Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/07/19/penn-and-teller-wowed-by-blind.html
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Wow, that’s awesome! But…isn’t the term card sharp?
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I saw the episode - fantastic work for the most part. I could spot his fake shuffles, but the dealing seconds were a thing of beauty. Do not play cards with this man. (And if you shake hands with Teller, check your wallet, watch, fingers…)
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I saw Ricky Jay doing a close up show twenty or so years ago, and that’s always been my high-water mark for this sort of thing. And whilst this guy wasn’t quite as smooth, that last deal was tremendous.
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Ha! That’s interesting. I’m American, but I’ve always been instructed by writing teachers that “sharp” was the preferred term.
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Curious, the trailer for the movie says it’s coming in 2015…
That’s what Mrs. Rittenhouse says.
“You’re nothing but of couple of card-sharps!”
And she’s American.
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It’s easy if you’re a wizard.
That was exactly what I needed to see right now! I want to call that amazing but that’s not an adequate word.
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…and I’m from the UK and I thought it was ‘sharp’ too.
I’m no card player or magician but when he did those riffle shuffles at the start he was fairly clearly passing the left half ‘through’ the right half and simply putting them back in order (I reckon that if you saw it from the top down then it would be far more obvious) - the rest was ‘stunningly’ clever though
I’m not sure where I picked it up, possibly a book I read when I was very much younger, but I was under the impression that the terms weren’t interchangable.
I thought a “sharp” was a professional card gambler, aware of all the ins and outs of the the games they play and able to play them to a level well above their general opposition, effectively making a modest long term profit highly likely. On the other hand, a “shark” was a cheat, a con artist using the kind of techniques seen in the video above to separate players from their money, whatever the situation.
And yes, I’m doubting the whole distinction myself right now.
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" … we have nothing to say, he fooled us…" Says it all.
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