Hanky Panky

by Wiljalba Frikell

GAMBLERS’ TRICKS WITH CARDS, EXPOSED AND EXPLAINED.

GAMBLERS’ PREPARATION OR DOCTORING OF CARDS.

Of cards which are “marked” as they come from the manufacturers there is elsewhere mention. But it sometimes happens that the player cannot understand the peculiar patterns of the back, and hence has to mark them himself as he plays.

This is generally done, while he is holding them, by denting them with the nail, scratching the edges or face, or bending the corners.

When the cards have backs perfectly white, the swindling manufacturer can, at a moment’s glance, tell you what is on the face of the card; and this secret he communicates to others, whom he employs to go out, and by means of these cards to swindle people out of their money. This may seem quite incredible to some; it is, nevertheless, done, and very successfully too, and it is accomplished by embossing the paper on the back, so as to form a small, fine grain, which the eye would take to be the grain of the paper, this grain running different ways to represent different cards. And there is only one position in which this card must be held that it can be told; and that is, hold the end of the card that is from you the highest, and then the shade will cast the grain in a way that you can plainly see the marks.

REFLECTORS.

The cards so named are, by a mechanical process equally distinguishable to the initiated by their backs as by their faces; but, from the expense of manufacturing them, they are not often had recourse to. They nearly resemble those ingenious landscapes which, at first sight, present to our view some beautiful scene in nature, but, upon a more minute inspection, give us portraits of human faces with great exactness and fidelity. Some years back this trick was played off on the Continent, to the enriching of a German Jew and two or three of his confederates. He attended the fairs of Frankfort and Leipzic with a large quantity of these cards, which he sold at a price which bade defiance to competition. Visiting the country again, by the time he thought they would be in circulation at the various spas and watering-places where high play was going on, himself and his friends, by being alone able to decipher the apparently invisible hieroglyphics, made a fortune out of this scheme.

THE LONGS AND SHORTS

Consist of having all cards above the number eight a trifle longer than those below it. This is accomplished with great nicety, by a machine invented for that purpose. By this means, nothing under an eight can be cut; and the chances against an honour being turned up at whist are reduced two to one.

SAUTER LA COUPE, OR SLIPPING THE CARDS.

An adept at this trick can cheat and swindle at pleasure. Wherever it is practised the fair player has no earthly chance of rising from the table other than a loser. The trick, too, is much practised. By its means the wealth of the unwary and inexperienced player is transferred to the pocket of the cheat.

The following simple exposition of the manner in which this trick is performed, will be of essential service to the player. It will enable him to detect the sharper and black-leg; and thus protect himself from their nefarious scheme.

Sauter la Coupe is the French term for “Slipping the Cards.” It is practised at whist, when the cards are cut, and placed in the hands of the dealer. By a dexterity, easily acquired by practice, he changes the cut card, by slipping from its position in the pack, either from the top or the middle, the ace, and thus secures its “turning up.” The practiser of Sauter la Coupe, to cover the trick he is resorting to, invariably ruffles the cards, making with them a loudish noise. While the apparently simple action he thus performs, with the consequent noise, distracts attention, he slips the card, the ace, which he has hitherto concealed for the purpose, and dextrously placed on the head of the pack when passing it from one hand to another to deal, or ascertains its position in the pack by one of the many means resorted to for that purpose. Whenever the player begins to ruffle the cards, instead of dealing quietly, suspect foul play. It is a symptom of cheating.

The fair player has no chance with the cheater by means of Sauter la Coupe. Suppose that during an evening twenty games have been played. The cheat and his partner would thus have to deal the cards at least ten times. During these ten deals the cards might be slipped six times, giving the cheat an advantage over the fair player of at least twenty to one.

CONVEX AND CONCAVE CARDS

Are both of the same genus with the foregoing ones. All from the eight to the king are cut convex, and all from the deuce to the seven, concave. Thus, by cutting the pack in the centre, a convex card is cut; and by taking hold of the cards, in cutting them, at either end of the pack, a concave card is secured.

Fig. 165.

Sometimes these cards are cut the reverse way to the foregoing one, so that if suspicion arises, a pack of this description is substituted for the others. But here the sharper has not so great a pull in his favour, because the intended victim may cut in the usual way, and so cut a low card to the dealer. But the possibility, or rather certainty, of his being able, by any means to cut or deal a high or low card at pleasure, is an advantage against which no skill in the game can avail.

HANDLING THE CARDS.

So called from the cards being secured in the palm of the hand. The person who practises this art at cribbage generally takes care to get two fives, with any other two cards, placing one of the two ordinary cards at the top, next to it one five, then the other ordinary card, and under it the other five. These four cards, so placed, he secures in the palm of his hand, while he desires his adversary to shuffle the cards, and being very generous, also tells his opponent to cut them; when this is done, he puts his hand which contains the four cards upon that part of the pack which is to be uppermost, and then leaves the cards on the same; consequently, when he deals, the two fives will fall to his own hand of cards. By these means when a person who can handle, deals, he is pretty sure of two or more fives.

“GARRETTING.”

Is so called from the practice of securing the cards either under your hat or behind your head.

The method of doing this is to select out three or four extraordinary good cards, while your adversary is marking his hand of crib. This being done, and the cards properly dealt, you take up your own cards, which you take care to examine pretty quickly, and after laying out any two you think proper for crib, you immediately, with one hand, put your other remaining card on the pack, and with your other hand take down the cards which have been secured; then in lieu of very bad cards, which you might possibly have had, you have the best which can be got.

WALKING THE PEGS

Means either putting your own pegs forward, or those of your adversary back, as they may best suit your purpose; and it is always executed while you are laying out your cards for crib.

The method generally adopted for this business is to take the two cards which you intend to put out for the crib, and fix them with your third finger on the back of the cards, and your others on the front; then holding them fast in your hand, you cover the pegs in the board from the sight of your adversary, while with your first finger and thumb on the same hand, you take out unperceived any peg you like, and place the same wherever you think proper.

THE BRIDGE; or, “THE OLD GENTLEMAN”

Is a card slightly curved. By introducing it carelessly into the pack, and shuffling them, it can be cut at pleasure. The trick of the “Old Gentleman” consists in merely introducing into the pack a card of thicker substance than the rest, which can likewise be cut at pleasure, by being properly placed by the shuffler.

SKINNING.

It is by this operation that unfair cards are introduced, and too often without creating suspicion, by the ingenuity with which it is performed. Certain fair cards are taken out of the original stamped cover, without injury to it, and in their stead either concave, convex, or pricked ones, or reflectors, are placed. The stamp being stuck on the cover by means of gum, which the application of warm water dissolves, or deprives of its tenacity: a kettle of hot water and a sponge are the only things requisite. The exchange being completed, the unfair pack finds its way into societies of a certain description, where it is contrived to be placed on the card-tables unobserved. Plunder is the inevitable result.

SHUFFLING OR WEAVING.

Much fraud is practised by the help of dextrously shuffling, by which the power to place cards in certain parts of the pack is under the control of the sharper, when become an adept in the art. The preparatory step is a strict observance of the tricks taken up on both sides, and their contents, when those rich in trumps or court cards are selected to be operated upon by the shuffler, when it is his turn to deal.

THE GRADUS, OR STEP.

Consists in one particular card being so placed by the shuffler, on handing them to his adversary to be cut, as to project a little beyond the rest, and thus to insure its being the turn-up card, either at whist or ecarté.

SLIPPING THE FIVES.

Slipping the fives at cribbage is an amazing strong advantage. The mode of doing this is first to mark them in any manner so as to know them; and whenever it happens that you observe one coming to your adversary, you give him the next card under in lieu thereof, which many who are in the habit of playing much perform with extraordinary dexterity.

SADDLING THE CARDS.

Is frequently practised at cribbage, This is bending the sixes, sevens, eights, and nines, in the middle, long ways, with the sides downwards; by which it is extremely easy for you to have one of those cards for a start, by cutting where you perceive a card bent in that manner, taking due care to have the card so bent uppermost.

DEALING FROM THE BOTTOM.

Is a very common practice; it is, therefore, very necessary for you to be very watchful over your adversary while he deals.

This is a device of old date, but it is easier to be performed with the small cards used at ecarté than those generally played with at whist. It consists in secreting a certain card until an opportunity presents itself of its being available when it is produced, as implied, from the palm of the hand that secretes it. The story of the hand that was nailed to the table with a fork, and the proffered apology for the act if no card was found under it, is too well known to be repeated: but it is not a solitary instance in the play world. Some sixty years since a member of Brookes’s Club was playing at quinze with Mr. Fox. At this game a five is a principal card, and on the person alluded to displaying a five in his hand, after Mr. Fox supposed them all to have been played, he complained, with evident chagrin, of the increasing inaccuracy of his memory. Others, however, were less charitably disposed. The unfair gamester was watched, and detected in introducing a fifth five!

STEALING OUT CARDS, AND PALMING.

The cheat of stealing cards is practised as often, perhaps, as any other fraud in card playing. It is of great advantage to the gambler, and gives him an opportunity of forming very good winning hands. In whist, the most desirable cards to steal out are the “honours,” and sometimes all four will be stolen out by one man, that is, the honours of one suit; and then he will make that suit trump by keeping one of them at the bottom. This can be done by the backs as well as by the faces, for the cards in general use now by the gamblers can all be known by the backs, and a player will know by the backs where any particular card is dealt; and if he should not steal the honours, he can deal them to himself or his partner, by dealing off the second card instead of the top card, whenever the top card is one that he may want for himself; and if he should steal two of the honours out, he will hide the theft by dealing each player two cards twice; then all will have their proper number, and his theft remains hid; or he will miss giving himself a card twice during the deal, and hide the theft by that means; or he will give himself two twice during the deal, and have sixteen, while the others have but twelve each; he will then hide his theft by concealing four cards that are poor in the palm of his hand, and in gathering a trick will place all upon his bunch of tricks. And as his tricks are all bunched, the players will depend on counting the tricks of the other party to determine who has won the odd trick; and hence he succeeds in hiding his theft.

CUTTING, SHUFFLING, DEALING, STEALING, &c.

No man is secure from the artifice of the gambler; so long as he will play at all, he may rest assured that he will, in the end, come out loser, for the methods of cheating are almost innumerable. A majority of gamblers have arrived at such perfection in the art of dealing that they will deal the second card from the top instead of the top card, and will go all through the pack in that manner: and you may look directly at them, and will not be able to detect the cheat. They will, at other times, have a hand which they have stolen out, and will smuggle it under the bottom; then, in the course of dealing, they will deal this hand just where they please, and defy you to discover their dealing from the bottom. A gambler will often deal himself six or seven cards, when he should have but five, and if he can make a good hand, by laying out the two poorest in his lap, he will do so; or if he cannot make a good hand, he will take the two best to help him in his next hand. This cheat is very often practised.

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

1 will here relate a case which occurred not long since, as going to show how well-experienced men will play more than their number. A gambler got to playing, coming up from Goodwood, with a man whom he mistook for a “greeney” that knew nothing of playing scientifically. But he was sadly deceived. The gambler from the beginning played somewhat carelessly, supposing that it needed no science to beat the stranger; but the gambler lost, and commenced playing as scientifically as he could. He still lost, and finally lost nearly all he had before he left off; and after quitting, they went to the buffet to drink. The gambler said to his antagonist, “You beat any man for luck I ever played with. I’ve lost my money with you, but it makes no difference: I will be honest with you; you did not know it, but I played six cards all the time, and your luck beat it.” “Well,” said the innocent chap, “since you have been so frank, I will also be frank; I have played seven cards all the way through, besides stocking and palming and occasionally stealing, for the sake of variety.” The gambler was greatly surprised, and swore that he would not have supposed that he knew much more than one card from another; but he was deceived in the man, and it would not have done for him to have shown any anger, as he first confessed having cheated the other, who was in reality a most expert gambler, and had purposely assumed that disguise.

GAMBLERS’ MEANS OF SECRET COMMUNICATION.

Again, gamblers, for mutual advantage, generally travel in small companies, and in secret partnership. I have again adverted to this, in order to mention one of the ways in which they often turn their partnership to good account. They almost invariably feign to be total strangers to each other, the better to carry out their base designs; and when one or two of them are seated at a table at play with some whom they wish to fleece, one of the company will seem to be a total stranger to everybody, seats himself in sight of a man’s hand, who is at play, and is not one of the confederates; and if he shows, by word or act, that he would rather he would not, he will readily protest that his only motive is the gratification of an idle curiosity; that he scarcely knows one card from another. And very probably, after such protestations from one who appears a stranger, and withal an honest gentleman, he is suffered to continue to look into the player’s hand. If he should be asked to play, he will say, “I cannot, as I have never learned; indeed, I scarcely know the cards.” He will take this course in order that his looking into the hands of the players may not be objected to. And his motive in looking into the hands is to give his secret partners signs. This he will do in various ways. I have known men who would give signs, that were perfectly intelligible, by the different manner in which they would blow their cigar smoke. In even such simple and imperative acts as holding the cards a gambler can give intelligence to his partner. As for his fingers, their slightest movement, however natural, conveys information. And in order to evade suspicion, I have also known signs to be conveyed through two and three different persons, who were secret partners of the players, and were sitting in different parts of the same room; and the signs would always reach the player in time to benefit him. This is often done when there is danger of being detected, if he should look at the man who is looking in the other’s hands for his signs. Nor is it a matter of importance whether there is a room full or not; for they will practise these artifices before a room full as well as if there was a very small number of persons present.

At other times, when a man loses heavily, one of the company will go to him and form an acquaintance, if it does not already exist, and will say to him, “You are much the loser with A or B, and I am acquainted with him, and if you will in confidence accept the offer, I will do you a favour, by which you will stand a chance of getting your money back again. Do you engage with him in play, and I will sit back of him, and give you correct signs from his hand, so that you can know how to govern your bets.” Nothing appears more generous than this; and a weak man is apt to be eager to avail himself of any means that promises to restore him his lost money, and will feel highly elated that he has met with an unexpected friend, and will flatter himself with the idea of winning all the man has; feeling that if his pretended friend should succeed in giving him correct signs one hand out of four, it will be sufficient to enable him to win much from him. This is all the basest deception. The man proposing this mode of playing is a secret partner of the winner, and their design is to swindle the man still further. Both are fully apprised of the plan, and when they succeed in getting the loser to play again (they generally have cards which they know as well by the backs as by the faces), if the winner should have a large hand, and the loser a larger one, he (the winner) will bunch his cards so closely that the one behind cannot see to give signs, and he then suffers himself to be run off. And if you should have one or two pairs (which he will know by the backs), and he should get the same, though a little larger, he will then permit the man to give signs that he has only one or two pairs, as the case may be, and all that he can entice the loser to bet, he will win from him.

The gambler will only bet on small worthless cards when his hand is better than his opponent’s; and, frequently, by such contrivances as we explain, will deal the latter three aces and a pair of kings to his own four tens or knaves.

Anybody would bet largely on such a hand, and thus, a gambler will ruin a man in a few games.