How and Why I became a Card Sharp
After so many requests from my fans for a continuation of (how I got my poker name) I hope you will enjoy this one too. I have to go back before my Croupier days however.

I mentioned in my last story that I could handle a pack of cards and I also mentioned that I played three card brag whenever a game was available. Most of my early experience playing cards was sitting on the grass outside in the open air when a gang of us would meet. That is and how I learnt the game. At that time I would be about twelve or thirteen years of age. When I was fourteen and ready for leaving school me and my best friend (ponty) would play the nick from school and we were allowed into the local Miners Welfare. This was a place were we could have a game of billiards or snooker, and they also had a back room for card games... In those days early sixties gambling in public was not allowed so we had a (Bobby watcher) to keep an eye out for the coppers. (Police). In the card room we mostly played brag we would also played a version of rummy called (51 out).

At the age of fifteen I left school. My birthday is in March so I left school at the beginning of the Easter holiday and started work at Harraton Colliery on the1st day after the Easter Holiday. My father and my elder brother and most of my uncles worked down the pit so it was a foregone conclusion where I was going to end up. The good thing about it was I got very good wages which were handed over to my Mother on the Friday, I got pocket Money and would go down the welfare have a game of cards and go home sometimes winning and sometimes losing. Now this went on most weekends and one thing that I did notice was that one particular person called Albert he got ( Alby ) for short, never seemed to go home losing. I started watching him closely and he had a peculiar way of shuffling a pack of card which looked genuine and was never ever questioned about it. Alby was a jack the lad type popular and friendly.
One particular night I was watching the game not playing. Now I don’t know whether you know or not but in the three card brag game that we played 333 was the best hand u could get, followed by AAA etc. and the cards are only shuffled when there had been a prile out (three of a kind) . Some one had just won a hand with a pair of tens and it was Alby,s turn to deal. Some of the cards fell on the floor and alby picked them up and put them onto the bottom of the deck and shuffled the cards. The very next hand Alby had 10 10 10. No one said anything and the game went on.
I went home and thought if he had the three tens on the bottom of the deck and shuffled the way he did, how could he manipulate them into his hand.
Now let me tell you my friends. I went home and practiced and practiced and practiced with his shuffle and very soon I was capable of doing just that. Putting three cards onto the bottom of the deck and placing them in any position in the pack to give me, or whoever I wanted, the desired hand. I bought a couple of books (The Royal Road to Card Magic) and (Skarn on Cards.) Taught myself some classic tricks and became very popular in the pubs and clubs. Show us a trick ANDY
Now this led me onto the previous part of my story HOW I GOT MY THREE333 NAME.. My next blogg will carry on from there and the Title will be. RUBBING SHOULKDERS WITH KILLERS

Only if you are still interested though. Don’t want to make a fool of myself like I do on the tables.