✦ Golden Grolla Award 2010

Steve Forte

The world's foremost gambling-sleight expert

Steve Forte is regarded by magicians and casino professionals alike as the greatest living authority on gambling sleight of hand. He grew up inside the world of the card table, worked in the casino industry, and dedicated his life to studying the real techniques of card cheats: false deals, stacked shuffles, switches and moves so refined that even experts cannot see them when they know they are coming. What for others is legend, for Forte is documented, tested, mastered knowledge.

His "Gambling Protection Series" of videos became essential study material for casinos and card experts around the world, and his monumental two-volume book "Gambling Sleight of Hand" is considered the definitive work on the subject, the result of decades of research on the border between game, deception and art. The most famous card magicians in the world speak of his skill with genuine awe: watching his hands at work, for the insiders who get the chance, is one of the true privileges of the art.

Masters of Magic honoured him with the Golden Grolla in 2010, bringing to Saint-Vincent a legend that usually stays far from the spotlight.

Honoured by Masters of Magic among the legends who have shaped the history of magic.