The great casino heist - Richard Marcus

One of a select band of the world's greatest professional cheats, Richard Marcus toured the gambling cultures of Las Vegas, London and Monte Carlo, winning huge sums of money from casinos by elaborate sleight-of-hand tricks with gaming chips. He and his gang were great tacticians, backing up their moves with psychological set-ups to convince pit bosses that they were watching legitimate high rollers getting lucky, while in fact their casinos were being robbed blind.

Here, for the first time, Richard Marcus tells his outrageous tale of a lifetime spent cheating casinos. This insider story of how one very smart man and his small band were able to beat some of the biggest casinos at their own game opens a window on to a hidden world of intriguing personalities, tense situations and very close shaves. While Marcus devised the most effective casino-gambling trick of all time, what becomes clear is that his success was down not only to technical wizardry but his ability to stay cool under pressure. Compulsive reading.