4. Three-Card Monte

One of the classic short cons, three-card monte is a card game that uses sleight of hand and trickery to swindle victims out of small amounts of cash. It’s one of the oldest cons around, and dates back to “the shell game,” a similar scheme that was popular during the Middle Ages. The game itself is deceivingly simple. Three cards are placed faced down on a flat surface, usually two black jacks and a red queen. The dealer shows the players the red queen, and then proceeds to thoroughly shuffle the cards to make it difficult to tell where it is. Players then bet on whether they can pick the queen out of the three cards. It sounds easy enough, but the game is more or less impossible to beat, because a good dealer can use sleight of hand to switch the cards at will, and can easily decide who wins or loses. In more sophisticated set ups, the whole game is a fake, and the other supposed “players” are in on the con. One of these conspirators will approach the mark and pretend to give them inside information on how to beat the game, enticing them to make a larger bet. Since street gambling is quite clearly illegal, any time a victim begins to suspect the game might be a cheat, the con men simply pretend to see the police coming, pack up their game, and make a break for it.