Deuce Gannon began his young life as a gambler and a fraud. He came to know cards as if he’d brought them with him out of his mother’s womb. When he learned sleight of hand, it wasn’t to entertain his friends with feats of magic, it was to cheat the other players. This helped him slip aces from the bottom of the deck without being detected, furtively push one up his sleeve, or even slip it beneath his thigh when no one was looking. His favorite card was the deuce—the wild card—the card that made winners out of losers. The deuce was his key to riches, and with it, he took everyone’s money without apology. Rich men, poor men, and men who had more money than sense, and even little old grandmothers who would bet the last dollar of their Social Security checks.
Deuce didn’t care. They all cont
