Phantoms of the Card Table: Confessions of a Card Sharp

by David Britland, Gazzo

Walter Irving Scott may have been the greatest card shark ever. In 1930, Scott bamboozled a room full of New York's finest card manipulators by dealing himself winning poker hands from a shuffled deck, one of his many tricks. He liked to say that he "cheated the cheats." His skill with cards was extraordinary and he soon became known as "The Phantom of the Card Table." That's why Gazzo, a magician from England, decided to track Scott down some 60 years later. The two became friends and Scott openly discussed his work with a view to its finally being published. "I don't care what you say," said Scott, "as long as you tell the truth." This is the truth about Walter Irving Scott and other phantoms of the card table who spent years practicing a craft they rarely talk about — cheating at cards. A special chapter revealing master card tricks is also included.

Genres: Magic, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2002

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is unusual for a piece on magic history in a number of ways. Stylistically this book eschews the usual narrative style for a series of profiles. As a result, the impression is that of a very colorful cast of characters, both in the worlds of magic and gambling.

The real meat of this piece, however, lies in the famous street magician Gazzo's search for the mysterious Walter Irving Scott, a man whose exploits baffled the finest card magicians in the world. We're treated to an account of many of Scott's adventures at the card table, as well as insights in to why and how he engaged in his work as a cardsharp.

For practitioners of card work, this book holds an added bonus. Inside this book are all the details of Scott's work. His false deals, including his gorgeous routine with a punched deck that floored the likes of Dai Vernon and his fellow New York card men. This is very advanced material, but for those with the interest there is a wealth of information and instruction.

A good piece of work, well written, and well worth a read.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books on magic history usually appeal to a small group of all readers, books on card magic appeal to a subset of that small group. That means that finding books like this are few and far between.

As we are slowly brought into this hunt for Walter Irving Scott, the tale is told beautifully. On one side you have the gamblers looking to keep the attention off themselves, trying to closely guard their moves. On the other side you have the magicians wanting to track down these moves so they can use them to draw attention to themselves.

Very fun read. If you willing to put in the work there is material in the rear of the book that will take up hours of your time in practice.

[Barry Mann · Rating 2 out of 5]

the small print of the paperback version was hard on my eyes and the story was slow and repetitive

[John Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for everybody but it's one of my favorite books.