The Experts at the Card Table is a new interpretation of the seminal work on card cheating, Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table, self-published originally by an S. W. Erdnase, in Chicago in 1902.

Here, Ben offers a fresh and new perspective on what he describes as “The Erdnase System for Advantage Play” – that is, an approach for cheating at card play. Ben has reformulated Erdnase’s original prose for greater clarity in order to illustrate clandestine card table artifice including how to secretly locate desired cards, and secure and stock them for the deal. The reader is taught, in great detail, using over 750 photographs, how to falsely shuffle and cut the deck, and manage and maintain the desired cards while creating the illusion that the cards are being thoroughly mixed. Finally, the reader is instructed how to place the controlled cards into desired hands.

While the general reader will find the technical information and The Erdnase System for Advantage Play highly educational, the book is intended for those with an advanced understanding of and skill-set for this arcane art.

This book is the first of three volumes which examines and discusses the science and art of manipulating playing cards for advantage play.

Hardbound, 10” x 10” (25.4 cm x 25.4 cm), dust jacket; 232 pages with over 750 photographs. 

PRICE

Published price: $75 USD (plus $6 USA shipping, or $40 international) or $115.76 CDN (includes shipping and HST). 

Limited Edition - Limited Release

sold out

Our limited, numbered-edition version of The Experts at the Card Table has now sold out.

The Limited Edition were restricted to 104 copies: 100 numbered and 4 presentation copies. Featuring all the beauty of the regular version, the Limited Edition have some additional points of interest. 

First, the Limited Edition will have its own foil-stamped, forest-green slipcase to match the hardcover boards of the book. 

It will also have two special tipped in items. The first is a limited-run, 5” x 7” (12.7 x 17.8 cm) photograph, taken from the book, mounted on the title page under a sheet of vellum (the protective sheet of vellum is only available in the Limited Edition).

The second item is one of the playing cards from the two decks which were used by David Ben in the photos in the book. This card will be inserted into an archival sleeve, mounted in the book.

The Limited Edition will be signed by David Ben and Julie Eng. E.S. Andrews is no longer with us.

PRICE

The Limited Edition version of this publication is sold out. It sold for $125 plus discounted shipping of $10 (or $40 international). (Canadian pricing: $153 CDN plus $20 shipping).