Shuffle tracking.

I put four extra Aces of spades in a six-deck shoe. The players have to follow a complex shuffle and cut to where they think the the Aces are. The Eel bets half his bankroll. And loses. Cassie wins, but I’m not worried. The guy stuff is coming up and she won’t have a prayer.

Indian Poker, winner take all.

Each player slaps one card against their skull and tries to guess if theirs is the highest. The crowd is encouraged to participate and the lies and pleadings echo off the walls. Bradley takes the small pot with a seven high.

Gambling Lingo.

This one’s pretty easy this year. I say the following only once: "You’re catching some heat and figure that you need to fire a dime to get the goons off your neck. You make a big deal of sliding in to a mini-bac. You don’t want to fade the vig, so you bet the other way. And lose. You fade a Gecil on the other side, win the bet, and have to cough up the two green juice. The heat fades and you bolt. How much did the cover play cost you?" Cassie and Bradley both know the answer is $50 (two green chips). Mickey and the Moray Eel blow it. Maybe if they got out more often.

Double Exposure. All the players have to play a hand perfectly. They all bet the maximum and they’re all right.

Now it gets fun. Arm wrestling–left-handed–for 25% of everyone’s bankroll, winner takes all.

Cassie crumbles under Mickey and Bradley almost tears the Eel’s arm out of its socket. Bradley takes Mickey in a rout. His chips double everyone else’s. If he wins the Blackjack Cup, my mortgage is safe for another month.

I spread a deck. The four have 60 seconds to look at it and tell me how many hands to play to win the most money if I deal the cards without shuffling. Cassie and Bradley, each draining flutes of champagne while they scan the cards, both nail it. The Eel and Mickey (both sober) both choke. There’s a lesson here.

Time for some precision cutting. I place an Ace of spades in a position that’s 21 cards from the bottom of a deck. The closest cut to 21, without going over, wins a $500 bonus. Three of them hit it right on the number! I told you these guys were good. We go to 22 cards from the bottom. Two ofthem hit it. We go to 23. The Eel is back in action.

I put a spittoon on the floor about 10 feet from the players. The first one to toss in a card wins the pot. Bradley’s first card sails into the laughing crowd. They stop laughing as Cassie slowly wads her card into a ball and shoots it like a free throw. It’s good and the bettors on both sides go berserk. Women!

Who can exploit deck composition? We play one hand of blackjack with all of the 4s, 5s, and 6s removed. They can bet up to half of their bankrolls. Mickey bets the max. He loses. The Eel pushes the hand, while Cassie wins and Bradley wins big again to hold onto the lead, but Cassie’s sneaking up on him.

It’s liar’s poker, the old bar version where you guess the best possible hand using the serial numbers of dollar bills. Unbeknownst to the players, I’ve rigged the bills so that the hands are very, very high. Bradley and Cassie catch on and overwhelm Mickey