But you put your money down anyway?
What did luck have to do with it?

What I meant by that was, if this guy was an expirienced tosser and had a good crew he could have taken me for all the money I had. It wasn't my finest moment, and for a while I didn't want to tell anybody about it. But know I have no problems admitting I was a sucker. If I had any brains back then I would have turned and walked back the way I came once I saw him. And the move that I was sure was going to pay me back was this: He showed me the queen, placed it face down and told me to put my hand on it. Then asked me to bet where the queen was. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

I wouldn't like to meet a case like that.

Magic shouldn't be used to separate people and their money.

Chias, I agree with you, but the reality is, it does. There are many con games that use principles of magic to deceive the victim. We just have to concede that this ain't Mayberry.

Glenn

Very true Glenn. But this has been going on for a long time and is unlikely to change anytime soon. Canada Bill Jones used to ply the riverpackets with this con. And George Devol was a master at using the crimped card to get the money. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Maybe that's why this con still flourishes.
James

Personally, I'd rather view the topic with an eye to appreciating the history and overall mastery of the con rather than dwelling on whether it's "bad" or not.

(the soft con being a crime, the question is really self-answering).

I'm not an expert on the history of it. From what I've read it was called three card monte because there was a card game called spanish monte. It was supposed to lend an air of respectability to the game. In Darwin Ortiz's book "Gambling Scams" he tells the story of how George Devol worked the crimp scam multiple times on the same mark. I believe Soapy Smith was murdered over a three card monte game. And this was big on the riverboats. Teams of broad tossers worked the Mississippi and turned a tidy profit. All this is from memory so if any of my facts are lacking please let me know. I'll have to go back and re-read the chapter in "Suckers Progress". I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about the history of the game.
James