Famous Card Cheats

Card games appeared quite a long time ago, and even back then there were cheaters who made cheating a very real craft. Numerous players in a wide variety of games had already managed to show off their skills. But there were some who stood out.

George Devol

In the 18th century he became the best, the greatest cheat. Of course, during his school years he had little interest in learning, often failing to turn up at school and getting into bad situations. At 10, he left home and managed to get a job as a cabin boy on a steamboat. The salary was 4 euros for a month of work. And during this activity, at a young age he began to play cards and also fell in love with dice. Almost immediately managed to learn the basic cheating techniques. Devol began to actively follow those people who were good at the game. Such people did not work on their own, then it was no problem to deal with the deck.

It only took him four years to become a master and stack a deck in seconds. Soon he was in Texas, playing with the troops there and winning. It wasn’t until he was able to fool everyone that he returned. It only took him six years and in that time he had 2700 euros. After that came the game in the riverboats, where there were often people who were wealthy. Of course, he was always on the plus side.

As he did not spare his opponent, he carried a gun in his pocket in case there was a showdown. In almost 40 years he won a total of almost 2 million euros. At the end he wrote a book about himself.

Canada Bill Jones

Another famous hustler who operated in the 19th century. Many say that he really is one of the greats, if not the greatest.

From the very beginning of his career, Jones knew how to use not only his skill with cards but also his ability to play the role of a harmless and rather unsophisticated gambler. In his scams, he often worked with accomplices who gained the trust of a chosen target and encouraged them to take part in the game. Around 1860, after arriving in Canada, he refined his three-card monte techniques while travelling with Dick Cady, and later moved to the United States. He played aboard steamboats travelling along the Mississippi and, after the American Civil War, also operated in the Kansas City area. Over time, Jones and his associates shifted their activities to trains running between Omaha and Kansas City, where three-card monte proved particularly effective for drawing unsuspecting passengers into a game. When Union Pacific began restricting such practices, Jones reportedly tried to obtain permission to continue running his games, but his proposal was rejected. Although he was regarded as an exceptionally skilled three-card monte operator, this did not mean that gambling always worked in his favour. Historical accounts suggest that he could lose considerable sums won through his speciality in other games, particularly faro. He is also associated with the well-known anecdote about a gambler who knowingly remains in a dishonest game simply because it is the only game available in town.

Joe Claesson

This man was born in New York City in 1933.  At the age of seven, he and his brother’s uncle began teaching him how to play cards. In time, Joe left for military service and ended up in South Korea. And there he started gambling with servicemen, and tried to play fairly. But on his return, he started cheating with his brother and gambling in casinos. Over time, Joe put together a veritable team of cheats who specialised in different games.