Phantoms of the Card Table Britland and “Gazzo” 2003 hardback

In 1930, Walter Irving Scott bamboozled a room full of New York’s finest card manipulators by dealing himself winning poker hands from a shuffled deck. His skill was extraordinary and he was soon dubbed the Phantom of the Card Table. Sixty years later Gary Osborne, a magician from England, decided to track him down and, to his surprise, found him living in a retirement home in Rhode Island. The two became friends and Scott expressed an interest in publishing his closely kept secrets. This is the true story behind this elusive trickster and those other phantoms of the card table who spend years practicing a craft they rarely talk about…cheating at cards.

High Stakes Publishing: London. Out of print.