Card Games, Rainey Street – Austin, Texas

I titled this blog post “Card Games,” but I don’t know what happened here. I was during a quick walk-by street photography shot in the middle of Rainey Street.

Was this well-lit setup an innocuous game or something more sinister? Was the “dealer” a card shark? He is wearing an SXSW badge so that it may be part of the entertainment. Either way, there’s some modern technology involved here that flies below the radar. Consider that this card table is lit by two LED ring lights and likely powered by a portable Lithium Ion battery.

When I lived in New York in the 70s and 80s, three-card Monty was a popular street game design to sucker-in the unsuspecting. I didn’t know how they cheated, but I knew they did. I’m not saying this scene on Rainey was the same ploy — it just reminds me of it.

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