The Shell Game Swindle In Berlin

The apparent players actually serve various roles in the swindle: they act as lookouts for the
police; they also serve as "muscle" to intimidate marks who become unruly and some are
shills, whose job is to pretend to play the game, and entice the mark into betting. Once a
mark enters the circle of apparent players and faces the operator, the gang surrounds the
player to discourage an easy exit and to keep other pedestrians from entering and disrupting
the confidence trick gang's action on the main mark.

The job of crowding around also protects the operator from any incriminating photographs
being taken of the act. The operator and the shills will try to get the mark into a heightened
state of anger or greed. Once this is accomplished, one shill will pretend to disclose a winning
strategy to the mark. It is all a ruse to get the mark to place a large bet.

From Wikipedia "Shell game"Distributed by OneLoad.com