THREE-CARD MONTE

Three-card Monte is also known as Find the Lady and Three-card Trick. It’s an easy game that takes five or 10 minutes to play. The dealer takes three cards from any deck and puts them face down on a table (or any other flat surface – read on for more). He or she picks up one card and shows it to you; this is the target card. The dealer then puts the card back face down before quickly shuffling and rearranging the three cards. Finally, you pick the card you believe to be the target card. If you’re right, you get twice the amount you bet. If you lose, the dealer keeps what you bet.
Three-card Monte was often played on the street and known for being a scheme. Once the dealer got set up, it was common to have a partner start the game disguised as an everyday player. The player would start off on a hot streak, making it appear as though the dealer was terrible at the game. The dealer would also shuffle the cards slowly to allow the audience to follow along and grow confident that they could spot the target card. The partner would soon take his (fake) winnings and give other (real) paying players the chance to try their luck. The dealer would often let them win the first few rounds in order to get them to bet even more. When the stakes were high enough, the dealer would suddenly begin shuffling much more quickly, making it difficult to find the target. The fights this shady scheme often caused would sometimes attract the attention of the local authorities. This was why dealers would play on cardboard tables, which were easy to pack up quickly – along with the day’s ill-gotten gains.