Growing up in the rural Midwest, I played a lot of card games with my two brothers and older sister and I must say that I learned about card cheats at a very tender age because my sister, who was only about nine or ten years old at the time, was one of the best. I can’t tell you how much of my Easter basket goodies were lost to her sneaky and conniving game play. So when the horn was sounded to review the DVD Weapons of the Card Shark with Jeff Wessmiller, I volunteered enthusiastically. “At last!” I thought. “I can finally learn how she got some of those moves past us!”

The DVD starts out with a stern warning about how cheating at cards is immoral and unhealthy. Just so you know. Then it moves on to what you really want to know, gunshot wounds and immortal soul be damned.

After watching the demonstrations and explanations, however, I have to say that I found Weapons of the Card Shark to be pretty disappointing. Most of the moves I knew already from watching my sister, so I didn’t learn much. (Although now I know the names of those moves!) And the other stuff that I didn’t know seemed, well, awkward. Who holds their hands like that when they are playing cards? Nobody I know. Unless they are cheating! And I’m pretty certain that’s not the thought you want the other players to have.

There are, however, some things to be learned here by not following the example of the instructor. Some gestures and movements when cheating at cards will arouse immediate and certain suspicion:

1. Looking intently at the face of the cards while you’re shuffling and stacking.


2. Craning your neck at odd angles while you’re shuffling or dealing.


3. Not keeping your hands on the table at all times. (If you’re ditching something, then you better make sure it doesn’t look like you’re ditching something!)


4. Cutting the deck in a strange fluttery manner, or coughing or turning suddenly in the middle of a deal.

Young Mr. Wessmiller seems like an engaging and intelligent fellow. His instructions are clear and easy to follow. But if he can’t fool a childhood Crazy Eights enthusiast, I don’t think he’d do well with real Poker players. I suppose if you’ve never played cards in your life, and your friends and loved ones have never played cards in their lives, this video might work for you. But if you want something you could really use for card cheat – I mean, magic – then I would look elsewhere.