The rounder and the grandmaster are playing a decision game. Play online chess with the computer Shredder (Schroeder). How a chess computer works

The rules are as follows: in the box - chess (all pieces). The rounder and the grandmaster are playing a game. If both pieces are white, the grandmaster gets one point. Players take turns, without looking, take pieces out of the box two pieces at a time and put them in front of them. This continues until the box is empty. If the pieces are black, the sharper gets a point, if they are different - no one.

Why? If exactly in the middle of the game the score is 4 - 2 in favor of the grandmaster, it is useless to play further. Who will win for sure, and by what margin?

Publication date: 28.08.2017

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Change number 2. Mississippi hand

East gets this card: AKQJ AKQ AK J. West on the first hand speaks minuscule. The East, unless he suspects something, has no chance of "dodging" the ninefold: it seems that there is no minuscule to lose when one of the whistlers has such a card that the East has collected. Besides, what are you afraid of? It seems that there are nine tricks from the hand. The East interrupts a minuscule nine and buys a queen of diamonds and a ten of hearts. Two hearts go to demolition, and the East thinks about the problem: how much to order.

With someone else's move in a trump contract, some dangers may lie in wait. Firstly, they can kill a club or a diamond (the probability of a 5:0 layout is 0.0325). Taking into account the fact that five cards in one of these suits should be with a certain player, namely the West, who owns the first move, this figure must be divided by two, and since the East fears not for one, but for two suits, then he multiplies this probability by two. “So,” argues the East, “the probability that the West has “accumulated” five cards in a diamond or a club is 3.25%. It's not that big of a risk. But, on the other hand, if the West has a five in one suit, this circumstance greatly increases the likelihood that the South could make a five in another. Then it can turn out to be a "mill" - one beats a club, the other a tambourine. With a 2:2 trump deal, you can give four tricks without getting a move. Finally, thirdly, when the deal of trump cards is 4:0 (probability 0.0867), the irreparable can happen: on the first move they will hit the trump card and get ahead in trump cards.

All these dangers are unlikely, but if an "accident" occurs, then, as they say, it will not seem enough. Therefore, the East orders nine spades. Expecting that it would be better for him to seat the whistlers than to sit down himself. The full layout in this hand is as follows:

West attacks with the ace of hearts, and East takes exactly four tricks. One experienced and wise man, having received such a card, realized it, but too late (he was experienced and wise enough to recognize the “hand of the Mississippi” 32, but not wise enough to say pass to the minuscule). As he himself said, doubts crept in even before taking the buyback, but he made a guess: if there is a lady of diamonds and a little worm in the buyback, the change is fake. When doubts disappeared, he thought about how to minimize losses, and ordered nine clubs, much to the surprise and embarrassment of his "partners". By the way, in such cases, inexperienced performers can, out of confusion, stock up. In our case, the nine-fold was envious and Vostok sat down without one, losing 85 whists (three of us played the composition) instead of the 394 prepared for him on the peak nine-fold. By the way, a pass on a minuscule would have cost him even less - only 33.33 whists, but he considered that "dispelling doubts" was worth being paid with 50 whists.

Shift #3

Trade:

The South walks the king of hearts, taking away the only return from the West. East takes with an ace and "turns on" the West with a seven of spades. Nine tricks. Rough... But effective. Such a “impudent”, obvious shift can be “abandoned” when it is not a pity to lose a partner, when it is already clear that this bullet is the last one, and the sucker will not dare to scandal and refusal to pay.

Change №4

KJ10987-KJ97-. Sitting in the place of the West on the first hand, you receive such a card and declare: spade. Partners, looking at each other in bewilderment, pass. You buy an ace and a queen of spades and order 8. The tambourine, as you might expect, “swept to zero”. Well thought out, right? Unfortunately, in real life everything was completely different. The trade went like this:

West came out with the seven of spades and found a double renounce in that suit:

The seven kept the trick, but, even more unpleasantly, the South did not take down the ace of diamonds - his true trick. Ace really took a bribe, but only on the fourth round of the tambourine: the West was forced to go three times to the tambourine from above, because four bribes on a miser, although a lot, are still better than seven.

Shift number 5

The West is playing miserly. South move. Nothing will help the playmaker on this minuscule: any precautionary measures, any “safe” demolitions are no longer able to save him from the “locomotive” for five tricks. Even if the West leaves three clubs, the whistlers will build the rally in such a way that they do not have to guess anything. First they take AK, removing two high clubs from East's hand. Then they will cross the heart to the East and, gaining a heart twice, they will carry two clubs from the hand of the South. After that, the East goes into the seven of clubs, and the last spade is taken off the hand of the South.

Shift number 6

On the second hand comes the following card: J10987 9 - A987.

The question is: will it work or won't it? Generally speaking, a two-suited minuscule with an interception has a positive expectation. There are nine cards in the deck, the purchase of any of which makes the minuscule clean: four hearts, three spades and two sevens. The probability of buying at least one of them is

9/22 + 13/22 * 9/21 = 0,66.

In addition, you can buy one of the two eights, which, as a rule, is not caught. Yes, and naked nine will not always be caught. If you are not lucky with either the buyback or the deal, there is always the opportunity to intercept and take a maximum of two bribes.

On the first hand they say once. Doubt disappears minuscule. In the draw is an ace and a king of clubs. The layout is like this:

Whatever the ill-fated West demolishes, it will receive its seven bribes. On the first three moves in spades, the East takes down three hearts, and on the fourth, “launching” the move of the South with a seven of clubs, the last heart. You can come up with as many layouts of this type as you like. Often, instead of a nine of clubs, they put an eight - in the expectation that no one will leave the second eight: indeed, it will be fun if the naked eight is not caught, and the whistlers will check if the hypochondriac is insured against the "locomotive". But the nine is “more reliable”, it does not leave the slightest chance.

32 Probably, the layout was named after one of the largest rivers in the world with a length (from the source of the Missouri) of 6420 km (quite comparable to the length of the worms near the West).

Change number 7

A cunning "ambush" can wait for the miserable and from its turn:

The same considerations about the positive expectation of a minuscule. The probability of buying one "own" (10 out of 22) is - + - o - = 0.71. After that, the eight of clubs move has a very high chance of success. Few people do not go to such a minuscule. In the draw is a king with an eight in an “empty” suit.

Both eights are caught:

Whatever eight the West goes to, they will take it, take away four more bribes and give a bribe for the second eight, and with it - a locomotive for five bribes. If the declarer is afraid to leave two eights and decides to play “for sure” - for two tricks, then he will leave the eight with a piece and, logically, go on top. In this case, the figure is interrupted, and then the same thing happens.

An interesting trick was used against such a shift by the great preferenceist Pluto. He made the first move with the eight of hearts, and on the seven of clubs he dropped the king of hearts and, as eyewitnesses testify, smiled softly at the “honest company”. Pluto was famous in my youth, and there were legends about him. As can be seen from this case, the master can also skip the “shift”. But only a great master can turn defeat into victory. (Apparently, Pluto guessed in time that he "missed" the shift, because if the eight of clubs did not catch, his opponents would have nothing to choose from and they would catch the king of hearts.)

Another, no less beautiful "turnover" against this shift is as follows: the first move is the queen of clubs. She is intercepted, four tricks are taken and they try to “turn on” the club with the seven, on which the eight of hearts is demolished (for beauty, the king of hearts).

Tales about shifts

The very first mention, known to me, of the distribution of a specially prepared layout refers to the game of V. G. Belinsky with I. S. Turgenev 33 . The writer passed the eight-point criticism (on which he was left without four), thus avenging both Gogol and all Russian literature. True, they turned the matter into a joke, they didn’t receive money from the “sucker” - they forgave, they allowed me not to write uphill. He, they say, was offended and asked to continue to "do not throw more shifts."

If E. V. Vitkovsky and I correctly reconstructed this situation described by A. Ya. Panaeva, then Belinsky’s partners laughed at the eternal “tearfulness” of the Furious Vissarion, who played badly, but could not admit it, and explained all his failures with a chronic “non-feather ". You are probably familiar with this type of people, dear reader.

This story is the first, but not the only one.

If vision is bad, touch can help out

The fact that at the moment of a tense game a person uses all the senses, including the sixth, is known or guessed by many. But, unfortunately, not all players rely entirely on their feelings. For example, violin, described in this section (see "Chances for renting"), can often be recognized by smell. The fact is that the sharpened ends of the cards are treated with varnish, epoxy resin or, at worst, rubbed with garlic for strength. Sometimes it's harmless to sniff the deck.

A funny story is connected with shift recognition. A shift was prepared for one person, suggesting a large replanting on a minuscule. The "charged" deck was placed on the balcony. At the right moment, the performer went out to smoke ... In short, on the next hand, the victim receives his minuscule amount, but does not make a bid, sorts through the cards and says thoughtfully:

- Perhaps, I won’t go for a minuscule: they were warmer ...

He felt the difference in the temperature of the cards!

Charge the same layouts, but in different suits

Another case comes to mind. Once, during a vacation (or work) in Sochi, a completely senseless person joined a company of card swindlers. Completely unprepossessing appearance, small forms, middle-aged, wearing glasses. In principle, he was also a swindler, but he did not know how to do anything. On the other hand, he was very helpful, showed endless signs of attention and respect, and constantly asked to be given some way to earn money. After thinking about how to apply it to the case, in the end they decided that Vitalik (that was his name) would wear shifts.

He immediately agreed, but since he didn’t know anything, didn’t really know how to play, they wrote him layouts on a piece of paper: in the first shift there should be such and such cards, in the second - such and such, and so on - only five or six. He had to prepare the layouts somewhere in a secluded corner, and then bring the deck to the moment when his partner hands over.

He performed the process of substitution superbly: after all, it is a great happiness when you don’t have to pretend to be an idiot, but everything turns out quite naturally. The picture was something like this: the preference players are playing on a lounger, this Vitalik comes up with a towel in his hands (the change is covered with a towel) and starts pestering why they don’t swim, paints the charms of water and the usefulness of water procedures. The Preferans justify themselves, Vitalik asks for a cigarette - from the player farthest from him, or rather, he doesn’t even ask, but simply climbs after it, kneeling on the sunbed, almost on the record. In this case, the towel is placed on the cards. Lights up and continues to joke. Surrendering to numerous requests to let him play quietly, he takes the towel and leaves. The deck remaining on the table-lounger has been replaced.

In exactly the same scenario, Vitalik brought and launched five more shifts. The partners of his cheating partner, as they say, howled in a terrible voice, because such a number of gaming misfortunes, and even in one bullet, had never happened to them before. Vitalik literally brought them misfortune. Brought in a towel.

At some point, this Vitalik came up, already without any towel, and simply said to his partner in the ear that the layouts were over. For each successfully completed shift, he received three rubles by agreement and wanted to wear more and more in order to earn more.

His partner considered. On the one hand, he did not expect that all the blanks would be used so rapidly. Yes, and partners were already sorry. On the other hand, if the chance passes 34 and people do not scatter shouting "Help!", Then why not continue? Extra money won't hurt. But writing new layouts for Vitalik with partners was somehow not handy. And the partner decided: he told Vitalik in his ear to start all over again, but in other suits.

However, in the next shift, everything was already messed up. Vitalik's ingenuity was not enough to exchange a pike for a worm. About why Vitalik no longer appeared on the beach, everyone learned from his partner:

- The inadequacy of his behavior was even greater than I thought. After receiving the money, we decided to celebrate this matter and went to some tavern. We walk along an alley in a park on the Riviera and lively discuss a successful day. A woman is walking towards me, quite curvaceous. Suddenly Vitalik rushed towards this woman. Already at the first moment I tensed up, surprised that he, without saying a word, suddenly ran somewhere. However, what happened next was simply unpredictable: Vitalik ran up, jumped up and literally saddled the lady, jumping on her backs (only in front), wrapping his legs around her waist, and clutching her chest with his hands. At the same time, he energetically and concentratedly moved his pelvis ... The woman, of course, screamed loudly.

I immediately faced the problem of how to pretend that he was not with me. The meaning of the expression "ready to fall through the ground" became clear. The woman continued to squeal, a crowd began to gather around, suggestions were heard to call the police. Vitalik jumped off her just as unexpectedly as he jumped, and walked towards me as if nothing had happened, urging me to rejoice with him in the splendor of this woman's forms. I had no choice but to tell him:

- If you ever let me know when you meet me, I will hurt you. Now get out of here. You have received your share, you eat yourself - not a small one.

This Vitalik was like that, who wore shifts well.

The most profitable shift in preference

There is such a thing - "preference", not the game itself, but the contract. This is an order of 10 without a trump card, and those that will be won in any scenario, in any move and in any demolition. If you carefully analyze on which card you can order such a contract, it turns out that there is only one combination: ace, king, queen in four suits. Indeed, no matter what we demolish and no matter how we lay out the rest of the cards, we can take all the tricks in the game without a trump card. Any other combination is not suitable, because even if there is an ace and a king in all suits (without a queen), then when an ace and a king are demolished in one of the suits, we lose control over it. Therefore, there must be three high cards in each suit. Since there are only four suits, the 12 required cards are the minimum necessary to fulfill the condition.

But if this "preference" comes, the lucky one closes the bullet for himself and all other players. Goru writes off to zero and writes 1000 whists for everyone ... that is, he receives prizes "in all nominations."

The Code of Preference clearly states that this concept is unsportsmanlike and should not be used. Indeed, in a game where the luck factor should not matter much, a single game cannot decide the outcome of the entire game.

The probability of such a card appearing in the hand in a fair game is so negligible that it almost never comes. So, when people agree in front of the bullet how many premium whists the one who gets the “preference” will record, they are wasting their time. They might as well agree on what they will do if the earth hits a comet during a bullet.

If you still happen to see this alignment in life, you can be 99.99% sure that the person is playing dishonestly. A certain young gamer argued with the author of the Code (and this book), arguing that his grandfather's preference came two or three times in his life.

In response, the author suggested that either grandfather lives a very long time, or cheats, or simply exaggerates. This can be proved on the basis of probability theory. Judge for yourself: the probability of this layout is so small that if you play preference 24 hours a day, without interrupting sleep and rest, playing every five minutes after the change, then in order for such a card to come into the hands of at least one of the players, it is necessary 716 years. Therefore, despite the fact that we have already considered this contract in the chapter "Safety of the Game", I think it would be useful to mention it again in the section on cheating tricks. Because most of the time we are dealing with shift shift.

I myself have seen preference in myself, and many times, but it has always been of artificial origin. In 1976, as a student at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, I had an internship in the glorious city of Odessa. Worked in the newspaper "Vechernyaya Odessa". Of course, I practiced mainly in the game of cards.

It took me once to a hostel. I played completely thoughtlessly - with whom I had to, not caring in the least about getting a win, or about my own safety. In this hostel, two hefty lads, former sailors, became my debtors. They had no money, which they honestly admitted to me (immediately after the end of the game), adding, however, that even if they had, they would not have given it to me anyway.

However, there was no conflict. Apparently, the big guys had some kind of warm feeling for me, so they suggested that I play on the beach in Arcadia, and they would receive the money. It should be noted, by the way, that receiving a win from a debtor in Odessa at that time was a certain problem (this, in particular, is indirectly evidenced by Odessa resident Anatoly Barbakaru in his “Notes of a Sharpie”).

I agreed. I even had a parental sense of responsibility for ensuring that my lads were fed and, most importantly, watered. And since their appetite was always good, and their thirst was simply irrepressible, I followed in the footsteps of the aforementioned grandfather and in some company, completely insolent, distributed this preference twice in one day.

33 For more details, see the essay on Belinsky in the History and Culture section.

34 Fuckers eat.

"How the sucker threw me ..."

One venerable player, of the highest class, by the way, once says to me:

Do you want me to tell you the story of how the sucker threw me?

Of course, I say, I want to.

Then listen. I had a permanent partner, a doctor by profession, an elderly respectable man. They always played at his house, mainly in deberts. He loved this game very much. We played small and always only for cash. He never lost a lot - so, fifty dollars, a hundred - apparently, from those that he managed to earn from his wife from gifts at work, from “left”, so to speak, money. Yes, and I, to be honest, never harbored carnivorous thoughts in relation to him, I never thought of “throwing” him thoroughly. To some extent, I was pleased with his company, he always received me cordially, treated me deliciously, the game proceeded in an atmosphere of exceptional and mutual goodwill.

Why did I play him? I don't even know how to explain our relationship. I considered his losses as a payment for the school of the game, so what? And, of course, the damned wolf instincts developed by our profession. After all, how do you argue: don’t go sour to visit a client once or twice a month, it’s nice to talk and earn “without sin” a hundred. Have a dozen or two such partners - what more could you want?

My old man was funny. He loved to play and knew the putty well. Has, for example, secret pocket half a ruble. Lose, pay. Well, everything seems to be, thanks for the game, goodbye. But no! “Wait,” he says, “and begins to rummage through all his pockets. In one of the jackets in the closet he looks for a five. He rejoices right there, like a child. - Here! Found! Let's play another game - for five! I never refused him, and it would be impossible to refuse, even if I wanted to, I would offend and lose my partner.

That day everything went on as usual. He lost his usual fifty dollars, I have already begun to say goodbye, but he keeps me - he is looking for money in all pockets. I found some there, six rubles. Played for six rubles, I won. You understand, I need these six rubles so badly... I can not take it at all. But we have a principle, a tradition - we do not play with debt, and if you have cash, you have no right to refuse, you must respect your partner. “That's it,” I say, “thanks for the game.” “No,” he says, “wait, there was some small change lying around in the table.” He pulls out the drawer of his desk and starts feverishly sorting through everything there and extracting either a ruble or 20 kopecks ... But he wants to assign as much kush as possible, so he is afraid to find not everything and digs for an terribly long time. “Okay,” he says, “then I’ll take out the drawer and shake everything out on the sofa. In short, we play with all the money that is in this box, do you agree? - "Well, what to do with you, it's coming."

We start the party. I lead for a while, on the record of points of 200. He shuffles the cards for the next change and suddenly! how it crashes from the chair to the floor! I rush to him. He wheezes: heart. I start to rush about: validol, water, what else is there ... I transferred him to the sofa. He lies, but how it all ends is still unclear. You put yourself in my place: a good number? We are in the apartment together. God forbid, the skates will be thrown away! Guard! After about five minutes, his breathing stabilized, he came to his senses.

Well, he says, let go. And how bad it was. Gets up from the sofa. Massages the chest.

Excuse me, - he says, - it happens. Okay, whose change?

What a change! I say. - Lie down, rest. Consider that I recognized this party.

No no! In no case. The game needs to be played. In addition, we have a serious jackpot (laughs and picks up cards).

I do not know how to be. It’s kind of stupid to object, there’s no mood to play either: I flinched for him, frankly, in earnest. But, there is nothing to do. I sit opposite.

Only, Volodechka, one more request: open the window, please, it’s stuffy somehow with us, there’s not enough air.

Of course, I say, and I go to the window. Maybe you shouldn't play it? You are worried, worried. Some kind of no, but the load is still on the heart.

Nothing, he says. “We’ll finish the last one and we won’t do it again.” I return to the table, raise my cards - he has already dealt, while I went to the window.

I have some kind of inexpressive card, but there are aces, tens. I pass. He orders the game on the first trump card. After the first move, I understand that I was grabbing the shift: he announces 50, they gave birth to 50, well, there is Bella, Manela and all the delights. My aces, of course, do not work, in a word, the classic surrender for the maximum set - 275 points or whatever is theoretically possible. He has about 500 for my 270. He rejoices: here comes the mastishka! I sit and think: some kind of nonsense, what is the point of this shift (if it was a shift), and fortunately it is also unbelievable to raise such a card. But why?

They finished this game in one change, he won and solemnly went to the desk. He shook out the contents on the sofa and took out ... a pack of fifty rubles.

From you, Volodya, - he says, - exactly 5001 rubles 20 kopecks. Keep the twenty ruble for yourself, and please do not delay the rest. As they say, I do not want to upset you, let me receive it.

So it was all a play? And a heart attack too?

Yes, my dear, yes. At my leisure, I calculated the balance of our relationship with you and decided to reset it. Exactly as much, according to my calculations, you have won from me over the past couple of years, or, more correctly, “milked out of me,” in your professional language. So now we're quits and the game is over, And the fact that it's not entirely fair ... Sorry. Once again I will use the expression accepted in your circle: shovel - choke.

What was I to answer him? I had to pay. That's how the sucker threw me.

Shift protection

If the shift was recognized by cards already dealt, then protection against it in preference is trivial: do not place an order that scammers are counting on, as a preference player with a developed sense of touch did, or make an illogical demolition, like Pluto, or order the wrong trump cards, contrary to the logic and intent of the swindlers. But how to protect yourself from the very fact of a shift?

Knowledgeable people advise an easy way. Mark a couple of cards on the front side (preferably two sevens or a seven and an ace) - put an inconspicuous stroke with a pen that is being recorded, a slightly noticeable line. There is no sin in this: you do not mark cards to recognize them by their back, you only want to identify a certain seven or a certain ace.

If the desired cards come into your hands without your notes, you can easily guess what's the matter.

Juggling and Volt

Table fold

There are much easier (than shifting) ways to create advantage as a card in hand. When collecting cards from the table before dealing, you can put a pair of aces and a pair of kings, alternating them with the required number of cards (four cards between pairs). The biggest problem that now needs to be solved is the fake shooting, i.e. the cards after the removal should remain in the same sequence as they were prepared.

Fake Shooting: Volt and Box

To save the assembled layout of cards in the deck, you need to perform a volt (literally - a coup), i.e., after picking up, quietly return the deck to its original state. Volt is considered technically difficult to execute as a cheating technique. The ways in which it can be performed could be the subject of a separate book. Quite a lot of attention is paid to the volt by card magicians. I will only note that, unlike a magician-manipulator on the stage, a card sharper makes a volt on the table. The execution of this technique requires a certain composure and psychological restraint: it is important at the right time to “pull a withdrawal”, that is, to divert the attention of the enemy.

If a cheater plays with a partner, it is much more convenient, easier and safer to perform instead of a complex volt fake rent when the partner only pretends to take off. The simplest way execution of such a removal is called bridge or box. The player who gives the cut divides the prepared deck in half, bends one part a little and puts it on top. His partner, feeling the difference between the parts of the deck well by touch, removes the upper - curved part of the deck, in other words, returns the deck to the desired, original position.

You can also mention wide sheet as control chart when shooting.

There are also many ways of fake shooting, built simply on sleight of hand. I can show you when we meet. I can't describe in words.

Ches

Only a few cards can be collected by folding from the table. It is difficult to add up all 10 cards that will come after the deal to one hand, shift them with empty cards, and even do all this so that the partners do not pay attention to your manipulations. Therefore, the sharper collects only the necessary 10, and achieves the proper distribution of cards in the deck by a special shuffle called Ches 35 .

The required 10 cards are placed on top of the deck, the sharper divides the deck in half and begins to “comb out” one card at a time - four from the middle up, six down, two down, four from the middle up, six down ... etc. This is a counting algorithm - so you can give yourself all 10 required cards and two necessary to put in the buy-in. In this way, you can shuffle any game for yourself, including the notorious preference. The impeccable technique of mastering this technique allows you to pass on the second hand a minuscule with a bad buy-in. In order for the fraer to accidentally get unlucky with the alignment, they rig a minuscule type 5-4 and a singlet queen, and in the draw - an ace and a king of the same suit.

One preferenceist with humor came out of the situation when this method of shuffling was used against him: he made astonished eyes, put his hand with a mouthpiece to his ear and said: “I hear it!”. Thus, making it clear that this technique is familiar to him and it is not worth using it.

fake shuffle

Sometimes there are situations when the mortgage is already ready (combed, collected from the table or the deck has been changed), but the cheater needs to create the illusion of a shuffle. There are many techniques to create this illusion. They're called fake shuffle, or shuffle.

Depending on the method of shuffling, there are shuffling into a truss, a cut-in, a false shuffle on the table, a rattle, a fan, a dovetail ... I think describing them in words is a rather meaningless exercise, it will not be very clear. Therefore, we confine ourselves to mentioning that they exist. And the idea itself is simple - an illusion is created that the cards are shuffled, although in reality this does not happen: their order in the deck remains unchanged. With a good one-on-one shuffle technique, you can achieve the same effect without making false movements. You can check the last statement yourself by dividing a deck of 32 sheets in half, and then cut the halves exactly one into one exactly five times - nothing will change in the layout.

Plastic bag

There is a technique, almost harmless, called plastic bag. These are several cards (or even one, usually an ace) known to the dealer. In the process of shuffling, he holds these cards (card) at the top or bottom of the deck, remembers their place in the deck after being removed, and sees where they will go when dealt. If the cards hit the opponent, this is called send a package and gives some advantage. More often such packer tries to put an ace for himself or in the draw.

I don't like "loch games"

I had little to play in the "Lokhov" games. The first reason probably lies in my natural laziness. Indeed, the search for and conduct of the “Loch” game was called “work” in the language of professional players. And it really was hard work with all the indispensable attributes of forced labor: getting up early, trouble in case of being late or absenteeism (what is your reprimand, even with entering in a personal file, compared to these troubles!), preparing and maintaining the tool in working condition , a comprehensive and counter plan, etc., etc.

Work could be day and night, emergency and round-the-clock, in specific periods of time (for example, during a call for active military service - near the city military registration and enlistment office) and, as a rule, always dangerous ... The danger was associated, firstly, with the possibility opposition from the "lohov" themselves, in all cases not wanting to voluntarily part with the money, and secondly, from the police, standing "on guard" of the suckers and always ready to take from you not only the "lohov" money, but also your own . And if it is psychologically very easy to part with your own (consider that you have lost), then in order to save the "common money" in your pocket, people were forced to jump on the go from the train and perform other risky actions.

The second reason for my dislike for this “work” (perhaps it should be considered a continuation of the first one) was the ordinary pettiness of the winnings, which, being divided among all participants and dolists, turned into mere pennies. The argument against this petty, cheap game "for a little" has always been the phrase: "But - one hundred percent!". But somehow I was always disgusted by a planned, measured life. Although many lived like this. Even outstanding players. The best debercist in the Soviet Union, from whom I took lessons on the beach in Sochi, sometimes asked me to wait until he completed his daily plan - 100 rubles. This was his minimum. Without earning this money, he did not think about rest.

Somehow I have always liked games more that promise a big win right away, but are also (inevitably) associated with the risk of a possible loss. For this, one had to listen to the insulting word “gladiator” from colleagues - that was the name of a person who preferred “playing in combat”, that is, “head-on” fights with an opponent of equal strength.

And the third reason was that “at work” I felt somehow uncomfortable. It was always embarrassing, somehow uncomfortable for me to say to the “loch” what was required according to the script. Probably for the same reason I don’t like acting on television today: you need to speak, looking into the empty eye of the camera, and imagine an interlocutor who is interested in listening to you, you need to speak with an expression, with a gleam in your eyes and as if you are only that sparked this thought. And if the thought is controversial, then you also need to portray thoughtfulness and express the thought as an assumption, with a pause, as if intended to select the right word ... At the same time, it is embarrassing in front of the cameraman and other people present on the set who hear this phrase for the third time times in a row.

As for ordinary suckers (not television ones), the matter for me was further complicated by the fact that almost always it was necessary to “weave”, that is, to tell a deliberate fable. And any lie, as you know, is subsequently revealed - "there is nothing secret that would not become obvious." And in anticipation of this revelation, in anticipation of someone else's disappointment in you and indignation - you begin to blush in advance. This ability and readiness to blush, more precisely, the inability not to blush, caused the most ridicule of colleagues. So, to the discomfort of a person deceiving a gullible interlocutor, was added the discomfort of waiting for ridicule.

For some reason, today I want to believe that this, the third, reason for my dislike for the "Lokhov" game was the main one.

By the way, to my great regret today and to great joy then, many of the so-called "Loch" games gave me a chance not to be ashamed of my deceit and the use of cheating tricks, to find an excuse for myself, because very often the look of a professional noticed that the imaginary "victim" she is trying to cheat. Naturally, instead of "righteous anger," I was in a hurry to show complete indifference and not even notice the rude awkwardness of an inept performer. Very often, the most difficult thing was just “not noticing”.

I remember how in Tashkent I played in the same house in the company of an elderly man, a retired officer. It was the house of my friend AK 36. Since in the future narration I will have to address the owner of the house by name, we will agree to call him “aka”, especially since in Uzbekistan this is a very common address to the elder in age and literally means “elder brother”.

So, this “military grandfather”, playing preference, always looked for an ace on his hand for a long time, looking under the bottom of the deck. Then he shuffled so that this ace remained at the bottom. After the removal, he laid the two halves of the deck not just with a slight shift (to control the position of the ace), but almost across. When surrendering, he did not put a buy-in until the appearance of an ace, and if the ace went to him, he left it as it is, and if the ace did not go to him, then he put it in the buy-in.

What was to be done with him? Resent? In no case. I just started throwing shifts at him. He gave me the moral right to do so. And the ace in the draw was a good help not only to him, but also to me. True, I did not always know the suit. We tolerated this "passenger" as long as he came. I think that if we prevented him from sending his plastic bag, then he would have stopped walking much sooner. “Aka,” I said to the owner of the house, “you need to be more kind to this person: he is our breadwinner.

35 From the verb "to scratch".

36 For obvious reasons, I do not want to call my friend by his name, because I am afraid to embarrass him in front of visitors to his house, who may jump to conclusions and think that the same methods that I am about to describe could be applied to them. . In fact, most of the games in this house were quite innocent.

Extra card

Combination possibilities

An extra card in hand gives a huge advantage in almost all games, especially in those where you need to collect a combination of cards: poker, seca, deberc...

And if in such a game as preference, "lishak" may not have such a big meaning, then, for example, in poker, where there are only five cards in hand, the resulting advantage can hardly be overestimated. I foresee bewilderment on your face: what kind of extra card are we talking about? After all, when playing preference, all cards are dealt! And if someone has an extra, then someone is missing !! A person who receives only nine cards instead of 10 will become nervous, indignant ... That's right! Therefore, this technique can be used only if the silence of at least one of the partners is secured. This can either be a partner or (much better) a goofball when playing goose.

When dealing, the sharper deals 11 cards to himself, and nine to the dummy. Then he dumps one unnecessary boob. Imagine how much better hand the person using this method. There are never "flat" layouts like 4:2:2:2 or 3:3:2:2. There are often revivals. More big games, more plantings from the opponent.

But most often, of course, plays are played. On the unpacking, an extra card, if it is skillfully used, is a small miracle! Indescribable feelings! Huge room to maneuver! What scope for creative imagination! Imagine that you have the opportunity not only to improve your hand, but also to get rid of one card at any time. Often a person does not get a bribe in one of the suits and sits - shaking: the opponent guesses where to include, or does not guess. And you boldly do not get it in two suits at once and give up the move. Let guess! Whatever suit the opponent goes to, you discard a card of a different suit to a trick, and a card of the suit of the move to the dummy.

An extra card in the deal allows you to save at least two tricks. The main thing is not to confuse and not forget anything so that it doesn’t work out, as in the joke that you took the tambourine to the worm, and the worm to the tambourine. That is, I could say that for a player who knows how to skillfully play an extra card, preference, or rather, a goose, is the most suitable game.

tramp

A somewhat unusual case of cheating in the game was recorded in Kyiv. The game took place one on one (in the goose) between the owner of the house, a dentist of respectable age and fortune, and one outstanding swindler. Let's call him Albert, especially since he sometimes introduced himself that way. The doctor was “lucky” to meet his partner in the south, where they spent time at preference and found each other people who were pleasant in every way. The dentist left his Kyiv coordinates to a new friend and asked, as they say: "You will be in Kyiv ...". And Albert happened to be in Kyiv (it seems that he came specially “for a doctor”).

Aesculapius pretty much lost in the hussar and "got off" in the borax - either at the suggestion of a partner, or on his own initiative. So the swindle to which we are approaching the description refers rather to chances applied not in preference, but in a storm. The fact that the game of preference nevertheless began, gives reason to include this case in our purely preference narrative. What follows is Albert's story in the first person.

“We play exclusively for cash. We calculate after each game. Lepilo 37 was thoroughly smeared. Grannies 38, apparently, are running out. I understand that there probably won’t be a second meeting, so I constantly say that it’s late and it’s time for me to leave: he’s trying to get away and, firstly, he constantly asks to raise the jackpot, and secondly, he doesn’t even think about hinting about playing on-the-pot 39 .

I know that he has lava 40 and not just anywhere, but here, in the hut. Not lava, so tsatsky 41 . What difference does it make to me? In short, he ran out of cash, he dives somewhere 42, brings bonds of a three percent loan. Well, bonds are bonds, even better than tchotzky. You know, I sing my own: you need to finish, you have already lost a lot, you don’t want to win the last one, and I’m ready to sleep - morning is coming soon.

Tired of my fraer for each portion of bonds to another room to run or suspicions of poverty could not stand it - he carries a whole stack of bonds and puts it on the floor, to the side of the table at which we are sitting. How to pay - he bends down and takes a few pieces. And outside the window it is already dawn, and my doctor glances anxiously at his watch. I ask: “What, is it ripe to sleep?” And he says: “No, my wife should come soon, from night duty.” I cant press 43 on the stack - a very decent stack, I won’t have time to win. And it's a pity to leave! What to do? - think. I take off my sock and begin to pull my foot towards the pile. He groped, plucked a couple of bonds from above with two fingers and onto the chair under him. And when I get the winnings, I put it there, for myself. So from time to time I catch a handful or a pinch (how to say correctly when you take it with your foot?).

My partner, when 44 bows down for the next payment, will throw up his hands: how quickly he lost everything! - and runs for a new pile. Barely by the time the wife arrived, they managed by joint efforts. Yes, I was more afraid of her coming than he was - who needs scandals! So, maybe what was left of his state obligations, I do not regret - the greed of the fraer ruined it. I asked the doctor for a newspaper, wrapped my belongings in it, and said goodbye.

slander

The presence of an extra card in hand makes it possible to commit slander, i.e., an untenable nitpick, make a scandal, as they say, out of the blue. For example, when playing deberts, an extra card allows you to challenge any change.

In a hopeless situation, when the opponent is playing a winning game, or when his own bid is inevitable, the rogue, who has an extra card, discreetly discards two cards of the same suit to his tricks and continues the draw as if nothing had happened. Now he has one card less than the opponent. On the last trick it turns out: one of the cards ran out, and the other still has one card in his hand. As! Why? What's the matter?!

Besides the fact that this is a very ugly method of weaning, it has a significant drawback: it cannot be used more than once. In addition, an attentive partner remembers the course of the draw and immediately detects a “fake bribe”. However, sometimes this number goes through.

In preference, this slanderous number is further complicated by the fact that an extra card can only appear on its own deal. An outraged partner will say that he did not give up. And although, according to the Code, everyone is obliged to monitor the number of cards in his hand, an unpleasant incident is inevitable. It should be noted that this is not the smartest way to dispose of a very effective cheating technique. After all, if an extra “passes”, you should not “shoot” the number for nothing - just like when playing with a lighthouse, you should not go to the third jack.

household attribution

There is a simple trick called attribution. It seems that he does not even require special decoding. It would seem something simpler - when writing down, sometimes you add a little. Attribution, however, requires a certain skill, a certain technique and psychological forethought. In the old days there were many all sorts of "gadgets", such as double chalk, with which the player wrote down one jackpot when winning, and as if by chance two were added. The main thing here is not to go too far and not to attribute too much in each change.

The computer age has successfully solved all these problems. The machine is honest and impartial, and most importantly, does not make mistakes in arithmetic.

Profitability of tricks

The mathematical expression of the "profitability" of the use of cheating techniques

Rarely does anyone think about how much this or that cheating trick “costs”. Perhaps it is not even immediately clear what the author has in mind when introducing the concept of value. In fact, there is nothing surprising in the cost of cheating reception. For example, when a person says: “If I knew the buyback, I would live in Sochi,” you can ask him at what rate and what pool he would play, after which it is easy to calculate his average estimated income, and quite accurately. It is known that the knowledge of the buy-in in the Sochi hussar brings an average of 200 whists in a pulque to 50.

Sometimes the profitability of a cheating technique can be calculated with an accuracy of “to the penny”. Because any cheating technique is designed to change the probability of winning. Probability theory is an exact science. To illustrate, consider the example of dice. One person rolls two six-sided dice and the other bets that a combination of 6-6 will come up.

Calculations in dice games are even somehow embarrassing to call mathematics. It would be more accurate to call them arithmetic, because they are very simple. Nevertheless, life experience shows that many people who play dice games (for example, backgammon) often have a very superficial (and sometimes incorrect) idea of ​​​​the probabilities of various combinations. Meanwhile, an accurate idea of ​​just this side of the matter is the basis of the player's class in any game, including card games.

Roll of one die

So, one dice (which is a regular-shaped cube, all sides of which are equal to 45) can drop any of its six sides with equal probability. What will happen if we start betting that it will fall exactly six? In order for the game to be equal, the opponent must “answer” five times, i.e., pay $ 1 for our bet in the event of a loss sixes$5 because he's exactly five times more likely to six won't fall out. If we roll the die six times and all six times different sides fall out, then we will win once ($5) and lose five times ($1 each), remaining as a result with our own.

Roll of two dice

Now let's see what happens if we roll two dice at once. For each of the six faces of the first die, there are six faces of the second. The number of possible combinations of faces is 36 - six squared. All of them are presented in Table. 1. Let's imagine that we are betting that a certain combination will fall out, for example 6-6. What should be the payout for 6-6 for the game to be even? The same order of reasoning: the only one of the 36 possible combinations (6-6) is opposed by 35 others, in the event of which we will lose. Accordingly, the payout should be 35:1.

Table 1. Possible face combinations

And if we bet on the loss of another combination, for example 6-5?

Here lies a small catch, fatal for everyone who does not know about it. The fact is that the probability of getting a combination of 6-5 is twice as high as 6-6.

In fact, there are two combinations of 6-5, not one: the first die (let's imagine that it is red) fell out as a six up, and the second (let it be blue) - as a five; red is a five and blue is a six.

In both cases, it appears as if one visually distinguishable combination 6-5. In fact, there are two of them, more precisely, this combination can be formed by two different ways. This is clearly seen in Table. 1: in the lower right corner of the table with a combination of 6-6, two are adjacent: 5-6 and 6-5. In the game of identical dice, these combinations are outwardly indistinguishable, but the probabilities of their occurrence differ by a factor of two. Take a couple of dice and roll them to make sure the 6-5 comes up about twice as often as the 6-6.

What should be the correct answer (i.e., the payout for a combination of 6-5) in order for the game to be equal? The answer is obvious: 34:2=17:1.

Now back to our example: the player bets on a roll of 6-6, and the banker responds with 35x. Mathematically, the game is completely equal. Only happiness can influence its outcome. But let's imagine that the player has replaced the "fair" dice with "dishonest" dice for the banker. On each of loaded dice two faces are marked as "six", but there is not a single "one". (On correctly marked dice, these faces are opposite. Therefore, when the number 6 falls on the upper face, the second “six” will not be visible.) Now the impudent plate of possible combinations of faces will look different (Table 2).

Table 2. Possible combinations of faces using loaded dice

Let's leave the question of the possibility of being convicted of substitution out of the brackets for now. As you can see, there are four combinations of 6-6 instead of one. What happens if the game continues? For 36 throws, du-shesh, according to the theory of probability, will fall out four times and other combinations will fall out 32 times. The player will pay $1 to the banker 32 times and receive $35 each four times, i.e. he will make 140-32=108 dollars for 36 kicks. It is easy to calculate that the profitability of this game is 108:36=3 for the player, i.e. 3 dollars from each roll.

If players play this game for a long time at the same rate and make, say, 1000 tosses, then, in theory, the punter should win $ 3,000 from the banker.

37 Doctor (blat.).

38 Money (shul.-blat.).

39 In debt (shul.-blat.).

40 Money (shul.-blat.).

41 Jewels (blat.).

42 Goes to a secluded place (blat.).

43 I throw fleeting sidelong glances (blat.).

44 Will go, look (blat.).

45 If this is not so, all our further reasoning loses its meaning.

Probability of getting a particular card

It's the same with cards. Imagine that the game is to guess the value of the top card in the deck. If this is a preference deck, then the probability of guessing is 1/8 (4/32). In a fair game, the guesser should receive a sevenfold answer.

Imagine now that the player has stolen two aces from the banker's deck. And all the time he calls some cards other than aces. The probability of any card appearing (not an ace) under these conditions is 4/30. For the game to be even, the banker must pay 26 to 4 when guessing. And he pays 28 to 4, i.e., in fact, overpays half a kush for each guess. In a series of 30 challenges, he will overpay $2 when playing $1. Thus, the profitability of this game can be estimated as 1/15 of the bet in favor of the player.

If the same game takes place with marked cards, then the player always guesses. The profitability of the game for him is equal to the bet. In each hand, he wins as much as he bets.

“Well, okay,” you say. — Profitability of cheating tricks in simple games, based on probabilities, is easy enough to estimate. But how to do it in preference!?”

It is difficult to give a simple answer to this question. The conclusion about the advantage of 200 whists in a pulque up to 50 is made on the basis of statistical studies. If you figure out what gives knowledge of the buyback, then the following points can be distinguished:

the crook does not play "locomotive" miserables;

the rogue trades with a favorable buy-in and concedes the game with an unfavorable one;

crook gets Additional information on unpacking (about two missing cards) 46 .

Other aspects can be noted, for example, knowledge of the demolition suit. But in this case, we would begin to talk about the profitability of such a cheating technique as marked cards. And now the question of the profitability of knowledge of the purchase is being considered. I don’t know how interesting these studies of ours are, but in our student years we set up a fairly correct experiment: one received a head start of 200 whists, and the other was allowed to watch the buy-in. They played, I remind you, a composition - a hussar up to 50. Such bullets were played innumerable. Personally, I could not give preference to any of the parties and agreed to play both for those and for others. I think that our estimate of profitability is close to the true one.

By the way, the cost of many different changes in the game conditions was calculated experimentally at one time. What advantage do marked cards give when playing deberts? Obviously, the upper limit is 160 points. Because when playing “open versus closed” they give a head start of 160 points (in a game up to 501). Some believe that 150 can also be played open, but it is unlikely that anyone will be able to say for sure which handicap is “correct”. Another empirical observation (suddenly it will be useful to you) is playing on open maps in the Sochi hussar up to 50 is compensated by a handicap of 1000 whists. If you want to test it, try it.

Comparative evaluation of cheating methods according to the criterion of profitability

One may wonder: why, excuse me, to investigate all this nonsense!? I completely agree with you - for a fair friendly game, it is completely useless. But in combat, military relations, this knowledge can come in handy. And you don't have to be a scammer yourself.

Imagine that your partner started to “push” something to you. Your actions? One possible reaction is to get angry and stop playing. The other is about punishing, preferably with the same weapon.

If you are familiar with the theory: you recognize the technique and know its profitability, all the cards, as they say, are in your hands. If you play a whole head stronger and estimate your advantage, at least 400 whists in a bullet to 50, then you can tolerate cheating: the advantage is still on your side. Well, if you are not too picky about your means and think that your partner's behavior unties your hands 47, then you have a huge scope.

Control versus shift

We have just considered the case of a retired military man who plastic bag, who used control room and receiving shift in turnover. If you try to compare the quantitative advantage from each of these methods, then obviously you need to do the following operations:

a) evaluate the profitability control boxes, taking into account all factors: increase in the face value of the game, if any; the difference between a game and a lost rally, etc.;

b) then you need to divide the resulting value by three, because the performer does not deal in every change, but only in every third.

We will get the numerical value of his advantage in whists per change. After that, we take his loss from the shift and divide by the total number of boards in the pool. If the balance is positive, we will limit ourselves to one shift. If not, we'll throw a second, a third ...

Ches calculated experimentally

A performer came to the hostel of the Moscow Institute. He played preference in the company of mathematics students for a whole day, won all the money and left. The guys who were left without a scholarship collected all the bullets and looked thoughtfully at the scribbled sheets. What is the probability that one certain player out of four will play so many big games and one will win, and all the others will lose? Not too big, not more than 1/10. What is the probability that the same player will repeat the result in two bullets? The probabilities should be multiplied. So 1/100. 12 bullets were played per day. It turns out that the probability of repeating the same result 12 times is 1/10 12 . Or one trillion. This does not happen in fair play. Therefore, the person did something that allowed him to play big games every now and again. rigged! Proven.

Ethics of a professional player and a layman

When one trick is pitted against another, statistically the one with the highest return should win. We have repeatedly met confirmation of this simple truth: when we were ironic about the control against the shift (the ratio is approximately the same as that of a slingshot against a heavy machine gun); when they talked about striped cards, which one reads only by suit, and the other - "by suit and by height"; when they remembered James Bond with his change against a mirrored cigarette case, and on many other occasions.

But this raises an interesting question: is there a difference between cheating and just a good summary, like getting a big handicap in a game?

One card swindler, at the same time a master of sports in chess, won decent money in chess, having managed to correctly reduce. When he came to visit an amateur chess player, he said just one necessary phrase: “Ah, I know, this is a chess clock!”. After that, they began to play blitz with the host, and the guest got a head start: five minutes. We started on small things, but kept increasing the bet, and the odds were gradually reduced. At the end of the game, the guest already gave the host a minute to five.

Is this behavior sporting or is it no different from ordinary cheating? For me, this is a matter of ethics and even, if you like, moral.

In my student years, my friend and permanent dolist "hit religion." He proclaimed that he would no longer deceive people, he would not play "on chances." Without rejecting the possibility of considering this issue for myself in the future and assuming that the assessment and position are basically correct, I expressed my unpreparedness to immediately take and give up my usual way of life, income level, favorite pastime, after all.

But I respected the feelings of my comrade and recognized the human right to freedom of religion. However, since before that we had stood with each other in a constant share, that is, we divided every win and every loss in half (regardless of our personal presence at the game), I suggested temporarily terminating our concession: it would become unprofitable for me to go to the share of a person who plays for luck, and it is a sin for him to take the money earned by gambling. I was driven by considerations of justice, on the one hand, and on the other, by a secret hope: if you get hungry, you will return.

He agreed, and we began to conduct our affairs separately. Moreover, I thought that he would drastically change his lifestyle - he would stop playing, and would read more.

But literally a few days later we met in the morning at the doorstep of our house (we lived in the same room on the Arbat), and each came from the game. They began to share their experiences. It turned out that he had amassed much more than I did. He fought in deberts under the following conditions: he played in the open and on the first trump card, receiving 360 handicap points. Knowing that this combination is considered equal at 290 handicap points, I was very surprised: where did the number 360 come from? - It's very simple: they knocked off 380!

From now on, we argue about the ethical side of the game. Can a duel between two chess players unequal in strength be considered fair play? Or in boxing, a situation where one opponent weighs 60 kg, and the other 200? In the same box, by the way, movements that are called deceptive are not prohibited: the opponent swung with his right, and hit with his left. Is it good?

It seems to me that in professional game(be it a big sport or a duel between two card professionals) has its own system of values, its own code of honor and set of rules. In order to judge, you need to be in the shoes of these people, to understand their world. There is nothing easier than to approach them with ordinary measurements, but how much use will there be from superficial judgments?

Where is the law heading?

Postscript to the section "Fraud in preference"

In not so distant times, there were four articles of the CRIMINAL Code, according to which it was possible to bring the gambler to justice. Before commenting on them, it is worth citing the text in its entirety.

Article 226

The organization or maintenance of dens for drinking alcohol, as well as the systematic provision of premises for these purposes -

Organization or maintenance of dens for intoxication with the use of drugs and other non-narcotic drugs, or provision of premises for these purposes, is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, or correctional labor for the same period, or a fine up to three times the minimum monthly wage. labor.

(As amended by the decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of July 15, 1974, October 1, 1985 and June 29, 1987; laws of the Russian Federation of October 20, 1992 No. 3692-1; of February 18, 1993 No. 4510 - 1. - Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, 1974, No. 29, item 782; 1985, No. 40, item 1398; 1987, No. 27, item 961; Gazette of the SND RF and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, 1992, No. 47, item 2664 ; 1993, No. 10, p. 360.)

Article 148. Extortion

Demanding the transfer of someone else's property or the right to property, or the commission of any actions of a property nature under the threat of disclosure of disgraceful information about the person or his relatives, who own, manage or under the protection of which this property is, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to three years, or correctional labor for a term of one to two years, or a fine up to twenty-five times the minimum wage.

Demanding the transfer of someone else's property or the right to property, or the commission of any actions of a property nature under the threat of violence against a person or his relatives, who own, maintain or protect this property, or under the threat of damage or destruction of the property of this person or his relatives - shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to four years, with or without confiscation of property, or correctional labor for a term of up to two years, with or without confiscation of property.

Actions provided for in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article, committed repeatedly, or by prior agreement by a group of persons, or under the threat of murder or grievous bodily harm, as well as accompanied by violence not dangerous to the life and health of the victim, or with damage or destruction of property , are punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years with confiscation of property.

Actions provided for by paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article, involving the taking of hostages or causing major damage or other grave consequences, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to twelve years with confiscation of property.

Actions provided for by paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article, committed by an organized group or a particularly dangerous recidivist, as well as accompanied by violence dangerous to the life and health of the victim, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of six to fifteen years with confiscation of property.

Article 147. Fraud

Taking possession of another's property or acquiring the right to property by deceit or breach of trust (fraud) - shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to three years, or by corrective labor for a term of up to two years, or by a fine of up to fifty times the minimum wage.

Fraud committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons is punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to six years, with or without confiscation of property, or correctional labor for a term of up to two years, with or without confiscation of property.

Fraud committed on a large scale, or by an organized group, or by a particularly dangerous recidivist, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to ten years with confiscation of property.

Article 208.1. Organization of gambling

Organization of gambling (in cards, roulette, "thimble" and others) for money, things and other valuables by a person to whom during the year administrative penalties were applied for the same violation, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to one year, or correctional works for up to two years, or a fine up to ten times the minimum monthly wage, with or without confiscation of property.

The same actions committed by a person previously convicted of a crime under this Article - shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to three years with confiscation of property.

(Introduced by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of August 11, 1988; as amended by the law of the Russian Federation No. 3692-1 of October 20, 1992 - Vedomosti of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, 1988, No. 33, art. 1081; Vedomosti of the SND of the Russian Federation and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, 1992, No. 47, page 2664.)

If we consider the postulate "ignorance of the law is no excuse" from the point of view of formal logic, it is easy to formulate the antithesis: "knowledge of the law - frees from responsibility". So it practically was in fact.

I remember that in Kyiv there was such a case: one lost 5,000 rubles to another in preference and wrote a statement to the police (he did not want to pay). The winner is summoned to the department by summons and asked:

- You know something like that?

- I know.

Did you play cards with him?

- Played.

- 5000 won?

- Won.

- Did they ask for money?

- Eee! No, chief! It was we who, even before the start of the game with him, agreed that the money should not be given away under any circumstances ...

The policemen burst out laughing... The connoisseur of laws was released in peace. He understood that in this case they could only attract him for extortion, the accusation of which he denied from the very beginning.

Proving fraud has been virtually impossible at all times. In addition to the statement of the victim, strict evidence was needed - it was necessary to catch the hand. Once they tried to bring mathematics to help.

Train riders were judged, who beat the "sucker" in the secu. He had 30 points, while his opponent had 31. The charge was based on the assertion that such a scenario was unlikely. They called in a probabilistic consultant. The prosecutor presented his arguments. For greater clarity, during the trial, an investigative experiment was carried out: the judge handed over the cards, the people's assessor (in the common people - “nodding”) took off ... What do you think? Dropped on the third hand! Exactly 30 by 31! Marvelous! Apparently, providence protected the Maidan activist from an unjust trial (what kind of proof of guilt is such an investigative experiment!). However, it is possible that the judge and the people's assessor were also bribed for hastily trained...

Two or three cases are known when people were judged for an apartment equipped with complex peeping equipment 48 or for keeping a katran 49 , but these cases are rare.

In the current Criminal Code, I could not find articles that directly provide for punishment for gambling. Yes, and it would be surprising if they were there - in the age of casinos, sweepstakes, slot machines, lotteries, bingo and rampant games everywhere and everywhere: on television, radio ... It would turn out that government agencies issue licenses for violating the Criminal Code.

You can play today! And it's great! Perhaps, over time, the legislator will find a way to separate the sheep from the goats and will punish the crooks, and encourage honest players and game organizers. Well, these are dreams! Don't encourage, don't forbid.

46 In the goose at the unpacking, the buyback does not open.

47 As the ancients said, Suspento licente fede Suspicion frees from fidelity (lat.).

48 These devices are described in detail on p. 488-491.

49 Underground gambling house.

Current page: 5 (total book has 22 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 15 pages]

Chapter Twelve
Aristocratic cheaters

On one of the rainy January evenings, Julius Herzog, having sent his wife Irma to her half of the house, remained in the company of his faithful bodyguard Mahmud to talk about life and life over tea, baklava and apricots, and, if possible, play a game or two of backgammon .

They had just returned from Northern Palmyra, where they brought another batch of nuggets and golden sand, and at the same time celebrated the New Year in the company of Yuli's friends.

On the faces of both - absolute calmness and confidence in the future, turning into a lethargic tranquility.

Mahmoud spoke first.

- Julius Lvovich, it is, of course, good that you managed to put under your control and impose a huge monetary tax on the administrators of the capital's stage and the performances of stray guest performers from various music halls of the country who come to us at the gold mines of the Magadan region, but ...

Mahmud paused, pretending to think about which cells to place the backgammon bones in.

The duke, knowing the manner of the head of the personal guard never to impose his opinion on anyone, but to express it inadvertently, as if by the way, was on his guard:

“Did I miss something? Is it possible that some of the stray actors remained uncovered by bribes, turned out to be out of my field of vision? That cannot be! Apparently, Mahmud is up to something, but he is delicate, emphasizing his subordinate position in front of me ... Well, yes, the East is a delicate matter!

- You are a smart person, Julius Lvovich, you can’t hide anything from you ... Only I wanted to say this: along with well-known metropolitan artists and their administrators, guest performers of a different profile visit the Magadan gold mines with no less zeal - all-Union famous deck masters, extra- class.

Just like the masters of the stage, they appear here from October to February, that is, during the “dead season”, when, due to frost, all work stops at the mines and the prospectors’ leisure turns into a search for entertainment, ending in a deep booze.

For rolled and sharpers of all stripes, who come to our mine from all over the Union, it is at this time that the main mining season begins, the so-called gon suckers, during which rolled in a month or two they can take as much here as in a whole year do not roll on the mainland...

I already told you that before joining the police, I taught history at Grozny University and even wrote a PhD thesis on the theory and practice of cheating techniques...

I was a fool, of course! Who needed all this? Scientific men? It turned out that everything that I had been doing for so many years was useful only to myself. Even in the police they looked at me like I was blessed!

In short, Julius Lvovich, I'll tell you something now, and you decide how we should proceed, okay?

Go ahead, Mahmoud!

“Would you mind if I started from afar, with historical background?

- Go ahead...

* * *

The history of the invention of maps is as controversial as the entire history of mankind.

Herodotus wrote that as early as the 8th-7th centuries BC, potatoes were actively cut in Mussels.

According to the ancient Chinese dictionary of Chingze Tung, which refers us to the end of the 17th century, cards were invented in China in 1120, and already in 1132, their fascination could only be compared with a national disaster or a general epidemic - no prohibitions could prevent the Chinese from betting everything except for the Great Wall...

The first cards were made round, multifaceted, triangular, made of ivory and leather, wood, silver or copper leaves, and finally, parchment, silk and paper.

According to one version, the cards came to Europe after the campaigns of the crusaders in Asia Minor (1096–1270), according to another, the authorship is attributed to a little-known French painter, a certain Zhikomin Gringoner, who allegedly invented them in the 14th century to please King Charles of France Crazy - having thrown a couple of times into cards, that one from a rabid beast turned into a normal person ...

With time playing cards became a domestic pastime and passion not only for the rich, but also for the common people throughout medieval Europe.

The Church immediately saw in card game sedition and put it on the list of the most serious sins along with adultery, christening them "the games of Lucifer."

Following this, people, fearing church punishment, stopped playing in public, hiding in special brothels, where they indulged in "ungodly craft" with passion. And I must say, they succeeded very well in this.

So, the English king Henry VIII during the game went into such a rage that he managed to stake and lost the bells of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Known for their fondness for the card game, the Dukes of Orange and Ormany quarreled to the death in the heat of the card-table battle, resulting in one of the bloodiest and most bitter wars in French history.

The Indians, despite their asceticism and adherence to the laws of the tribe, put on the line and lost not only their own wives, but also their tomahawks.

Cold-blooded Anglo-Saxons staked their mistresses against racehorses. And the gambling high-society ladies from the entourage of the English queen were ready to satisfy the most sophisticated sexual desires of creditors, just to be able to continue the game and win back ...

I must say that women are the most gamblers, whose tricks I know firsthand. I personally happened to meet one such boy-woman ...

It was about five years ago, when I was still a graduate student in Moscow. I just hooked up with a group rolled(professional gamblers), fellow Chechens…

- What, and the Chechens ride? Not expected! the Duke burst out.

– As Karl Marx said: Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto! “I am a man, and nothing human is alien to me!” Mahmoud said with some resentment in his voice.

- My friend, Mahmoud, you were offended by my question in vain. I could never imagine that your countrymen are dealing with such petty issues as fraud in card games ... Well, I understand that there is a bank to "take", a gold and diamond mine to expropriate, that is, to make it work for yourself - this is up to you . But I would never have thought that your countrymen would be engaged in operations with cards... It's the same as meeting a Chechen - a watchmaker or a shoe shiner.

- Yes, yes, Julius Lvovich, make no mistake. Chechens, like all mortals, are engaged in skating... And how they succeeded! I will give you just one example. He, firstly, will dispel your misconception as to whether my fellow countrymen can be sharpers. And secondly, it is the best way to characterize women as the most desperate and gamblers. When women play, they squeal with pleasure. Having lost, they begin to tear their hair out, cry: “I will lay hands on myself!”

So, about five years ago, I was sitting with my fellow countrymen in the bar of the Rossiya Hotel. A very spectacular dyed blonde sits down next to us, but it is clear that the woman is not her first youth. Containers-bars, rastabars - we met. She turned out to be the director of a large supermarket. I brought a bribe for some shishkar from the city food store. He made an appointment with her in a bar, and he himself, therefore, is delayed. Well, that's all my countrymen need. First, they treated Svetlana - this is how she introduced herself - champagne, and then, so as not to sit in vain, a woman - full of business energy! - they offered to play three leaves, that is, bura, then a point. She started to spit. "The end of you guys! - screams with joy. - You will leave here today without panties, the card is rushing to me today. Drop some more!"

My fellow countrymen sit and laugh. Under her load a thousand dollars, and she, a fool, at least that. closes and loads two thousand further. She put everything down, took off her earrings with emeralds, three platinum rings with “diamonds”. Then he says, "Turn around." He pulls up the hem and from somewhere out of his underpants he takes out another “green press” of five thousand dollars ...

When the cards were revealed (there was no smell of her chances), such a mat-rematch began that, in theory, all the bar staff should have come running to our table. But no, no one even moved and did not look in our direction, because the servants were fed in advance by my fellow countrymen!

I, as the most compassionate, present for the first time at such a performance, tell her, in order to somehow sweeten the pill: “Maybe you need some more champagne?” And she answered me: “Opiz ... nel, or what? What more champagne, blah, take vodka! And from the throat of the whole bottle. She drank, grunted, lit a cigarette and with the marching step of a sergeant of a conscript - to the exit ...

Or there was another case. We rented prostitutes on Tverskaya - and in the rooms of the Moskva Hotel, since the early nineties, it has actually been an unregistered brothel. Somersaulted, paid off, and in parting they invited the girls to play a game of Mayan baccarat.

So in ten minutes we won all their money from all three Scheherazades. Moreover, each of them owed us 1001 nights. I don't even know when they work now?

In general, I completely agree with one American catalog% who once uttered a prophetic phrase: “99 percent of the population the globe at least once in life suddenly there is a violent desire to play. The task of the specialists of my profile is to be at this moment next to such sucker and give him the opportunity to voluntarily empty his pockets of money.

– Mahmoud, where are you, in which libraries did you select historical material for your dissertation?

- Mostly in Moscow, in Leninka, then in Leningrad, in the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library ... But what?

– Yes, everything sounds very coherent in your mouth… And when you reinforce your personal practical experience with an excursion into history, you can generally listen to it… Come on, water it further!

- So, Julius Lvovich, the first Giuleri European traveling magicians are considered. In the 18th century, cheating became such a prestigious profession that English rolled even recruited students. The course of acquiring a "profession" cost one thousand five hundred pounds sterling (today, with that money you could buy a prestigious Jaguar car!) And was considered completed if the risk of being caught red-handed was zero. In the 30s of the 19th century, the captains of American river steamers considered it a bad omen if there was not at least one gambler on board ...

The “child of Lucifer” was brought to Russia at the beginning of the 17th century, and almost immediately an unequal struggle of the authorities began with him. In the "Code" of 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered to treat the players as "as it is written about the taty", that is, to flog them with a whip, and to chop off fingers and hands especially incorrigible. The most surprising thing was that both the Code and the subsequent decrees concerning card games invariably caused an effect in the population that was diametrically opposed to that desired by the authorities.

From Russian authoritative historians, one can find statements that "all of Rus' played cards from eight in the evening until eight in the morning, and from eight in the morning to eight in the evening thought about them." The most unfortunate Russian players of the 19th century were Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

Bad luck in the card game of the genius of world poetry was a byword and even became a proverb: "In all of St. Petersburg and Moscow, there are hardly two or three people whom he could beat." After his death, he was left with a gambling debt of several thousand rubles.

Fedor Mikhailovich, on the contrary, was more successful in the cards, he even happened to hit a significant jackpot, but the all-consuming passion did not allow him to leave the table after that, and he squandered all the winnings. Returning home, he begged his wife on his knees to give at least some money to win back. At the same time, he invariably swore to "tie up", but ... he played again, again and again increasing the stakes.

This period in the life of the author of The Gambler lasted more than ten years. In one of the letters to his wife, Fyodor Mikhailovich admitted that, having lowered everything to the penny, “he more than once experienced a feeling of orgasm, stronger than the one he knew during intercourse with a woman ...”

Two of the most famous card swindlers in Rus' of the 19th century - the hero Patriotic War 1812 Denis Davydov and poet Nikolai Nekrasov. The latter, half-destitute by the age of thirty, thanks to the cards got rich by the age of forty, becoming one of the the richest people Russia. For a fabulous sum, he acquired a huge estate with orange groves, ordered thoroughbred dogs and hunting rifles from England, and finally took away someone else's beautiful wife, seducing him with his wealth. Why is there someone else's beautiful wife taken away in full! The Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire Alexander Ageevich Abaza himself hung on his bill, was constantly indebted to him ...

However, all these Pushkins, Dostoevskys, Nekrasovs were just amateurs. Real elite players or, as they were also called, masters, or red jacks, were a rarity at all times. Although they existed, no matter what system was in the yard: capitalism, NEP, socialism ... I can’t say whether they survived in Western Europe under Hitler, Franco and Salazar, but the fact that they were not translated at all times of Soviet power is a fact undeniable and proven over and over again.

It is enough to turn to world experience. He shows that if the state is poor and the population does not have easy money, there is no big game. Schuler appear at the same time as millionaires. In the 1940s-1950s, there were few such people in the USSR. Then thieves, bath attendants, traders, speculators played, at best - the bosses of the "shadow" business.

At present, the situation has changed radically, and now, in the late 1960s, we are witnessing the beginning of a card renaissance ...

However elite skates(extra-class cheater) - a constant value, independent of the socio-political system. Their art is inherited - from grandfather to father, from father to son.

While working on my dissertation, I had the opportunity to communicate with people whose family dynasties numbered one hundred and fifty years or more. Each such dynasty has its own nominal trench(trick) honed over decades...

Elite player never argues: "The card is not a horse, you'll be lucky in the morning!" All these sayings - “if I knew the buyback, I would live in Sochi”, “intellect is powerless against prukha” and others, like the concept itself luck(good luck), not for masters- for suckers. A professional almost always knows what cards are in the draw. And there is no fluff. If the card doesn't suit you, then your opponent has used a secret weapon...

To win big money today, in the late 1960s, you need to constantly invent something.

Previously, they mainly conjured with a deck - charging, krap, pruning. With the advent of technological progress came into vogue cartoons(tricks) with video equipment; walkie-talkies; magnets; tables with a "secret"; magnifying glasses and mirrors; special glasses and contact lenses; cunning rings with pipettes built into them to mark cards ...

By the way, all the technical "bells and whistles" were not made at home by handicraftsmen, by no means! All this for huge money was made for elite players not anywhere, but in the secret laboratories and workshops of LOMO, the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association ...

In practice, the technique was applied as follows: the player sat with his back to a blank wall, in the next room his cards were examined from three angles and information was transmitted through a device pasted into a wig sharpie.

But today there are fools among rolled no extra class! Mastaki they try to play in the most unexpected places, so that, therefore, the enemy does not have time to prepare a bridgehead for an attack in advance.

They are circling in cars around the city all together, looking closely. And then they make an unexpected choice: “Let's go in and fight in this bar or at a free table in this restaurant!”

Go and try to install equipment there - there is no time, and all this will be noticed right away ... Therefore, they began to return to the practice of card fraud again krap, charging, pruning decks ... Again, the emphasis is on manual dexterity, on pre-prepared trenches and not on technology.

Take, for example, two jacks of hearts, who have long since moved to the States, Zhenya Uryupinskiy and Vasya Brighton Beach. They have long abandoned the use of technical means. And if so, it means that they invented new cartoons(tricks). As a rule, they meet once a year somewhere in Hawaii or the Cayman Islands.

They rent a "suite" in some five-star hotel that they never agree on in advance, and ride without money - for a word (why do you need to carry heavy things in the form of paper banknotes or a bunch of credit cards?).

And both know that none of them will ever become roll head-on(i.e. play fair). Everyone uses their own preparations and tricks. And here only sleight of hand is not enough. We need trump cards of a different order - a smart head, a phenomenal memory, a snake reaction, nerves of steel ...

They do not drink alcohol or tobacco. They sleep eight to ten hours a day. Every day for five to six hours they study cards, train their fingers, test themselves on the knowledge of tricks they have mastered, learn new ones ...

The one-time win (and hence the loss) ranges from two hundred to five hundred thousand dollars. No matter how the game develops for each of them, in conclusion they rise from the table with a smile, shake hands and part until the next fight ...

- Mahmud, and in our country, in the Union, in which cities do they mainly gather rolled?

– Cities where for big cases meet red jacks, or in another way masters, not much, there are only seven in the Union: Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Krasnodar, Rostov, Yerevan and Odessa.

- Sochi - there is Sochi ... They meet there for decisive matches. It's like that no-man's-land where neither yours nor ours manage.

“Listening to you, Mahmud,” Herzog interrupted Kochev, “I get the impression that you are telling me a beautiful tale about some high society gentlemen’s club. I will never believe that in the midst of all these elite players, masters or jacks of hearts, call them what you want, there is never a showdown, and that they are all filled with nobility and respect for each other ... No, Mahmud? And where is the universal envy, jealousy? What are they? Completely deprived of them?!

- Here I cannot agree with you, Julius Lvovich ... However, only in part.

Yes, indeed, the circle in which ride such elite players all-Union scale, like Muscovites Boris Buryatse, Marik Rabinovich, Nikolai Gutarov nicknamed Babai, Krasnodar Seryozha Usenko and his henchman named Bruno, finally, masters, even in their own circle known only by nicknames, for example, Pate, Stilyaga, father and son of Psycho, never allow a showdown among themselves!

Quite another thing - racers and maidans(sharps operating in public places), and these are, as a rule, Far Easterners, Komyaks, Ekaterinburgers, Permians, Tula. Among them, disassembly is an ordinary phenomenon. And all because of spheres of influence in Moscow.

The capital is a bottomless money bag, the richest are here suckers. It is easier to find a “golden calf” in Moscow than on the periphery, they are lying here like nuggets under their feet. Therefore, the coolest brigades rolled they graze in the Mother See, clearly sharing spheres of influence with their Moscow colleagues, which, of course, do not include Buryatse, Rabinovich, Gutarov and others I mentioned. The latter are of a different breed, and in their language, of a different “suit” ...

Most often, disassembly occurs among cheaters-amateurs. For example, I know that when Vladimir Vysotsky lost the Mercedes presented to him by Marina Vladi, such a showdown happened that in the end, in order to close it, Vysotsky had to give the player who broke the game ... the singer Anna Veski. So as not to give the Mercedes! ..

Or here is another case from the category of extraordinary, but also concerning an amateur cheater. In the early 1960s, an unknown fifteen-year-old child prodigy from Kharkov fucked all the most powerful and eminent players of the Soviet Union. AT pref, stos, deberts, buru- in all games. He did it easily, casually, as if even flaunting his gift. It seemed to him that it made no difference what to prick masters. authorities « Big Maps» fell into a panic, were confused: some kid "shoes" everyone, regardless of the table of ranks!

And the boy, accompanied by his father - the latter drove him in his car and negotiated with the professionals about the conditions and venue of the tournament - calmly toured the country, alternately met with elite players eye to eye and at a time rolled out for 50-70 thousand rubles! Than in the end he signed his own death warrant - last year he was shot dead in Derbent. But! There are so many debtors left that even now his parents regularly receive sums with four zeros on promissory notes ...

- Mahmud, tell me, but if the loser is not able to repay his debt, I, of course, do not mean Uryupinsky and Brighton Beach, Boris Buryatse, Marik Rabinovich, Gutarov and Usenko - everything is clear with them. I am interested in suckers or rolls average hand ... What can be done with them by the one to whom they owe money?

- Julius Lvovich, the traditions and laws of paying off card debt are as ancient as the game of cards itself ... For example, there is such a “golden rule” of a cheater: winnings are returned only in two cases - if the loser has a wedding or a funeral. In other cases, the rule is ironclad, it doesn’t get tougher: if you don’t repay the debt, they turn on the meter, they run over. Everyone knows the arsenal: hot irons on the stomach, a hot soldering iron in the anus, hanging by the balls, burying up to the ears in the ground, in some cemetery, raping a wife, daughters and even sons ...

The debtor will not go to the police. More often hits on the run. In this case, "offices" are provided that will find a runaway debtor anywhere in the world and bring "dad" to the house. Expensive, of course, troublesome, red tape and such a search takes a lot of time, but ... Today, they say, such "offices" are flourishing. And if so, then their services are in demand. Some losers in the smoke rolls trying to sit it out, and at the same time collect some money to pay off the debt in places called katrans…

Mahmoud, enjoying the effect produced, looked at the Boss with a long look. The duke shifted uneasily in his chair under this gaze.

- So, it means they, these rolls, are available in our mine! Where do they play, because such a game takes not an hour, not two ...

- Julius Lvovich, you, as always, hit the top ten ... Yes, and we have places where cheaters gather. These are the very places that I named katrans. In our conditions, these are the apartments of nurses and nurses of the local hospital, who provide their homes for round-the-clock play. Overnight, these benefactors have more than they earn in the hospital in a month. From each bet they have their own commission, for which they buy smoke, tea, snacks, decks to choose from, but the main thing still remains for them as keepers katran.

When I was working on my dissertation, I happened to visit one such katrane. I AM I expected to see a venerable audience, carried away intellectual game in preference, bridge, poker... What is there! Crossing the threshold, I found that in one room they were cutting into borax, in the second - in a section in the third, they are having group sex, and in the kitchen three hefty criminals were lying in waste, who had escaped from the zone, whose photos, by the way, were posted on the doors of all Grozny police departments. But what I met for the first time is, so to speak, the bottom. I think that we, at the mine, katrans not in the best condition.

Actually, I think that katrans is already a dying phenomenon, because for real game players who respect themselves and their partners, as a rule, rent a "suite" in the best hotel in the city. It's just that we have no other places and conditions for the game at the mine, except for katranov. By the way, yesterday I settled in one of them, who would you think? .. Boris Buryatse!

"But why don't I know about it?" – rudely interrupted the interlocutor Duke. “But I was just looking through the registration log of all the artists who arrived from the mainland to the mine last night. What the hell is this! And than. Where is his artistic props, the ensemble of gypsies, finally?! After all, there is nothing of this, otherwise I would pay attention to the arrival of this, if I may say so, artist !! It turns out that the tenor enchanted me with his first singing?! And you, Mahmoud, where are you looking? You are my right hand! Y-yes, I dismissed you, devils. You are taking advantage of my kindness, right?!

“Yuli Lvovich,” Mahmud said insinuatingly. – If you remember, it was I who started the conversation about card cheats and their tricks tonight… And I also expressed the idea of ​​putting them under our control… Besides, it was interesting for you to listen to me, wasn’t it?… And now it's my fault!

- Sorry, Mahmoud, I got excited ... You're not to blame ... Continue!

- Buryatse, and not only him, Seryozha Usenko with Bruno, Stilyaga and other smaller fish arrived here for a completely different tour, not to amuse the prospectors, but to rob them. They came here for redhead(gold) ... You don’t know the listed surnames, or rather, you don’t know what the people who wear them do, so you didn’t pay attention to them.

And the surname Buryatse did not catch your eye, because it was not in the registration log, again. Because - this is not a surname, but a pseudonym, two. Yes, yes, a pseudonym invented by his father, Leon Germeier-Renard. So Borechka, who arrived in our patrimony for gold, registered not as Buryatse, but as Boris Leonovich Germeier-Renard. And he came here not with his ensemble, but with a suitcase of decks of cards, and possibly with a cheat set, well, there with special glasses, contact lenses and other "gadgets".

- Yes, I know very well that Buryatse is a pseudonym ... For a long time, oh, for a long time, I know. Well, Mr. Hermeier-Renard, Mr. Hermeier-Renard!.. You didn't know and didn't know that we would have to see each other after so much time... And where? In my estates! But yesterday, I confess, I made a mistake - I did not pay attention to this surname that I had known for a long time, but I should have! N-yes ... Well, nothing. Everything can still be tweaked! - Looking somewhere into the void and thinking about something of his own, the Duke said separately, but distinctly. He immediately caught himself, as if waking up from a dream, and said loudly: - So, Mahmud! You with your story about elite players thoroughly turned me on ... Now I won’t find a place for myself until I meet Buryatse. While still living in Odessa, I was the champion of the microdistrict in playing point, buru, sekku, deberts ... Yes and in pref I had no equal!

“Forgive me, Julius Lvovich, but so much time has passed since then, and in such matters as cards, daily training is needed,” Mahmud remarked insinuatingly.

- I understood everything, Mahmudik! At the moment, your task is only to introduce me to Buryats, that is, to Germeier-Renard. He will willingly make contact - I'm not some Pupkin-Zalupkin, I'm the Duke! From tomorrow we stop wasting time, chasing teas all night long. We get down to business, for cards ... But to you, Mahmud, I entrust the most important thing - to lead me to it. Can you even promise him to use my apartment as a katran, there is enough space for everyone. Therefore, let him bring all his card partners here, but only elite, do you understand? Say that I would like to master some of the wisdom of their art make money out of money... Of course, I am ready to pay him a lot of money for this! For every session, for every lesson. If you tell him, even if he sets a price, it's not a problem for me! In other words, come up with something. But when I get to know this pseudo-wizard tenor better, then we will cross swords at the card table and I will take possession of his watch ...

- And what is so valuable in them, Julius Lvovich? Mahmud's voice sounded disappointed.

- You see, Mahmudik, there are two categories of valuable things: the first is simply very expensive things, which are such because of their market value. And there is another category - family jewels, passed down from generation to generation. And even if their market price is much lower than things of the first category, all the same, the person who owns them will never, for any money, part with them. So I want to force our illustrious tenor-charlatan to voluntarily give me his family heirloom - a watch!

I came up with a colossal idea how to do it ... If only I could get into shape faster!

No, perhaps I won’t quickly acquire the form of a professional gambler, yes, however, this is not required for the plan I have conceived ... I just have to pretend, play a role amateur mastaka, lone mastaka, a? Well, what's your idea?!

- But what kind of clock does this Buryatse have that they don’t give you rest, Julius Lvovich? Mahmud was already shaking nervously.

- Okay, Mahmudik, with you, as with a brother, I will be frank to the end. The watch itself is very expensive - Swiss, Philip Patek in a platinum case. But the most important thing is not in them - in the bracelet. It is encrusted with ten diamonds, each of which weighs two carats! In 1912, it was won at cards by Buryatse's grandfather, Theodor Germaier, against my mother's father, that is, my grandfather, Yehuda Esterreicher. They, my grandfather and Germeier, were then the founders of the company for the development of the Lena gold and diamond mines. At that time, the bracelet was estimated at one hundred - one hundred and fifty thousand gold rubles! Now he will pull on several million dollars! Buryats never part with this bracelet, she puts it on for all performances as a talisman that brings good luck. And after what case.

In 1962, Buryatse sniffed with the daughter of our general secretary, Galina Brezhneva, and they decided to sign in order to become, therefore, a legal husband and wife. Galina was thirty-four at the time, Boris was nineteen. But, in general, that's not the point. Adventurers peers are not looking. In Moscow, even for a huge bribe, no one undertook to paint them - they were afraid of the wrath of Galina's father, because of which one could lose a profitable place. But in Sochi, there was one money-hungry head of the registry office who told the bride and groom, who were burning with passion and impatience: with the help of my connections I can find myself, in which case, a new good job!

How to beat the grandmaster

It was on the Sochi beach in the seventies. Arriving, as it was called in their midst, on tour, a well-known Moscow card sharper, having nothing to do, played blitz on trifles. He had a strong first rank, and he beat amateurs easily. And a famous grandmaster passed by. I saw the blitzers and decided to earn some extra money. He stood next to me and began to give classic advice:

Why not shake the queen? Tura would have been moved to a black cell, and then an officer ... etc.

The gambler, let's call him Borya, recognized the grandmaster, but did not show it. On the contrary, according to all the laws of the genre, he portrayed a sucker:

If you're so smart, sit down, let's play gold coins!

He willingly sat down, after which Borya began to doubt:

You probably play well, I suppose there is a category. Give a head start on time!

Watching what.

Well... two minutes to half an hour.

The grandmaster, judging that two minutes would be enough for him, agreed. We started to play. The games were monotonous. Borya played fast, but badly. When the grandmaster had very little time left on his watch, he thought about it and said:

Something in my head does not cook at all, it probably overheated. I'm going to take a dip.

And went to sea for his time. And the poor grandmaster sat, not daring to move away from the board.

So they played three games. Of course, Borya lost all of them. The grandmaster wanted to receive. Borya defiantly took out a thick wallet and pulled out a hundred.

I don’t have change, now I’ll go and exchange it, - said the grandmaster.

Well, go, - Borya reluctantly agreed, - or maybe well, these chess? Long, boring. Maybe in a storm?

After that, a completely different game began. The grandmaster lost all his cash and owed another two hundred rubles.

I'll give it back tomorrow! - he said.

All of you say so, sharomyzhnikov - Borya answered contemptuously.

How dare you! - he was indignant, - I am such and such a grandmaster!

And then came Borin's finest hour, the moment of his triumph.

So are you a grandmaster? - he asked in surprise, - no, is it really a grandmaster? Are you lying? What happens if I didn’t gobble up the tour, but ate your officer, then I beat the grandmaster? In business! Okay, go, count!