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Neil Elite user 486 Posts |
I was wandering London's Southbank over the weekend and amongst the various street performers and living statues there was a dodgy guy doing the shell game for real.
I have to say I wasn't all that impressed really. For starters he and his accomplices all looked alike - same foreign language, same skin colour, same dreadful taste in clothes. So it was easy to see who the shill and who the muscle was (the large threatening guy!). The dealer used matchbox drawers and a small sponge ball on some cardboard. He moved them around only a bit and kept flashing the ball for some reason, even though it should be obvious where it was - I think maybe it was hard to keep the ball under the box. The shill girl (who unconvincingly had a roll of £20's in her pocket) would pick the obvious shell and then win. Money was held in the between the dealers knuckles on the table. Once the Sucker turned up she would win once and then the next time pick the wrong shell, the Muscle would then pick the obviously correct one and win. The next time the sucker chose one and predicatbly lost, the Shill immediately picked a shell and won the money, thus removing the £20 from the game. I guess if the sucker didn't know she was in on it, he would have to get the money from the main guy who I imagine wouldn't have any cash on him. The money in the knuckles allowed either the Shil or Muscle to quickly bet on a shell and grab the money. A nice touch. His SOH skills were only average. He just removed the ball from play early on and put it back in with a backwards movement when required. I thought this a little obvious seeing as no other backwards moves were used. There didn't seem to be any real hook to it. You'd need to believe that the game was a simple as following a shell which I would have thought would be unlikely. I've always used a fake transfer or load so they think they have the trick sussed. Having said that, the sucker also was foreign and maybe was also in on the act? Anyway, it was good to see and funny to think this ancient con trick still works! |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
I've seen this same team (or one just like them) at work in Berlin and Budapest. The girl is a new addition. I believe they are either Turks or Gypsies.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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DomKabala Inner circle I've grown old after diggin' holes for 2827 Posts |
Back in the early '80s I was stationed in San Diego, Ca. (USN) going to Submarine Radioman "A" school. I used to go off base and there was always a trio of scammers preying off the new recruits with 3 card monte and the shell game at the public bus stop just outside the main gate. Every 15 days (payday) they would materialize & fleece those poor suckers. I would always warn them, but they still managed to bilk them out of that Federal money. These poor saps would run back to the Main gate and complain to the Marines guarding the gate and they could only laugh about it. These guys were pros, & there was no way to win. They always seemed to vanish as fast as they'd appear when San Diego's finest showed up. It's an old con game and there's still a sucker born every minute, still!
Cardamagically, <<<KRaZy4KaRdZ>>>
We don't stop playing when we grow old...we grow old when we stop playing.
God is enough, let go, let God. Gal 2:20 "Anything of value is not easily attained and those things which are easily attained are not of lasting value." |
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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts |
Take a look at the photo gallery on my website(Magic Photos, page 2) to see this same game in action in Copenhagen.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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Gary Dayton Special user New Jersey 542 Posts |
I have never seen the shell game played as a con, but have certainly seen the 3-card monte and other short cons played. The technical skill of sleights is probably secondary to the psychological skills of pulling the mark into the game via frustration, anger and greed. I have seen pretty average-to-poor monte throwers consistently beat unaware marks because the team's psychological skills were superb. They hijack the mark's emotions and it is all downhill from there. Skill at sleight -of-hand comes a distant second.
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RS1963 Inner circle 2734 Posts |
Very true Gary.
Two years while I was in San Francisco, a friend of mine and I were watching a three card monte game in action. Once we left she said to me "He must have just been getting started as he wasn't hidding the moves too well." She of course has been around me a lot so is not a total layman. I explained the basic samething to her that for the most part there skill leval doesn't have to be that great. It's the phycology that goes into it that gets the money. I told her when a magician uses either one of those games in his routine he had better be very good at it or he is going to be caught by the spectator. When done by a magician the spectator expects to never beable to tell how the game is done. If they do the magician is dead in the water so to speak. I |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Granted, there are short con artists who don't have as much skill as some really excellent magicians; however, the comparison falls apart, I think, in this one aspect. If you are a magician and you get caught, you are dead in the water. If you are a short con artist and you get caught, you may actually be dead. Or you may go to jail.
This is one reason that the monte workers and the shell game workers are teams, not singles. Their whole point is to get the mark's money. They may flash occasionally. Sometimes they do this so the mark will think he can see what they are doing. Then they will nail him for every dime he can scrape together. There are so many alternate endings to a three shell game that involve a shill raising a bet on something or simply strong-arming the mark out of his money, that you really can't imagine how well-rehearsed some of their work is. Imagine this: you have a five person team that uses nothing more complicated than a news paper or a carpet sample, three matchbox drawers and a rubber or tinfoil pea. Everything else is a matter of psychology, sleight of hand, choreography and rehearsal. They work their con long hours and all week. If you were to perform one trick for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, you would know more about that trick in a month than the guy who invented it.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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RS1963 Inner circle 2734 Posts |
Very good point Bill and very well taken.
That is something I did realise but failed to convey, in My post and in talking with the friend. |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
There is a DVD with Gazzo doing the shell game. It shows how the team interacts. Quite educational.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts |
Is there? I'd love to see that. I know he did this with the Monte, but not the shells.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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SeanD13 Loyal user Bristol, RI 263 Posts |
Anyone know where someone can find the Gazzo DVD?
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Kaliix Inner circle Connecticut 1984 Posts |
I think that is on the SFS Shell game DVD...
Quote: On 2007-03-25 18:51, Bill Palmer wrote:
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel J. Boorstin |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Could be. I think you are right. Whit would know.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts |
As far as I can see (unless there some hidden "easter egg" clips) Gazzo was nowhere to be found on the Shell Game DVD. The featured performer on that one was Bob Sheets.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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Gary Dayton Special user New Jersey 542 Posts |
You might be referring to the reenactment of the Cracker Parker monte mob based out of London (or near there, I think) in the 1970s that Gazzo was a look out for. This is on the S4S 3-Card Monte DVD. Whit Hadyn, the late Billy McComb, Gazzo, Chef Anton, and Paul Wilson are on that (I hope I didn't leave anyone out). It shows how the mob pulls in a mark, gets him to bet, then "cleans up' afterwards. It is everything Bill said above about being expert in sleights, psychology, and a "rehersed act," with variations. Very much worth seeing.
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Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
And that video, with Gazzo, et al, was shot right outside of Dean Dill's Shoppe.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts |
FYI, that entire clip is available at http://www.scoundrelsphotos.com in the album named "Scoundrel Video" The clip is called "Three-Card Monte--Tetley's"
Be patient, the file is about 17 Megs. Your best bet is to select "click here to download" so you can view it at your convenience.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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Neil Elite user 486 Posts |
Wow that site is a treasure trove! Nice one.
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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts |
I really can't say enough about that site (but I might be a bit biased)
Whit has generously offered up more than his share of goodies throughout that family of sites. It's almost a "shareware" concept of marketing. He's offered many (but not quite all...) of his creations on that site. For the most part people have seen these and decided it's worth what he's asking to have the whole collection on DVD rather than bits and pieces on a hard drive. So far, it's working out great for all of us.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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ursusminor Elite user Norway 443 Posts |
I saw them in Stockhlm in 2006. I was there for FISM,
this was "an added bonus"! A Swedish Magician, John Houdi, managed to film them. This is a link to the film: http://www.houdi.com/filmer/3shell/ This particular crew were russians, or at least easteuropeans. The smallest bills I saw in play were SEK 500.- that's about $70-90.- Notice the guy who sees Houdi filming and approaches him, no verbal communication is neccessary...
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them
pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened." - Winston Churchill" |
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