Follow the Bee - Drawing a pla...

When the mark arrives at the three-card Monte game, it is likely that a number of other players will be seen winning and losing money at the game. The people engaged in playing the game are often shills, confederates of the operator who pretend to play so as to give the illusion of a straight gambling game.
As the mark watches the game, they are likely to notice that they can follow the queen more easily than the shills seem to be able to, which sets them up to believe that they can beat the game.
Eventually, if the mark enters the game, they will be cheated through any number of methods. An example of a simple scheme involves a operator and two shills:

• •    The operator and shills act as if they do not know each other. The mark will come upon a game being conducted in a seemingly clandestine manner, perhaps with somebody "looking out" for police. The operator will be engaged in his role, with the first shill betting money. The first shill may be winning, leading the mark to observe that easy money may be had, or losing, leading the mark to observe that he could beat the game and win money where the first shill is losing it.
  •    While the mark is watching, the second shill, acting as if he is a
  casual passerby like the mark, will casually engage a mark in conversation regarding the game, commenting on either how easily the first shill is winning or how he is losing money because he cannot win at what appears to the mark to be a simple game. This conversation is engineered to implicitly encourage the mark to play, and it is possible the second shill could resort to outright encouragement.
  •    If the mark does not enter the game, the operator may claim to see police and will fold up his operation and restart it elsewhere, or will wait for another mark to appear on the scene.
  •    If the mark enters the game, they may be "had" (cheated) by a number of techniques. A common belief is that the operator may let the mark win a couple of bets to suck them in, but this is virtually never true. In a true Monte scam, the mark is unlikely to ever win a single bet. It is simply not necessary. There are just too many ways for a well-run mob to attract the marks, suck them in, and convince them to put money down.
  •    When the operator and the shills have taken the mark, a lookout, the operator, or a shill acting as an observer will claim to have spotted the police. The operator will quickly pack up the game and disperse along with the shills.