Phantoms of the Card Table

Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Ever Read on the Subject of Cards
Review: David Britland and Gazzo have done a teriffic job of putting together a really original book on card cheats and tricks. It makes me completely hesitant to ever play cards with strangers again! The fact that these people dedicate their lives to perfecting the arts of cheating and card sharping, and the extent of their skills, is completely foreign to most players. The detail in the book highlights the best cheaters and cardsharps of all time, including "The Phantom of the Card Table", Walter Irving Scott. A must-have for any card player, gambler or aspiring magician.

Rating:
Summary: Now I will read Erdnase
Review: Enjoying the occasional game of poker myself, I was immediately interested in this book on card cheats and their techniques. This book begins with a discussion of some of the original sleight of hand artists that were considered experts in their days. There is also a large wealth of information on the book, life, and mystery of S. W. Erdnase, author of "The Expert at the Card Table." From there, the main character, Walter Scott is brought into the book as the greatest card manipulator there was. It was interesting reading about the abilities of this man, but what was equally interesting was leaning about the correspondence, jealously, and relationships that existed between magicians and manipulators.

The middle section of this book introduces the co-author Gazzo and his pursuit to find Walter Scott. Fortunately, for the book, he does and the real Walter Scott is finally revealed. Perhaps the best part of the book is reading how Scott viewed his friendship and rivalry with magicians, his abilities, and his career choice as a cheater and musician.

The book concludes with a reprint of many of the techniques that Scott employed such as the second and bottom deal, peek methods, and his guarded edge work. While I fiddled around with the techniques, I am still unable to perform any of them correctly.

This book is a great for anyone interested in cards, magic, or con men. After reading it you feel you want to know more about the techniques, and that is my reason for purchasing the Erdnase book often referred to as the best card manipulation book ever.

Rating:
Summary: Doc's Review on The Phantoms of the Card Table
Review: I would like to tell who ever might be interested in gambling to buy this here book. This book is really a 10 on a scale of 1 - 5. I know this to be true because I've been a student of Walter Scott for over 13 years now and I'm the real thing. Next to Gazzo, I'm the best at this technique in the country.

Steve Forte who's the best all around cheat in the country wrote in this book that he never seen anyone do Walter Scott's punch deal in play until he met me. Since this book was already in the process of being published when he actually saw me do this technique, he couldn't change his statement.

I'm the only known gambler today who actually uses Walter's technique in play. Don't get me wrong, other cheats do this move but they do not use Walter Scott's Punch or Technique.

So I said all that to say this, since I'm one of the top 10 cheats in the country and I'm living Walter Scott's life at the moment (as "The New Phantom of the Card Table)," you can take it from me, everything that he says about cheating and the life we live in this book is true.

I'm sorry to say that this book is so good and informative that I don't want you to buy it because of what I do for a living; but hey, it has to be told that this is an excellent and I mean excellent book. If you cheat, you want this book on your shelf as part of your gambling collection.

I'm going on record to date and saying that if anyone don't like this here book after reading it and don't think that this is true, you don't know what real gambling is and you don't know what you're talking about.

D.O.C.

Dealer of Cards

The New "Phantom of the Card Table" Has Spoken

Rating:
Summary: Doc's Review on The Phantoms of the Card Table
Review: I would like to tell who ever might be interested in gambling to buy this here book. This book is really a 10 on a scale of 1 - 5. I know this to be true because I've been a student of Walter Scott for over 13 years now and I'm the real thing. Next to Gazzo, I'm the best at this technique in the country.

Steve Forte who's the best all around cheat in the country wrote in this book that he never seen anyone do Walter Scott's punch deal in play until he met me. Since this book was already in the process of being published when he actually saw me do this technique, he couldn't change his statement.

I'm the only known gambler today who actually uses Walter's technique in play. Don't get me wrong, other cheats do this move but they do not use Walter Scott's Punch or Technique.

So I said all that to say this, since I'm one of the top 10 cheats in the country and I'm living Walter Scott's life at the moment (as "The New Phantom of the Card Table)," you can take it from me, everything that he says about cheating and the life we live in this book is true.

I'm sorry to say that this book is so good and informative that I don't want you to buy it because of what I do for a living; but hey, it has to be told that this is an excellent and I mean excellent book. If you cheat, you want this book on your shelf as part of your gambling collection.

I'm going on record to date and saying that if anyone don't like this here book after reading it and don't think that this is true, you don't know what real gambling is and you don't know what you're talking about.

D.O.C.

Dealer of Cards

The New "Phantom of the Card Table" Has Spoken

Rating:
Summary: Phantoms of the Card Table - a masterpiece
Review: This is not really a book for absolute beginners, and it's important that you have read "Phantom of the Card Table" (no "s" after Phantom) if you want to understand it.

This book is amazing. It's not entirely a historical book, and not entirely a technique book, it's a bit of each. I won't write what it's about, you can read that above somewhere. You will read things about some of the greatest card magicians that you did not know. If you have an involved knowledge of card sleights, you will be tipped off on some of the most subtle yet powerful work ever used. If you own the original "Phantom of the Card Table", you will learn about the information that Scott HELD BACK from McGuire, tiny details that were hugely important to his system, stuff that would freak most magicians and laypeople out, because it's been largely forgotten.

Scott was an interesting man, he lived quite a life! And Gazzo is my new hero, and not simply for his magic, but because of his experiences and what he went through to meet Walter Scott and write this book. I learned things about him that i just didn't know. The last section of this book was heart wrenching, i cried as i read it. Gazzo rules and deserves a very high place in magic history/present/future. Thanks to Britland and Gazzo, this book reads like a brilliant piece of fiction, but the fact is that it actually happened, and this makes it all the more amazing. It would make one helluva film.

Every card magician who cares about the history of the art should own this book and re-read it at least once a year. It's that important.

Rating:
Summary: TJO
Review: You mention the original 'phantom of the card table' but who is it by? is it 'phantom at the card table' by eddie mcguire or someone completely different. tough to find without the author's name.

Rating:
Summary: TJO
Review: You mention the original 'phantom of the card table' but who is it by? is it 'phantom at the card table' by eddie mcguire or someone completely different. tough to find without the author's name.