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The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson is the biography of Dai Vernon, ne David Verner (1894-1992), and his quest to find the man who perfected the art of dealing from the center of the deck. An accomplished card cheat, sleight-of-hand magician, and silhouette portraitist, Vernon was so expert at duplicitous card techniques that he once fooled Houdini with tricks he'd learned as a child from S.W. Erdnase's classic The Expert at the Card Table.
Proficient at dealing from the top and bottom of the deck, Vernon was astounded to learn that someone in the Midwest had the ability to win by dealing from the center. Johnson details Vernon's long search for Allen Kennedy (1865-1961), a cardsharp who plied his trade with loaded dice and deceitful deck handling.
By recounting the shadowy careers of these two men, the author successfully evokes the picturesque world of illegal gambling during the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Johnson vividly conveys how obsessed Vernon was with magic and card tricks, and how much time, energy, and practice gamblers put into learning how to cheat at cards. It has the nostalgic quality of an old-fashioned tale, but The Magician and the Cardsharp is a true — and fascinating — account.
Hdcvr; 352 pages. 8-page insert.
The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson is the biography of Dai Vernon, ne David Verner (1894-1992), and his quest to find the man who perfected the art of dealing from the center of the deck. An accomplished card cheat, sleight-of-hand magician, and silhouette portraitist, Vernon was so expert at duplicitous card techniques that he once fooled Houdini with tricks he'd learned as a child from S.W. Erdnase's classic The Expert at the Card Table.
Proficient at dealing from the top and bottom of the deck, Vernon was astounded to learn that someone in the Midwest had the ability to win by dealing from the center. Johnson details Vernon's long search for Allen Kennedy (1865-1961), a cardsharp who plied his trade with loaded dice and deceitful deck handling.
By recounting the shadowy careers of these two men, the author successfully evokes the picturesque world of illegal gambling during the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Johnson vividly conveys how obsessed Vernon was with magic and card tricks, and how much time, energy, and practice gamblers put into learning how to cheat at cards. It has the nostalgic quality of an old-fashioned tale, but The Magician and the Cardsharp is a true — and fascinating — account.
Hdcvr; 352 pages. 8-page insert.
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