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| Jim Swain |
Jim Swain is famous to the real world for his outstanding novels on casino cheats, Sucker Bet, Funny Money and Grift Sense. But he is also an incredible card magician who uses his same writing skills to describe and teach some pretty incredible effects.
Random House published an interview with Jim; giving his thoughts on the differences between his hero, Tony Valentine, and himself. Poker Magazine has a pretty lengthy article about Sucker Bet and even our own Genii Magazine wrote about Sucker Bet along with their coverage of the making of the movie Shade.
Jim says something in his interview with Random House that struck me: “The world of card magic and gambling are parallel; many of the top hustlers are also terrific card magicians. Over the years, I brushed elbows with many hustlers and incorporated their techniques into my own performances.” I thought it sort of added a little class to both the hustler and the magician.
It is interesting how far we’ve come from Erdnase and yet how close we remain to our roots. We tend to think of our magic as being a friendly form of entertainment using sleights that might be used by the dark-side of our profession. Maybe we’re even closer than that.
|
| Jim Swain |
Jim Swain is famous to the real world for his outstanding novels on casino cheats, Sucker Bet, Funny Money and Grift Sense. But he is also an incredible card magician who uses his same writing skills to describe and teach some pretty incredible effects.
Random House published an interview with Jim; giving his thoughts on the differences between his hero, Tony Valentine, and himself. Poker Magazine has a pretty lengthy article about Sucker Bet and even our own Genii Magazine wrote about Sucker Bet along with their coverage of the making of the movie Shade.
Jim says something in his interview with Random House that struck me: “The world of card magic and gambling are parallel; many of the top hustlers are also terrific card magicians. Over the years, I brushed elbows with many hustlers and incorporated their techniques into my own performances.” I thought it sort of added a little class to both the hustler and the magician.
It is interesting how far we’ve come from Erdnase and yet how close we remain to our roots. We tend to think of our magic as being a friendly form of entertainment using sleights that might be used by the dark-side of our profession. Maybe we’re even closer than that.
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