control was driven by earlier jaded experiences and later alcoholic and aggressive tendencies, his determination and ambition is rarely seen in those of more stable lives; something most common amongst those in the same field of practices.
In the resounding words of the man himself, I leave you with this...
‘A gambler is one who teaches and illustrates the folly of avarice; he is a non-ordained preacher on the vagaries of fortune and how to make doubt a certainty. He is one who, in his amusements, eliminates the element of chance; chance is merely the minister in his workshop of luck; money has no value except to back a good hand.’
To find out more about Jefferson Randolph Smith, click HERE.
To those who know me or are at least familiar with my practices, you will know that my ventures in the deceptive arts began before I played the part of a magician, and I have now come full circle. Deception is in my veins, if I had no way to channel it I’d be far worse off. At the time, magic appeared to be the only way for me to pursue an honest living with sleight of hand. Magic has never really had a place in my heart and I’ve never felt comfortable asking / expecting / demanding belief in implausible and unrealistic lies that only serve to suggest that some mystical power or force is at play, nor could I muster much respect for those who actually fell for such nonsense. Without susceptible spectators magic becomes a desperation for the unimpressive; clever at most but only as real as judged by the spectator. Some may argue that it is the magicians role to convince the spectator of his lie and failure to fulfill this only reflects his inability to deliver, but the moment you have to ‘convince’ an audience is the moment you begin to preach, force and beg for belief. Art cannot be forced, you like it or leave it. Magic is not designed for the realistic world, and that is why for me magic is dead. I am addicted to reality and not suspension of it, magic is a distraction from reality, deception makes you pay more attention to it.
Through all of my work I have pushed every creative process as close to reality as I could without leaving the boundaries of the magic effect. It was that taste of reality that I loved about performing magic but it was the incompletion and hindrance of the perimeters set by the process of magic that held me back. Since I cut magic out of my life I’ve been able to fully embrace the foundation of my creativity and think by my own limits and not those set by magic. I have rediscovered the fearlessness of facing deception head on and not within the confines of any place approved or synonymous with magic. I re-found my original obsession with handling a deck of cards and felt the freedom of losing the uncomfortable and limiting stigmas / chains of magic and the engulfing industry. My art is with deception, and I see magic only as something that limits and dampens the awe of a practice so dangerous and so pure.
I speak for no other person when I say magic is dead, I could argue the beauty in magic, the appeal and amazement it carries, and I understand why people become magicians and others love to watch it, but it is something I have moved on from. My intentions here are to reintroduce myself and I write these notes on sleight-of-hand and a performance style that lends itself to deception with playing cards outside of magic. My clutch on reality reignited a fresh creative approach to my performance and creativity, and through these notes I have set out to offer an example of performance artistry with playing cards, to offer the difference between deception and magic in hope that a gap between the two can grow further apart, if not for myself alone.
I don’t intend to gain an audience from my new approach or outlook, I do expect to lose many, and in a way, FOUR is my example of the maxim - You learn the most from the things you teach, and through my learning I fully accept the sacrifices and embrace their legacy. I do know that there are people out there who share my opinion, who search for better ways to create a more realistic performance, and for that my suggestion is that you step outside of your environment, and adapt and embrace the reality you’ve spent so long trying to bend.
I do not expect the reader to do as I have and end their relationship with magic, and I do not advise it. For me it was long overdue. If anything I encourage you to keep at it. But I do encourage you to listen to my message: The more reality you invite into your art, the more chance you’ll have at manipulating it.
In a comment made in response to the blog post Ice Cold Hold’em, ‘The Real Deal’ asked the following question...
“I just wanted to say that you keep rabbitting on about how you got caught cheating and now showcase your sleights etc... But why? Who wants to see sleights that got you CAUGHT OUT? Danial square gardens?”
As I feel that the answer to this question has quite a few interesting points and offers further insight into the act of ‘gambling demonstrations’ I thought I’d dedicate a post to it...
I was a very naive lad through my teens, I had a skill and arrogantly believed myself to be the best at it and I now believe this to be one of the prime errors of my ways; I believed deception to be my second nature and that I would never be caught. Through this attitude I became sloppy and careless and took my instant rush from the risk rather than the subtle increase over time, I didn’t respect, acknowledge or understand the danger or exactly what it was that I was getting addicted to.
I agree that a mistake is only so when one fails to learn from it and I do not deny the evils of my past, were it not for my mistake at the table as an 18-year-old boy I may have never fully understood the lessons I encounter today, and I believe that no man who fully understands the risks would ever pursue such a profession, however unfortunately this is something that some people will only understand by learning first hand.
It’s now almost 12-years later, since then I’ve studied and practiced every resource I have been fortunate enough to find on the subject. It’s a cold thought to think where I would be now had I have known these things as an 18-year-old, but having experienced the 2nd to worst-case-scenario I feel that I am wise enough, if not even somewhat qualified to understand alone that the act should be no more than a point of interest and study and not a practice that one should ever put to desired use.
Of course learning where others have gone wrong would only offer an advantage to the budding gambler, but I see exposed techniques as moral lessons, as even the most invisible of techniques will never be fully invisible to the expert eye. It was a single move that ended my days and I feel that the risks and consequences hold as much value as the moves that work, or the moves that don’t.
I do consider that the question that sparked this blog is a typical magicians question; as magicians only want that which impresses or calls for wonder, as their only true judgement of skill lies in the level of their audience reactions. I don’t see the art of gambling deception and the art of sleight-of-hand for magic as common art’s; although synonymous there are very few sleights created for magic that can be conducted in perfect harmony with the expected procedure of gambling. Demonstrations of crooked gambling are far from magic effects, they are not designed to wow or entertain, they are points of interest... A ‘demonstration’ is defined in the English dictionary as...
1. the action or process of showing the existence or truth of something by giving proof or evidence
2. a practical exhibition and explanation of how something works or is performed
It’s not in my interest to teach one how to cheat at cards, nor will I ever assume the position to do so, but I do endure to show the ways, thoughts and practices of the cheat; it is equal to showcase the correct, accurate and successful techniques as it is to show those unsuccessful and the thoughts and theories that were at a time plausible but not always possible. Gambling demonstrations are not designed to impress and although most of them do, their purpose is to offer insight and education on a deceptive practice. Although there is a lot that magicians can learn from crooked gambling, there is very little a gambler can learn from magic.
I hope that this offers more of an insight into my thoughts and interests than an answer to a single question. I thank you for taking the time to read this or take any interest in my thoughts at all - or at least enough to ask questions, and I thank the person who asked this question for inspiring this post.
I am more than happy to answer your questions, should you have any, here at the blog, as it is slowly becoming one of my fondest places.
There is an scam in the gambling realm known as 'Bringing in a Cooler.' This is the act of secretly switching the deck in play for a pre-stacked deck - stacked in such a way that it offers the best cards to the cheat (or the worst to the the opponent/s.) The switched deck is known as a 'Cooler' simply due to it's temperature; as it will have not been in use it will be 'cooler' than the deck that has been in play, which due to player contact would be warmer in comparison.
Switching decks at card games is a fairly commonly known technique for cheating, but a single cut from another player is all that's needed to foul the stack, and although the opponents final cut can easily be reset, thanks to young Australian programmer Benjamin Joffe, the final cut no longer needs to be nullified...
In October 2009, Ben got to wondering if it was possible to create a stack, which would still offer the winning hand to the dealer regardless of it's cut, and after only half an hour running scripts, he discovered the perfect Hold'em Cooler stack.
So that you don't have to read the info twice, here's the direct link to Ben's system...
Of the many methods for cheating with Dice I wanted to share with you a study I carried out on the idea of 'Cooking the Dice.' Cooking Dice is a method for making Loaded Dice. A loaded die is a die that has been tampered with to ensure that it always lands on the same face, there are many methods to achieve this, some include rounding off the corners of one face, changing the shape of the die or more commonly making one face heavier than the others; the very objective for Cooking Dice.
The idea behind Cooking Dice is to heat up the die quick enough to cause a 'melt' without actually causing any effect to the shape, which allows the weight of the die adjust to gravity, therefore if you cook a die with the 1 as the up number, the weight will shift down to the 6 making it heavier. To achieve an appropriate application of temperature fast enough to ensure that the shape remains, one must use a microwave...
When cooking your dice, there are many things that can go wrong, and I've made all of those mistakes so that you don't have to. I have no call to use Western Style Dice; these are the smaller solid red die with rounded edges and corners; usually used for board-games, the only dice I use are Precision Casino Dice, which are completely square and often clear or frosted in colour, and therefore this practice is only meant for casino dice.
In the image above, the first (Red Golden Nugget) die saw 6 minutes in the centre of a 850w microwave, and the Blue Binion die next to it saw 5 minutes at the same temp; two fine examples of over-cooked dice... as my microwave has no temp-adjutment-setting the experiment continued at the same temp, but each die saw less time.
The 3rd die (Amber Harrah's) saw 3 and a half minutes and the Red Harrah's saw 3 minutes; each seemed to collect air-bubbles at the bottom, which expanded rather rapidly. The Green Binnion Die (5th from the left) saw 2 and a half minutes and the same thing happened. It was at this point that the plan changed. (CLICK HERE to see a clearer image of the Dice.)
The Green Binnion die (2nd from the right) saw 6 minutes, 1 minute 30 seconds at a time, after each blast I allowed a minute for cool-down before the next. Although this was going quite well,air-bubbles appeared at the bottom, and so joined the other dice in the fail box.
The final Amber Wynn die on the right, saw 10 minutes, 1 minute at a time with a 1 minute cool-down between each wave. The final result was near perfect... The die has no visual distortions nor a single bubble although you can feel the weight difference when you spin it at adjacent corners. As good as the die turned out, my final thought on Cooked Casino Dice is that the design of these cubes has been built to combat any crooked tampering. The fact that these are perfect squares with sharp corners means that when rolling, a huge act of 'bounce' is caused as each corner or side hits the surface, and so regardless of the weight-adjustment, it's just not enough to compensate or outwit the nature of design vs gravity.
Although with this die the chances of landing a 1 are increased, I rolled the die 50 times and only landed 1 - 18 times; which although at 36% is statistically above average (16.6%) I'd be more incline to put that down to the laws of chance than the implementation of a crooked die; to which I see no advantage of taking the risk involved with playing with such an instrument of deception.
I was left wondering if the design of the Western die would allow for a higher success rate, but with no call to use such dice I'm in no rush to try it out, however my friend Dee Christopher happened to find THIS VIDEO which seems to offer some enlightenment.
Please don't try cooking dice at home as when I did i found myself very dizzy followed by a heavy head-ache and a sickly feeling that stayed with me for at least half a day.
I'll be posting more crooked dice methods here soon. Comments or further information on Cooking Dice more than welcome.
D
(EDITED) >
After posting this entry to the blog, I had a rather interesting thought on the cooking process, interesting results:
"Associated and recommended points of interest, style and elegance in the deceptive practices."
Getting into the flow of blogging I've found myself wanting to link everything that I find cool, however, this site is for things more informative and related in some way to my personal practices, ventures and events. To and for this I've decided to use MAGICisDEAD.com to 'quick-link' points of interest, style and elegance in the deceptive practices. Basically, if I like it and it fits into the site categories, it'll be at MAGICisDEAD.com.
In 1894, at the age of 53, English stage magician, author and inventor of (amongst many other Victorian inventions) the pay-toilet (from which came the euphemism 'spend-a-penny') John Nevil Maskelyne wrote the book Sharps and Flats; A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill. This book became an instant hit and is still considered to be a classic gambling book. What made this book so popular is the fact that it was the first detailed revelation of the secrets of cardsharps.
Maskelyne was adept at working out the principles of illusions, his best-known being the Levitation; commonly, but incorrectly, said to be Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin's illusion. The confusion arises because Robert-Houdin invented the illusion "La Suspension Ethéréene" (aka. the "Broom Suspension") The Levitation is also credited to American magician Harry Kellar, who is said to have stole the illusion by bribing Maskelyne's technician, Paul Valadon.
Maskelyne was a member of The Magic Circle and, like Harry Houdini, tried to dispel the notion of supernatural powers. In 1914, Maskelyne founded the Occult Committee whose remit was to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud."
John Nevil Maskelyne's Sharps and Flats is a timeless resource and reference for the gambler and is equally as valuable in information today as it was over 100 years ago. Although scarce in print, the book has been made available to read online... CLICK HERE to visit the 'html' version of the book.
Having cataloged my anthology of discoveries in close-up deception for the freshly released book INSIDE to both end a career in the world of magic and begin a journey deeper into the world of crooked gambling and modern deceptions, I wanted to set free what I feel is my most valuable offering and study on close up deception (in magic and gambling.) A book which uses simplicity to offer complexities, dear to the card cheat, priceless to the magician.
The marked deck is often referred to as ‘the weapon of choice for the amateur card cheat.’ In many ways I agree as all required is the ability to read the marked cards with invisibility and deftness, more experienced cheats find the risks of detection too high and also resort to safer, or more reliable methods in the field. However, this should not dent the potential of marked cards; especially when used in ‘friendly' games or for magic, after all, learning the identity of a selected card before revelation offers the answer to over 90% of magic tricks.
That being said, and in short fashion I offer you this book, free of charge to offer a spark in your deceptive conscious.
[Please note that this blog entry has been severely edited at the request of The •••]
[Please note that the above sentence has been edited at the request of The •••]
Last month in the blog post Testing The Con, I mentioned a book I am writing on the subject of modern methods for cheating at the casino. Last night, as an act of method research I took to the casino to study the idea of deception with poker chips. In the past, there have been many reports of cheaters stealing, replicating the chips and cashing them in, after hearing that most casinos now use security 'chipped' chips I wanted to find out first hand if this were true. Although my acts cannot be written here they will be covered in step-by-step detail in the said book.
Through my research I found many articles on chips chipped as a warm welcome for technology at the table. The GPI (Gaming Partners International) have invented the RFID poker chip, these chips are imbedded with microchips designed to speed up play at the table. The idea is that when the bets are placed, the electronic table will read the chips and calculate the pot, odds, wins and losses. Fascinating as this may be I can only find interest in the deception that will come from this. I’m sure security has fronted these chips from the start, but it goes without thought that attempts will be made to trick the tables, they report that the microchips are unique to the casinos and cannot be tampered with in any way but I’m looking forward to seeing some new inventions to counter act this new intelligence, as the saying goes, you can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.
Stay tuned for upcoming news about the book [possibly edited at the request of The •••]
