Ebook - Secrets Of Gambling by Hugh Miller

Delve into the shadowy world of professional swindling with Hugh Miller's seminal work, 'Secrets Of Gambling.' This extraordinary volume, originally published in 1970, serves as a comprehensive guide to the historical and technical underbelly of card and dice manipulation. Far from advocating illegal activity, this book acts as an expose, detailing the intricate methods once employed by professional gamblers and con artists to gain an unfair advantage. It's an invaluable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of gambling, the art of illusion, or the psychology of deception.

Mastering Card Deception

Hugh Miller meticulously details a vast array of card cheating methods, ranging from subtle mechanical techniques to advanced sleight-of-hand. Readers will discover the nuances of marking cards, executing undetectable deck switches, and mastering various types of strippers and locaters. The book extensively covers holdouts, including Kepplinger types, and delves into the intricate world of palming—from the top and bottom palms to the elusive gambler's flat palm. Furthermore, you'll learn about sophisticated false shuffles like the strip-out riffle and gambler's false shuffle, along with numerous false cuts and crooked dealing methods such as seconds and bottoms. It's a deep dive into the almost invisible techniques that alter the odds.

Dice, Swindles, and Detection

Beyond cards, 'Secrets Of Gambling' offers an equally thorough exploration of dice deception. Miller reveals how various forms of loaded, capped, shaved, and mis-spotted dice work, alongside the use of magnets and other modifications. Crucially, the book also instructs on detecting these fake dice and mastering crooked dice handling techniques, including different controls and switching methods. The historical narrative extends to iconic street swindles such as 'Find the Lady' (Three Card Monte), 'The Three Shell Game,' and 'The Endless Belt' (the chain loop swindle). This comprehensive guide not only unveils the mechanics of these cons but also touches upon the use of confederates and electronic communication in orchestrating larger swindles, making it a critical read for understanding the full spectrum of gambling chicanery.

Original Specs

This is a great book on the secrets of how to cheat with cards and dice at many popular games - a guide to dishonest gambling. It offers a good overview of the various methods from mechanical cheating methods to sleight of hand.

1st edition 1970, original 128 pages; PDF 82 pages.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Cheating at cards
3. Mechanical Methods: marking cards, sorts, deck switches, edge marking, daub, punch/nail marks
4. Strippers: types of strippers, Vernon's "Bathroom Strippers"
5. Locaters: short, corner shorts, thick cards, long cards, ridge/breather crimps
6. Holdouts: Kepplinger type, bug, card index, magnetic cards, ring holdouts
7. Shiners
8. Confederates: signals, hand signals, other body signals, electronic communication
9. Card Handling
10. Palming: 3 top palms, gamblers flat palm, 3 bottom palms
11. False Shuffling: strip-out riffle shuffle, gamblers false shuffle, to retain a top stock, faro
12. False Cutting: a false cut, slip cut, Vernons "The Cold Deck Cut"
13. Crooked Dealing: seconds, bottoms
14. Miscellaneous Swindles: double lift peek, restoring a cut, top change, locaters, confederates
15. The Greatest Swindles
16. Dice: loads, caps, shaved dice, beveled dice, mis-spotted dice, magnets
17. Detecting Fake Dice
18. Crooked Dice Handling: 3 controls, blanket roll, switching
19. Find the Lady (three card Monte)
20. The Three Shell game
21. The Endless Belt (this is the chain loop swindle)
22. Elusive Aces: a brief discussion of mis-indexed gaff cards, for use in the three card Monte or other card-based scams
23. Roulette
24. Safe Bets: several mathematical and proposition type wagers
25. The Odds
26. Dice (odds)
27. Bingo (odds)
28. Blackjack (odds)
29. Poker (odds)
30. Postscript

word count: 23254 which is equivalent to 93 standard pages of text