History Main / CardSharp

* The first case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' has a witness who is a professional CardSharp, [[spoiler: hired to plant evidence to falsely accuse Phoenix Wright of being a CardSharp.]] Hilariously, [[spoiler: Phoenix Wright IS a CardSharp, but he's so good that he messes up the hired Card Sharp's plan by recognizing it and then subverting it without anyone noticing!]]

* The Dean, Vernon and Larry in the poker film ''Film/{{Shade}}''. Larry tries to cheat a poker game only to lose his mob boss's money (and shortly thereafter his life). [[spoiler:The game was a con to steal the boss's money]]. The Dean and Vernon each use their skills in the film's final hand, with Vernon's three Jack's losing to Dean's three Queens. [[spoiler:It's a con designed to bankrupt Vernon's partners Tiffany and Frank, who had each betrayed him in different ways]].

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Yalb, a sailor from Shallan's ship. He plays against cops, and he mentioned that the game isn't who will win, the game is will he cheat them out of their money or will they prove he was cheating, take all of his money and throw him in jail for the night to boot?

* Protagonist Allen Walker from ''Manga/DGrayMan'' is an expert at cheating in cards due to the horrible experiences with debt he had from being with General Cross.

* In ''Manga/LiarGame'', the 17-Card Poker game becomes a battle of ''dueling'' card sharps: Akiyama uses skill and strategy, while his opponent uses superhuman reflexes honed from an aborted career in boxing to track the cards.

* Gojyo in ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' frequently cheats at cards. Hakkai can still beat him though, so one wonders if his playing style is completely orthodox.

* Both Firo and Keith Gandor from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Firo's picked up enough tricks from managing an underground casino that not only can he slip cards in and out with the best of them, but can pick marks well enough that he can nearly sweep a casino without cheating at all. Keith, on the other hand, cheats so much and so blatantly that he has a deck of cards composed entirely of jokers.
* In ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', the socially awkward protagonist Tomoko cheats at a trading card game. Against ''kids''. And she's a ''high-schooler''. Her cousin is not impressed.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Daniel J. D'Arby, one of the villains in Part 3, is a gambler who specializes in this. [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught He considers cheating just part of the game,]] fully expecting his opponents to cheat as well. Unlike most, however, he prefers rigging the entire game ''well'' before any cards are dealt. [[spoiler:Jotaro defeats him by bluffing so perfectly that what's actually ''in'' their hands doesn't matter... which is good, because Jotaro had ''crap''.]]

* Though it rarely comes up as a plot point, the lead ComicBook/GIJoe pilot, Capt. Brad Armbruster, didn't get his codename [[AcePilot Ace]] from being a top pilot, but rather from his love of cutthroat poker. His superiors look the other way regarding his gambling habit, since he's not only that good a pilot, he's not really "gambling" at poker since he ''never loses''.

* A recurring character type in ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', either seen at the edge of a poker table or being on top of a rail being escorted out of town after the requisitive TarAndFeathers.

[[folder:Film]]

* Edward Norton's character, "Worm," is a card-sharp, or "mechanic", in ''Film/{{Rounders}}''. His more honest gambling buddy, played by Matt Damon, warns him against utilizing his tricks against players with sharp eyes who might turn violent if they catch him at it. [[spoiler: Worm doesn't listen, and a group of cops [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat the everloving piss out of them both]] and confiscate tens of thousands in winnings before kicking them to the curb.]]
* Quite a few sharps in ''Film/{{Maverick}}'' got caught cheating during the big riverboat poker tournament (the penalty for which was being tossed overboard). The dealer at the final table was also one, surreptitiously dealing from the bottom of the deck (this is known as "base/[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin bottom dealing]]", by the by).
* Paul Newman's character in ''Film/TheSting'' demonstrates his skill against Lonnegan as the setup for the big con. (The card manipulations in the film are actually performed by John Scarne.)
* "Shooter" (Karl Malden) in Film/TheCincinnatiKid -- a tragic case, as he is a psychologically broken honest player who is blackmailed into using his "mechanic" skills.

* ''Film/TheLadyEve'': Jean is a card sharp from a family of card sharps; her part of the con is to lure gullible and smitten young men into a game where they can be cleaned out by her father. It goes wrong when she falls InLoveWithTheMark.
* Creator/ClarkGable's character Babe in ''Film/NoManOfHerOwn1932''.
* It's card sharp vs. card shark in ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'' when card sharp Eddy goes up against "Hatchet" Harry. Harry has someone with binoculars spying on Eddy.
* The Dean, Vernon and Larry in the poker film ''Film/{{Shade}}''. Larry tries to cheat a poker game only to lose his mob boss's money (and shortly thereafter his life). [[spoiler:The game was a con to steal the boss's money]]. The Dean and Vernon each use their skills in the film's final hand, with Vernon's three Jack's losing to Dean's three Queens. [[spoiler:It's a con designed to bankrupt Vernon's partners Tiffany and Frank, who had each betrayed him in different ways]].
* ''Film/{{Dealt}}'' examines the life and career of Richard Turner, a blind "card mechanic" who demonstrates how card games can be manipulated to result in the exact outcome he desires.

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Yalb, a sailor from Shallan's ship. He plays against cops, and he mentioned that the game isn't who will win, the game is will he cheat them out of their money or will they prove he was cheating, take all of his money and throw him in jail for the night to boot?
* In the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series, the eponymous Locke Lamora successfully cheats in the safest gambling place in the world, where the mere act of cheating carries the death penalty.
* In ''Literature/TimeScout'', Skeeter's as much a master at cheating with cards as he is with any other cheat. Picking pockets is just another part of the game.
* Fisk from the ''Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries'' is rather good at card tricks, though he usually sticks to cons that he can get more money out of and sneak away from easier. Unfortunately this skill doesn't see a whole lot of use. For Michael's sake, he'll usually stick to betting on whether or not he ''can'' do a trick than actually tricking people.

* Believe it or not, this was Literature/JamesBond's ''original'' specialty - though he's certainly no slouch at fighting, killing, and [[HoneyTrap seducing]], the plot of his first book ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' was all about ''out-gambling'' a Soviet agent. His card-sharping skills come in even handier during ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}''.

* A G-rated version appears in an episode of ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', in which a little girl scams Maddie out of all of her candy by getting her obsessed with trying to pick the right card. Then again, aforementioned little girl's father was pretending to be injured in order to get a free hotel room, so yeah.
%%* Alex of ''Series/TheRealHustle''.
%%* Neal Caffrey is this in several episodes of ''Series/WhiteCollar''.
* T-Bag in ''Series/PrisonBreak''. Claims that maybe 5 people in the country can do what he can with cards. It's only significant in one episode, however.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Hiro tries this with his time-altering super-powers at one point. [[SubvertedTrope Unfortunately for him, someone notices the switch]], because he switched the cards [[WhatAnIdiot after his opponent had already seen them]].

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': The number that The Machine spits out in "All In" points to an old "Mechanic" from the mobbed-up Atlantic City days. He used his skill at switching cards to win enough money at a casino to pay for his wife's cancer treatments, only to end up being forced to work as a money launderer for the casino's owner. It ends up being a ChekhovsSkill when during the climax of the episode [[spoiler: he is forced to play Russian Roulette and is able to take the bullet out of the gun without anyone noticing]].

* Face from ''Series/TheATeam'' has been shown cheating at cards.
* Porthos from ''Series/TheMusketeers'' is introduced cheating at cards in a tavern or inn.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': When necessary, Data has shown that he can stack the deck (though in that case it was to send a subliminal message), [[SuperStrength squeeze a set of loaded dice]] hard enough to rebalance them, and count cards. When he needed money after being trapped in 19th Century San Francisco, he hustled another group of sharps using his abilities.
* ''Series/SneakyPete'' has Eddie and Marius both very good at playing cards and conning people. Tate is also good at playing cards.

* In "Lay It Down (Saturday Night)" by Music/SamanthaFish, she meets a card sharp named Jimmy, with an ace up his sleeve. The "it" she lays down is his body--in a shallow grave.

* Twisted Fate and Graves of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' fame met in a card game where they both showed four aces for their final hand. Twisted Fate in particular embodies this trope, as he uses DeathDealer abilities in battle and has a repertoire of quotes related to gambling.
* ''VideoGame/FreddyPharkasFrontierPharmacist'': The first baddie to show up in the last act.

Quick hands. The prestidigitator member of a con team, who sometimes works alone. Frequently, the tricks he pulls have to do with manipulating playing cards, hence the name, but a team will sometimes call on a card sharp to make a tricky [[GoodForBad switch]], "dip" a pocket, or put up a fancy misdirection.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Daniel J. D'Arby, one of the villains in Part 3, is a gambler who specializes in this. [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught He considers cheating just part of the game,]] fully expecting his opponents to cheat as well. Unlike most, however, he prefers rigging the entire game ''well'' before any cards are dealt. [[spoiler:Jotaro defeats him by bluffing so perfectly that what's actually ''in'' their hands doesn't matter... which is good, because Jotaro had ''crap''.]]

* A recurring character type in ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', either seen at the poker table or being escorted out of town on a rail after the TarAndFeathers.

** In ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', the witches run into some, but Granny manages to beat them without cheating or using magic, and supposedly without having played the game (the incredibly complicated Cripple Mr. Onion) before. She'd actually played it quite a bit while caring for a sick witch, but [[ConfusionFu used her newcomer image for an advantage]].

* Quite a few sharps in ''Film/{{Maverick}}'' got caught cheating during the big riverboat poker tournament (the penalty for which was being tossed overboard). The dealer at the final table was also one, surreptitiously dealing from the bottom of the deck (this is known as "dealing seconds", by the by).

* Though it rarely comes up as a plot point, the lead GIJoe pilot, Capt. Brad Armbruster, didn't get his codename [[AcePilot Ace]] from being a top pilot, but rather from his love of cutthroat poker. His superiors look the other way regarding his gambling habit, since he's not only that good a pilot, he's not really "gambling" at poker since he ''never loses''.

* Matt Damon's character facilitates this role in the ''[[Film/OceansEleven Oceans]]'' trilogy. Also, Brad Pitt and George Clooney clean out a poker school of celebrities in the first movie.

* It's card sharp vs. card shark in '''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'' when card sharp Eddy goes up against "Hatchet" Harry. Harry has someone with binoculars spying on Eddy.

* It's card sharp vs. card shark in '''Film/LockStockandTwoSmokingBarrels'' when card sharp Eddy goes up against "Hatchet" Harry. Harry has someone with binoculars spying on Eddy.

* The Dean, Vernon and Larry in the poker film ''Film/{{Shade}}. Larry tries to cheat a poker game only to lose his mob boss's money (and shortly thereafter his life). [[spoiler:The game was a con to steal the boss's money]]. The Dean and Vernon each use their skills in the film's final hand, with Vernon's three Jack's losing to Dean's three Queens. [[spoiler:It's a con designed to bankrupt Vernon's partners Tiffany and Frank, who had each betrayed him in different ways]].

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The first case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJustice'' has a witness who is a professional CardSharp, [[spoiler: hired to plant evidence to falsely accuse Phoenix Wright of being a CardSharp.]] Hilariously, [[spoiler: Phoenix Wright IS a CardSharp, but he's so good that he messes up the hired Card Sharp's plan by recognizing it and then subverting it without anyone noticing!]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' Master Payne plays cards with a Wulfenbach soldier and they ''both'' take to cheating, though Payne seems to be coming out on top before their game gets cut short.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Smokescreen of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' possesses a "built-in override wire" that allows him to hack machinery. In his [[ADayInTheLimelight spotlight episode]] he uses this ability to cheat at slot machines and use the winnings to free his captured fellow Autobots.

* The first case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJustice'' has a witness who is a professional CardSharp, [[spoiler: hired to plant evidence to falsely accuse Phoenix Wright of being a CardSharp.]]

"Card ''Shark''" is a variant of the term which doesn't always imply cheating, just a penchant for playing cards.

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Yelb, a sailor from Shallan's ship. He plays against cops, and he mentioned that the game isn't who will win, the game is will he cheat them out of their money or will they prove he was cheating, take all of his money and throw him in jail for the night to boot?
* [[Literature/GentlemanBastard Locke Lamora]]. He cheats in the safest gambling place in the world, where the mere act of cheating carries the death penalty.