Yeah, it's no coincidence that many card cheats and scammers come from the world of magic -- it's not like you get rich performing on street corners. For years I scammed people at sketchy back-alley poker games and made a killing, so much so that I didn't stop even after getting shot at by someone who lost his dope money to me. I finally quit after taking a severe beating as a result of being caught. But it's not always that easy to walk away -- to some magicians, cheating at cards is a serious, life-threatening addiction.
I had a buddy, we'll call him Steve, who cheated at an offshore "casino" hosted on a little fishing trawler, and got caught after giving himself two statistically unlikely hands in a row.
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"Read 'em and weep, suckers."
The people at the table beat him, took his money, his suit, his watch, his shoes, and dumped him five miles off the coast with nothing but his underwear and a life preserver. Luckily he was picked up by an actual fishing boat and made it home safely, although with a few cracked ribs and one hell of a sunburn.
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"So, you guys feel like playing some cards on the way back to port?"