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Mr. Lovell Entertains

The New York Daily News warns its readers at the start of their feature on Simon Lovell:

Do not, under any circumstances, invite the man in the photo above to sit at your table. Not even for dinner. He’s Simon Lovell, a charming, chatty chap from Manchester, England – and a world-famous cardsharp, hustler and con man. He’s also an irrepressible showman who loves nothing more than to show off his dubious skills for an audience.

So if you are cautioned to not allow him at your card table, how can you encounter him? You can take a trip to the Soho Playhouse in New York City (he’s downstairs) where you will see his aptly-titled one-person show, Simon Lovell’s Strange and Unusual Hobbies.

Mr. Lovell describes the show as “a roller-coaster ride that I invite the audience to come along with me on, as opposed to me just performing to them. I do a whole potpourri of things, but I basically put together some aspects of my life.”

His life is colorful plus.

“When I was 19 to about 30, I was a professional con man and a card cheat,” says Mr. Lovell, who, as a 4-year-old, was introduced to confidence games by his grandfather, a professional poker and dice hustler. “I started playing in big-time poker games, and cheating became a career for me.”

Like all great magicians, Mr. Lovell did a couple nights in the hoosegow before deciding to go straight. He said he got tired of leading “a double life.” “Cheating is an incredibly lonely occupation,” he says.

Some would argue he chose the cheating life but with an emphasis on entertainment. It’s nice to get paid to be bad.

The … worst thing about having done it for a living is that when you get a conscience – which I got – you kind of feel there has to be some payback, some karmic balance. The secret of a con man is not what he does with his hands; it’s that he doesn’t have a heart. I actually found a heart and I’m sure my grandfather is flipping in his grave right now.