[CHAPTER VI.]
THE SUBSTITUTION DES JEUX, OR PACK OF CARDS CHANGED.
The substituted pack—The box in the sleeve.
The way this is done depends much on the class of Greek performing the trick.
The high-bred sharper, for instance, very seldom makes use of it; he has other far more subtle methods, unknown to his brother rogue of low life.
The following tricks, however, may be considered as common to Greeks of every shade:—
A sharper has always under his coat, at the back of his trowsers, one or more little pockets, termed finettes, in which are carried the packs of cards he intends substituting for those of the house where he plays. These cards are so placed, that they can be drawn out with great facility, as may be perceived by the sketch on the next page.
Before the play begins, the Greek wanders about the room, in the neighbourhood of the card-tables, with his right hand placed, as shown, on his hip, and seizes a favourable opportunity, when he thinks no one is observing him, to substitute his own pack for those on the table, slipping the latter into a deep pocket called a profonde, which he has under the flap of his coat.
Fig. 15.