How to expose the card cheater
SUPPOSE you sat down to play a game of bridge and your opponent turned to you before the cards were dealt and said: "I'm going to bid seven no-trump and make it." What would you do? Ask for another deck of cards. Right! But then, suppposing the assured one let you deal the new pack and cut the cards and even then you draw low cards and he and his partner held all the aces, kings, queens, jacks and he did bid seven no-trump and made it what would you do? Suspect "something rotten In Denmark" and drop out of the game? Naturally! That is, you would if you were playing for real stakes and felt you were being gypped. But, had you been playing for a cent, 5 cents or a dollar a point, the "mechanic" who was out to fleece you wouldn't have tipped you at the start. "Mickey" MacDougaU is an expert in the science of exposing gambling deceptions, a patrolman of high-stake gambling salons. He is known and feared by every crooked operator in the great gambling casinos throughout the world; In Florida, Hollywood and Agua Caliente resorts of chance and a tricky Lady Luck. HE HAS proved the nemesis of card sharps on trans-Atlantic liners and has been the undercover man; many gambling scandals that have startled the public in America and abroad. He knows every nifty trick of the crooked gambling racket, every ruse and subterfuge. He has figured in many an expose of various forms of deception practiced by the gambling fraternity. He has picked out the tricksters in transcontinental club cars, on ships, in swank hotels, national conventions, exclusive country clubs, and even private homes where gambling leeches of society gain entrance. MacDougaU, although only 32 years of age, knows virtually every card sharp in the United States, for he has detected many of them at work. He knows exactly how they operate and can demonstrate the repertoire of tricks used by the big-time crooks to fleece the "suckers." He has traveled all over the world, China, Latin America, India, Europe and has been employed by gambling casinos in all these places to protect the houses from crooked customers. He has been hired by the Casino at Monte Carlo, among many others. "Mickey" MacDougaU left his Philadelphia home when he was 15 to go around the world with Rossini, the magician.
He was the lad who did the disappearing act, the Hindu rope trick. He learned card manipulating from magicians. Soon he discovered he had lightning fast fingers, remarkable dexterity where the bits of pasteboard were concerned. By the time he was JL8 he was considered a card wizard. He has been examined by scientists, tested by precision machines which have shown him to have spectacularly fast reflexes. When he returned from the world tour with Rossini he had a vandeville act which netted him $300 a week as the Svengali Kid, Then he became interested in card manipulating as practiced by gamblers. He mingled with them at every opportunity. Seven years ago he became a card detective. Soon the underworld had him spotted as one by one he put a crimp in their racket and they went for him. He was shot by a gang in Los Angeles after exposing crooked gambling in a smart bridge club operated by a vice ring. He was beaten up in Boston for the same reason and left for dead. After that he never traveled without a bodyguard. This "card detective" can deal himself, or any one else, a perfect poker hand after he has been blindfolded. He says he is able to "feel" cards and read them thus. His ear can detect the sound of a bottom deal. He can tell whether or not dice are phony by hearing them click at a distance of thirty yards. He can give the lowdown on every mechanical device used by crooked gambling houses, such as "shiners," "bugs," "readers," luminous cards, holdouts, "daubs" and so on. His greatest sorrow is that no one wants to play cards with him, and he enjoys bridge above everything else. MacDOUGALL estimates the cost of crooked gambling in the United States at several billions yearly and says that it is on the Increase. He claims that bridge alone nets the card sharps $12,000,000 daily! Ferreting out crooked gamblers, whether at bridge, poker, at the roulette wheel, with dice or at the races is but a small part of his work. He also lectures, writes and travels about the country showing how crooked gamblers mulct people out of huge fortunes. He has written a book called "So You Think you're Gambling!"
He was the lad who did the disappearing act, the Hindu rope trick. He learned card manipulating from magicians. Soon he discovered he had lightning fast fingers, remarkable dexterity where the bits of pasteboard were concerned. By the time he was JL8 he was considered a card wizard. He has been examined by scientists, tested by precision machines which have shown him to have spectacularly fast reflexes. When he returned from the world tour with Rossini he had a vandeville act which netted him $300 a week as the Svengali Kid, Then he became interested in card manipulating as practiced by gamblers. He mingled with them at every opportunity. Seven years ago he became a card detective. Soon the underworld had him spotted as one by one he put a crimp in their racket and they went for him. He was shot by a gang in Los Angeles after exposing crooked gambling in a smart bridge club operated by a vice ring. He was beaten up in Boston for the same reason and left for dead. After that he never traveled without a bodyguard. This "card detective" can deal himself, or any one else, a perfect poker hand after he has been blindfolded. He says he is able to "feel" cards and read them thus. His ear can detect the sound of a bottom deal. He can tell whether or not dice are phony by hearing them click at a distance of thirty yards. He can give the lowdown on every mechanical device used by crooked gambling houses, such as "shiners," "bugs," "readers," luminous cards, holdouts, "daubs" and so on. His greatest sorrow is that no one wants to play cards with him, and he enjoys bridge above everything else. MacDOUGALL estimates the cost of crooked gambling in the United States at several billions yearly and says that it is on the Increase. He claims that bridge alone nets the card sharps $12,000,000 daily! Ferreting out crooked gamblers, whether at bridge, poker, at the roulette wheel, with dice or at the races is but a small part of his work. He also lectures, writes and travels about the country showing how crooked gamblers mulct people out of huge fortunes. He has written a book called "So You Think you're Gambling!"
"I'll show you one of the favorite sleight-of-hand stunts practiced by crooked gamblers," said the man who has figured in apprehending more than 200 dishonest gamblers. "See, my opponent thinks he is cutting the entire deck," explains. MacDougaU, "but actually the aces are palmed, ready to be returned to the top of the deck the Instant the cut is completed. The give-away on this stunt is the thumb of the right hand. Whenever a gambler palms a card, his thumb automatically tips upward, instead of resting in natural position. "If you ever suspect that some one you are playing with is a crooked player, observe flrst of all the way he holds the cards. He may be bottom-dealing cards to his partner. Observe the position of the fingers of his left hand. The forefinger curled over the end of the pack; third, fourth and fifth ' fingers on the outside; thumb pointed diagonally toward the outer corner of the pack. This is the only position in which one can deal from the bottom of the pack or deal the second instead of the top card. It's the gambler's grip. "The thumb pushes out the top card and the knuckle of the second finger flips out the bottom card. The angle at which he holds the deck causes the top card to conceal the movement of the bottom card: Then the thumb touches the top card but the index ringer touches the bottom card. The thumb slips to the bottom card and it is dealt. Not even the camera can detect this manipulation unless it is done very clumsily and slowly. The trick is to be swift, faster than the eye. "A crooked gambler must know how to control every card in the deck. Thus Which card do you want? Ten of spades? Here, take it," and the card detective flipped it toward us, never once looking at the deck, held face downward. He then showed how the crooked gambler picks up tricks, in such a manner that the high cards will be in a desired position in the deck, so that he will know how to deal them out to himself and partner. "A good memory is required," said MacDougaU, "and the gambler out to clip some one must always "be several jumps ahead of the game; that is, he must know in advance where the cards two deals ahead will be placed in the deck.
"Some gamblers who 'hustle the dukes,' that is, work on trains, or 'hustle the big drink,' meaning on the ocean, those who work the big liners or who ply their racket elsewhere are 'paper men' that is, they work with marked cards or 'readers,' special decks which have blockouts or fill-in work. This type of gambler, however, Is looked down upon with disdain by the experts, by the high-up professionals. "It is the 'mechanic' who is considered the 'head of the class.' He has skill with his fingers and has the highest rating with crooked gamblers. The tricks employed by the chiseler, the small-time hustler, cannot be practiced on the smart feUows. These tricks include mechanical devices, such as 'bugs,' 'holdouts,' 'dogs,' used to pull cards out of the deck. Sometimes these are fastened under the card tables. A neat device serves as a little holder for high cards which the crook slips out of the pack and pulls out when he needs them. There are also luminous cards, so doctored that if the dealer wears a green eyeshade he can see straight through these cards, after the manner of an X-ray." Swank country clubs and the homes of millionaires are often the setting where these crooked gamblers operate. They manage to crash clubs, meet unsuspecting members who introduce them to others, and soon they are in the middle of card play. "Not long ago I was called In by a wealthy resident of Long Island who suspected that a man who played bridge frequently at his home was a cheat," said "Mickey" MacDougall. "I sat in on the game. It was only after a 'number of rubbers that I discovered -what this fellow was doing; his work was so smooth. He was palming cards, dealing from the bottom of the deck, and so on. "When I told the host, who had engaged me to investigate, that I was convinced the man was a crooked gambler, he was puzzled as to how to proceed. It is a difficult matter to accuse a man of dishonest card play and more than difficult to prove your accusation and gain a conviction. The Long Islander decided that he would be satisfied merely to show him up to his own group, rout him out from the social circle and prevent his friends from being cheated. "So one evening the host invited a large gathering, all the people who had ever played at his home with, the cheat. The suspect was one of the guests.
The host then asked me to show some of the ways in which crooked card players operate. I went through the whole repertoire. While this man had on previous occasions won as high as $3000 or more an evening, when the regular bridge play was resumed he dared not pull any of his tricks He knew he was on a 'spot.' His brilliant previous 'luck' was not repeated; and he did not sit in on any other games with that gathering. "The Long Islander's plan succeeded. It is not an easy matter foi an outsider to firmly intrench himself in social groups of wealth and standing. It would be some time before he would show up in a similar environment. "On another occasion I accidentally stumbled into a crooked dice game in another city. I wandered into a club to meet a friend and heard, in a nearby room, the rattle of dice. I could tell by the sound that the dice were loaded. The District Attorney was one of the club members and as we sat around talking we discussed crooked gambling. "The District Attorney wanted to arrest them at once. 'Do it, I said, but when you do be sure tha dice are seized. They'll try to grab them and throw them out a window.' The raiding party got the dice all right. 'But how can we prove they're loaded?' asked the District Attorney. 'Easy,' I said.
'Bring me a glass of water.' Then I dropped the genuine club dice, with the club's own mark on them, in the giass. They dropped to the bottom of the glass like plummets. The loaded dice twirled and twisted from one side to another before going to the bottom. It was plain to be seen they were weighted. The men were later convicted." "How to protect oneself against tha crooked gambler?" we asked "Mickey" after his mystifying prestidigitation display. "Don't gamble," advised Mac-DougaU, "that is, stay away from it until gambling is legalized. Otherwise, you can't beat the game. I am in favor of legalized gambling, because then it can be controlled. Crooks could be kicked cut then, but so long as there is easy money to be had through outwitting his fellows, the crooked gambler. will flourish. Where there's honey there will be bees. "And don't ever be deceived by the fellows who are called 'Honest John' or 'Squareshooting Harry' around the gambling spots. The sterling-sounding names are in themselves suspicious. You can be sure Honest John isn't and that Squareshooting Harry carries the doctored dice. The chances are now. with gambling not legal, and so unsupervised, that a man will get clipped almost anywhere he goes to gamble. It is like prohibition. The stuff is phony." Knowing a few of the tricks. Keep clear of the card sharps! ir's easy only if your eye is faster than the crook's fingers.