The guy with the glass during the last 10 minutes was annoying. He was also right, and the deck was stacked. Search your youtube for 10 card poker trick.
You were paying attention to the wrong thing. Of course the deck was stacked. He was demonstrating a method used by sharps to hypnotize and confuse their marks. Derren Brown talks a lot about this in his show. And if you think this stuff is fluff, you're boring.
Between Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women and Chariots of the Gods?, all we need is the Time/Life Myths, Legends and Folklore series and you've got everything I read at the age of 14 exclusively.