Three-card Monte
Encyclopedia
Three-card Monte, also known as the Three-card marney, Three-card trick, Three-Way, Three-card shuffle, Menage-a-card, Triplets, Follow the lady, Les Trois Perdants (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for Three Losers)
, le Bonneteau, Find the lady, or Follow the Bee is a confidence game
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...

 in which the victim, or mark, is tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the money card among three face-down playing cards.

In its full form, Three-card Monte is an example of a classic short con in which a shill
Shill
A shill, plant or stooge is a person who helps a person or organization without disclosing that he or she has a close relationship with that person or organization...

 pretends to conspire with the mark to cheat
Cheating
Cheating refers to the breaking of rules to gain advantage in a competitive situation. The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating a subjective process. Cheating can refer...

 the dealer, while in fact conspiring with the dealer to cheat the mark.

This confidence trick was already in use by the turn of the 15th century, having a great deal in common with the shell game
Shell game
The shell game is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud...

; they are the same except that cards are used instead of "shells".

Rules

The three-card Monte game itself is very simple. To play, a dealer places three cards face down on a table, usually on a cardboard box which provides the ability to set up and disappear quickly. The dealer shows that one of the cards is the target card, e.g., the queen of hearts
Queen (playing card)
The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. The usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12 ....

, and then rearranges the cards quickly to confuse the player about which card is which. The player is then given an opportunity to select one of the three cards. If the player correctly identifies the queen of hearts, the player wins an amount equal to the amount bet; otherwise, he loses his stake.

Usual card selection

Since there are only three cards, the jack of spades and jack of clubs often complement the "money card", which is usually a queen. The Queen is often a red card, typically the Queen of hearts. Sometimes the Ace of spades is used as the money card, since the Ace of spades is viewed as lucky, which might lure the mark into playing the game.

Drawing a player in

When the mark arrives at the three-card Monte game, it is likely that a number of other players will be seen winning and losing money at the game. The people engaged in playing the game are often shill
Shill
A shill, plant or stooge is a person who helps a person or organization without disclosing that he or she has a close relationship with that person or organization...

s, confederates of the dealer who pretend to play so as to give the illusion of a straight gambling game.

As the mark watches the game, they are likely to notice that they can follow the queen more easily than the shills seem to be able to, which sets them up to believe that they can beat the game.

Eventually, if the mark enters the game, they will be cheated through any number of methods. An example of a simple scheme involves a dealer and two shills:
  • The dealer and shills act as if they do not know each other. The mark will come upon a game being conducted in a seemingly clandestine manner, perhaps with somebody "looking out" for police. The dealer will be engaged in his role, with the first shill betting money. The first shill may be winning, leading the mark to observe that easy money may be had, or losing, leading the mark to observe that he could beat the game and win money where the first shill is losing it.
  • While the mark is watching, the second shill, acting as if he is a casual passerby like the mark, will casually engage a mark in conversation regarding the game, commenting on either how easily the first shill is winning or how he is losing money because he cannot win at what appears to the mark to be a simple game. This conversation is engineered to implicitly encourage the mark to play, and it is possible the second shill could resort to outright encouragement.
  • If the mark does not enter the game, the dealer may claim to see police and will fold up his operation and restart it elsewhere, or will wait for another mark to appear on the scene.
  • If the mark enters the game, they may be "had" (cheated) by a number of techniques. A common belief is that the operator may let the mark win a couple of bets to suck them in, but this is virtually never true. In a true Monte scam, the mark is unlikely to ever win a single bet. It is simply not necessary. There are just too many ways for a well-run mob to attract the marks, suck them in, and convince them to put money down.
  • When the dealer and the shills have taken the mark, a lookout, the dealer, or a shill acting as an observer will claim to have spotted the police. The dealer will quickly pack up the game and disperse along with the shills.

How it is done

Dealers employ sleight of hand
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....

 and misdirection to prevent the mark from finding the queen. Several moves are in common use.

The throw

In the throw, the dealer holds two cards face down in one hand. The top card is held between the thumb and second finger; the bottom card is held below it, between the thumb and third finger. The dealer then sweeps his hand down and throws one card on the table. The mark naturally assumes that the dealer has thrown the bottom card; however, the dealer may throw either the bottom card, by releasing his third finger, or the top card, by releasing his second finger.

Done properly, the throw makes it virtually impossible for an observer to tell which card has fallen. Even shills can't reliably follow cards through the throw. Three card Monte crews use secret signals so that the dealer can tell the shills where the queen is.

The throw accounts for the characteristic sideways motion of the dealer's hands as the cards are moved around on the table.

Dealer's scams

If the mark picks the right card, one of the shills will simply post a higher bid, which the dealer immediately accepts, saying "I only accept the highest bid." In other words, the mark may put down $20 on the right card. A shill will then throw down $40 on top of the card, thereby winning the "right" to play that round. Of course, if the mark picks the wrong card, the dealer takes the bid and the money. The dealer will never, ever, accept a winning bid from a mark.

The Mexican turnover

If a mark should happen to pick the queen when the dealer doesn't want it, the dealer can use a Mexican turnover to exchange it with another card. First, the dealer picks up another card—not the one that the mark has chosen. The dealer holds it by a corner between thumb and forefinger, and slides it under the chosen card—ostensibly in order to turn over the chosen card. In fact, as the two cards come vertical, the dealer shifts his grip from the unchosen card to the chosen card, taking the chosen card away in his hand and leaving the unchosen card to fall face up on the table. Like the throw, a properly executed Mexican turnover is virtually undetectable.

The drop move

If other surrounding players become aware of a dealer possibly cheating, the dealer can "prove" them wrong with the Drop Move. If a mark picks the correct card, the dealer begins to pick up the other cards. Using sleight of hand, the dealer then accidentally "drops" a card he tried to pick up over the box. He then reaches over the box and acts as if he can't reach the card. While still bent over the cardboard box, the dealer asks a player or shill to pick up the dropped card. The card is dropped face down, so the mark doesn't see that the card is wrong. While the player or shill picks up the card, the dealer picks up the two other cards and switches card positions while still hovering over them, so the mark doesn't see. When the dealer gets the card back, he flips over their card, revealing it to be incorrect.

Legality

In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, under section 206(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada
Criminal Code of Canada
The Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...

, it is illegal to do the following in relation to the three-card monte:
  • Receive bets
  • Induce any person to stake or hazard any money or other valuable property
  • Carry on or play or offer to carry on or play in a public place
  • Employ any person to carry on or play in a public place
  • Allow the game to take place (the owner of the premise)


They are indictable offence
Indictable offence
In many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...

s, with the maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Historic

  • It was taking a victim with Three-card Monte, on July 7, 1898, that caused the shooting death, two days later, of infamous con man Soapy Smith
    Soapy Smith
    Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...

    .
  • After revealing the secret behind the trick on British television, American illusionist John Lenahan
    John Lenahan
    For the pianist, see John LenehanJohn Lenahan is an American illusionist and entertainer resident in the UK since 1984...

     became the first ever person to be expelled from the Magic Circle
    The Magic Circle
    The Magic Circle is a British organisation, founded in London in 1905, dedicated to promoting and advancing the art of magic.- History :The Magic Circle was founded in 1905 after a meeting of 23 amateur and professional magicians at London's Pinoli's Restaurant...

    .
  • The play Topdog/Underdog
    Topdog/Underdog
    Topdog/Underdog is a play by Suzan-Lori Parks. Parks received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 for the work.The play chronicles the adult lives of two African American brothers, Lincoln and Booth, as they cope with women, work, poverty, gambling, racism, and their troubled upbringings...

     features three-card Monte as a significant plot device.
  • Canada Bill Jones
    Canada Bill Jones
    Canada Bill Jones was the working nickname of William Jones, a noted confidence artist, riverboat gambler and card sharp. He has been described as "without doubt the greatest three-card-monte sharp ever to work the boats, perhaps the greatest of them all."-Life:Born in a Romnichal tent in...

     (1820–1877), was considered a master of the Three Card Monte in the middle of the 19th century in America.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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