Games You Can't Lose

A Guide for Suckers

by Harry Anderson and Turk Pipkin

Here in this funny, insightful and deliciously wicked book Harry Anderson unveils the tricks behind cons, swindles, and wagers that separate fools and their money in streets, bars, carnivals, casios and racetracks every day.

Contents Include:

• Foreword
• Introduction - "Hello Sucker!" by Harry Anderson

Book One - Games You Can't Lose

Chapter I Cunning Stunts
25 The Acrobatic Glasses
28 Do As I Do
29 Topsy-Turvy Matchboxes
31 Balancing an Egg on End
32 Billiards
34 Removing Your Vest

Chapter II Playing the Odds
46 Unhappy Birthdays
48 Twenty Bits
49 The Matching Card Game
51 Roll Six or Eight Before Seven
53 Coins on the Tray

Chapter III Proposition Bets
61 Throwing a Walnut
61 Heaving a Pumpkin
61 The Fly and the Sugar
62 Stepping Off the Curb
62 Counting the Pumpkins

Chapter IV Trivial Dispute
71 Hail to the Chief
71 Something Rotten in Denmark
71 "Day-O! Day-ay-ay-O!"
71 Jackie O'
71 NEver the Twain Shall Meet

Chapter V Games You Can't Lose
80 Nim
83 Tic Tac Toe
86 Liar's Poker
89 Golf 
91 Chess

Book Two - Games You Can't Win

• Introduction

Chapter I Casinos
109 Slot Machines
111 Keno
113 Roulette
115 Money Wheel
117 Casino Poker
119 Craps
125 Blackjack

Chapter II The Carnival
136 Penny Falls
138 Basketball Toss
139 Spotting the Spot
141 String Pull
142 Numbers Games

Chapter III Sports & The Track
148 Forms & Favorites
149 Systems
151 Touts
152 The Fix is Out
156 Rules for Not Losing Your Pants

Chapter IV The Street
164 Three-Card Monte
165 Shell Game
167 Matching Coin Scam
169 The Lottery

Chapter V So Long, Suckers
182 Finding Your Mark
185 Playing the Part

CUNNING STUNTS HOOK, LINE AND SINKER I am sitting one day in a local beanery with the old thinkin' hat on as usual-when a very rewarding-type scheme enters my noggin. Lately, I am frequently noticing that my growing reputation as a notorious sort of character is making the suckers extremely suspicious of even my most honest intentions. I ask one guy for a light and he clamps his hand over his wallet and runs away screaming. Obviously, the word is out that I will be clever in ways they have never dreamed of and that I will not hesitate one bit to take monetary advantage of the situation. That's right, I been rippin' 'em off something fierce, which is causing John Q. Public to avoid me like a mongrel avoids the dogcatcher. Mayhap it is time to turn from fleecing the sheep to tending them. I think. I am not the only wolf out there. And someone has to give the suckers a more or less fair shake. It is soon my resolve to grasp one of the less intelligent of the flock and become his professor. How should I put it? To teach him a thing or two. And if the everlovin' reader, in the process, learns a little about the fine art of games and gaming, all the better. Thirsty and anxious to embark upon my plan, all I need is a short drink and a ripe sucker. That's easy because the quickest way to get a drink is to find a sucker. And in this joint, as in most bars, there's more suckers than ice cubes.

Details: Games You Can't Lose by Harry Anderson & Turk Pipkin

161pages, soft covers, perfect bound, size: 5 1/2" by 8 1/4". The copies we have are in NEW condition and from the 2001 edition with extra intro's by Turk & Harry.

First published in 1989 for the public. These copies are from the 2001 edition printing.

Cover design by Dorothy Wachtenheim

Cover photo by Steve Schapiro