Phantoms of the Card Table: Confessions of a Cardsharp

by Gazzo and David Britland

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568582994
• ISBN13: 9781568582993
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

I Could Not Put Down This Book

I could not put down this book. I read it at home, at my Son's swim meets, in the car and on my lunch break. I am an amateur magician and I bought this book for the sleight of hand teaching it contains. Instead, I was totally fascinated by the history presented therein on Dai Vernon, Walter Scott and Eddie McGuire. This is a must-read for those who want to quickly pick up the history of close-up magic and of the obsessive behavior of both the magician and the card cheats from whom they learn their craft. Daniel F. D'Attomo, Esq.

TJO

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.

Doc's Review on The Phantoms of the Card Table

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 CardsThe New "Phantom of the Card Table" Has Spoken

Phantoms of the Card Table - a masterpiece

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.

Best Book I've Ever Read on the Subject of Cards

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.