The Magician Who Used His Skills to Cheat at Cards
Derek DelGaudio has written a book about his stint as a crooked poker dealer.
http://https://www.newyorker.com/culture...
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I read the book earlier this week. I'm sceptical about how much of it is fact and how much of it is 'storytelling'. There's probably a good reason why it's subtitle is 'A true story and other lies.'Pretending to be real card sharks has been a thing among magicians for some time now. See, for example, Daniel Madison, who likes to tell people that he took up teaching card slights
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but everything in this book that matters is true. Many of the details were changed for either artistic purposes or to outright protect people. But the essence of that story is true. There was a father/son team. The house was in the Hollywood Hills. There were C-list celebrities and sports figures there. There was a chef. There was an open bar. The "Leo" character does have a WSOP bracelet. A WSOP main event winner was made an unwitting accomplice in a larger scam. There was an "older" hustler that helped Derek out and got him that job. And yes, he had cancer (died from it, too). Okay, so he wasn't black. All the rest is true.
when i first started grinding my roomate was brother of a magician who grew up learning all the card tricks from himthe things he could do to a deck right in front of you while telling you what he was doing and you still couldn't see it happen is just insanehe claims anyone willing to spend several hours a day practicing can eventually do it themselvessoon after i stopped playi
$50 buy-in?
first year or so of playing professionally was primarily done in home games because there were no regulated markets available to play in - so i'm more than happy to mix it up but after seeing what i've seen i've since "tightened up my range" in regards to what i'm willing to play outside of casinos
general rule is i'm willing to play any 1-2 game and be ready to bail the first time i see some suspicious hands show up repeatedly
would play up to 2-5 within a social group (ie i know at least a few people who play in that game outside of poker prior to joining - i'm invited by someone i know through golf etc not someone i know from the casino who recruited me for his game there - those are the most sus imo)
would play up to 5-10 amongst a group of close friends (but this has never happened, my buddies all want to play microstakes like a 0.10/0.20 or a $20 tourney)
so yeah i'll happily play a $50 buyin with strangers in someone's house and if they're going to use that as an opportunity to cheat then good for them