An online casino is a place where gamblers of various skill levels can find games to play, whether for fun or for profit. So it is important to make sure that your chosen casino has been recommended by an experienced gaming expert and has been duly checked and approved by a third party agency. There are many different types of online casinos to choose from including classic games like poker, slots, blackjack, bingo and roulette etc. Most sites will offer a range of different games to suit your requirements.
An online casino is recommended and reviewed based on its fairness to players. The online casinos which have gained players' favour are the ones that offer a good variety of games and also have reasonable bonuses and perks for new players. The best casinos are those that have been recommended by experienced players and are part of reputable gaming associations. The online casinos which are reviewed by experts are those that provide genuine deals and great value for money to players.
The legal age of gambling is also an important factor in online casino recommendation and review. If the casino is based in the US, the age of legal consent for gambling is 18 years. For all other countries, the legal age for playing the game is generally younger. You should therefore choose an online casino recommended and reviewed by a gambling authority or other respectable body. Not only should the casino be licensed by the government but should be registered with the government as well.
A top casino in the online casino USA market is Pacific Poker because of its reliability, security, fairness and long-term benefits. Many online casinos offering slots are not highly recommended by players because they are known to eliminate player winnings in small amounts. If you are a serious player, then you should go for a casino that offers multiple payment options such as credit cards, PayPal accounts etc. You should ask your friends, family members and colleagues about the online casinos offering multiple payment options so that you can avoid losses in case you miss out on a single payment or if you lose the amount you have put up.
Another important factor that you should consider while looking for an online casino recommended by players is the kind of management and support provided to the players. When you are playing online casino gambling, you should not get attached to any particular website. Instead, you should select a website that provides the maximum number of payment options and gives you maximum freedom to withdraw your winnings. Casino gaming regulations and laws vary from state to state. Hence, it is better that you check with your state's Gaming Commission or Department of Revenue if the particular casino meets their requirements.
There are certain things that you can expect from a casino in terms of support and customer care. For example, you should find out whether the casino allows betting on more than one game at a time. You should also find out whether the casino offers any special deals and promotions like weekend promotions and loyalty incentives to its customers. If you have other questions related to online casino gambling, it would be advisable to discuss them with your friends and relatives who are regular gamblers. In fact, you might even hear about online casino recommended by players who have lost money in the past.

An online casino is a place where gamblers of various skill levels can find games to play, whether for fun or for profit. So it is important to make sure that your chosen casino has been recommended by an experienced gaming expert and has been duly checked and approved by a third party agency. There are many different types of online casinos to choose from including classic games like poker, slots, blackjack, bingo and roulette etc. Most sites will offer a range of different games to suit your requirements.
An online casino is recommended and reviewed based on its fairness to players. The online casinos which have gained players' favour are the ones that offer a good variety of games and also have reasonable bonuses and perks for new players. The best casinos are those that have been recommended by experienced players and are part of reputable gaming associations. The online casinos which are reviewed by experts are those that provide genuine deals and great value for money to players.
The legal age of gambling is also an important factor in online casino recommendation and review. If the casino is based in the US, the age of legal consent for gambling is 18 years. For all other countries, the legal age for playing the game is generally younger. You should therefore choose an online casino recommended and reviewed by a gambling authority or other respectable body. Not only should the casino be licensed by the government but should be registered with the government as well.
A top casino in the online casino USA market is Pacific Poker because of its reliability, security, fairness and long-term benefits. Many online casinos offering slots are not highly recommended by players because they are known to eliminate player winnings in small amounts. If you are a serious player, then you should go for a casino that offers multiple payment options such as credit cards, PayPal accounts etc. You should ask your friends, family members and colleagues about the online casinos offering multiple payment options so that you can avoid losses in case you miss out on a single payment or if you lose the amount you have put up.
Another important factor that you should consider while looking for an online casino recommended by players is the kind of management and support provided to the players. When you are playing online casino gambling, you should not get attached to any particular website. Instead, you should select a website that provides the maximum number of payment options and gives you maximum freedom to withdraw your winnings. Casino gaming regulations and laws vary from state to state. Hence, it is better that you check with your state's Gaming Commission or Department of Revenue if the particular casino meets their requirements.
There are certain things that you can expect from a casino in terms of support and customer care. For example, you should find out whether the casino allows betting on more than one game at a time. You should also find out whether the casino offers any special deals and promotions like weekend promotions and loyalty incentives to its customers. If you have other questions related to online casino gambling, it would be advisable to discuss them with your friends and relatives who are regular gamblers. In fact, you might even hear about online casino recommended by players who have lost money in the past.

There are many ways to place a bet online, but if you are interested in placing sports bets with Bitcoin, then you might want to check out some of these sportbooks. You can even place esports bets, political bets, dabble in the casino or play a bit of poker on some of these sites - if that is your thing.

SportsBet

One of the greatest sport betting sites available, that accepts bitcoin and many more cryptocurrencies.
Has some of the best legal support which lends to a strong reputation.
Easy to navigate and understand what bets you are placing.
Quick support will help you resolve any complaints promptly
Actually supports major sports teams with sponsorships - Like Arsenal and Southampton (Premier League Football), Flamengo (Brazil Serie A) and Watford FC (English Championship)
Offers the option to deposit via fiat if you choose - Payments accepted via Visa, Mastercard, Paysafecard, Ecopayz, MuchBetter and others.
Restricted Countries: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Estonia.

Stake

Very easy to register and you can stay anonymous
Lots of new promotions and regular perks for active players
Get involved with social betting with an active chat program
Over 20,000 live sports betting events each month
INSTANT WITHDRAWALS
Very good record online, any complaints had prompt resolutions.
Exclusive casino games with tiny house edges
Allowed Crypto Currencies: BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, DOGE, XRP, EOS, TRX
Restricted Countries: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, France, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia

BetOnline

One of the most popular sports betting sites online and launched back in 2004.
Offers a large selection of live events and sporting bets.
Is set up to allow bets from most countries worldwide
Lots of bonuses, especially when betting with Bitcoin
Excellent customer support via chat and phone - 24/7
Also gives you the ability to play poker or join casino games
Only downside is that your crypto deposits are converted to USD while playing.
Supports all these sports: Football, Golf, Baseball, Rugby League, Cricket, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, Aussie Rules, Auto Racing, Martial Arts, Boxing, Darts, Handball, Pool, Rugby Union, Snooker and Futsal.
Restricted Countries: United Kingdom, Australia, France and a few others.

1xBit

Accepts a huge amount of Cryptocurrencies - 26 in total and more than any other sports book
One click registration makes it really easy to get betting quickly
Offers a wide selection of non sporting bets if that interests you
Allows VPN access from any country.
Allowed Currencies: BTC, LTC, DOGE, ETH, DASH, XMR, ZEC, XEM, DGB, BTG, USDC, TUSD, BCH, ETC, BTS, XVG, QTUM, STRAT, XRP, EOS, PAX, USDT, OMG, BAT, LINK, TRX
Restricted Countries: USA, UK, Australia, Netherlands, South Africa, Cyprus and a few others

ThunderPick

A rising star in the crypto coin betting scene, they are regularly rolling out new features and support player anonymity.
Withdrawals are processed within 15 minutes on average
You can pay with Visa, Mastercard, Skirll and other forms of payment if you choose.
Has multilingual support - English, Germany, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish and Chinese
One of the best places for esports Bitcoin betting.
All sports supported are: American Football, NBA, Baseball, Martial Arts, Football, Ice Hockey, Tennis, Volleyball, CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends and many more.
Restricted Countries: US, UK, France, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and some others.

We have had 29 total newbie seasons, and this will be our 30th, and final one. We will be bringing this season back to the old days, as this final season has no theme, no tribe divisions, just pure, uncut social politics without any division whatsoever, and what better way to show this war between newbies than in the remains of a civilization known for it's bloodshed through Colosseum sports. Get ready for Swoldow's Survivor: Rome.
​
MEET THE CAST:
Ultimul Tribe:

• Aleksander 'Triv' Trivanovic, 20, Political Science Student (u/judge_screw_life)
  • Triv is a 20 year old Political Science whizkid at one of the top programs in the country. He’s just looking for a way to keep his brain busy, so he decided to play Survivor. In studying political science, he has learned about leadership dynamics, controlling populations, political strategies, game theory, and populism, all of which he plans on using to tale control and turn other players against each other, hopefully on the way to $1 million
• Angelica 'Frannie' Frampton, 21, Nursing Home Caretaker (u/Ripecornball60)
  • Angelica was a bubbly, strong, and pretty girl when she was young, but when she went to her first doctor's appointment, things began to be weird. Angel was shown off, and to the surprise of her family, Angelica was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Her parents, being overprotective, decided to seclude her from the outside world until she was 20. Her grandfather taught her how to partially control her personalities, and thus decided to aid her grandfather by working for his nursing home. She has three different personalities besides her own; a physical and calm one, Isa, a bubbly chatterbox, Angel, and an angry, seductive manipulator, Tay.
• Bao Ngao, 26, Lawyer (u/Pray_The_Gay_To_Come)
  • Bao grew up in Vietnam, but emigrated to the United States when he was 9. He didn’t know the English language very well and was quite often bullied by his classmates. Bao eventually graduated high school as the valedictorian, and went on to study law in Harvard University. He graduated law school and now has a wife and a little girl on the way. Bao is hoping to win the money to give back to his parents and provide a great future for his family.
• Candy Nordell, 39, Car Saleswoman (u/Ilovedogs1100)
  • Candy hates almost everyone and everything and this is why: When she was 8, she got bullied very badly and no one seemed to care. She told her parents and they just laughed about it so she ran away from home. She lived on the streets and found a mouse. She kept as a pet and called it Clover. Clover got eaten by a snake which caused her to hate almost everything. Candy has never had any friends, except for her dog, Astroid. Candy is the type of person that laughs when people express there emotions. She only cares about winning and she doesn’t care if she is seen as controversial in anyway shape or form.
• Jimmy Mackenzie, 30, Tattoo Artist (u/SilverOwl24)
  • Growing up with his mom and younger brother in Boston, Jimmy didn’t hang out with the right people growing up and got into trouble along the way. He was well known throughout the neighborhood as being a grafitti artist. However, as time went by, he transitioned to the art of tattooing. Soon enough, he not only learned the basics of tattooing, he eventually got to own his own tattoo studio AND even taught his younger brother how to tattoo. Throughout their lives, they’ve had a habit of competing against one another, even today, as they are both tattoo artists. He’s ready to go into Survivor with that same competitive mindset.
• Joseph 'Joe' Heck, 24, Bouncer (u/voltfalcon)
  • Joe Heck was born in a lab to be a perfect genetic recreation of the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin. Of course, he was a failed experiment and the project was consider a failed and its funding was pulled by the Russian Government. However, Joseph survived on his own, moved to the USA, and become a respectable man. Now, he wants to show the world the glory of Joseph Heck.
• Kim Juri, 35, Poker Dealer (u/Gemini_B)
  • Kim Juri grew up with a fairly poor family and at a young age secretly turned to gambling to support her family. She got very good and became a poker dealer at a casino. She wants to destroy this game because she knows how to lie, cheat and play dirty. She's here to win, and nothing will stop her from her goal.
• Nicolas 'Nicky' Harden, 21, Daycare Worker (u/Personal_Animal)
  • When Nicky was younger she didn't have many friends and usually was excluded. Since she was alone, she usually spent her time studying and reading. She usually would be the top of her class academically, but that just made her more of an outcast. Although when she got he job as a daycare worker it made her open up more and she became more social. Watching kids grow and learn made her happy.
• Rita Rizalte, 24, Medical Student (u/Troopher)
  • When she was a child her parents had a vision for her to become an engineer but she didn't listen to them because she wanted to be a doctor instead. She was kicked out in her house when her parents discovered that she is taking the medical class, and she never wanted to deal with anyone that controlling ever again. She signed up for Survivor because the money will help her to pay her student loans.
• Tex Bennett, 32, MMA Fighter (u/wordonthestreet2)
  • Tex is known for his reputation as the bad boy of MMA fighting. He has made a name for himself by using intimidation tactics against his enemies and talking smack through the press. He plans on approaching the game the same way that he has approached his fighting career and is going to use manipulation and intimidation to his advantage.

Lupta Tribe:

• Blanche Richmond, 27, Pharmacist (u/peculiarreader)
  • Ever since she was a kid, Blanche has always wanted to give back to the community and save the lives of others, so she went into the medical field and now works as a junior pharmacist. Just like her name, she is pure of heart, and won't ever do anything disloyal in this game because of that.
• Daphne Roth, 25, Model (u/ClayTAnderson)
  • Serving as an inspiration for her little sister, it wasn't all good for Daphne growing up. Having abandoned by their father, Daphne had to work at the young age of 16, in order for them to have a normal life. She took every job that is possible for a youngster like her, and after landing a job as a barista at a local coffee shop - where someone took a picture of her and posted it online - this is where her stardom began. A lot of modeling agencies called her and she immediately took the job. Nonetheless, the popularity got into her head and she became a different person. The once caring and lovable Daphne turned into a cunning and ruthless woman who's never afraid of taking risks and cutting people off if you get in her way. For Daphne - fame is all that matters.
• David 'Dave' Coolganata, 31, Lifeguard (u/zohnster)
  • Dave was born and raised on the beaches of Gold Coast, Australia. Unlike all other babies, the first thing he learned was to surf. At 21, he moved to his favorite spot in the suburb of Coolangatta, the beach with the most striking waves of his life. Soon he traveled the world competing alongside great surfers and in this universe he met his current wife, Kate. In surfing competitions he took the name of his favorite beach as his main surname and won many, many awards. When he married Kate, he decided to live away from the big trips but without forgetting his love for the sea. Today he is a respected lifesaver on Coolangatta beach, where he is part of a great team of professionals in what they do. Kate is pregnant with her first child and they are very happy walking on the white sands of Australia.
• Jarett Adams, 26, Biker (u/LordYeet777)
  • When Jarrett was 6, his Dad died, and his Mom had already died during Childbirth, so him and his older Brother where sent into Fostercare. They ran away, and lived in the woods. He thinks he can do good in Survivor cause him and his brother have provided for themselves in the Forest all his life. When he got older, he became a Pro Biker and has won over 400 Thousand dollars already from Biking.
• Jenna Sunshine, 30, Veterinarian (u/Rylandoesreddit)
  • At a young age, Jenna was put into the gifted program with her brother Surf, who you all saw in Swoldow's Survivor: Ghost Island. After finding out that Surf lucked out on the test, Surf was kicked out of the school. When this happened, Jenna was terrified that that would happen to her. She decided to study nearly all times of the day, and got accepted into Harvard. This however, distanced herself from Surf and thus stopped contact with him until recently, where it was only to get on the show.
• Leonard 'Mr. Dickens' Dickens, 21, Fanfiction Writer (u/Pray_The_Gay_To_Come)
  • Leonard is a fanfic writer that goes by the name of Mr. Dickens and he plans to tell everyone this. He can be a bit pushy and definitely annoys everyone around him. Sometimes he throws out a random Japanese word that doesn’t make sense because it says it’s in his personality. He has no idea how to interact socially, and really has no idea what he is getting himself into.
• Martin 'Santa' Murray, 71, Mall Santa (u/asiansurvivorfan)
  • All his life, “Santa” has always strived to bring joy and laughter into the lives of as many people as possible. He didn’t have many family members/friends growing up, so entertaining strangers was very natural to him. For almost 50 years he worked as a television personality, after he stepped away from the spotlight, he started getting mistaken for the big man in red quite regularly due to his long white beard and his infectious personality, so he decided to start working as a mall Santa and enjoys the job very much.
• Pandora Evans, 25, Swimsuit Model (u/blxxdymxry)
  • Pandora was your run of the mill spoiled rotten rich girl growing up. She always got what she wanted out of people weather she could obtain her goals through her looks, or throwing temper tantrums against her parents. A self-proclaimed master manipulator, Pandora plans to try her luck at controlling the game.
• Shelby Toffen, 26, Used Car Salesman (u/MrMannyfresh050505)
  • Shelby went to Juvenile detention center when he was 15 for robbing a local liquor store in his home town. He was always a messed up a kid and found trouble every where he went. Since getting out he's tried to move on with his life. But so far that hasn't always been the best. He went back for abusive behavior to his now Ex girlfriend. He has been straight for the past two years and has a good job. He has anger issues but seems to be in good control most times. He knows survivor is a game but he won't hide his past in hopes it helps people fear him and keep him. He is going to try his car salesman talk to further his game.
• Yvette Berger, 32, Receptionist at Veterinarian Office (u/dramaking_22)
  • Growing up, Yvette has always had a love for animals, as well as a love of being active. In high school, Yvette was a great player on her high school's volleyball team and her team has won many awards for it. She's always had a love for animals too and wanted to be a veterinarian, however she was too ditzy to actually be a veterinarian so she settled with being a receptionist at a veterinarian's office instead. When she heard about Survivor, she decided to apply because she wants to prove to everyone that she isn't just good at being active, she is actually smart as well.

​
THE SEASON: https://brantsteele.com/survivo37/r.php?c=CgGA6QI5
GOOGLE DOC WITH WRITEUPS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-h54fCfY8RXZS8DW0qncuSpYPBuHu9SRjUw_iHqxycM/edit
​
My Thoughts:
That was a very fun season! The cast was great, and it was a great way to cap off this series' final newbie season. Despite two easy votes in Candy and Mr. Dickens, Episode three had probably one of the most legendary moves ever in Frannie and Kim manipulating Triv into idoling himself out. Watching the whole thing unfold was hilarious. After another predictable vote that sent Joe packing, the tribe swap got interesting, when Jarrett and Franny got terribly swap-screwed, and then Nicky getting blindsided due to Pandora bluffing about her idol. The merge tribal was very interesting, when Bao, Kim, and Tex turned the Lupta tribe against itself, leading to a tie vote between Shelby and Blanche, with Blanche getting the boot, and due to that move, and Daphne and Pandora flipping, we sadly see Yvette, Santa, and Shelby fall victim to this great move. After, we see Rita work with the people on the botton to take out social threat Daphne, and later on, Pandora getting flipped on, only to idol out Tex. The final 6 were all extremely iconic, with Jenna going out by technicality through a tie vote, Jimmy being blindsided by Pandora, and Pandora falling back on her word in firemaking, leading Kim to get robbed of the million dollar check. The final three, Bao, Pandora, and Rita all were a very deserving top three, but Bao ended up getting the win due to his moves making more logical sense than the other two. Other iconic players were Kim, Jenna, Tex, and Daphne.
​
Potential Returnees:
Bao, Pandora, Rita, KIM, Jenna, Tex, Daphne, Shelby, Yvette

The Case of the Missing 40,000 Jerry Nugget Decks: A Detective Story
NB: I first published this article (with pictures) at PlayingCardDecks here.
Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards. The story of the original Jerry's Nugget decks is a fascinating one, and there are many interesting side-stories to explore about along the way. You can read the main story about the Jerry's Nugget decks in my previous article here: The Legendary Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards.
But the full truth still remains somewhat hidden, and there are aspects about the Jerry's Nugget story that even today we can't totally be sure about. And with the passage of time, several juicy tidbits of lore have become attached to this famous deck.
In this article I invite you to join me in a quest to explore another juicy story that has become part of the Jerry's Nugget legend. Is it true that the final stock of 40,000 Jerry's Nugget decks was bought up from the casino by a mysterious overseas buyer? Because this is an oft-repeated part of the story, that you'll hear whispered rumours about across the landscape of the internet. But this a statement of fact or fiction, and is it truth or myth? It could mean that right now someone is potentially sitting on a small fortune of Jerry's Nugget decks worth around $500 a piece. If it's true.
So please put on your Sherlock Holmes trench-coat and deerstalker hat, arm yourself with a good amount of deductive logic and persistence, and join me as we see if we can really get to the bottom of this mystery, and dredge up the truth behind this famed haul of 40,000 decks!

A Secret Stash of 40,000 Decks?

If you are curious - like I am - and do some digging about the story and history of the Jerry's Nugget decks, it won't take you long to stumble across mention of the claim that a stash of the final 40,000 decks of Jerry's Nuggets was bought up in a single swoop, cleaning out the casino's remaining inventory of these prized decks.
The story about some lucky buyer nabbing a final stash of 40,000 decks is circulated quite widely around the internet. Do a Google search for "40,000 Jerry's Nugget" and look at how many hits this gets! Some places that sell the decks even include this in their ad copy. For example, here's the ad copy over at one online retailer, which was selling authentic decks for $525 before they sold out:
Another online retailer says the same. Many reviewers have parroted this information as well, such as this example. So do various sites dedicated to information about playing cards, such as this example.
As far as many people are concerned, this information is more along the lines of "fact" than fiction, and it's become part of the story that everyone accepts. Little wonder that it is often repeated by collectors in discussion forums about playing cards, and that it has given more than just one person a tinge of envy.

Who is the mysterious buyer?

So who is the lucky guy with 40,000 decks of precious Jerry's Nugget decks hidden in his basement or garage? And is the story even true?
Some of the sources for this story seem quite credible. And they also reveal the buyer's name: French magician Dominique Duvivier. One person quotes Jordan Lapping, apparently among the first cardists to get Jerry's Nugget decks and use them for flourishing.
Dominique Duvivier is a French magician who performs and works with his daughter Alexandra, and together they have a high profile in the world of French magic. They are even well known in the circles of international magic, and were featured on the cover of the June 2013 issue of Genii Magazine.
Norwegian magician Allan Hagen has a long-time interest in the Jerry's Nugget decks, and he also mentions Duvivier's purchase of 40,000 Jerry's Nugget decks as apparent fact in something he posted on Reddit in 2015, where he describes his perspective on their rarity and value.
You'll read similar reports in an article published by Ukrainian cardists Alexander and Nikolay about Jerry's Nugget decks in June 2017. Two things are common to all these accounts: the number 40,000 for the haul of decks purchased by the mysterious overseas buyer. And now his name: Dominique Duvivier.
I contacted a number of different sources, including people who had personal connections with some of the key players who were closely involved when Jerry's Nuggets decks first became a fad among magicians and cardists in the late 1990s. One source told me: "Interesting, the name of the European magician - it was a big secret back then. Someone actually told me his name back then, but it was on the proviso that I never publish it. Well, I see it's out of the bag now."

Was Dominique Duvivier the buyer?

But is there any evidence that Dominique Duvivier was really the mystery buyer whose name had been a carefully kept secret for some time at least? It was time for some more detective work. Google brought me to Duvivier's personal website.
It didn't take long to discover that Duvivier does indeed have a real fondness for Jerry's Nuggets Playing Cards. They are everywhere - in his photos, his videos, and his instagram.
Judging by the many French-language comments on his site, it also becomes apparent that Duvivier is highly respected and appreciated in his home country for his magic. It's also evident from reading some of the comments that his Jerry's Nuggets decks are a signature of his performance. Some even consider them to be the equivalent of a Stradivarius that Duvivier uses to perform with as a master magician.
But it was when I checked Duvivier's youtube channel that I found some real gold: Dominique himself performing with Jerry's Nugget cards in this clip. In fact, if you check out his other videos there, you'll find quite a few where he performs magic with Jerry's Nugget playing cards, like this performance from 2014, this more recent ace cutting routine, and this false shuffle. Duvivier has even contributed a Jerry's Nugget themed trick to the magic industry, entitled Jerry's Nuggets Cards in Bag.
You can watch the promo video for this trick in French or English. His daughter Alexandra Duvivier successfully used it to fool Penn and Teller on their show Fool Us. Here's the episode, and some unseen footage.
But just because Dominique Duvivier happens to really, really like Jerry's Nugget playing cards doesn't prove that he bought out a massive stash of the last 40,000 decks from the casino. So this still begs this question: Did any of this even happen? And is there really someone on this planet with a hoard of 40,000 decks, whether it is Dominique Duvivier or anybody else?
One of my favourite photos on Duvivier's site is this one here, with his haul. If that's any indication, surely the legendary haul was starting to seem somewhat plausible. It was time to ask around, and check in with some of the people who were around when the Jerry's Nugget decks first became the rage.
Of the sources I consulted, few could be considered more reliable than Lee Asher. For many people Lee is synonymous with the Jerry's Nugget phenomenon. He also had close connections with the events of the time, and was instrumental in bringing the Jerry's Nuggets into the limelight in the first place, by singing their paises. He was kind enough to respond when I contacted him for comment about Duvivier's alleged haul of 40,000 Jerry's Nugget decks, and Lee bluntly told me the following:
"This is misinformation. There weren't 40k decks left in 1999. We don't even know if Jerry's even printed 40k decks."
Really? Apparently Lee Asher knew Duvivier personally, and he was the very person who first told Duvivier that the casino even had the cards for sale. He also visited his home and shop in Paris many times throughout this period of time. In Lee's words:
"Without a doubt, I NEVER saw 40k of ANY deck there. That's basically nine pallets worth. The house, their magic shop and night club weren't big enough to house these decks. It also seems Duvivier isn't the last one to buy the remaining decks. Jerry's Nugget Casino believes they sold the last case of cards to someone in Japan in 1999."
Well, it seems that the story had to be put to rest. Was this entire story perhaps just a magnificent urban legend after all? And if it was, where does the number of 40,000 decks come from, and how did this story get so much traction that it spread all around the internet, and is accepted unquestionably by so many people? My task had just become a bit harder, but I wasn't going to give up yet. It was time to try to track down where the many websites that quoted this story got the figure of 40,000 from in the first place.

Where does the figure of 40,000 come from?

With some more digging, the oldest article I could find on the subject was by a card collector who has a collection of fine articles on his site, White Knuckle Cards. This particular article dates back to 2009, and is one of the earliest references to the legendary stash of 40,000 decks that I could find.
This particular article seems to be the first time the figure of 40,000 pops up, pre-dating all the more recent mentions of it. And it's not hard to figure out how it spread from there. On 6 August 2015, someone called "Doctor Papa Jones" added these details to Wikipedia's article on Jerry's Nuggets, evidently relying on the White Knuckle Cards article. As a result the Wikipedia article now read as follows: "In 2000, a private collector purchased the remaining stock of 40,000 decks".
So now this "fact" is on Wikipedia and has some real "credibility". In fact, the number 40,000 stays up on Wikipedia for the next five years unchallenged! And that allows it to spread around the internet and go wild. Because where does everyone go when they're looking for reliable, authoritative, and trustworthy information about something? Wikipedia!
Despite the mention of the magical stash of 40,000 decks, Duvivier's name remained out of the spotlight for a further four years. It was simply a mysterious "private collector" who had purchased the big haul. But in 2019, someone connected the dots to Duvivier, and so the Wikipedia article was changed to include his name.
So how did that happen? Well the supporting reference that Doctor Papa Jones included in his 2015 edit was a link to an article by Dan and Dave Buck, dating back to 7 Dec 2011. This article is also no longer available, but can be tracked down with the help of the Internet Archive here. It doesn't give the figure of 40,000 but does drop Duvivier's name.
So the evidence seems to suggest this development: Apparently relying on the White Knuckle Cards article from 2009 as a source, the number 40,000 first embedded itself in the WIkipedia article on Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards in 2015. Slowly the story grew, until somebody finally connected the dots that were hidden in plain sight elsewhere on the internet, and as a result Duvivier's name gets added four years later. Now things are set up for a great story: Mr Duvivier is sitting on a massive stash of 40,000 Jerry's Nuggets in France.
The story gained even more traction as a result of the revived interest in Jerry's Nuggets that inevitably happened when a tribute deck was printed in 2019. It was inevitable that many would rely on Wikipedia as a source, and so the details even ended up being quoted in ad copy for the reprinted decks. What had previously just been a matter of quiet rumour or speculation, was now considered as fact. Oh, the joy of Wikipedia - it has certainly helped promote quite the legend here!
And it doesn't take a genius to see that if this is true, Duvivier could be sitting on a small fortune. At $500 each, 14,000 decks would be worth around $700,000. Naturally a market flooded with them would drop their value. But even if the going price dropped to $100 a piece, that would still value his holdings at over $100,000. Even if he just sold the occasional decks at $500 a pop, this windfall could generate a nice little secondary income. That is, if the legend is true, a fact yet to be proven....

Revising the figure

Because this year, the Wikipedia article was changed. By now of course the (mis)information about Duvivier's haul had gone far and wide, and a lot of potential damage has already been done. But on 25 March 2020 someone called "TheCongressGuy" changed it to read that Duvivier "purchased the remaining stock of 1,500-2000 decks".
Suddenly the number of Duvivier's legendary purchase had been reduced from 40,000 to something around 5% of the size. A figure of 1,500-2000 seems much more likely. So who made the change and what was their source?
I did some more digging and managed to track down TheCongressGuy. He is Kevan Seaney, who describes himself as an "antique playing cards collector, specializing in the Congress 606 brand" and posts here. In February 2020 he wrote here that he'd learned that Duvivier had not purchased 40,000 decks. I was curious, and eventually found the following video that he posted about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pctAEuiZA
And who was his source that Kevan credits for correcting the previous (mis)information about the number 40,000? If you watch that video, you'll find out that it is none other than the great Lee Asher. Lee Asher isn't just "anyone". He's a playing card expert, and the current president of 52 Plus Joker The American Playing Card Collectors Club. He's the guy who first generated public interest in Jerry's Nugget decks, brought them to the attention of cardists like the Buck twins and Chris Kenner, and was later a purveyor of these icon decks via his website. He's also had personal connections with Duvivier, was the person who informed Duvivier that they were available from the casino, and has personally spent a lot of time with him in Paris.
And Lee Asher is a key person that has helped get real Jerry's Nugget decks into the hands of a new generation today. He's the guy who was instrumental in making a collaboration happen between Jerry's Nugget Casino and Expert Playing Card Company, by suggesting that EPCC get the exclusive licence needed to reprint these iconic decks in 2019, as announced in an official press release here.
It's plain that along with EPCC's Bill Kalush, Lee Asher (pictured below) was singularly responsible for getting an officially licensed Jerry's Nugget deck back into the hands of a new generation and into the collections of those who couldn't afford the massive sticker price of the originals. So if anyone has a passion for the original Jerry's Nuggets, it is Lee Asher. Of anyone in this picture, Lee is the person with the most credibility, and his opinion and perspective should carry a lot of weight.
With Asher as his source, Kevan Seaney points out that 40,000 decks of Jerry's Nugget playing cards is the equivalent of around 8 pallets. That's a massive amount, and would weigh around four tons. And it would take up a tremendous amount of space! Kevan cites Lee Asher as saying (via voice messages in Instagram) that in 1999 Asher told Duvivier that he could get the decks from the casino, and that Duvivier bought around 1,500-2000 decks at the time. Lee subsequently visited his home and store - France's oldest magic shop - in France many times. And according to Asher, there was no way Duvivier had room for 40,000 decks. Kevin also says that Lee Asher pointed out to him that these were technically not the final lot of decks sold by the casino anyway, and that the last decks (a "case" of unknown size) probably went to Japan.
Wow. That really changes things! So based on this apparent "new information" from Lee Asher - who to his credit has apparently been saying this all along - Wikipedia gets a new edit by TheCongressGuy aka Kevin Seaney. The impressive figure of 40,000 is reduced to a much more modest 1500-2000, which is paltry by comparison to the much larger figures circulating the internet, and not nearly as impressive a story. But this is only after Wikipedia has been singing a different tune for five years, so the `damage' has been done, and the story of Duvivier's windfall of 40,000 Jerry's Nuggets is already accepted by most people as a true story.

Duvivier's own story

Suddenly it occurred to me to investigate Duvivier himself. Was this perhaps a line of inquiry that might produce some solid leads and definitive facts? Has the man himself ever commented on all these stories about his legendary haul? Could I find anything directly from the man himself that would shed some light on these legends? In fact, why hadn't I thought of this earlier? Just because nobody else seems to have dug up or reported anything from the man's own mouth, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. I slapped myself for my own foolishness, and headed back to Google.
As it turns out, Duvivier has written about this! But because it's an article in French, it's escaped notice from most people. Since he's popular as a professional magician in France, he not only has his own website, but he also writes his own blog. And sure enough, he's addressed this very topic in a blog article that he wrote in April 2011 under the title "Magiphageuh No 14: Les Jerry's Nugget".
With the help of an online translation tool, we learn this:

"As most of you already know, I only use real "Jerry's Nugget" cards to work with and have been doing so for many years. As these cards happen to be extremely rare to find on the market (I am obviously talking about the original Jerry's Nugget cards and not the recently reprinted ones) and they excite the magical world a lot, I am therefore constantly asked how many I own, how long have I owned them, what deal I made to get them and with whom, why do I have so many cards, why did I choose these specifically, why don't I want to sell them, why, why, eh?! And I hear such amazing stories about myself on these famous "Jerry's Nugget" cards that I decided to speak on the subject myself today."

This sounds very promising! Duvivier then goes on to tell the story about how the Jerry's Nuggets gained their legendary reputation, and the unique qualities they have. In France in the 1970s, American playing cards were quite rarely seen, and Duvivier knew a French pilot commandant called Reyno who loved magic, who would occasionally bring back cards from the US to a small circle of French magicians. At this time even standard Bicycle and Tally Ho decks were prized by these French conjurers, so besides them a Jerry's Nugget deck was considered a real crown jewel.
Over the years Duvivier occasionally got more of the Jerry's Nugget decks, sometimes even an entire case of them at once, especially via his friend Michael Weber, who was his main supplier. We fast forward to 1999, when he finds himself heading to Las Vegas to perform at The Magic Castle. Here's the story in his words, courtesy of an online translation tool:

"In 1999 (if I'm not mistaken) my daughter Alexandra and I were hired to perform for a whole week at Magic Castle and then for a few contracts in Las Vegas. You may think that I had only one idea in mind at the time: a trip to the original casino where my favourite cards were from, Jerry's Nugget! Michael Weber had told me that there were still a few decks for sale there, so as soon as we arrived I immediately asked Philip Varricchio, who had come to pick us up in a limousine, to take us there. He was rather surprised, as we hadn't even put our bags down at the hotel (yes, I'm a fool) and the old Jerry's casino wasn't really known for being a must-see place! So I told him that I wanted to go there to buy Jerry's Nugget cards. According to him it was impossible to get them for the simple reason that they hadn't been around for a long time, but I was so insistent that he finally complied (hey, hey, hey!). When we arrived there, we went to the gift shop of the casino and I asked the salesman if he was selling their decks.
- Yes," he told me, "I have a few.
He shows me a small piece of wall in the back of the store where a hundred decks were on display. I ask about the price. Not even expensive!
- Well, I'll take them," I say (laughs).
And of course I ask if he has more in reserve! Yes, there were about a hundred boxes left (each box containing a large number of cards, 144 decks!). After a little negotiation, the unit price was even lowered to less than $1.
That's it, that's how it happened and that's it. In fact, in all this story, the most difficult, the longest and the most expensive was to get the stock back to France.
Since then, I've been seeing, little by little, the bids going up on these cards in a rather hallucinating way, whereas, of course, that wasn't my initial motivation at all. From the moment I bought the remaining stock, it's as if everyone wanted to own even more! But I just wanted to have enough stock of Jerry's Nugget decks because I'm a card fanatic and these in particular. I use these cards because they're the best cards I know and I've fought like a big man to own enough of them for me (I should mention that I never had a middleman or a partner to buy these cards). Anyone could have done as I did and I don't understand why no one did: you just had to take the trouble to go to this casino, because the cards were available! In any case, now they are all warm and cosy in different safes, which I won't tell you about. They say I'm the person with the most cards in the world, but I have to say I don't care. I know Chris Kenner is the one who planned it, he has a lot of them too. I've been offered golden bridges to sell a few packages, or even my entire stock. I've had some incredible offers over the years. I never intended to create a buzz with these cards: I just use them for my own personal consumption, that's all...because they're my favorite cards."

Probably the key sentence in that account is this, and the best translation seems to be something like this:
"Yes, there were about a hundred boxes left (each box containing a large number of cards, that's 144 decks!)."
The formula is simple: around 100 boxes with 144 decks each. If true, that would mean 100 x 144 = 14,400 decks. Given that this is directly from the horse's mouth, suddenly the story becomes slightly more plausible. So too is his additional statement:
"In all this story, the most difficult, the longest and the most expensive was to get the stock back to France."
That suggests he didn't bring the whole stash to France in one go, which might explain why visitors like Lee Asher and others who saw his home and magic shop never saw any evidence of them. I'm not a French speaker, so I'm happy to be corrected if I'm misunderstanding anything Duvivier has written - by all means check the article for yourself in the original French, to see if I've got it right. But the long and short of it seems to be that Duvivier is saying that what he bought from Las Vegas around 1999 was not a stash of 40,000 Jerry's Nuggets decks, but 14,000 decks.
14,000 is not nearly as impressive a figure. But even though it's only a third of the size of what the legend floating around the internet says, 14,000 decks is still an incredibly impressive haul. Certainly the amount of pictures and videos that show Duvivier performing with Jerry's Nugget cards, seems to suggest that they are very much part of his regular repertoire. It could just be possible, and maybe I've finally found the truth!
Perhaps the most defining photo of all is this one (credited to Zakary Belamy), which shows Duvivier enjoying a bath with his Jerry's Nugget playing cards! Given the value of these playing cards on the market today, some might consider this sacrilege, but it sure suggests he has a large enough supply of Jerry's Nugget cards. At any rate, his collection of them seems large enough that he can even afford to take them to the bath for a photo op along with his favourite yellow rubber ducky.

But is it true?

Was the mystery solved at last? It was time to get back in contact with Lee Asher, and share my findings. But despite the claims of Duvivier in his 2011 article, Lee is not convinced that Duvivier is a credible source. To be fair, this is what Lee Asher has been saying all along, and for years he's been saying that the story about the legendary haul of 40,000 decks wasn't supported by the facts.
Ultimately what this comes down to is: are we going to believe what Duvivier says? For the most part, Duvivier has appeared to have had little interest in setting the record straight, despite the fact that the rumour of him nabbing 40,000 decks persisted as long as it did. And if he does have a large stash, why has he shown little interest in selling any of the decks that he does have, instead being happy to hoard them or use them only for himself? Would he really have spent all the time, energy, and money necessary to ship even 14,000 decks of playing cards across the ocean from the United States to Europe, just for his personal usage, at a time when the street value of these was only a dollar or two a piece? And if he did, where did he put them, and why has nobody ever seen his stash, including those who visited his home?
There are other details about Duvivier's record of events that call aspects of his narrative into question, such as his complete omission of any mention of Lee Asher, who was the one who made him aware of where he could get them. And in those days, the casino gift shop was very small, so is it really reasonable for them to display 100 decks on their back wall, as Duvivier claims in his 2011 article, when they had such little space to work with?
I had some private correspondence with another magician/cardist who has also stayed at Duvivier's house, and that individual expressed similar sentiments. He agreed that there was no evidence of Duvivier ever owning that many decks. Just do the math: 40,000 decks would mean Duvivier could use a brand new deck every single day for more than 100 years before he chewed through a collection of decks that size. Again: very unlikely. If he really did have that many, it would be way more than he could ever use, and surely he would have sold some by now - which he hasn't. This person remains somewhat skeptical, but acknowledges that the figure of 14,000 is a more realistic number that is not beyond the realms of possibility, especially if Duvivier has them locked up in a storage facility in Paris somewhere.
As an educated guess, it seems that there is good reason to cast some suspicion on this story, and there are some aspects about it that seem rather unlikely. Shipping that many decks, at the time only worth a buck or two each at most, all the way from Las Vegas to Paris would be crazy. But a man willing to jump into a bath with a yellow rubber duck and destroy $1000 worth of playing cards in the process strikes me as crazy enough to do it. Perhaps Duvivier's story is true after all.

A final twist

I was now several weeks into my adventures as an investigative journalist, and I was getting ready to wrap up my story and publish it. But there was one final lead that I had not yet explored. If I was really going to try every possible avenue of information, I had to try contacting Dominique Duvivier himself. Why not? Admittedly, the odds of getting a response from someone about his apparent stash of precious Jerry's Nuggets wasn't likely. If there was any truth to the story about his legendary haul, even to some degree, then he's undoubtedly had hundreds of inquiries over the years. Just imagine the long lines of people asking him about his stash, trying to convince him to part with some of it. If yet another email comes in on this subject, he'd probably roll his eyes and press `delete'. He is working full time as a professional magician after all, and has a career to worry about. I couldn't blame him if he was tired of responding to what undoubtedly would be countless messages from prospective buyers.
But I had no intention to buy anything, so as a good amateur journalist, I had to try. It was a long shot, but to my surprise, I got a response from Duvivier the very same day! It wasn't much, but it included one unexpected bombshell - especially after the journey I'd been on so far: "You'll be glad to know that a special article is going to appear in next Genii Magazine. It's called Dominique Duvivier and Jerry's Nugget cards."
I was stunned. Was someone else working on exactly the same story as me, and had they beat me to the punch? Maybe even Duvivier himself? Could it really be true that in little more than two weeks time, the next issue of Genii was scheduled to come out, and would potentially reveal all? Suddenly I knew that I had to wait with publishing my story. In further emails, Dominique was tight-lipped about any more details. At the very least, surely I would have to wait until that issue of Genii was available, and fork out my cash and purchase a subscription in order to read it. I owed it to my readers to explore every last clue, and give them a story that included all the evidence.
So that is what I did. I waited for the July issue to appear online. Digital editions of Genii are released online each month on the 20th of the month. Finally 20th of June rolled around, and I eagerly perused the contents of the latest issue. Nothing. Nothing remotely Duvivier related. Nothing Jerry's Nugget related. Was Duvivier for real? An inquiry with the editor of Genii produced this response: "Not this issue. Coming up." Would it be August or September maybe? Further inquiries produced only silence.
In follow up correspondence with the Frenchman himself, Duvivier told me "I wrote the article myself. It?s quite long." That sounded promising, but it could just be about his love affair with Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards, rather than a "tell all" story about his haul. There still was no guarantee that it would even be published. And I couldn't be sure that it would offer any more information than his blog article from 2011 which already gave his side of the story, or that it would be any more reliable than the version of events he'd provided there. Was it really worth waiting any longer? It was time to share my findings with the world anyway, and I could always provide an addendum to my story if any credible new information appeared.

Final Thoughts

Is this the final word on this subject? No. I've tried to do the best I could based on information available to me, and shared as much as I could with my readers, so that you can form your own conclusions based on the evidence so far. Undoubtedly there are still some missing puzzle pieces, and in future years some new information could come to light that shows that some of my conclusions were misplaced or that puts aspects of this story a slightly different perspective.
Today we are two full decades removed from the time when the original decks first sold out at the Jerry's Nugget casino. And the further removed in time that we come, the harder it becomes to uncover the truth. Memories become murky. As it is nobody at the casino seems to remember the specific details of what happened. At the time they were probably only too glad to get the remaining stock out of their hands, and nobody could have anticipated how these decks would become the famous icons that they are today. Even their chief evangelist Lee Asher has to be somewhat surprised at the turn of events he's produced since first singing their praises some twenty years ago!
So what can we conclude from all of this? Here's some final thoughts that I'll leave you with:
1. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Unfortunately, it's a fact of modern life that not everything on the internet is true. And as we've seen, this also applies to sites like Wikipedia. For topics that have a large number of experts or people interested in a particular subject, changing the facts on a Wikipedia article will quickly see the changes being reverted. But with a more niche subject, like Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards, and especially when it concerns circumstantial material that nobody is quite sure about, it's easy for misinformation to enter Wikipedia. And once it's embedded there, eventually the lore spreads and becomes considered as "fact". So it's important to check your sources, and don't take everything you see online as gospel truth - even if it's on Wikipedia.
2. The legend about the stash of 40,000 decks should be put to rest once and for all.
It's a myth, and there simply is no evidence for this claim anywhere. At most, there is the claim from Duvivier himself that he bought up about 14,000 decks. That might be true, but again, we only have his word for this. As a counter-point, there are those like Lee Asher who know Duvivier and have visited him many times, and insist that they never saw any evidence of this. The enormous cost of shipping a large stash like this to Europe already makes it somewhat hard to believe.
There's no doubt that Duvivier is a huge fan of Jerry's Nugget decks, and he appears to own and use them more than most. But in the end, how credible is he? How seriously are you going to take someone who is happy to post a picture of himself in a bath with a rubber duck and playing cards from a Jerry's Nugget deck? Either that means he has far more decks than he knows what to do with, or he is a little loopy. Or perhaps it's a bit of both. You've had an opportunity to read all the evidence for yourself, so you decide.
Either way, we can safely say that there has never been a stash of 40,000 decks, and the jury is out on whether there was even ever a stash one third of this size. But even if the size of the legendary stash turns out to be smaller than first thought, the reputation and magnetism of the Jerry's Nugget decks has only increased in size, and these now iconic decks will remain firmly embedded in playing card lore.
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Update from the writer: After the original publication of this article, Dominique Duvivier personally phoned me on 24 July 2020 to discuss it, and to share his side of this story. He remembers events slightly differently than Lee Asher does. As Duvivier recalls it, his own interest in the Jerry's Nugget decks dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. At that time he was sourcing them from his friend Michael Weber, who along with magicians like Chris Kenner was also interested in these decks. According to Dominique, he only met Lee Asher during his USA tour in 1999, after he had already bought out the remaining stock from the Jerry's Nugget casino. Duvivier confirmed that the figure of 14,000 accurately reflects the approximate number of decks he purchased from the casino at this time. He shipped the majority of these to France by boat, and stored them in a warehouse, intending them to serve as a life-time supply for himself and his family. Look for his story in an upcoming issue of Genii magazine.