FOREWORD

This is t he book I have always wanted to write.

For nearly fifty years

I have been :Ln touch with active card men, ethical and other1vise, and have
discovered that Erdnase as an author is general-ly misunderstood and misinterpreted.
My object in writing, this book is threefold.

F:Lrst, it

~~11

to stress the utter practicability and logic of his instruction.

to clarify many points of

Second, I hope

procedure so that t hey may be acquired with greater

Lastly, I propose to include sundry new and original methods and

facility.

These, I trust, , will aid in

practices generally unknown in Erdnase 1 s day.

bringing the old cl assic,

11

The Rlcpert of the Card Table 11 thoroughly up to date.

The Il' esent volume will in no

simply as a companion volume.
reference

be attempted

to

11

The &cpert at

--~that

-------

~~a::r

supersede the Erdnase work.

.Indeed, it cannot be
t~e

understood without constant

Therefore, I cannot stress tQ,:strongly

Card Table".

t he t Ho books

It is intended

shoul d be studied together.

The Erdnase ''ork has often been spoken of as being a textbook on geOllletry
or higher mathematics

and too essentially theoretical to be taken seriously.

No greater mistake '-ras ever made.

Erdnase is

at once logical and practical.

Surel y no one, before or since, has written as lucidly on the subject of card
table artifice.
To me t here is in Erdnaije a timel ess and uni.versal quality ~Tllich the years
}lave changed only superficially.
stated, a number of

~ternative

Neverthel ess, I have mde bold to add, as above

and original

:1\-P:O
methods~

procedures.

CARD TABLE ARTIFICE

Under this heading Erdnase stresses the fact that t he real secrets of card
table artifice have been held sacro.sanct.

Tnis statement largely holds true today.

Even the ell posted magician has little or no knowledge of t he actual uethods
.

and dodges employed

~"

by~

con1petent professional 1'mechanics. 11

he know how tbe subterfuges are empl oyed 11under fire."

Even less does

Erdnase 1 s discussion of card table artifice should be read <lith the closest
attention1 particularly his disselltation on uniformity of action.
He dismisses the use of holdouts i n a feH Hords.

As a matter of fact there

are actually not over a lalf dozen men in this country capable of using a holdout

oR.. t'mac~e 11

Its use requires great nerve and for this reason

to advantage.

most operat(?rs : resort to t he use of drugs or liquor.

BLIND S1-:11FFLES

THE ERWASE SYSTEM OF

Altho Erdnase clearly states that the first and little fingers hold and locate
t he jog it is essential to

b~

in mind the following technique.

To begin with

bot>- t he outjog and injog should be made so that card does not project over
parter of an inch.

When card is outjogged it should project veey slightly over

t he curled left index finger"?-P.

By a sUght up;rard pressUre the projecting card

is heJ.d in its jogged position.

I f this is done correctly one has the feeling

that a fine break is being hel d by forefinger, altho no actual breqk or separation
I'"OI!E. l' J>-/Gti R

is created.

As a mtter of fact the fo"~~ilr is merely holding the j ogged card

in a secure position.

The same t hing applies to t he injog in

~rhich

case the

little finger is employed.

Correctl y performed it is virtually impossibl e for the closest observer to
discern a jogg~d card.

It is needless to state t hat

t he shufflee are performed

wit hout glancing , at the pack.

THE ERDNASE SYSTEt1 OF BLIND

RIFFLES AND CUTS

The positions described by Erdnase cannot be improved upon.

riffle shuffle naturally.

Learn to

Proper atten ti.on should be given to squaring up and this

is perfectly described by Erdnase.

PUSH THRaJGH AND _PU~

OUT SHUFl"LF)_

Tte se shuffles, valuable to magicians, are briefly mentioned by Erdnase

who goes into no details.

3
The basic details of this type work was recently described in a manuscript
retailin~

for fifty dollars.

This material is veey

similar to methods and

f).I-E L-k'f E:

tec hnique

evolved many years ago by a well known New York physician," Dr. Jacob

Daley.
It was our pleasure in 1919 to Jneet. i n Chicago a truly fabulous gambler
whose real name we must w.i.thhold but knO\m to t he frat.ernit.y as , 11 The Mysterious Kid. 11
He had originated and perfected a technique 'vith the riffle s huffie that we have
never seen duplicated.

As an example

of hi s uncanny skill he

'1-rould,with

four

apparently orthodox riffle s hufflel!l bring any four desired cards to the top of pact<.
1

We !eel certain t hat his methods are utterly unkno;m

~
);'f'present

day card men and

even more certain t hat ris attainments will never be duplicated.

c hapter

In the final.

of this book will be described t he fundamental basis of this work.

put..L-

For all practical purposes t he ~ through shuffle is infin4tly superior

to t he pull out -- it is sure and cannot miss.
First,
i:azardous.

ho~1ever,.

The

t~;o

an inch protrudes.
the tHo

fe~T

lte re are a

po:inters on the pull out shuf fle--always

packets are riffled together and pushed in evenly until

~ost

Then t he sides of t he second finsertips square up and push

packets together.

HoHever, right fi.neertip pushes its

packet

diagonally in,qards to a slight degree so that inner left corner projects

about width of a marg:in.
be

It will be found that right second finger and t liUlllb can

passeJ. or rubbJed along right end o.f'pack in a squari 1.g movement (as described

by Erdnase, Fig. 10, Page 38)

and during t his nrJvement the left hand remains

NC:.AR.

iromobile .Jit.-. second f inger :rressed ~" outer corner at end.

Thumb is

positioned at left inner corner.

To pull out the hands must s r ift position.

The t iumbs are held at the t wo

inner corners and second and t ird f ingers are moved to front side of pack.

4
Second fingers s hould be about one r:alf inch apart as deck is grasped.
diagonal pos:i.tion of

packet~,

the two separate packets.

Owing to

thumb and fingers can definitely feel and grip

Right, now' pulls out its packet w:it h a natura+

undercut and s l aps it on top.

PULL THROUGH

SHU.F~

This h as more utility and severaJ. mpthods

~Till

be described.

Shuffle# the same as before and push in until about one inch protrudes.
the manner

of appare!ftly squaring differs.

At this pQint t he sides of third

possible to

fingertj.ps are placed against edges of packets and as c l osely as

b.

outer corners.

As before, the right

Now

third~~es

in't-.rards, but in t his case its packet is also

its packet diagonaJ.ly

pushed fol'lrard ancJ. continues to be pushed

until it passes around the corner of the other packet.

It ;.d.ll no1r be found t hat

CONTACT

the

fleshy pad of the right third f ingertip

~lin

be against

or in ElolEh'ut

1vith the corner of t he other packet which is ,held firmly between the right third
fingertip and t rrumb.
Seco~d

finger of right hand and left t humb square up t he diagonal packets.

Throughout t ,his movement t he under or left packet remains stationary thns

avoiding the usual tellta,le

"~<reaving

or eccentric motion.

All t hat remains to be

done is to pull packets apart and, if desired, repeat one or more times.
At conclus,on instead of separating packets and reshnf!ling, the right hand
pulls out its packet and in an

oblique, forward movement places it on table.

Then right h~d takes other packet from left and pl aces it atop.
simuJa tes a bonafide cut.

This perfectly

Thpse who witnessed the above handling by the late

Dr. Jacob Daley rill attest to it's complete deceptive properties.,

To enhance t he effecti veness of the
w~ich

abqve we have added

an original touch

permits t he s huffle to be performed at a slower tempo and results in puzzling

those 1-rell versed in t his tY.J?e of worko

5
When commencing s'mffle, top packet must be cut to t he right (the usual
procedure) and l eft t humb tilts up from table its comple te packet.
however, til ts up only about hal.f its packet.

Right hand,

S\uffle, but commence wi t h left

t ro.mb.

Cards are pushed t hroueh as above described with resul t that about tMo

t hirds

of the pack l-d.ll be projecting about one quarter inch to t he right.

f"M:J'

Rieht thumb l ifts u p, or tilts very slightly t hese projecting cards and,.are held
in th.is position by l eft thumb so t hat right

hand can irnmed:i.ately grasp t he small

bott0111 packet and cut it to t.he top, but in such a manner that its right edges are
in alignment.
on t he l eft.

In this posi tion there l-lill be a packet of cards projectl.ng

Tre se cards are noi., grasped by t hird

hand carries remaining cards

finger and thumb and right

obl iquely forr1ard on table.

Right hand then returns,

picks u p remainder and places on top.

Due to the Jarge proportion of cards on top that are not interlocked t he
f inal move1nent above

creates the illus!.. on of a perfect cut.

This handling of t he unshuf!led middle block can be applied with equal

success to t he first mentioned pull out shuffle.

The cards are

exactly as bef ore and Hhen the packets are pushed togeth:lr

diagonally the f in;.;ers

are moved to t he sides of pack and t he t l umbs to t he rear and a

resul ts in squaring or a l ignine the sides.

fingers am thumb pull out the

unsJuf!led block and slaps it on top -- left edges in

Trese are then pulled

slight pressure

In this case t te left thumb lifts

up the enti re interwoven packet and the r j_ght

results in leavi.ng t he int er.,oven cards

shuffled

perfect r egister.

This

projecting in the l ower part of t he pack.

out an<;l slapp ed on top with the result of all cards being

in their original order.

Many variations are possible wl th both t hese s hui'fl es.

procedure is t he folJ.ovTing :

An excellent

When stripping out t he cards with the right hand,

instead of throwing all on top at finish simpl y slap the packet on so

tr~t

it

6
projects

about a half inc h to t he r ight.

Immediately pull out t he loTer hal!

of t his packet and s l ap it on top of all--with left e dge in Jine wi. t h

packet.

Projec t ing packet

subterfuge.

J.o ~;ermost

on right is t hen slapped on top completing the

Neatly executed t !o. is is most convincing and the cutt:i..ng will be

r ecognized as an adaption of the famil iar

'~p

t he 1a dder."

The possibil ities of combining t he false r5.ffle with various block transfers
and cuts are practica~y l imitless.

Here is an interesting princ:i.ple -,rhich

involves t he block transfer of any desired number of cards during a r iffle

shuffle.

~Assume

t hat a desired card is in fourth position and you vTish to

bring it to 1;.he top by a riffle shuffle.; Proceed as follows.

As usual cut

off top half, to right and riffle cards but somewhat faster Tith the right
until all but t hree cards have run dmm.

These t hr-ee ar..e allowed to drop on top

and t be position of desi red card may pe disregarded.

No;.r perform t he regular

pusb t hrough s;.u :t:fle but as cards are pushed t brough the top
accompany t he packet but by a

t l::o:-ee do not

sl i ght movernent of t he left second finger

t he 1e f't t hey alm.ost automatically transfer to t he former left packet.

cards are

to
Nor when

stripped out for t he second riffle t.l:e desired card will be atop

t he left hand packet and during t he ensuing riffle it is allmV'e d to fall on top.
Should desired card be deeper in pack, say twelvth, simply transfer
get rid of four during t he first riffle, four t he second and

tl~ee

or

the t hird

time whic h e l i minates eleven cards and leaves desired card on top.
quite possible to accomplis h t r e above in t wo riffles by getting ri d of six and five
but greater s kill is required.

Altho Erdnase does not stress t he fact, i t is most important t hat t he action
of t he

one card blind cut ll!llst perfectly simulate the

Important.

natural cut.

In practice aim to have t he top or slip card fall in perfect

alignment or register wit;; tl:e l ower

packet.

The usual fault is that slip card

7
either does not perfectl y align itself or fall flatly atop 10\'rer packet.

Thu:~

the illusion is destroyed.

CUT TO RETAIN THE COMPLETE STQCK

The secret of perfecting this cut is to first learn to

cards fol10ldng Erdnase t s instructions to t he l etter.

genuinely cut the

However, in performing

t his blind cut there is an i mportant point that Erdnase does not stress--the
exact position of second fingers and thumbs of both hands !liUst be identical
whether executing t he true or t he blind.
It is not necessary to raise or l 01>er or, in any wa;y alter, position of
t he left second finger

duri ng the cutting.

Again we stress that the action

must be in perfect conformity witt:. the true cut.

TO RETAIN THE TOP STiroK

Altho the method described by Erdnase is excellent in every detail there is

an added touch wl ich renders
The action is t his.

packet actually drops

of both packets are

it even more effective for practical use

When the right hand slaps its cards on top, ti:-.d.s

on other packet diagonally.

squared but outer left

l or.ver packet about a quarter

or

Specifically the right ends

corner of upper packet extends over

a half inch.

As this is done the

and second finger are heJ.d out of t he r.iay so that the

~ thumb

p.ction is not obstructed.

Left finger and thumb immediately square up the t wo portions

Left thumb presses against upper edge of projecting lower packet.
second finger presses do\m slightl y and

~.Ji t

in this manner.

At same time

h a slight squeezing motion both

packets are pressed together.

S:l.nnlltaneously, at opposite end slide t he second finger inward along the
end and thu.'llb outrrard along t he :inner side until t hey meet at the corner which
serves to squeeze or press t he cards into a squared position.

This

motion, hich can be repeated, automatically creates a break which is

s~g

re ld

by Je ft

tlrumb.
Since evolving the above

handl ing' many years ago we mve u s ed it consistently

to the exclusion of

all others.

TO RETAIN THE BOTTOM STacK

This is simply a variation of the moves already discussed but Erdnase's

description should be carefully understood,. V

u ~r. 1'rfe l-1r?'mo l> For<. secv.~r~c. )..

~P.MiL ~
.J'Et,'l:!.t3>tl').

COMBINA. TIONS OF RIFFLES AND

curs

This is one of the most important paragraphs in Erdnase 1 s

entire v;orlc

This really demonstrates the

and j s often disregarded by the average reader.

practical use of the riffles and cuts.
FANCY BLIND CUTS

A possible improvement suggested by a veteran card expert is when

packets are

successively dropped atop table they are allowed

another for half their length.

the four

to ov,erlap one

They are then slOlvly pushed together and squared.

I

This tends to

accentuate the fairnessof the cut.

ONE-HANDED FANCY TRUE CUT

Among

We have often utilized this simple cut for a variety of purposes.

other things it lends itself to an artistic

Card

Execute the fancy true cut which results in

to be forced is on botton of pack.

the t;1o packets being in a

delayed force at the card table.

stepped condition--the upper packet projecting

By grasping pack at sides by

over lower at outer left corner.

right end, it may

be carelessly picked up and moved to another position without disturbing the

JOG

jog or

brief. 11

11

I1' ~ happens to be too 'ldde it can easily be narrowed by a

slight pressure of finger and thuntb.

A delay can be created by making a few

remarks "hile pack remains on table.

When ready to have card chosen second

finger and thumb grasp

pack at right end and slide it over to zslmffling posit:ion.

Left

f~ngertips

hand grasps pack,

at front edge and tbumb on top.

Lift pack

and place it in left hand but at same time give it a half turn to left.
fingers and

tl:umb

grasp ptck f'rom above at ends.

dealing position and little fincer pulls down

Right

Left hand holds pack :in

step thus creating a break.

Th..e above procedure may appear somevmat involved but in reaJJ.ty it i s quite
simple and above all

completely disarming.

vrarns the spectator t hat a

The

U&~al

force is about to be made.

get-ready often
By the above handling

his suspicions are completely lulled.

(I)

TO INDICATE THE LOCATION FOR THE CUT

The only suggestion in handling is that, at the exact moment o

: bending t he cards, the left t humb presses down f irmly on the entire pack--causing
it to

concave slight l y .

fingers bend t he bottom portion

Altho both packets are bent in the same direction due to the

quite s harpl y.

fact that

At same time the left

lo~rer

packet has a greater concavity

( e::~pecia.J..l.y

at inner end) a break

is thereby formed.
In the convex crjJnp method it is advi s able before putting in t he crimp
to make all the cards slight l y convex.
(II)

LOCATION BY TBE JOO

Not only can be used for cutting as described but is useful :for
magic as at completion of cut instead of placing on table, pack is
ends by right, pl aced in left and fingers can easily form break
cards.

This is

vastl y superior to in or out

(III)

LOCATION BY THE CRIMP

seized at

belo~1

jogged

jog usuaLly employed.

A more practical method f or :magical purposes is, instead of dravring

pack to edge of table in order to put in the convex cr:Unp, as t he cut is made
th~

right end of deck is tilted up slightly lihich enabl es third finger to be

s lipped under

~d.

Tlte crimp is. formed

are bent over th:i.rd f inger instead of

must be done quickly before
a l l signs of

as Erdnase suggests except the cards

table edge.

lor.rer half i s withdrawn.

pressure must be absent 0

This operation of bending

When loHer half is exposed

10
{IV)

LOCATION BY THE SlNGLE JOG

In t he method described the card projects f rom the

our original manner ot handling will be found most useful.
to ri ght as above, second fingers of both hands

r~i:t

end.

However

With card projecting

Right

apparentl y square ends.

fin gertip pushes card flush but sli ghtly diagonally so that left inner earner projects
about one sixteenth of an inch.

Right hand, finger and thumb, squares up at r i.ght

JoG

end only.

Pack can nov be

by left thumb.

This

freely han:iled by r ight

end and ~ instantly l ocated

permits a neat cut to be made at t .d.s point i f the first

fin -er at top exerts a slight downward pressure to

retain jogged card in

proper

posi tion.
!n the above, pack must be cut Hith the left hand but i f

cut ldth right hand all

~oves

desired to

are a mply reversed.

BOTT011 DEALING
Fe1 present

daY experts use or recoi1Jil1end the nethod of bottom dealing

described by Erdnase; their

c l~ef

objection beincf the posi tion of pack in hand

and the difficuJ ty of concealing the movement of the t hird

finger.

May we say,

ho1-1ever, t hat the above grip is of constant u'l:,iJ.i ty to card men.

thus held, are spread betweeu hands it is easy, wit.hout

When the cards,

descernible movement,

to slip the bottom card along bottom of fan -- a :nove of constant utility.
TOP AND OOTTOH DEALING HITH ONE HAND

This is well worth learning if used only f or exhibi tion purposes.

natural sv7ing necessary to deal cards serves to conceal.
has only to

The

the secret action.

One

witness the work .of Edv:ard G, (Tex) McGuire of Providence, R.I. to

appreciate the

possibilities of this deal.

1'HE SECOND DEAL
(rl

I f t he follodng suggestions are adopted anyone attemtping to master the

sl eight

can

aL~ost

immediately acquire t he essential knack and feel which

are of

11

all importance in acquiring the deal.

Thus countless houxs of tedious practice are

obviated.
F.ir st, hold pack in an eagy, normal position with the forefinger resting

against or curled around outer end.

If preferred the tip of forefinger may rest

against t r e right outer corner of bot.tom card.

To practice deal , simply pull back the top card about one quarter inch thus
exposing the outer end of second card and, important,
must be

press~irw~y

against base of

palm.

the left inner corner of card_

The tip of left thumb is placed so

that it contacts edge of top card a"ld exposed card equally.

pushes t ha two cards over the side topether but in

To deat, the thumb

such a manner that inner left

corner of top card actually bites into fles h of lower palm and pivots at this point.
Thus the

second card is dealt in the customary manner.

Cl osely following this

throug~

t l:e pack a

few times the proper feel of pivoting the top card will all11ost

instantl y be acquired.
the left

si. mple expedient it ldll be found that by dealing

Likevlise, and of equal importar:c e, it

~-Jill

be found that

third ani second finger acts as a sensitive gauge to permit only two

cards to be pushefver edge

finger experiences a

of pack.

I f correctly executed the

tip of third

distinct sensation; the bite of the t l O cards pas sing over

the finger pad.

As proficiency is acquired the lap of the two cards can be narrowed until it
can be executed with an increasi.::lgly small margin.

When this has been accomplished

the pulling back of the top card can be dispensed with and left thumb performs
the duty as descr:i.bed by Erdnase.
Important note.

As the second card is grasped./\rust be dealt in the exact

lateral plane of the top card, otherwise there dll be a d:i.scerni.ble

AGif.lrTfol-1
~

of

12
t he top card as the second i s dealt.

~df-=ll!llst.-~ 1 1~cl.-:ttill1 r-dur;tng the-

Secwu3 ~.

These detai l.s combined wit h the rapidity of the top card's baclo rard movement
create the desired deception.
Both Robert-Houdin and Erdnase agree that the rapid.:ity of t he backward
movement prevents detection.
This deal, correctJ.y executed in all particulars, i s, in my own esthation the
b est of. all ne thods I have seen.
ANOTHER l.fETHOD

This method as Erdnase admits is difficult to contr ol but 1-:e

suggest an

orif :i.nal variation whic h oll'ercomes the essential wealmess as the cards can be kept
under perfect control.
Pack is held in reguJa r deaJ.'i.n0 position but first f inger must extend around the
outer

Pack must be held in a slight ly diagonal

en/.or deck and slizhtly above same .

position so that thumb r ests naturally and

easi~

on top with tip near outer l eft

corner .

Thumb is bent slightl y and t hen pushes top card directly to the right.
.
this push is continued t he tlcumb will consequently straighten out so that t he

If

portion of t humb bet1"ee..11 first and second joints comes into contact with the exposed
second card.

The top card ll!llst be pushed

ful~

right before t he secon'i card starts to move

three quarters of an inch to the

Left fingertips which Will be under

top card, gauge the pushing off of t he second card as in a reguJa r top deal.
Ri Pht hand deals second card as usual but the instant this rand erips second
card, the top card must be pulled back by thumb in perfect alignment with pack.
T~j_s

is faciJJ.tated by the {iui dru:c e of the left f orefinger.

second card is more than half :it hdratm the

Remember that before

top card s h..ould be fully flush Hi th pack.

STACKING, LOCATJ:!lG AND

S~_URmG

Both metl:ods g:l.ven (especially t he second) are well worth acquiring paxticu.'h rly
as regards magic where it is so often necessary to arrange

a number of cards

secret~

13
and under close observation.
,If Hhen th1.UYlb very rapidl y f lips cards, f:reque,1t1y the desired card 'lill
inadvertently slip by.

I f this

happens~j

is a simple 1tter f or the

return to the proper point and secme the desired card.

thu:nrjtip to

As stated this per1ni ts

the operation to be performed Hit h extreme rapid:i.ty.

By t i>e sec,ond method four or more desired cards can. be brought

to bottom

or top 'l'."i. th a m;i.nimum of effort.

We consider this first s uffle described by Erdnase muc h superior t o the

one in co.mon use.

In the latter t he top and bottom cards are dra;m off in pairs.

For severa l obvious reasons the Erdnase sleight i s superior.

ERDNASE SYSTEM OF
Th~

STACK._E.~G_

all essential thing to strive f or in the Erdnase system of stack shuffling

is to make no more than a qu arter inc h inner or out jog.

margin is needed

i f you adhere strict ly

jog by the first and little

It is amazing how little

to the instructions o! cont.rolling, the

fing ers~

Once acquired the operator should

experience the feeling of holdi11g a very !ine break althqugh he is actually not
doing so.

In conjunction vTi th card tricks we consider the outjog generally

superior to the

injog.

This s l ruffle ..rell performed can be used with

before those lrell acquainted with the \vork.

i.mpunity

Sadl y enough, as usually performed,

it is painfully obvious to even the most unobserving.

TJ.-:.E ERDNASE SYSTEM~~l:!fr~-~9'_-

0nce Pilt.Oficient in the stack shuffle no difficulty will be experienced

in acquiring the cull shuffle.

In ll'.odern card magic this shuffle can be

to tremendous advantage so it i s passing

entirel y neglected

strange that i.t has been alluost

used

PA.LMJNG

The Erdnase paJ.rn rTas apparently devised to eUm:inate all strain from the
hand.

Owing to the technique employed it almost appears as if cards were

placed in palm by an invis.i.bl e

At

A
th~point
I

poer.

in description 11here Erdnase states that fingers are held

perfectl y straight

it must be remetbered that this consumes only a small part of

a single second.
Important.

After the palm and after cards have been dropped to table

the action of the right han~s mos t ~nportant.

There is a tendency when a

card is palmed for t he hand to nwve too slowly.

This is due to the fact that

a palmed card ha.'l!pers

natural relaxation.

hand more rapidly to simulate natural

Therefore

action.

it is necessary to move the

Hay we st.ress again that when

the hand conceals a palmed card t he f ingers, the hand and the wrist must be completely
relaxed.

Actually the

curve of the card t he

'

hand does not grip t he card but owing to the natural

diagonal corners simply press slightly against root of

thumb and first joint of little finger.

This is due to the natural tendency

A card correctl y palmed creates the

of the card to straighten.

merely clinging to hand and not of be:i.ne

sensation of

gripped or held.

The second method described by Erdnase is sil'liliar but inferior and needs
no collllllent.
When pack :is held!i.n r lght h<md ldth card palmed the hand has a much more
relaxed appearance if the forefinger is bent inward oo that its tip rests
on t he top of the pack.

This applies even more strongly

~Th en

pack is grasped

by the sides.
BOTTOM P.AIM

We consider the first

11e

second re thod is superior for

thod the best for

~ aJ~tbling

purposes, nowever the

conjuring .

When the cards are pi votecf.nward the t :;ird f inger should be

used..

Cards are aligned in palming position with

in preference to the littJ.e finger.

extended left forefinger 'lorhich
be in a curled position.

(~Tips

them and the

remaining three fingers 1-rill

Under scrutiny it is f~tal to attempt to extend t ha. cv JZ-Lt-D

it may appear otherwise.

fingers at this point altho

Instead, right hand should be extended to place pack on table, to show

Simultaneously

bottom card or some similiar pretext.

left hand turns inward

and dolmward and perform~ some such action as pulling back sleever, adjusting tie
or even dropping to

sid~

while standing.

In short, this is a perfect

example

of delayed action.
REPLACING BOTTOM P.Allv!,

If Erdnase's instructions are closely followed there should be no dfficulty

in performing this

sleight.

The important thing to bear in mind is that forefinger firmly grips card
at end which enables the other three fingers to slide along end,

around corner to

Al-or-.~ G

Then immediately forefinger slips-\end to position near outer right corner

side.

or, as Erdnase suggest, curls under front edge of

motion.

pack thus aiding the rotary

The above ::1ovement is not co!lllnensed until the instant the left edge of

pack comes into contact l>rith fork of thwnb as cards are placed in left hand.
entire action or adjustment takes place in less t~an a second and is

The

entirely :

ilnperceptible.
MAINTAINING BOTTOM PALM \iHILE DEALWG

' vle have often lvondered why this handling has been almost wholly neglected
in the performance of card

magic~

Under many

co~di~ions

the appearance of

the; hand holdinr; the palm is enhanced by curling the . forefinger around the end

'

of deck.
TO HOLD THE LOCATION OF CUT Wh'ILE DEAIJNG

Erdnase's exact handling should be

ac~red

by every card

l~orker .

as it has

16
unlimited uses.

When 1orking

surrounde~ t

:..ff'\

is well to have 11fingers at extreme IJ\lN (.I<:.

end of side canpletel y covering t he break.

SHIFTS
Erdnase's method for the two-handed shift is the only one in which tip
of

tha~b

is held at side of pack and it is decidedly more efficient especially if

operator's hand is small.

Unquestionably the finest descriptions of the two-handed pass yet given are
by Lang Neil and Erdnase.

pull up the under packet.

Both stress the fact that right fingers should not

The

Bertr~

method (described by Lang Neil)

uses first finger and thumb as pivot and Erdnase the second finger and thumb.
Undoul>tedly better control is achieved by curling first finger of l eft
hand around the outer edge o pack as

deRc~1hed

by Lang Neil.

In any pass or shift the all essentiU purpose i s to cause t;;o packets
cards to transpose

in the least possible space with the

movement and with the maxi.rtlUITI of cover.

greatest minimum of

Furthermore a ma:x::I.ITtuln of speed is

essential without the sacrifice of smoothness and there must be no

strain during the action.

o~

semblance of

In initial practice the beginner should strive only for

smooth a"ld even execution after which speed will unconsciously be achieved.
There are, of course, a multitude of different shi.t'ts and each usually
certain advantages for certain specific purposes.

poss~~

For many years we have

consi stently used a shift possessing sundry original qualities and which, we
feel, can be

successfully employed under most circumstances.

The mechanics of this s!-.ift are quite s:imil iar to t he conventional but
o,.,'ihg to the el imination of any tilting or hinging motion of the lower packet
the sleight bears little reselnblance to the orthodox.
Briefly pack is held in regular dealing position but 1. th little finger
separatine th.e t Ho packets and forefinger curled loosely around outer end.
Hhen right hnnd approaches to grasp the pack, as usual second finger and

17

thumb seize bottom packet by ends.

The left edge of l o.rer packet, i n so doing, Hill

viit hout any til ting 11hatever.

s l ide up'.{ard along the

No,.r this packet is l ifted straight upward

inner side of t humb unt il i t reaches a point near t he

tip
With a sl i ght as sistance f rom the l eft fingers the elevation of l o-.rer packet
around underneath~

as above described causes upper half to sl 'ing

Holding t he

nm uppermos!; packet dead still, l eft fingers bri ng up r emainder of cards from
belo.v and i mmediatel y left thumb and f ingers square up sides by sliding to and
fro along edges.
' The enti re 'action shoul d appear to onlooker as if the pack 1vas merel y lifted
from a normal dealing position to f i ngertips f or the purpose of squaring.
When employing t he orthodox shift several gambl ers of

our acqul1i ntance

utilize t he f ollowing dodge to more fully cover t he action of the s 11Ht from
t he f ront.

During the s hift t he l eft forefinger, curled around t he outer end,

is kept in constant contact ld t h t he right fingertips.

may appear

ir~possible

but after a few

At Hrst trial thi s

attempts it will be f ound t hat if the

pulli ng off of t he top packet is restri cted to t t he us e of t he Ja st three fingers,

the f i rst .finger can be held firmly in contact 'ld. th the r i ght fingerti ps.
immobile first finger tends to cover any

telltale flash that mi ght

other~tise

TP.is
rel$Ult.

We mentloned at the outset that t he t wo packets shoul d transpose in the

l east poss ibl e space and we

here offer an invaluabl e suggestion as to how this

may be realized easily and practi cally.

Altho it can be appli ed to al l t1-ro-

handed s hifts, it is an essential part of our

0!-1:ing to t he f act t hat the

l ittl e f inger separates the

pack, a triangul ar space is thus created.

action more movement occurs.

own parti cular method.

two

halves o!

I f pertni tted to remain during the

Hol,rever dur:ing t he action this space can be

18

eliminated by recoul'se t o t he following simple expedient.

As soon c>.s the inner left

t hu1nb, the nngers

corner of t he upper half clears the

~ght

of same hand tldst t he l o1.rer half slightly in a

counter-clockwise laovement.

At same time left fingers give a slight

upper half in opposite direction.

t~iist

to

The pass is then completed.

These simple actions brine the right irmer corner of lower half in contact
FA-c.

vrit h t he ~card of top half t hus eliminating

this undesi rable triangular space

Another point to r a>ne111her is, that as t he packets clear onekother the sides
of each will be parallel.
Another ir~portant point to bear in mind is that t hroughout t he s hift's actiO!l.
t he lef t t humb exerts a dovmward pressure which

causes t he right sid!l of under

packet to pivot upward bettreen s econd finger and thumb of right hand.
pressure s hould not be relaxed.

Actually l ower packet pivotsup and

in
t his position until left hand completes the movement.,
F~~
el:\:rlinated.

This
is,~

Thus one novement is

l>fnen t he pass is executed correctly t he operator must feel he is

making only a single movement.

Here are t 1-1o 1rrays to employ t he pass to advantage.
tec :nique.
or

a ges ~ure

The l eft hand '1-ri t h

First the delay~c.l.

finger inserted may be drQ)ped to

side .

made and during t his action the pack lll.U.st be adjusted to t he

exact posi tion so t hat '!hen t he t Ho hands come together

aJ teration of position in l ef t hand is

necessitated.

not the s lirll test

Thus t he s hift can b e

instantly :!ade.
It is often desirabl e to make the pass i mmediatel y after a card is repl aced
either in .fanned

Clr'

squared deck.

The l eft hand, in either case, adjusts itself

before t he selected card is returned so t hat

be instantly made.

~snen

deck is squared the pass can

19
THE ERDNASE SHIF';r.....__;:;;ON:.;.:E::...:.:H=AN
D~

Most experts after mastering this most difficult shift find it dif ficult
IIJ l>f 1';CT}I~I.~

if not impossible to uti lize it in a

practical or .:indM\8ble lYaY.

we submit an original technique..:-a natural screening which

make:~

However,

the action

It these practical details are f ollowed the pass ldll

virtually invisible.

fulfill all cJ.aims made for it. The s hift can only be rendered deceptive at the card table by usine t he rir:,ht
hand for screen or cover.

The pack is hel d as described by Erdnase with l eft

thumb ready to assume its grip.

Right hand then approaches in a natural way to

grasp cards at ends but not unti l right edge of pack is screened or covered does
Then the sl"d.ft is inatantJ.y made to t he point

t he l eft thumb curl around end.

where l ower packet
is at

t~is

passes around upper half and is almost ready to fi.l,

instant that t he falling packet is arrested and grasped at ends by

the rip:ht fingers and thumb.

to meet it.

Left hand lifts or actually boosts up l ower half

Right hand can t hen

hand can make a squarine

For

It

~agical

-~ovement

take deck and tap edge on table or left

al on;7 sides.

purposes t he foll o 1ne move can often be used to great advantage .

Holding pack in starting position allcm spectator ':Jho j_s stancling on your left
to sight or peek a card by opening deck at corner.
,. hat is t o be done by breaking
gesture.

Your left thumb indicates

pack in several places -- a PG!fectly natural

The instant card i s sieht ed a break is held by second finger with

thumb in perfect posj.tion .

Hand,holdint; pack,

grasps spectator's

to step foi'lrard or backward.

and in a

arm

fiR

a request is made.fbr him

Under cover of this ,pass can be made

invisibl y

t~.rinkling.

THE ERDNASE SHIFT

TWO fi.ANDS

This is undoubtedly the easiest pass in the Erdnase book toacquire but

20

personally we have faund but little use f or it.

TO ASCERT.AIN THE TOP CARDS WHILE RIFFLING AND RESERVE THEM AT BOTTOM

Erdnase's handling cannot be improved upon. This has many uses at

card table as well as for magic.

Strangely enough it has been

overl ooked by the magical. fraternity.

the

largely

An able card eutlnlsiast in Detroit

recent ly 1-n-ote us that he consi dered i t one of the best thines in the book.
MODE OF HOLDING AND

SKmNlNG THE HAND

Whil e t hese methods are excel lent more modern procedures will be submitted
later in this book.
THE PLAYER WITHOUT

AN_~

This section gives much sensible advice and several valuable tip:: to
the reader so it should be caretuUy studied.
TJ1REE CARD 1-fONTE

Thi s is beautifully described by Erdna seo

Professional operators

inevitabl,use ti-ro duplicate cards and an odd one--usually t wo black tens

and a red ace or fi!Ueen.

This enabl es the double flash to be employEd most

effecti veJ y.
We 1dll briefly discJose several closely guarded dodges used by
professional. 1'broad-tossers. 11

As Erdnase states the

three m rds are

always crimped lengthwise to facilitate picking them up but there is another

crimp or bend secretly made in advance; namely, l'ritt. t he three cards squared
up together, outer right corners
up1~ ards

again.

of t he t hree cards are given a s harp bend

rri thout, of course, breaking the cards.

This !'acilitates the

They are then

dodge of crimpine

straightened

the corner, secretly

removing it and indetectably crimping another card.

Altho Erdnase does not mention i t, the double flash immeasurably
enhanses t he deception and we regard it as the real

11convi

ncer 11 or

11c01n e

on. 11

21
. There are ma.11y variations but -te 1:ill noH describe a demonstration
Used for many years lf.i.th unvarying sUCCess.
~~e

~. e

have

For impromptu purposes

renove t he seven and eight of c l ubs and t he queen of hearts from

t he pack giving them the usual dmmward crimp and prepare t he corners as
above described.
The t hree cards are placed in a

rOlf 1ith queen :in center.

'vie iill

number t he cards one, t ..ro and three running from the operata: 1 s l eft to his

rieh't.
Right hand picks up No. 3 and s bov1s.

Left picks up No. 1 and shnTS.

Three i s placed over tHo (the qu.een) and both are tw:ned face up with
the remark, "A l ittle game from F.anky Poo.

The black for me, t he rei

(~~~>

for you.

Keep your eye on the lady."

Right tosses t wo_Aface down m table.

The toss and the turninr, down are all one movement.
Left picks up t'o, shows and tosses it face down .

Tms sequence is

repeated starting vii th right hand. .

Again right hand picks up two, and on the thro'.' svri tches card so that
three lands on t he lett.

With cards face done both hands move to the right

t hen left hand deposits one on extreme right and right crosses over and

drops

t m ' (queen) in the center.

Then we say, "Most people would pick t his card" - we shor card on left and
continue, "But t he queen is really in the center. 11

\'le show it, always holding

cards by ends.
Again right picks up three, , shoVJs face, left does the same.

Right, still

holding card picks up t1,o (queen) sho~rs and apparently thro1s it to left but
makes switch.

Left hand drops

its card to center.

Right still holding card

imniediately picks up t he card just thrmm, turns them face up saying 11Black here,
tosses to number two position at center \llaking sritch.

Right turns up card

11

22
remaining in hand and says, "Black here. 11
three position.
here,"

~re

Remarking,

11 Even

It is then tossed to nU!lb er

a blind man could see that the card fell

touch inner left corner of supposed queen (in position one) ldth

left forefinger.

ru.ght picks up center card, (queen) and \r.i,th it flips over

card held by finger.

because it is

al1~ays

As face is disclosed we remark )!l\lt never bet on this card

1

bl ack. 11

Flipping it face dom again, card in hand is

Toss on

again placed atop, both cards are turned face up, sh01:ing black.
table making s,r:i.tch for queen.

Without s ho<Ting, card remaining in hand

is placed over card at right, both are turned up saying, "Black here. 11 Make

l eg:l.. timate toss to centel' and show last card in hand remarking,
here."

11

And1 black

Toss it to number three position.

Without hesitation the queen :i.s impressively turned face up

~,ith

remark,

"Always pick this one."

We continue by remarking,
everything easy to foll01-l.

11

This may be a bit conf using so T.re

11

vd.ll make

vie openly bend up outer right corner of queen

and place it in center position face dom vTith the black cards at number one and
three positions.
Right picks up black card at three and
11

Ren1ember, this is black."

clearly shows its face remarking,

Card is turned face dmm and left picks up blaclc

card f rom one pos ition, shows its face clearly and slol-rly, remarking J'.And
black here. 11

\'lith attention directed to this card, right hand secretly

bends corner of its card exactly as described by Erdnase.

Right hand, with fingers concealing t k is crimp places card atop 1t1a
queen and tosses it to left.

Left hand places its card atop queen rod

tosses i t back to the r ir'r,t.

This is repeated several times t>hich permits

onlookers to observe the bent corner of queen.

We remark, "You will n~

23

be able to see exactly what happens, but it becomes very cotf using 11hen
I cross my hands."
Finally r ight hand holding secretly crimped black card places it
over the queen, flas hes it, makes switch as it is tossed to let.
Left hand places its

card to r:j..ght of apparent queen, picksup the

l atter, i mmediatelY picks up bent card on table, slowl y

at number three position.

At this

depos~ta

it

point the arms cross, left over

rig ht and under cover right f ingers straighten out corner o! real
queen and places later at number one position.
Concluded by remarking "Even it' you followed everything you would
still lose bec ause this is black, (turn

over right hand card) and

this

is black (turn over center card) and t he queen is al~otays here" (slowqturn over queen.)

~le t horoughly agree with Erdnase that no card feat will give as good
returns for t he practice

exp~ded

as t he grand old pastime of three card

monte.

MEXICAN MONTE
This method of t urning over one card wi. t h another must be
established by legitimatel y doing
sl eight can be safely used.

thor~ hJ.y

so a number of t imes before the

This amounts to a simple condi t:b ning

process.
The us ual mistake in perfor:ninr-: t his slei.ght is that. the right
hand does a sort of !olloi.r throug h by conti.puing the movement beyond
the turned card.

For perfect deception t he action must be

motion.

ri~?ht

wren the

for efinger turns over t r.e

a flipp::ln g

tabl ed card the

other card must be lifted sufficiently to allow right side of the un<br

24
card

to revolve belo11 it to a !ace up position.

smooth and done in one continuous

The action rnust be

movement.

LEGERDEMAIN

Erdnase

gives sound and constructive advice in his introduction

His remarks should be carefully read and

to conjuring rd. th cards.

digested.

THE

C~ ARLIER

ShiFT

This has been described by many 1-ll'iters on magic 'h'it h novariat:il

bUt Erdnase suggests t l at the 11ttle fing er be held at

end of p ack a; a

ma~'t"$

menda of attaining greater control.

possibl e to make t his pass

~li thout

We have found that

it is entir-ely

detection i f it is accompanied by a

sHeeping but natural gesture.

THE LONGITUDINAL SiiiFT

Attention should be paid to Erdnase's

c lose to first f inger during t he ac tion.

advice to hold right thumb

The pass is performed entirely

by l.eft band, t lle right hand simply acting as

cover.

THE OP'Fll SHIFT

This is an exceedingly difficult pass but its acquisition can be

greatly facilitated by follotling Erdnase 1 s exact instructions viz: 11

The upper packet should not fall into t he left hand.

by

t~ e

It rnust be caught

curled up first finger and t he first joints of t he

other left

fingers as i t cJears t he side of t he under packet."

THE S,\t/,E, SHIFT
This pass is lucidly described and we have found it ideal for
making a

false cut,

In t his connection t he following extract !rOlll

Erdnase' s description rnust be observed.

11

This action will tilt the

opposite sides of both upwards and as t hey clear each other the right

25
thum-b tip catc hes t he under packet. 11
Now at t lis exact point instead of continuing t he pass the
rip.ht hand places its packet on the table and then taking xemaining
packet f r om l eft hand, places it squarel y on top.

This exactl y

s:ilmll ates a true cut.

Tl1E DIAGONAL Pill1 Sl,IFT

Many performers attempting to learn t his important s leight may

find t at t l':e

follo~line

tecl:nique will aid them in their efforts.

\Vhen the selected card is pushed into pack diagonaUy it is not

neces sary to push the left corner dol-m t he side
.finger.

"~>'i t

h t t e right first

Instead, l ef t t l umb tip can immediately gr:ip t his comer

and assisted by the t ree fingers at opposite si de, slide the card
b achard under cover of a squaring motion.

w.en

t t e thumb reaches

a point slicl't l y beyond center of t he side, t he left t humb and

l ine ers slide f or1vard again alent.

tl~e

truding under cover of the rigtt hand.

jeeti on of the card and t he

edges l eaving the

card pro-

Oldng to this greater pro-

forward position of t he l eft hand it

:'ill revol ve more neatly and invisibly into left palm.

Also it

will result in less telltale movement of the l eft fingers .

lfi th t e th.tmb al ong side of deck , bottom card or cards can be
brought into the above dia( onal position and palmed as easily as
i f they Here inser..ed into t he pack.

This is an efficient b ott om

1

palm w.ic:., altho mentioned by Erdnase, we i:ave never seen used.

TIE BLlNJ) SHUFFLE F'OR

S.~lJ!T_N9

SELECTED CARD_

A variation of t his is our favor i te method of s .ufning a selec\e d

26
or

Break is held bel o;r noted card,

peeked at card to t :"le botto.11.

deck is turned on i ts side i uto t he l eft palm in the manner described

but i nstead of cutting to half pcr tion

above break, cut directly

below breal< and s ruffle these cards to the top.

selected card on bottom.

This l eaves

We folio'" immediatel y wi t it another shuffie

but t is time retainine card on the bottom by pressure of left fingers .

T >is is easy, direct and efficient.

Card on bot.tor!l is :instantly

pal.l!led i.n l eft h.and and deck can be i'lD'Ilediately handed to spectator
f or furt'ter s huf.tl ing.

Erdnase rras

a~rare

of t he fact that t he pJ.llll

should be made without hesitation and he states - "Acticn it! quicker

if not particul ar about the number."
FORCING
Long experience wi ll undoubtedly prove that forcing a card from

above the break is greatly preferable to the force from below break.
Tr.e break, if possible, should always be belo,; center of pa.ck .
The reason for t his is that it allo1.;s more cards to be spread and gives
a

more careless appearance in handling.

In spreading cards before

reaching break t he pack should be held just beyond spectator's reach.

he ia compelled to advance sliehtly or extend his reach which affords
time to reach the break.
Should he r each !or a card sooner than expected do not increase
the tempo of t he pushing move111ent but, instead, push the cards
larger group s

or

se~ents.

It should be remembered t hat cards are

never pushed singly but in a . succession of spreads.

The i deal >lay to learn foreing

is to alua;rs attempt to force e'B

11'hen a f ree se1ection can be all01-:ed.

One areat secret of the fol'Ce is to do it \1itt>out apparent
"get-ready" such as a cut, shuf fle or furtive glance to note car~

Thus

27

A perfect illustration ot this point is the manner in which a card ;:m

forced by the Ja te Max Malini.
well

The card to be forced '!lras IlGlted

in advance usually -;hile performing

another trick.

A b-eak

was held belo,r card to be f orced and in placi11g pack on table he left
a slight

step or joe at this card.

would tell an amusing story

Entirel y disregarding pack he

or experience.

he would be reminded of another trick.

Then after this dela;r

\?o'w(-n<r

liUeh~

up the cards in the

.
most careless manner possible; and without apparentJ.y looking at eithaspectator or pack] he ,,ould spread them out
was no appearance of

get-rea~

for a selection.

There

or preparation.

PAlMING

A1tho Erdnase' s description of the back palm was 1: ritten in the

'

"horse and buggy" days of this sleight nevertheless, li th t he except:bn

of the initial position, the moves are exceptionally accurate and
practicalo

In fact, one small move he describes is superi or to the

tec hnique generally employed at the present day.

We refer to the

action of the ri?ht thumb in bringine the card. from the

to the inside of the hand.

rear position

The fact that the thumb replaces the

grip of the first finger on the edge of card eliminates the

unnatural and awlnrard contortion

SO COll'llliOU

ol;herHi se.

This thumb

technique a:pplies equally ':'ell -vrhen using a number of cards.

The

thumb always remains i n vierr 0

CHANGES
In general Erdnase' s description of the top change is superlor
-mos{ ,
to~.

Ho,.;ever, one

i<Y!por'~ant

thing in the handling is omit ted.

At t he point '"hen the b o cards are actually exchanged, the right

hand card

is smoothly slid or thrust 1Jl}der the il1ll1lobile left thurlD.

28
It must be stressed that the left tlrurab

~ ust

remain absolutely mo1lonless

so t hat t he serenity o.r the change is not disturbed.

BOTTOM

C~

The usual mistake in executing t his chanee is l ack of proper

timing.

The top card is usually pushed over side of pack teo soon.
In

The push should be del ayed until the n ry inst'ant of the change.
t his lray t he pack itself appears undisturbed .unti , aft e; hauge i s

~THE PAll-1 Cf.ANOE

As descri bed by Erdnase t his sleight has one noticeable weakness

.,. hich is an obvious pushing movement of the l eft
to

propel card into pa.1m.

This

move1~ent

~ers

in onder

ca11 be mini'fri..zed.

the cards are held betvreen all four fin;;ers and thumb.
they are supported solely by little finger and thumb.

App a rently

In real i

The other

fineers being relaxed, permit t he follor.ing action -- in> tead of

t he left band sei:!}ing the

cards

t he left thwnb and second and

outer

by their s ides as Erdnase directs,

t~ri..rd

fingers grasp the top card by

near l eft corner and it will be found t hat a very slight

movement o! the l eft second f'inger vr.i.ll be sufficient to p:Lv-ot

card into palm .
THE DOUBLE PALH

This change
observed.

b~omes

C~~.!_.

highly practical i f one small cetail is

As the right hand advances to take the packet for

palminr t he r:tcht thumb must go fuectly to en1of packet and not

be

allo~ed

to assume t he telltale "fishhook" positiono

TRANSFORV~TIONSJ

~_l~Dp_

FIRST l{ET I:OD

Instead of holding deck at fingertips it may be held jJ1de:allt;.g

29
position with thumb along the left side and
beyond corner.

projec-t~ng

slightly

This effectually conceals t he projecti'On of bottom

card ,rhen pushed for1Tard.

I f t he hand is ;easah'llbly lllOist

:Lt 5.s pos sible to make t he change by pushing t he card f'crward

even leas

than a quarter inch.

SECOND ? THOD

This me!;,hod has beer used by top card men

hi ghly popular.

and is still

It ras a great favorite of .Mc;.x lhlini. who

astounded the most observing people vlith his perfect harrlling.

Particular attention s hould be given to figure

8.5

of the

Elt'dnase <fork with reference to position of t he right thumb

1Vhioi1 does not stick out in t.he usual fish hook manner.
Regardl ess of the particul ar l'lode of presentation when
the actual palm is made all action is done ;Titi, the left hand.
As the . index finger pushes card into palm t he hand remains
absolutely i r.unob:U.e.

There is a great tendency to

m~

a s l i ght contraction of fingers at the moment card touches palm.

In s 11ort the

hand must be contracted before card is ree.eiwEid.

The left forefinger makes all the movement an<ilethe right hand
must. receive card vTithout the slightest flicker of fingers or
t hurnb.

It is stri ct attention to t hese details Hhich di1I erentiates

the expert from t he

inept.

Tl-'IRD, FO~!LLAFJl.LI~F.:f.'i...@~

The above suggestions applied. to t hese three methods will

greatly enhance their

ef.fect;.
SIXTH METHOD

This is a most ineenious change but much; study and practice

is required to make the action now smoothly.

ltle

suggest this slight alteration in har.dling.

card has been pivoted :Ll'lto t he pa:Jm do not

After the

imlllediately~

suggested, seize t he deck by t he l oner end.

as

Instead carry

t he deck away to the left f or at l east one foot and hold

it perpendicularly with thumb at top and fingers
right hand takes deck by

lo~er

below.

Then

end as left changes posi tim

and holds deck by sides.

1'RANSF0ffi.1ATIONS, ~ .O!!!}f!N~
FIRST :HETHOD

Anyone desiring to use this c hanee should bear in mind

a slight deviation f ro:11 Erdnase 1 s description.

When

di~Ii

ng

face of pack keep the left t humb well away from front cardpreferably it should rest atop edge of pack.

In s hort i t

should be in sa'lle position t hat it will assullle

c hange.

In

ot~1er

at !in:il h

of

words t he thumb is not extended acl'()Ss

face of pack until the instant

t he action takes place.

SECOND METHOD

~.:J7iT4faJ

Perfect execution of t to.is change can be tadl:ated if the

tip of thumb is placed against inner or little finger
pack.

This insures t he card revol ving

md

more n eatly.

If not desired to use as a color change this move is

extre1nel y use.t'ul for secretly reversing a top or bottom ca-d

when hand is dropped t o side or even below table i !
right hand engages i.n misdirection.
BLlliiD

si:un:3

RET~. ~.TIRE

ORDER

FIRST METHOD

This s hould be in t he

repetoire

of evgry card

handler

31
as it is of constant utility and can be used in many ways.

In

the five moments made if the fifth or last throw consists of

a single card instead of a packet the action l eaves the entire
order the same vrith exception of bottom card which ends up
top.

on

A second shuffle brings another cardfr<:m botton to

top and thus the original top card of pack is now in third
position.

Possibly no other method accomplishes thi.s

result so deceptively.
SECOND METHOD

This riffle can be made much more effective i.:t: when dividing
packets at start, t he l eft forefinger performs the one hand
cut (sliding top card of pack into left :b..and portion) so lt1en
packets are fanned and pushed together the illusion of a
genuine shuffJ e is greatly enhanced.
THIRD ME'l'HOD

The above dodge can be effectively applied to this met hod.

FOURTH METHOD

This is ideal for anyone who does not ,.rish to make a display
of dexterity.

FIFTH lo!ETEOD
As Erdnase suggests, this should be rejecled.

However,

is hi.ghly effective when apparently mixing a smaJJ. packet

of cards so often necessary.
l1ETHODS OF p~~~~IN~ A CARD THOUGHT OF
METHOD

This is one of t he classi cal methods of mental forcing

and can be refined in several ways.

The usual fault as

Erdnase describes it is making too long a hesitation.

it

32
Our

O}m

procedure elininates the necessity of stopping at

any one place even for an instand; the springing is continued

evenly throughout yet t he resul t is achieved.
Start an even rHf'le

'.Jhen center of pack is reached

as per lill:':dnase and

simply

bend the cards remaining in

right hand a trii'le more sharpl y, which wiltncrease

give a clearer and more unobstructed vielo/ of the

the

area and tlms

card to be forced.

However, this will not alter the even tempo . of the riffle.

Needless

to say at the instant the bend of cards is increased a break is held

so that noted card can be controlled.
METHOD B

Experiment will prove that it is not necessary to

consciou~

hesitate

in sprineing the cards as the normal sprineing .dll re sult in a momanta;ry

l ull or hesitation.

As

performer springs c.ards he watches for a ca.Iid

more visible than the others.

also noted by the spectator.

The card thatrsees wiJ.l be the one

This was one of many mental effects with

cards performed by the late Paul Rosini and in his hands it left
nothing to be desired.
lofE'l'HOD C

This requires excellent manage111ent to ll1_effective and is

rarely if ever used by the modern expert.
METHOD D.

The real secret of this method is contained in a s:i.ngJ.e

mentioned by Erdnase and 'qhich is al1-1ays overlooked.

operator lo oks

~rord

He states that the

into the eyes of the spectator .

This can

be accomPliShed by turning the head slir,htly aside 8Qd

if~noring

can

the spectator ' s glance .

'fli easily

a~narently

However , the spectator ' s reaction

bo observed out o:e the tail of the eye.

111

thou~h

the

operation appears childishly simple it re quires experience based on

trial and error before real success can be ach:eved .

If performer

stands at a little distance fro.m spectator tbe working \/ill be

facilitated .
TO G~- SIGH'l' Oi *\ .:::lELF.CTED 0.!\I~

The two last methods aro vrell worth learning .

The technique

is clearly described but it mu ... t be adapted to one ' s

O\'m

personality

and natural demoonor .

THE SLIDE

on

GLIDE

This , like the vast .rna jori ty of sleic;hts, is dependent for

success on how you go into it . "

The averate card man po-form.s the

subtorruce quite badly for the reason that he telegral)hs" the .raove
in advance by

~uspiciously

ol o cing oack in correct position prepara -

tory to performing t.he sleirht .

~lhen

drawing

at~ention

to bottom card prior to executing , hold

the pack axactly as de_:)icted in Figure 97 of the Erdnaso book with

exception that the three fineers are not curled around pack but held
in rcla:xod position so that bo'l:;tom card is not obstructod,

Position

of thumb and forefinger, cor:ractly shown in cut , are importnntJfor

they, br exerting pressure on
being drawn back .

bot~om

card prevent more than one card

A certain touch or feel u:Jdures you of only a

single card being pulled back .

Now as pock is turne.d

frlOO

down and th, riGht hand approaches

to remove bottom card, the three fincers curl in , as per illustration ,

gliding the card backuard .
men this silllple ;.;lcight re11.uires careful rehearsal and timinB.

-34-

If the action conf orms to your na'Gural movement i t can be made to

d,Qceive t he raost .obs ervant .
F.AVOHITE

dLEIGH'l~ l~'OR 'I'E<~MINATING

'T'l:UCKB

These are too fa!'lilia r and Wid ely used to re quire comment . The
last method (Rising Card) can be made most effective .

OAnD TRICKS

The last sentence in Erdnase ' s introduction to card tricks

should be underlined and i mprinted upon the memory.
THE

EXCLUSI'IT~

COTmUE

This is a pefe ct illustration of how a classic can be so

garn ished by patter as to assume an entirely new aspe ct .

Note how

Erc1nase creates a favora bl e moment to palm the necessary cards-- a

little less on in itself .

.Also by utilizing the pass , h e creates the

impression that any three cards 8re placed atop each queen.

.Althout;h

t he a ctual p a tter is d a ted, yet , it forms a perfect patteJ:n f or a

modernize d p resent a tion.
TBE DIVTIHHG ROD

An elaboration of thi s tri ck .made the reputation of t he l ate

Max l<lnlini.

~/e

sugges t t hat the rea der consid er the alterna tive

method suggested by l':rdnas e in the fi nal paragr aphs of his descript ion.

We have so performed it many times vii t h grati fying r e sults.

THE INVISIBLE FLIGifr

1/ie r e cently puzzled a group of well versed card men by performing
this tri ck exactly as described .
Note how the pa lming is done at an o pportune moment - the misdirection is quite perfect .

Ev en the

taki~~

of pa ck into right

hand wi th card palmed affords a ;feelinc, of comfort and security .

- 35-

Note after the palm change that the hand is :lr11r.1edi ately. used.
Erdnas e beautifully analyzes tho exa ct procedure .
TRICKS

~'liTH PRE-A~:U.NGED

DECK

The rules su pplied can be adapted to any progrezsive setup .

By

progres sive we mean any se tup wherein the thirteen values are
repeated in the same order of which the Si Stebbins arrangement is
a classical example .
CAlmS UP THE SLEEVE

This is another classi c and a close perusal wil l reveal

suggestions and timing
Over tho years v1e hove performed t he trick in its Irtany variations
and IJ.any time:;; have usE>d it almost exa ctly

a~

des cr ibed by Erdnase .

TEN CARD TRICK

7/e agree with tho statement that this iS one of the bes t nonsleight o f hand effe cts possible .
out s ince the days of E'rdnase .

Many variati ons have bee n worked

Our o;m method will be described in

the final chapter of this book.

THE ACROBATIC JACKS

This is anothe r classic and should be in tha repetoire of avery

card worker .
!fiND READHU TRICK

ile gained somewhat of a reputation years ago wit h this tri ck

usinr exact patter and method.
THE C'-.!E OF COl'!TROL

Rven at this l ate

da~e

an entirely new effect has been created

by a well known Chicag o magician using this priciple .

Tln,;

c~nm

Il\ l:uHID!::E!WHI:;F

Among macicians thin is con$idered a trite trick but is actually

littl e seem by the lay public.

-36-

TOP AND BOTrOM PRODUCTION

Here is a trick of considerable antiquity, yet , v1ell performed
at the present day it 'dill reg ister more stronc ly than ninety
percent of the so-called modern ca rd miracles.
'1'1.. TBllliE ACES

An exce l lent t;rick to teach a small child.

c.mn nr

H.\T

An e:x:cel lant trick performed as described .

Note ingenious way

in which necessity of using a dup licate card iS eliminated. Holding

selected card bet>Joen p alms an d delaying its return is an excellent
way to eliminate duplica t e.
Pllli.3ENi ' D4\Y DEVM..OP:ii}.C1fTS

Our purpose in writing this volume is simply to ass ist in making

the instructions of Erdnase moro lucid.

Howevor the present

chapter will be devoted to sund:by methods and

strata~ ems

not

dis cussed by l!.'rdnase and for the n ost part unknown in his day .
In fact, we feel quit e confident :tE a number of tb9 items v1e propose
to describe are unknown at the present day .
of rif:Vle shur!ling will .. illustrate,
statement.
Tl'(i';

or

The follol ling s ystem

we f(;jel, the truth of this

CULL RIFFLE OF T:Hr::

LITSTERIOU~

KID

the scores of demonstrations, by skilled .mechanics we have

witness ed over the years this , in our opinion , stands out clearly
as being the most incr.ed~ble system ot Cal'd handling we have ever
s e en.
As oringinally seen by us

~he

Mysterious

Kid~

simply subje cted

our own pack to four a)parently orthodox riffle shuffles and then
revealed four Jacks atop the pack .

In actual play the a_bovo operator

-37-

informed us that the culling of three of a kind

was generally

sufficient to -get t he mo"n'ey. n

In substance the gr oundwork of the system cons is ts of ""'throwing
in

briefs~

deck.

at sighted c ards and transfe rring them to. t.he top of the
?'\

Although the pi!Jrvious sentence reads simply the actual work

is something else acain.

Performed slowly . as a demonstration,

atta,inment, may be gai ned by the averag e card mat,J. . but to be able to
work~tunder fire~

exe cute the

represents the very

. ~enith

of. tech-

ni cal accompflishment .
The operf:l.tion

co~.me nces

by riffling one pa cket into the other.

As the shuffle is started the top card of the l _e ft packet is glimpsed,

for example atr ace .
f or another

.As the riffle proceeds the operato1 watches

ace and as soon as .it dl'OpS from the left thumb right

hand i ruv.ediately allows n s mall block of fj ve or six c ards to fall

above it as the shuffle continue& . ret~ining the ace already on
top.
In this condition the packets are pushed togethe r and apparently
squared as

p~~viously described in' thG "'pull o~t riffle.

Correct

e xecution v1ill resul.t in a wide briar or gap near the l eft corner
of.:outer Side of pack.
In di v:\.ding the c ards for the next shuff'le the second finger ttp
of loft hand. easily locates by feel, t his division and by simply
p:cessing down on all cards belov< the gap permits right hand to
slide off all cards above in readiness f or the next riffle.

At

this point there will be an ace atop each pa cket.

Identically the same procedure is employed f or the second riffle
but of course maki ng sur,e that .the ace on each pa cket remains on top .
At the cor::mencef'1e nt of third riffle there wil l be two aces on the
r:i.ght hand pa cket and naturally, these must be shuffled below the

third ace Which Hill be on

~he

top of' the loft packet .

If des ired to

cull the fourth ace the p rocedure is identical , shurflins the three
aces on .: right .I?Ortion under last ace atop loft pa cket.

It goes \'llith-

out saying that the natural'dist ribution of tho wanted cards greatly
affects the exact procedure .

For example , should one of the desired

cards ha_:">pen to be on or very near the bottom the following variation

is utilized .
is dropped

sj

.lssuming the ace is on the bottom of left portion , it

ng ly boforo tho rir;ht hand c 1rds ere rifflod in.

aro squared up but rieht end is

~lir~hly

Cards

beveled which cou:Jos bottom

of for.mer right packet to project slightly on right end . Half of cards

are ;.,o\'1 cut to the top and very slightl y joc;eed to the richt .

./hen

the curds are again separated for the riffle the right third finger
eadily locates this jog and tho pack is divided leaving tho ace atop
the left _9acket .
11hen

sighti~

cards durine riffle , if by accident an extra card or

two slips by, simply drop the block in at t his point and upon cot'U':lence rnent of t he following shuffle it Will only be necessary to :lllow the
aco~;

on the rirht pacltet to fall as before, underneath tho left a ce .

The eztra card.; now on top can be neatly disposed of on the next
riffle by the method we have previously desc:.-ibed under heading ofPULL 'l'ffiU RIFFLE WITH BOLCK TH..\N.:iFER.

One point must not be omitted .

It iS quite possible as a result

of distribution that all the wanted cards may be in the right hand
packet .

In this event none Hi 11 bo g linpsod so a pull thru shuffle

iS executed whicll will result in tronsferring cords to

where they c3n then be

sf~hted

end culled .

t~e

left portion

TOYihG .IITF 'I'J.fr; DIJC '1RD

1-:ere is a stratagem for putting up pairs back to back in stud

noker.

This iS currently

bein~

used by a number or top flight

mochanic.J in the f:3Stest comPany .

The opera t or 1 who i.s await in;; hiu turn to deal 1 1Nhile ;otherinr::; up
the dead hands together \'Ji th the balance of the deck unobstrus ivaly
rnanr3r::es to have

beneath.

t~to

pai.ro alternated on the bottom. thO largO T' being

Vow by a series of' q1.1ick inn ocent ap,)oaring

straif~ht

cuts

he c::n set the cards so that the two pairs nill fall to 3ny player
he desires .
in by

~any

This attrlcts no attention as it is a habit often i ndulged

unsophisticated card players and attracts no

att~ntion.

'llhe actual work 1s perfor med as follows .... prel:3 u.w.ing it is des i red to
give one pdir to ... he t .ird player and

rcmain::.n~

pair to the dealer in

a five handed game , t hiu is tho action- in the oct :)f undercutting ,
bottom card is

jov,~ed

sliGhtly to the riGht a.:> the lower half is .:Jlapped

on top and plac0d . . . lir;htly to thu left , the protruding card \'Till coincide ;Ji th the other packet .
Uithout hesitation , the riht hand again undercuts but thi.:; time the
rir-ht index

f'in~'er

car.t'ies off the top card thus executine; the ono card

cut .
The above i s repea t ed e xactly .
Then a plain undercut is made and when packet is Slapped on top as
bGfor e richt i ndex pre:J;;es on top card a nd acain one c1.1rd out is m'lde .
By trase six ra;>id cuts h<ilf the v1ork has been accomp9li3hed .
I

Now

by an exoct rep&.tit ion of.tho above the work is com_rlete d .. and cards are
now set so thl:it the thi::d playor rlill rooeive a pair back to ba ck and
thtJ denlex will get the larger ;?air .
Once the theory is understood
adapt the

~rork

any player .

l i~tle

calculation is required t o

to any number of hand::; or to doal tllC desired (cards to

- 40~lhile on th subject of cutting ne r:ould like to descri'Qe a ,?er:rect

blind cut, virtually unknown and particularly ideal V<"hen used after a
"cooler has been put into thO game .
The ri~~t ae oond finger and thuob grasps the deck by the Sides near
end and undercut about one third .

These are placed on top, retaining

grip and v:i thout hesi tetion t: ird tinge'- a no. thumb tip pull out half
the un<ier portion and the rit;t,ht hand moves forward placing tho lower
portion on table

C~nd

the upper portion in front of it . This results in

tbree packets in a row.

The richt hand returns, takes the pa cket held

in left , and places it atop middle pile and these are placed on renain1

ing heap .

'l his leaves the entire order undisturbed .

S'IUD FOKER " RIFFLE RUN- UP

4fe will assume that it is desired to run up a pair of n.ces back

to back for the dealer and a

player .

les~er

pair back to back to any desired

The following df.lacripti on is based on seven hands with:he

le;;>ser hand ( pair of queens) going to the fourth player .

A pair of quuens are on top and t he

t\JO

aces below them. Separate

pock for riffle and secretly execute the one card cut .

Rif~1e

cards,

shuffling the top three of left pa cket under top two or rit,ht
..iquare up.
Again divide cards for riffle but eliminate the one

C(l1.'d

out .

Repeat riffle, again shuffling three under two .

Again divide cards for riffle shuffling tHo cards under one.
For final riffle simply shuffle three on top .
These last two operations can be done in one riffle by retaining
fiva with the left thumb and allowiing two of thom to fall below top
oard of

ri~ht

packet and the other three atop all .

-41-

The formula for any number of hands is determined as foll ows :

Vl'?\De P~ f)o iN r; /~t-~;:; .::t.r~O c,v-r '' {oLt.~~ e"- -h{;t '~w<t tALt._, ~;r"";u-:{.,s, 1VAp

First Riffle

t-:umber of hands .minus position of other player (shuffled under two)= 3.

Second Riffle
Position of other player minus one (shuffled under two) .. 3
Third Riffle
First result (above} mihUS one ( shuffled under one)

=2

Fourth Riffle
Position of other pl ayer minus one ( shuffled on top}

=3

Combining third and fourth riffle , making thrEJe ri:ffles in all, would

be 2-f..:" 3
top.

=5.

Two of this five under one 3.tid the rernaininc; three on

rlec;ardless of the nwu.ber of hands the two on the right in the

first two riffles arc always constant .

In the . ~c hird riffle the one

is ulways constant .
HOLB Ci\IW

SWITCHJ~d

It is passing st,range that Brdnase made no mention of Jtud Poker

Uthouellt the game .must have been quite popular in his d ay .
One of the strong est advantages in Stud i s undoubtedly the so called hole care switch and nany methods have been devised.

We are

acquainted v1i th ove r tv1enty of these subterfup,es but will des oribe
only a few of the best .

The firs t,knovm as the LAY DOWN SWITCH, is extremely sirnple and
efficient . For

~~ple ,

the operator has an aoe pal med in the right

hand and desires to substitute it for the hole card delt him.
As the left hand b e nds up the inner side of card in order to look
at it, the right. hand is laid flat on table i mmedia tely in front of it .
Rieht hand is then t ilted up slig htly , allo;<Jing palmed card to remain
on table.
p alm.

Sir.ml taneously left hand p-laces the hole card into immobile

Both hands now move~ back tp odc e of table in a relaxed position

-42The~e

v<l'i th ric;ht hand resting across back of left .

moves imitate

perfe ctly the mannerisms adopted by many players.

There i s a similar method but usinr, only the right hand .

This

hand with palmed card is laid.; di:::-ectly in front of tablBd card .

Thumb iS ext.ended over visible card and latter is slid
the flati hand and above it

'

..

forward under

As hand tilts up to convey the

impress'icih of lookinc rat card , thwnb lifts up inner side o:e it and
presses firnlly .into

. pa lm~ : :,

'l'humb

fei~~ns

releasing card and band moves

away to rest acrbSs left hand as in forrner method.

Probably the finest one handed .method ever devised was used for
many years by a

~abulous

gambler hailing from the dta te of Oregon.

The novel feature of this switch is the fact that a portion of the
card a ppears to

ue visible at all t ime s.

top of

Hand with palmed card is laid directly on/tabled c ard but ,.simul t aneously the thumb pusninu ag ainst the side ede;e of pal med card
causes it to extend Slig htly beyond outer S ide

or

litt l e finger .

Thumb now bends up lower card and by exerting pressure ag<lin st base
of forefinger'" card is allowed to spring free of other card . This
resul t s in transposing t,he two cards and hand vrlth palmed card now
moves away as uaual . To facilitate the move pres s ure must be exerted
aga inst t a ble by oute r side of hand during this s pring ine move.ment.
THE BLICKJJ\CK 3;[['l'CH

We are assuming that operator has been dealt a face down deuce with
a face up ace . atop it and a se cond ace iS conc.ealed in left hand-( ~ amb~ing:palm position}

Edges of carQ. ure thus clipped by little

finger and thti.mb .

Rig ht thumb a nd fing ers grip visible ace at rie; ht end and slide i t
under face down card .

'.Phen without pause bo th c3rds are slid ; under

palm clovm left hand and im"lediately

.
both hands are raised slightly

- 43-

from table-all three cards be1nb perfe ctly squared together .

Both

hands are p l aced on table and \lith left hand Shielding cards and right
fingers and thu.mb turnjng up index corner, in customary fashion, then
the following a ction takes place.

The card near as t left palm is fanned

up slie htly and the right thumb fans the lower most ca rd so that the
two cards co incide.

This r esults in leaving out or corner of center

card protruding where i t can be clippe d by thj.rd and little fingers .

The two aligned c ards are pinched together at the corner by the
index finge r and thumb and slid into view.

And then upper face down

card is re placed below . face up a ce in orig inal position.

11l.Y3 AND MEANS
thin~ . to

It is one

master tho sleights of the card table but

another to employ them successfully in order to g et the money .

may be surprising to learn that many of the
utilize no techinal skill whatever .

m~~x

~ui te

It

ruses and subterfuges

Rather they are dependent upon

management, planning and she er effrontery .

It is now our purpose to

briefly describe a number of schemes , generally unknown, and , how they

are carefully built up to dramatic
victim 's confidence and cash.

proportion~;;

in order to gain the

It is difficult to cheat an hones t man

so it is inevitably the person with larceny in h is heart who falls

victim to the wiles of the unscrupulous operator.
TEE CAJJIHO MITT
Years ago the game of Cassino was highly popular and iS still
widely played in certain sections of the country .
Jf.rdnase ;vryly .men tions t hat he was subjected to a protracted
(

streak of bad lu ck as the result of playing nith a short deck.

We here\'lith describe a simple procedure known t o the inner
fraternity as the ._Cassino !-'itt
\fter havinr engaged in several games of Cassino the followins.

-44-

situation (well plam.ed in advonce) developes .

It iS the last round

and the mechani c who 1..: dealing c lanceD at l.L:J curds, remarks I
wish we were playinr; poker . The victim. lookinF' at hi.;; ovm hand
finds he is holding four cold eights and so probably re tor t s ,
do 1.

so

Then t he operator states , _.Well, you may have a good hand but

I ' ll wager youdo not take a sinp:le card .

An

ar~ument

ensues and it is not difficult to persuade the victim

to wager a considerable sum of money for as any Cassino player realizes , it appears impossible not to be able to take at least one trick .
As there is no combination "on the boardn that makes
play

1~

as

follows ~

~ight, the

Victim plays one of his eights , the me c hani c

imrnediabely places a deu ce on top and bu ilds ten.

The second e i ght iS played and the me c hanic , playing another deuce ,
builds a second ten.

This occurs the third time and of course the

victim is forced to play

hi~

last eight and as the mechanic ' s last

card is a ten , he naturally takes the ten heap ond cleans the board ,
The sample setup that makes the above possible can eQSily be
arranged , wit hout suspicion , during pr ev ious play as opportunity
presents itself.

nm

DRUNKlli HITT

Unlike the above , tte victim deals the cards himself but with the
usual result .
The "mechanic o r "operator

feigning great intoxication , staggers

into a spot where in a poker game is j ust

breaki.n~

up .

He makes

loud cheilenge that he will play anyone a hand of draw poker.

.:tt thE!

same time he h ashes a larP".e roll of bill s .

...

r.sually hi8 challenee is accepted by some avaricious ind i vidual .

Accordingly, the victim deals two hands and finds himself in
pos~esion

of, let us say , four

kin~s

and an odd card .

The inebr iated

- 45mechanic tb3n picks up his cards a nd in fanr:ina them a:!.lows three cards,
all j a cks , tD be clearly seen by hi s opponent .

He asks for tv1o cards

and discards two.

After the bet is made t he operator s ur prisingly lays down four
aces a nd an odd jack to the victim ' s utter amazement .
r.mney and hurriedly

He g rab-> the

disappears~.

All this is bro11g ht about by a simple procedure .

\/hen the drunken

operator flashes the t hree jacks, the two unseon cards are a cos . When
he draws two cardu the victiro. naturally assumes that the best hand he
could possibly make \/Ould be four jacks but he actually discards two
of the jacks and draws two more aces.

Then keeping his hand squared

he ag ain flashes the lone jack on tho bottom which f urther convinces
the victim that he has a '1mortal cinch.

11

.Above makes on e x cellent exhibi tion and will impress any poker
pl a yer.
Along similar lines is another bold and barefaced proceeding known
as "The Snatch" end wb'i.ch may bo used in a number of different games .
In this instance the mechanic is assisted by o parlner who needs
l ittle rehearsal for hi s part in t he R:3me and who may be seated anywhere at the t a ble .
The stratagem i s held in reserve until an occasion arises vthen
there is a considerable sum of money in tho pot end the mechanic can
ea s ily fathom by the betting that ho does not hold the top hmd .
~ ea l i zing

this he stalls for time a nd hi-> accomplice comwences to

idly toy wi tb tho cards not in play .

From these he select:.> any hand

of five cards th~,~; he knows ,will win the money.

These five cards he

holds in one hand by the extreme ends and slib htly above tho other
cords .

Inasmuch as he is naturally not eng a ged in the play and

attention of all others is concentrated elseHhere he is able to do

the above openly and VIi thout

croat~nG

suspicion.

-46-

\/hen t he .me c hanic observes tha t a l l i s ready he boldly calls and

and makes a sizeable raise. Th<=m. a ppea r:; to notice what his a ccomplice
.is doing and suddenly , (hold ing his own c a r ds at ends by forefinger
and thwnb} raaches out and snatching vd.th h is last three fingers the
high hand of hj.s a ccomplice, aPI>arently a nd with violence slams the
hand on table exclaiming , ...Stop fooline; with the cards. I'm betting
b ig money here ....
The above rs.s ul ts in a simple switch of handfi. Mechanic's own
tr~ own

hand iS
hand.

on t a ble in front of victim as he re tains accomplice 's

The swi.tch is absurdly simple and, of course, enables operator

to v'lin tho . pot.

.THE TEAH-UP

There are many ways of winning at cards in add ition to mani pul ating
the pa ck .

in t his field there is nothing stranger than the so-called

tear-up.

This is strictly a con game .

'l'he mecha nic steers the victim who is known to have a sizeable bank
account to a c ard game and , previously tells him t hat t he opera tor
will accep t hiS personal
that i f he

WihS

~ h eck

in exchanr,e for chips,

he can alloW hiS check to be CDShed but if he loses

he c an eas ily st op payment on it.

sv1allowed avidl y

He is instructed

ThiS a ttractive bait i s usually

by the victim parti cularly if he possesses the usual

amount of larceny.
G

Astiuming t hat the v1tim has lost a consid erable sum he is i nformed
by the genial g ame keepe r tha t there .is -.no desire to

emb~rrass

him

by cashing hi e check and that he will be permitted to pay his obliga tion later ,in cash.

.As proof of his g ood intentions t he opera tor

appa r e ntly t ears the check into pieces <.l nd toS<>es them into the wastebasket.

What actually hap;-,ens, however, iS that the real chock is

adroit ly s ubstituted for a phoney one and it iS this latter one Whi ch
is torn up .

- 47 When the victim's bank o pens next morning the e euuine c neck is
prompt l y presented and cashed.

THE DOUBLE

DI~CARD

This subteJ?fug e g reatly increas as the chance o.f iruprov:ing the

player 's hand on the d r aw .

Alt hough t here are many methods , variations

and procedures they all a ccompliSh the same and .

\Ia will presume aif'ter the deal t he player looks a t his hand end

findS he has a pair of kings.

The nor.ro.al procedure would be to

d i s card the tnree odd cards , hold the kings and ask fo r thr ee .
Instead , he p laces fa ce down in front of him three c ards, two kings
and the highest of t he remaini.t:Jg

tbre~ ...; L

rhis leaves lli.ro holding

two odd car'd:s.

When he is dealt the tbree cards he addS them to the two he is
holding and .qu;i:l}k;ly scru tinizas his band . If he happens to note a
king among th,em the riv,ht hand immed i ate ly removes i t togotbcr with
~n adja c e nt card and wi t h them scoops up the trJXee tabled cards as

the lef t band

dis c ~ rds

the cards it holds

.Although t il:,is .:pn:ocedure

m;:~ y

a p pear bare :fa ced and obvious the

a ct ioh conforms. to the g eneral tenor and tempo of' . the poker game .
In this exact form l.t :P.as been used many ti.mos succes sfully
agains t the mos t .knowing pl ayers.
THE ROY/ 0 F TJL'N 0 AP.DS

In acco,rdance v1i th our promise given elsewhere in thi s volume we

now su brait sevcrsl improvomgnts as re!:;ards both the worlcint; and
.

'

presentat ion oi' th:..s excellent feat .

The 6'->sent ial we akness of the trick is that it l acks a definite
climax or

fini~>h.

its JJrosant;ation to

.,aso it .must be perforrae(l on a tab le which lim.its

s :n.all number ~of people .

- 48-

In our version a spectator is invited to

as~ist .

7erforroer holds

a packet of ton cards arranged consecutively from oce to ten , the ace
beinP; uppermost .
It

Jj) Performer illustrates v;hot he v?ishes done

~vo

by

openly transferring

cards, one by one from too to bottom of packet .

J pectator iS

then requested to transfer, in. sil:niliar ..:'ashion , any number fro.m one
to ten and as he does

dO

performer turns his back.

Ue will as.;ume that seven cards are transferred .;o takins packet
performe r fans cards, remarking, .-It v1ould be quito impos..; ible for
me to know the exact number of cards you transferred but watch!"
So saying ho secre tly obtains a break above the two lowermost
cards and squares .

Then he dramatically lifts tho block of eight

cards above break and displays the seven spot on bottom.

Before repeating , per forme r must secretly determine the value of
bottom card

by

adding number

tho..;e reri'.oining in le ft hand .

o~

cards

~oved

by tipectator (seven) to

This permi ts the trick to be repeated

and we suggest that thtree tilnes is quite sufficient .

For the climax , the perfor mer simply recalls the last number
transferred and fanning out pa cket he fip-ures ahead to t he eig ht spot
and outs it to bottom.

~~:..,

IIe then announces that he will make a

~n

so from the fanned

cards he removes the second card from top {tho ten spot ) and places
i t aside in fUll view .
~pectator

again transfers any number of cards devired (thiS time

betv1een one and nine) and top card uill always denote the number
tronsferred .
It iS now only necessary to exchange the top card of packet for
the one previously set a.:lida .

"\/e personnaly

u::H3

our own switch

involving the renkai palm (so e the Dai Vernon Book of Magic , Chapter
six)

In the present case, of course, tho card must be held face down .

-19-

'rhe s-;i tch can alSo be mode by the famiL.ar ton or bottom chanc e .
1/ith a sli ht adjustnent the Curry 'rurnover can likEmise

be

usee}.

;. FJ::',! TIPo

l\lost cord moves are greatly

squared .

f::~cilitated

by havine; tho dock neatly

Normally the deck should be ho l d by tips of loft fingers

and thumb with forefinGer curled against face of pacl(.

table

~/i th

deck on

it should be squared as doccribed by E'dnaso in his instructions

for riffle shuffline.

~lhen

v1idening a break i'or insertion of a fint;er avoid lifting upper

packet but lov;er under portion .

wt.,,.... ~} ()Jl..{_

, ,o

4<- ~

\/hen cutting to . a "brief'' ( finely j ogc ed card) 1pro~w on top of deck

v1ith index finge r until separation of packets is asuured .
With a card palmed the hand should never remain in a frozen position
longer than necessary.
natural reasons .

It should move to other positions but for

However , this must not be overdone .

~

When holding a card"palmed v1ith pack in dealinc po .. i tion and it is

desired to turn cards face up it iS much better to grasp the deck by
inner ond with f i nger$ on top and turn i t over .

This permits t he left

hand to re - grip the c ards in a normal way .

!.)any n:.ovc3 , otherwise obvious, can be rendered quite natural and
illusive by merely tippinG the front end of the deck upward thus
obscurinG

spectator ' s view

~ card inserted into pack diaE.;onally , but only to a

sli~ht

degree ,

oan be easily lo c ated by cutting, riffling or spreodine evenly on

table .
",/hen holding more than one break , handling i.., usually facilitated
by

holdinc; one of them acsinJt base of thumb.

In all forl!'.S of bottom dealine it is aluays adv:mtaroous , instead

-50of dealint~ card vJi th a direct or strait:~ht pull , to ?;ive it a slight

t vtist v:hich tends to eliminfl.te friction.

When having a card ''peeked at>\ ulways keep oposite side of pack
firm.l y gripped in crotch of thumb thus preventing the two halves from
sep3rating or breaking. Otllcrw5.se diffJ.culty will be encountered

in

squa rint: up rerfe ctly.

1/hen holding a break nith little finGer actual breuk should be held

near first j ..)int so that tip of finger is clearly visible.

If this

simple direction is followed it iS i mp ossi ble tor anyone to discern

v1hethor or not a break is held.
i1~any

an awkward

in pro:>entation.

rflove oDn be made i

lila~o

a
by f;;;l ic;ht chanr'e

For exal!lple , a bad t;wo handed pass .may be covered by

a nide svmop of the hands ot same ttme ,rnrnarking,

11

.Jome tbcioians make

quick moves like this bul:i ob::;erve I do nothin.<:, at all . ''

words are

spokc~n

s5m!)1y square deck thus under cover of

and a ction t he move has been made.

Sup:~;eDt

Hen ceforth tJ- e

f!S the so lost

<;l.lsarmint~

perforr~or

by his notionS :<nd octing ability that the actual

to occur w.hen , in point o-r

f<:~ct

it has alreedy

words

muHt

s14;i~ht

haS yet

tr on~~!lired ,

l)ractically every trick has a Heak spot but a little thou r;ht v;Hl
devise simplo n.et:t-ods for oover:i:ng .and even eliminiatj_ng these
deficiencies .

};xpert gamblers are more in teres ted in the misdirection or aD they

colorfully term it "ti'1e

t:~hade,..

than in the actual move j_tself .

l,1any

.cunningly d6vised .moves are utter:J_y uuele..Js unless adequate nisdirection

can be found to cover them.
So vlith tho above words a pleaBant task is finished and yet we take

our final bow with t.he

has been scratched.

fe::~ling

t:r..at

only tl113 surfoce of a vn::st subject