Jack Hitt

Take Mike.

He had joined the team with the most Christian of all intentions.

He used to be a youth pastor.

His crisis of faith began with the Ninth Commandment.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Weren't all these costumes and fake biographies bearing false witness?

Do you think that was some divine intervention there?

And there were other deceptions, too.

One involved playing in pairs.

One person would count cards at the table.

Then they'd signal another teammate across the room to join the game and start betting big when the count favored the players.

So you had to have a signal that looked like it wasn't a signal at all.

This is Shirley, not her real name, by the way.

Shirley used this tactic a lot.

Among card counters, stepping up to the table right when it's hot is so well known that it has a name, Wonging, from a famous counter known as Stanford Wong.

There was this one time for Shirley, the most nerve-wracking bet of her life, that involved this exact tactic.

So Shirley walked up to the table and put down her bet.

A massive bet.

And then another.

And another.