Ed Marlo - Revolutionary Card Technique

7/11/2019 Ed Marlo - Revolutionary Card Technique

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Chapter Two

Action Palm

The S h u f f l e Palm Delayed Action Palm The Count Cop Count Cop For A Number of CardsCoun t Cop For Small Packets Count Cop and Transfer Ace Assembly VariationC o u n t Cop Exchange The One Hand Action Palm The Clip Steal Turn Up Palm MisdirectionP a l m The Cull Palm Cull Palm Replacement Pressure Fan Palm One Hand Palm As ActionP a l m R i f f l e Shuffle Palm Square Up Drop Palm Drop Cut Palm The Table Edge PalmP i v o t Bottom Steal Brush Palm The Drop Cover The Wrist Turn Delayed One Hand PalmT h e Turn Over The Rise and R i f f l e The Turn and Gesture The Square Up The Top Card

Return The Delayed Replacement The Shuffle Replacement Revolving Replacement H o l d i n g Out Easy Palm Transfer The Fake Transfer

B a c k around 1939, when numbereda m o n g our magical friends were BillR o u l i s , Bill Bellinger and Hank Nowoc ,we started toying with the idea of palm-ing cards while the cards were in thea c t i o n of being shuffled. Then in 1945t h i s idea was introduced to the cardi-c i a n s via a booklet called O f f the T o p .

S i n c e that time we have pursued thisi d e a further and further. We have devel-o p e d several methods that were kept as e c r e t and were divulged to only a veryf e w intimates.

W i t h the plethora of books, the best of e f f e c t s , the best of methods, divulged bythe best of men, we feel it is time we

j o i n e d the rank and file and did likewise.

We feel there is no better way to startthis chapter than to quote from Off theTop where the original Action Palmsappeared. "Most methods of palming areaccomplished while the pack is at restand already squared up. Then in a fol-low-up squaring of the pack the card orcards are palmed."

The palms that follow are made eitherduring a shuffle, fanning, turning a card,counting, etc. With each palm we will tryto give its practical application. Thismore than anything else should impressthe student with the principles of theActionPalm.



20

ACTION PALM

The Shuffle Palm

In this method any number of cards,from one and up, can be bottom palmed

immediately following an overhand shuf-fle. It is an angle palm and therefore verysuitable for platform work; however,under certain conditions, depending onthe misdirection, it can be done close upand completely surrounded.

1. Assuming you wish to palm out thefour Aces begin by having them on top of the pack.

2. Hold the deck in the right hand inreadiness for an overhand shuffle.

3. Shuffle off the first four cards, singly,into the left hand. These four cards areshuffled into the left hand in such a waythat they will fall into a dealing positionas shown in Figure 1. Note that thisposition is similar to a Mechanics Grip.

Figure

The outer left corner of the cards rest onthe flesh of the inner left forefinger. Thiscorner does not reach to or beyond thetop of the left foref inger , but stays justwithin the curl of the hand and left fore-finger. The outer right corner of thecards press against the tip of the left

forefinger. It is this grip of the left handthat will bring the cards into the a n g l epalm.

4. The next card, the fifth, is shuffledo f f |

so that it jogs slightly forward onto t h eleft forefinger as in Figure 2 but n o tbeyond it.

5. The remainder of the pack is n o wshuffled, haphazardly, into the left hand ;to cover the jogged card as well as theback cards. This means that the cards;will be distributed, forward of and a l t e r -nately, inside of the cards in the l e f t

hand. This will cover the jogged card atthe front as well as the back.

6. After all the cards have been s h u f f l e dinto the left hand they are not squared.Instead, the left fingers move closetogether and squeeze the bottom cardscausing them to buckle downward. Dueto the fact that a card was shuffled o v e rthe left forefinger only the bottom f o u rcards will fall away from the rest of thedeck, as in Figure 3, and into left p a l m ,Note that the rest of the pack remains inan unsquared position.

Figure 2

FigureS

7. Once the bottom cards have f a l l e naway from the rest of the pack the m a j o ropening will be at the lower right comer.The right fingers enter into this openingbetween the bottom cards and the rest of the deck. The deck is taken away by thelower right corner with the right first andsecond fingers below and thumb above,The left hand in the meantime drops tothe side with its cards.



21

SHUFFLE PALM

T h t l e f t thumb should move over to theu p p e r l e f t corner of its palmed cards andp r e s s down on this corner.

The l e f t thumb should move into the cor-ner position as soon as the right handstarts to take the pack away. The actionis shown in Figure 4. Note the position of the l e f t thumb on its palmed packet.

Figure 4

N o t e : It is how the cards are placed intothe l e f t hand, at Step 3, that controls theprotrusion of this corner from the anglep a l m position. Run a few cards off intothe l e f t hand and buckle the cards into

the angle palm and you will find justw h e r e the outer left corner should reston your forefinger and hand to minimizethis corner.

8. The right hand now can place thep a c k on the table or use it in a gesture.The l e f t hand, with the cards palmed, isd o w n at the side. The strain can now betaken off the left fingers by lightly clip-p i n g and holding the palmed cards withthe thumb against the base of the fore-fingers. The left hand is held at the sideso that the backs of the palmed cardsf a c e the left thigh. The left thumb nailw i l l then face directly front. In this posi-t ion the cards will be invisible from thefront as well as the right side; however,on the l e f t side a corner of the cards willp r o j e c t beyond the palm.

|9. To produce, or introduce, the palmedcards into the pocket the left hands h o u l d move straight upwards and into

the pocket. Avoid any tendency to turnthe wrist as this will expose the project-ing corner. The left hand moves straightup, then straight down into the pocket.

10. When working close up, the left handwith the palmed cards should go directlyinto the pocket. In other words, as soonas the right hand removes the deck, theleft hand moves straight back into thepocket. In the meantime, the right handshould make some gesture with the pack in order to attract all eyes towards it.

This action of the right hand should beslightly upwards while the left handmoves fairly slowly downward into the

pocket. An appropriate patter line alongwith the gesture will aid in enhancingthe misdirection.

11. Naturally the best application of thissleight is to a four Ace effect in which theclimax is the production of the Aces fromthe pocket. You would only produce oneAce first, then later the second etc., tillall four are re-produced. In the case of asingle selected card it can be the onethat you seemed to have forgotten about

as you casually shuffle the deck. Later,when reminded, you can produce it, orseveral selected cards, from the pocketfor a climax.

Delayed Action Palm

In this palm the cards are shuffled,moved from hand to hand, then finallyplaced on the table. It seems impossiblethat any cards could have been palmedduring these actions, but they are.

1. This palm follows the opening actionsof the Shuffle Palm. Again assume youagain wish to palm off the four Aceswhich are on top.

2. The cards in right hand are held inreadiness for the overhand shuffle.

3. Shuffle off the first four cards, singly,into the left hand in the same manner asfor the Shuffle Palm, Figure 1.



22

ACTIONPALM

4. The next card, the fifth, is shuffled sothat it is outjogged . Again this action isthe same as the Shuffle Palm, Figure 2.

5. The remainder of the deck is nowshuffled off so as to cover the injoggedcondition of the cards to be palmed aswell as the outjog of the fifth card.

6. So far every action has been the sameas the Shuffle Palm but now the changetakes place.

7. The right hand comes above the pack in the left hand, the right four fingersover the top edge and the right thumb atthe back end. The fingers squeeze to

begin squaring these ends. At the sametime the left forefinger presses upwardson the out jogged fifth card while the leftthird and fourth fingers pull in the sidesof the deck. The left forefinger thenobtains and holds a break at the outerright corner above the four cards to bepalmed, more or less hooking the cards,as in Figure 5, where the right hand hasbeen omitted for clarity.

Figure 5

The right hand above the deck will cover

the break made by the left forefinger.Note that the deck is still not completelysquared at this stage. It should more orless gathered together to make the nextmoves easier.

8. The right hand holds the deck fromabove in the following position. Thethumb is on the deck's inner end lyingalong side, or in line with the edge. Thetip of right thumb will then be touching

the base of the left thumb. The first fin-ger is curled on top of the deck. The sec-ond finger is on the outer end near theouter left corner. The third finger is at

the center of the outer end and thefourth finger at the outer right corner.

This fingering causes the right hand tobe above and to the right of the deck rather than directly above it. The handitself is in a position almost parallel tothe deck, with its fingertips going overthe top of the left forefinger.

9. With the right hand in this positionthe left hand is completely covered f r o mthe front. At this time the left forefinger,

with its hooked cards, moves to theright. This causes the four cards to pivotat the point where the tip of the rightthumb meets the base of the left thumb.Figure 6 shows a bottom view of theaction. The upper left corner of the pack-et will be brought directly below the thirdfingertip of the right hand.

Figure 6

10. Once the packet of cards has beenpivoted into the this position it can beheld there between the right third fingerpressing against the outer left corner of the packet and the right thumb pressingagainst the inner edge of the packet.

The packet of cards is gripped diagonallybetween the right third fingertip and theball of the right thumb. The packet is inan angle position beneath the deck. Theangled cards are covered not only by thedeck but also by the right hand f r o mabove.



23

DELAYED ACTION PALM

1 1 . The right third finger and thumbmaintain their grip. The deck can now betaken away from the left hand and heldby the right hand alone as in Figure 7

which shows a bottom view of the condi-tions.

Figure 7

12. The right hand, with its cards in theposition shown in Figure 7, movest o w a r d s the table as if to put the pack d o w n ; however, the performer seems tos p o t a speck of dirt.

He replaces the deck into the left handin such a manner that the bottoma n g l e d cards will go into the left palmposition. The outer right corner, of the

b o t t o m packet, should go directly ontothe pad of the left third finger. The innerl e f t corner of the angled packet shouldbe at the base of the left thumb. The leftt h u m b presses on top of deck to hold thec a r d s in position. Figure 8 shows howthe l e f t hand is held to accept the angledc a r d s as well as the pack. The righth a n d , omitted here to give a clearer pic-t u r e , covers the angled cards at thiss t a g e .

13. As soon as the right hand has placedthe deck into the position shown inFigure 8, the left third and fourth fingerssqueeze inwards on the outer right cor-

ner of the angled packet. This closing of the left fingers should be made beforethe right hand moves away from thedeck.

The closing in of the left third and fourthfingers automatically places the bottomcards into the left palm position. Thedeck will now cover the palmed cards asthe right hand moves to the center of thetable to brush away the imaginary speck of dirt.

The right hand then comes back to theleft hand and removes the deck fromabove the packet and places it on thetable. With the packet palmed, the lefthand drops to the side. If seated thehand can grasp the left side of the tableor rest its fingertips on the inside edge of the table.

14. We will briefly review the action thatthe audience sees during the DelayedAction Palm. The student can then visu-

alize just what is expected of him.A. The cards are shuffled.

B. The pack is taken by the right handand about to be placed on the table;however, the performer notes something.

C . The deck is placed back into the lefthand while the right hand returns to thetable to brush away some imaginarydust.

D . The right hand comes back, removesthe deck from left hand, then places iton the table.

15. During the series of actions from Ato D the cards have been palmed intothe left hand.

It is obvious that this palm can beapplied to any effect.

Figure 8



24

ACTION PALM

The Count Cop

We have been doing a lot of experimenta-tion with the bottom card buckle cop.Among other things we have developed acount from which a card can be palmedafter the count is completed. Again thepalm is unsuspected because a countingaction is involved. There isn't any indica-tion that a card or cards can possibly bestolen.

1. Hold the cards in the left hand indealing position. The cards are nowthumbed off, one by one, into the righthand as they are counted out.

2. The first card counted off goes into theright hand so that the outer left corner of the card rests on the first joint of theright second fingers as in Figure 9. Notethat upper right corner rests on the rightforefinger but does not project over it.

Figure 9

3. The other cards are counted off ontothe first one to cover it. The count is con-tinued until the desired number isreached.

4. At the completion of the count theright second finger presses inwards onthe outer left corner of the bottom cardcausing its inner left corner to buckleaway from the others as in Figure 10.

5. At this stage the left hand, still hold-ing the pack, removes all the cards fromthe right hand above the palmed card.To do this the left forefinger enters theopening created in Figure 10 while the

Figure 10

left thumb goes on top of the packet. Thepacket is then taken away between l e f tforefinger and thumb holding it at theinner left corner as in Figure 11 . Theright hand with the palmed card goes

either to the pocket or drops to the side.The left hand then drops the packet onthe table or merely continues holding it.

Figure 11

6. The Count Cop can be made withoutthe use of the deck such as when han-dling small packets. Before going i n t othese we will describe an application forthe Count Cop involving the deck.

The Vanishing Card

The effect is that the face card of the

deck vanishes. It is proven that the cardhas actually disappeared. For the climaxit is brought forth from the pocket.

1. Holding the deck face up in the l e f thand, call attention to the face card andstate that you will cause it to vanish.

2. Do a Bottom Side Steal (see the S i d eSteal in Chapter 4), the right hand palm-ing the card from the bottom of the f a c eup deck. Perform the color change move,



25

COUNT COP

placing the palmed card onto the facecard while saying, "See, I rub the cardand it vanishes."

3. You now prove that the card is actual-

ly gone. Make a double lift of the twof a c e cards and right jog them over thes i d e of the deck for half their width. Takethese two cards as one into the righthand. These cards are held in the CountCop position shown in Figure 9,

4 . The other face cards are thumbed off one at a time onto these two showingthat the card has actually vanished fromthe deck.

5. A f t e r a few of the face cards have beenshown in the above manner, you say, "Of course, you know where the card went."At these words the bottom card of thepacket in the right hand, is buckled intothe palm position. The left hand comeso v e r and takes the packet from the righthand, as in Figure 11. The right handw i t h its palmed card goes to the pocketand produces it from there.

Count Cop For A Number of Cards

T h i s allows the performer to palm off acertain number of cards using the CountC o p

1. Assuming you wish to palm off fourcards, count the first four cards into theCount Cop position shown in Figure 9.

2. A f t e r four cards have been counted off the f i f t h card is jogged over onto the fore-finger. This is similar to the left hand inFigure 2 of this chapter except here theright hand is used.

3. As other cards are counted into ther i g h t hand they are placed alternatelyoutjogged and injogged over the cards inthe right hand to give cover to the joggedcards below .

4. When the desired number of cardshave been counted off, the left handcomes over and takes the packet, at thel o w e r l e f t corner, between the left forefin-

ger and thumb as in Figure 11. Thispacket can then be tossed onto the tableor retained in the left hand.

5. The right hand has buckled its cards

and these cards remain in the palm. The jogged card over the right forefingerinsures the correct number of cardsquickly and easily.

6. The right hand can drop to the side orgo to the pocket depending on the effectdesired.

Count Cop For Small Packets

Here the Count Cop is used when han-dling a small packet of cards. The follow-

ing method and effect have very practicalapplications.

1. The cards are counted off the deck bythe spectator into the performer's lefthand.

2. The performer takes the rest of thedeck and places it into his right coatpocket.

3. The cardician now counts the cards inthe packet. The first four cards are

counted, one at a time, into the CountCop position in the right hand,shown inFigure 12.

4. The fifth card is outjogged over theforefinger. The other cards are countedinto the right hand alternately jogged, in.and out, over the jogged cards toobscure them.

5. Near the completion of the count theright fingers buckle the bottom fourcards as the left hand adds the last card

onto the right hand packet. The lefthand immediately takes the right handpacket. That is, the left hand takes theright hand cards just as the last card isslid onto the packet.

6. The right hand, with its palmed cards,goes to the pocket as the cardician says,"I think for this trick we will use elevencards."



26

ACTION PALM

7. The right hand leaves three of thecards in the pocket and comes out witha single card which is added to the pack-et held by left hand.

8. The supposedly eleven cards, reallyseven, are false counted as ten. The per-former looks perplexed and remarks "Ineed eleven cards for this trick." Hereaches into the right pocket andextracts another card.

9. The eight cards are then false countedas ten. Once more a card is taken out of the pocket and added to the cards, mak-ing nine cards in the packet.

10. Again false count the nine cards asten. Reach into the pocket and take outthe tenth card and add it to the packet.

11. At this stage you will have ten cardsagain. This time count them as eleven,and say, "Finally, we have the propernumber of cards. Will you please countthem again?" The spectator counts themas ten, naturally,. Conclude by remark-ing that as long as you can't seem to geteleven cards you will not attempt the

trick.A Variation

This may give a more logical reason forgoing into the pocket. Count the tencards as nine using either the BuckleCount, the Block Push Off Count ormerely holding the last two cards as one.

At the count of nine you look up at theassistant and say, "For this trick I needten cards." Reach into the pocket withthe palmed cards and remove one.Continue in this manner as before,counting nine each time.

The last time when there are actually tencards they again are counted as nine.The packet is then handed to the specta-tor to count. When he arrives at ten, youexclaim, "That's it." Exactly what I need,ten cards for this trick."

For those who wish to pursue this formof Counting Routine we refer the readerto the Super Count Routine in Mario inSpades in which are methods for doing

the necessary false counts.The Count Cop can also be done with asmaller packet of cards where only onecard need be palmed off. An examplewould be where you count five cards.Steal the bottom one as the left handtakes the packet on the last count. Thepalmed one may be a card that will seemto have vanished from among the others.

Count Cop and Transfer

This is a good example of the use of theCount Cop without going to the pocketwith the card, instead adding it to anoth-er packet. At first this may sound b o l dsince the palmed card projects from outof thehand. If, however, these directionsare followed ca r e fu l ly , the practitionerwill soon realize the practicality of thecombination. To describe it, we will use atransposition effect.

1. A card is selected and controlled to

the top of the deck.2. Two packets of ten cards each arecounted off and placed side by side onthe table. The packet on the left has theselected card at the bottom.

3. Pick up the packet on the left. Turn itface up. Make sure the person whomade the selection can see that his cardis at the face of this packet. Do not drawattention to this fact but simply allowthe selection to be noticed.

4. State that "I will count the cards f a c eup this time in order for you to note thatthe cards are all different."

5. Count the cards as for the Count Cop,placing the first card, the selection, intothe palm position shown in Figure 9. Theother cards are counted onto it.

Remember the cards are face up in thehands at this time. The right hand



27

COUNT COP AND TRANSFER

should be held close to the tabled packeton the right during the count.

6. Continue the count till you reach thelast card. This last card is snapped and

should end up being held between thel e f t thumb on the face and left forefingeron the back. The card is held at center of its l e f t long side.

7. This final card is slid onto those inright hand while the right fingers bucklethe bottom card. (See Figure 10 of thischapter.)

8. The left hand, without changing itsthumb position on the top card, takes

the whole packet from the right hand,leaving behind the buckled card, andl a y s the packet on the table, face down,to the left.

9. As the left hand removes the packet,the right hand, with its palmed card,turns over at the wrist as in Figure 12,and goes immediately towards the pack-et on the right where it adds the card tothe top. The action shown in Figure 12 isexposed. Actually the motion of the righthand towards the packet on the right ismade rather quickly, but smoothly andwithout hesitation. The palmed card

joins the other cards before any eyesh a v e a chance to even see the projectingcomer from the right palm.

Figure 12

10. The packet on the right is immedi-ately scooped up as soon as the righthand reaches it. The action should look as if you merely went to pick up thepacket in order to count it.

11. This eleven card packet is turnedface up and counted as ten. The last twocards are held as one and placed, as adouble, on the face of the packet. This

packet is then placed face down to theright.

12. Look at the spectator and ask,"Incidentally, did you see your cardamong the ones IV e shown you?" He willacquiesce to which you ask "Amongwhich set o f t e n was it?" He will, if thingshave been carried off well, point to thepacket on the left.

13. State that you will cause his card tovanish from the one packet and appear

in the other. Make some appropriatemagical gesture, count the nine cardsface down and say, "Your card is gone."

14. Pick up the packet on the right.Count the ten cards, one at a time, facedown onto the table. There will beeleven. Use the eleventh card as a scoopto pick up this packet again and hold itface down in the left hand. The eleventhcard remains on the bottom, leaving theselection on top. Ask the spectator to

name his card. The top card of the pack-et is turned over to disclose the selec-tion. Apparently the card has travelledfrom packet to packet.

By using the Cop Count for several cardsthis effect can be accomplished usingthree selected cards. The procedure is, of course, the same as for the single trans-position.

Ace Assembly Variation

This may be used for the last Ace in anassembly. The Count Cop and Transferis here used to steal an odd card out of the leader packet which has five cards.These are from top to face — Ace-Ace-anycard-Ace.

1. Hold the packet face up in the lefthand.

2. Count the first two cards, withoutreversing their order, into the right hand.



28

ACTION PALM

The bottom card of the two is taken intothe Count Cop position.

3. The third card goes on top of those inthe right hand.

4. Last card is snapped and slid ontothose in right hand during which actionthe right fingers buckle the bottom indif-ferent card.

5. The left hand takes the whole packetfrom the right hand, with the exceptionof the buckled card, and lays it facedown on the table to the left.

6. The right hand with the palmed cardturns palm down and immediately adds

the palmed card to one of the otherpackets, preferably one to the right, inthe action of picking it up.

Count Cop Exchange

This enables one to apparently count off and place four Aces down on the table.Actually only one Ace and three indiffer-ent cards make up the packet. Thesleight is explained here using a twelvecard packet and four Aces as in an AceAssembly.

1. The four Aces should be at the face of the packet of cards, held face up in theleft hand.

2. Obtain a break under the seventhcard from the face of the packet. Thiscan be done by spreading the cards,obtaining a break beneath the seventhcard and squaring the packet.

3. Deal off the first Ace taking it into theright hand. Deal off the second Ace onto

the first, then the third Ace onto thesetwo. In dealing off the fourth Ace the leftthumb pushes off all the cards, up to thebreak, as one. This group of four cards istaken by the right hand onto the otherthree Aces. The break underneath ismaintained between the packets by theright second, third and fourth fingers.

4. At this point all cards are actually inthe Count Cop position with the cards

above the break consisting of an Ace onthe face plus three indifferent cardswhile the cards below the break are theother three Aces.

5. The right hand moves to the right as if to put the Aces onto the table, thenchanging your mind the left fingers takethe packet from above the break, by theinner left corner as the right hand dropsto the side with its three copped Aces.

6. The left hand places the packet faceup on the left of the table, then as itcomes back, the right hand moves up tomeet it. As the hands come together theleft hand immediately starts to deal its

cards, one at a time, into the right handand onto the palmed Aces thus coveringthem as you say, "And, of course overhere the twelve indifferent cards."

7. At the conclusion of these moves thethree Aces will be on top of the twelvecard packet while on the table will beone Ace plus three indifferent cards.Obviously from here any four Ace e f f e c tcan be accomplished. Also it must beunderstood that any combination such

as two Aces and two indifferent cards orthree Aces and one indifferent card, etc.can be utilized.

Count Cop For The Left Hand

At times it will be necessary to palmcards counted into the left hand. If onewere to count the cards in the same waythere would be a definite awkwardnessunless one were naturally left handed.So a slight change is made in themethod of handling to create a fairly nor-

mal look. This method is used by con-firmed poker players to mix their handbefore to looking at the cards.

1. Assuming you wish to palm off the topcard of a packet of five cards, hold theface down packet of five cards with theright hand from above and by the ends.The right forefinger is curled on top, theball of the thumb is at the inside end.The tips of the right second and third



29

COUNT COP FOR THE LEFT HAND

f i n g e r s hold onto the outside end. Thefourth finger of right hand merely liesalongside the right third finger.

2. The two hands come together, the left

hand, palm up. The left thumb goes ontop of the right hand packet, and presseson the top card. As the hands separatethe top card is peeled off with the leftthumb into the left hand. The count of "One* is made.

3. As the card is peeled off into the lefthand it goes into a position identicalw i t h that for the Shuffle Palm, Figure 1o f this chapter.

4. The second card is now peeled off intothe l e f t hand, going on top of the firstone; however, the left fourth fingerobtains and holds a break, at the back,between the two cards.

5. The next two cards are taken into thel e f t hand the same as the others. Thefifth card, however, is handled different-

i y -6. So far the left thumb has been peelingoff the cards from the right hand into the

l e f t . Now the procedure changes. The leftthumb moves over to the outer left cor-ner of its cards. The right hand nowcomes in to the left and slides its singlecard onto the packet as in Figure 13which shows the rear view. Note that thebottom card is separated, at the back, bythe l e f t fourth finger holding a break.

» Figure 13

7. The right hand, after sliding its cardo n t o the packet, continues moving lef tu n t i l the right third fingertip touches thetip of the left thumb. In this way the

hands will completely obscure the outeredge of the packet from the front.

8. Once the hands are in the above posi-tion, the left hand turns palm downward

at the wrist and falls away with thepalmed card, and right hand retains theremainder of the cards and either holds,them still from above, or tosses themface down on the table.

It must be remembered that the cardsare counted aloud during the runningaction of the cards. On the count of five,the left hand steals its card while theright hand retains the packet.

In order to steal a number of cards, oneonly needs to run the desired numberinto the Count Cop position. Then theleft little finger gets a break above them.The count is then finished and the cardspalmed away as already described.

An Effect With The Count CopFor The Left Hand

The effect is to cause a selected cardfrom among five blue-backed cards tovanish and appear, face up in a red-

backed deck. It is performed as follows:1. Show the red deck freely and place it,faces towards your body, in the left coatpocket.

2. Take five blue-backed cards and havea card selected. Control it to the top of the packet.

3. Count the f i v e cards to apparentlyshow that there are really only five. TheCount Cop is made and the left hand

goes to the left pocket to obtain the reddeck.

4. While the left hand is in the pocket, itshoves the palmed card somewhere inthe deck's center. It will then of coursebe backwards in the deck. The left handthen brings out the deck with therequest that someone hold it.

5. The five blue cards, really four now,are false counted as f ive . This subtlety



30

ACTION PALM

will convince the audience that every-thing is still as it was.

6. The selected card is now named. Theperformer seemingly causes it to vanishleaving only four cards.

7. The spectator, with the red deck, isasked to spread the cards. In the center,face up, is the card that had just van-ished from among the blue ones.

The One Hand Action Palm

A card is controlled and palmed in thesimple action of shuffling the pack, thenhanding it to the spectator to shuffle.The card goes into a regular palm posi-

tion in the right hand. Begin with thedeck in left hand dealing position.

1. Have a card selected and returned tothe deck. On squaring the deck, thefourth finger of the left hand obtains abreak above the selection as for the stan-dard Pass.

2. The right hand cuts off the top portionat the break. The remaining portion inthe left hand is tilted on its right side.The right hand portion is swung into

position for an overhand shuffle.

3. The portion from the right hand isshuffled off onto the face of the left handpacket. This will leave the selected cardon top.

4. After the right hand has completelyshuffled off its portion, the left handcards remain in the same plane; that is,still on their right side, with the face of the cards towards the left palm. Thereisn't any attempt to change this positionor to square the pack.

5. The right hand comes down andgrasps the ends of the deck, thumb atthe back, fingers at the front. The leftfour fingers will be on the back of thedeck and the left thumb on the face.

6. With the hands in this position, theleft third and fourth finger-tips pulldown on the inner right hand corner of

the top card. The top card will now be jogged, at an angle, about an eighth of an inch. The angled card will be helddiagonally between the right thumb and

little finger as follows. The ball or pad of right thumb will contact the angled cardat the inner left corner. The fourth fin-gertip of right hand will be in contactwith the outer right corner.

The position of both hands and theangled top card is seen in Figure 14,Note that the pack is not squared, alsoFigure 14 shows the hands at a slightangle, actually the pack is straight upand down resting on its right side during

the jogging action.

Figure 14

7. The left hand can now let go of thepack and allow the right hand to carry itaway safely. The right hand itself cannow palm the top card as follows. Theright fourth finger, at the outer right cor-ner of the jogged top card, presses thiscorner down and over the outer end of the deck. The jogged card will then belevered into the palm. The pack is thendropped face down onto the table.

The palm seems impossible because the

pack is not squared and it happensimmediately after the shuffle. Also thepack doesn't seem to be in position forany palm.

To describe the action as seen by thespectators; A card is selected, returnedto the center of the deck. The pack isgiven a short shuffle by the performerwho then says, "Perhaps, you wouldrather shuffle the cards?" The right hand



31

CLIP STEAL

drops the pack in front of spectator. Theselected card has been palmed.

Remember that the sloppier the pack isw h e n you place it down the more decep-

t ive will be the palm.

The Clip Steal

W h i l e this Clip Steal has been used byus primarily as a substitute for a onehand bottom deal, it is described herebecause it also has possibilities as apalm steal.

1. The card to be stolen is on top. Holdthe pack in the right hand in readinessfor the overhand shuffle. Faces of cards

towards the right palm.2. Run off the top card into the left hand.The l e f t hand takes this card so that itsupper left corner will be clipped at thebase of the first and second fingers.

3 . The remainder of the pack is shuffledso that it cover this card; however, thebase of the left forefinger keeps thesecards separated from the clipped card, atthe same time no break will be visible.

4. The left hand, turning at the wrist,tosses the shuffled pack back into theright. The deck will automatically fallf a c e up on the right hand. In the mean-t i m e the left hand with its clipped cardcan remain in a relaxed position at waistheight or it can drop to the side. Theb a c k of the left hand must face the audi-e n c e to keep the projecting card out of sight. The hand has a very natural, andunstrained appearance due to the factthat the card is not palmed but merely

clipped.

In doing the above Clip Steal, do notmake the mistake of jutting out thethumb but rather let it rest lightly nextto the forefinger. The fingers are slightlycurled.

In producing the card from the pocket,the body should make a slight turn tothe l e f t otherwise the back end of the

card may swing into view as the lefthand and card comes in contact with thebody.

The Clip Steal can be made with several

cards by merely running the desirednumber onto the base of the second fin-ger, then clipping them with the base of the forefinger. From here the handling isthe same as for one.

Turn Down Palm

In the simple action of turning a card,face up and then face down, the top cardor cards can be indetectably palmed.

1. The deck is held in the left hand with

thumb on top and all four fingers at theright side of the pack.

2. The right forefinger lifts the lower rightcorner of the top cards. Once the card islifted, the right first and second fingersrun under its right side until they reachthe center of the card. At this point, theright fingers drag the top card to theright over the left fingertips. The leftthumb still presses lightly on top of thedeck, until its top card's left side touches

the left fingertips and comes clear of theleft thumb.

The card is flipped face up on top of thedeck, the left thumb moving out of theway to the left side of the deck. The righthand immediately comes over andsquares the ends of the pack. Thissquaring action is to apparently insurethe turned card being flush on the deck.

3. The left thumb moves back to the topof the deck. The right hand repeats the

lifting and turning of the card. This timein turning the card face down, it is madeto fall so that it is ou t j ogg e d over theouter end of the pack as in Figure 15.The jog is exaggerated in the illustration,actually it is no more than a sixteenth of an inch and not more than the whiteborder of the second card.



32

ACTION PALM

Figure 15

4. After the card has landed in the posi-tion shown in Figure 15, the right handagain comes over to apparently squarethe ends. While doing this the right four

fingers press down on the out jogged cardand lever the card up into the palm. Theright hand immediately continues squar-ing the pack by running the fingers andthumb along the ends of the pack. Thehand with the palmed card can nowdrop to the side or remain holding thepack.

Turnover Palm Card to Pocket

The following effect is a good applicationof the Turnover Palm.

1. Have a card selected. Control it to thetop by using a Double Undercut.

2. State that you may have cut his cardto the top or bottom. Show the spectatorthe bottom card which he will deny ishis.

3. The top card is now ready to beshown; however, make a double-lift andturn the two cards face up on top of thepack. Be sure to run through the squar-

ing action.4. The two cards are now turned downand both cards jogged, as one, over thetop end of deck as already shown inFigure 15.

5. The right hand squares the pack, lev-ering the two cards into the palm, Theright hand drops to the side as you ask for the name of the card.

6. After the card is named, reach intoyour right coat or trouser pocket andremove the indifferent card.

7. Hold the card face down and say,"Here it is." Place the card, withoutshowing its f a c e , back into the deck.Immediately say, "I will do it again." Asthis is said, downr i f f le the upper left cor-ner of the pack with the left thumb as amagical gesture. Have the spectatorreach in your pocket to remove the card.

8. In case you are in company where theabove procedure may be inappropriate,then produce the card from the pocketyourself. Be sure they know that your

hand is unmistakably empty.Turn Down Palm With Packets

The Turn Down Palm can be very easilyused on a small packet of cards; to say,palm off an Ace from one of the packetsin an Ace assembly routine.

1. Let us suppose it is necessary to palmoff an Ace from the last packet in orderto complete an assembly.

2. The packet has the Ace on the bottom

and four cards above. A total of fivecards but the audience is aware of onlyfour.

3. The five cards are counted as four byuse of the Reverse Buckle Count, revers-ing their order in the process . This willbring the Ace to the top of the packet.

4. You now turn over the top card toshow the Ace. In turning it down youexecute the Turn Down Palm. The righthand takes the remaining cards anddrops them in their original position onthe table. The right hand, with itspalmed card can add the Ace to anypacket desired by the mere action of scooping that packet up off the table.

The Turn Down Palm can also be usedto palm off four Aces to the pocket bymerely bringing the four Aces on top anddoing a five card lift to apparently prove



33

MISDIRECTION PALM

that the Aces are really lost in the pack.This procedure can be accomplishedsuccessfully only if the performer will notlet the large block of cards unnerve him

during the turn over action. Once thepacket is palmed away the odd card canbe l e f t in the pocket, the Aces only beingproduced.

As a variation, the odd card can be takenout as the first Ace. This card is not dis-played but miscalled as an Ace andplaced back in the deck. The other threeA c e s are now shown as each one is pro-duced. Apologies are made for not hav-ing shown the first. The fourth Ace is

now apparently caused to again travel tothe pocket from which it is thenremoved. This bit of maneuvering willalways leave the performer free of theextra card as well as add a little amusingby-play.

Misdirection Palm

Around 1946, we were using a movewhere, while pushing four cards into thecenter of the pack, the top four cardsw e r e palmed off. Because the hand was

in the action of pushing in the cards, thepalm was never suspected. We were sosecretive about this move, that we pur-posely left it out when writing up a rou-tine called Up Side Down, which usedthis palm. Since then we have developedthe idea even f u r t h e r , applying it to aSelected Card to Pocket routine. Herethen are the mechanics of theMisdirection Palm.

1. As already stated, the idea is simple.

Merely palming off the top card, orcards, as you seemingly place anothercard into the center of the pack. It mustbe mentioned that it is the application of this idea that gives a logical excuse forthe action itself.

2. Hold the pack in the left hand anddeal off the top card. This card is taken,at the upper right corner, between theright thumb on top, fingers below.

3. Insert the card from the outer end,into the center of the pack.

4. The card is pushed in, for a third of itslength, with the right fingers and thumb

still holding the upper right corner.5. The right fingers and thumb nowrelease their hold on the card. A newposition is taken with the right handcoming over the deck. The right thumbgoes to the inner end of the pack, nearthe base of the left thumb while the rightfour fingers, at the outer end, start topush the projecting card in further .

6. When the right four fingers havepushed in the projecting cards for twothirds its length, they move back as aunit to the back end of the pack as inFigure 16 The left thumb moves to theleft side of deck. The right thumb main-tains its position at the back end of thepack. This backward move is made forthe sole purpose of showing the cardonce more.

7. Now the right four fingers extend for-

Figure 16

ward as a unit and the first phalanx, orpad, of the right fourth finger strikes the

upper right corner of the top card. Thefingers continue forward to the edge of the inserted card. Because the fourthfinger strikes the outer right corner of the top card, the edge of the top card ismoved past the outer edge of the deck and downward. This causes the innerend of the card to lever upward andspring into the palm as in Figure 17.

Note that the left thumb is still at the left



34

ACTION PALM

side of the pack so as not to interferewith the palming of the top card.

Figure 17

8. At this stage the right hand, with thecard up against its palm, moves to theright side of the pack in order to againshow the projecting card. Not until thiscard is seen again does the right handcomplete pushing in the card. The spec-tator, keeping his eye on the projectedcard, will completely miss the palming of the top card.

9. After the card has been pushed inflush with the deck, the right fingersslightly riffle the front end of the deck.Upon completion of the riffle, the righthand drops to the side.

Effect with the Misdirection Palm

As has been pointed out previously, thistype of palm has absolutely no logicunless its application makes it appearnormal. The Selected Card To Pocketroutine that follows shows its applica-tion. It is one of our favorite routines.

1. Previous to the routine, the right coat

or trouser pocket has two cards. Theseare put there either by palming or whenno one is looking. Both cards faceinwards towards the body.

2. Have a card selected or peeked at,then control it to the top by means of theDouble Undercut.

3. Say, "I may have cut your card to thetop." Make a double lift to show, appar-

ently, the top card. Note this card'sname but do not mention it. As anexample, let us say it is the Queen of Hearts. Return the two cards, as one, to

the top of the deck.4. Show the bottom of the pack and callits name. For example, "Is the Four of Spades your card?" Turn the pack f a c edown. Take off the top card and holdingit with the back of the card facing thespectator, at about spectator's eye level.Ask them, "Are you sure the Queen of Diamonds is not your card?"

5. If the card is held at the spectator'seye level slightly off to the right and you

look directly into spectator's eyes, theidentity of the selected card can be seenout of the corner of your right eye. It isimportant that you do not so much asglance at the card you are holding.

6. Return the card to the top of the pack but now you know its name. Assume itis the King of Clubs, address the selecteeas follows: "I do not know what card youselected but I will cause it to go into mypocket." "Watch!"

7. Down riffle the outer left comer of thepack with the ball of the left thumb,Reach into the right pocket, remove oneof the two cards there, hold it back towards spectator, look at it yourself andmiscall it, "The King of Clubs, right?"Immediately place this card face downon top of the deck and perform a doublelift to actually show the King of Clubs.Turn the cards face down on top.

8. Address the spectator once more. " I I

will place the King of Clubs back intodeck." Here you place the top card intothe dek and execute the MisdirectionPalm which sends the King of Clubs intothe palm of the right hand.

9. Reach into the right pocket, leavebehind the palmed card and remove thesecond indifferent card. Bring the cardback outwards and without showing it,place it into the center of the deck as you



35

THE CULL PALM

say, "I will do it once more. Watch theK i n g of Clubs."

10. Once more riffle the deck. This timebe sure they are positive your right hand

is empty as you reach into the pocketand slowly remove the actual King of Clubs.

The student can readily see that Step 5is important if Step 7 is to be effective,also the Misdirection Palm must be doneas described to get maximum effect atStep 10.

Misdirection Packet Palm

The Misdirection Palm can also be used,

w i t h a slight change, to palm off severalcards such as four Aces.

1. The technique, for this is to obtain abreak, under the top f ive cards, with thefourth finger of left hand. An indifferentcard is above the Aces which have previ-ously been apparently placed in differentparts of the deck.

2. The bottom card is withdrawn andshown with the remark that the Aces arenot on the bottom. This card is then

pushed into the center of the pack.

3. The top card is taken and shown. Italso is placed into the center of the pack at which time the Aces are palmed. Indetail: the left fourth finger pivots theA c e s up off the pack as the right fourthf i n g e r presses downward, on the outerright comer of the packet to lever themup into the palm. The pivot is very slightand the palm is made just as the singlecard is being pushed into the deck. After

the palm, the right hand moves alongthe ends of the pack squaring it with thefingertips.

The Cull Palm

W h i l e looking over the faces of the deck to apparently ascertain if all the cardsare there, any certain card or cards maybe palmed out. The action is describedassuming we wish to palm out the four

Aces from a deck which has just beenhanded to the cardician.

1. The pack is spread, face up, betweenboth hands; however, the position of the

hands is most important; especially theright hand. The pack is spread betweenboth hands in such a manner that theforefingers of both hands will be showingabove the spread while the fingertips of the right hand will be below the finger-tips of the left.

2. Thumb off the cards from the lefthand into the right until you reach thefirst Ace. At this point the left fingerspush the Ace beneath the fan and into

the right hand. The card goes into theright hand in a palm position similar tothat of the Count Cop. This is why theproper position of the right hand isimportant.

3. In pushing the Ace or any desiredcard under the fan, the left thumb dropson the card to the right of it. The leftthumb then holds onto this card whilethe left fingers push the Ace to the right.The left thumb's position prevents more

than one card going under the fan.4. Continue thumbing the cards to theright, all the cards will go above the firstAce till you reach the second Ace. Thissecond Ace is likewise pushed, with theleft fingers, under the fan into the righthand above the first Ace. Figure 18shows the first Ace in the palm of theright hand and the second Ace being slidunder the fan.

Figure 18



36

ACTION PALM

The illustration shows the bottom viewexposed, actually there is nothing to beseen from the front, bottom or topbecause the two hands are held close

together in a sort of a "cup" position.5. Continue the Culling action for thetwo remaining Aces. After the four Acesare in the right hand the remainingcards are thumbed through.

6. When the left hand reaches the end of the pack, the left hand keeps its posi-tion. The right hand now squeezes itspalmed cards, causing them to buckleaway from the rest of the pack. The leftfingers can now grasp the pack from

below, left thumb still on face of thedeck, and carry it slightly forward whilethe right hand drops to the side with itspalmed cards. The action at this point issimilar to that of the Count Cop.

D'Amico's Cull Palm Effect

One of the best applications of the CullPalm is in conjunction with the spectatorpeek. It is a favorite of that smooth work-ing cardician, Carmen D'Amico.

1. Have a card peeked at and maintainthe break. (See Side Steal, Chapter 4)

2. The pack is now apparently squaredbut the break is maintained.

3. Looking at the spectator, the cardiciansays, "Your card is somewhere in thispack." As these words are being said, thepack is spread, face down, between bothhands. The break is maintained by theleft fourth finger during this action.

4. When the break is reached the select-ed card is slid under the fan and into theright hand as for the Cull Palm.

5. Both hands continue spreading thedeck and do not stop when the break isreached. Do not stop until the wholepack has been thumbed through. Theright hand, with its palmed card, dropsto the side while the left fingers andthumb carry the pack slightly forward.

The palmed card is subsequently pro-duced from the pocket.

Cull Palm Replacement

Assuming that you have Cull Palmed theAces, this will allow you to replace themon top of the pack.

1. The cards are palmed in the righthand, backs of cards towards the palm.

2. The deck is shuffled by the spectatorand returned. Take the deck face downin the left hand.

3. Turn the pack face up, use only theleft hand to do this. Move the pack towards the right.

4. The right hand comes up to join theleft hand. As the two hands meet the l e f thand starts thumbing the cards into theright hand, thus fanning or spreadingthe cards face up between both hands.The right hand turns palm up just intime to receive the first of these cards,The palmed cards in the right hand w i l lnow be covered by the spread and rideunder the cards as the fanning is contin-u e d .

5. Step 4 is covered up by the cardicianremarking, "As you can see, you havemixed the cards quite well ." The spreadis now closed up, the fan of cards closingtogether above the palmed cards in theright hand, which then become the topof the pack. The pack is turned facedown and any effect using the Aces canbe performed.

Note that the cards are spread in Step 5only to show that they have been shuf-fled. It is unnecessary to spread throughthem from the beginning to the very end.Simply spread through them a ways,add the palmed cards and proceed.

Ace Effect with theCull Palm Replacement

The four Aces are palmed, faces out, inthe right hand. Have the pack shuffled.On its return do not turn the pack f a c e



37

PRESSURE FAN PALM

up but rather spread it face downbetween both hands. In closing up thespread, the four Aces are slid, as a unit,i n t o the center of the pack. With the four

A c e s reversed, it takes very little imagi-nation to see what a very startling open-ing Ace effect can be made.

Some may prefer to hold out the Acesand then use just the reverse effect;however, in case this is attempted besure that you get the cards into the CullP a l m position, as this is the cleanestpossible way to add the cards. From aregulation full palm, the additionprocess can also be accomplished. Thereis, however, a certain awkwardness,especially to the right hand, as the moveis made.

As long as we are on the subject of replacing cards from the full palm, wemay mention that in the case of the lefthand palm it is only necessary to takethe deck with the right hand and merelyplace it into the left in a dealing position.The addition of the cards, to the bottomof the deck, is automatic.

Pressure Fan PalmT h o s e cardicians who can make a pres-sure fan, and in these days it is rareindeed to find one that doesn't, can mas-ter the Pressure Fan Palm with very littlee f f o r t .

The action is one of merely fanning thecards to apparently show that a selectedcard is somewhere in the pack. Amoment later, in closing the fan, the topcard is palmed in the right hand. Here

are the mechanics.1. Make a pressure fan in the standardmanner. At its completion do not removethe right hand but maintain its positiono v e r the top card of the fan. The positionof the right hand, after the fan has beencompleted, is essential to the palm.

2. You will note that in Step 1, the right

thumb will be below that of the left whilethe right four fingers will still be at thetop edge of the fan. The left thumb willbe holding onto the back base or wheel

of the fan. While the left four fingers willbe on the face of the fan.

3. While the hands are in the positiondescribed in Step 2, the right thumbpulls back the top card, at its inner cor-ner, from under the left thumb as inFigure 19 causing it to buckle away fromthe rest of the fan.

Figure 19

4. Once the top card has been pulledfrom under the left thumb, it is releasedby the right thumb. The right thumbmoves over against the side of the rightforefinger. The top card will now be held,in a slightly buckled condition, betweenthe left thumb at the lower left cornerand the right four fingers at the top edge.

5. The right hand now swings the topcard towards the left end of fan, the rightfingers rubbing against the top edge of

the fan. The left thumb forms the base of the arc the top card describes.

6. When the right hand, pivoting the topcard to the left, reaches the left side of the fan, it curls as normal to engage thisside to close the fan from left to right. Asthis action is made, the top card, in theright hand, will swing free of the leftthumb and into the right palm.



38

ACTION PALM

7. The fan is closed and the right handtaps the back end of the cards squarewith the backs of the right fingers. Thepack can then be retaken with the right

hand.Effects With The

Pressure Fan Palm

As an application for the Pressure FanPalm, the following effect should give onean idea for others.

1. Have a card selected. Control it to thebottom of the pack.

2. Turn the pack, face up with the facesinwards, towards yourself. Pressure Fan

the cards as you remark, "Somewhereamong these cards is yours, which I donot know."

3. Close the fan, stealing the face cardand retaining it in the right palm. Leavethe pack face up in the left hand.

4. Ask the spectator to name his card.Call attention to the face card. Pass yourright hand over it, performing a colorchange move, show the face card haschanged to the selected one.

Naturally it is the indetectable steal of thecard that will make the color changeeffective as well as the type of palmrelease being used during the actualcolor change.

One Hand PalmAs Action Palm

1. The card to be palmed is on the bot-tom or face of the deck. The deck is held

in the right hand in readiness for anoverhand s h u f f l e but also in the positionnecessary for a One-Hand Palm.

2. Start to shuffle the cards into the lefthand and when a few cards have beenthus shuffled off, stop momentarily tomake some appropriate remark.

3. During the above slight stall, the OneHand Palm is made and the shuffle

immediately continued. Figure 24 showsthe action and position of both hands asthe palm is made.

4. Immediately continue the shuffle until

all cards have been shuffled into the l e f thand.

Figure 20

5. The right hand now comes above deck and grasps it by the ends from above, asin Figure 21. The right forefinger iscurled on top to give misdirective coverfor the palmed card.

Figure 21

6. In order to palm the top card of thedeck, the cards should be shuffled withfaces of cards towards the left palm,Then perform the above moves f r o m

Steps 1 to 5.

7. After the shuffle the cards will be f a c eup in left hand. The right hand, with apalmed card, takes the deck by the l o w e rright corner as in Figure 22.

8. If it is necessary to have the pack f a c edown, the right hand brings the deck tothe left hand, then rests its left long sideon the left fingertips.



39

RIFFLE SHUFFLE PALM

Figure 22

9. Right hand flips the deck over, faced o w n onto the lef t hand. Immediatelythe right hand comes over to squared e c k , then takes it from above as inF i g u r e 2 1 .

In order to palm off several cards, from

e i t h e r the top or face of the deck usingthe above overhand shuffle action, it isnecessary to first obtain a break underthe desired number of cards. The break is maintained by the left fourth fingerw h i c h then straightens out just enoughso that the cards are pivoted off the deck at a slight angle as in Figure 23. Notet h a t the lef t thumb across top of thed e c k helps in controlling this angle jog.

Figure 23

F r o m here it is merely a matter of takingthe cards into the shuffle position andd o i n g the One Hand Palm during the

s h u f f l e . The cards being angled makesthe palm even easier to execute.

Riffle Shuffle Palm

A palm made during a seemingly inno-cent riffle shuffle is performed in the fol-l o w i n g manner:

1 , The card to be palmed is on top of thed e c k . The right hand holds the deck inp o s i t i o n for a One Hand Palm, fingers at

the outer end and the thumb at theinner end, but no attempt to palm ismade at this point. The deck is held withthe outer end pointing down and the

inner end up.2. The performer separates and preparestwo halves of the deck for a riffle shuffleas follows

The left thumb comes over and splits thedeck in half at the inner end, allowingthe bottom half of the deck to pivot atthe right fingertips, opening the deck likea book. The left thumb drops this end of the half deck to the left second third andfourth fingers. At the same time the left

forefinger moves to the top of this half,clipping it between the left forefinger ontop and the second, third and fourth fin-gers beneath. The right fingers still sup-port the opposite or hinged end of thishalf deck.

3. The left thumb is now free to move tothe opposite end of this packet, still rest-ing on the right fingertips, in order tograsp it. At the same time the back of leftthumb will be pressing against the face

card of the half retained by right hand.4. The left thumb against the face of right hand packet gives it the neededbody for the right hand to do the OneHand Palm. Figure 24 shows the actionat this point.

Figure 24

5. Both hands now swing down to thetable to riffle shuffle the cards as inFigure 25. As this is being done the right



40

ACTION PALM

forefinger must move in and curl on topof its packet so that the finger positionsof both hands are identical.

6. After the shuffle the cards are squared

as follows: The second fingers, of bothhands, move across the short ends of the deck while the forefingers ride alongthe long outside edges. The thumbs areat the back side of the deck and meetthe second fingers at the back corners asthe squaring action is completed. Thissquaring action also aids in the decep-tiveness of concealing the fact that cardshave been palmed.

Figure 25

To palm several cards using the riffleshuffle it is only needed to pre- jog theamount to be palmed as in Figure 27,then proceed as in the previous steps forone card.

Take TechniquesFor The Action Palm

First Method: Sometimes it is valuableto be able to take the cards from aboveby the ends, after a shuffle, and stillpalm some cards. The method outlinedhere can be used with the Shuffle Palm.

1. Go through the actions of the ShufflePalm from Step 1 to Step 4

2. When you reach Step 4 you merelycontinue shuffling onto the outjoggedcard only. In other words you do notalternate the cards in and outjogged tocover the cards being palmed. They aremerely left injogged while the rest of deck is shuffled to the front.

3. After the completion of the shuf f l e , theright hand comes over to take deck, bythe ends, from above.

4. The right thumb, at the back, presses

down on the injogged cards, fo rc ingthem down into the left hand.

5. The right hand takes deck while l e f thand drops to side with palmed cards.

Second Method: This method uses theFall Away Technique. The handling issuch that it seems impossible to havestolen any cards.

1. Perform all the Steps from 1 to 5 nec-essary for the Shuffle Palm. Finally,

leave the cards, still unsquared, restingin the left hand.

2. The right hand now comes over totake all the cards by the inner right cor-ner. The left hand goes to the side emptywhile right hand keeps holding the deckby its inner right corner.

3. At this stage, if you examine the bot-tom of the deck you will find that you areactually holding onto the cards that w i l llater be palmed. In addition, these cards

are actually injogged in relation to thecards above it.

4. After a suitable pause covered by pat-ter, the right hand returns the cards i n t othe left hand as follows. The outer end of the deck is placed so that it rests alongthe left forefinger. The other three l e f tfingers are merely cupped. Due to theoutjogged cards the injogged cards w i l lfall away and into the cupped left fin-gers. This position is retained for the

moment.5. The right hand comes back and againtakes the deck by the lower right comer,thumb on top, fingers below, but thistime due to the Fall Away Action of thebottom cards, the right fingers can enterbetween the deck and the cards to bestolen by left hand.



41

SQUARE UP DROP PALM

6. The above type of handling is veryconducive to such effects as the twelvecards to the pocket wherein the pattertheme can make every move seem logi-

c a l . Square Up Drop Palm

During the side squaring of the deck thebot tom cards are palmed in the lefthand.

1. Assume you want to bottom palm thef o u r bottom cards. Obtain a break abovethem and this break is transferred to theright thumb which maintains it at theinner end.

2. The cards are now brought up to thefingertips into the Square Up Positionshown in Figure 32 of this chapter.

Figure 4

Figure 32

3. Now the right hand slides the deck back and forth so that the lef t thumband fingers rub along the sides.

4. During this movement, when the leftthumb and left second finger reach thef r o n t end of the deck, the right handreleases the bottom cards so that theydrop into the left hand where they willland in a position similar to that shownin Figure 4 of the Shuffle Palm. In theillustration the right hand has beenomitted, but would be holding the deck from above.

5. The right hand gestures forward whilethe l e f t falls to the side or to the pocketto produce the cards.

Square Up Drop PalmCards to Pocket

A use for this technique in an effect is asfollows:

1. Control two selected cards to the bot-tom and obtain a break above them.

2. Do the Square Up action, shown inFigure 32, as you say, "By rubbing thesides of the pack in this manner I willcause your cards to go into the pocket."

3. Ask for the name of the first card,then say, "Watch, all I do is rub the deck and your card goes into the pocket."

Execute the Square Up Drop Palm.4. Produce the first card from the pocketleaving the second selection behind.

5. For second card merely go throughthe actions of squaring up, then producethe second selection from pocket.

Drop Cut Palm

This palm is deceptive because theimpression of controlling rather thanpalming, is given.

1. Assume the four bottom cards are tobe palmed. The left fourth finger sepa-rates these cards from rest of the deck.The pack is also held deep in Mechanic'sGrip, (see Figure 1 for a similar position).

2. The right hand cuts off about a thirdof the pack and drops it onto the table.

3. The right hand comes back and cutsoff another third of the deck and drops itonto the first tabled portion.

4. The right hand now comes over andtakes all the cards up to the break. Atthe same time the left hand moves downto the side as it goes away with itspalmed cards.

5. The whole action is that of merely cut-ting the deck several times.



42

ACTION PALM

Double Action Palms

It has been our idea for a long time that

it would be a great advantage to palmcards into both the right and left handssimultaneously during some action suchas an overhand or riffle shuffle. Theideas that follow are practical althoughtechnically not very satisfactory. We offerthese brief descriptions in order that theserious student can further study andexperiment on his own.

1. This first can be very briefly stated inthat it is merely of a combination of thetwo original Action Palms in O f f the Top.

2. With, say, two cards on top and twoon the b o t t om , the deck is riffle shuffledas in Figure 25 but so that the first twobottom cards, which are in the left handportion, fall first, then the rest of thecards are r i f f l e -weav ed normally up tothe last two, on top of the right handportion, which are allowed to fall last.

3. The deck is squared by pushing in theends and at the same time the bottom

two cards of left hand portion allowed tofall into left hand as in Figure 26.

Figure 26

4. The right hand now turns the deck around into position for squaring whichbrings the two top cards also into posi-tion for palming off. This is done bymerely pressing down with the right fin-gertips and causing these cards to leverup into the palm. The bottom cardsremain in the left hand at the same timethe pack was turned.

5. For a more complete description of each palm we recommend the readerstudy the booklet O f f the Top.

The second method employs an over-

hand shuffle to get the same results,that is card or cards, palmed in eachhand.

We assume that the cardician will readi-ly see that any combination of palmingmethods can be made, such as one cardin each hand or perhaps two and two, orthree and one, etc. For this descriptionwe have selected the two and two combi-nation.

1. With two cards on top and two on bot-tom of the deck, proceed as follows: Holddeck face up towards yourself andobtain a break under the two face cards.Pivot them into the angle position need-ed for a One Hand Palm.

2. Take the deck with the right hand,Shuffle off the top two cards into theposition for palming as in Figure 1.Continue the shuffle with a few morecards, just as in the Shuffle Palm.

3. Make some appropriate remark,allowing you to pause during the shuf-fling, do the One Hand Palm of the facecards into right hand and continue theshuffle until all cards are shuffled off.

4. The right hand comes over and takesthe deck from above and by the ends asthe left hand moves down to the sidewith its palmed cards. The right handplaces the deck on the table, then alsorests at the side.

5. It is unnecessary to point out thatthese cards can be produced from thepockets. Using the Card From Pocketideas you can produce them from f o u rdifferent pockets.

Palming From Small Packets

We will now finish with the Action Palmsand begin describing some new tech-niques of palming from small packets.



43

THE TABLE EDGE PALM

The best application for a small packetpalm is for use with transpositions orAce assemblies. Since there are manycombinations of these particular prob-lems, the student should not find it diffi-cult to properly apply the following smallpacket palms.

Probably one of the more difficult smallpacket palms is the one hand palm. Thereason is obvious. There isn't any bodyto the cards and any pressure appliedcauses the small packet to buckle muchtoo suspiciously. This is especially truew h e n there is no get ready of the topcard previous to the palm. We believe wehave solved the problem with the TableEdge Palm.

The Table Edge Palm

1. Assuming that the top card of a pack-et of five is to be palmed into the righthand, hold the cards face down in theright hand.

2. The right hand holds the packet fromabove, thumb on the inner end at the leftcorner and fingers at outer end.

3. Turn the right hand and tap the rightside of the packet on the edge of thetable. The face of the packet will betowards the left, while its outer indexcomers should be resting near the edgeof the table. Three quarters of the packetw i l l then protrude backward over thee d g e of the table, as in Figure 27 whichis the correct position prior to the palm.

Figure 27

4. Keep the right hand in the above posi-tion as you turn the packet face down,its outer index corner being the pivotpoint. As the packet is turned face down,

the first phalanx of right fourth fingerpushes downward and forward againstthe upper right corner of the top card.Because the table edge gives the cardsthe much needed support, the top cardwill pivot into the right palm.

5. Once the card is in the palm, the righthand can remain at rest, momentarily,then later toss the packet face down toone side; however, some may prefer toimmediately toss the packet aside oncethe palm is made. Either alternative ispermissible, depending on the circum-stances at hand.

Pivot Bottom Steal

The usual method of side stealing thebottom card, into the right hand, is tohold the packet from above with theright hand while the left fingers push thebottom card into the right palm. It is thispushing and straightening of the left fin-gers that almost always tips off the

move.Several methods of handling have beendevised to overcome or cover up themovement of the left fingers, but thetechnique described here is by far supe-rior to any other methods.

1. A packet of f ive cards with an Ace atits face is assumed to contain only fourcards, three cards and an Ace. This con-dition is one that, at times, exists duringan Ace Assembly routine.

2. The packet is held face down fromabove with the right hand. The rightthumb is at the inner left corner whilethe first, second and third fingers are onthe outer edge with the third finger atthe actual right corner of the cards. Theright fourth finger is near the upper rightcorner just barely touching it and lyingalongside the others.



44

ACTION PALM

3. The right hand, holding the packet asabove, turns palm upwards to displaythe bottom Ace.

4. As if to call attention to the indifferent

cards, the left first and second fingerspull down the Ace at the index cornernear the right fingers. The left thumb isat the back of this corner helping the leftfingers in pulling back the Ace as well askeeping the other cards from spreading.The Ace is pulled back far enough toexpose the index of the card behind it asin Figure 28. Note that the Ace is notpulled past the fourth finger of righthand. Also the second fingertip of lefthand is close to fourth fingertip of righthand. This position is important; there-fore, study Figure 28 before proceedingfurther.

5. The right hand now turns palm down-ward using the left second finger tip as apivot point. The l e f t hand simultaneouslyturns palm upwards and at the sametime the left second fingertip presses itscorner of the Ace against the fourth fin-gertip of the right hand.

Figure 28

This pressure causes the Ace to pivot to

the right and into the right palm as inFigure 29 which is a bottom view of theaction. The left fingers do not move fromtheir position during the turning of thehands, or the pivoting of the cards. Onlythe left thumb moves over to the left sideof the packet as it normally would inpreparation for squaring the sides. Theright forefinger also curls on top of thepacket at this stage.

6. With left fingers still retaining theirposition, similar to that shown in Figure29, the right hand moves the packet,back and forth, over these fingers in a

simulated squaring action. Actually theleft fingers will ride below the face of thepalmed card; however, it looks as if theleft fingers are actually squaring thesides.

Figure 29

7. The left hand now removes the packetfrom the right hand, taking it at the cen-ter of left side, with the left thumb on topand left fingers below. The left handplaces its cards down while the righthand reaches for another packet addingthe palmed card at the same time.

Brush Palm

While this is similar in action to theMisdirection Palm, the position of the l e f tfingers must be changed when using asmall packet. This will insure a cleanpalm of the top card without disturbingor moving any of the others.

1. Hold the small packet of about f o u rcards face down in the left hand. Thepacket is held at the left finger tips, h i g habove the left palm as follows. Its outer

left side corner is held by the ball of theleft thumb which lies parallel to the l e f t

side of the cards. The tip of the left f o r e -finger is under the packet at the outerindex corner. The left second fingertipholds the right long side near the corner.The left third and fourth fingers arealongside, but are not touching thepacket as in Figure 30.



45

BRUSH PALM

2. The right hand is held in a flat palmposition with all four fingers and thumbclose together. Do not let the thumb jutout from the hand.

3. The right hand held in this positioncomes over and completely covers thepacket held with the left hand. At thispoint, the first phalanx of right fourthfinger will be in contact with the packet'souter right corner. The right fourth fin-ger presses on this corner as the righthand moves forward slightly. This willcause the top card to pivot and risea b o v e the tip of the left second fingertipand into the right hand. Do not flex theright hand at this stage. Keep it still, in af l a t position.

Figure 304. Once the card is actually in the palmof the righthand, the right hand swingsout towards the right and the rightthumb moves to the back edge of thepacket. The right hand now moves leftand right over the ends of the packet ina squaring action. At this stage the righthand is still in a more or less flat posi-tion, the card being held in the palm bya very slight contrac tion of the right

fourth finger. This causes the card to beh e l d by two diagonal corners, the card'sindex corners. These are held betweenthe base of the thumb and fourth fingerof right hand.

5. Take the packet with the right handand drop it on the table. The hand withthe palmed card can now scoop up anyof the other packets and add the palmedc a r d at the same time.

Several points must be remembered inthis palm. Al t hough Step 3 describes theright hand being deliberately placed overthe packet, this position lasts for only asecond and should appear as if the righthand came over and merely squared thepacket very lightly. Also the cards shouldnot move or be disturbed during thepalm. It is the absence of movement herethat prevents suspicion, and makes itseem impossible that a card could bepalmed off. For this reason the righthand must completely cover the cardsbut only briefly. This hides the usualtelltale pivoting of the card otherwise vis-ible at the inner left corner of the pack.

If one wishes to use the Brush Palm witha full deck, the left hand should hold thepack in the same grip as that used forthe Misdirection Palm. Since there isenough body to the cards when using afull deck, the support of the left forefin-ger, below the pack, is not needed as inthe small packet palm. Again, the righthand should not flex after the top card isunder it. Not until the right hand takesthe pack do the muscles contract.

Bits of MisdirectionHere we will discuss those little points ortouches that have a lulling effect on aspectator that may otherwise suspect apalm. As most of these apply to the stan-dard top and bottom palms only themethod of procedure will be consideredand not the technique for getting theminto the palm.

For the Top Palm

Few card men realize it, but the give-away of card palming is not always thepalming action but often the manner inwhich the deck is held or placed on thetable after the palm is made.

Most card m e n , after a palm, square thedeck with all four fingers at the outerend. They hold the deck in this positionto drop the deck on the table, with thefour fingers still at the outer end of the



46

ACTION PALM

deck. This, of course, is not natural andan observant person can sense thisunnaturalness even if they cannot quiteexplain it.

The natural method is with the right firstfinger bent onto the top card of the deck.This is the method used when not palm-ing by almost all cardicians in squaringthe deck and placing it on the table.Therefore, after a palm the same proce-dure should be followed.

Immediately after the palm, bend theright first finger on top of the deck andsquare up by running the pack, back and forth, the left hand fingers simulat-

ing a squaring of the sides. With first fin-ger still bent or curled on top, slap thedeck onto the table. The hand thenmoves away with its palmed cards.

A good position from which to do a OneHand Top Palm and also use this tech-nique is the following:

1. While held in the right hand, rest thedeck, on its right edge, on the table withfaces of cards to the left.

2. Hold the pack with the fingers at theouter end and thumb at inner end. Theposition is similar to the One Hand TopPalm shown in Figure 27.

3. The left thumb runs across the upperedge of deck squaring it. From this posi-tion you get set.

4. Lift the pack, placing it in the lefthand making the one-hand palm, at thesame time bending the right first fingeron top of deck.

5. Make the two squaring moves asexplained and lightly slap deck to tablekeeping first finger bent throughout.

For the Bottom Palm

There have been many methodsdescribed for bottom palming and in themajority of cases the pack, after thepalm, is always held flat in the left handto cover the palmed cards. While this is

perfectly normal, a throw-off has neverbeen devised to indirectly show that theleft hand could not possibly have anycards palmed, before the pack isremoved from the left hand. The methodwe have devised answers not only thethis purpose but serves an equallyimportant role and is simply this:

With the cards bottom palmed in the l e f thand and the pack covering the palmedcards, just before placing the pack down,the right hand comes over and graspsthe pack from above. The right forefingeris curled on top of the pack while thesecond, third and fourth fingers are atthe outer end.

The right hand raises the pack to the fin-gertips of the left hand. The left f o r e f i n -ger curls under the pack in a positionsimilar to that of the right foref ingerabove.

The left third and fourth fingers are alsocurled such that the nail of the third fin-ger will be under the pack on the rightside. This leaves only the left thumb atthe center of left side and left second fin-

ger at the center of the right side.With the left thumb and second f i n g e rholding the sides, the pack is apparentlysquared by the right hand running thepack back and forth between the l e f tthumb and second finger.

It is amazing how the mere shifting of the pack, up to the fingertips of the l e f t '

hand into this position, which is similarto Figure 32 below, will throw off anysuspicion of palmed cards. The pack can !

now be placed on the table, given to aspectator or retained in the right handas the left hand disposes of its palmed '

cards as desired.

As was mentioned the square-up actionserves a double purpose. This secondarypurpose is of even greater value whenapplied at a time when the left fingersmove in to curl around the bottom Icards. In most cases the left f ingers



47

BITS OF MISDIRECTION

m o v e , or close very slowly on the cardsto avoid any noticeable movement. Attimes it is impossible to eliminate ite n t i r e l y . It is our theory that if the move-

m e n t can not be eliminated then anothermovement must be used to cover it.

Let us suppose that the bottom cardsh a v e just pivoted so that they lie in linew i t h the palm of the left hand. In orderto curl those cards into the palm, it isnecessary to move the left fingers verys l o w l y , almost imperceptibly. Instead if you immediately go into the square-upp o s i t i o n you will note that the cards curli n t o the palm. The movement looks nat-u r a l because the shifting of the pack upto the l e f t fingertips gives it an excuse.

The Drop Cover

Standard methods of tip up or pivotp a l m i n g of several top cards sometimesh a v e the problem of movement of thei n n e r l e f t corner. This is less visiblew h e n the palm is made while the pack istransferred from hand to hand, but not if the palming action is made as the righth a n d appears to square the pack. Once

the cards are seen to move off at thei n n e r l e f t corner, the palmed cards might j u s t as well be shown. Even excessivemovement of the fingers will not givea w a y a palm as quickly as this onep o i n t . The Drop Cover principle, if prop-e r l y used, will insure one against"Corner Flash"'

The Drop Cover can be used with anystandard technique of palming. Theprinciple is quite simple. It merely con-s i s t s of momentarily getting the backs of the cards out of the line of spectator'sv i s i o n . As an illustration, let us assumeyou have a break under the top fourc a r d s which you wish to palm off in theright hand.

The right hand comes over the top of thed e c k in a squaring motion. The left handt i l ts the outer end of the deck upwardsto meet the right hand.

When the hands meet, the backs of thecards will be out of line of spectator'svision. The tilt of the left hand may beslight or great depending on performing

conditions.With the deck properly angled the topcards are palmed as the hands movedownward to once again bring the backsof the cards into view. It is during thedownward movement of the hands,which should be more from the wriststhan elbows, that the top cards arepalmed in the right hand. There will beno visible movement of the lower left cor-ner as one will see with a trial beforethat most patient of a u d i e n c e s—th e mir-ror.

Once the cards are in the palm, the righthand assumes the position explained forthe Top Palm.

The Wrist Turn

Here is another method for covering theCorner Flash when executing a top palmof several cards. In this instance, thepack is held in the left hand with theback of the hand towards the audience.

The hand is held at waist level and nearthe body. The right hand comes up andplaces its four fingers on the outer end of the pack, the left hand still keeping itsoriginal position. As the right thumbstarts to move towards the inner end of deck, the left hand at the same timerevolves palm upwards. At the sameinstant, the top cards are pivoted intothe right hand which continues squaringthe ends of the pack.

In case one is seated at a table, theabove Wrist Turn cover can be done byresting the left hand, with the pack,palm down on the table. The right handshould be close by also resting palmdownward. As the right hand reaches forthe pack, the left hand turns palmupwards. The desired cards are pivotedinto the right palm during the turning of the left hand.



48

ACTION PALM

It is important that the right four fingersassume their position at the outer end of the deck before the left hand turns.When the left hand turns the right

thumb swings to the inner end of thedeck. The cards are palmed, the righthand continues to square, then finishesby taking the pack in the Top Palm posi-tion with the forefinger bent on top of thepack.

Although the Wrist Turn cover has beendescribed as a series of actions, in actualperformance it becomes a unit and looksas if the hands merely squared the pack then placed it aside. One more importantpoint to remember. In the two-handed

squaring actions of the deck, not only isthe right forefinger curled on top but theleft forefinger is also curled on the bot-tom of the pack. The left fingers squarethe pack in the position explained in ForBottom Palm while the right fingersassume the grip detailed For The TopPalm.

Delayed One Hand Palm

The card booklet called Off the Topdescribes a one-hand top palm for sever-al cards and while it is a good palm, itschief fault was the position of the rightfingers as the pack was dropped on thetable. That is, all four fingers were at thefront end of the pack. In order to off-setthis, the following handling was thoughtout.

The usual procedure for doing the one-hand top palm is to take the pack in theright hand and in placing it on the table,the top card is palmed off. Naturally, the

four fingers remain on the front end dur-ing the whole process. Now take thepack in hand and try it this way.

1. The left hand holds the pack in aloose spread. This spread is about aninch or more in length. The left thumb ison the top card at its center and the leftfour fingers are at the right side.

2. The left thumb pushes the top card,very slightly, into a diagonal position,that is, so its outer right corner will pro-

ject over the right side of the deck and

the inner left corner will also very slightlyproject over the pack at this end.

3. The right hand comes over and takesthe pack, from above, with all four f i n -

gers on the outer end and thumb at theinner end. The ball of the right thumbshould be placed on the inner left comerwhere the top card projects while thefourth fingertip is placed on the outerright corner of the projecting top card.

4. In the above position the right hand

removes the deck from the left hand,then moves to place it on the table; how-ever, apparently seeing something therethe performer returns the pack into theleft hand. It is here, when the pack isreturned to the left hand, that the topcard is palmed by pressing down on theprojecting outer right corner with the Iright fourth finger.

5. The right hand, with its palmed card,returns to the table and rubs away someimaginary speck with the fingertips, '

Returning to the deck, the right handcan now take i t , at the extreme ends, inthe Top Pam position. The pack is lightly ;

slapped on the table as the right handmoves away with its palmed card.

Those who may desire a method of d o i n g ithe one hand palm with several cards w e .

refer to the booklet O f f the Top.

Palm Replacements

In this category we will try to show how

some of the principles that were used forpalming off cards can also be used to jreplace them. These replacements can!be applied to any standard palm and insome cases have been devised a sl

replacements for the Side Steal.

Before proceeding with the various w a y sof capping the deck, we will first describethe Basic Replacement Move:



49

PALM REPLACEMENTS

1. The cards to be replaced are palmedin the right hand in the conventionalmanner.

2. The lef t hand holds the pack, face

down, with all four fingers curled aroundright side of deck while the left thumblies parallel with the left side of the pack.

3. The right hand comes over to squarethe ends of the pack. The right four fin-gers will be on the outer end of the pack and the right thumb will lie almost par-allel to the inner end of deck, with theball of the right thumb on the inner leftcorner.

4. The right four fingers, in squaring the

ends, travel to the left until the side of right forefinger touches the tip of leftthumb. In this position the palmed cardscan be grasped at the outer left and rightcorners, between the ball of left thumband tip of the left forefinger. The left sec-ond and third fingers move out to engagethe l e f t side of the palmed cards. The leftfourth finger is alongside but does nottouch the palmed packet. The cards arestill in the palm of the right hand at thisstage, which is still arched over thepack, The position of the left fingers andthe palmed packet is shown in Figure 31where the right hand has been omittedfor a clear picture of the left hand at thispoint.

Figure 31

5. The right hand does not move at thist i m e only the left fingers move inwards,swinging the packet from out of the rightp a l m and onto the pack.

6. When the left fingers pull the topcards onto the deck, do not make themistake of moving the right thumb.There may be a tendency to stick out theright thumb in order to make room forthe palmed packet as it swings onto thepack. This can be avoided, by keepingthe right thumb glued to the inner leftcorner.

It is Steps 1 to 6 that constitute theBasic Replacement Move, and will bereferred to as such in the Misd i r ec t i v eReplacements to follow.

The Turn Over

Whenever the performer has a logical

reason, or excuse, for turning the pack face up, the Turn Over Replacement maybe used. It is easy and thoroughly decep-t ive .

1. With the hands in position for theBasic Replacement Move, the left fingerspull on the palmed cards while at thesame time the left hand starts to turnpalm down.

2. The right thumb leaves its position atthe inner end of the pack so that the fin-gers and thumb can meet the outer endof the pack as the left hand turns. Thisend is taken between the right four fin-gers on the face of the pack and rightthumb on back.

3. Grasping the pack at this end, theright hand slides the deck up and out of the left hand. The right hand continuesturning the pack end for end, bringing itface up and back into the left hand. Thedeck is now face up in the left hand with

the palmed cards underneath at the topof the deck.

The whole series of actions from Step 1to 3 should appear as if you merelyturned the deck, lengthwise, face up intothe left hand. This replacement can alsobe used with the Side Steal.



50

ACTION PALM

The Rise and Riff le

1. Both hands start in position for theBasic Replacement Move.

2. As the left fingers pull on the palmedcards, both hands, still together, rise tobring the face of the deck towards thespectator.

3. Simultaneously with the rise of thehands, the right fingers slightly riffle theouter end of the pack. The left thumbmoves onto the middle of the deck to aidin the riffling action.

Used with the Side Steal the followingremarks cover the replacement perfectly.

After the peeked card has been stoleninto the right palm and the Rise andRiff le is made, you say, "Remember, yourcard is somewhere in the center of thedeck." The r iff le, at the outer end, willenable him to see the faces of severalcards. This makes it seem as if you wishhim to see his card again.

The Turn and Gesture

The hands come together for the BasicReplacement Move. As the left fingers

pull inward on palmed packet, the lefthand also turns palm downward. Theright hand moves away from the deck ina gesture towards the spectator. The ges-ture exposes the palm of right hand. Asuitable remark such as, "You haveshuffled the cards thoroughly", or"Remember your card" should accompa-ny the action.

The Square UpThis replacement is made while the pack

is apparently squared. It does not consti-tute a mannerism; therefore, should fitalmost any type of performer.

1. The hands are in position for theBasic Replacement Move. The left fingerspull inwards on the right hand packetand at the same time the pack is shiftedup to the fingertips of the left hand. Theleft forefinger curls under the pack as anaid in lifting the deck.

2. The right hand, at the same time thatthe pack is lifted to the left fingertips,curls its right forefinger on the top of thedeck. The position of both hands is nowas shown in Figure 32 which is the stan-dard Square Up position.

3. The sides of the pack are immediatelysquared by the right hand running thepack, back and forth, between the l e f tthree fingers and thumb.

Figure 32

The action, although broken down intosteps, is one continuous move that looksas if you merely squared the deck. It is avery good method of replacement after

the Side Steal.

The Top Card Return

This method is ideal in combination witha Side Steal; although on occasions itmay be used to replace a packet of cards.

1. Well assume you have just stolen thecard into the right palm by means of theSide Steal. The Basic Replacement Moveis not used.

2. The left hand thumbs off the top cardto the right. The right hand comes o v e rand pinches the outer right corner of this card between ball of right thumband the base of right forefinger as inFigure 33.

Note that the palmed card is completelyhidden by the top card plus the particu-lar grip of the right hand.



51

THE TOP CARD RETURN

3. Turn, or flip, the top card face up ontothe deck. The right hand should be keptpalm downward during the turn over of the card. As the card lands face up, say,

"Naturally, your card is not on top."

Figure 33

4. Turn the top card face down in thesame manner that it was turned face up.It w i l l be noted that the right hand auto-matically comes over the top of the deck during the turning of the top card. It isw h e n the card is turned face down thatthe palmed card is released onto thedeck as in Figure 34.

Figure 34

5. The right thumb immediately swingsto the inner end of the deck. The right

hand grasps the pack from above andthe forefinger curls on top. Turn deck f a c e up and remark that the bottom cardis also not the selection.

To replace a number of cards, such asthe four Aces which may have beenpalmed earlier, some reason must beg i v e n to excuse the turning over of thetop card. Such patter as, "I hope youdidn't shuffle any high cards to the top

or bottom." will do. Speaking of replacingthe four Aces or any four of a kind, thenext method should fill the bill. It is usedwhen seated at a table. It is like the

standard replacement with just a pre-ceding touch.

After the Cut

1. The cardician has the four Acespalmed in his right hand while the spec-tator is shuffling the pack.

2. The spectator places the deck on thetable after which the performer, usinghis left hand, moves the pack in front of himself. The pack is moved so that theend of the pack faces the performerrather than the long side.

3. During the movements of the lefthand, the right hand, with its palmedcards, has been resting with fingertipson the back edge of the table. The lefthand now assumes the same position onthe left side of the table.4. The spectator is asked to cut the pack and to complete it.

5. Upon completion of the cut, the deck

will not be perfectly square; therefore,the cardician squares it with both handsin the following manner: The third andfourth fingers of both hands are curledslightly inwards towards the palms. Thesecond fingers, of both hands, move inalong the sides of the deck while theforefingers ride along the top edges. Theposition of both hands plus the pack isshown in Figure 35.

Figure 35



52

ACTION PALM

Both thumbs are at the inside end of thepack. The squaring movement is startedat the outer end of the pack and termi-nates at the inner end of the pack.

6. Immediately after the square-up, theright hand scoops up the cards addingthe palmed cards at the same time.

7. The pack, after being picked up, issquared with both hands in the stan-dard square-up position. See Figure 32.The next two replacements again makeuse of the Basic Replacement Move.

The Delayed Replacement

1. The hands come into position for the

Basic Replacement Move.2. The right hand, which has the palmedcards, takes the pack from the left handand starts to place it on the table.Apparently seeing something on thetable he replaces the pack into the lefthand. At this point both hands will againbe in the Basic Replacement position.

3. The left fingers pull the palmed cardsonto the pack and at the same time theleft hand turns palm downward. The

right hand immediately, with the turningof the left hand, moves to the imaginary"speck" and brushes it away.

4. The right hand now returns to the left,which has now again turned palmupwards, very cleanly takes the pack atthe extreme ends and places the cardson the table.

The Shuffle Replacement

1. As the hands come into the Basic

Palm Replacement, the pack is tilted onits right side at the same time that theleft fingers pull on the palmed packet.

2. The right hand immediately goes intoan overhand s hu f f l e by stripping out acenter portion of the cards, then shuf-fling them onto the face of the deck.

3. An appropriate remark to cover theshuffle is to say, "111 just shuffle these

again just in case they haven't beenmixed well enough." The once palmedcards will remain on top.

Revolving Replacement

This final replacement doesn't need anyremarks to cover it but should be madeinto a habitual mannerism in order thatits use will not stand out at the crucialtime. The mannerism is one that w i l lsuit any one of any type of personalitybecause it is not exaggerated. It can beused for a packet of cards or with a S i d eSteal.

First, a description of the revolvingaction, which is really very simple, in

order to give an idea of what the actionwould look like whether replacing cardsor not.

1. The pack is held face down in the l e f t

hand. The right hand is above the packholding it by the ends.

2. The right hand tilts the pack towardsthe right on its side and over whichbrings the deck face up onto the f i n g e r -tips of left hand. Th e fingertips of the l e f t

hand will be below while the left thumbwill come onto the face of the deck.

3. The left fingers pull the deck back i n t othe left hand, the right hand aiding inthis. The deck is now face up in the l e f t

hand.

4. The pack is now turned face down byduplicating the same actions used inturning it face up. At the completion, thepack will be back, face down, in dealingposition.

Although the movements were described Iin steps, the process is simply that o f

revolving the pack, face u p— t h e n f a c e

down, between both hands. The move ismade at a leisurely pace, not too fast nortoo slowly. Once the above is understoodthe replacement follows:

5. Either with a palmed packet or imme-diately after a Side Steal, the two hands



53

HOLDING OUT

assume the position for the BasicReplacement Move.

2. The left fingers pull the palmed cardso n t o the pack at the same time the pack

is revolved, face up, between bothhands.

3. Immediately revolve the deck facedown again. It should appear as if youhave a habit of, at intervals, revolving apack of cards in your hands. In this waye f f e c t i v e use can be made of this particu-la r rep lacemen t .

Holding Out

Probably the biggest problem to confront

e v e n well versed card men is the knack of keeping or holding out a card in thepalm of the hand while the pack is beings h u f f l e d by a spectator. The reason forthis stems from the fact that many peo-ple do not know what to do with theirhands under certain conditions.

A c t o r s , singers, public speakers all havethe problem of what to do with theirhands as they stand there before theiraudiences; therefore, they invent some-

t h i n g to keep their hands occupied or atleast make themselves less conscious of their hands. The next time you watch am o v i e , play or telecast, notice how theprincipals' hands are kept busy or atease during the various scenes. Very sel-dom are the actor's hands held stiffly atthe sides. They may be holding a glass,handling a phone, a cue stick, hat oranything depending on the setting.

The cardician should follow the sameexample and not just stand there withhis hands at his sides. No matter howrelaxed he may feel he does not look relaxed. Any kind of movement, even if itappears a nervous habit, is better misdi-rection than just holding the hands atthe sides. Here is a list of suggestions togive the student an idea of various waysto move the hand or hands with thepalmed card;

1. Picking up a glass and holding it withthe hand that has the card palmed. Thecurved appearance of the hand aroundthe glass appears normal. It also gives a

reason for taking the pack with the lefthand. The right hand replaces the glass,then squares the pack and replaces thepalmed cards.

2. If you wear glasses, many people fre-quently adjust them by using the thumband forefinger to push them back. Againthe curved appearance of the handseems normal.

3. Tie straightening, using both hands,is an accepted mannerism.

4. If you are a pipe smoker you really arein luck. The hand curves around thebowl naturally, at the same time theadded advantage of movement, with pipein hand, is all that can be desired.

5. When seated at a table you can restyour elbows on the table and cross yourarms. To conceal a palm, rest the finger-tips of both hands on the near edge of table or grasp the side edges of table.

6. Most men wear a ring, and a manner-ism of twisting it around on the fingercan be used to cover a palm. If the ringis on the right hand, the cards arepalmed in the same hand. The left handcomes over to place its fingers on thedesign of the ring while the left thumbgoes to the right palm where it goesagainst the face of the cards. The ring isnow twisted back and forth by the fin-gers of the left hand. It appears as if thering is being manipulated from both

front and back thus indirectly implyingthe emptiness of the right hand. Theabove are just a few suggestions but anyothers that the reader may devise to suithimself may, of course, be more effective.

Next we deal with what we consider theeasiest of all Palm Transfers everdevised, plus a Fake Transfer that canbe used on many occasions.



54

ACTION PALM

Easy Palm Transfer

1. With a card or cards palmed in theright hand, the pack is out of the handson the table. The right hand is placed

into the left hand which curls aroundthe right hand in a sort of clasping posi-tion as in Figure 36. The palmed cardsshould not lie beyond the left forefingerwhen the two hands are together as pic-tured.

Figure 36

2. The right hand now goes through aslight rubbing motion against the leftpalm. During this, the right fingers pressthe palmed packet into the left hand,and the left fingers curl around the sidesof the cards.

3. Both hands now separate, the lefthand turns inwards, just before the righthand is taken away. The left hand thendrops to the side. The packet is now inthe left hand in a position across thepalm as in Figure 37 and is completelyhidden from the front as this handhangs alongside the left thigh.

Figure 37

4. To transfer the cards back to the righthand is just as simple. Both hands cometogether again as in Figure 36 when theright hand can re-palm the packet by

merely curling the right hand aroundthem. From here the cards can be addedback on top of the pack.

The Easy Transfer can be used with the

Shuffle Palm. Naturally the Shuffle Palmwill place the cards, in approximately thedesired position, in the left hand. Fromhere the hands can be brought together,as in Figure 36, the cards being trans-ferred to the regulation palm in the righthand. It is an easy matter to later returnthe cards to the pack by any one of thereplacements previously discussed.

The Fake Transfer

At times merely rubbing the handstogether while keeping the palmed card,or cards, in the original hand is an aid inmisdirection. The process simply con-sists of bringing the hands together as inFigure 36, rubbing them and droppingthem back to the sides with cards still inthe original palm, either left or right.

Although mention has been made of dropping the hands to the side, it isassumed that they will not remain therefor any length of time as any one of themethods for Holding Out should be usedto lend an air of ease. Also, mention hasbeen made in several of the Palms andReplacements about, "Brushing away animaginary speck of dirt." This d o e s n ' t 'mean that one should go around findingdirt at every turn in a host's h o m e ,Misdirection of this type should be usedsparingly and with discretion. Applyingone or two of them to a favorite rout ine!is probably the best way to utilize these ithings.

Card From Pocket Ideas

The object of this move is to palm a cardin the right hand, then go to produce itfrom the left inside coat pocket, thensuddenly changing your mind a ndinstead the card is produced from the jRight Inside Coat Pocket. A bit later on

;

we will describe how to handle this i d e awith two cards but first the mechanics



55

WITH TWO CARDS

for a single card. The following bit of chi-canery will fool the best of them becauseH is something they don't expect.

1. Let us assume the selected card has

been palmed in the right hand.2. The left hand grasps the left lapel of the coat in order to more or less openthe coat so that the right hand can enteron that side. A perfectly natural actionmade many times by the male gentry toremove a wallet, pencil, pen, etc.

3. The right hand enters under this sideof the coat at the same time the name of the card is asked for.

4. As the spectator names the card thepe r fo rme r is busy getting the palmedcard from the right hand and placing itinto the left hand fingers that are curledaround the coat. In other words the lefthand's four fingertips now have the cardclipped against the coat and directly inline with the palm.

5. Immediately on hearing the name of the card, the empty right hand comesout and gestures, palm towards audi-ence as performer says, I'm sorry butthat card is over in this pocket."

6. As the last words are being spokenthe right hand grasps the right lapel in aposition similar to that of the left.

7. The right hand pulls open the rightside of coat in the approved manner. Atthe same time the left hand travelsacross the chest, taking the palm-clipped card along into the right side of the coat.

8. When the left hand is under the rightside of coat the clipped card is broughtto the fingertips of the left hand andthen it is produced as the selected card.

9. The object, as one can readily see, isto palm a card in the right hand yet amoment later produce it from a pocketw i t h the left hand. If you start with a

card palmed in the left hand then, of course, the opposite holds true.

W ithTwo Cards

This is the second idea along the samelines and is very effective when used inwith Cards to Pocket or the Four Aces tothe pocket or even two selected cards tothe pocket. By this feint and with onlyone palm two cards can be producedfrom two different pockets.

1. Assume you have two cards palmed inthe right hand.

2. The left hand grasps the left lapel asin the above description.

3. The right hand enters the coat on theleft side and quickly deposits both cardsinto the left hand clip position.

4. The right hand now removes one of these cards and reproduces it fromunder the left side of the coat.

5. Keeping this card in the right hand, ormerely tossing it aside, the right handnow grasps the right side of coat and theleft hand travels across with its palmclipped card and reproduces its cardsfrom under the right side of the coat.Thus with one palm you have producedtwo cards from two different pockets.

We use the above two card ideas in acard to pocket routine for the vanish andreproduction of the last two cards. Alsowe have evolved several Aces to PocketRoutines which utilizes this idea. Wemention this for those students who maywish to do likewise and experiment alongthese lines. In conclusion it is hoped

that the cardician will find much he canuse from this chapter on Palming.

This now brings us to the conclusion of our second chapter on RevolutionaryCard Technique.

Cardially yours,

Edward Mario

























Chapter Four

The Side Steal

The Technical Steal The Deliberate Side Steal The Curled Forefinger The Bold StealThe Bottom Bold Steal The Bold Stop Effect The Pinch Technique Standard Side Steal

! On the Left Side Multiple Holdout Left Hand Side Steal Color Steal Almost Standard The Finger Flutter The Clip Steal Clip Steal to Bottom Clip Steal Color Change\Palm Positions Side Steal to Bottom Multiple Rear Palm Steal To the Top

C a r d From Case Stop Effect The Insertion Steals Full Left Hand Steal D ire ct Insertion Steal Right Hand Steal The Diagonal Steal Side Steal Cover UpsFirs t Cover up Another Handling Clip Steal Cover up Dribble Stop Effect C a r d Stab Effect For the Purists Concluding Observations

F r o m the title you know this is ChapterF o u r and it deals with the Side-Steal.We did not invent this sleight and thereseems to be some doubt as to whoac tua l ly d id . The Ar t of Magic ha s T.

N e l s o n Downs as the creator of theSide-Steal and even Art Buckley in hisb o o k C a rd Control mentions, quote, "Iam informed by Mr. Milliard's GreaterM a g i c , page 31, that this sleight is aconception of the master manipulator,T. Nelson Downs."

Actually Milliard wrote nothing of thes o r t , but instead, to quote Mil l ia rdp e n n e d , "It was introduced into magicby T. Nelson Downs, Nate Liepzig and

ray old friend, the late Harry Stork."Now, was there a controversy among[ t h e s e men over the sleight? Did eachon his own independently think of thei d e a ? Did Milliard take the safe courseand thus mention all three? One of the

: m o r e interesting aspects when Down'sArt of Magic was published, was ther u m o r that Nate Liepzig was quite putout because certain of his items fromhis act appeared in said book. From

this, one would be inclined to deducethat Liepzig had prior claim but then,what about Harry Stork? Also let's notforget some of those present day magi-cians who also insist they thought of

the Side-Steal all on their own withouthaving ever seen, heard or read aboutsame.

Regardless of who invented it, the factremains that Art of Magic is its firstsource. The method, if it is Downs', isinteresting because it is a Side-Steal inwhich the card is not actually palmedbut merely or literally moved from cen-ter to top. We have stressed topbecause a Side-Steal to the bottom cer-

tainly must have started a new train of thought. On this approach, Art Buckleyin his Card Control states having usedit since 1908; however, the first time itappeared in print under Buckley'sname was in 1921, then reprinted inthe above book in 1946. In the samebook Buckley also attempted a TopCard Cover for a Side-Steal to secondfrom the top.



74

THE SIDE STEAL

Rear Palming was experimented withby such names as Malini, Latapie, P.W.Miller , Larsen, Wright and Tenkal;however, its application to a Side-Steal

to the top appeared in Expert Card Technique. Again we have stressed topbecause this booklet contains the firstof a bottom type.

This about covers the original sourcesand from all of these we have graduallydeveloped our own techniques andideas that we feel are superior to allothers.

While there are others who have exper-imented with various Side-Steal meth-ods, our own techniques differ fromthese in many respects due to indepen-dent research, thinking and experi-mentation from the basic inspirationalsources already mentioned.

The listing of all possible Side-Stealtechniques that may be in print we willleave to a fellow by the name of Mr.Potter who in our estimation is doingnot only a wonderful job along this linewith his Potter's Bar in the LinkingRing magic magazine but also deservesthe thanks of all true students of magicfor such compiled information on thevarious effects, sleights and theirsource. We hope one day to see Mr.Potter's research effor ts in book form.

Let us now delve into the variousaspects of the Side-Steal.

The Technical Steal

Although there have been many excel-

lent techniques devised in relation tothe Side Steal we sincerely believe thatthe ones here described have severalpoints in their favor which the othersdo not possess. First, there is absolute-ly no visible movement to the left fin-gers. Even at the crucial point, of pressing the stolen card into the rightpalm, the left fingers remain motion-less. Second, the high arched righthand over the pack as compared to the

close, almost flat, position in the stan-dard form of the steal. Third, a l e f t

hand squaring action followed immedi-ately by a right hand squaring a c t i o n

during which it seems impossible tohold a break, let alone steal the card,Fourt h, the forw ard positio n of thepack in the left hand makes it d i f f i c u l tto imagine a Side-Steal. This last p o s i -tion also makes for an easy withdrawalof the card.

1. Hold the pack with the right handfrom above. With the left fingers andthumb bevel the sides of the pack bypushing the upper left corner of the

outer end to the right with the l e f tthumb and pressing the lower r i g h tcorner of the outer end to the left w i t hthe left second and third fingers. Thelef t f o r e f i nge r is curled under the p a c kduring the beveling action while thefourth finger takes no part at all.

2. After the pack is beveled properly,the pack is placed in the left hand. Theleft four fingers should be at the r i g h tside while the left thumb presses d o w n

on the upper left corner of the pack asin Figure I .

Figure 1

3. Proffer the pack for the spectator topull back, or peek, at the upper r i g h tcorner of the pack. Due to the positionof the left thumb the pack will openbookwise down the length of the deck.This enables the left fourth finger topress inwards against the lower rightcorner of the deck. When the spectatorreleases the cards after the peek, the



75

THE TECHNICAL STEAL

f o u r t h finger will easily maintain theb r e a k below the selected card. After thep e e k the left hand drops to waist leveland left thumb moves to the left side of

th e deck.4. The right hand comes over to thed e c k placing its four fingers on thef r o n t end of the pack and the rightt h u m b on the back end. The rightt humb should be touching the base of the l e f t thumb while the tip of rightf o r e f i n g e r should be touching the tip of l e f t thumb. This position is shown inF i g u r e 2. Note that the right hand isarched over the pack. Try to avoid giv-

ing any appearance of the right handhugging the pack.

7. The right hand holds onto the pack and projecting card while the left hand

Figure 2

5. W i t h both hands in the positionshown in Figure 2, the left fourth fingere n t e r s further into the break. Thef o u r t h finger, curled into the break,now presses upwards on the selectedc a r d . As this fourth finger moves out tothe right the peeked card will come outat an angle as in Figure 3. This anglew i l l be slight. The corner of the angled

c a r d will be felt by the right thumb andr i g h t fourth finger which press in ont h e s e corners to keep the card in posi-t i o n .

6. Once the card is angled as in Figure3 , the left fourth ringer need no longerk e e p a break. The pack is now flushw i t h the exception of the selected card,the corners of which now press againstthe right thumb and right little finger.

Figure 3

shifts its position by curling the left

forefinger under the pack and squaringthe sides with the left thumb and leftsecond, third and fourth fingers. Figure4 shows a bottom view of the existingcondition. The right hand moves thedeck back and forth during the squar-ing process; however, the left handseems to be moving also.

Figure 4

8. After the squaring process with theleft hand, the pack is lowered so itslower left corner goes into the thumbcrotch of the left hand as in Figure 5.The right hand has been omitted inorder to give a clearer picture of thepack's position at this point. Note theforward position of the deck as well asthe projecting inner left corner andouter right corner. These corners willnormally be grasped between the rightthumb and right fourth finger.



76

THE SIDE STEAL

Figure 5

9. In a squaring action of the ends, theright hand holds onto the corners of the projecting card. As the hand movesto the right the card is taken along also

as in Figure 6 which is a bottom viewof the action. Note that the left forefin-ger is in a straight line while theremaining left fingers are against theside of pack. The fingertips of the lefthand will be rubbing slightly on theface of the card being stolen during thestrip out action. From here on do notmove the left fingers at all as the rest of the mechanics will be accomplished bythe right hand.

Figure 6

10. When the card is stripped out foralmost its whole width the right handmoves back to the left. During themovement to the left the right thumbreleases the pressure on its corner, butthe right fourth finger presses down-ward on the upper right corner. At thesame time the card will pivot on the leftsecond finger tip into the right palm asshown in Figure 7. The movement to

the left is continued until the lower l e f t

corner of this card comes in contactwith the base of the right thumb. Atthis point a slight contraction at the

base of the right thumb will hold thecard between the right fourth f i n g e rand the base of right thumb.

11. A corner of the card will still be inthe pack as can be seen in Figure 7;therefore, the right hand once moremoves to the right until this c o r n e rclears the pack. Once the corner comesout of the pack there may be a tenden-cy on the part of the right hand to wantto curl around the palmed card. This

should be avoided.

Figure 7

12. The right hand moves towards theleft over the pack again. This time thepalmed card is pressed further into thepalm as the index corner of the palmedcard is made to ride over the upperright corner of the pack.

13. After the final squaring motion theright hand drops to the side with thepalmed card while the pack s t i l l

remains in the left hand almost at thefingertips.

14. A moment later the stolen card canbe replaced to the top of the pack usingany one of the palm replacementsdescribed in the Action Palm, Chapter2, or those detailed here later on in thechapter.



77

DELIBERATE SIDE STEAL

The Deliberate Side-Steal

T h e r e are many instances where it isnecessary to get a peeked card to thetop of the pack. The usual process of first getting the card into the palm,t h en on top of the deck would be con-s i d e r e d cumbersome; therefore the fol-l ow i ng technique will be found not onlye f f e c t i v e but indetectable under thec l o s e s t scrutiny. In fact the wholes e e m s to be the mere action of squar-ing the deck. Again we emphasize thea r c h of the hand as against the flatappearance.

I I . Proceed as in The Technical Steal

f r o m Step 1 to 9, Figures 1 to 6, butI f r o m this point on, when the cardreaches the position shown in Figure 6,th e procedure changes.

2. In Figure 6, the right hand is movingthe card to the right and so in this par-t i c u l a r case the right hand continuesthe action to the right while at thes a m e time the performer turns hisb o d y slightly to the left and the righth a n d pivots downwards slightly to

c o v e r the right side of the deck, expos-ing more of the top of the deck.

3. Naturally as the right hand movesthe card to the right, the card will comec l e a r of the deck as in Figure 8 whichshows the performer's view.

4 . At the stage of Figure 8 the righth a n d will actually be holding the side-

stolen card between the tips of theright 4th finger and right thumb at thecard's upper right and lower left cor-ners as in Figure 9 which shows the

bottom view of the right hand and lefthand. Note how the right side of thestolen card lies parallel to the rightforefinger and base of the palm.

Figure 9

5. While Figure 8 shows the per-former's view or what is seen from leftside, Figure 10 shows the view as seenby your audience.

Figure 10

6, With the stolen card completely outof the deck the right hand raises upever so slightly as to bring the stolencard on a level with the top of the deck.

The right hand then moves to the leftas the card is now placed on top of thedeck as shown in Figure 11 whichshows the replacement begun.Remember the stolen card now slidesalong the top of the deck.

7. Figure 12 shows how this replace-ment is invisible even from almostdirectly in front, if the hands areangled properly.



78

THE SIDE STEAL

8. The right hand continues moving tothe left until the stolen card is flushwith left side of the deck as in Figure13 which shows a performer's view of deck while Figure 14 shows the audi-ence view from an almost frontal view.

Figure 13

Figure 14

9. As soon as the stolen card is f lushwith the left side of the deck the rightforefinger curls in on top of the deck asin Figure 15.

Figure 15

10. Immediately the right hand lifts the

deck into the Two Hand Square UpPosition as in Figure 16 to square thesides of the deck, then as an a f t e r -thought, the right hand lightly runsover the ends just before lowering thedeck back into the left hand into adealing position. The card is now ontop to be used as required.

Figure 16

The Curled Forefinger

The Deliberate Side Steal can be made,providing close attention is paid to theangles, while the right forefingerremains curled on top of the deck at alltimes. Indeed, it is the perfect throw-off even for those who know quite a bitabout Side-Steals.

1. Proceed exactly as for the Technicaland Deliberate Side Steal with th isexception. After the card has b e e npeeked at, the right hand comes o v e r



79

THE CURLED FOREFINGER

the deck in the usual manner but withthe right forefinger curled on top of d e c k as in Figure 15. Also note in thiscase the right second fingertip will be

t o u c h i n g the tip of lef t thumb.2. From here proceed as explained by

j o g g i n g the peeked card with the l e f tf o u r t h f inger . Then raise the deck intothe Two Hand Square Up Position andsquare the sides of the deck.

During this action the right hand holdsthe card at its lower left corner with thetip of the right thumb and its upperright corner with the tip of the rightf o u r t h finger. The right hand swings

downward slightly to cover the deck onthe right side just before the steal. Thep a c k is lowered into the left thumbc r o t c h . The right hand moves to theright at same time the performer turnsto his l e f t seemingly to square the endsbut actually to move the card out untilit is clear of deck as in Figure 17.

T h i s shows the right forefinger stillc u r l e d even though the card is out.F r o m the right side the audience sus-pects nothing.

3. The card is now moved back ontod e c k until it is flush with the left sideof the deck. Then the right hand liftsup the pack so that the left hand mayassume the square up position fromb e l o w resulting in the Square UpP o s i t i o n as already shown in Figure 16.

4. The deck is eventually lowered intol e f t hand into dealing position.

In order to emphasize the importanceof the right hand pivoting to the rightin the Deliberate Side-Steal either withor without the right forefinger being

curled, we have shown a right side viewof what the audience would see withoutthe downward pivot. The right handcan pivot to the right or the left handcan pivot deck upwards but in eithercase the pivot points are the upperright corner of the card pressed by theright forefinger and lower left cornerpressed by the left thumb and thispressure is not released at any timeduring the pivoting action or later.

Now, Figure 18 shows the view if thePivot Action is not used and Figure 19shows the view when the Pivot Actionis used. The importance of the PivotAction will be also apparent in otherSide Steal Moves to be explained later.

Figure 18

Figure 19



80

THE SIDE STEAL

The Bold Steal

At times this device of ours has proven

to be more effective than the Side Steal.The mechanics, previous to what wecall a strip out, are similar to that of the Technical Side Steal. A descriptionof the Steal will be given followed by afew practical uses.

1. Follow all the Steps, from 1 to 8 of the Technical Side Steal. This will bringthe hands into the position of Figure 5with the peeked card only slightlyangled and the right hand holding onto

the corners of the card.2. The left hand now pinches the lowerleft corner of the pack in its left thumbcrotch while the right hand, holdingonto the projecting corners of the card,strips the card out towards the right.This is similar in action to Figure 6.

3. Once the card is clear of the pack the right hand moves upwards, back of the card towards spectator. At thesame time the right forefinger curls on

top of the card as in Figure 20 whichshows the stolen card's distance inrelation to the pack.

Figure 20

4. The strip-out of the peeked card iscovered by saying, "Your card could notbe the top card." The right hand placesthe card on top of deck, at the sametime taking the deck and turning it

face up. Continuing, "And, of course, itcouldn't be the bottom card."

Naturally, any effect in which the cardhas to be brought to the top, can beused from here on; however, there aretwo more handlings of a specializedsort that will fit into certain routinesonly, although the mechanics are basi-cally the same.

Second Handling:

1. Follow all the Steps necessary to getthe peeked card into the Strip-OutPosition.

2. State that for this effect you wil l

need ten cards.3. Strip out the peeked card, toss itface down on the table as you count"One". Immediately the left thumbpushes over the top card, which theright hand takes from above and tossesit on the first card counting "Two." Thecount is continued until ten cards arecounted onto the table.

4. A number between one and ten isasked for as the packet is picked upand squared. The selected card is sub-sequently produced at the desirednumber by means of a bottom deal.

Obviously, the above effect is nothingtremendous and is used only todemonstrate how the Bold Steal can bemade while seeming to count off a fewcards from the top of the pack.

Third Handling:

A fairly good effect will be used to show

the possibility of this third handling of the Bold Steal. During the routine theperformer should be seated at a tablefor best results although this is notentirely necessary.

1. Remove the four Aces from a pack of cards. Show them freely, square themup, then place them face down in f rontof you near the edge of the table.



81

THE BOLD STEAL

2. Have a card peeked at and get it intothe strip-out position. The hands, atthis stage, should be above the tabledp a c k e t and off to the lef t as in Figure

2 1 .

Figure 213, Rig h t hand strips out the peekedc a r d and immediately comes down tothe tabled Aces, scooping them up inthe process. The left hand, simultane-ous with the stripout, moves to the leftt u r n i n g palm downwards at the sametime. The action is shown in Figure 22.Remembe r that the above moves arem a d e as a single unit.

Figure 22

4. The le f t hand leaves the pack faceup on the left side of the table, thena i d s the right hand in the secondarys h o w i n g of the Aces. The selected cardis, of course, on top of the packet.

5 . Spread the four Aces face up andt r a n s f e r three of them to the back of the packet to bring the selected cardfour th from the top.

6. Turn the packet face down, sayingyou w i l l once more show the Aces one

at a time providing they can call outtheir order. They will not be able to dothis; therefore, after a slight reprimand,say you will show them once more butthey must remember the order.

7. Flip the top Ace, face up, flush ontothe top of the packet. Deal it, still faceup, onto the table. The Ace is takenwith the right fingers by the upperright corner.

8. Continue in this way for the secondAce, dealing it face up onto the firstone. On the third Ace being shown, theBuckle Count is made thus the select-ed card will be taken, back to back,

with the Ace.9. The last Ace is flipped face up, thenplaced on the others. The peeked atcard is now reversed between the Aces.

10. The Aces are turned face down andheld at the upper end by the rightthumb on top and fingers below. Theleft hand holds onto the pack on theleft of the table while the right handruns the lower end of Ace packet thruthe face up deck. To facilitate the Aces

being run thru, the left thumb lifts upthe right side of deck at the upper rightcorner.

11. Right hand now tosses the Acepacket, face up, onto the table andspreads the packet to disclose a facedown card between the Aces.

12. Have the selected card named.Remove the face down card and slowlyturn it face up for the Climax.

As had been mentioned, the variouseffects in connection with the BoldSteal are not to be taken as sensationalbut rather to show a practical applica-tion of the move.

At times when the angles are right thefollowing technique for the Bold Stealwill be found very disarming.



82

THE SIDE STEAL

Fourth Handling:

1. Proceed to get the card into positionfor the Bold Steal but at this pointinstead of actually stealing out the

card, your right hand moves it to theright as for the Technical Side Stealbut does not remove it completely fromthe deck. In other words, the card willbe in a position similar to Figure 6,almost out of the deck but not quite.

2. At this point, with the card almostout of the deck, the right hand lifts thedeck so as to enable the left hand toonce again square the sides of deck.Naturally the left fingers run along sideof the deck but under the projectingcard.

To further enhance the illusion theright forefinger can curl on top of thedeck near the outer right corner. Theright second finger will be holding thedeck by the outer right corner while theright thumb holds it at its inner rightcorner.

From here the deck is lowered into lefthand dealing position while the righthand easily adds the stolen card to atabled packet or cards previously dealtonto the table.

The Bottom Bold Steal

It is just as easy to steal the bottomcard of a deck, or packet, using thesame technique of angling the cardwith the left fourth finger so that thecorners of the angled card can begrasped by the right hand, as alreadydetailed. Then the card is either addedto another packet or merely lifted up tobe looked at as shown in Figure 20.Using this last approach, we see how itcan be effectively applied to a StopEffec t .

The Bold Stop Effect

1. Let us assume you have a selectedcard at the fifth position from the top of the deck. Let us also assume that psy-

chologically you have timed the deal sothat nine times out of ten they will stopyou at that fifth card. Let us keep onassuming that one day that tenth timecomes along and the assisting specta-tor lets you deal merrily away past thatfifth card, what then? Well, the BoldSteal in this case will get you out of anembarrassing difficulty.

2. If the spectator does not stop you atthe selection, just remember to injogthat card as you deal it onto the otherson a table. From here all cards are nowdealt haphazardly, thus covering thei n j o gg e d card until spectator calls"Stop".

3. Place the deck aside. Now place theright first finger on the right side of thepacket and move it off the table to theleft and into the waiting left handwhich receives it.

4. Once the packet is in the left handthe right hand comes over the packetas if to push the cards flush. Actuallythe right thumb, in back, locatesinjogged card, pulls upwards on it,then pushes the cards flush as l ef t

fourth finger easily obtains a break under the selected card.

5. The left fourth fingers angles theselected card at same time the packetis lifted so that left fingers and thumbcan square the sides as you say,"Remember, you could have stoppedme at any time."

6. The packet is lowered and immedi-ately the right hand steals out the cardas already explained and shown in

Figure 20 as you finish the sentence bysaying, "And you stopped me at thiscard." The card is not shown but mere-ly replaced on top of the packet. Nowask what the selected card was. Takeoff the actual top card holding it in amanner similar to the Bold Steal asyou say, "This is the card you stoppedat - the (name the card)," letting the



83

PINCH TECHNIQUE

c a r d snap off the right thumb so itwinds up being held between the firstand second fingers of the right handw i t h the face of the card towards audi-

e n c e .Second Method:

T h i s procedure is exactly the samee x c e p t that the spectator does the deal-ing into the performer's hand. All theperformer does while receiving thed e a l t cards is to keep a break on theselected card in case it is passed by.F r o m here proceed as in the FirstM e t h o d .

Third Method:

T h i s method is preferred by CarmenD ' A m i c o and makes use of the BottomB o l d Steal. The spectator can do thed e a l i n g and stop at any time. Nobreaks need be held as the top or firstcard dealt off is the selection. After thespectator stops dealing the same proce-d u r e is used as in the First Methode x c e p t in this case the bottom card isthe one stolen.

A Slight Difference

A slight difference in the Bottom BoldStea l technique, especially with a smallp a c k e t , should be explained. Call it theP i n c h Technique using lef t thumb andbase of left forefinger.

1. It is not required to place the deck orpacket into the thumb crotch butr a t h e r the packet should be held as inF i g u r e 23, which is almost a dealingp o s i t i o n . Here the lef t thumb is at the

o u t e r left corner pressing on it to keepthe packet in position during them o m e n t the right hand steals out theb o t t o m angled card.

T h i s same position is good for the BoldSteal when making the steal from thec e n t e r of a small packet. It also can beu s e d with a ful l deck if such is foundnecessary for certain deceptions.

Figure 23

Also the angling of the bottom card canbe made while the deck or packet is inthe position shown in Figure 23. Inother words that position need notchange, say, as in the Third Method

Stop Effect, from the time the spectatordeals the last card into your hand.Instead the right hand can come overas if to take the top card while the bot-tom card is immediately angled. Theright hand, of course, does the BoldSteal Moves as in Figure 6.

Standard Side Steal

There are those cardicians who work for the public and have to maintain acertain tempo. To them it is immaterialif there is a slight movement of the fin-gers in a Side Steal as long as themethod is practical and fast. They aresolely interested in getting that selectedcard surely, and quickly to enablethem to continue with the effect athand. For them the Standard SideSteal will fill their needs.

1. Bevel the pack, as instructed in theTechnical Side Steal, Step 1.

2. Once the pack is beveled it is placedin the identical position shown inFigure 1.

3. Have a card peeked at and maintainthe break with the fourth left finger asoutlined in Step 3 of the Technical SideSteal.

4. At this stage the Side Steal differs inthat when the right hand is placed over



84

THE SIDE STEAL

the pack, as shown in Figure 2, theright hand more or less hugs the deck.This is done so that the right four fin-gers will come down lower thus giving

more cover to the front end of the pack.5. When the hands are in the aboveposition, the left fingers can swingdownwards, opening the whole rightside of the deck up to the break. Thisforms a sort of horizontal V openingwhich will be hidden by the right fin-gers in front. Only the bottom portionshould be moved downwards while thetop should remain motionless.

6. The left third finger now digs into

the break as far as it can reach andpresses upward and forward on thepeeked card. The card will pivot at theouter end moving quickly to the rightand into the right palm. Only the rightthumb and right first finger should bepressing on the upper and lower leftcorners of the pack as this insures aneasy pivoting of the peeked card.

7. The right hand now moves slightly tothe right, in a squaring motion, to get

the upper left corner of the card fromthe center of the deck. Once the corneris free the right hand moves towardsthe left continuing the simulatedsquaring movement.

8. The right hand with the palmed cardcan be dropped to the side or it can beimmediately brought to the top byusing any one of the PalmReplacements discussed in ActionPalms or those described here.

On The Left SideDuring the Standard Side Steal andreplacement to the top of the deck, themost vulnerable angle is the left side.In other words Figure 24 shows what isusually seen on the left side during aside steal. This left side can be coveredand with the method here describedthe cardician can actually do a SideSteal with the spectator on his left. At

the same time it will be covered f r o mthe front and right side.

Figure 24

The secret consists of merely tilting thehands to the right, at a slight angle sothat the spectator on the left can notsee the back of the deck. Figure 25shows what the left side will look l ikeduring the actual stealing and r eplac-ing of the card to the top of the deck.

Figure 25

Naturally the action is still c o v e r e dfrom the right side, as well as the f r o n t .The pack is tilted to the right only f r o ma horizontal plane. Be sure not to bringthe hands upwards during the tilt. Just

keep the outer and inner ends of thedeck in the same plane.

Multiple Holdout

Usually, when it is desired to have f o u ror five cards selected using the specta-tor peek and Side Steal, it is necessaryto also make just as many replace-ments. For such occasions we deviseda method whereby only one replace-ment move need be made to get all the



85

LEFT HAND STEAL

peeked cards on top. What is more,t h e y are always in their proper orderf r o m the top down. That is to say thef i r s t selection is on top, the second isb e l o w that, etc., up to as many cardsas were noted.

The process consists of simply holdingin the palm each succeeding card untilthe required amount is arrived at. Ino t h e r words, step by step, it wouldwork as fol lows:

1. Have the first spectator peek at ac a r d . Side Steal it using either theTechnical or Standard method andk e e p it in the palm.

2. Drop the hand with the palmed cardto the side. Approach the second spec-t a t o r with the request he also look at acard.

3. Side Steal the second card into ther i g h t hand. Naturally it goes below thefirst one already there.

4. Repeat the procedure until you haveall the peeked cards in the right hand.

5. A f t e r the last card has been selected

all the cards are brought to the top of the pack by the use of any of the palmreplacements. The cards are also ontop in their proper sequence.

A bit of practice will be required to SideSteal each succeeding card but as theadvantages are worth it the time willnot be wasted. As many as ten cardscan thus be held out. At the same timeit prevents any possible "peek" duplica-t i on by the other spectators.

Left Hand Steal

T h e r e are several factors which shouldm a k e this steal a favorite. It is fast,t h e r e isn't any finger movement to thel e f t hand, and the steal is covered frompractically all sides.

1. Prepare the pack for the spectatorp e e k as already described in theTechnical Side Steal. After a card is

peeked at the left fourth finger main-tains the break.

2. The right hand comes over the pack to square the ends in the orthodox

manner. During this time the rightthumb, at the back of the deck, rifflesoff the peeked card, from above the lit-tle finger, onto the lower half or belowthe little finger. The fourth finger stillholds the break after the selection isreleased to the lower half.

3. The right forefinger, which has beencurled on top of the pack during Step2, now joins the other fingers at thefront end of the pack.

4. The pack is now shifted with the aidof the right hand, so that the lower lef tcorner of the deck comes up near thethumb crotch. The right forefinger andsecond finger move around to theupper left corner. In this way the upperleft corner will be between the rightfirst and second fingers but will notshow through. The position of the pack and hands is shown in Figure 26. Leftfourth finger still holds the break.

Figure 26

5. The right hand moves the upper half of the pack, above the break, forwardfor about three-eights of an inch. Thiswill enable the side of right thumb tocome in contact with the top card of the lower half as in Figure 27 wherethe right thumb has been purposelypulled back to show the jogged condi-tion. In actual operation the rightthumb tip will be pressing against thebase of the left thumb thus covering



86

THE SIDE STEAL

this corner. The right forefinger on theleft side of the upper left corner, coversthe jog on this side.

Figure 27

6.The upper half of the pack is nowmoved back to its original position.

During this backward movement theside of the right thumb presses downon the top card of the lower half. Thepressure of the right thumb, plus thedownward action of the right hand, willcause the peeked card to pivot, againstthe base of the left thumb, to the rightas in Figure 28 where the right handhas been omitted for clarity. The leftsecond and third fingers curl slightly

around the upper right corner of thepivoted card.

7. The deck is now removed from theleft hand and placed on the table in thefol lowing manner: Right forefingerbends on top of the deck until its nailis pressing against the top of the deck while the right three fingers curlaround the bottom or face of the deck.

In this way the pack is pinchedbetween the right forefinger on top andright three fingers underneath at theouter end.

8. With the pack pinched as above theright hand moves upwards and forwardwith the complete pack as left fingershold onto the selected card. The rightthumb rides over the palmed card andstays at the back end of deck. Thisaction is pictured in Figure 29.

Figure 29

9. Continuing the movement started inStep 8, the pack is placed on the tablein the standard manner with the fore-finger curled on top , three fingers atouter end and thumb at the back. Theleft hand with its palmed card has inthe meantime dropped to the side.

Exaggerating the motion of placing thepack on the table will cover the drop-ping of the left hand to the side.Remember to move the pack upward asit clears the palmed card so as to g i v ethe appearance of having lifted the

deck rather than having slid it off.Although the Left Hand Steal has beendissected into several Steps and draw-ings the whole process becomes as aunit in actual operation.

Color Steal

In no other type of Side Steal is thereas much visible movement to the l e f tfingers as in the Standard Color



87

COLOR STEAL

Change wherein the bottom card ispushed into the right palm.

Any cardician desiring to learn a ColorChange in which there isn't any move-

m ent t o t h e l e f t f i nge r s w i l l f i nd t h eanswer in the Color Steal.

1. Hold the pack face up in the lefthand. The sides of pack are beveled tothe right. The left forefinger should liein a slightly diagonal line beneath thep a c k , its tip is at the outer right cornerof the beveled pack. The remaining leftfinger are extended below the deck andcurled very slightly around right side of the cards. Figure 30 shows the position

of the left hand as seen from the bot-t o m .

swing the bottom card into the rightpalm, as in Figure 32, with the rightfirst finger as the fulcrum point.

Figure 30

2. The right hand grasps the deck bythe ends from above with all four fin-g e r s on the front end and thumb at theb a c k .

3. The right hand moves the pack for-w a r d at the same time the tip of the lef tfo r e f inge r presses on the upper rightc o r n e r of the bottom card. This willcause the bottom card to swing to theright, at its upper end only, until theupper left corner comes directly underthe right forefinger as in Figure 31.

4 . Move the right hand, back to itsoriginal position, at the same time thel e f t forefinger exerts pressure, this timeon the right side of the card. The com-b i n e d movement of the right hand, pluspressure of the left forefinger, will

Figure 31

Figure 32

5. Once the bottom card is below theright palm the base of the right thumbis moved down in order to let the lowerright corner of the deck slip upwardsand past the thumb crotch. At thisstage the card will be securely in theright palm.

6. Move the pack forwards and back once more before actually coming awaywith the card. Once the card is in the

right hand, a color change of the facecard follows.

Speaking of color changes, we havefound from experience that the mosteffective color changes are those inwhich the hand seems to merely brushover the face card. It should never beseen to actually cover the card norshould it rest on the face card for anylength of time.



88

THE SIDE STEAL

The two forward and backward move-ments of the pack should appear as if the sides of the pack are merely beingsquared.

Note: The Color Steal can be made withthe right forefinger curled on the face of the deck and using the right secondfingertip as the pivot point during theactions shown in Figs. 31 and 32.

Almost Standard

This Color Steal is almost standardexcept for one bit of technique thatinsures only one card will move off thebottom of the deck as it is pushed intothe right palm.

1. Hold the deck in an identical posi-tion to that of the Color Steal, Figure30, Step 1.

2. The right hand comes above deck sothat all four fingers are at the front endand thumb at the back end.

3. Immediately the left forefinger tippresses up on the outer right corner of the bottom card. At the same time theleft forefinger moves to the right caus-ing the bottom card to swing to the

right at its upper end in a manner sim-ilar to Figure 31 except in this case thedeck is not moved only the left forefin-ger moves.

4. The above preliminary brings theupper left corner of the card directlyunder the right forefinger tip, again asin Figure 31, which presses on the cardto keep it in place between the rightforefinger and right thumb.

5. Steps 3 and 4 have insured that on

the next move you will get only the onecard. With bottom card in the angledposition held between the right forefin-ger and right thumb it leaves the leftthird finger free to move to the centerof the bottom card placing the tip of theleft third finger against the card. Atthis point the left third fingertipstraightens out pushing the bottom

card into the right palm in a mannersimilar to Figure 32 except in this casethere is movement of the left third fin-ger plus the others as the bottom card

is forced further into the palm.6. With the card almost in the palmbut still partly under the deck the rightforefinger curls on top of the deck. Theright hand then moves the pack backand forth as the left thumb runs alongthe left side of the pack in a squaringgesture.

7. The deck is then replaced in the l e f thand so that the upper left corner of the deck can be pinched between theleft thumb and the base of the left f o r e -finger thus giving the right hand achance to move away with the bottomcard. As the right hand is ready to goaway with its palmed card remember tocasually straighten out the right f o r e -finger which has been curled on top of the deck so far.

The Finger Flutter

During the course of stealing the bot-tom card for a color change, one of thebig faults is the flutter of the left f o u r

fingers on the side of the deck as thehand with the palmed card m o v e saway. This is due to the fact that theleft fingers push the bottom card outbut have no chance to get back along-side of the deck until the bottom cardis carried away and by this time theside of the deck is exposed and the fin-gers can be seen to move in alongsideof the deck thus causing a noticeableflutter. Here then are several ways toavoid such a tell-tale action.

Method One:

1. Anytime the right hand with apalmed card moves away any great dis-tance from the pack be sure that theleft fingers remain extended as shownfrom the right side in Figure 33. Aremark such as, "Watch closely" willcover the gesture of the right hand.



89

FINGER FLUTTER

F ig u r e 3 3

2, Two alternatives are open now. The

right hand can come over and do theC o l o r Change immediately while at thes a m e time the lef t fingers move along-s i de of the deck. The result is that noto n l y has the card been changed butthe l e f t fingers are in place along thed e c k and the movement has not beenseen.

3. The other alternative is to get theright hand to take the deck from above,right forefinger curled on the face, and

l i f t it into the Two Hand Square Upp o s i t i o n .

4. Do the Square-Up, then replace thed e c k into the lef t hand where of course,the l e f t four fingers now occupy thep r o p e r position at the right side of thed e c k . The right hand moves away, cards t i l l palmed, to rest at the waist.

5, The right hand now comes over thed e c k to do the Color Change.Apparently no left finger flutter was evi-

d e n t at any time.Method Two:

In this case the mere attention to notmoving the right hand away from thedeck, other than just enough to clearthe bottom card, will afford amplec o v e r for the left fingers to move back alongside of the deck once the card isin rightpalm.

Method Three:

This makes use of a Wrist Turn withthe le f t hand. This is used either as apreliminary motion to the color change

or, apparently as the means by whichthe change is accomplished when inreality such is not the case. Themethod of getting the card into theright palm can be standard or anyother type. In any case the right handdoes not move away from the deck.Instead, the left hand turns at the wristbringing the back of the left handupwards momentarily as viewed fromthe right side in Figure 34.

Naturally the Wrist Turn not onlyclears the pack of the card palmed inthe right hand but also gives excellentcover for the left fingers to move inalongside the deck. When the left handturns upward to show the face of thedeck, the four left fingers are motion-less against the side of the deck. Theright hand can now brush over face of deck, leaving the palmed card to showa color change.

Figure 34

Method Four:

Sometimes when it doesn't make anydifference as to what card is used for acolor change, the following techniqueeffectively covers the finger flutter.



90

THE SIDE STEAL

It consists merely of breaking the pack somewhere near the center and doingthe Standard Side Steal. The left fin-gers push out the card from the center,

or slightly above center, into the rightpalm. At this stage part of the card willbe in the palm and part of it still in thedeck. At this point the left four fingersmove back to take their place alongsidethe pack but below the card that is tobe side stolen.

The right hand can now move awaywith its palmed card and as it does, theleft four fingers will be seen alongsideof the deck with no one noticing that

they are slightly lower on the side thanusual. Later the right hand brushesover face of deck to execute the colorchange.

It will be noted that we have given noparticular techniques for the actualColor Change Replacement as this willconstitute an entirely different chapterin the future. Suffice it to again remindthe card student that the most effectivechanges are those in which the handseems to merely brush over the facecard. It must appear as if the handnever even really covered the card andby all means the hand should not reston the face card for any length of time.

The Clip Steal

Probably the first printed record of clip-ping the upper right corner of a cardbetween the third and fourth fingerswas in Buckley's Triple Climax printedin August, 1921. Buckley used it to

bring a peeked card to the bottom of the pack in his Bottom Shift.

For many years this was one of ourfirst and only methods of bringing aselected card to the bottom but as theyears went on we developed othermethods of getting a peeked card to thebottom, which are described below. Inaddition, also having changed the fin-ger position at which the upper right

corner of the card was clipped.

In 1945 we showed the following S i d eSteal, that used the Clip Steal, toRussell Earnhardt and Bob Nelson of

Chicago . Today, 1957, it is still afavorite of Bob Nelson and as deceptivenow as it was back in 1945.

1. Assume that you have had a c a r dpeeked at and are holding the usualbreak with the left fourth finger. Theright hand comes over the deck in amanner similar to Figure 2 with all f o u r

right fingers covering the front end,This brings the base of the right t h i r dand fourth fingers near the upper right

corner of the deck. The right h a n dshould remain more or less arched o v e rthe deck.

2. Next the le f t fingers swing the w h o l eright side of the deck, up to the b r e a kdownwards. This forms a horizontal Vopening which will be hidden by theright fingers at the front end of thedeck.

3. The l e f t second and third f i n g e r snow enter into this opening as far asthey can reach, then press upward andto the right on the peeked card so t h a tit comes out straight as possible to theright side.

4. As the card is pushed straight to theright, the upper right corner of t h i scard is forced between the right f o u r t hand third fingers at their base as

s Figure 35



91

THE CLIP STEAL

shown in Figure 35 which is a view of the action from below.

5. Do not separate the right third andf o u r t h fingers when getting this card

i n to this Clip Position. Instead, the fin-g e r s are kept close together and thecorner of the card is more or less forcedbetween them until the right fingersf e e l they have a firm grip on the card'scorner.

6. Once the card is gripped properly,the right hand turns so this thumb isuppermost. At this stage the right handis still close to the deck and the situa-t i on is pictured in Figure 36 where the

clipped card is also clearly seen asbeing still in the deck.

7. The right hand now moves forwardin a sort of gesture as it secretly takesthe clipped card along. At the sametime the performer turns slightly to thel e f t . Also the le f t thumb moves across

Figure 37

the back of the deck as the the righthand moves forward to gesture with itssecretly clipped card. The position of both hands is seen in Figure 37. Note

that right forefinger is slightly extendedduring gesture.

8. The gesture of the right hand is cov-ered with some remark such as "Don'tforget your card" or "Do you rememberyour card?" or some such appropriateremark suited to the occasion at hand.

9. Now the right hand comes back towards the deck and as it does theclipped card automatically goes underthe left thumb across the deck as in

Figure 38.

Figure 38

10. As the action in Figure 38 is con-tinued, the clipped card will go flushwith the left side of the deck. This willautomatically bring the right hand intoposition for squaring the ends of thedeck, which it does. The right handmoves to the right until the right fore-finger can be curled on top of the deck

Figure 39



92

THE SIDE STEAL

as in Figure 39 at which point the righthand removes the deck from the lefthand and slaps it onto the table.

11. The whole replacement of the card

blends into the mere taking of the deck with the right hand. Add to that thefact that the left thumb is across thedeck as the right hand returns and youhave what to the onlooker seems likean impossibility of adding a card to thetop of the deck.

Clip Steal To Bottom

1. To get the card to the bottom of thedeck via the Clip Steal proceed asalready outlined for that sleight fromSteps 1 to 8 and as per Figures 35, 36and 37 with one exception. The leftthumb must remain at the upper leftcorner of deck not across the deck.

2. The right hand is now about to makeits return trip to the pack and as itdoes so the deck is pinched mainlybetween left thumb and base of leftforefinger thus leaving all four fingersfree to extend from the deck when itbecomes necessary to do so.

3. As the right hand returns with itscard, just as it covers the deck the leftfingers extend and the clipped card isdirected under the deck as in Figure40.

Figure 40

4. The upper left corner of the clippedcard should have been slipped directlyabove the left forefinger so that now, asthe deck is lifted into a Two Hand

Square Up Position, the le f t f o r e f i n g e rnaturally carries the clipped c a r dunder the pack as this l e f t f o r e f i n g e rcurls in under the deck for the square

up.5. After the Square Up the pack isplaced on the table with the selectedcard, now on the bottom, to be used inthe effect at hand.

Clip Steal Color Change

For this all you need do is fol low theexact mechanics of the Clip Steal to thetop except have the deck face up w h e nyou do them. You will be surprised atthe reaction; however, the f o l l o w i n gtechnical improvements make thechange even more startling.

1. In this case the right hand is a b o v edeck as in Figure 2 but with right f o r e -finger curled on the face of the d e c k ,Remember the deck is face up during acolor change.

2. The left fingers gently push the b o t -tom card to the right at the same t im ethe right hand rotates slightly to b r i n g

the deck from a horizontal plane to a45 degree angle. This double a c t i o nenables the bottom card to glide g e n t l yover the bottom right long edge of thedeck. At the same time the upper rightcorner of the bottom card goes b e t w e e nthe right third and fourth fingers attheir base into the Clip Position.

3. At this stage the left hand can m o v eaway so that the right hand seems tobe holding the deck alone when in r e a l -

Figure 41



93

CLIP STEAL COLOR CHANGE

i t y a card is also in Clip Position asshown in Figure 41.

4, The left hand now comes back to thed e c k but it goes above the clipped card

as seen in Figure 42 .

Figure 42

The left hand squares the sides of thed e c k and moves it upwards further,squares the sides again, then takes thed e c k .

5. The lef t hand has taken the deck bythe sides with the tip of the left thumbat the center of the left side and tips of the four left fingers at right side. The

deck is thus held on its sides with thef a c e card facing audience. The righthand has receded towards the body toabout waist height.

6. The right hand now gesturestowards the face of the deck whileslightly spreading the first and secondfingers keeping the third and fourth asa unit. The gesture is accompanied bythe remark, "Watch the __" ,here name the face card of the deck.

7. The right hand now approaches thed e c k until the left side of the clippedc a r d is against the tip of the l e f t thumbat the top side of the deck as in Figure43 where you will note that the card isa lso more or less in line with the deck.

8. All that remains is for the rightthumb and fingers to move in againstthe sides of the deck, then move down-wards along these sides. This will

cause the clipped card to fold onto theface of the deck and at the same timebecome disengaged from the clip of third and fourth fingers.

Figure 43

9. The above change can also be madeby holding deck face up in left handdealing position at about waist highwith the face of the card towards theceiling. To make the change the clippedcard in right hand is brought forwardand down onto the face of the deck toeffect the change in a manner similarto Vernon's Softy.

It may be well to keep the Basic Clip,

i.e., between base of third and fourthfingers, in mind as other uses for it willbe detailed later when we come to sub-stitutes for the Side Steal

One more point of interest regardingthe Clip. After the card is clipped asshown in Figure 41 the right third fin-gertip can reach over to the upper leftcorner and, by pressing on it, the cardwill now be held by pressure of theright third fingertip at upper left corner

and at the base of the third and fourthfingers.

This may be useful at times when afirmer control of the card is desired. Byexerting pressure inwards with theright third fingertip, the clipped cardcan be made to move further along intothe palm.



94

THE SIDE STEAL

Palm Positions

Before going into the various tech-niques of side stealing a card to thebottom of the deck it is best if we first

describe the position of the palmedcard as this is most important in eachcase. Later we will describe how thesepositions are obtained.

First Palm Position:

In this case the card must be obtainedby the right hand so that the outerright corner is held or pressed by theright fourth fingertip. The whole rightedge of the card is slightly curved andlies along the line of the right fourth

finger until the card's inner right cor-ner ends by being pressed into thebase of the right palm. The inner leftcorner of the card is pressed againstthe flesh or folds of right thumb justbelow its second crease. The wholefront end of the card and its left side isaway from the palm thus the card isactually gripped at three corners; the

Figure 44

Figure 45

upper right corner and lower right andleft corners as shown in Figure 44which is a bottom view while Figure 45is a left side view.

Second Palm Position:In this case the card is held so that itsouter right corner is at the right f o u r t hfingertip while its inner left corner ispressed at the f irs t crease of thethumb. The whole right side of the c a r druns at an upward angle starting atright fourth fingertip and terminatingat the center of the palm. The back of the right hand faces almost full to theaudience on the right while the palmed

card is at a 90 degree angle in relationto the palm itself. Figure 46 shows theposition of the card from the bottomwhile Figure 47 shows the lef t side v i e wof the hand.

Figure 46

Figure 47

Third Palm Position:

In this case the right thumb does m o s tof the holding of the card as its second



95

PALM POSITIONS

j o i n t comes over the l e f t side of thec a r d but near the inner left corner. Thei n n e r right corner is automaticallypressed into the base of the palm. Thec a r d ' s right side runs along the side of the palm and ends with its outer rightc o r n e r at the middle of the second jointof the right fourth f inger. The back of the right hand in this case is more orl e s s cu rved over the card, not as in theS e c o n d Palm Position. The Figure 48s h o w s the bottom view of the handh o l d i n g the card while Figure 49s h o w s the lef t side view. Naturally theaudience on the right can see nothing.

Figure 48

Figure 49

Fourth Palm Position:W e re fe r to this Fourth Position as theM a r i o Position in that while it is a RearPa lm it d i f fe r s greatly from the one inE xp er t Card Technique as well as theT e n k a i Palm. As a matter of fact, onlyw i t h the Mario Position is an easyreplacement to either the top or bottomof the deck possible as will be seen.

For the Mario Position the card ishooked at the center of the left side bythe side of the right thumb against theinner phalanx, or, just under the largebone comprising the first joint .Pressure exerted by the right thumbholds the whole right side edge of thecard against the right palm.

The right side of the card runs from thebase of the right fourth finger, diago-nally, up to the center of the palm. Theinner right edge of the card practicallyrests in the large crease at the center of the palm near the wrist. The whole of the right thumb, which appears like achicken leg, is above the back of the

card and touching it only at the centerof the left side. The Figure 50 showsthe bottom view of the Mario Positionwhile Figure 51 shows the left sideview.

Figure 50

Figure 51



96

THE SIDE STEAL

Side Steal To Bottom

Naturally the object now is to get thecard from a peek into the right handand into one of the previous palm posi-

tions. From there the card can bereplaced either to the top or bottom.We will concern ourselves chiefly withthe replacement to the bottom of thedeck. In each case we will assume thecard has already been noted and abreak is held below it with left fourthfinger.

First Method:

This first method makes use of theFirst Palm Position.

1. The deck is held as in Figure 2 withright hand coming over the deck, allfour fingers at the front end and thumbat the back.

2. The left fingers now drop down toform the V opening as explained for theStandard Side Steal. The left third fin-ger enters the opening and pushes theselected card to the right into the rightpalm.

3. The right hand will feel the card asthe left fingers push the card upagainst it. The right fourth fingertip willfeel the upper right corner of the cardcome in contact first, then as the leftsecond and third fingers continuepushing, the card will pivot on the right

fourth fingertip into the palm. The con-dition is now as in Figure 52 with thecard partly in the palm and partly inthe deck with the left fingers stillstraight out.

4. With the card in the position of Figure 52 the right hand lightly pressesdown on the side stolen card. Thisresults in both inner corners of thecard coming in contact with the p a l mof the right hand. Now, by a slight con-traction of the right hand you wil l f e e lthe card being trapped into the FirstPalm Position.

5. The left hand has, of cou r s e ,

retained the deck in the same startingposition but as soon as the card is inposition of Figure 52 the right handcan move the deck back and forth asthe left hand goes into squaring thesides of the deck. Also the right f o r e f i n -ger can be curled momentarily on topof the deck during this supposed s i d esquaring of the deck.

6. The deck is returned to the originalposition in the left hand and now the

right hand moves away as if to squarethe ends. Actually the palmed card isremoved far enough from the deck toget it clear of the deck. At this stage thesituation is as in Figure 53 which iswhat the performer would see if hewere looking down at his hands. F r o mthe front and right side this is com-pletely covered.

Figure 52

I Figure 53



97

PALM PLACEMENTS

7, Due to the fact that the whole lefts i d e of the palmed card is actuallya w a y f rom the palm it becomes an easym a t t e r to move the right hand back tothe deck, in a pretense of squaring thee n d s , getting the card under the deck.8. The left fingers should remainextended and drop ever so slightly ino r d e r to accommodate the card beingslipped to the bottom of the deck. Theu p p e r end of the card will come in con-t a c t w i t h t h e l e f t f o r e f i n g e r a s i t i ss l ipped to bot tom.

The right hand continues to movetowards the left and up against the

d e c k until the palmed card is actuallypushed almost flush with deck exceptfor that portion which remains angledat the inner end. Figure 54 shows thee x a c t position of the card with the righth a n d removed fo r clarity.

deck, until the palmed card clears thedeck.

Figure 54

9. With the card in position of Figure54 it is an easy matter for the left fin-g e r s to pull the card in and flush withthe deck. To cover the movement of thel e f t fingers, the pack is lifted into aSquare Up Position between both

hands.Second Method:

T h i s method follows the exact proce-d u r e as the first method but with thisd i f f e r e n c e . Once the card is in the FirstP a l m Position the right hand does notm o v e away but instead the right handis rotated clockwise, to the right, itsr i g h t foref inger hugging the top of the

Figure 55 \

Figure 56

Figure 55 shows the appearance of thehands at this stage from the top whileFigure 56 shows how the card is aboutto be slipped under the deck as theright hand once more rotates, this timeto the l e f t , so that the palmed card isautomatically slipped under the deck.

From here the Two Hand Square Up isused to get card completely under thedeck. This rotating idea covers the bot-tom steal at close quarters when one is

looking right down at your hands.Third Method:

This makes use of the Second PalmPosition.

1. In this case execute all the mechan-ics of the Deliberate Side Steal untilyou reach the point where the card isangled and its lower left corner and



98

THE SIDE STEAL

upper right corner are felt by the tip of the right thumb and the right fourthfingertip.

2. At the above stage you may still be

squaring the sides of the deck with theleft fingers and thumb. After the squar-ing action move the deck into the posi-tion shown in Figure 2.

Now the right hand turns slightlycounter clockwise, holding the card'scorners by the thumb and fourth fingeruntil it is as shown in Figure 57 whichshows the card partly moved out of thedeck already.

Figure 57

3. The right hand moves slightly to theright bringing the gripped card along asin Figure 57. Next the right handmoves left to palm the card as follows.The right thumb releases its grip on itscorner of the card. The right hand mov-ing to the left forces the card's rightside further against the palm. The rightthumb then regrips its corner at thefirst crease of the thumb. At this pointthe card is in the actual Second PalmPosition.

4. The card is brought to the bottom bymoving the right hand to the rightagain until the card is clear of thedeck, then back to the left as the cardis slipped under the deck until theposition shown in Figure 54 is reached.From here the usual Two Hand SquareUp gets the card flush on the bottom of the deck.

Fourth Method:

This method makes use of the T h i r dPalm Position. Again assume you h a v ethe required break on the peeked card,

1. Hold the deck as in Figure 2 butwith the right forefinger curled on topof the deck.

2. The lef t fingers swing down the l o w e rportion of the deck enabling the l e f t

third finger to push out the selectedcard at an angle as the upper right c o r -

ner hits right fourth fingertip. The con-tinued pushing by the lef t third f i n g e rangles the rest of the card, after w h i c hthe l e f t second finger also comes in to

play. This pushes the card not only for-ward but backward for a short distanceso that the card moves out of the d e c kin the position shown in Figure 58where the right hand has been omittedfor clarity.

Figure 58

3. Once the card is in position shownin Figure 58 the right thumb c o m e sdown against the inner left side of theprojecting card. The card will then bein the Third Palm Position.

4. With the card in the Third P a l mPosition the right hand moves a w a yfrom the deck. The right forefinger canremain curled until the palmed c a r dclears the deck.

5. The right hand moves back to l o a dthe card under the deck as a l r e ad ydetailed except in this case, due to therear position of the card, the squaring



99

PALM PLACEMENTS

of the card flush with the deck is some-what different to be effective.

6. The left fingers have been extendedin order to p erm it passage of the

palmed card to the bottom. Now withthe card partly under the deck the leftf o r e f i n g e r curls in under the deck sot h a t its outer knuckle rests beneaththe upper left corner of the palmedc a r d .

7. The left hand now moves into aSquare Up Posi t ion. As the lef t foref in-ger moves it comes forwards, and car-ries the bottom card against it forwardand eventually flush with the pack as

the squaring movement is continued.Fifth Method:

T h i s makes use of the Fourth PalmPosition or the Mario Palm Position.

1. The pack is held as in Figure 2e x c e p t that the r ight forefinger isc u r l e d on top of the deck.

2. The left fingers swing down thep a c k e t below the break and the leftt h i r d f inger moves the card to the right.

The l e f t second and third fingers thenp u s h the card inwards until the carda r r i v e s in the position shown in Figure59 which is a bottom view with lefth a n d omitted. Note that the card'si n n e r right edge is resting near the cen-ter of the palm at the wrist

Figure 59

3. The right thumb comes down ontothe card's left side at its center, placing

it in the Mario Palm Position as shownin Figure 60 which is a left side view.

Figure 60

4. With card in position of Figure 60the right hand moves the deck back and forth as the left hand goes througha squaring action of the sides of thedeck. The deck is then replaced in theleft hand as before or as in Figure 2.

5. The right hand forefinger can remaincurled or straightened out during thenext actions.

The right hand moves to the right untilthe card is clear of the deck, thenmoves back to load the card under the

deck. At the same time the left forefin-ger curls under the deck and onto theouter left corner of the card beingloaded underneath.

Figure 61

The position of the hands, plus the leftforefinger position on the card is shownin Figure 61 just before the Square-Up.

6. The left forefinger now moves for-ward carrying the bottom card with it



100

THE SIDE STEAL

until the upper right corner of this cardhits the right fourth fingertip. At thispoint the situation is as in Figure 62.

Figure 62

7. The continued forward movement of the left forefinger will cause the card toswing into position, using the rightfourth fingertip as a pivot , flush ontothe bottom of the deck.

Of course, immediately both hands gointo a square up action. As a matter of fact, the placement of the palmed cardto the bottom is almost simultaneouswith the square up.

Sixth Method:This method makes use of the MarioPalm Position again but the method of getting into it differs. As a matter of fact, this particular technique enablesone to steal two or more cards from dif-ferent parts of the pack, and bringthem to the bottom or top as desired.

1. Assuming you have a break on thepeeked card, the deck is held as inFigure 2 except the right first finger is

curled on top of the deck.2. Next the left fourth finger angles thecard as in Figure 3 so that now the cor-ners of the angled card will be felt byright thumb and right fourth finger.

3. Keeping pressure on the corner feltby the right thumb, the left second andthird fingers press inwards on the rightside of the angled card thus forcing the

upper left corner of the card againstthe le f t thumb tip which in turn press-es the ball of the left thumb againstthis protruding corner. This protrudingcorner against the left thumb tip is fur-ther maintained by pressure againstthe right side of the card by the l e f t

second finger which at this point isnear the upper right corner of the d e c k ,

Figure 63

4. The left hand remains stationarywhile the right hand moves the d e c kforward. The left thumb and left secondfinger retain their pressure so that as

deck is moved forward the card itself ismade to remain in the same p o s i t i o nthus ending up at rear of deck as thepack is moved forward.

Figure 63 shows the pack's conditionat this point with the pack still in theprocess of being moved forward.



101

MULTIPLE REAR PALM STEAL

5. The action started in Figure 63 iscontinued until the left and rightthumbs meet at inner the left corner of the deck as in Figure 64.

6. When the card reaches the positionshown in Figure 64, the left third fingerpivots the card out slightly to the rightusing the right thumb as the pivotpoint. This slight pivoting action bringsthe right side of the card out of thedeck . Figure 65 is a bottom view withthe left hand omitted to give a clearpicture of the card's position.

Figure 65

7 . The deck is now brought back to

dealing position in the left hand whilethe right forefinger which has beencurled on top maintains enough pres-sure to keep the hanging card fromfalling out of the deck.

8. As the deck is lowered into the lefthand the right palm moves down ontothe hanging card as the left hand alsobrings the deck up slightly in order tomee t the right palm. The two actionsplace the card into the Mario Palm

Position as in Figure 59 and Figure 60.9. From this point the card can bebrought to the bottom as alreadyexplained in the Fifth Method, Figures61 and62, Steps 5, 6 and 7.

As has been pointed out, the abovem e t h o d is very good when desiring topalm out more than one card and bringthem to the top or bottom. Two or more

cards can thus be stolen from differentparts of the deck, such as two peekedcards. A block of cards, such as thefour Aces, can be inserted into thefront end of the deck, the packetangled as needed, then going thru themechanics of the Sixth Method theoperator will have the four Aces in theMario Palm Position.

The Fifth Method can be used easily toSide Steal the bottom card into theMario Palm Position; however, on occa-sion it may be necessary to steal morethan one card off the bottom into thePalm Position and the following tech-nique will accomplish just that.

For lack of a title well call it the

Multiple Rear Palm Steal

1. Assuming you have four Aces on thebottom of the deck you must obtain abreak above them. Use either a thumbcount or spread the pack under somepretext, then in closing obtain a break with left fourth finger above the Aces.

2. The right hand comes above the

deck to take it in the usual mannerwith the right forefinger curled on top.Also the right thumb at the back main-tains the break so that the left fingerscan change their grip for what is to fol-low.

3. While the right thumb retains itsbreak the left second and third fingers

Figure 66



102

THE SIDE STEAL

move into the break and press down ontop of the packet. The left first andfourth fingers move under the Acepacket, resting the back of their nails

against its face. This results in the fourcards being nipped between the leftthird and fourth fingers at the innerend and the left first and second fin-gers at the outer end as in Figure 66which is an exposed right side view.

4. Under cover of the right hand theleft fingers move the packet to the rightat an angle below the right palm as inFigure 67, a bottom view.

Figure 67

5. The packet now under the right

palm remains stationary, still held byleft fingers while the right hand movesdeck forward to position shown inFigure 68 which is again a bottomview.

Figure 68

6, With the cards in this position theleft second and third fingers slip off the

sides of the packet.At the same t i m ethe first and fourth fingers press thepacket towards the right palm. Theright palm also comes down slightly tomeet the raised packet with the resultthat the Four Aces will be in the Mar i oposition shown in Figures 59 and 60.

The right hand can now move the d eckinto a Two Hand Square Up Position

just before going into the next move.

7. After the Square Up the deck is l o w -ered back into the left hand. L e f tthumb nips the deck at its upper l e f t

corner enabling the right hand to m o v eits cards out from under deck and to

the top as in Figure 69 where the righthand alone now grasps deck f r o mabove. The whole action of getting thecards to the top is that of squaring theends of the deck.

Figure 69

8. With the cards held as in Figure 69the pack can be dropped cleanly on thetable. The right hand, with its palmedcards, can then move to pick up anoth-er packet or scoop up a packet off thetable while adding the palmed cards.

To The Top

At times it is required to get the ca rdfrom the Mario Palm Position to the topinstead of the bottom of the deck. H e r eare two methods to accomplish this.

First Method:

1. The pack is treated just as in theFifth Method for getting into M a r i oPalm Position.



103

TO THE TOP

2. Instead of getting the card to theb o t t o m , the right hand moves the cardon top. At the same time the left thumbm o v e s across deck so that the upperr i g h t corner of the palmed card goesu n d e r the lef t thumb.

The situation is as shown in Figure 70w h i c h is a lef t side view.

Figure 70

3. The left thumb now moves forwardm o v i n g the chosen card along with itas in Figure 71 until the upper rightc o r n e r of this card touches the thirdf i n g e r of the right hand. At this stage

the card will still be at an angle on topo f deck as in Figure 71.

Figure 71

4. The left thumb now moves complete-ly to the left side of the deck but as itd o e s so it keeps a constant pressure onthe card being replaced to the top. Thisw i l l cause the card to pivot against theright third finger at its upper right cor-n e r .

The card will eventually straighten out

as the left thumb takes its place at left

side of deck. The left fingers also aid bypressing in on the side of the deck asthe replacement is being made.

5. Immediately the deck is lifted into aSquare-Up Position. In fact the replace-ment and Square Up are almost as onecomplete action.

Second Method:

1. This second method begins by get-ting the card under the left thumb asshown in Figure 70.

2. Now instead of any action beingmade, the lef t hand turns palm downas the left thumb holds onto the addedcard. This results in the card beingslightly injogged but it will not be seen.

3. Before the left hand turns palm upthe left thumb pulls the injogged cardup flush with front end of deck. The leftforefinger aids the action by pressinginwards on the front end thus the twoopposite actions cause a quick align-ment of the card onto top of the deck.

4. Once the card is flush on top of thedeck the left hand can bring the backsof the cards into view.

Two Effects

Card From Case and The Stop Effect

Effect: A peeked at card is found in acard case which has been on the tableall along.

1. Get a card peeked at using the FifthMethod to get the card into Mario Palm

Position.2. Get the card to the top of the deck as in Figure 69 with the right handalone holding the deck.

3. Drop the deck cleanly and move tothe card case, which should be on theleft side of the table. Pick it up in anidentical manner to Figure 69 except inthis instance a card case is handledinstead of a deck. The closed case istaken with the flap's hinge downward.



104

THE SIDE STEAL

4. The left hand comes over and takesthe case, plus the palmed card, in anidentical manner to Figure 70 excepthere again a card case instead of thedeck is used.

5. The left hand turns palm down andholds the case. The selected card willbe below and in jogged slightly but itwill not show from the front.

6. The right first finger reaches underfront end of the case and flips out theflap thus opening the end of the cardcase.

7. The right thumb now moves underthe flap and into the case proper butthe right fingers go under the case.

8. The right fingers and thumb nowmove out, the right fingers taking thecard along from the bottom of the cardcase until the card is brought out as inFigure 72. Here the right thumb andfingers are now really holding the frontend of the card while the card itself seems to be coming from inside the

case rather than from under it.

Figure 72

9. The card is pulled out completelyand tossed onto the table for identifica-tion.

The Stop Effect

Effect: Performer deals the cards one ata time on the table until someone calls"Stop". The card stopped at proves tobe one previously selected.

1. Get the selected card into the MarioPalm Position via the Fifth Method.

2. Get the card over on top of the d e c kas in Figure 69 holding the deck in theright hand.

3. Transfer the deck to the left handand with the right hand remove the topcard by the ends and toss it f rom aheight face down onto the table as youpatter, "While I deal the cards you say'Stop' anytime you like."

4. Continue the deal by taking the topcards one at a time and dropping t h e mface down onto the table as shown inFigure 73 until told to stop.

Figure 73

5. Having been s topped , the left handplaces the deck down and to the l e f t .The right hand scoops up the tabledcards adding the palmed card in theprocess, and placing these into the nowfree left hand.

6. Ask for the card to be named andturn over the top card.

The above Stop Effect using a R e a rPalm was first shown to Laurie Irelandyears ago and then in 1948 it was

shown and explained to Cy Endfield,Since then we have added a little sub-tlety in which the tabled packet n e e dnot be picked up to show that its topcard is the selection.

This consists in merely bringing b o t hhands to each side of the tabled packetin order to push its sides f l u sh ,Needless to say, the palmed card isreleased during this action.



105

INSERTION STEALS

Figure 74

The completed action is shown inF ig ure 74 with the thumbs of bothhands in view after the right hand hasreleased its card onto the packet. (Forfurther use of this type of side squaringa c t i o n , see Chapter 5; The TabledP a l m . )

The Insertion Steals

At times it is required to Side Steal acard that has been inserted into thepack rather than peeked at. This usu-ally means the card is injogged in somem a n n e r then later stolen out from its

central position to the top, bottom orinto the palm.

It is not our intention to discuss herethe various ways of obtaining these

jogs, as that will take another chapter,but rather to show the procedure oncethe jog has been obtained at the innerend of the deck as shown in Figure 75

where the pack is held in the left handdealing position with forefinger curledover the top end of the deck as in theusual Mechanic's Grip.

1. To get the injogged card into positionfor any one of the Side Steals alreadyexplained it is necessary for the leftthumb to move to the left side of thedeck and the left forefinger to straight-en out so that the right hand can beplaced above the deck.

2. The right thumb comes over at theinner end and with its tip engages theinner left corner of the injogged card.Then the right thumb moves it to the

right as shown in Figure 76, pressinginwards to trap the corners of the card

just as if the card were angled after apeek.

Figure 75

Figure 76

3. After the action shown in Figure 76,the card is in position to be stolen byany one of the means described, how-ever we shall detail a Left Hand, RearPalm Steal at this point.

Left Hand, Rear Palm Steal1. Having jogged the card as per Figure76 the next step is to get the card intoposition for palming using the SixthMethod as per Figure 63.

2. With card in position of Figure 63the card is brought into position shownin Figure 64. At this point nothing elseis done except the deck is lowered intothe left hand where the condition of the



106

THE SIDE STEAL

deck and injogged card are as in Figure77. Aga in , the right hand has beenomitted for clarity.

3. With the deck lowered into the left

hand as per Figure 77 the right handwhich has remained above, lightlysquares the ends of deck. It does notmove too far to the right in doing this.The right hand can be removed entirelyproviding the pack is tilted upwards toprevent any one seeing the card at theback end.

Figure 77

4. The right forefinger on top and rightsecond fingertip under the deck pinchthe upper left corner of the deck inorder to move the deck forward and outof the left hand. As the forward move-ment is begun, the right thumb at theback end, near the lower left corneropens or flattens out in order to passover the card being held back in theleft hand.

5. As the right thumb clears thepalmed card it straightens out againstthe back end of the deck so that thepack is now held normally from above

by the ends while the selected cardremains in Rear Palm as in Figure 78.

6. The right hand drops the deck ontothe table while the left hand drops tothe side with its palmed card.

Full Left Hand Steal

This is not only a fu l l palm into the l e f thand but shows how the right thumbdoing the pivoting action in the oppo-site direction practically places thecard into position.

1. Assume the card is jogged as inFigure 75 but that the left hand hasassumed the position in Figure 76 andthe right hand has not as yet startedits action.

2. The right hand comes over the deckand lightly runs its fingers and thumbover the ends as if to square them.

Figure 78

Figure 79

3. During the squaring action to the Iright, the thumb at the back end g o e sclear to the inner right corner of theinjogged card, then in the right hand jmoving back to the left , the r i g h tthumb presses on the corner of thecard pivots the card to the left as inFigure 79.

4. As the right thumb pivots the card,the l e f t fingers straighten out to a l l o w



107

DIRECT INSERTION STEALS

the card's passage out of the right sideof the deck. After that the left third andf o u r t h fingers curl in against the cornerof the card so that now it is gripped

between these fingers at the upperright corner and the base of the leftp a l m at the lower left corner as inFigure 80. This is the final palm posi-tion for the card. From the front theh o l d looks normal. Here the right handhas been omitted for clarity.

Figure 80

5. The right hand now comes over to

t a k e deck f rom the left hand using thesame method as for the Rear PalmSteal, Steps 4 and 5, Figure 78.Remember that the right hand movesupwards with the deck to give theappearance of having lifted the deck off the left hand rather than sliding off.

B e f o r e continuing, it may be of interestto know that using the thumb to pivota card, or cards, has been used invarying techniques to accomplish vari-ous purposes by such as Dr. Daley,T e n k a i , Hugard, Prof. Lowe, Hech t andin recent years, Andrus . It will pay thecard student to study and compare ino r d e r to realize their differences.

Direct Insertion Steals

At times it is required to steal a cardin to the palm while merely seeming toinsert the card into the pack. In thisca se the card is not first injogged, then

stolen but rather is positioned forpalming out almost on the initial inser-tion. We will describe two methods, onefor the right hand and one for the left

hand.Right Hand Steal

1. The pack is held in the left handdealing position with left forefingercurled over the front end as in theMechanic's Grip.

2. The right hand holds the single card,to be inserted, face down by the upperright corner , thumb on top and firstand second fingers on the face at theindex corner.

3. The left thumb moves to the left sideof the pack and down riffles the cardson the left side to create an openinginto which the right hand places thecard. Start with the single card's lowerright corner, then continuing the inser-tion sideways to the right. Figure 81shows the card partly inserted.

Figure 81

4. The single card is in the deck forabout half its length at Figure 81;

therefore, the action now is moving thecard solely to the right and not furtherinto the deck.

5. Continue the single card's movementto the right until its right side projects,from the right side of the deck forabout a quarter inch.

The left thumb is now brought acrossthe deck. The left first and second fin-



108

THE SIDE STEAL

gers naturally move below the card topermit its jogging right. Once the cardprojects to the right, the tips of the leftfirst and second fingers press under

this projection. The left third andfourth fingers press in, holding thedeck. The situation is pictured inFigure 82 where the card is still heldby right hand.

Figure 82

6. Once the position shown in Figure82 is reached, the right hand movesabove the deck in order to push in theprojecting card.

As the right hand comes over the pack,the left third and fourth fingers moveforward to converge under the rightside of the projecting card as in Figure83 which shows the right hand aboutto push in the projecting card while theleft fingers are together at the upperright side. The view is from the bottom.

7. The right hand starts to push in theprojecting card using the right secondfingertip on the upper left corner to doso. At the same time the left second

finger presses upwards on the cardmoving it to the right and under theright palm as in Figure 84.

Figure 84

8. The pack, which is pinched in thecrotch of the left thumb, is moved tothe le f t at the same time that left fin-gers push the card to the right. T h i sresults in not only firmly placing thecard into the right palm but also brings [most of the deck in view as shown inFigure 85, the performer's view, with

right forefinger curled on top.

Figure 83

Figure 85

9. When the position of Figure 85 i sreached the right hand grasps deck ,then moves it back and forth along l e f t

fingers and thumb to simulate squar-ing the sides. Figure 86 shows a bot-tom view of not only the simulatedsquaring but also the position of thepalmed card in the right hand.



109

DIAGONAL STEAL

N o t e that the lef t fingers run below thepalmed card dur ing the squar inga c t i o n and that only a corner of thecard is still in the pack.

Figure 86

10. With the pack as in Figure 86, thed e c k is lowered into the lef t hand deal-ing position. Now a slight movement of the right hand, as if squaring the ends,w i l l f r e e the corner of the card still inthe pack. The right forefinger of course,straightens out to give cover to the cardd u r i n g the squaring action. With theca rd in the right palm the hand can bedropped to the side. The card can alsobe brought to the bottom of the deck if

n e e d e d .A note on the above Right Hand Stealmay be in order: The inserted card canbe brought to the top of the deck viathe Deliberate Side Steal method.

To do this execute all the actions fromStep 1 to 6, Figures 81, 82 and 83. AtFigure 83 the lef t fingers are under theprojecting card; they must now remaint h e r e as the right second fingertippushes in the projecting card.

The right second fingertip is followedby pressure with the right third finger.Th i s will cause the card to angle slight-ly during the push in action so that asthe right third fing er presses againstthe outer end of the deck the rightthumb wi l l feel a corner projec t ing onthe inside. The right fou rth finge rtipw i l l automatically encounter the upperright corner of the card.

As the deck is already in the thumbcrotch it is under control so that nowthe right hand can move the card out,then bring it to the top just as in the

Deliberate Side Steal.The Diagonal Steal

There have been many who have madevariations on the original ErdnaseDiagonal Palm Shift by moving the cardbeing inserted into the front end of thedeck to the right instead of the left.Among these have been men likeTenkai, Hech t , Buckley, LePau l andpossibly others.

In each case, after the card had beenmoved to the right, in perfect palmposition for the left hand, the righthand invariably removed the deck fromthe left hand by taking it by the upperleft corner. This misses the originalErdnase idea of taking the deck by theends from above with the right thumbat the back end, conveying that noth-ing could have possibly gotten past it.

The following technique of doing theDiagonal Steal is one we have been

using for many years. Over nine yearsago we showed it to Cy Endfield.

We pointed out that although the cardwas pivoted to the right it retained theoriginal Erdnase concept of keeping thethumb at the back end as the deck istaken by the ends from above. This isdone through the use of what we termthe "Pinch". Its use has already beenshown in the Left Hand Side Steal.

1. Hold the deck in the usualMechanic's Grip. Insert the card, to belater stolen, into the front end of thedeck (See Figure 81) for about half itslength. The left thumb, which has pre-viously been at the left side of deck,moves across the top of the deck whilethe left forefinger takes its place along-side of the deck with the other fingersas in Figure 87.



110

THE SIDE STEAL

2. The right hand comes over the deck in order to push in the projecting card.The right second fingertip should bepressing on the upper left corner of

projecting card. The other right fingers,of course, are also straight out in thenormal manner for pushing in a pro-

jecting card but the important thing isto be sure that the right second fingeris pressing on that upper left corner.The right thumb at the back lies paral-lel along the back end of deck with itstip at its lower left corner and touchingthe left palm.

Figure 87

3. During the next action it is impor-tant that the right hand does notchange its position by shifting to theright in any manner. In other words,the projecting card will be angled to theright but the right hand must not giveany indication of this being done.

4. Keeping the position of the righthand the projecting card is pushed inwith the right second fingertip doingmost of the work. The right second fin-gertip keeps pressing on the upper leftcorner of the card as it is being pushedflush. This will result in the cardbecoming angled as in Figure 88 whereright hand has been omitted.

If the right hand were over the pack thefour fingers would be covering thewhole front end just as if these fingerspushed the card in straight rather thanat an angle.

Note that a small corner of the angledcard will be protruding from the f r o n t

end of the deck at about center andalso a small corner on the left side n e a i

the lower left corner; however, t h e s eare covered at this time by both theright fingers at the front end and thebase of the left palm at the lef t side o fthe deck.

Figure 88

5. To permit the angling of the card theleft fingers relax and move downwardsto permit passage of the card o v e rthem. Do not straighten out the l e f t f i n -gers, merely lower them in a natural

attempt to get out of the card's waykeeping the left fingers alongside thedeck.

6. Next curl the right forefinger on topof the deck, then lift it up so that theleft hand can assume a S q u a r e - U pposition from below. The right handnow moves the deck back and f o r t hwhile the left thumb and fingers s i m u -late squaring the sides. During the s i d esquaring action the small projectingcorner of the card on the left side ispushed flush with the deck.

7. After the final square up action, a sthe deck is moved backwards, thepacket is placed into the left hand, l e f t

fingers extending and flattening out toreceive it in such a manner that the l e f t

second and third fingertip curl aroundupper right end of the angled card. Theright hand, still grasping the deck f r o m



I l lSIDE STEAL COVER UPS

a b o v e , moves the pack slightly to thel e f t which causes the small projectingcorner of the card at the upper end tom o v e into the deck and out of sight.

The right fingers and thumb now light-ly run over the ends of the deck as if squaring them.

8. At this point the cards are in theposition shown in Figure 89 with ther i g h t hand removed. As a matter of f a c t , the right hand can be removed if the l e f t hand is tilted properly to con-cea l the true situation. From the frontthe l e f t hand merely seems to be hold-ing the deck.

^O

Figure 89

9. The right hand now takes the pack f r o m the lef t hand using the Pinch in amanner similar to Figure 29, repeatedhere, which shows the action. Again,emphasis must be placed on giving theappearance of having lifted the pack off the l e f t hand rather than a sliding

Figure 29

action. Just remember to move righthand upwards in a normal manner justbefore dropping the pack on the table.

10 . The palmed card in the left hand isused as needed for the effect at hand,or it can be replaced to the bottom of the deck.

Side Steal Cover Ups

Probably the first one to use the topcard of the pack in order to conceal aSide-Steal was Arthur Buckley in hisCard Control in conjunction with aneffect called The Extraordinary Queens.

At the time I felt that palming the card,

then trying to slip it under the top cardwas not as efficient as first pushingover the top card, then Side-Stealingthe card under cover of the top card.

We showed the following method to BillSimon many years ago. He developedan entirely different technique whichcan be found in Effective Card Magic. If the card student has the other sourcesavailable he can compare and evaluatethese three methods.

First Cover Up

1. Assuming you have a break with theleft fourth finger below the the selectedcard, proceed by placing the right handover the deck in a manner similar toFigure 2 except all four right fingersare at the front end of the deck.

2. Next, the left fourth finger angles theselected card as shown in Figure 3except that this angle should be

greater. In other words, the left fourthfinger enters further into the break sothat later by pushing upwards and tothe right the selected card will beangled out for a greater distance.

3. During the time the selected card isangled the deck is also side-squared asin Figure 3. The whole procedure up tothis point has been just like theTechnical Side Steal.



112

THE SIDE STEAL

4. With the deck still being side-squared by the left hand, the leftthumb moves to the inner left corner of the deck and pushes this corner of the

top card forward. This causes the cardto angle on top of the deck in a mannersimilar to that of the selected card.

The lower left corner of the card shouldalso touch the right thumbtip while theupper right corner of top card will bepressing against right fourth fingertip.In fact the top card and center card arein almost perfect alignment as shownin Figure 90 which is a view of thepacks' condition with the right hand

removed.

of course, the top card will conceal theleft side of the lower, center card.

Figure 90

The right hand should maintain a higharch during the above mechanics. Thelower angled card is only about a sixtyfourth of an inch in advance of the topcard on the right side.

5. The left hand now pinches the deck,at the thumb crotch, near the lower leftcorner which leaves the right hand freeto move the top and center cards off the deck. These cards are held by pres-sure of right fourth finger at upperright corners and right thumb at lowerleft corners.

Figure 91 shows the action from thebottom where you will note how the topcard, in perspective, appears slightly tothe right of the center card in order toclarify the situation; however, in realitythe center card will be further to theright and concealing the top card whenviewed from the bottom. From the top,

Figure 91

6. As the top card is supposedly movedoff you say, "Remember the top card isnot your card," after which the righthand replaces both cards, as one, ontop of the deck.

Immediately curl the right forefinger ontop of the deck as the right hand takesthe deck by the ends from above, thenturns the right hand palm upwards tobring the face of the deck into view asyou conclude, "And the bottom card is

not your card." The chosen card is nowsecond from the top from which point itis, of course, under the pe r f orm e r 'scontrol.

Our original application for the abovemove was for the Buckley effect calledThe Extraordinary Queens except weturned the Queens face up which auto-matically loaded the selected card f a c edown between the face up Queens.Those who have Buckley's Card Controlcan find the remaining details on Pages86 and 87 of the book.

Another Handling

This handling is more conducive to theSimon technique of doing the Cover-Up . We explain what the basic han-dling is but refer the student toEffective Card Magic for details.

1. With the break held in the center onthe selected card, the left thumb actu-



CLIP STEAL COVER UP

113

a l l y pushes off the top card which ist a k e n f rom above by the right hand.

2. The right hand shows the face of thec a r d as you say, "The top card is noty o u r card." Right hand now turns palmd o w n and comes over deck so that theca rd in the right hand rests momentar-ily against deck, and it is at this timethe l e f t fingers push the selected cardunder the one in the right hand.I m m e d i a t e l y the right hand movesa w a y f r o m deck while the l e f t thumbs h o v e s over the next top card of thed e c k .

3. Using the left side of the card held in

the right hand, the top card of the deck is levered face up on top of the deck asyou say, "And, of course, this card isnot yours either." The top card is nowl e v e r e d over face down and at the samet i m e the card(s) from the right hand arel e f t on top of the deck.

4. The whole idea is that you havem e r e l y shown the top two cards of thepack. For example, in the Buckleye f f e c t you would say, "I have here the

Q u e e n of Spades and also the Queen of C l u b s , " doing the actions outlined tob r i n g the selection between the twoQ u e e n s .

Clip Steal Cover Up

T h i s type of Cover Up using the ClipS t e a l is an entirely different conceptf r o m those previously explained andhas a greater flexibility in its applica-t ion to effects more so than as a meansof controlling a card. First, we willdescribe the mechanics, then show itsapplication to various effects.

1. Follow all the steps from 1 to 5 of the Clip Steal until you get the selectedca rd clipped between the right fourthand third fingers at the base as shownin Figure 35 repeated below.

2. with the card securely gripped as inF i g u r e 35, the right forefinger is curled

Figure 35

on top of the deck, if you haven'talready had it curled from the start,then the deck is placed on the table.

3. As the deck is placed on the table

the right hand remains alongside untilthe right fingers manage to get hold of the top card of the deck.

4. Once the right fingers have hold of the top card, the right hand movesaway from the deck to the right. Thisresults in the clipped card also movingout of the center of the deck as inFigure 92 which is a back end view.

Figure 92

5. The right hand then moves upwardswith the two cards being in the positionshown in Figure 93, a left side view.

Figure 93



114

THE SIDE STEAL

6. The two cards are now broughttogether in perfect alignment by the lefthand forefinger moving under the dan-gling clipped card and moving it

upwards to meet the card held in righthand as in Figure 94.

7. The action in Figure 94 is continueduntil the two cards meet, just as theleft second, third, and fourth fingerspull in on the right side of the clippedcard in order to align it with the topcard. The right fingers over the front

end of the cards hide any movement of two cards lining up while from the topnothing can be seen.

8. Once the cards are lined up the twohands go into a Square Up Position asthey apparently handle a single card.

9. The above Steps are the basic ingre-dients of the Clip Steal Cover Up andnow we shall show its use in severaleffects.

Between The Aces

Effect: A selected card appears face upbetween four Aces that have been pre-viously clipped with a paper clip.

We believe it was Annem ann who firstdescribed an effect in the Jinx whereina selected card appeared between fourAces while Paul Curry probably wasthe first to describe an effect in which aselected card appeared between two

previously clipped cards, in his bookletSomething Borrowed Something New.Since then there have been other meth-ods by other card men. Our procedure

differs from all these existing methodsas well as those mentioned.

1. Remove the four Aces from the packand handing them to a spectator t e l lhim to arrange the four Aces in anyorder that he will easily r em em b e r ,from top to bottom, but not to showyou the order in which they lie.

2. Tell him to turn the four Aces f acedown. Hand him a paper clip tellinghim to clip the four cards at the side in

order to insure the Aces staying intheir order.

3. Having placed the clip on the Aces,take the packet from the spectator anddrop it face down on top of the deckwith the paper clip coming on the lef tside.

4. Pick up the pack, keeping the clip onthe left side of the deck, holding it facedown in the left hand for the SpectatorPeek.

5. Have the spectator peek at a card.Hold a break on it with the left fourthfinger.

6. Right hand comes over the pack andyou do the moves required for the Cl ipSteal as in Figure 35.

7. With the cards clipped as in Figure35 the right hand places the deck ontothe table. The right hand takes off thetop four clipped cards while at the

same time stealing the selected card asin Figure 92 except in this case thepaper clip is on the left side. This actu-ally makes the pickup very easy as theclip separates the four cards from therest of the deck.

8. The right hand then moves upwardswith the four clipped Aces the situationbeing similar to Figure 93.



115

DRIBBLE STOP EFFECT

9. The selected card is now brought upf l u s h with clipped Ace packet exactlyas shown in Figure 94 with two singlecards.

10. Once the selected card is lined upw i t h the clipped Ace packet, the righthand keeps holding onto the packetw h i l e the left is free to pull off thepaper clip and toss it down onto thetable.

11. Your excuse for removing the paperclip is as follows: You say, "I'm going tot e s t how good your memory is." By thist i m e the paper clip has been removed.Continue, "If I transfer one Ace from

top to bottom, can you remember theorder of the Aces now?" To illustrateyour left thumb peels off the top cardi n t o the lef t hand, then places this cardto the bottom.

12. After the transfer of the card to thebottom, the packet is placed into lefthand dealing position as for theMechanic's Grip.

13. As the spectator calls the first Ace,you turn it face up flush onto the pack-et. Have the spectator hold out hishan d , palm up, then deal this Ace faceup into his hand.

14. Continue in a like manner with thesecond Ace dealing it onto the first faceup Ace in spectator's hand.

15. On the third Ace, after it has beenturned over face up and flush ontopacket, you perform a Single Buckle tot a k e two cards, back to back, as oneand deal these as a single face up Aceo n t o the others.

16. Snap the last Ace face up and placeit on to the others. Remove the cardsf r o m spectator's hand, turn them faced o w n , place the paper clip back on lef tside of cards, return packet face downo n t o spectator's hand, then requesthim to place his other hand over thepacket thus sandwiching it between

the palms.

17. If the spectator remembered theorder of the Aces, congratulate him andif he hasn't the next line will fit in logi-

cally.18. Pick up the deck and say, "Well,let's see if you still remember yourcard. Will you please name it?"

19. After the spectator has named hiscard you thumb thru the cards andremove any card from the center andtoss it face down onto the table,

20. Square-up the deck and toss it facedown onto the tabled card, then pick

up the deck from above by the ends,with the right hand. Holding the deck face down with the right hand rub thebottom or face of the deck against thespectator's upper hand as you say,"Watch the ", naming card heselected. Slowly turn the deck face upas you say, "Your card is gone." Placethe deck onto the table.

21. Have the spectator separate hishands. Tell him to turn the packet face

up and to remove the paper clip. Afterhe has done this, have him spread thefour Aces to reveal a face down card intheir center. Have him name his selec-tion, then reach over with the righthand, remove the face down card andturn it face up to reveal his selection.

22. Be sure you let several spectatorsnote the selected card as it is actuallypossible for the one person to forget hiscard due to the fact that he is concen-trating on remembering the order of the Aces,

Dribble Stop Effect

Effect: Performer lets the cards dribbleoff his right fingers onto the table. Atany time during the dribble "Stop" iscalled. The bottom card of thoseremaining in the left hand is the select-ed one.



116

THE SIDE STEAL

The handling is such as to convince theonlooker that no control of any kind ispossible.

1. Have a card selected or peeked atand bring it to the bottom of the pack preferably by one of the Side Steals ToThe Bottom.

2. With the card on the bottom yourlef t fingers push it into the Clip StealPosition as in Figure 35 except here thebottom card would be clipped.

3. Holding the deck in the right hand,place the deck on the table, keepingyour right hand close to the deck and

maintaining the Clip on the selection.4. With the side of the right hand keptclose to the table, lift the deck off thetable high enough so that right fingerscan release the bottom cards so theydribble onto the table as in Figure 95.This shows the dribbled cards on thetable, some still in the right hand andthe selected card in Clip Position.

Figure 95

5. Let the cards dribble off the rightfingers completely as in Figure 96where you will note the selected cardremains clipped in the right hand.

6. Left hand now pushes or shoves thecards towards the right hand again sothat the right hand can again re-graspthe cards for a repeat of the dribblingprocess.

7. During the actions shown in Figure95 and 96 you patter, "As I release the

cards in this manner I want you to ca l l ]'Stop' at any time." The initial d r i b b l ehas now been completed and the l e f t

fingers shove the cards towards the

right hand which can again grasp thecards and repeat the dribble until thespectator calls a halt.

8. When the spectator calls "Stop" youwill be holding a small packet in amanner similar to Figure 95 e x c e p t ,due to the first dribble, this packet w i l l

not be a squared one; however, the sit-

uation will be the same.

9. The right hand moves to the right soas to clear the clipped card f rom u n d e r

the dribbled cards then raises off t a b l e ,Again the situation is similar to that of Figure 93 except the top single c a r dshown is in this case a packet of cards.

10. Finish by bringing the l e f t h a n dunderneath and squaring the c l i p p e dcard with upper packet in an i d e n t i c a lmanner to Figure 94.

Figure 96

11. Have the selection named, t h e nturn the packet over to reveal the card

at its face.The above Clip Cover method can beused to cut to four Aces by h a v i n gthem on the bottom to start. H o w e v e r ,instead of dribbling the cards, the righthand makes a definite cut, then m o v e saway with the packet plus the c l i p p e dcard. Line up the Ace, and turn thepacket face up to show an Ace which isdealt off onto the table. The cut off



117

THE CARD STAB

p a c k e t is returned and while squaringup the deck the next Ace is placed intop o s i t i o n and the cutting repeated untilall f o u r Aces have been cut to. Also a

variation can enter by cutting off smallpackets until you have four packets ont a b l e , the bottom of each being an Ace.

Card Stab

E f f e c t : Performer places a card face upi n t o the deck at any point a spectatordesires. The card above the face upc a r d turns out to be a previouslyselected card.

1. Control a peeked card to the bottomof the deck with one of the Side StealsTo The Bottom or simply Double Cutthe card at the break to the bottom.

2. As you square the deck get the bot-tom card into Clip Position.

3. Holding the deck in the right handw i t h the bottom card secretly clipped,the l e f t thumb pulls off the top card of the deck, then turns it face up in thel e f t hand.

4. The left hand grips the face up card

at its upper index corner while thel o w e r right hand corner is run downa l o n g the left side of the deck as yousay, "As I run this card down the sideof the deck you can say 'Stop' at anyt ime you like."

5. When "Stop" is called the lower rightc o r n e r of the face up card is insertedf r o m the left side of the deck until ap a r t of this corner emerges on the rights ide of the pack thus the card is insert-

ed face up into the deck at an angle.6. Once the card has been inserted, thel e f t hand now proceeds to remove thef a c e up card and all those below it. Thef o u r l e f t fingers go between the deck and the clipped card while the leftthumb presses on upper index cornerof the face up card causing it and thecards below it to fall as in Figure 97.H e r e you will note that the left hand

Figure 97

has moved in far enough so that theleft fingertips will be visible on the rightside of this packet when it is removedfrom the bottom of the deck.

The view is as seen from the back andalso shows the clipped card just belowthe remaining cards in right hand.

7, Left hand places its packet onto thetable, then comes back to the right inorder to line up the clipped card withthe rest of the packet in a manner sim-ilar to Figure 94.

8, The name of the card is asked, thenthe packet is turned face up to revealthe selection. Apparently the face up

card has located the selected card.9. In place of the face up card, as perFigure 97, you can use a pen knife or atable knife thus making this a KnifeStab effect.

10. The Stab method described canalso be used to force a card or to pre-dict a card. In the case of a predictionuse a business card on the blank sideof which you have jotted down thename of the bottom card. You must

glimpse the bottom card after a specta-tor's shuffle. From here the procedureis identical as with the card or knifebut using the business card instead.

For The Purists

This we feel is for the Purists becausenot once is the deck cut or evenspread. It remains squared at all timesduring the following effect. This con-



118

THE SIDE STEAL

sists of a spectator placing a card faceup into the deck whereupon the deck ishanded to him. He himself spreads thecards to remove the face up card and

the one below it. This card is his previ-ous selection.

As by now the student should be famil-iar with the various Side-StealTechniques in this chapter. A brief descriptive outline should suffice atmost points.

1. Have a card peeked at and get it tothe bottom of the deck by anyone of theSide Steals to the bottom; however, werecommend the Fifth Method.

2. Take off the top card and hand itface up to spectator as you request himto insert the card face up, at any place,from the front end of the deck. Thepack at this point is held by the per-former with the right hand at the lowerright corner, thumb on top, fingersbelow.

3. As the spectator pushes the cardinto the deck, you pinch the deck so hecan not force the card more thanhalfway in.

4. With the face up card still projectingfrom the deck, the cards are placedinto your left hand. The right handcomes over to push the face up cardflush into the deck. The right handpushes the card in at a slight angle sothat about an eighth of an inch pro-

jects out of the deck on the right sideat the lower right corner.

5. Leaving the face up card angled, thebottom card, the selection, is nowbrought into the Mario Palm Position inthe right hand.

6. The right hand with its palmed cardmoves to the right until the palmedcard's outer le f t corner comes directlybelow the face up side-jogged card asshown in Figure 98 which is anexposed view of the action.

Figure 98

7. As the cards come into position inFigure 98 the left second and third fin-

gertips press upwards on the face of the palmed card, at its upper left cor-ner. The back of this card will in turnpress upwards on the face up side-

jogged card. This opens a space in thedeck into which the palmed card ismoved as in Figure 99, a back end viewof the action.

Figure 99

8. The action in Figure 99 is continueduntil the right hand has practicallypushed in the whole width of the card.The left fingers may aid slightly in the

final stage to insure the card beingbrought flush with the deck.

9. After Step 8, the card will be flushbut still projecting at the back end of the deck. The right thumb now movesto the back of this card as shown inFigure 100 in order to push it flushwith the ends of the deck. At the sametime the pack is immediately broughtinto a two handed Square Up Position.



119

NOTES

10. Having apparently merely squaredthe deck, the cards are handed to thespectator who is asked to thumbthrough the cards and remove his face

up card plus the face down card belowi t .

Figure 100

11. Having removed the cards, thespectator names his selection whichturns out to be the face down card inhishands.

Concluding Observations

Note 1:

Using the Technical Side Steal it is pos-sible to have two cards peeked at in dif-ferent portions of the pack maintainingthe breaks with the left fourth fingerand left third finger respectively.

The card at the break held by left thirdfinger is stolen into the right hand first,using the mechanics of the TechnicalSide Steal. Then the card at the fourth

finger break is also stolen into the righthand using the same mechanics.

To further clarify the procedure youwould keep the deck in your left handin almost standard dealing position.Now, the left third finger would angleout the card at its break. The righthand would, of course, move the cardto the right, then come back, as per theTechnical Side Steal, to get it into the

palm. Using the technique of theTechnical Side Steal naturally enablesyou to retain the left fourth fingerbreak on the other card during the

stealing of the first card.Once the first card is in the palm theprocess is repeated to get the secondcard into the right palm, i.e., left fourthfinger angles its cards, the right movesit out, then gets it into the palm belowthe card already there. Thus two cardsfrom different parts of the pack havebeen stolen into the right hand.

Note 2:

The Deliberate Side Steal can enableone to get two cards to the top, fromdifferent parts of the deck, in the mereaction of squaring the deck.

Suppose you have the necessarybreaks on the two peeked cards withthe left third and fourth fingers. Theleft third finger enters its break, thenangles its card after which the leftfourth finger enters its break andangles its card out. Thus the righthand can now bring out two cardssimultaneously using the technique of the Deliberate Side Steal, just as if onlyone card were being moved to the top.

Note 3:

The Bold Steal can likewise be accom-plished using the angling of the twocards as already explained, then doingthe Bold Steal with two cards as need-ed.

Note 4:

A combination use of the TechnicalSide Steal and Left Hand Side Steal willenable one to steal two cards—one ineach hand.

Assuming you have the breaks with theleft third and fourth fingers, in thiscase the pack should remain in theposition required for the Left HandSteal.



120

THE SIDE STEAL

Also the card at the left fourth fingerbreak should have been allowed to fallbelow the break before having anothercard peeked at and a break maintained

by the left third finger.The card at the left third finger break isangled out and stolen into the rightpalm via the Technical Side Steal. Thisis done without moving the deck fromthe position required for the Left HandSteal. With the card in your right palm,you execute the necessary mechanicsfor the Left Hand Steal. The right handthen places the deck on the table.

Both hands now have one card each

which may be re-produced from yourleft and right pockets.

Note 5:

In using the Mario Palm Position, orany Rear Palm, do not make the mis-take of unduly spreading the fingerslike a Star Fish. In fact, no attempt atall should be made to keep the fingersseparated but rather use that type of palm to give the fingers a relaxed look.

In other words forget about spreadingthem apart and forget about keepingthem close together. Just relax and if your fingers have spaces thru whichyour spectator can see, all right, but if they haven't don't make any attempt tocreate them.

Note 6:

In the Clip Steal Cover Up it is possibleto hold onto the top card, or cards, asin the Between The Aces effect , while

dropping the deck onto the table from areasonable height.

Note 7:

Performing the Clip Steal from the cen-ter, the cards may be dribbled onto theleft hand instead of the table as inFigure 96. With the cards in a scat-tered heap, free of the right hand, theselected, clipped, card remains in the

center. The right hand with its c l i p p e dcard has to move only slightly to theright to clear the deck with the s e l e c -tion. The selection is then replaced to

the top of the deck as both hands gointo a Square Up of the pack.

Note 8:

For the record we will call this idea

The Dribble Replacement.

In other words, with a card palmed inthe right hand, either the standard orrear palm, the card can be e a s i l yreplaced to the top as the right h a n ddribbles the cards onto the lef t h a n d ,

In other words, the palmed card isactually released as apparently part of or the last card of the dribbling a c t i o n ,This means both hands can now r e -

square the pack very cleanly.

Note 9:

The Side Steal can be used as a p p a r -ently a method of control especially inthose Side Steals wherein the s e l ec t edcard is brought to the bottom while somuch of the top of the deck is in v i e w ,If you have done your Side Steal w e l lthe spectators imagine the card is s t i l lin the center of the deck.

This impression is st rengthened bydribbling the cards onto the table, t h e nsquaring the cards up very fairly andletting them rest on the table while youturn attention to some other point.

Af te r awhile you can pick up the p a c kand shuffle the selection to whatever

position you desire. The whole idea isto convey that the selected c a r dremains in the center and that a p p a r -ently you have no control over it.

Later, the shuffling may lead them tosuspect that you are now controllingthe card. However, they will w o n d e rhow this is possible under the c o n d i -tions you have led them to b e l i e v eexist, i.e. that the selection is s o m e -



121

NOTES

w h e r e in the deck apparently out of any possible control.

T h o s e who do the Pass, then fol low itimmediately with a shuffle are notentirely wrong in the concept but theirt i m i n g is way off. To show what wemean, suppose a magician does thePass but he does it so well you haven'tany idea he has done the move; there-f o r e , in your mind the card is stillsomewhere in the center of the pack .

Now if he dribbles the cards onto thet a b l e , the idea of a break is now dis-p e l l e d , a squaring action further dis-p e l s jogs of any kind, then add to this

t h a t you scrutinize the pack closely forcrimps but find none. You are nowwonder ing i f perhaps the card isdaubed or marked off by a key card butthis is further dispelled when the magi-cian later picks up the deck and shuf-fles it very casually without so much asl o o k i n g at it. Yet later it is revealed say,at a chosen number.

Having missed spotting the initial Passyou will be worrying as to just what

t y p e of control that magician is using.In this way you 11 be led fa r a f ie ld of ther ea l answer. This then is the approachyou can use at times with the laymen.Remember not to use the shuffleapproach in those effects whose realstrength lies in the fact that the card ismeant to remain in the center of thed e c k at all times as in the case of theAmbitious Card.

H e r e are some more important Notes:

Regardless of which type of Side Stealyou are doing, there must be an excusefor the right hand to come over thedeck. This excuse is for the left hand toseemingly square the sides of the deck.Broken down into proper Steps:

1. The break is obtained on the peekedcard.

2. The right hand comes over the deckf r o m above to grasp it by the ends.

3. At the same time the left hand exe-cutes the action of getting the peekedcard into the proper position for thesteal to come.

4. Once the peeked card is positioned,the right hand grasps the deck as theleft hand moves into a Square UpPosition from below. The sides of thedeck are apparently squared up.

5. The right forefinger can also becurled on top of the deck during thesquaring of the sides of the deck.

6. The deck is lowered into proper posi-tion into the left hand.

7. The right forefinger either remainscurled or straightens out, depending onthe type and angle of Steal during theapparent squaring of the ends of thedeck by the right hand.

8. The card comes clear of the deckduring the squaring of the ends and isreloaded either to top or bottom of thedeck or palmed out entirely dependingon the situation or effect.

9. If the card is loaded to either top orbo ttom , the deck is brought up into aTwo Hand Square Up Position which, of course, also aids in the subsequentreloading.

10. If the card is to be stolen out com-pletely it is advisable to do the TwoHand Square Up just before movingaway with the palmed card. In otherwords, the palmed card should becleared of the deck first, then the TwoHand Square Up is made with the deckeventually taken by the right handwhich places it on the table or, undercertain conditions, returns it to the lefthand.

In doing Side Steals, it is essential thatthe finger-nails be clipped. The tips of the fingers should extend beyond thenails. If the nails are too long itbecomes difficult to angle out a cardinto the proper position for palming.



Chapter Five

The Tabled Palm

One Hand Table Palm Tabled R i f f l e Palm Flat Palm Steal Angle Palm Steal Adjustment Misdirection Table Rif f le Angle Palm Longtidunal Angle Palm Ribbon Spread PalmTraveling Double Ten and Ten Tabled Stop Effect Out of Your Hands As A ControlCard To Top Sell Or Delusion Face Up Elimination Rise-Rise-Rise First and Second

Me thod Angle Palm Transfer Tip Up Angle Palm Full Buckle Palm Center Block Palm Direct Rear Palm Direct Full Palm The Card Transfer The Lost Card

T h i s chapter deals primarily with thet y p e of palming that is done while thep a c k is on the table in one way ora n o t h e r . It may be that the cards ares h u f f l e d on the table, spread on thet a b l e or merely resting in a squared upposition.

It may be that the card cheat will again

c l a im priority to this idea of palmingcards while the pack is resting on thet a b l e but the first record of any suchp a l m is to be found in Eddie Joseph'sGrea t e r Card Tricks. It is this sourcew h i c h first started us on the road of devising other methods; however, ourfirst method was in some respects sim-i l a r to the original Joseph methodexcept for a change in technique. It isdescribed under One Hand Table Palmand the student is free to compare the

two techniques if he so desires.Our second method followed the ActionTheory as applied to the Tabled Palmand this thinking will be evident in theT a b l e R i f f l e Palm as well as its flexibili-ty in cases where it is required to palma d e f i n i t e number of cards in either thel e f t or right hand.

The latest form of Table Palm will be

found in such as the Angle Palm whichwas innocently inspired while lookingat Figure 15 of Chapter One of this vol-ume, Miracle Changes and musing thatwith the picture by itself you couldn'ttell whether a card was being replacedor palmed off. This started not only atrain of thought but experimentationwhich not only proved successful but

resulted in effects such as Rise-Rise-Rise and Out of Your Hands, a problemoriginally posed in Trick Talk, thehouse organ of the Ireland Magic Co.and here explained in detail with itsvariants. The remainder of the chapterdeals with additional palms which,while not of the tabled variety will befound most effective when used for thepurpose intended.

The last item in the book, The Card

Transfer, we found hard to classifystrictly as a Table Palm because it is somuch more than just another methodof stealing a card as the cardician willdiscover on reading and trying themove and its various applications.

Having thus whetted your appetite, weinvite you to read and study this chap-ter on The Tabled Palm.



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TABLED PALM

One Hand Table Palm

Object: To palm off the top card whilethe deck is squared and on the table.

1. Here the deck is resting on the tableface down to either the performer's leftor right depending on which hand is tobe used for the palm off.

2. Assuming the performer wishes topalm off the top card with right handthe pack should be in direct line withright hand with the end of the pack facing performer.

3. The right hand advances forwards,the right fingers extended forward and

the right thumb extended to the left asin Figure 1 which shows the right hand just above the deck. The view is fromthe left side.

Figure 1

4. The tip of the right fourth finger nowtouches the upper right corner of thetop card. Immediately the right handmoves to the right causing the top cardto move off the deck sideways, then tipup against the right hand as shown inFigure 2, an exposed left side view.

5. Once the card is felt firmly againstthe palm, aided by the side of the d e c k ,

the right forefinger curls in on top of the deck. The right thumb grasps the

back end of the deck in normal p o s i -tion while the right fingers grasp thefront end as in Figure 3, which again isan exposed left side view.

Figure 2

6. The right hand can now cut the topportion of the deck and carry it to theright, drop it, then come back for theremainder. This is picked up andplaced on top of the first half. The r i g h thand then moves away with its p a l m e dcard.

7. If it is not necessary to cut the d e c k ,

the pack is merely moved forward, t h e nthe right hand moves away with itscard. The whole object is to get anexcuse to come near the pack for s o m ereason or another.

8. A light touch is required so as not todisturb the other top cards of the p a c kduring the action.

9. The palm is completely covered f r o mthe right side when using the r i g h thand. The opposite is true, of c o u r s e ,when using the left hand.

10. The pack may be positioned s o i llies lengthwise in front of the per-former, who has his arms more or lessfolded above table. By unfolding onehand and moving it across the d e c k ,the moves of Steps 4 and 5, Figures 2and 3, may be executed. The r i g h thand, still parallel to the deck, with f i n -



125

TABLED RIFFLE PALM

g e r s pointing to the left, only moves thep a c k slightly forward, after which theright hand returns with a palmed cardto its former folded position.

10. Experimentation with the pack atd i f f e r e n t angles or positions will aid g r e a t l y in ascertaining the best proce-

dure for each individual,

Tabled Riffle Palm

T h i s type of Table Palm was first shownto Russell Earnhardt in 1946 and itssole object was to palm off a card, orcards, into either hand while merelysquaring the pack after a riffle shuffle.J t is thoroughly practical and withpractice can be undetectable.

1. The card or cards to be palmed areon top of the deck.

2. The deck is lying on the table faced o w n with its short end towards opera-t o r .

3. The top half of the deck is cut toe i t h e r the left or right depending onw h i c h hand is to do the palming.

4. Assuming the right hand is to do thepalming, the top half is cut to the righto f the lower half.

5. The cards are now riffled into eacho t h e r at the inner corners only.

6. The right hand holds back thedesired number of cards, to be laterpalmed.

Figure 4

Figure 4 shows the shuffle completedexcept for the right hand holding back its card or cards which will now fall ontop of all.

7. Both hands now shove each half intothe other for about half their width asin Figure 5 which is a top view of theaction.

Figure 5

8. Both hands now change position sothat the palms of both hands are nowat each side of the deck. The tips of thefourth finger of each hand should be atthe upper outside corners of the cardsas they are about to be pushed in byboth palms as in Figure 6.

Figure 6

9. As the action is about to be started,the left thumb presses down on theback of its cards while the side of theright hand presses on the right side of its half. This causes the top cards of the right portion, above the left sideportion, to tilt upwards against theright palm.



126

TABLED PALM

10. As the cards tilt up against rightpalm, the left thumb moves in underthem, and presses these cards furtherinto the right palm as in Figure 7, an

exposed left side view.

Figure 7 10. Actually the action depicted inFigure 7 takes place under cover of both hands, as in Figure 8. The handsmerely seem to push the cards together

just as if doing the V type shuffle.

Figure 8

12. Once the cards are firmly in the

palm, both hands move away from thedeck, the fingers of each hand square-ing the sides of the deck to completethe action of the shuffle.

The right hand cuts off the top half of the deck, (the right forefinger should becurled on top of the deck during thecut) and places it forward slightly, thenpicks up the lower half and places it ontop of the other half to complete the cut.

The right hand then moves away w i t hits palmed cards.

As has been previously pointed out,any number of cards can be palmed

off, by either hand, merely by h o l d i n gback the required number of cards atthe back end of the deck, using e i t h e rthe left or right thumb. These are t h e nallowed to fall last in the shuffle.

Flat Palm Steal

This is a type of palm that enables oneto steal a card off the top of the p a c kwhile the deck is on the table. Variouseffects are possible, some of a v e r ystartling nature.

1. The deck is on the table in front of the performer with a short end f a c i n gthe body.

2. The right hand is rested, momentari-ly, palm up alongside of deck as inFigure 9.

Figure 9

3. The right hand turns so that it d e l i b -erately comes over the deck as inFigure 10. Note that the upper cornersof the deck are at base of the f o u r t hfinger and first joint of the thumb.

4. The top card of the deck is nowcaught, at the upper corners, betweenthe base of the right fourth finger andtip of the thumb as these parts con-tract slightly to nip the card.

5. Immediately the right hand raises



127

ANGLE PALM STEAL

upwards, slightly, then moves to theT i g h t .

6. During the steal there should be nomovement of any other of the top

cards. The right hand seems to merelypass over the deck and away in lessthan a second.

Figure 10

. The hand having stolen the cardmaintains either an extended flat posi-

f t i o n on the table to the right of the' d e c k or the four fingers can bendinwards so that the hand has theappearance of being closed. In eitherc a s e , regardless of which position thehand assumes, the opposite hand mustassume an identical appearance on theother side of the pack. In other words,

;b o t h hands must either be placedpalms down fiat or both must have thefingers curled into the palms.

18 . In nipping the top card for the FlatPalm Steal some may find it more expe-dient to catch or nip the card betweenthe tip of the thumb and second jointo f the fourth finger, which is the posi-t ion shown in Figure 11.

9. In using the previous instructions of Steps 1 through 6, the Flat Palmedcard will end up further back in thehand, nipped between the tip of rightt humb and near the base of the fourthf i n g e r .

The handling and position of the card,of course, will depend a lot on the useit is put to and the effect to beobtained.

Figure 11

Angle Palm Steal

1. Deck is in the same position of Figure 9 in front of the performerexcept the right hand is not near thedeck at this time.

2. The right hand comes over to touchthe deck as in Figure 12. Note that theright thumb is at the center on the leftside of the card and the base of thehand is alongside the whole length of

the deck.

Figure 12

3. The position of Figure 12 is onlymomentary as the right thumb movesin to clip the card against the base of the palm, the hand then coming awayfrom the deck. The card is held in arear palm more or less, although thegrip is such that the right long side of



128

TABLED PALM

the card lies along that part of thepalm in line with the right fourth fin-ger. The first joint of the right thumbmaintains pressure on the center of the

card's left side, thus keeping thepalmed card in position.

4. Naturally an excuse of some kindmust be made for the hand to comenear enough to the deck to steal thec a r d . I n most cases the hands comingover to square the sides of the pack asin Figure 13 is reason enough.

Figure 13

5. After the squaring motion of Figure13, both hands seem to move awayfrom the deck; however, the left handmoves away first in order that the rightthumb can come down across the topof the deck to Angle Steal the top cardas in Figure 14.

Figure 14

6. To Angle Palm several cards from atabled deck it is only necessary tobridge all the cards below those that

are to be stolen. These lower cards arebridged lengthwise as in Figure 15while the cards to be palmed remainstraight and flat on top.

Figure 15

7. The Angle Palmed cards can lie any-where from the tips of the fingers tofurther back within the hand as shownin Figures 16 and 17.

Figure 16

Figure 17

8. Using the idea of bridging the cardsas per Step 6, the top card of a smallpacket of cards can be stolen whilethey are lying on the table. However, byholding the packet, with the left thumband forefinger at the extreme ends asin Figure 18, the steal is not only madeeasier but can be made even while thepacket is held off the table.



129

ADJUSTMENT MISDIRECTION

9, Obviously this leaves the whole lefts ide open for the right thumb to movein and clip the card against the rightp a l m with about an inch of the upperright side of the card coming betweenthe right fourth and third fingers.

Figure 18

10. If the above position in Step 9 isobtained, it will be found that by mov-ing the right thumb in against the rightf o r e f i n g e r , the card will become FlatP a l m e d in a position similar to Figure11 of The Flat Palm Steal.

10. Another advantage to using the Left

H a n d Grip of Figure 18 is that theA n g l e Palm Steal can be done with as m a l l packet of cards such as four orf i v e . The obvious application herewould seem to be in a four Ace effect of s o m e sort, or a transposition. In thisc a s e the right hand makes an excuseto touch the packet held in the lefth a n d and then travels over to a tabledp a c k e t .

U s i n g the Angle Palm, the top card can

be stolen immediately after the righth a n d places the pack on the table. Ino t h e r words, the deck is held normallyf r o m above by the ends with the rightforefinger curled on top. Now the righth a n d places, or slaps the deck on thet a b l e and at the same t i m e , using theright forefinger as a sort of pivot point,the right thumb swings into position sothe top card, or cards, can be stolen.

The whole action appears as if youmerely set the deck on the table - that'sall. This technique with a little adjust-ment can also be used in the Flat PalmSteal.

Remember that in most cases the AnglePalmed card can be swung into the FlatPalm position from which it can besleeved or merely held, almost as if fin-ger-palming a coin.

It should be obvious that a reversal of this procedure on the Angle Palm willact as a replacement. For example,with a card Angle Palmed both handssquare up the deck as in Figure 13.During this it is the easiest thing in theworld to release the palmed card to thetop.

Adjustment Misdirection

In this case the top card can be AnglePalmed as follows: Toss a card facedown in front of the deck. Now theright hand reaches across deck to moreor less adjust the position of the facedown card. In the meantime, the righthand is in position to Angle Palm the

top card. This action is similar to thatshown in Miracle Card Changes,Figure 15. Here the same action usedto unload a card is used to steal a card.

Observations may be in order here onthe Angle Palm Steal. Several mentionshave been made of moving the rightthumb against right forefinger in orderto Flat Palm the card. This is only pos-sible if the upper right corner of theAngle Palmed card starts from the third

joint of right fourth finger. That is, thecard is more forward to the fingers asin Figure 19 which shows a left sideview.

Some will find it easier to not only dothe Steal but also to get into a FlatPalm Position by doing the Angle PalmSteal using the ball of the right thumb,as in Figure 20.



130

TABLED PALM

Figure 19

This is done as if Flat Palm Stealing thecard but actually retaining it in AnglePalm Position. Because the ball of theright thumb is already on the left sideof the card, it is a simple matter to

move the right thumb against the rightforefinger and end with the card FlatPalmed as in Figure 11 of the Flat PalmSteal.

Figure 20

Stealing with the ball of the rightthumb is also easier when stealingcards from the left hand as per Figure18. Using the ball of the right thumbduring an Angle Steal is also easier inthe effect Ten and Ten.

It again must be pointed out that whenstealing or holding a card against thebase of the palm with the ball of theright thumb at its center, the length of the card will extend from the first jointof the right fourth finger and into thehands towards the wrist along that lineformed by the fourth finger. It alsomust be remembered that in thesecases the right fingers remain close

together and not open as when thecard is further back as, say, in aneffect like Rise-Rise-Rise.

Table Riffle Angle Palm

It is possible to Angle Palm a numberof cards through the use of the T a b l eRiffle previously explained in connec-tion with a full palm.

1. The pack is end-riffled as in theTable Riffle Palm. At the same time therequired cards are held back as perFigure 4.

2. The halves are then telescoped in toeach other as in Figure 5.

3. At this point there is a t e chn i ca lchange. Both hands approach the p a c kin a manner exactly as for squaring thepack when about to do the Angle P a lmexcept that the left thumb does notpress on the cards but instead is a b o v ethe right thumb as in Figure 21.

Figure 21

4. The base of the left hand, of course ,

presses downwards on the left side of its cards while the base of the righthand presses down on the right side of|its portion.

This causes the top cards to tilt off thedeck enough so that the right t h u m bcan clip them against the base of thepalm in Angle Palm Position as i nFigure 22.



131

LONGITUDINAL ANGLE PALM

5. Both palms can now push theremaining cards further into eacho t h e r .

Figure 22

6. The hands move away from the deck and finish by squaring the sides of the

d e c k . The right hand has the cardsA n g l e Palmed to be used as required.

p. Obviously, the Table Riffle AngleP a l m can be done with either hand.

Longitudinal Angle Palm

T h o s e with short thumbs may find thism e t h o d quite d i f f i c u l t but it is practi-cal. Again it makes use of either a pack at rest or one that is being shuffled.The following is a description of its use

d u r i n g a table riffle shuffle.[1. In this case the pack is lengthwise infront of the performer with the desiredc a r d s o n t o p .

2. Split the pack for the conventionalT a b l e R i f f l e Shuffle taking the top half to the right.

3. R i f f l e shuffle letting the cards to bep a l m e d off fall last.

4 . Telescope the halves into each other

for about two thirds their full length. Att h i s stage, the base of both palms arep l a c e d on each end of deck as if top u s h the cards flush.

5. The base of both palms push down-w a r d s on their respective ends of thedeck thus causing top cards to moveupwards off the pack. At the same timethe right thumb stretches to engage the

opposite end of these cards as inFigure 23 which shows an exposedfront view.

6. The angled cards will be clipped by

the first joint of the right thumb at itsleft end while the right end will bepressing against the right palm startingat the base of the fourth and third fin-gers and extending along this basetowards the right wrist.

Figure 23

7. Right hand now moves away fromthe pack to rest near the performerwhile the left hand moves the deck tothe center of the table.

8. Because of the greater length of thecards in the palm, the angle or tilt of the hand doing the palming should bewatched. Keeping the hand close to thetable will aid greatly in concealing thecard yet give the hand that emptyappearance with either the LongtidunalAngle Palm or other type.

Ribbon Spread Palm

This palm is ideal while either sitting or

standing at a table. In e f f e c t , all you dois ribbon spread the deck yet you canindetectably steal a card into a palmposition.

1. Ribbon spread the deck face downonto the table. Both hands now seemto adjust the cards, supposedly eitherwidening or spreading them as inFigure 24.



132

TABLED PALM

Figure 24

2. The left hand continues to adjust thecards while the right hand sneaks overto the far right end of the spread wherethe right little finger comes directly

over onto the upper right corner of theuppermost card as in Figure 25,

Figure 25

3. Once the right hand feels the card isin the right position, the right handmerely slides away f r o m t the spreadtaking the top card with it as in Figure26.

Figure 26

The pressure at this point is mostlywith the little finger so as not to dragany other cards with it. Of course, theleft hand also moves away.

4. It must be remembered that theright hand is not lifted during the stealbut actually slides away from thespread and into the position shown inFigure 26 with the fingertips of b o t hhands resting lightly on the t a b l e ' sedge.

5. Once the card has been stolen youare in position to use it in any waydesired.

Traveling Double

Effect: The spectator selects a cardfrom one-half the deck while the cardi-cian selects one from the opposite h a l f ,Both cards are buried into the center of one half of the deck which in turn iscovered by the remaining half. The twocards are now caused to travel to thetop of the deck.

The above effect also uses a form of Tabled Lift that we have used since1942 in connection with a DeuceTransposition effect from Amazing, I sn ' t It? with A l Leech being one of our initialspectators.

1. Before proceeding, give the pack aconcave bend lengthwise while it is f a c edown.

2. Turn the pack face up for an over-hand shuffle and run off two cardsrather sharply in order to remove thebend in these two cards, then lightly

shuffle off the rest of the cards ontothese two. Next, crimp the bottom cardat its inner left corner.

3. If the pack is now placed face down,the top two cards will be separatedfrom the rest of the deck; however, thefront end of the deck is more or lessstraightened out. The left thumb andsecond finger hold onto the upper cor-ners of the pack while the left forefinger



133

TRAVELING DOUBLE

straightens the front end of the deck byalternately pressing downwards on top,t h e n moving underneath and pressingupwards. This double action straight-ens the cards at the front end only, buts t i l l leaves the cards separated at theb a c k end as in Figure 27.

Figure 27

4. Having placed the deck face down,t e l l a spectator to cut the pack in half.

5. Point to the top card of the lowerh a l f as you say, "I haven't any idea asto what card you could have cut to.W i l l you please look at it?"

6. Spectator does as requested, thenreplaces the card on top of his packet.H e r e you openly cut his packet in half

to bury his card. Actually the specta-tor's selection is marked off by thecrimped card above it.

7. After cutting his card into the cen-ter, be sure to side-square the pack ina manner similar to Figure 13 in orderto accustom the spectator to theaction.

8. Address the spectator, "I don't knowthe name of your card but I will showyou mine." Here the right fingers reach

o v e r to the top half of the deck toapparently pick off the top card, fromabove by the ends, actually picking uptwo between the right thumb and rightsecond finger with the forefinger curledon top. Due to the previous bend in thecards this will be found fairly easy if al i g h t touch is used.

9. The right hand turns palm upwardsto expose the face of the card(s) as you

say, "Will you remember my card,\.\\e ?"" ~ V \ e r e naming " O n eshown card.

10. The right hand turns palm down-

wards as if to replace the card back onto the top of packet, the right thumband second finger release the lowercard just shown. By slightly extendingthe thumb and second finger thisrelease is easy and the lower card willfall flush onto the packet unnoticed.

11. Immediately the right hand, stillseemingly holding onto its originallyshown card, moves to the other packetand places the card on top as you say,

"111 just put my card in with yours."12. Having placed the card on top, thedeck is now cut to bury it but the cut ismade at the crimp which now bringsthe spectator's card back to the top.

13. Having completed the cut, bothhands side-square the packet as perFigure 13 but this time the right handAngle Palms the top card. (See Figures12, 13, and 14)

14. The right hand travels to the rightto scoop up the top half of the deck atthe same time adding the palmed cardto the top as in Figure 28.

Figure 28

15. The right hand scoops up the pack-et and drops it, from a height of aboutsix inches for effectiveness, onto theother half as you say, "Well just place



134

TABLED PALM

all these cards onto the others."

16. "Here's where we travel d o u b l e , "you patter as you mystically wave yourhands over the deck.

17. Have the spectator name his cardand then also recall yours. Slowly turnboth cards to show them on top of thedeck.

18. The Flat Palm Steal can be used incase the conditions do not permit anAngle Palm. Again the opening sidesquaring action is all the excuse need-ed for either type of steal.

19. Some may prefer to do a double

turnover at Step 17 to show the per-former's card which is then turneddown and dealt off to one side. Laterthe same card is shown back on top of deck. Naturally the card on the tablenow turns out to be the spectator'sselection.

Ten and Ten

Effect: A previously selected card van-ishes from a packet of ten cards leavingnine. The card is found in a second

packet of ten to make eleven.1. Have a card selected and control itto the top of the pack.

2. Thumb off the top ten cards, revers-ing their o r d e r , then place these facedown on the left side of the table. Theselection is now the bottom card of theten.

3. Thumb off another ten cards andplace these face down to your right.

4. During the thumbing off of the cardsyou call no special attention to thenumber used but now you say, "I havedealt off two packets of ten cardseach."

5. Pick up the packet on the left andturn it face up into the left hand. Thiswill expose the selected card but youmake no mention of this yet, at the

same time you casually make sure thespectator notices it is his selection.

6. Still holding the packet face up g i v ethe cards an upward crimp lengthwise,

Now deal off the face card onto t a b l eface up.

7. Immediately that the face card isdealt to the table, the left fingers b e n dthe remaining nine cards inwards forthe ir length. This double crimpingaction will later cause the selection tobe crimped away from the rest of thecards.

8. Continue dealing the remainingcards face up onto the others as you

count audibly up to ten.9. The face up packet is scooped up,turned face down Then both handsSide Square the packet while the topcard is either Angle Palmed or F l a tPalmed into the right hand.

10. The right hand travels to the rightto scoop up the ten card packet on t h a tside at the same time adding the s t o l e ncard to the top of this packet.

11. The packet is turned face up in theleft hand. The cards are counted asten, face up onto the table, by h o l d i n gthe last two cards, then dealing t h e mas one onto the face of the packet. Thepacket is then turned face down.

12. As an a f t e r - t h o u g h t , you ask if bychance the selection was among thecards shown. When it is pointed outthat such is the case ask in w h i c hpacket it is. Naturally, the packet on

the left will be indicated.13. Pick up the cards on the left andholding them in the right hand at thelower right c o r n e r , shake the packetabove the tabled cards as if to shakeout the selection.

14. Count the cards, face down, toshow that only nine cards r e m a i n ,Place these back on the left.



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TABLED STOP EFFECT

15. Pick up the packet on the right andc o u n t as eleven by dropping each cardf a c e down onto the table, one onto theo t h e r . Finally using the last card tos c o o p up the packet into your hands.

16. After the count in Step 15 thes e l e c t i o n will be the top card of thep a c k e t . Ask for selection to be named,t h e n reveal it by turning the card faceu p .

U s i n g the same mechanics, it is possi-ble to have three cards travel from onep a c k e t of ten to the other. In this casethe sides of the top three cards mustbe bridged away from the rest of the

p a c k e t .Tabled Stop Effect

E f f e c t : With the deck face down on thet a b l e the performer openly removes acard at a time from the top of the deck u n t i l told to "Stop". The card stoppeda t is the selection.

1. Control a selection to the top of thed e c k . For methods of controlling cardsin various ways, see Chapter 3;Fingertip Control and Chapter 4; TheS i d e Steal.

2. Side Square the pack while at thes a m e time stealing the card into theA n g l e Palm.

3. The right hand can now remove aca r d at a time, from above by the endsoff the top of the deck as in Figure 29without fear of losing the Angle Palmedc a r d .

4. Place the cards, taken from the top

f a c e down to the right of the deck.Continue doing this until told to stop.

5. At this point the Angle Palmed cardcan be reloaded onto the deck or ontothe tabled cards that were taken off thep a c k . In either case the selection iss h o w n as the card the spectatorstopped at.

Figure 29

Out of Your Hands

Effect: The deck is placed face up onto

the table. The right hand is waved overthe deck and the face card changes.The right hand is empty before andafter the change.

As the above is much more effectivewith a selected card it will be describedthat way.

1. Have a card selected and on itsreturn, control it to second from thebottom.

2. Show the top card and ask if it is theselection. Turn the deck face up andshow the bottom card. Next do aDouble Lift, moving off two cards asone, in order to expose the next, orsupposedly second card. The showingof this second card is important to thefinish of the effe ct.

3. Place the deck face up on the tableand ask for the name of selected card.When it is given, you say, "Watch".

4. Show the right hand palm up andnext to deck as per Figure 9 in readi-ness for the Flat Palm Steal.

5. Turn the hand down as per Figure10 doing the Flat Palm Steal but imme-diately wave the right hand back andforth a few inches above the pack keep-ing the right hand flat during the wav-ing action.



136

TABLED PALM

6. Assuming the cardician is standingwhen doing the e f f e c t , drop the righthand to the side, while the left hand

reaches for the new face card of thedeck.

7. As left hand takes the card off theface of the deck, the right hand is busysleeving its card. See Chapter 1;Miracle Changes for descriptions of Sleeving Technique.

8. Having sleeved the card, the righthand moves up to meet the left hand,which also has traveled upwards fromthe deck, holding its single card.

9. The right forefinger snaps the cardheld by the left hand. The right handtakes the card and tosses it face uponto the table.

10. Pick up the deck, which now hasthe card that was supposedly underthe original face card as the bottomcard, with left hand and transfer it tothe right hand.

11. The right hand now holds the deck

in Straddle Position and retrieves thesleeved card as explained in Chapter 1.

12. In case the performer is seated dur-ing the effect needless to say, the righthand after the Flat Palm Steal isbrought to the edge of the table and thecard secretly released to fall in the lap.

We may add that the identical mechan-ics or proceedure used for the effectRise-Rise-Rise can be used to accom-plish Out of Your Hands. Again youcan side-square the face up deck as inFigure 13, then doing the Angle PalmSteal immediately start to wave theright hand over the deck. Needless tosay, that lapping the card in this caseis the easiest proceedure.

As A Control

Object: To apparently cut the top notedcard into the center of the deck yetretain it on top under control.

The whole approach to the above m u s tbe as if it is going to be a Take A C a r d 'effect with the selection being m a d e

under fair conditions.1. Hand the pack to the spectator s a y -ing, "Please shuffle the cards."

2. Having shuffled the deck instructthe spectator to place the pack f a c edown on the table. Ask him if it w o u l dbe possible for you to know the topcard after his shuffle. If so, he is f r e e tocut the cards.

3. Eventually tell the spectator to n o t e

the top card while you turn your b a c k ,The noted card remains on top of thedeck.

4. As you turn around you approachthe pack and Side Square it and A n g l ePalm the top card.

5. Immediately both hands move b ackto further square the cards but t h i stime with the fingertips as in Figure 30,

Figure 30

6. The right hand now cuts off half thepack as in Figure 31 and carries t h i shalf to the right where it is dropped;however, the Angle Palmed card isretained in right hand.

7. As the right hand moves b a c ktowards the left, the right first and s e c -ond fingers move in to clip the upperleft corner of the Angle Palmed card as



137

AS A CONTROL

in Figure 32 which also shows the righth a n d just approaching the tabled half on the left .

Figure 31

Figure 32

8. The right hand travels down towardsthe pack, still clipping the corner of thec a r d , until the Angle Palmed card isactually held against the pack as inF i g u r e 3 3 .

Figure 33

9. The right second finger moves outf rom under the card and takes its placealongside the other fingers while the

forefinger remains curled on top. Theright hand's position is now as shownin Figure 34 where it seems to be mere-ly picking up this half of the pack.

Figure 34

10. This portion of cards is droppedonto the other thus completing whatseems like a cut that has lost the topselected card. With the card under con-trol it can be used for any effect whichrequires a selected card on top.

The Angle Palmed card can, of course,be added to the deck as Figure 14except here the card is released, thenimmediately, the right hand moves intothe position shown in Figure 34.

Also remember that starting as inFigure 34, then pivoting on the rightforefinger into the Angle Palm Position,the top card can be stolen off as inFigure 14. In other words, using thesame actions in reverse will enable oneto add or steal a card or cards.

Card To Top

Effect: A selected card appears on topof the deck even though it was not

there a moment ago.1. Have a card selected and on itsreturn control it to a position secondfrom the top .

2. Place the deck face down on thetable, then with the right hand pick off the top card. Very obviously, show thatit is a single card and that it is not theselection.



138

TABLED PALM

3. Replace the single card face down ontop of deck, then Side-Square the pack and steal the top card either into a FlatPalm Position or into the Angle Palm.

(We might mention again that the Side-Squaring action can also be used justbefore doing a Flat Palm as well as anAngle Palm.)

4. Immediately the right hand movesaway from the pack and the stolen cardis either sleeved or lapped.

5. With the selection actually on top,the rest is buildup with mysteriouswaving of the hands over the pack afterwhich the selected card is named and

the spectator requested to take off thetop card and show it.

Sell Or Delusion

Effect: This is similar in plot to thePartagas Sell from Victor Ferrelli's Card Magic and to the popular D u n b u r yDelusion, in that the spectator is led tobelieve you have failed in a proposedeffect. The method to be described isstreamlined and the presentation angleis that you have a mathematical card

effect that is infallible.1. Have a card selected, noted andreturned to the deck then control it tothird from the top of the deck. The bestmethod is one which looks as if itwould be impossible for you to controla card or at least, give a plausible rea-son for a possible error.

2. Show the bottom card not to be theselection, also the top card as not the

selection. Leave the top card face up ontop of the deck.

3. State that you will find their cardthrough the use of mathematics.

4. Give the pack a One Hand ThrowCut (See The Cardician for One HandThrow Cut) which leaves the half withthe face up card still in your handwhile the lower portion is on the table.The selected card is now second from

the top in this tabled portion.

5. Turn the face up card face down ontop of the portion still in your hand.Place this half of the deck to the right

of the first tabled portion.6. Saying, "W e will find your card bymathematics," point to the tabled half on the left as you continue, "We w i l luse the top two cards and by eitheradding or subtracting we will find yourcard.

7. Let us assume, for the present, thatthe selected card is the Ten of Hearts,Reach over and turn up the top card.Suppose it is a four. Look at the cardand say, "This is a four", now turn upthe second card, the actual selection,place it face up under the four spotsaying, "And this is a ten."

8. At this point you either add the twocards or subtract one from the otherdepending on the values of the cardsthemselves. In other words, if addingthe cards would give you too high anumber, then you would subtract. If subtracting would give you a numbertoo low, then you add.9. With a value of four and ten youcould go either way but in this case,let's subtract. Continue, "To f i n d yourcard mathematically, I subtract. In thiscase, four from ten gives us six. Am 1right?"

10. By the time you say the last l i n eyou have turned both cards face down,onto the packet, with the selection

uppermost. As you say, "Am I right?"you look directly at spectator whileyour two hands Side Square the packetand steal the top card into the righthand Flat Palm or Angle Palm.

11. The right hand moves over to scoopup the packet on the right adding thepalmed card at the same time.

12. As the packet is scooped up andbeing placed into the left hand for deal-



139

FACE UP ELIMINATION

ing you are saying, "Now by counting tothe sixth card in this portion we shouldc o m e to your card."

13. Count off six cards, one at a time

o n t o each other reversing their order,in to the right hand. Hold the six cardsf a c e down in the right hand as you ask f o r the name of the selected card.

14. When the card is named, act sur-prised, "Are you sure, I thought I sawthat card just a moment ago," as youg l a n c e towards the tabled packet.

Someone is bound to say that they sawthat card in the other half. You say," W e l l , the (name of card) should be

o v e r here." With this the left handtakes the six cards, from the righthand, by their left side to hold them atthe fingertips away from the cards stillin the left hand. This leaves the righthand free to grasp the upper end of thep a c k e t to turn it over face up.

The now face up packet is restedagainst the right side of the deck beingh e l d in place by the left thumb as theface of the card is seen. Now with the

r i g h t hand, casually flip the whole sixcards face down onto the packet.

15. The spectators may or may notg r a b for the top card of the other half but in either case they will have beensurprised at the outcome of the effect;however, you may turn the top card of this packet in the event no one elsed o e s .

16. Steps 13 and 14 are a variation of handling for what is termed the V e n e r i

Turn in Victor Farelli's Card Magic. Inthis effect the reverse count is perfectlycamouflaged as they already think youh a v e failed. Taking the time stall, plusthe eventual surprise of actually seeingtheir card, it never enters their mind toeven check the count as Farelli sug-gested they might.

Face Up Elimination

Effect: A selected card appears as thelast card in a face up eliminationprocess although the selection obvious-

ly was not among these cards original-iy .1. Previously crimp the inner left cor-ner of the bottom card of the pack. Alsorun twelve cards, from top to bottom,in an overhand shuffle thus makingthe crimped card thirteenth from thebottom.

2. Have a card selected from among thecards above the crimp. Cut off smallpackets of cards from the top of the

deck and drop them onto the table asyou request the spectator to replace hiscard. When he does this, drop the bal-ance of the cards onto the selectionthus bringing the crimped card four-teen cards above the spectator's card.

3. Pick up the pack squaring it thencut at the crimped card to bring it tothe bottom of the deck. This leaves theselection as the thirteenth card fromthe top.

4. Deal the top twelve cards face upinto two vertical rows of six cards each.

5. The selection, after the above deal of twelve cards, is now on top of the deck.Obtain a break under it and DoubleUnder Cut this card to the bottombelow the crimped card.

6. Place the deck face down to the leftof the twelve face up cards. Also casu-ally Side Square the pack.

7. With both hands scoop up the tworows of six cards each. Turn the pack-ets face down. Say, "I want you to pointto anyone of these packets and thepacket you point to, we will eliminateand place into the deck. I tell you thisbeforehand, so you will not accuse melater of an equ ivoc e . "

8. The spectator having made his



140

TABLED PALM

choice, you pick up that packet, placeit on top of the deck, cut the pack tolose these cards, then again casuallySide Square the pack.

9. At this stage the selected card isactually in the center of the deck marked by a crimped card above it. Onthe table is a packet of six cards.

10. Pick up the six cards and dealthem face up into two vertical rows of three cards each. Scoop them up, turnthem face down to have spectatordecide which packet he wishes to elimi-nate.

11. The packet of the spectator's choice

is picked up, placed on top of the deck and deck cut at the crimped card. Thisloses the top three cards but bringsactual selection to top of deck.

12. Side Square the pack and eitherAngle Palm or Flat Palm the top cardinto the right hand. The right handimmediately moves to the tabled packetand in scooping it up the stolen card isadded.

13. The three cards, really four n o w ,are turned face up into left hand. Theright hand takes off the face card anddeals it to table face up. The secondcard is taken into the right hand butinstead of dealing it down, it is used toscoop up the card already on the table,then both are replaced into left hand.

14. The actions in Step 13 are designedto show the faces of the three cards.The patter, to cover these actions logi-cally, is as follows: "That leaves usthree cards, an uneven number. In thatcase, we will use just two cards." Asthis last line is reached, the cards havealready been scooped up. The packet isturned face down and the top twocards are dealt off, to the left and right,onto table. The remaining card in theleft hand, really two cards, is placed ontop of the deck and the pack cut asbefore.

15. The card to the left is the selectedcard. It remains for the cardician toarrange matters for this card to remainon the table. Should he point to thecard on the right it is eliminated; how-ever, if he points to the card on the l e f thave him keep his finger on it. Pick upthe other card, show its face, thenreplace it to the pack.

16. Having accomplished Step 15 suc-cessfully, ask the spectator to name hiscard. Don't be surprised if he looks s o r tof blank. As he actually has not seenhis card among those being dealt with,he will be inclined to think you're in fora failure. At any rate, the climax isreached when you have him turn o v e rthe last card on the table to show it ishis selection.

The above effect can also be accom-plished thru the use of a Side Steal if there isn't the opportunity for placingthe pack on the table. Any type of S i d eSteal can be used as it is the repeatedpicking up that eventually gives c o v e rfor the move when it is executed. (SeeChapter 4 for the Side Steal.)

Rise-Rise-Rise

Effect: A card placed face up into thecenter of the deck is caused to appearvisibly on top of the deck while thepack is resting on the table.

1. Openly remove the Ace of Spadesand place it face up on top of the deck.Now cut the pack to bring the Ace tothe center but hold a break above itwith the left fourth finger.

2. Here you must get the face up ASsecond from the top either by againcutting, after first releasing a card tocover the face up Ace, or by means of apass, such as Ellis Stanyon's Top CardCover Pass, or by the Cover Up Cut asin Future Reverse.

3. With the face up AS secretly secondf rom the top you do a Tr iple Lif t to



141

RISE - RISE - RISE

apparently show the top card alson a m i n g it to point up the fact that thetop card is, in this case, the Three of C l u b s . Turn the three cards, as one,f a c e down onto the deck.

4. Place the pack face down onto thet a b l e and state that you will cause theAS to rise to the top of the pack rightthrough the Three of Clubs.

Figure 35

5. Both hands are now brought along-side of the deck, as in Figure 35, then,w i g g l i n g the fingers, raise both handsabout a foot above the deck at thesame time saying, "Rise-Rise-Rise."

6. Bring both hands down again.R e p e a t the same action and incanta-tion of "Rise-Rise-Rise."

Figure 36

1. Bring both hands down again asb e f o r e ; however, this time look directlyat spectator and ask, "What card is inthe c en t e r . "

8. Still looking directly at the spectatorsteal the top card via the Angle Palm,then immediately raise both hands asyou repeat, "Rise-Rise-Rise." At thisstage, the condition is as in Figure 36with the top card Angle Palmed and theAce of Spades now face up on the pack.

9. Once the spectators realize the Aceof Spades is face up on top of the deck,the right hand, still with an AnglePalmed card, moves down to pick off the face up Ace from the deck by theends from above.

Figure 37

10. The right hand, with the Ace,moves to the right while the left handreaches for the new top card, which ispicked off the deck by the left fingersand thumb at the inner end to turn itface up. The whole action is shown atthis stage in Figure 37.

11. The action depicted at Figure 37 iscovered by the patter line, "The Ace of Spades right through the Three of Clubs."

12. The above patter line is finished bysaying, "As promised", during whichbrief moment the right hand hasdropped its face up Ace to one side,then moves over to pick up the deck asin Figure 38. Left fingers still holdingthe Three of Clubs.

13. The right hand now starts to scoopup the deck at the same time the left



142

TABLED PALM

Figure 38

hand places the Three of Clubs aside

as in Figure 39. The left hand shouldalready be in position to receive thepack.

14. The effect has been describedunder the assumption that the per-former is standing during the effect.However, the same sequence can beused even if seated.

Also, if seated, some may prefer tounload the card into the lap althoughthe reloading is so clean and easy itreally isn't necessary.

Figure 39

Rise-Rise-Rise

Second Method

The effect and the procedure is exactlythe same except that a Flat Palm S tea lis used in place of an Angle Palm.

1. Proceed exactly as per first methodfrom Step 1 through 4.

2. Having placed the pack face d o w n ,show the right hand empty and wave itover the pack as you say, "By m e r e l ywaving my hand over the deck I w i l lcause the AS to come to the topthrough the Three of C lu b s . "

3. Again wave the hand as you say,"Watch". Stop and Side Square thepack with both hands, then immediate-ly the right hand moves over the top of the deck to steal the top card into theFlat Palm. Do not hesitate a m o m e n tbut continue to wave the right h a n dover the pack even though the Ace isalready seen face up.

4. The right hand now drops to the s i d ewith the Flat Palmed card while the l e f t

fingers pick off the face up Ace andcarry it upwards. In the meantime, theright hand has sleeved its card and cannow come up to snap the Ace.

5. The right hand takes the Ace w h i l ethe left hand moves down to pick o fthe Three of Clubs. Place the Three of clubs alongside the Ace as you com-plete the effect with "The Ace of Spadesright through the Three of Clubs."

6. At the earliest moment of c o n v e -nience, you can easily reload thesleeved card onto the deck.

7. In the event you are seated w h i l edoing this second method, it will befound an easy matter, after the i n i t i a lFlat Palm Steal, to move the right h a n dback so that right fingertips touch theedge of the table. The palmed card iseasily released to fall into the lap.



143

ANGLE PALM TRANSFER

B e f o r e closing, it must be mentionedthat the idea of using a Triple Lift int h i s effect to apparently point up what

seems to be the top card, was suggest-ed to us by Robert V e e s e r , formerly of th e U.S. Navy.

N o t i c e also that the Angle Palmed cardin most cases is in a position similar tothe Mario Palm Position used in con-nection with a Side Steal and explainedf u l l y in Chapter 4.

Angle Palm Transfer

The Figure 40 shows the whole story.

Having Angle Palmed a card it can veryeasily be transferred to the left handwhich takes it into a Rear Palm posi-t i o n . Also the reverse is possible. Thatis a Rear Palmed card in the left handcan be transferred into a right handA n g l e Palm. Just study Figure 40 andimagine the action either way. FromA n g l e Palm in the right to Rear Palm inthe left. From Rear Palm in the left toA n g l e Palm in the right.

Figure 40

in passing, we might mention that aF l a t Palmed card can very easily bechanged into an Angle Palmed card bythe following technique.

ft Curl in all the fingers and nip theupper left corner of the palmed cardbetween the right forefinger on top andright second finger below.

2. Next, merely move the clipped card[to the left at the same time extendingthe right thumb in order to clip card

into Angle Palm. The action at thisstage is identical to Figure 32 withoutthe pack being in the picture. Note that

the right thumbtip touches the tips of the right first and second fingers dur-ing the change from Flat Palm to AnglePalm.

Now we will explain a few additionalpalms. While they are not of the TabledVariety they will be found quite usefulon many occasions. Especially theDirect Rear Palm in connection withwhich we have outlined several appli-cations of the move.

Tip Up Angle Palm

This technique makes it possible topalm off the top card or cards to theright hand into Angle Palm Position.

1. Assuming you wish to palm off fourcards from the top of the deck, get abreak under them with the left fourthfinger.

2. Here we will describe our method of holding the above finger-break. The left

fourth finger is inserted in such a man-ner that the inner side of the left fourthfingertip is against the inner right cor-ner of the cards. The inner right cornerof the cards to be palmed just touchesthe nail of the left fourth finger.

Figure 41The side of the left fourth fingertip isthus between the deck and the cards atthis corner. The left fourth fingertip'sposition is clearly seen in Figure 41.



144

TABLED PALM

There are no breaks visible at the rightside, at the same time the top cards areperfectly flat.

2. With the left fourth finger holding its

break, the left hand turns palm down.3. Right hand approaches as in Figure42 where you will note left hand is stillback uppermost.

Figure 42

4. The left hand now turns palm up just as the right hand touches thedeck. It is at this stage that the leftfourth finger moves its cards forward.During this forward action, the cardsare trapped between the tip of the leftthumb at the upper left corner and bythe left fourth finger at the lower rightcorner.

5. The forward movement of Step 4 isonly slight as now the right hand isnear the deck so that the upper rightcorner of the top cards comes againstthe base of the right palm, near theright second finger.

6. The cards are pivoted further off thepack but this time the pivot points arethe tip of left thumb at the upper l e f t

corner and the base of the palm, n e a rthe second finger, at the upper r i g h tcorner as shown in Figure 43.

Figure 44

7. At the same time the pivoted c a r d sare pressed downward against theupper right corner of the deck. T h i scauses the top cards to tip up off thedeck and up towards the right t h u m bwhich extends to clip the cards into anAngle Palm as in Figure 44.

Figure 45

8. Once the cards are felt f i r m l ygripped in the Angle Palm, the r i gh thand quickly moves back as shown inFigure 45 in order to re-expose thepack as quickly as possible.

9. From here the right hand can t a k ethe pack, from above by the e n d s ,being sure to curl the right f o r e f i n g e ron top.



145

FULL BUCKLE PALM

Full Buckle Palm

Comment : This palm was devised withthe idea of using a one hand type of Gambler 's Cop except in this case the

pa\m is a full one so that no cornerprotrudes. Although the hand positionmay feel and look awkward to a novice,we have been doing it for so long that itdoesn't feel or appear that way. Withpractice you will feel the same.

1. Hold the pack face down in the lefth a n d in a position similar to theE r d n a s e Bottom Deal Grip except thef o r e f i n g e r and second finger are a littlemore separated as in Figure 46. The

pack is also high up in the crotch of th e left thumb.

Figure 46

2 . The left third fingertip now movesunder the deck to the upper index cor-ner of the bottom card.

3. The left third fingertip now pressesinwards on the face of the bottom cardu n t i l the bottom card buckles awayfrom the deck as in Figure 47.

4. Keep pressing inwards with the leftthird fingertip until the right side of bottom card touches left palm.

5. The right hand can now take thepack from the left by the lower rightcorner. The right fingers go under thedeck above the palmed card, rightt h u m b on top, to take pack from thel e f t hand.

6. The left third finger must maintainits pressure on the upper index corneron the palmed card in order for thecard to remain in a full palm.

7. The left hand can now go into thecoat on the right side to reproduce thecard apparently from the right insidecoat pocket. The back of the left handhas a nice natural unstrained appear-ance while the card is palmed.

8. Bob Nelson of Chicago uses thispalm in this way: Instead of the righthand taking the deck he merely tossesthe deck on the table and of course,executing the Full Buckle Palm at the

same time.9. After the pack is shuffled and cut,he then picks it up with the left handonly, thus adding the palmed cardback to the bottom.

10. We use this palm for several rou-tines of the "To the Pocket" type and inan Ace Assembly as a vanish move forthe last Ace.

Figure 4 7

10. To obscure the movement of the leftthird finger during the Cop, the lefthand should be held so that the leftfirst and second fingers point to the

right. In this way all movement is onthe performer's side. Also the third leftfinger should move into position slowlyin order to prevent a knuckle flash, of this finger, from the front.

Center Block Palm

This follows the principle of the CullPalm as explained in Action Palm,Chapter 2, except in this case it is pos-



146

TABLED PALM

sible to palm out, say four Aces, fromthe center of the pack.

1. Remove the four Aces and after hav-ing them marked, for future identifica-

tion, insert them into four differentparts of the pack in readiness for theSimple Shift as explained in TheCardician.

2. The Simple Shift will result in thefour Aces being together somewhere inthe center of the deck.

3. Show the bottom cards as you say,"Of course, the Aces are nowhere nearthe bottom."

4. Show the top cards as you say,"Naturally, they are not at the topeither."

5. Steps 3 and 4 should be emphasizedto impress on the audience's mind thatthe Aces are definitely not at the top orbottom but really left in the center.

6. The deck is now turned face up asyou comment, "The Aces being in thecenter of the deck, I will have to memo-rize their positions."

7. During the above patter line thehands are brought together, as for theCull Palm, in order that the performermay seemingly scan the faces.

8. The cards are run from hand tohand in the usual manner until theblock of four Aces is reached. At thispoint, the four Aces are jogged inwardsas in Figure 48.

Figure 48

9. As soon as the four Aces have beeninjogged, both hands separate as theperformer remarks, "Of course, youunderstand why I have to memorize theposition of the Aces?"

10. Naturally the audience does n o t ,

but the momentary separation enablesthe next move to be done quite easily.

This merely consists in the right fingersrelaxing so that the four Aces will f a l laway from the rest of the cards as inFigure 49. This creates an opening in towhich the cards from the left hand arenow fed as the spreading continues.

Figure 49

This fall away action is also made easi-er by the right forefinger m o v i n gupwards slightly with the cards thatrest on it. The action is shown inFigure 50 as the hands are broughttogether again to continue the spread.

Figure 50

11. Upon completing the run though of the cards, they will be left face up inthe right hand with the four Aces nextto the palm, having been brought thereduring the spread action with rest of



147

DIRECT REAR PALM

c a rd s above it in a rather loose,unsquared appearance.

12. The left hand goes to pat the lefts i d e coat pocket as if feeling for some-

t h i n g on that side. Lef t hand thenc o m e s back and takes the deck by itsi n n e r l e f t corner, the Aces falling awayand into right hand. The right handw i t h its palmed Aces goes to the rightt r o u s e r pocket to remove a handker-c h i e f and at the same time leaving theA c e s behind.

Direct Rear Palm

In general appearance this sleightl o o k s as if you merely transferred the

top card to the bottom of the deck, orpacket, then immediately placed thecards on the table. In the action thec a r d , or cards, are palmed.

Our first example will be that as if usedw i t h a small packet of cards such as inan Ace effect.

1. A packet of five cards, but presum-ab ly four, are held face down in the lefthand. The bottom card is the Ace,

2. Count the cards as four, faces down,reversing them so that the Acebecomes top card of the packet.

3. Turn the top card face up on to thef a c e down packet. Now the left thumbd e a l s off this card while the right handtakes it at its upper right corner withr i g h t first and second fingers on thef a c e of the card and the right thumb onthe back.

4. The right hand now turns over in anormal fashion turning the card faced o w n placing it under the packet. Asthe card is turned face down the righthand will be holding it at the lowerr i g h t hand corner as in Figure 51.

5. Without hesitation, the card isplaced under the packet; however, indoing so it is placed in an i n j o g g e dposition as shown in Figure 52.

Figure 51

6. This placement will automaticallyput the card in the left hand Rear Palmposition. Therefore, without any hesita-

tion the right hand takes the cards bythe ends from above and places packeton the table while the left hand recedeswith its palmed card as in Figure 53.The whole action is casual, rythmicand undetectable.

Figure 52

Figure 53



148

TABLED PALM

The above action will be referred to asthe Direct Rear Palm in the followingapplications of the move.

To use the Direct Rear Palm to vanish

a selected card from among a packet of five, such as in the Red and Blue Effectin Unlimited, proceed as follows:

1. Have the selected card controlled soit becomes bottom card of the packet.

2. Count the cards as five by turningeach card face up onto the packet, thentransferring it to the bottom.

3. On the fifth card, the selection, youdo the Direct Rear Palm.

4. From here proceed as needed for theeffect.

In this effect of card to the pocket thespectator will doubt that the card inyour pocket is actually his. They mayeven examine the deck for duplicates.

1. Control the card to the top.

2. Show the bottom card as you say,"The bottom card is not your card."

3. Turn over the top card thus actuallyshowing the selection but say, "The topcard isn't your card."

4. Do the Direct Rear Palm as the righthand places the deck on the table andthe left hand goes to your pocket, yousay, "Because your card is in my pock-et."

5. Taking the card out of your pocket,with its back out, you continue by ask-ing the spectator to name his card.

6. If the above has been properly per-formed, the spectator may even wagerthat you will be wrong. Regardless of the situation which may arise, it ishandled in an appropriate manner andthe selected card eventually disclosedas being the one from the pocket.

To use a Direct Rear Palm to steal morethan one card, such as four Aces, pro-

ceed as follows:

1. Assuming that Aces are used, pro-ceed by controlling them to the top,

2. Obtain a break under the top f i v e

cards with the left fourth finger.

3. Turn the left hand over to displaythe bottom card to show no Aces on thebottom.

4. Next, turn over five cards as one,flush onto the deck to show no Aces onthe top.

5. Do a five card Block Push O ff toenable you to go into the Direct R e a rPalm.

6. The Aces can now be produced f r o mthe pocket, or held out and added later,

7. The extra card can be brought outbehind one of the Aces, if they are to beproduced from the pocket, or it can beleft behind and u t i l i z e d in anothereffect.

To use the Direct Palm Steal in, per-haps, the Ten Cards To The Pocket,proceed thus:

1. Assuming you have three cardsremaining and wish to palm off one,begin by turning the three cards f a c eup in the left hand.

2. Now, transfer each card to the bot-tom, turning it over and face down w i t hright hand, as you count " O n e - T w o -etc."audibly.

3. As the third card is turned, you dothe Direct Rear Palm taking the two

cards only by the ends as the left handdrops to the side.

4. Hold the cards edgewise to the a u d i -ence as you blow on them.

5. The right hand now snaps the cards,by letting go of the end held by the fin-gers, thus they will wind up h e l dbetween the thumb and fingers on oneend only.



149

DIRECT FULL PALM

6. The right hand, after the above snapm o v e , immediately spreads the cardsthus showing only two remaining.

7. While attention is on the right hand,

the left can casually enter your leftpocket to reproduce the card.

We will include in this chapter thedetails of a similar palm except, in thisi n s t a n c e , it is a Full Palm.

Direct Full Palm

1. Hold the deck in regular Mechanic'sG r i p Dealing position.

2. Turn the top card face up as per thee f f e c t at hand.

3. Turn this card face down as youseem to place it to the bottom of thedeck but, actually, the card goes into aFull Palm as follows.

4. The card is taken by the right side atits corner with the right hand.

5. The left hand pinches the upper leftcorner of the deck between the leftt h um b and the base of the forefinger.All four left fingers straighten out,

ostensibly to receive the card from theright hand to the bottom of the deck.The position of the left hand is thesame as in Figure 51.

6. The right hand, of course, turns itscard face down to apparently place it tothe bottom of the deck. Actually, thecard is placed directly into a Full Palmas shown in Figure 54, right side view.

7. From the front, the action is com-pletely covered as the left four fingers

are held close together.8. Once the card is in the Full Pam, theright hand takes the deck from aboveand places it on the table. The palmedcard is dealt with as desired.

9. All the actions blend into one contin-uous sequence of seemingly placing thetop card to the bottom, then placingthe deck on the table.

Figure 54^

We will now conclude this chapterwith:

The Card Transfer

This is another form of The TabledPalm that can be used to transfer acard or cards from one packet toanother. It can be used to retain a cardor cards on top of the pack in theaction of merely cutting the pack andcompleting the cut. It can also be usedto steal a card or cards, which need tobe held out, while simply cutting thepack. As a replacement of cards to thetop of a Tabled Pack, it is just aboutperfect.as far as the actual simulationof picking up the deck is concerned,providing the necessary angles areattended to properly. It can be accom-plished with either hand but itsdescription will be given for the righthand.

1. With the pack on the table, the righthand approaches it in order to cut thepack in the normal manner.

2. The right second, third and fourth

fingers are at the front end of the deck,the right thumb is in contact with thelower left corner of the cards while thetip of the right fourth finger is in con-tact with the upper right corner of thedeck.

3. The right hand now cuts off half thepack and moves it to the right as inFigure 55 in order to deposit this half on the table.



150

TABLED PALM

4. The right hand deposits its half onthe table, then moves to pick up theother half. At the same time, the topcard of the packet is also taken orretained in the right hand by merelyholding onto the top card with the rightthumb at the inner left corner andright fourth finger at the upper rightcorner.

Figure 55

The right forefinger remains curled ontop. In fact, the position of the righthand does not change one iota duringthe transfer which is pictured in Figure56 or in the subsequent pickup of theother half.

Figure 56

5. The right hand, with its stolen cardin the position as shown in Figure 57,moves normally from one packet to the

other, the right hand rather close tothe table, until the stolen card isdirectly over and flush with the top of the other packet.

6. It will be readily apparent that thereis absolutely no change of action inpicking up the lower packet to depositit on top of the other in order to com-plete the cut. The replacement of thetransferred card is perfect in action.

Figure 57

7. Obviously, the transfer can be madewith one or more cards which you maywish to retain on top while actuallycutting the pack.

8. As mentioned earlier, the method of

holding the stolen cards in the r i g h thand as in Figure 57, can be used toreplace cards on top of the deck in themere action of picking it up. The p r o b -lem is to get the cards into the requiredposition from say, a Full Palm. This iseasily solved as follows:

9. Assume the cards are in a righthand Full Palm. Bring both handstogether as for a Palm Transfer w i t hthe right hand going into the cupped

left hand. (See Chapter 2, Action Palmsfor Palm Transfer.)

10. With both hands in the P a l mTransfer position, the right hand r e l a x -es to let its palmed cards sort of f a l linto the left hand in a lengthwise p o s i -tion, but the right hand still remains inthe left hand.

11. The left hand now squeezesinwards until it has a fairly f i rm grip onthe sides of the cards. Next, the l e f t

hand moves the packet to the l e f t bysimply bending the left wrist inwardstowards the body.

12. The above action causes the c a r d sto pivot out from under the right h a n dand into position so that the r i g h tthumb need only move to the lower l e f t

corner where pressure is applied by thetip of the right thumb. Conversely, theright fourth fingertip is already in p o s i -



151

THE LOST CARD

t i o n applying its grip on the upper rightcorner.

13. The right hand moves forward, atthe same time curling its forefinger on

top of the hidden card, to pick up thepack thus adding the cards to the top.

14. Remember that the Full Palmedcards are not placed into position untilthe moment before the right handmoves to pick up the pack.

15. The Card Transfer can also bemade with the pack in the hands. Inthis case, the right hand cuts off thetop half and places it on the table,steals the card or cards, returns to thelef t hand adding the cards, then eithercompletes the cut or merely squares upthe remainder leaving it in the lefthand.

16. In the case of small packets suchas a half dozen cards or so, the topcard can be stolen by merely obtainingthe required position, then moving thepacket forward as if to get it out of theway. When the right hand moves awayf r o m the packet it also takes the top

c a r d which can be transferred toanother packet or to the deck proper.

W i t h attention to angles and perform-ing conditions, the following card item,using the Card Transfer, will be foundmost effective. Call it:

The Lost Card

1. Have a card selected and on itsreturn control it to the top.

2. Tell the spectator you will attempt tocut to his card but first you will showthat his card is not anywhere near thetop or bottom.

3. Show the bottom card of the deck,then place the pack on the table.

4. Show the top card of the deck andreplace it on top.

5. Once again state that you will cut

right to their card. Here you cut thepack doing the Card Transfer as inFigure 55 and Figure 56.

6. At this point, the spectator is con-

vinced you have just lost his card.7. Ask for the name of the spectator'scard. On getting the reply, turn overthe top card of the deck as you con-clude, "As I promised, I cut right toyour card."

The same effect idea can be applied tothe four Aces. In other words, the fourAces are placed on top of the deck thenthe pack cut to bury them in the centeryet, a moment later, they are shown ontop. In this case, the right hand carriesaway at least the top four Aces duringthe action and more, if necessary, toinsure getting the four Aces trans-ferred.

The Card Transfer can be applied inother ways such as in Ace Assembliesor any of the Card Transpositions suchas a selected card from a packet of tencards arriving in another packet of tencards, or even several cards can be

made to apparently leave one packetand arrive in the other. Also for aCutting the Aces effect.

It can also be used to add an extracard or cards to a number of cards thathave been fairly counted off the pack onto the table as follows.

1. Fairly count off a required number of cards, say five, onto the table.

2. The right hand takes the deck from

above into the required position andplaces it to the right.

3. The right hand steals off the topcard or cards as it moves directly fromthe pack to the counted cards.

4. Right hand then picks up the count-ed cards and places them into the lefthand.If the above actions are properlyperformed, not only is there no hint of



152

TABLED PALM

a card being stolen but also not a sus-picion of anything having been addedto the tabled cards. This can also beused in a count or stop effect.

We think that the above suggestionsshould give the student most of thepossibilities of the Card Transfer, bothas a Steal and Replacement maneuver.

To conclude, the stolen card can bemaneuvered into a Full Palm or a RearPalm by bringing the two hands togeth-er as for a Palm Transfer. Also, a cardin the Rear Palm can be brought intoposition of Figure 57, for an eventualreplacement, by the use of a Palm

Transfer action of bringing both handstogether.

There is an alternative technique forthe Card Transfer that has merit andmay at times be found an easier proce-dure.

1. In this case, the right hand does notposition itself when it is about to cutthe pack. Instead, the right hand mere-ly reaches over to cut the pack in thenormal manner.

2. The right hand carries its portion tothe right in order to drop its cards onthe table.

3. At this point, the right hand actuallyreleases the packet so it falls onto thetable from a height of about a half inch; however, the right hand remainsalongside the packet.

4. As soon as the right hand releasesits cards, the right fingers position

themselves for the actual steal of thetop card or cards. In other words, theball of the right thumb immediatelypositions itself at the inner left corner

while the right fourth fingertip p l a c e sitself at the upper right corner of thetop card. The right forefinger remainscurled.

5. The stolen card is now carried a w a yas already shown in Figure 56 and 57to be deposited onto the other half of the pack, then the cut completed.

6. The whole idea is to first cut thepack, then position the right hand forthe steal or Card Transfer; howeve r ,the movement needed to do this is v e r yslight and unnoticeable.

Should one desire to transfer or steal adefinite number of cards, say such as

four Aces, it is only necessary to c r i m pthese Aces upwards for their w h o l elength. This makes the Aces s t a n daway from the deck at both the left andr ight sides so that later the r i g h tthumb and right fourth finger can easi -ly grasp only the four Aces.

We now close Chapter 5 but with thepromise of future chapters to come.

C a r d i a l l y yours,Edward Mario



Chapter Six

The Faro Shuffle

hand Out Faro Shuffles The First Technique First Variation Faro Aids Fan Spread and

WeaveResquaring

the Packets Second Method Third Method Cutting At 26 26th Card Faro Check The 4th Finger Table Faro Riffle Shuffle Variations In TheTechnique On The Faro Riffle Shuffle First Variation Second Variation Third VariationFourth Variation Fifth Variation In The Hands The Butt Faro Partial Faro Check T h r o w -O f f Faro - Top Throw-Of f Faro - Bottom Off Center Faro Above Crimp Faro

H a l f and Half Principle "Ha l f Plus One" Combining Ri f f l e Shuffles & Faros Reverse or Backward Faro On Discrepancies

The following techniques for accom-plishing the Faro or Weave Shuffles, asw e l l as those of the riffle type, are theresult of many years of experimenta-t i o n and analytical study. I believethem to give greater control at all timesthan any that have appeared in printpreviously, especially in regards to Inand Out Shuffles. In those instancesthat I may feel such definite control isnot possible, I shall mention them.

Besides the various techniques for theF a r o Shuffle, this chapter introduces

several new approaches to the shufflew i t h terms such as Throw Off Faro, Off Center Faro, Left Over Faro, AboveC r i m p Faro, 26th Card Faro Check,Partial Faro Check, as well as someFaro Aids that will be useful to thebeginner as well as the expert.

Basically there are two ways of startingthe Faro Shuffle - from the top down orf r o m the bottom up. The one that

starts from the bottom up I considersuperior to the other and a study of this chapter will bear this out.

Before going into the various methodsof Faro Shuffling, I must mention that Ihave put nothing in this chapter that Imyself cannot do or that any one elsecould not do with the proper applica-tion of time, practice and patience.

In and Out Faro Shuffles

Before continuing, I must mention thatthe technical terms In and Out, as

applied to a Faro Shuffle, were intro-duced by Alex Elmsley.

Briefly, they mean just this; An InShuffle is one in which the original topand bottom cards change position tosecond from the top and second fromthe bottom. The twenty-sixth and twen-ty-seventh cards, the top and bottomcards of the two packets just cut,become the new top and bottom cards



154

THE FARO SHUFFLE

of the deck. In this way each In Shuf f l ekeeps changing the top and bottomcards.

An Out Shuff le , as applied to the Faro

or Weave, is one which retains the topand bottom cards. Eight Out FaroShuffles return a deck to its originalorder. For the present the above infor-mation will suffice but the student isreferred to Chapter Seven, Faro Notes,for more detailed information. Here,then, is the First Technique:

The First Technique

This first method gives good control of In and Out Shuffles as well as allowingone a good view as to his success orfailure with the Weave.

1. Square the sides and ends of thepack as evenly as possible with bothhands. The left thumb and second fin-ger press on the sides of the deck tosquare these sides while the rightthumb and second finger press on theends of the pack squaring them. Theforefingers of each hand are curled ontop and bottom of the deck respective-

i y .2. The pack is turned on its side sothat the left side now faces the per-former.

The right hand releases its grip whilethe left fingers assume the followingposition: The tip of the left forefinger isplaced at the front end of the deck. Theball of the left thumb is slightly abovethe center of the deck on its left side.

The left second, third and fourth fin-gers are on the right side of the deck with the right side of the deck pressingagainst the first creases of the left sec-ond and third fingers while the leftfourth finger has its full tip pressing upagainst the side.

The position is pictured in Figure 1which is a view as seen by the per-former looking down at the pack.

Figure 1

3. The right hand conies over to cut orbreak the pack. The left fourth f i n g e rmoves out of the way so that the side of right second finger comes in contactagainst left third finger. The right f o r e -

finger is curled on top. While the r i g h tsecond, third and fourth fingers presson the under side of the pack, the rightthumb comes over, close to the l e f t

thumb and slightly below center, tobreak the pack at the twenty-sixthcard. Figure 2 shows the position of both hands as seen from above by theperformer.

Figure 2

4. For the present we will assume you

have cut at the 26th card or p e r f e c tcenter of a 52 card deck. Details will begiven later for insuring such a cut.

5. Having split the deck, place the twohalves against each other at the comersonly as in Figure 3 which is still theoperator's view.

6. The view of the cards from the top oras seen by those from the front is as inFigure 4 where it forms a sort of V.



155

THE FIRST TECHNIQUE

Figure 3

9. With the cards as in Figure 5, thecorner of the right hand packet ispressed firmly upwards against thecorner of the left hand packet. At the

same time, the right hand is movedsharply, but slightly inwards, towardsthe body, for about a quarter of aninch. This upward and inward actioncauses the cards to start weaving as inFigure 6 which shows an Out Shufflebeing started.

Figure 4

1. In Figure 3 you will notice the cardsare in a fairly straight line but nowb o t h hands move slightly inwardstowards the body causing the packetsto assume the slightly angular positionas shown in Figure 5. Also notice theslight V formed at the joined corners of th e pack.

Figure 6

10. The inward action is only for a dis-tance of about a quarter inch. At thisstage the packets are as in Figure 7with the right hand packet as seen

moved inward. The view is from thefront, of course.

Figure 5

8. At this point the grip of both handsmust be firm to prevent any slipping of the cards in either packet. Also , theright forefinger presses down ratherf i r m l y on top of its packet causing aslight bow.

11. The right hand, still maintaining itsupward pressure, moves its packet for-ward easily, to its original position inline with the left hand packet as inFigure 3. This forward movement of theright hand packet causes the weave tocomplete itself as in Figure 8. At thesame time, both hands also move thepackets into a straight line.



156

THE FARO SHUFFLE

Figure 8

12. The view, after completion of theweave, as seen from the front is asshown in Figure 9 where you will noteboth corners are now in line again. Itmust be borne in mind that the inward

and forward action of the packetsbecome very slight, almost unnotice-able, with practice.

Figure 9

13. With the Faro completed, push ortelescope the packets into each otherfor about a half inch or more as inFigure 10 which is a front view.

Figure 10

14. With the cards held as in Figure11, the left third and fourth fingersmove in under their projecting packet.

Figure 11

15. The left thumb, plus the first andsecond fingers, release their hold of theprojecting packet with the result thatthe cards are more or less momentarilybalanced on the nails of the left t h i r d

and fourth fingers as in Figure 11.16. The right hand revolves the d e c k ,on the left fingers, to a horizontal p o s i -tion while the left hand turns palmupwards to receive the deck onto theleft four fingers as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12

17. The left thum b reaches out over thedeck in order to press down on the topcard, of the opposite portion, as inFigure 13.

Figure 13



157

THE FIRST TECHNIQUE

18. The pack is now held solely by thel e f t fingers and thumb. This leaves ther igh t hand free to assume a similarposition on its side of the deck as

shown in Figure 14 in readiness for theTwo Handed Spring Flourish.

Figure 14

19. Keeping pressure with boththumbs on top of the deck, the fingersof both hands press upwards againstthe cards from below thus firmly trap-ping each section between thumbs andfingers. Both hands then move downand in towards each other in order tobend the middle of the pack upwardsas shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15

20. Maintaining the inward pressure of both hands, as well as the thumbs on

top, the left and right fingers movedown to cup themselves, as in Figure16, below the arched cards. At thisstage, if the inward pressure andthumb is maintained, the cards willremain as in Figure 16.

21. Keeping the pressure on top withb o th thumbs, gently ease the handsoutwards thus releasing the side ten-s ion , allowing the cards to cascade

downwards into the cupped fingers asshown in Figure 17, an action view of the Two Hand Spring Shuffle.

Figure 16

Figure 17

22. Upon completion of the cascade,the cards will be lying flat in thecupped hands. Hold onto the deck withthe right thumb and fingers while theleft hand moves away. Immediately, theright hand places the deck face down,into the left hand which takes the deckby the sides with the left thumb andfingers, left forefinger curled under-neath. The right hand now comesabove the pack to grasp it by the ends.The deck is now squared, with bothhands in the usual manner and againpositioned as in Figure 1 for a repeti-tion of the Faro Shuffle if needed.

While the Two Hand Spring Shuffle,Figures 11 to 17, may seem just like anadded flourish it does have its impor-tant purpose in the Faro in that theeventual squaring of the weaved cardsbecomes much easier and faster than



158

THE FARO SHUFFLE

otherwise. This, plus the fact that itadds an air of abandon to the FaroShuffle itself. Be sure to bend the pack upwards again, after the Spring

Flourish, to straighten pack.Here are a few variations on the FirstTechnique that some may find to work better for them.

First Variation: Here the proceedure isexactly the same as before except thatthe packet, cut off by the right hand, isheld at the extreme ends. Figure 18shows the left thumb at the center onits packet but the right thumb and fin-gers at the extreme ends of the right

hand packet. The shuffle is shown inthe process of being completed.

Figure 18

Second Variation: This second varia-tion follows the exact proceedure forthe First Technique except here bothpackets are held at the extreme ends.The right forefinger presses down ontop of its packet in order to slightly bowthese cards along their length. Theposition of both hands is shown inFigure 19. Many will find this variationquite easy under certain conditions.

Figure 19

Faro Aids

Before continuing into other t e c h -niques and phases of the Faro Shuffle,I think now is a good time to detail

some Faro Aids which should provehelpful to the beginner and even thosewith some experience.

The Rock and Reweave

Many times in doing a Faro Shuffle onewill find it meshing along smoothly,then all of a sudden it becomes brokenup by a pair of cards meshing wherethere should be only one thus causinga discrepancy in the weave. If t h i s Ibreak occurs, the following proceedure |will often save the trouble of starting allover again.

1. With a break or discrepancy in theFaro Shuffle all you need to do is torock, or move both hands inwards thusthe packets also move downwardscausing the upper portion of theweaved cards to unweave themselves,This unweaving will send the discrep-ancy back into theunweavedportion of the deck.

2. The situation at this point is similarto Figure 6 in that the upper section of weaved cards have been unweaved butthey are still weaved or meshed togeth-er near the bottom. Again, the unweav-ing is made only just past the discrep-ancy.

3. The two hands now move upwardsand at the same time exerting a greaterpressure with right forefinger, on thebacks of its cards as the cards aremade again to reweave in a mannersimilar to Figure 8.

4. If the discrepancy is overcome, fine,but if it isn't, the hands again m o v edownwards to unweave the cards, t h e nonce more move the packets upwardsinto each other to reweave them.

5. The backward and forward m o v e -ment of the packets has all the appear-



159

FAN SPREAD AND WEAVE

ance of quickly rocking the hands back and forth as you attempt to gain a per-f e c t Faro. Do not, however, overdo this.If the subsequent reweaves get worse,

than the first weave, you should startthe Faro over.

Fan Spread and Weave

Sometimes a Faro Shuffle will be per-f e c t but then for some unaccountablereason, the top four cards, two on eachpacket , will not weave thus spoiling anotherwise perfect Faro Shuffle. In thiscase instead of using the Rock andWeave, the proceedure is this:

1. Get the cards into the position of Figure 14 as for doing the SpringShuffle Flourish.

2. At this point both thumbs press onthe top cards of their respective pack-ets near the inner ends.

3. The forefingers of both hands curlaround the front ends of the deck neartheir respective outside corners.

4. The thumbs now push or spread the

top cards forwards to fan them as inFigure 20. The forefingers of bothhands prevent more than the top fourcards from fanning off the deck.

Figure 20

5. Now the thumbs pull back on thecards but at the same time weaving thef o u r cards properly, as required for theparticular In or Out Shuffle as shownin Figure 21.

Figure 21

6. The pack can now be sprung as inthe Spring Shuffle Flourish to finishthe action.

Resquaring the Packets

In starting the Faro Shuffle, the cor-ners about to be meshed may becomeunsquared. This may be caused by dryhands, then again the fingers may nothave held the packets firmly enough asthe corners were placed against eachother. Here then, are several methodsfor resquaring the packets or corners.

First Method:

1. Assuming the cards have slipped

and the corners of each packet havebecome unsquared, simply turn theright hand packet inward, then placeits inner corner against the outer cor-ner of the left hand packet which hasbeen turned parallel to the floor, as inFigure 22.

Figure 22

2. Butt the corners against each otherforcing them to square off properlyafter which you can try for a FaroShuffle again.



160

THE FARO SHUFFLE

Second Method:

1. In this case, if the packets becomeunsquared, place the right hand packetback alongside the left hand packet,not flush but separated as in Figure 23which purposely shows two unsquaredpackets side by side. The packets meetat the front but are kept separated atthe back only by the pressure of theleft thumb.

Figure 23

2. The right hand now comes over theends of the deck, squaring thembetween the left thumb and fingers asshown in Figure 24.

Figure 24

3. With the packets resquared, theright hand cuts off the top packet to tryagain for a Faro.

Third Method:

1. This method is ideal when workingat or near a table. Again assuming thepackets have become unsquared, placethe packets together as already shownin Figure 23.

2. This time instead of squaring theends with the right fingers, the right

hand instead grasps the deck justbelow the left hand. The right handposition is similar to that used in theactual Faro.

3. The left forefinger moves over to thefront end of the deck. With both handsgrasping the cards, the bottom end of deck is tapped against the table top asin Figure 25 in order to square thepackets.

Figure 25

4. Having squared the cards, anotherattempt at a Faro Shuffle is made.

Cutting At 26

The best way to cut at 26, or half of

any number of cards involved, is bycomparison. The description to f o l l o wis made with the idea of a full pack of 52 cards in mind. However, the com-parison can be applied to a lesser orgreater number of cards in order to cutperfect halves.

1. Start by breaking the deck as near26 as you can in a manner to thatshown in Figure 2.

2. Once you have made the cut, sepa-

rate the packets at the inner side only,keeping the separation by the pressureof the left thumb as in Figure 26 whichis the performer's view.

3. Now, visually, carefully compare onehalf against the other. At this stage,you can get to be pretty certain if youhave exact halves. However, if you havemade any error, this will soon becomeevident as you place the corners of the



161

26TH CARD FARO CHECK

packets against each other, as inFigure 3, in readiness for a FaroShuff le .

4. If at this point, you find that oneh a l f is thicker than the other, thensimply return the packets back to theidentical position shown in Figure 26.

Figure 26

5. By now you should be pretty certainas to which half is the larger and youadopt a proceedure for correcting thesituation.

6. If the right hand or top portion is thegreater, the right thumb releases thenecessary card, or cards, as in Figure27 letting them join the lower half.

Figure 27

7. If the left hand portion or lower half

is the greater, then the right thumbpulls upward on the top card, or cards,of the lower section in order to jointhem to the upper section. The actionis shown in Figure 28.

8. After the above actions of eitherthose pictured in Figures 27 or 28, thecards are again rested in the position of Figure 26 for a quick comparison.From here proceed into the Faro.

Figure 28

Right here is a good place to detail onefurther idea as regards cutting at cen-ter or 26. I call it the:

26th Card Faro Check

This is an idea of many years that Ihave used to be sure of cutting atexactly the 26th card before proceedinginto any miracles dependent on it. Theidea of peeking a 26th card for a 26thcard location, was a Bert Allerton sub-tlety that won him a prize many yearsago for the best card effect at a conven-tion.

The use of the Faro Check is my idea to

insure that the 26th card is actuallybeing used thus insuring definite suc-cess with the 26th card principle.

1. The 26th Card Faro Check consistsmerely in cutting the pack at 26, thenstarting a Faro Shuffle as in Figure 29.

Figure 29

2. Remember, you only start the FaroShuffle. If the cut and weave has beenperfect, every card will be weaved withno cards left over, thus you will be surethat the cards have been cut at 26.



162

THE FARO SHUFFLE

3. Spot the bottom card of the righthand packet and remember it.

4. As if changing you mind about ashuffle, merely pull the halves away

from each other thus undoing theweave.

5. From here you can replace the upperhalf back on top and thus you nowknow the 26th card. You can also giveeach half to the two spectators for theAutomatic Placement, later in thischapter, where both cards will end up13th in each packet of 26.

6. Use of the 26th Card Faro Check will

be evident in such effects as FaroFoolers in Chapter Seven, Faro Notes.

7. Psychologically, the 26th Card FaroCheck is quite sound as it has all theelements of an attempted Faro Shufflethat did not quite come off. Your wholemanner, upon completion of the 26thCard Faro Check, should be one of,"Oh, well, let's try something else."

4th Finger Table

I consider this an indespensable Faroaid. Not only does it eliminate any pos-sible flare out of the bottom cards dur-ing the starting of the weave, but alsosteadies the packets as well as being agreat aid in such Faros as the PartialFaro Check, Above the Crimp Faro, Off Center Faro, etc.. It is one that I con-stantly use in connection with the FirstTechnique for Faro described above.

1. The pack is held in the same posi-tion as for the First Technique except

that the left fourth finger moves inunder the cards until it comes to restdirectly beneath the joined corners of the pack.

2. The joined corners actually rest onthe back or nail of the left fourth finger.The picture in Figure 30 shows how itlooks from the operator's view.

Figure 30

3. Slightly moving the left fourth f i n g e reither upwards or downwards allows abetter control of the start of In or OutFaros.

4. Once the Faro is started, thel e f t

fourth finger moves out of the way to join the others alongside the pack.

5. For the present, this will suffice butits usefulness will become more appa-rant further on in this work. For thepresent, let us now delve into the tech-nique of the -

Faro Riffle Shuffle

Here again the techniques are strictlyour own. These Faro Riffle Shuffles canbe done on any type of surface which |in itself is a great step forward.

1. Hold the pack between both handsin a manner exactly to that of the FirstTechnique.

2. Place the deck's lower end againstthe table thus also squaring them.

3. The right thumb breaks the side of the pack in a manner similar to Figure2 except here the pack is upright on

the table with the operator lookingdown at the top end.

4. Having split the side of the deck thatis towards the body, you separate thehalves like a book; i.e. at the back s ideonly. The front side stays together.

5. At this stage the cards are heldmomentarily for comparison of one hal f against the other. This comparison is



163

FARO RIFFLE SHUFFLE

made from the top end of the deck asin Figure 31. This shows the per-former's view as he has the pack inf r o n t of him on the table.

Figure 31

6. Having determined the cut to beexact, the right fingers hold onto thecards, the right thumb maintaining theseparation on the inside, as the lefthand fingers relax for a moment butremain in position along the cards.

7. The right hand now turns back upthus also bringing the backs of cardsupwards. The deck, as it is turned par-allel to the table, pivots between thefingers of the left hand and thru the

arch of this hand as in Figure 32.

Figure 32

8. The movement is continued by thel e f t hand pivoting up until it assumes asimilar position, on the left side of thedeck, to that of the right hand on theright side of the deck. The position of both hands is shown in Figure 33which is just before the splitting of thecards.

9. The right hand now takes the upperportion while the left hand retains thelower portion of the deck.

Figure 33

10. The front end of the left hand por-tion is now tapped with the face of thepacket held in the right hand. Thissquares off the front end of the leftpacket and causes it to move further

down into the left fingers. The leftthumb ends up at about the center of the packet. The action is shown inFigure 34.

Figure 34

11. The action of Figure 34 is nowrepeated but on the right hand packetusing the face of the left hand packet tosquare off the front end of the righthand packet. The packets should nowbe held at about the center with eachhand's thumb and fingers.

12. While mention has been made of squaring off the front end of the pack-

ets, it must be mentioned that thissquare off must be done so as to give aslight inward bevel to the front, or fac-ing ends of each packet.

13. Having prepared each half, thehands move the packets towards thetable. The packets are not released butare retained in the fingers at all times.The forefingers are curled on top of each packet.



164

THE FARO SHUFFLE

14. Place the cards well forward on thetable as this will enable you to look at

the side of the deck without too muchtrouble. At this stage, the fingertipsand thumb tips of both hands aretouching the table but the deck itself isheld above the table by the finger tips.This is shown in Figure 35 where youwill note the packets are about a half inch away from each other.

21.low

as svie\\

Figure 37

Figure 35

15. Keep the tips of the front fingers of each hand against the table top asboth packets are raised off the table asshown in Figure 36.

Figure 38

19. Move the right hand packetinwards, then forward but very slightly

just enough to start a partial weave, asin Figure 39, at the bottom of the pack-ets.

Figure 36

16. The forefingers of both hands pressdown on the top of each packet causingeach to bend inwards slightly. The

appearance of each packet, as it wouldlook at the inner or front ends, isshown in Figure 37. Here the handshave purposely been turned out toexpose the inner ends.

17. Do not make the concavity shownin Figure 37 too great, just enough togive proper tension to each packet inthe next sequence of moves.

18. Move the packets inwards bringingonly the corners together as in Figure

38.

Figure 39

20. The cards as viewed from the f r o n tare as in Figure 40 where you will noteonly the corners are touching during

the shuffle.

Figure 40

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165

VARIATIONS ON FARO RIFFLE SHUFFLE

21. Once the weave has been started,lower both packets closer to the tableas seen in Figure 41, the performer'sv i e w .

Figure 41

22. N ow , very gently let the cards riffle

off both thumbs simultaneously asshown in Figure 42. Be sure to keep aninward pressure on the packets as wellas maintaining proper pressure withthe forefingers of both hands on top.

Figure 42

23. The completed Faro Riffle Shufflenow looks as in Figure 43 when viewedf r o m t h e t o p .

Figure 43

24. With hands maintaining the sameposition as shown in Figure 43, tele-s c op e the packets further into eachother, then tip up the cards, withbacks towards you, as in Figure 44.

Figure 44 "

25. Place the hands around the cardsin position for the Spring ShuffleFlourish. Do the flourish on the tablewith the cards shooting forwards ratherthan downwards. After the SpringFlourish, get the cards back into theposition for squaring on the table as inFigure 31 for a repetition of the movesto get into another Faro Riffle Shuffle.

Variations In Technique OnThe Faro Riffle Shuffle

First Variation:

1. Proceed exactly as already detailedfor the Faro Riffle Shuffle up to thepoint where the cards are brought tothe table in a manner similar to Figure35.

2. At Figure 35, the cards are actuallyoff the table held by the fingers of thehands. It is right here that the techni-cal variation enters by letting the frontside of the cards slip off the fingers sothat this f ronts ide actually touches thetable as in Figure 45.

Figure 45

3. The thumbs at the rear do not let goof the cards but actually keep thepackets off the table as in Figure 46.



166

THE FARO SHUFFLE

Remember that the packets are stillmore or less held in place by the fin-gers at the front side.

Figure 46

4. The thumbs now lift up the packetsand pivot them towards each otheruntil the corners mesh together. Thesituation is now similar to that already

shown in Figure 38 except that thecards need not be raised as high at theback due to the front side actuallybeing on the table.

5. Start the weave as in Figure 39, thenwith the thumbs of both hands startthe riffle shuffle.

6. During the riffle shuffle the forefin-gers of both hands press down lightlyon the top of each packet as thethumbs riffle upwards. At the same

time, the fingers at the front keep afirm pressure to prevent the packetsfrom slipping. The Figure 47 shows theaction of this riffle shuffle from the per-former's view.

Figure 47

7. After the shuffle, either square-up inthe usual manner or do the SpringShuffle Flourish.

Second Variation:

1. The proceedure is exactly as for thefirst Faro Riffle Shuffle up to where thepackets are partially weaved togetheras in Figure 38.

Figure 48

2. At this point do not lower the pack-ets but keep the height as in Figure 38,and let the cards riffle off the thumbs.

3. The riffled cards will fall from a

greater height to the table as shown inFigure 48 which is the action of theshuffle as seen by the operator.

4. The cards falling off onto the tablefrom such a height makes it l o o kalmost impossible to have made a per-fect Faro Riffle Shuffle. Even for onewho may have the performer's view, itdoesn't seem as if a perfect Faro R i f f l eShuffle has been accomplished.

Third Variation:

1. This is similar to the other of theFaro Riffle Shuffles except in this casethe weave started in Figure 38 is con-tinued until it is past the center asshown in Figure 49, performer's view.

Figure 49

2. Once the cards have been weaved asshown in Figure 49, the deck is low-ered to the position already shown inFigure 41. The pack is lowered to thetable and the thumbs quickly let thecards riffle off as for a riffle shuffle.



167

IN THE HANDS

Figure 50

Fourth Variation:

1. This is really a Bluff Faro RiffleS h u f f l e . You actually weave all thecards as shown in Figure 50, thenqu i c k ly lower the pack while at thesame time you run the thumbs up

a long the cards to create a rifflingsound.

2. The proceedure is exactly as for theactual Faro Riffle Shuffle, It can bemade as a b o n a - f i d e Table Faro orW e a v e by simply weaving the cards asabove but omitting the riffling sound of thecards.

3. In doing this type of weave, it will beh e l p f u l to have the outside ends of thepackets resting against the table and

the foref inger of both hands pressingdownwards on each packet. This willcreate the proper tension for the cor-ners to weave in faster. If any missesoccur, they are very quickly spottedand the packets can be very quicklyunweaved , the ends resquared andanother attempt made without toomuch loss of time.

Fifth Variation:

1. This variation can be combined withall the previous variations. It dependson the packets being held at theextreme ends during the Faro RiffleShuff le or Table Weave.

2. Figure 51 shows a Faro Riffle Shufflebeing made with the packets as theyare held at the extreme ends.

3. I t should be obvious to the studentthat holding the packets this way can

Figure 51

be combined with all previous varia-tions, including its application to theTable Faro or Weave. In other words,all Figures from 31 to 44, would beidentical except the packets in each

case would be held at the extremeends.

Now comes an explanation of a FaroRiffle Shuffle never before attemptedbut one that is as practical as anyother. It is the Faro Riffle Shuffle--

In The Hands

1. Here again the proceedure for get-ting ready is as already explained forThe Faro Riffle Shuffle except that allaction is made while standing and

away from any tables.

Figure 52

2. The only difference comes in when

the packets are placed corner to cor-ner. It is here that the fourth fingers of each hand move to the ends of eachpacket, as seen in Figure 52 which is afront view, just before the start of theshuffle.

3. The fourth fingers at the end of eachpacket will give proper tension for theopening weave and later act as sup-ports for the shuffled cards.



168

THE FARO SHUFFLE

4. Start the weave at the bottom of thedeck in a manner similar to Figure 38or Figure 49 if you prefer.

5. Once the cards are partially weaved,

let the cards riffle off the thumbs asshown in Figure 53 which is the shufflein action.

Figure 53

6. Note how the fourth fingers of eachhand support the cards that have beenriffled off. After the completion of theshuffle, the cards will be as in Figure54 with the cards held between thethree fingers on bottom and thumbsand the forefingers on top.

Figure 54

7. You will f ind that as the shuffle iscomplete, the cards will actually slipinto the position shown in Figure 54.

8. From here, push the cards further

into each other and get into position forthe Spring Shuffle Flourish to concludethe shu f f l e .

9. All previous variations in techniqueas applied to the Faro R i f f l e Shuffle onthe table can also be applied to the onedone in the hands.

10. On the Table Faro Riffle Shufflewhen having trouble starting a weave,bringing both thumbs closer together

will sometimes be of great help, espe-cially with very soft packs that mayhave lost some of their required ten-sion.

Before going into the other phases of the Faro Shuffle, it may be well to men-tion that an End Faro can at times bevery disarming. In fact all previouslyexplained techniques and variationscan be applied to it. In the illustration,Figure 55, an End Faro of the r i f f l e

shuffle type is shown so that the stu-dent can see what is meant by this.

Figure 55

Almost all the Faro Aids previouslymentioned can be used or applied toth e Faro R i f f l e Shuffle . If the Faro R i f f l e

Shuffle should hang up, caused usual-ly by sticky cards, a slight back and

forth movement of the packets as theriffle progresses, will be found to behelpful. However, such action mustonly be as a last resort and one mustnot make it a habit.

The Butt Faro

The Butt type Faro is all done on thetable . This one shuffle, while it can bemade perfectly, o ffers little control asfar as making it either an In or OutShuffle. For this reason it is best used

only when definite In or Out Shufflesare not required.

1. Place the deck face down on thetable.

2. Grasp deck at the extreme endsbetween the thumbs, second and thirdfingers of both hands. The tips of fourth fingers rest at the ends of thecards while both forefingers are curledon top of the deck.



169

PARTIAL FARO CHECK

Figure 56

3. With right thumb break the pack at26, then butt the two ends of the pack-ets against each other as shown inFigure 56, a top view.

4. If you have not cut the deck perfect-ly, you will find that one half or the

other will be slightly higher. In thiscase, return the deck to its originalposition and either cut less, or more,cards as required. Then butt the endstogether again. Note the fourth fingersare still at the ends of the deck.

5. With the aid of the fingers, raise thepackets like a tent, the fourth fingersat the ends aiding in this by an inwardpressure as seen in Figure 57 whereyou will note that the tent is onlyraised very slightly at center as theouter ends rest on the table.

Figure 57

6. Just when the cards are raised to

the position in Figure 57, the forefin-gers of both hands press downwardson the tops of their respective packetsto start weaving as in Figure 58.

7. Once the cards are weaved, the deck is squared up in the conventional man-ner and the Butt Shuffle repeated.

As has been mentioned the above shuf-fle does not give a definite control of In

or Out Shuffles but it is fast and casuallooking. Where it is required to onlypartially control a card, or group of cards, it could be kept in mind espe-

cially in the case of the Faro Throw-Off.

Figure 58

We now come to the part of the chapter

that will be found to contain new Faroterms with some original approaches inregards to the Faro Shuffle. As I havealready explained the 26th Card FaroCheck, this section might just as wellstart with the Partial Faro Check.

Partial Faro Check

This is a method of using the PartialFaro Shuffle Check in order to quicklyget two or three packets of cards withthe same number of cards in each

packet. Note that the Fourth FingerTable is used to advantage here.

1. Hold the deck as in Figure 1 andwith the right thumb cut off approxi-mately a dozen cards, then I n -Weavethem as in Figure 59.

Figure 59

2. Now lift up on the right hand portionas in Figure 60 so that the left fourthfinger can enter and hold a break below the cards lifted up by the weave.



170

THE FARO SHUFFLE

3. Unweave the right hand packet anddrop this packet to the table. The leftfourth finger retains a break below thecards originally lifted as in Figure 61.

Figure 61

4. With the right hand cut off the cardsabove the break and repeat the PartialFaro Check as per Steps 1, 2 and 3,Figures 59 through 61.

5. Cut at the third packet, which isalso dropped to the table, and you havethree packets of cards each with thesame number of cards.

Use of this Partial Faro Check is made

in the next chapter of the current vol-ume; Faro Notes.

Another method of doing the PartialFaro Check is that similar to the TableFaro Shuffle. In this case, the rightthumb lifts up the weaved cards as theleft thumb moves in to obtain thebreak. The right hand can nowunweave its cards while the left thumbmaintains the break. A repetition of these actions will give the same results.

Before proceeding with the next Faroterm it must be understood that an InShuffle will double the numeric posi-tion of a card while an Out Shuffle willdouble the position of the card minusone. In other words, a card at thefourth position will become the 8thcard after an In Shuffle and the 7thposition after an Out Shuffle. Also, InShuffles or Out Shuffles can be madewith a card in either the top or bottomhalf of the pack.

Obviously in the case of a single card,any method that would give quick Inand Out Shuffles, without having toalways cut 26, would be quite useful.The method to be described is not onlyuseful but will also serve as a Throw-Off.

Throw-Off Faro - Top

1. First assume that a card is some-

where near the top part of the deck.

Figure 62

2. Cut off a small packet of cards fromthe top being sure it includes the need-

ed card.3. Weave the small packet of cards intothe larger one as in Figure 62.

4. The right hand pushes the cards inas far as they will go , then it changesposition to come over the top of thedeck in order to push the cards flushat the ends.

5. As the fingers push the cards flush,the right fingers press down on thefront end of the cards thus causing the



171

THROW OFF FARO

top packet above the weaved cards tomove upwards at the back as in Figure63, Note that the left forefinger iscurled under the deck.

Figure 63

6. The right fingers and thumb keeppushing in the small packet but at thesame time the left 4th finger starts tomaintain a break as can be seen inFigure 63.

7. Upon completely squaring up thedeck, the left fourth finger keeps thebreak above theweaved-in cards.

8. At this point, if you Double Cut tothe break you will have the same resultas if you did an Out-Shuffle. In otherwords , a card that may have been atthe 8th position will become the 15thcard from the top.

9. If you need to get the results of anIn-Shuffle, that is, to get the card into16th position, then on the second cutof a Double Cut you would perform theC o v e r Up Cut similar to the Mario Slip

C u t , as shown in Figure 64.

Figure 64

Here you will note that the left thumbis keeping back the top card. Figure 64-is of course an exposed action as actu-ally the card held back will be flush

with the left hand portion.10. The left hand moves to the left withthe cards below the break plus the topcard, then comes back to deposit thecards from the left hand onto those inthe right.

11. Due to the top card being slippedonto the previously weaved packet, theresult is that of an In-Shuffle thus dou-bling the original position of the card.

The above application of the Mario Slipor Cover Up Cut is only one instance of its superior flexibility over other typesof Slip Cuts. If the hands are raisedduring the action the Slip Cut is cov-ered perfectly.

Throw Off Faro - Bottom

This is used when the needed card issomewhere in the bottom half of thedeck. It must be pointed out that Inand Out Shuffles need not be restricted

to only "from the top down" calcula-tions but also from the bottom up.

1. Hold the pack as in Figure 1. Withright hand, undercut the bottom por-tion of the deck and weave it into thelarger portion as in Figure 62.

2. The right hand comes over the deck in a manner similar to Figure 63 excepthere the right thumb at the back, pullsthe injogged packet up so that the leftfourth finger can obtain a break below

the weaved cards.3. A Double Cut to the break will resultin the bottom being Out-Shuffled.

4. By using the right thumb at theback end of the deck, you may pick upan extra card from below the break toadd it to the top section. Then DoubleCutting the cards will be the same asan In Shuffle of the bottom cards.



172

THE FARO SHUFFLE

Uses for these Faro Throw-Offs will befound in Chapter Seven; Faro Notes.

Above Crimp Faro

The applications for this idea will alsobe found in Chapter Seven where thestudent will be able to fully grasp itssignificance, but for this chapter thefollowing is all that need be told.

1. Assume a crimped card, or someother discernible key, lies somewherein the deck as in Figure 65.

Figure 65

2. Cut the deck at perfect 26, thenweave the upper sections so that theright hand portion is weaved just abovethe crimped card as seen in Figure 66.

3. Finish the shuffle using the SpringShuffle Flourish. For further details onthe above idea see Chapter Seven; FaroNotes.

Off Center Faro

This idea has several uses the first of which is to place the 26th and 27thcards in relative positions from the top

and bottom. Note the use of the FourthFinger Table.

1. Cut the deck at perfect center or 26.

2. Weave the lower half of the righthand portion into the upper half of theleft hand portion as in Figure 67.

Figure 67

3. This Off Center Faro will place the26th and 27th cards at the same rela-tive position from the top and bottom,In other words, if the 26th card is now10th from the bottom; therefore, the27th card will be 10th from the top.

4. By doing an Off Center Faro with theupper cards of the right hand portionweaved into the lower part of the l e f t

hand portion as in Figure 68, the sameresult will apply to cards previously atthe top and bottom. In other words, thetop card may become the 15th from thebottom while the bottom card will havebecome the 15th card from the top.

5. After either of the above Off CenterFaros you do not know the exact p o s i -tions of the cards; however, by combin-ing it with a key or crimp, at a knownposition from either the top or bottom,the exact positions can be ascertained,



173

OFF CENTER FARO

6. A brief example would be to have,say, the 10th card from the bottomcrimped, then doing an Off Center Faroas in Figure 67 but above the crimped

card, the 26th and 27th cards cardsw i l l def in i te l y become the llth cardsf r o m top and bottom respectively.

7. Further appl i ca t ion ' of the Off CenterFaro is to get two even packets of cards, that is, the same number of cards in each packet.

8. In this case, cut at 26 and then doan Off Center Faro. Push the packetsinto each other until the deck is as inFigure 69 where the hands have been

omit ted.

Figure 69

9. If you have done a table type Faro,then you would cut off the top sectionto the right. The right thumb then

would l i f t up the balance of the cards.The bottom packet is then free to betaken by the left hand and placed tothe left.

10. If the Faro was done solely in thehands, the right hand would again takeoff the top packet as the left forefingerpresses down on its packet to preventany other cards coming off with the topinjogged packet as it is placed to theright.

The right hand comes back to graspthe remaining interwoven cards. Liftingthem up slightly the right hand sepa-rates these cards from the bottom sec-tion which is now easily taken by thel e f t hand and placed to the lef t .

11. Again, the use of a key at a definiteposition at either the top or bottomwould make for a definite number of cards in each packet.

Once again a reminder that the studentwill find further uses for the Off CenterFaro in Chapter Seven as well as aclosely allied idea called the Left Over

Faro Shuffle. This is very useful incases involving an odd number of cards. This idea can be used withdecks of cards having uneven numberssuch as a 53 or a 51 card deck or a 49card deck and so forth.

It also is very useful in retaining cer-tain sets of cards at either the top orbottom while actually using a FaroShuffle on all other cards. However, donot confuse the Left Over Faro with the

Off Center Faro.12. Using the Faro Riffle Shuffle for theThrow-Off, Off Center or Above theCrimp Faro, you proceed in the usualmanner to weave the cards except thatbefore the actual riffle is made thelarge block of cards below the startedweave is allowed to fall to the table.Then the thumbs Faro Riffle Shufflethe cards. Figure 70 shows the bottomblock having dropped onto the table.The weave has been started and, of course, riffling off the thumbs followsimmediately.

Figure 70

13. In the case of using the Faro RiffleShuffle for the Throw Off Faro youwould proceed in a manner similar toFigure 70 except that after the shuffle,the packets would be pushed into eachother at an angle just as if about to doa Strip Out Shuffle.

Once the angle is obtained, the fingersof the left hand press on the front left



174

THE FARO SHUFFLE

corner of the deck thus causing the topblock of cards, above the shuffledcards, to raise up at the back end. Theleft thumb presses down on the angled

cards at the back left corner in order toprevent these from raising with the topcards.

14. The right hand is on the deck'sright side, fingers in a position similarto the left hand.

15. With the cards raised at the back end, the right thumb moves in toobtain a break, between it and rest of cards, at the back right corner.

16. The left fingers and thumb can noweasily square the cards while the rightthumb is retaining the break. If you tryit any other way the cards will have atendency to bind.

17. Once the cards are squared, thebreak is taken over by the left thumbat the back. This leaves the right handfree to do the cutting.

18. As in the Throw Off Faro in thehands, the same rule applies to this on

the table. If you wish to make an OutShuffle, cut to the break, using a seriesof two cuts or more, sort of a TabledDouble Under Cut. If you want an InShuffle, then the final cut must alsocarry the top card with it as in Figure71 which is the Table Cover Up Cut inaction.

Figure 71

19. While the tabled Cover Up Cutdoesn't have a logical appearance atthis stage, it does give the results of anIn Shuffle as the packet below thebreak is placed on top in a final cut.

Again the top card of Figure 71 hasbeen purposely moved over to show theaction when it will actually be in l i n ewith lower packet.

Now a discussion of a couple of F a r oprinciples is in order at this stage,therefore, the following should be of interest.

Half and Half Principle

1. For any even number of cards what-ever happens to the position of thecards in the top half also happens tothe bottom half, but in reverse, duringeither a perfect In or Out Faro Shuffle.

2. As an example, let's note the top andbottom cards. The top card is numberone in the top half but consider thebottom card as number one in the bot-tom half.

3. This principle applies to any e v e n Inumbered packet of cards. However, in Ithis example, assume a full deck of 52cards is used and "half would m e a n26 cards. Cut the cards exactly in h a l f !and give it a perfect In Shuffle. F o l l o w

by doing alternate In or Out Shuffleseach time being sure they are perfect.

4. After any number of the above s h u f -fles count down, from the top of thedeck, till you come to either noted c a r d ,Now, turn the deck face up, c o u n t

!

down the same number of cards and Iyou will f i nd the other noted card.

5. The two noted cards may changepositions from top half to the bottom jhalf and vice versa but they will a l w a y s

be at identical positions from the top jand bottom regardless of the number of In or Out Shuffles. That is, if one of thecards is llth from the top, the o t h e r Icard will be 11th from the bottom.

6. The above applies not only to tw o Icards but also to every card in the !lower half and every card in the u p p e r [

half. As an example, you can place ten |known cards on the top of the d e c k



175

HALF PLUS ONE

and ten known cards on the bottom of the deck. As long as you know theiroriginal top and bottom relationshipeveryone of the original ten top cards

w i l l be in a position relative to the bot-tom ten cards.

Another example, say the 7th cardf r o m the top wound up in a position of fourth from the bottom, then the origi-nal 7th card from the bottom would bef o u r t h from the top, then again theoriginal 4th card from the bottom maybecome 15th from the top; therefore,the original 4th card from the topwould now be the 15th f rom the bo t -t om . S ev e r al examples of the aboveprinciple will be found in ChapterSeven.

Half Plus One

1. In any even numbered packet, twocards that are apart half the number of cards in the packet plus one, will meshor come together if the Faro Shuffle isperfect. This number includes the twocards of course.

2. In the case of 52 cards, any two

cards that are apart half that number,plus one will mesh together in a FaroS h u f f l e . In other words, any two cardsthat are twenty-seven cards apart, willcome together.

3. It is obvious that with two cardsbeing 27 cards apart one will be in theupper half of the deck, the other in thelower half of the deck.

4. To give an extreme example, the topc a r d and the 27th card will meshtogether at the top in a perfect shuffle.A l s o the bottom card and the 27th cardf r o m the bottom will mesh in a perfectshuffle. It stands to reason then, thatevery pair of cards that are 27 cardsapart will mesh or come together.

5. This principle of Half Plus On" willapply to any even numbered packet of cards. In the case of, say, 40 cards,

half would be 20 and plus 1 wouldmake it 21; therefore, any two cards 21cards apart will mesh together.

6. In what order they mesh depends on

whether an In or Out Shuffle is given.A card in the upper half of the deck willmesh above the card in the lower half if the pack is given an Out Shuffle. Acard in the lower half will mesh abovethe card in the upper half if the deck isgiven an In Shuffle.

7. Any two cards that are 27 cardsapart, in the case of a ful l deck again,will mesh together regardless of howmany times the pack is cut as long as

the cut at 26 and the Faros are perfect.8. In the above example, you would notknow where the two cards are, but byhaving one of them marked in someway you would not only know wherethey are but would also be able tomesh them accordingly. You could con-trol the marked card to either above orbelow the other, unknown, card.

9. Any two groups of cards can bemeshed together providing the first

card of one group is 27 cards apartfrom the first card of the other group.Naturally, all succeeding cards of eachgroup automatically are also 27 cardsapart.

10. Again, if a marker or key is used ineither group, you can then Faro meshthe groups into each other in anydesired manner.

Combining Riffle Shuffles & Faros

It is to the operator's advantage tomake use of a standard r if f le shufflewhenever possible and combine it withthe Faro Riffle Shuffle. As an example,suppose you wish to stack the Acesevery tenth card. By first using thestandard riffle shuffle and stacking theaces every fifth card, then doing a per-fect Faro Riffle Shuffle of the In type,you will have the aces every tenth card.



176

THE FARO SHUFFLE

In connection with the riffle shuffleitself, for many years I have used a sys-tem I call the Ha l f i n g System. TheHalf ing System enables you to use the

standard riffle shuffle and yet stack theAces into a large number of hands,such as six-seven-eight, etc., just aseasily as if you were to stack for onlythree or even two.

Briefly I will give an example of stack-ing the cards, say, into the usual f ivehands. As you know, you would haveto hold back four cards which are even-tually allowed to fall onto one of theaces. In this case, you would hold back

only two, then by repeating the shuffleyou would hold back two again to thusgive you the required four cards abovethe Ace. Below is the proceedure forstacking four Aces into seven hands.

1. Get the four Aces on top of the deck.

2. Cut the top portion to the right.

3. Riffle Shuffle holding back threecards on the left and three cards on theright.

4. Let the three cards from the lefthand fall first followed by the threeAces from the right. Square up in theusual manner.

5. Again cut top portion to right. Riffle,holding back three cards on the left,and again three Aces on the right.

6. Let three cards from the left portionfall first, then the three from the right.

7. Repeat the top cut to the right plus

the riffle shuffle being sure that you donot inter-mix cards into the portion of the Aces already stacked as you oncemore hold back three cards on the lef t ,but this time only two Aces on theright.

8. Let three cards from the left fall firstfollowed by two Aces from the right.

9. Repeat the shuffle holding back three card on the left and two on the

right letting the left three cards fall f i r s tfollowed by the two on the right.

10. Repeat the shuffle this time holdingthree cards on the left but only one Ace

on the right and finish accordingly.11. Repeat Step 10.

12. Repeat the shuffle, this time hold-ing three cards on the left but none onthe right. Three cards from left areallowed to fall on top of the deck.

13. Repeat 12 and the four Aces arestacked every seven cards.

14. Again be sure not to inter-mixcards into those already stacked as youcontinue the riffles.

15. In dealing with six hands, naturallyfive cards go above each Ace. In th iscase, you would hold back, say, threecards the first time on the left portionbut only two cards on the left portionwhen you repeat the shuffle.

16. Holding back so few cards usingthe Halfing System, the riffle shufflescan be made by sense of touch alone

without so much as glancing at thedeck and while carrying on a normalconversation during the whole processthus cutting down on what at firstglance appears as a lengthy procedure.

17. Conversation or patter is m o s timportant as an aid to the shufflessince it directs attention away f r o mthem and they never appear to t akevery long. If silence prevails the shuf-fles can have a tendency to become

monotonous.This chapter on the Faro Shuffle wouldnot be complete without the inclusionof what I call the -

Reverse or Backward Faro

1. This is the usual process of taking apacket of cards and jogging the cardsupwards and downwards as shown inFigure 72.



177

REVERSE FARO

2. Figure 72 shows the beginning of w h a t you may perhaps term a ReverseF a r o of the In Shuf f l e type because thel o w e r packet will later be stripped out

and placed on top of the ou t j ogge dcards thus losing the original top card.

3. To start a Reverse Faro of the InS h u f f l e type, begin by normally dealingo v e r the top card with left thumb.

4. The right fingers, thumb on top, taket h i s card by its lower right corner.

5. The right hand, still holding onto itscard, now moves upwards to the frontof the deck.

6. The l e f t thumb deals over the secondcard. This card is taken under the firstcard, by the right first and second fin-gers, at its upper right corner.

7. The right hand, now grasping twoc a r d s , moves down to the back end of d eck in order to take a third cardunder the two thus continuing this upand down process until the whole pack has been dealt with.

8. W i t h half the cards injogged and half

outjogged, the right hand strips out thei n j o g g e d cards and places them on topof the outjogged portion.

9. The practice of stripping out thel o w e r , injogged portion, and placing iton top of the upper, outjogged portion,is always followed. This is becausewhether the Reverse Faro is an In orOut type depends entirely on how the

Reverse Faro is begun.

10. To get, in effect, a Reverse Faro Outtype shuffle, you begin by taking thetop card by its upper right corne r , then

continuing the up and down process inthe usual manner.

11 . Upon completion you will f ind thatstill following the outlined proceedureof stripping out the injogged portionand placing it onto the outjogged cards,that the original top and bottom cardshave remained intact thus simulatingan Out Shuf f l e .

12. A Reverse In or Out Shuffle willreverse a previous In or Out FaroShuffle. This can also be used to pre-pare for an In or Out Faro Shuffle.Applications for this latter idea will befound in Chapter Seven.

Now, to conclude this chapter with afew capsule observations.

1. A Faro Shuffle is far superior to anyfalse shuffle when it comes to retaininga full stacked deck in order.

2. In fast company when you have a

stacked deck and perform the usualPush Through or Strip Out FalseShuffle to retain the order, you are onlytipping off your hand to these gents.On the other hand, a Faro is identicalin action and performance whether it isused with a stacked deck or withoutone. In other words, there is no definitetip-off that you may or may not have astacked pack.

3. If you have mastered the Faro you

can use it in partial set-ups to evengreater advantage.

4. Remember that a Faro Shuffle is infact actually a fair shuffle if nothinghas been, set or prearranged before-hand.

5. After you have mastered the Faroyou can take your choice of demon-strating the fact that you can do 8 per-



178

THE FARO SHUFFLE

f ee t shuffles to bring a deck back inorder and gain a reputation for thisalone. You can forego your ego by pre-tending that although you go thru the

motions of a Faro Shuffle, you reallycan't do it perfectly, in this way addinggreatly to those mysteries that dependon the Faro.

You can take my word for it that thefraternal brothers will be more willingto accept the fact that you can't do aperfect Faro sooner than that you can.This is all to your advantage if you will

just grasp it. If you choose to follow thefirst course, the information in thischapter is sufficient but if you choosethe latter course, then by all meansstudy Chapter Seven.

6. Count the cards before you do anyFaro effects as there is the slight,chance of a short deck which couldcause failure if your tricks depend on afull deck. A pack from which you previ-ously failed to remove the Joker couldalso cause you trouble. There isn't anyreason why, with slight changes in cal-culation, you shouldn't be able toaccomplish most of the effects success-fully. At any rate, play safe and alwayscheck, especially in cases of mathemat-ical card magic.

7. Watch out for Faro Enemies such asdirty old sticky cards with broken cor-ners. Also hot humid weather willcause cards to buckle out of shape aswell as get limp and lifeless.

8. To get a 52 card deck back in order

you need 8 Out Shuffles; however, youcan give the impression of using a mix-ture, both In and Out Shuffles, bysecretly taking the under packet intothe right hand, then doing whatappears to be an In Shuffle although itis still an Out Shuffle in principle.

OnDiscrepancies

When making a Weave or Faro Shufflethe most common fault is for the cards

to form discrepancies where two cardscling together and are not separated byanother card between them. There maybe one or several of these clinging pairs

in one Faro Shuffle due to either thefault of the cards or the operator. Ineither case, the usual thing to do isunweave and try again, or perform theRock to Reweave; however, in the caseof controlling a single card, these dis-crepancies can be figured in according-ly as will be shown.

Assume the top half is taken in theright hand and the bottom half in theleft hand.

1. Assume your card is 20th from thetop. An accurate In Shuffle normallybrings it to 40th from the top. Let usassume that there are discrepanciesand that these are above the selection,As those below the selection would inno way affect the cards' new position,Only those above the card need be c o n -sidered.

2. If a discrepancy occurs in the bot-tom half or Undercut portion, above

the selection, then you merely add oneto the doubled number. In other w o r d s ,the card will be 41st instead of 40th. If there are two discrepancies you w o u l dadd two to the doubled number, mak-ing it 42. You add one for each discrep-ance in original bottom half of the d ec kproviding there are no discrepancies inthe original top half.

3. If the discrepancies occur in theoriginal top packet, you subtract one

for each discrepancy f rom the d o u b l e dvalue. In this case, one discrepancy is40 minus 1 equals 39. If there aremore you naturally subtract more.

4. When discrepancies occur on b o t hsides of the deck, that is the left h a n dside and right hand side, then youhave to check off one against the o t h e rto obtain your figure.

In other words, if there are two discrep-



179

ON DISCREPANCIES

ancles in the left side and also two inthe right side, then these check againsteach other and the card's numericalposition will still be only doubled, that

is, it will be 40th.On the other hand, if there are a totalof, say, five discrepancies, you mustcheck off those that may be on bothsides and then calculate the remain-der. For example, out of five discrepan-cies, you f ind four on the left side of the deck and one on the right side.This checks off two discrepancies onef r o m the left and one from the rightleaving a total of three discrepancies onthe left or bottom half. This wouldmean you add three to the doubledvalue giving you a total of 43 assumingy o u r card was originally at the 20thposition before the Faro Shuffle.

The rule is to check off the discrepan-cies against each other, then either addor subtract depending which side hasthe remaining discrepancies. Again, for

the side which is the original bottomhalf of the deck, add one for each dis-crepancy, and for the side which is theoriginal top half of the deck, subtractone.

Admittedly, the Faro Shuffle will takepractice but once mastered, its rewardswill have been worth the effort.

Cardially yours,

Edward Mario



Chapter Seven

Faro Notes

: F a r o as a control Less Than 52 With Two Cards For Two Cards At Undetermined I P o s i t i o n s A Correction The Faro Calculator The Chain Calculator The L e f t : Over Faro

\ S h u f f l e Shuffling The Aces Placement Shuffle Control of the Aces An Out Shuffle Ef f ec t I Progressive Miracle New Deck P. M . 76-76-67-67 The Memorized Stack Fingertip

M i r a c l e Full Deck - Five Faro's The Reverse Or Backward Faro A False ShuffleCombination The Wrong Hand It's Mathematical Alternative Procedures Two

Disclosures Automatic Placement Variants On Automatic Placement Faro Foolers A Doub l e Location Variation On Automatic Placement Uses Of Partial Faro Check Exact Placement Instant 26th Location The 17th Location The 13th Location Wrong To Right

H a v i n g been interested in the FaroS h u f f l e ever since the days of Jordanand following its progress of applica-

t i o n o v e r the years, we thought thatperhaps some of our findings andapplications may be of interest. It has1 b e e n o v e r t e n years since th e Spadeb o o k that we have recorded anything inc o n n e c t i o n with the Faro as the inter-est in this type of work seemed lacking.H o w e v e r , there seems to have been ar e v i v a l of this work due probably to thef a c t that through practice and| pe r s e rv e r an ce several cardicians sud-

d e n l y discovered that this type of per-i f e c t shuff l e was possible not only once,but as many times as they wished.

The two predominant sources of thep r e s e n t research into the Faro orW e a v e , are those of Rusduck throughhis publication The Cardiste, and thes e r i e s of articles by Alex Elmsley in theP e n t a g r a m . The terms, In and Out, asa p p l i e d to the Faro by Elmsley, you

will find to be of great help in under-standing the shuffles. Briefly, an OutShuffle (meaning Faro or Weave) is one

in which the top and bottom cardsremain the same while an In Shuffle isone in which the top and bottom cardschange position to second from the topand second from the bottom. Each InShuffle keeps changing the original topand bottom cards.

The Out Shuffle then places theOutside cards on the top and bottomwhile the In Shuffle brings the twocards from Inside the deck to the top

and bottom.Other terms, that have been introducedfor the first time, such as Throw Off Faro, Off Center Faro, Above CrimpFaro, Faro Checks, etc. will be foundcompletely detailed in Chapter Six, theFaro Shuffle, and indeed the studentshould really study that chapter beforeeven attempting to completely under-stand this one.



182

FARO NOTES

We will not deal with mathematicalequations or formulas, but, instead,work with basic ar ithmetic in the hopesthat this will help in further under-

standing what happens during theshuffles. But first let's clear up a fewfallacies you m ay jus t assume to befact. Some may imagine, in regards tothe Faro, that if it takes 8 Out Shufflesto bring a pack back to its originalorder then half the number, 4, shouldbring 26 cards back in order. However,the real truth is that it takes 20 OutShuffles to bring 26 cards back inorder.

It takes fewer In Shuffles, only 18, tobring 26 cards back in order. Yet ittakes 52 In Shuffles to bring 52 cardsin order and only 8 Out Shuffles tobring 52 cards back in order.

From the above, one may be quick toassume that the less the number of cards, the more Out or In Shufflesneeded to bring the cards back inorder; however, i t takes only 6 InShuffles to restore the order of 20cards, while it does take 18 OutShuffles to do the same thing, or 2 lessthan in the case of 26 cards.

In some cases, half the number of OutShuffles required to bring a deck back in order will bring the pack in order inreverse, but this is not true for everycase. This, also, applies to In Shuffles.As an example, a packet of 20 cards goback in order after 6 In Shuffles, butthey will no t reverse themselves afteronly 3 such s huffles.

The above facts may, or may not be, of use at present but you never can tellwhen jus t knowing of these things m aybe of some help in the future if only toprevent you from jumping to conclu-sions.

Let is now delve into the use of theFaro Shu ffle as a possible and practicalmethod of controlling a card. Again, we

discard the slide rule or mathematicsand depend on plain arithmetic d u r i n gthe shuffle.

1. The Top Half is automatically an Out

Shuffle or an In Shuffle depending onthe position of the card to be con-trolled.

2. The Bottom Half is also automatical-l y an I n Sh u f f l e o r an Ou t Sh u f f l edepending on the position of the card,

3. Top portion will be referred to as TopHalf and Bottom portion as BottomHalf even when the deck is not e v e n l ysplit.

4. For the present, use what is n o r m a l -ly an In S h u f f l e until you gain a c l e a r e runderstanding of In and Out combina-tions. In other words, the top and b o t -tom cards of the deck change or ar e ;displaced during the In S h u f f l e , w h e r e -as an Out Shuffle retains the top an d

bottom cards.

This is easily managed by remember ingthat for an In Shuffle the top card o fthe Bottom Half goes above the t o p

card of the Top Half 5. Using, in addition, a cut, that w i l leither lose one or two cards or add oneor two cards to either the top or b o t t o mof the deck, will cut down on the n u m - jber of shuffles required to bring thecard to the top.

6. The card must eventually be b r o u g h tto either the 27th f r o m the top or 2 6 t h ifrom the bo t tom so that a f i n a l I n IShuffle will bring it to the top.

7. How you manipulate the card i n t othis central position depends on i t soriginal position. This is only s i m p l e iarithmetic using key number of 7 - 1 4 - i27 basically used from the top of t h e !deck and 7-13-26 from the bottom o lthe deck.

8. One can readily see that the f i r s i jobject is to get the card to its n e a r e s t



183

THE FARO AS A CONTROL

b a s i c key number and, as an example,let us take an example problem of ac a r d 15th f r o m the top. The nearestkey num ber is 14. All you do is lose thetop card via a Doub le Undercu t whichm a k e s the card 14th. Now, an InS h u f f l e makes it 28th but the keyn u m b e r f r o m the top is 27, so againyou cut one card from top to b o t t om ,t h e n do an In Shuffle which brings thec a r d t o t h e t o p .

9, L e t ' s take another example. In thiscase, let's say the card is 20th.N a t u r a l l y , you don't want to cut off m o r e than two cards at anytime; also,you don't want to repeat the cut unec-e s s a r i l y . The r e f o r e , here is the p r o c e e -d u r e . The card is 20th from the top,but if you cut at 26, that card is 7thf r o m the bottom in the top half. This, isf i g u r e d f rom the placement of the card,2 0 t h , and a key number of the top, 27,a n d 20 from 27 is 7 .

Now, although you In Shuffle the deck,f r o m th e point o f view of the bottom o f the deck the bottom cards of this toph a l f are Out Shuffled. This means that

the card will arrive at double its num-ber minus one, or 13th, from the bot-tom of the complete deck. This, of course, is one of your bottom key num-b e r s ,

The deck will now be given another InS h u f f l e , and because the card is 13thf r o m the bottom in the lower ha l f , itw i l l become the 26th card f rom the bot-tom. Another cut, and In Shuffling theto p h a l f brings the card to the top.

10. There is a distinct advantage inw o r k i n g cards from both top and bot-tom of the deck as practically only thefinal shuffle need be accurate. As ane x a m p l e , let's take the above 20th posi-t i o n . If you cut, it need not be perfect26 as long as it is more than 20 andthe Faro Throw Off In Shuffle is used.See Chap ter Six, The Faro Shuffle

This brings the card 40th from the top.Now, subtract 40 from 53 (always addone to the number of cards in use,then subtract to give the correct posi-tion of card from bottom of deck, orfrom top as the case may be) whichgives 13 as the position of the cardfrom the bottom of the deck. Again youneed not cut perfect 26 as long as thebottom half has more than the 13cards . Now, an In Shuffle started at thebottom of the deck, the bottom cardbeing replaced with with a new card of course, being an In Shuffle, brings thecard 26th from the bottom. Now, a per-fect cut at 26 which, of course, is

tipped off by a perfect In Shuffle willbring the card to top.

Note, you can also use the Throw Off Faro Shuffle for the bottom 13 cards asin Chapter Six The Faro Shuffle.

11. The whole point is that you canmake your own calculations for a sin-gle card during each shuffle ratherthan try and work out a formula for apredetermined position although thistype has its advantages when more

cards are involved as will be shownlater.

Right now, let us assume your card isllth from the top of the deck. Say toyourself, "An In Shuffle brings it to the22nd p o s i t i o n . " After an In Shuffle,then you may say, "Well, another onewill make it 44th from top." Again, doa n In Shuf f l e .

Now, as long as the card is nearer thebottom you can start working fromthere. You subtract 44 from 53 whichgives you 9, the card's position fromthe bottom. Then, you remember that 7is one of your nearest key numbersfrom bottom. So you Double Under Cut2 cards from the bottom to the top tobring the card 7th from b ottom .

Another In Shuffle makes it 14th fromthe bottom. Then you remember that



184

FARO NOTES

your next bottom key is 13, so again,you Double Under Cut, this time onecard from bottom to top to bring theselected card 13 from the bottom. Nowanother In Shuffle m akes it 26 from thebottom. A final In Shuffle makes it thetop card.

12. Although in Step 11, five shufflesare i n v o l v e d , only the final or fifthshuffle has to be a perfect cut of 26 sothe advantages of working from the topand bottom of the p ack are evident.

Here, we give another example of acard in the 30th position to be broughtto the top.

Subtract 30 from 53 which leaves 23as the location of the card from thebottom . An In Shuffle will make it 46thfrom the bottom.

Now, again subtract 46 from 53 andyou get 7 which is now the position of the card from the top. An In Shufflebrings it to 14th. Another In Shufflebrings it to 28th.

Perform a Double Under Cut to lose

one card bringing it into 27th position.Another In Shu ffle brings it to the top.

Once again, only the final In Shuffleneed be a perfect cut at 26 and shuffleto finish up with the selection on top.

Less Than 52

l.In those Weave shuffles involving lessthan 52 cards, such as, say, 32, youneed first to break it down into its pos-sible quarters to arrive at certain keynumbers. First, you halve 32 which is16, then half of 16 is 8, then half of 8is 4. Basically, your key numbers fromtop down; 4-8-17.and from bottom upwould be 4-8-16. Again, the DoubleUnder Cut to lose or add cards is usedto expedite matters.

2. Let's assume the card is 15th fromtop in a 32 card packet. Using the sys-tem of cutting not more than 2 cards,

you can easily bring the card to 17thfrom the top. A cut at 16 and an InShuffle brings it to the top.

3. The above is too simple an example

so let us take 12 as i ts posit ion.Because in this case adding or l o s i n gtwo cards in a cut will not make m u c hdifference to its position in relation tothe key numbers. Naturally, you InShuffle and the 12th card becom es 24.

As 24 is greater than half the n u m b e rof cards in use, you can subtract 24from 33. (Remember, you always add 1to the number of cards in use, i.e., 32plus 1 equals 33.) This gives you 9 as

the position of the card from the bot-tom.

As your nearest key is 8, all you do iscut one bottom card to the top w h i c hbrings the selection to 8th from thebottom. An In Shuffle makes it 16thf r o m the top. A final perfect cut at h a l f of 32, which is 16, and an In S h u f f l emakes that card the top card.

4. The above rules hold good for an jnumbe r of cards involved and w i t h

slight variation on the final shu ffle, canbe used with a packet of u n - e v e n c a r d ssuch as say, 51 or 31. It is the c u t t i n gplus the working from both top a n dbottom that insures this easily.

5. As an example, let's assume we h a v e51 cards and our chosen card is 1 0 t hfrom the top. Proceed by In Shuffling atthe top of the deck to bring the card tothe 20th from the top.

Another In S h u f f l e brings it 40th f r o mtop. N ow, 40 f ro m 52 (num ber of cardsin use, 51 plus 1 equals 52) leaves 1 2so the card is 12th from the bottom.

Right here we must digress and p o i n t !o u t that due to the deck being o ne c a r dshort, it changes the bottom c e n t r a l !key num bers from 26 to 25 but all oth-ers remain the same.

An In Shuffle, started at the bottom of



185

LESS THAN 52

the deck will bring the 12th card to the2 4 t h position. As the nearest key is 25,a Double Cut to bring the top card tothe bottom will set this card at the2 5 t h position. A cut at 26 will bringcard to top. But how do you know youcut at 26?

E a s y , all you do is start your In Shufflew i t h 2 cards falling away from the bot-tom before doing the weave. If you arer i g h t , every card will be In Shuffledf r o m the top of the deck down, but onthe bottom, two cards will be leftinstead of the usual one card as whendealing with an even number of cards.

A g a i n , only one such perfect shuffle isneeded, the final one.

6. The same rules holds true for the 31card packet or any odd numberedp a c k e t . A brief example is the card15th from the top in a 31 card packet.

A cut of two cards from bottom to thetop brings it to 17th. A cut at 16, let-t i n g 2 cards drop off at the bottom, andif the rest weave perfectly, you can't bew r o n g . The card is on top.

7. W h e n working with even numbers,the central keys differ only by one,such as when 26 becomes 27 or 16 to17, but when working with unevenn um b e r s , the bottom central key differsby two, such as 25 to 27 with 51 cards,or 15 to 17 with 31 cards.

8 . Obviously, these methods can beused to control a selected card to thetop via a Faro Shuffle providing you

k n o w itsexact location prior

todoing

the shuffles. This position can beascertained in many ways which will bedetailed here later. The big point is thatf r o m here on it is impossible for thes p e c t a t o r to follow the control of thecard. The operator will have an uncan-ny fee l ing when he realizes that he iscontrolling a card that he doesn't evenk n ow the name of yet, without anybreaks, jogs, or crimps, etc.

9. To further show its possibilities, letus take the case of two cards that mayhave been selected and returned to thepack.

With Two Cards1. Again, you must get the cardsreturned into a predetermined positionfrom which they are then controlled tothe top via the Faro Shuffle. In ourcase, we have decided on 10 and 20 asthe two positions.

2. The selected cards are easilyreplaced into the above 10th and 20thplace by simply fanning 9 cards, thenhaving one replaced, then another

nine, and having second card replaced.

3. With cards at 10 and 20, a FaroShuffle brings them to 20 and 40.

4. A perfect cut at 26 and an In Shufflebrings the 40th card to 26 from thebottom (as per our arithmetic 40 from53 equals 13, plus an In Shuffle equals26) , while the 20th card is now 40th.

5. A cut at 26 will automatically bringone card to the top and at same time

set the card from 40th position to 26thfrom the bottom.

6. Another cut at 26 and an In Shuffle,will bring both cards together at thetop.

7. Thus, four Faro Shuffles will bringthe two selections to the top. Three of the four Faros, however, have to be cutat a perfect 26,

For Two Cards At

Undetermined Positions1. It is possible to control 2 cards thatmay be at numbers arrived at bychance.

2. As an example, suppose the pack isshuffled, then the spectator A deals off cards until he cares to stop. The deck is now handed to spectator B who doeslikewise.



186

FARO NOTES

3. Spectator A is asked to shuffle hispacket of cards and then to note thebottom card and remember it.Spectator B is also asked to shuffle hispacket and note the bottom card after

the shu f f l e .4. Spectator B now replaces his packetonto the deck and spectator A alsoreturns his packet onto the deck.

5. Performer now cuts the deck andfairly shuffles it, thus apparently losingall possible control of the cards, yet hehas each card under control.

6. The process is simply to rememberthe numbers of cards dealt off by spec-

tator A, then to continue the countwhen spectator B deals the cards. Inthis way you get the position of bothcards from the top of the deck.

7. Let us suppose that spectator A'scard is 9th from top and spectator B'scard is 21st from top.

8. The first thing to do is to bring thefirst spectator's card to the nearest keyposition from the top by losing oradding cards by use of the Double Cut.

9. As 7 is the nearest key to 9. youwould remove the two top cards via aDouble Cut. This will mean that the7th card will eventually be brought tothe top in three shuffles, plus a DoubleCut to lose one card.

10. Also, when you lose the top twocards, you must remember that thecard spectator B took has a new posi-tion of 19. You can now forget about

spectator A's card and only keep track of spectator B's card as will be shown.

11. First, remember that three FaroShuffles with one Double Cut after thesecond shuffle will automatically bringA's card to the top; therefore, it is obvi-ous that B's card has to be followed forthese three shuffles in order to deter-mine its position after the third shuff l e .

12 . Cutting at 26 and giving the d e c k Ian In Shuffle will bring B's card, w h i c h !was 19th, to double that number o i l38th from the top. Following the rule o fsubtracting from 53 whenever the p o s i j

t i on of the card followed is over 26, y o u !do just that. In this case, 38 f rom 5 3 1now means that B's card is 15 from t h e !bottom.

A second cut at 26, plus an In S h u f f l e Jbrings B's card to 30th f r o m the b o t - j

t o r n . As this is the second shuffle, y o u !lose the top card to the bottom in o r d e r !to bring A's card to 27th from the t o p ,but at the same time getting B's card t o31st position from the bottom. A g a i n ,

following the rule of subtracting f r o m !53 whenever the card's position is o v e r j26, we get 31 f rom 53 or 22 f rom th et o p .

Now, the third cut at 26 plus an InShuffle, gets A's card to the top bu t youare following B's card to the 44th p o s i -tion from the top.

13. You now have A's card on top a n d |also know that B's card is 44th f r o m

the top or subtracting this from 5 3 1gives you 9 from the bottom. How y o u !proceed from this point depends on!what you want to accomplish with t h e jeffec t .

14. Assuming you wish to get B's c a r d !to the top with A's card, the simplest!proceedure is to get B's card to itsnearest key. In this instance, B's c a r d !is 9th, nearest key is 7, so cut off thetwo cards from the bottom and push o rweave these into the center of the d e c k ,

15. With B's card 7th, you can OutShuffle the bottom portion to bring thecard to 13th from the bottom.

16. This time an In Shuffle with o n l y iabout 20 of the bottom cards, will b r i n gthe B card to 26th from the bottom andretain A's card on top of the deck.



187

A CORRECTION

17. A cut at 26 and an In Shuffle willput B's card on top of A while an OutS h u f f l e will place B's card under A.

18. In Steps 15 and 16, it is not neces-

sary to cut perfect 26 as long as theFaro itself is made correctly. As a mat-ter of fact, the upper portion should belarger in order to retain A's card on top,w h i l e B's card is controlled into posi-tion.

19. In Step 14, if the B card was, say5th f rom the bottom, you would have toadd two cards from top to the bottomin a cut, But remember to first do aslight overhand shuffle to reversing the

top card A into the third position. Thisway, after the top two cards are cut tothe bottom, to bring B's card up to thekey number, card A will still be on top.

A Correction

In Exper t Card Technique, a mention ismade of the Chart of 17. The 48 cardsmentioned and the 17 cards apart is inerror .

A l s o , it is erroneous for 52 cards ast h e r e are 17 cards between the last

card at the bottom and first card at thetop; after that, there are only 16 cardsb e t w e e n 1st and 2nd cards and 2ndand 3rd cards in the chain of three.

T o have the exact number of cardsbetween each card of a set of three, youneed to use an odd number of cardssuch as 51 cards and an Out Shuffleby making sure the smaller half, that is25 cards are weaved into the largerh a l f , 26 cards, so that the top and bot-tom cards of the 26 card packet alwaysremain the top and bottom cards of the26 card packet after the shuffle.

It also follows that no matter howmany times you cut the pack the threecards will remain the same distancef r o m each other around the clock so tospeak.

It also is easy to realize that there are

other sets of threes that are likewiseseparated by the same number of cardsbetween them and continue to remainthus separated even though the pack is

cut between each shuffle.You can also realize how the number17 was arrived at because 51 dividedby 3 is 17. It also follows that any oddnumber of cards if divisible by 3 willgive you a different number other than17 and will give the same results. Thenumber of Faro Shuffles needed to getthe packet back into the original orderwill change.

If one set of three cards, in a 51 card

deck, remain constantly in the samerelation to each other regardless of shuffles in an odd pack, it follows thatall the other sets of three will alsoretain the same relationship despiteshuffles and cuts between each shuf-fles. After eight such shuffles, the cardswill return to their original order exceptfor the top card. You will have to locateyour original top card, and cut it to thetop, to get the original order from thetop down.

One more thing, it doesn't make anydifference whether the larger half endsup in the left hand or right hand aslong as the smaller half, 25 cards, isweaved into the larger half, 26 cards.

This, then, is the basic principle of theChart of Seventeen as unfortunatelymisdetailed in Expert Card Technique.

However, other things of interest listedin Expert Card Technique are theEndless Belts which show how six

groups of eight cards each movethrough the deck. Also the fact that the18th and 35th cards are exchanged, ormove between themselves during eachperfect Out Shuffle. Their study is rec-ommended.

[Note: What Hugard and Braue actuallysaid in Expert Card Technique was that"Each of these cards was originally sep-



188

FARO NOTES

arated from its fellows by 17 degrees;after a shuffle, each card remains sepa-rated by 17."

This is true, in that counting 17 cards

past a given card will discover the samecard that was 17 cards past before theshuffle. There are 16 cards betweenthese cards, and the 17th card countedis the same as before the Faro.

A 52nd card does prevent this countfrom continuing from the bottom of thedeck to the top (unless you count 18instead of 17). However, since an OutFaro is always used, the bottom cardnever changes. The extra card just goes

along for the r i d e , ed.]Here is an idea which enables one toget the full benefit of an odd pack, 51cards, shuffled without the necessity of discarding the one card. In otherwords, you get to cut the pack betweeneach shuffle, stick to Out Shuffles andat the end of 8 shuffles, the pack willbe in the original order. It makes use of the Mario Cover Up Cut as explained inthe Throw Off Faro in Chapter 6.

1. Assuming you have the cards in newdeck order, give the deck a perfect OutShuffle.

2. Next, cut the deck but retain theoriginal top card on top via the CoverUp Cut.

3. Do another Cover Up Cut retainingthe top card, then into another perfectOut Shuffle.

4. Continue cutting the deck retaining

the top card on top each time until youhave given it 8 perfect Out Shuffles.

5. Next, locate the suit that belongs tothe top card. In other words, if the topsuit was Clubs, you would locate thetwo of clubs, then cutting using theCover Up Cut at the same time, theoriginal Club suit would be on top plusthe original Ace of Clubs also on top.The pack is again in its original order.

6. By using a cut that retains the b o t -tom card, the same results can betobtained; however, the bottom cut m a y ibe more deceptive as it is less apt to b e lseen, that is, if you want to use the!action when completely surrounded. T o Iretain this bottom card use The P u l l

Down Move each time you cut the!deck.

The following item is reprinted, with!the permission of Howard P. L y o n sfrom the I B I D EM , a magazine t h a t !caters to cardicians of all tastes. It i s apublication I recommend very highly t o Iall students of card magic.

The Faro CalculatorWhere do I place the Aces if I want t o Igive the deck a Faro Shuffle but h a v ethe Aces come out at uneven numberssuch as three or five? Or, how d o l lstart if I want to give cards a Faro a n d ihave four cards distributed through thedeck at certain definite odd and e v e n !numbers? How do I calculate a d e f i n i t e Inumber of cards between two s e l e c - [tions using a Faro or two, or three?

Do these problems and others of s i m i -la r nature make you reach for the s l i d erule or hire a mathematician? T h e n ,here is a simple method for calculatingpositions of cards when using the F a r o 'Shuffle system to set them.

1. First arrange a deck of cards i n Inumerical order and suit sequence. Inother words, from top down, A to K o f iClubs, A to K of Hearts, A to K of Spades, and A to K of Diamonds.

2. Let's assume your problem is to g i v ethe deck one Faro Shuffle but have the jAces come out every fifth card dealt.

3. Take your stacked deck, which is i nC - H - S - D order and numer ica lsequence. Cut at the 26th card w h i c his the K H, then give it one perfect F a r oShuffle, making sure that the o r i g i n a ltop and bottom cards remain the s a m e ,



189

THE FARO CALCULATOR

for example, the AC remains on the topand K D remains on the bottom afterthe Faro Shuffle. (This, of course, is anOut Shuff le)

4. Hold the deck face down and thumboff f i v e cards and then turn them faceup. A 3 of Clubs will be at the face. AsC l u b s is the first suit of the sequence,t h i s means that one Ace would have tobe placed third from the top.

T h u m b off another five cards, turnt h e m face up onto the first batch, thisis jus t to reta in the order. A 5 of Spades turns up.

As Clubs and Hearts precede Spades,the 13 cards of the two suits must beadded to 5 the numerical value of thecard. This identifies the 5 of Spades'position before the Faro Shuffle.T h e r f o r e 13 plus 13 equals 26, and 26plus 5 equals 31, or the position of thesecond Ace before a Faro Shuffle.

5. Thumb off a third set of five cards,which reveals an 8C. As Clubs is thefirst suit, this numerical value standsfor the position of the next Ace, i.e.,eight from the top.

6. The last set of five cards whenturned face up reveals a 10S at thef a c e . This means that again, all suitspreceding it, each having a value of 13,are added to the value showing. In thiscase C equals 13, H equals 13, Spadesvalue is 10. The result, 13 plus 13 plus10 equals 36 would be the position of th e final Ace.

7. If the Aces are now placed in 3-8-31and 36th position, then the deck cut at26 and a perfect weave made, you willfind that every fifth card dealt will bean Ace.

8. Using the above system, you cancalculate any desired positions afterthe one shuf f le .

As another example, suppose you wantto know where to place the Aces so

they will come out every third cardafter one Faro Shuffle.

Just thumb off three cards, notingwhich suits and values show up.

In this case, every third card wouldshow first a 2C, second set 3S, thirdset 5C, fourth set 6S. The 2C and 5C,of course, show that two of the Aceswould have to be in 2nd and 5th posi-tions before the one Faro.

The 3S and 6S, adding 13 for each pre-ceding suit, shows that the other twoAces would have to be in 29th and32nd positions before the Faro.

9. Let us suppose you would like togive the deck two Faro Shuffles andstill get the above results. In this case,

just give your Calculating Deck anotherperfect Faro Shuffle but rememberingto keep top and bottom cards, AC andKD, the same.

Now, going thru the same calculationsas explained for one shuffle, you canget the positions of placement neededfor two shuffles. This calculation will

work for any number of shuffles. Allyou need do is decide on how manyFaro Shuffles you want to give the deck to get certain cards into certain posi-tions. Then give your Calculating Deck that many Perfect Shuffles. Finally, cal-culate, as given in the first instance, tolearn where you need to originallyplace your desired cards so that theyfall into the proper places after thatnumber of Faro Shuffles.

We're sure that the user of the FaroShuffles will find this an easy enoughCalculating System.

Note: The above system has beenexplained using an Out Shuffle, butnaturally the same calculations areapplicable to In Shuffles as well ascombinations of both In and OutShuffles.



190

FARO NOTES

The Chain Calculator

Effect: Cardician shuffles the deck, yet

after each shuffle he is able to tell thelocation of any card called for. To dothe above e f f e c t , you need to use amemorized pack, ability to do perfectFaro Out Shuffles, plus a formula thatenables you to use it like a ChainCalculator.

1. Let's assume you have memorizedthe order of the deck as per TheMemory Stack below.

2. The formula for determining the new

positions of a card after one OutShuffle is as follows; any cards fromnumbers 1 to 26 will be doubled,minus one. In other words, a card atthe 5th position times 2 equals 10,then minus 1 equals 9. The card origi-nally 5th will now be 9th after one OutShuffle.

On cards at numbers 27 to 52 youmust subtract 26 from the positionnumber, then double the remainder.

For example, a card is, say, at the 30thposition. Now 30 minus 26 is 4, thenthis doubled equals 8. Thus, the 30thcard's new position is 8th from the topafter the first shuffle.

3. That is fine, you say, for one shuffle,but how about each succeeding shuf-fle? Well, this is where the ChainCalculator System comes into play andworks with a memorized pack simplybecause you know the card's original

starting point when it is called.4. Suppose you have just given thepack the third Faro Out Shuffle andnow the spectator calls a card. As soonas he calls that card you immediatelyknow its original memorized position.Let's assume the card he calls is the10th card in the original memorizedpack.

5. You immediately make your first cal-culation of a card from 1 to 26, i.e.,

double the position, minus one. T h i sgives you 10 times 2 minus 1 w h i c hequals 19.

6. Now, 19 is the position after the f i r s tshuffle, but remember you gave it t h r e eshuffles. The next step is to again usethe formula. As the card is 19, obvious-ly you repeat the 1 to 26 formula of 19times 2, minus 1 equals 37.

7. The 37 is the card's position a f t e rthe second shuffle. This means yourepeat the fo rmu la for a third t i m e ,However, as the card is now at 37, youuse the formula for cards from 27 to 52which is 37 minus 26 equals 11. T h e n ,11 times 2 equals 22. The card's p o s i -tion is now 22nd after the third s h u f f l e ,

8. Obviously the above process can becontinued on thru the eight s h u f f l e s ,but beyond the third shuffle it becomesquite a problem to calculate r a p i d l yand accurately. Therefore, we n o wmake use of a formula that will c a l c u -late the position of cards backwardfrom the original memorized set.

9. In order to calculate the position of acard in, say, the 7th shuffle, the f o r m u -la is this: On all cards in odd n u m - 1bered positions you divide by 2, t h e nusing the largest half will give the p o s i - 1tion of the card. As an example, s u p -pose the 15th card in the memo r i z e d 'list is called. Divide 15 by 2 w h i c hgives a larger half of 8; therefore, 8 i s Ithe position of the card in the 7th s h u f - 1fie.

10. For all cards at even numbers you [divide the position by two, then add 26to give you the new position. For e x a m - •

p i e , the 38th card in the memorized l i s t 'is called. Divide 38 which gives 1 9 , 1then add 26 giving you 45 as the new Iposition of the card in the 7th shuff le .

11. To continue using the above as aBackward Chain Calculator, you sim-ply repeat the formula. To give an i l l u s -tration, suppose you wish to calculate



191

THE LEFT OVER FARO SHUFFLE

a card's position in the 5th shuffle andthe ca rd ' s memorized position is origi-n a l l y 15. First, 15 is odd, so divide toget 8 (its position in the 7th shuffle.)

Now 8 is an even number, so youd i v i d e 8 to get 4, then add 26 to get 30as the card's position (its position inthe 6 th shuf f le . )

Continuing, 30 is even, so you divide30 by 2 to get 15, then add 26 to get 41as the card's position in the 5th shuf-f l e .

12. Again, an example. This time tak-ing our 38th card divide by 2 to get 19,add 26 to get 45 (7th shuffle). Now, 45

is odd, so you divide only by 2 to get 23as the card's position (6th shuffle.) 23t s still odd, so again simply divide toget a larger half, 12 as the card's posi-t ion in the 5th shuffle .

I f you have a good head for calculation,you should have no problem to get thepositions throughout all shuffles.However, even if limited to three oneach side of the original list, you stilltake care of seven of the shuffles.

You can easily bypass one or two oreven three of the positions by merelys h u f f l i n g till you get into the ones youare more familiar with.

At any rate, the whole point is that youcan keep shuffling and yet apparantlykeep track of all the cards.

The Left Over Faro Shuffle

This idea is dependent on the fact thatit is possible to control several cards

with an uneven or Left Over FaroS h u f f l e providing the cards to be con-trolled are known as well as their posi-t ions.

We will give an example of the process,but first let us define the terms LeftOver Top Faro Shuffle and Let OverBottom Faro Shuffle.

The Left Over Bottom Faro Shuffle is

one in which an uneven cut is made,then the top half is w e a v e d into thebottom half. However, the shuffle isstarted at the top of the two portions,with the original top card becomingsecond. In other words, an In Shufflestarted at the Top, then running per-fectly for as many cards as were cut off terminating in some cards being LeftOver at the Bottom.

The Left Over Top Faro Shuffle is alsoone in which an uneven cut is made,then the top half is weaved into thebottom. This time the weave starts atthe bottom of the two halves with theoriginal bottom card becoming second.

Again, it is an In Shuffle started at theBottom, then running perfectly for asmany cards as were cut off and termi-nating in some cards Left Over at theTop.

Besides the above information, it mightas well be mentioned that either theTop or Bottom Faro can be of either theIn or Out Shuffle type depending onthe results required. Now, for an exam-ple of the use of this type of shuffle

with regards to the control of four Aces.If your cards are known as in the caseof Aces you can use the idea of a LeftOver Faro Shuffle as follows: Havingplaced Aces every 6th card via the sidethumb count, you split deck at the lastAce, or the one in the 24th position,thus making this Ace the face card of the cut off packet. Now, do an InShuffle so that the original top card willbecome the second from the top.

However, due to the uneven cut, theoriginal bottom four cards remain atthe bottom during all the succeedingshuffles.

Cut again at the 24th position and youget an Ace at the face of the packet,then do another Left Over Bottom FaroShuffle. If the pack is examined now,two Aces are the 23rd and 24th fromthe top. Another cut at 24, or the two



192

FARO NOTES

Aces together at the face of the cut off portion, a Left Over Bottom FaroShuffle will bring the four Aces togetherstarting at the 5th card from the bot-tom.

In case it is required to bring the Acesdirectly to the bottom after the aboveshuffle, merely pull upwards on thedeck during the square up, so as toobtain a break above the bottom fourcards. It is a simple matter to cut thebottom four cards to the top to leavethe four Aces at the bottom.

In the case of the Aces being brought tothe top, all you do is make sure the

central Ace or Aces become the topcard of the lower portion, then go intothe Left Over Bottom Shuffle asdescribed. The result will be four Aceson top in just three shuffles and thethird one can be a regular riffle type

just to throw them off.

The Left Over Top Faro would meanthat the shuffle would be started at thebottom with the original bottom cardbeing lost each time leaving the samecards Left Over on Top. Using this type,with the Aces as already explained,would mean that they could actually bebrought to the bottom, or working theother way, they could be brought to 5-6-7-8th positions from the top.

One other advantage to the Left OverFaro Shuffle is that while actuallyshuffling together the four Aces, anoth-er four cards of like value, such as fourKings, can be retained at top or botomduring the shuffles.

By crimping the fourth card from thebottom you can use the Above CrimpFaro idea (See Chapter 6, Faro Shuffle)thus making the Left Over Faro a loteasier.

Shuffling The Aces

Effect: Four Aces are placed into thedeck and seemingly lost. Each time the

cardician shuffles the pack, he turnsup an Ace on top even though it w aa

conclusively not there previous to t h e

shuffle.

The four Aces must be placed into the14-27-37-47 positions from the top,For the present we will assume youhave the Aces in those positions. L a t e ron we will show how to get the A c e sinto the above positions very easily.

1. With the Aces apparently lost in thepack, show that they are not at top orbottom.

2. Split deck at 26, very easy as t h e r eis an Ace at 27th position, and give the

pack an In Shuffle. This brings one Ace]to the top. Turn over the top card d e a l -

ing it face up onto table as you s a y ,

"OneAce . "

3. The above shuffle has automaticallyset the second Ace into the c e n t r a lposition. All you need to do is againsplit deck at the Ace, then give t h e l

pack an In Shuffle to bring the second

Ace to the top.

4. During the second In Shuffles, y o u l

will note that there will be one card l e f tover at the bottom. In other words, t h e !top portion of 25 cards will weave i n t othe bottom portion of 27 c a r d s .Mention is made of this in order t h a t !

one doesn't think he has made a m i s -

take at this point but is in reality d o i n ga Left Over Bottom Faro.

5. Turn over the second Ace dealing it]to the table as you say, "The secondAce." Repeat showing top and bottom

cards as not containing Aces.

6. Once again cut at the central A c e ;doing another In Shuffle to bring thethird Ace to the top. Deal it face up totable.

7. The fourth Ace is now in the centralposition so once more it becomes asimple matter to locate it and bring itto the top by another Faro In Shuffle,



193

SHUFFLING THE ACES

T h i s shuf f le does not have to be perfectas long as the Ace ends up on top.

8. Once the fourth Ace is brought tothe top you can deal it face up with the

others; however, the following additiong i v e s it a better climax.

9. N o t e the value of bottom card of thed e c k . Suppose it is a 9 spot. Make atop cut of about twenty cards so that ind o i n g an In Shuffle, the top Ace willb e c o m e second but the bottom cardw i l l remain the same. A second cut ands h u f f l e wil l make the Ace 4th while at h i r d s h u f f l e and cut will make the Ace8th from the top. The 9 spot has

remained on the bottom of the pack th rough -ou t .

10. Next, cut the 9 spot to the top,a f t e r which turn the top card face up.Act surprised that it isn't an Ace; how-e v e r , quickly recovering say, "Well, it'sa nine, so we will count down ninecards." Turn the nine spot face down,c o u n t to the 9th card, turn it face up toshow the four th Ace .

1 1 . This method of Faro Shuffling while

keeping the bottom cards intact can beused with any value card This idea isf u r t h e r discussed under "ExactPlacement."

Now comes the problem of solving theplacing the Aces into the needed posi-tions of 14-27-37-47. It will be of inter-est to know that using the FaroCalculator we were able to determinethe best opening positions for the Aces.T h e s e positions become 7-40-45-50.

In originally removing the Aces oneshould note the 6th card f r o m the top.Now, when the Aces are reinserted, thepack can be held face up in readinessfo r the l e f t thumb side riffle count. Thefirst Ace to be found is placed into thet h i r d position f r o m the face of the deck.The next two Aces are placed every fifthca r d . In other words, thumb countf o u r , insert Ace, thumb count four,

insert Ace (3rd). The fourth Ace isplaced in front of the key card in the7th position from the top. Turn deck face down, give deck one perfect InShuffle. The Aces go to the 14-27-37-47th positions as needed for the effect.The Ace at 7 has moved to 14, the Aceat 40 moves to 27, the Ace at 45 movesto 37, while the Ace at 50 moves to 47in th e o n e I n Sh u f f l e .

Adding the principle of reversing cardswith an overhand shuf f le , it is possibleto work the Aces into the needed posi-tions even though the process is start-ed at the top of the deck. To work, holdthe pack face down and proceed to

insert the Aces in the same identicalmanner but from the top. The first Ace,if you remember, is inserted into thethird position, the next two Aces areinserted at intervals of four cards; how-ever, for the fourth Ace you thumbcount six cards, then insert the Aceinto the 7th position.

The Aces are in positions 3-8-13-20from the top. In an overhand shuffle,run off the top 13 cards and throw the

rest of the deck on top. This has nowplaced the Aces at 7-40-45-50. Fromhere one In Shuffle places the Aces at14-27-37-47 positions as needed for"Shuffling the Aces."

Placement Shuffle

Here is a use for the Faro Shuffle inwhich you place the 4 Aces in differentparts of the deck, then after two FaroShuffles, the aces will be togetherunder the top nine cards. They natu-rally can be used in any effect such asthe between 10 and 20 deal. The sepa-ration of the Aces plus the two FaroShuffles should puzzle the know-it-alls.

1. In taking out the Aces note andremember the 13th, 26th and 39thcards from the face of the deck.Assume these cards are the 13th-2S,26th-3S, and 39th-4S.



194

FARO NOTES

2. After the three key cards have beennoted, cut the three face cards to thetop of the deck.

3. Fan the deck or ribbon spread it on

the table. Pick up the first Ace andinsert it in back or to the left of the13th key. In this case an Ace is placedin back of the 2S.

4. Second Ace is inserted in front of, orto the right of the 26th key, or in thisinstance the 3S.

5. The third Ace is placed one card in front of, or one card to the right of the39th key, i.e., the 4S. In other words,the 4S, then one indifferent card, then

the Ace.6. Last Ace is placed into the fourthposition from the top. Square the cardslosing the Aces fairly.

7. To cut at 26, locate the center Ace,then release three cards onto the lowerhalf before splitting deck. Out Shuffleleaving the top and bottom intact.

8. To cut at 26 again locate the original39th key card or the 4S in this exam-

ple. Cut to locate the 4S but release itonto the lower half. As the 3rd key real-ly becomes the 27th card from the top,releasing it onto the lower section willgive 26 cards in each half. Out Shuffleagain leaving top and bottom cardsintact.

9. Additional Faro Shuffles can be usedto form a convincing combination yetdistribute the Aces to every fourth cardf r om t he t op a s f o l l ows :

10. With the Aces already under thetop nine cards give the pack an InShu f f e using a Throw Off Faro (SeeChapter 6 for details on this) to bringAces to 20-22-24-26 positions.

11. Cut at 26 or the last Ace, then givethe pack an Off Center Faro to bringthe alternating stock of Aces to the bot-tom of the deck.

12. Do an Overhand Shuffle to b r i n gthe stock of alternating Aces to the top,Cut an extra card over onto the topAce, then give deck a Faro In Shuffle tofinish with every Ace as fourth c a r damong the top sixteen cards.

Control of the Aces

Using the Faro Ca l c u l a t o r , we f o u n dthat if Aces are placed at every 5thposition f r o m the top, you can get t h e mto the top in five Faro In Shuffles. AtFirst, this may seem like quite anundertaking, but it is the manner inwhich you do it that cuts down on thetime element involved which is a g r e a t

factor in the shuffles.1. With the Aces face up on the t a b l eand the pack face down in the l e f thand, you are ready to insert the A c e sone at a time into the deck.

2. With left thumb, riffle count the topfour cards at the upper left corner. Theright hand inserts an Ace at this p o i n tthus making it f i f th f r om the top. T heAce is left projecting for half its l e n g t hand should now cover the le f t t h u m b

during the subsequent thumb c o u n t sof four cards each.

3. As before, the left thumb r i f f l ecounts four cards and the second Aceis inserted at this point. Follow thesame p r o c e e d u r e with the next twoAces. The result is four Aces p l a c e d !into different portions of the pack, b u tactually, f ive cards apart at posi t ions5-10-15-20.

4. Openly square up the pack pushing

the Aces flush. Immediately split thedeck for a Faro In Shuf f l e which b r i n g sthe Aces into 10-20-30-40 pos i t ion s .Aga i n , split the deck and give it a n o t h - 1e r Faro In Shuffle.

5. The whole process of Step 4 is t h a tyou pushed Aces in flush, then gave ittwo shuffles to make sure they are l o s t ,



195

CONTROL OF THE ACES

6. At this point, you cover up the timeneeded by showing the Aces are not onthe top or bottom. Spread the cardsf a c e up to show them widely separated.

7. You now give the pack two addition-al Faro Shuffles, saying, "Just in caseyou may think I remembered where theAces are, I'll give the deck anothers h u f f l e " as you give the deck two FaroIn Shuf f le s . Split the deck agaitv as yo\xsay, "How about one more just to besure?" Naturally, the 5th In shuffle willget all four Aces to the top.

Using the principles of the Left OverFaro Sh u f f l e , it is possible to start the

A c e s in the original 5-10-15-20 posi-t ions , then in only three shuffles gett h e m toge the r in the deck so thatmerely cutting at that point will get allf o u r Aces to the top or bottom as need-ed. The following is a brief outline of the action.

1. Aces placed every 5th card via thet h u m b r i f f l e count.

2. A Faro In Shuffle is made, bringingA c e s to 10-20-30-40 positions.

3. Now, a cut is made at the known Acein 20th position so that this Acebecomes the face card of the 20 cardpacket. Now do a Left Over BottomFaro Shuffle of either the In or Out typeto bring the Aces to the 19th and 20thpositions and the 39th and 40th posi-tions. This second shuffle brings eachtwo Aces together.

4. Cut the deck again at the 20th Acemaking this the face card of the packet.U n d e r this Ace will be the second Ace.

5. Again, do a Left Over Bottom FaroS h u f f l e of either the In or Out type tobring all four Aces together at 40-39-38-37 positions from the bottom.

6. A cut where the Aces are and youcan bring them to either the top or bot-tom. You can add to the spectator'sconfusion by undercutt ing half the

pack and in an overhand shuffle,reversing this position so that the Acesbecome 13-14-15-16 from the top.Another overhand shuffle to run off the

top 12 cards will bring the Aces to thetop.

It might be mentioned that at times, acombination of Faro Shuffles, RiffleShuffles and Overhand Shuffles canexpedite. Thallers, \ x v ^ j e t t v c v ? , tine Kc.e% \othe top. As an example, suppose youhave just Faro'd the Aces into 9th and10th positions and 19th and 20th posi-tions from the top. All you need do isoverhand shuffle to run off eight cards,thus bringing the first pair of Aces tothe top. Now, a cut at the second pairof Aces, plus a riffle shuffle will enableall Aces to be controlled to the top.Also, the Aces can be controlled strictlythrough the use of an overhand cullshuffle to get the two pairs of Acestogether to the top.

An Out Shuffle Effect

Effect: A selected card has been lost inthe pack. The pack is cut several times,

then the top card is turned over. Itsvalue is used to count down into thepack. This second card matches thevalue of the first card. It, too, is used tocount down further into the pack,where the selection is found to be. Thiseffect is a good example of how an OutShuffle can be used.

1. Have a pair of eights secretly on bot-tom of the pack.

2. Have a card selected and on its

return, undercut the pack so as to getthe pair of 8's over the selection, but, of course, at this time you merely keep abreak over the selected card.

3. Release the two eights so they fallonto the selection, then double cut tothe break, thus bringing the pair of eights to the top with the selectionunder them.



196

FARO NOTES

4. Now, give the pack three OutShuffles which will retain one eight ontop. The second eight will become eightcards away from the top card, also aneight. The selection will be eight cardsaway from the second eight.

5. A couple of false cuts to retain thetop stock, may be in order here.Eventually, turn over the top card toshow an eight. Place this eight aside,face up onto the table.

6. Count down eight cards from the topof the pack to turn up the second eight.Place this eight face up onto the firsttabled eight as you remark about the

coincidence.7. Count down eight more cards toreveal the selection.

8. An additional subterfuge can beadded. After the three Faro OutShuffles, undercut the pack for anOverhand Shuffle. Run 12 cards ontothe top, i n j o g and shuffle off. Cut at theinjog and cut or throw. This meansthere are twelve unknown cards overthe first eight spot.

9. Here, turn over the cards face up asyou say, "One of these cards should tellme something." All you do is use theold dodge of repeating to yourself, K -Q -J-10-etc., as you deal the cards faceup. When you come to a card identicalin value to what you are saying, youuse it to count down into the pack.Naturally, this will bring you to thefirst eight spot. From here, the procee-dure is automatic.

You can use Bob Hummer's idea of repeating three values for each cardturned up, thus insuring that you willget to a card you can use; however, itisn't really necessary as eventually youwill come to the first eight spot anyway.

Progressive Miracle

Effect: Cardician locates a card thathas been selected under somewhat

str ingent condit ions. The effect id

repeated several times.

How It Appears To The Audience: T h e !

Cardician shuffles the deck which i s ]

then handed to a spectator. Performer!turns his back while the spectator c u t s !the pack as often as he likes or until h t lis satisfied that the magician couldnllpossibly know the top card of the d e c l lafter the cut. This card is noted b y !spectator and placed into the center o i lthe deck after which the cards are o n e *more cut several times.

Needless to say, the cardician f in d s t h e jselected card. He offers to repeat t h t l

effect and does so successfully. H t |shuffles the pack, then repeats it f o r a lthird time, then once more he s h u f f l e sthe cards and repeats for a fourth t i m e . 1

The repeat of the effect after each shut!fi e is what throws off even the i n f o r m e d !boys plus the fact that the pack can b e lborrowed and the effect started in a r . iabsolutely impromptu nature.

Secret: This is an extension of t h t |"Mirac le Location" f rom the S p a d e

book; however, in this case, the w h o l eis accomplished with a pack that m a y 'have been in use throughout. In o t h e :

!

words, the pack is not in the N e f l lDeck order.

1. Naturally the secret depends on a!Spade set up on top of the deck. T h trequired Spades can be a r r a n g e !almost openly while in the process odoing some other effect. The best e f f e c tto do at the opening is " T h i

Mi n d r e a d i n g Queen."

Openly remove the ten Spades, f r o m .1,

to 10, but at the same time, s e c r e t l j ;get the J -Q -K of Spades to the t o p o lthe deck. Now , do the effect calledMindreading Queen. After the e f f e c t !you can easily get the ten Spades insorder from A to 10, then drop t h em o iltop of the deck. You now have, f r o n rtop down, A to K of Spades in order.



197

PROGRESSIVE MIRACLE

2. With the Spades on top of the deck in A to K order, give the deck two FaroOut Shuffles to make every four th carda Spade. In other words , there will bet h r e e regula r cards be tween eachSpade. The AS will always be your keySpade card .

3. Hand the deck to a spectator andh a v e him cut the pack, using straightcuts, as may times as he likes, afterw h i c h he is to look at the top card,then bury it in the center of the deck.A g a i n instruct him to cut the pack sev-eral t imes.

4. Turn around to take the pack from

the spectator. Look over the faces of the cards and as you do, count thec a r d s b e t w e e n each Spade card.S o o n e r or later, you will come acrosse i t h e r two cards between the Spades,o r f o u r cards between the Spades.

5. Where there are two cards betweenthe Spades is the place from which thec a r d was taken, while the section withf o u r cards between the Spades is wherethe selection was inserted.

6. You mu st keep a break at the placef r o m which the card was removed. Ther i g h t f ou r t h f i ng er holds a break at thisp o i n t in the deck. This still leaves bothhands f ree to fan through the cards ino r d e r to make possible the discovery of the selected card . The selection is oneof those four cards between twoSpades.

7 . A few questions as to color or suitw i l l usual ly very quickly give the

answer as to which of the four cards isthe selection. Remove it and place itf a c e d own on the table. Have the spec-t a t o r name his card, then turn overy o u r tabled card.

8. Pick up the card and insert it intothe place from which it originally wasr emoved . Your r igh t f ou r t h f inge r has ,of cou rse, held the break. It is an easym a t t e r to transfer this break to the left

4th finger which leaves the right handfree to pick up the selected card. Placeit on the face of the deck, then Slip Cutit to the place where the break washeld. The pack is now back in order,every Spade card having three X cardsbetween them. Cut the Ace of Spadesto the top of the deck.

9. The effect can be repeated, but ismore effective to ask, "Would you likeme to do it again?" At the same time,split the deck and give it a Faro OutShuffle which retains your Ace of Spade on the top.

10. At this stage, this second Faro Out

Shuffle has left your key Ace of Spadeson the top. There are 3 X cards on thebottom of the deck. Every Spade cardnow has either four or two c a r d sbetween them.

11. Give the deck to the spectator tocut and select a card as before, then heis to cut the cards again as often as helikes.

12. On getting the deck back, the firstthing you do is locate your original top

Spade card and cut the deck to bring itback to the top.

13. Look at the bottom cards. If allthree X cards are there you know thatthe selection did not come from there.

Next, look for either one X cardbetween two Spades or 3 X cardsbetween two Spades as the chances arethat an X card has been removed fromthese points.

Next, look for either 3 X cards, or 5 Xcards between two Spades as this willindicate the possible location of theactual selection.

There is also the possibility that youmay f i nd , after first checking off the top3 X cards, two p laces where there are 3X cards between Spades. This indicatesthat an X card was removed fromamong four X cards and then re-insert-



198

FARO NOTES

ed among 2 X cards. If you have stud-ied your Spade sequences, this alonewill tell you which set of three X cardshas the actual selection. Otherwise,

you will have to fish around to deter-mine which set of three to work with.

14. Again, you must keep a break atthe place where the selection will laterbe re-inserted so as to have the deck back in the required order after thisthird Faro Shuffle.

15. Having located the card for the sec-ond time, offer to do it again as oncemore you do a perfect Faro Out Shuffleretaining the top Ace of Spades.

16. After this 4th Faro, Out Shuffle,hand the pack to the spectator for arepetition of the selection process.

17 . On receiving the pack, run throughthe deck and cut at your original Spadekey card to bring it back to the top.

18. Check your three bottom X cards tosee if perhaps one of them was taken.After this you must remember thatthere are either two or six cards

between each Spade. There are threesuch sets of 6 X cards.

19. Look for combinations of one Xcard, three X cards, five X cards, sevenX cards, and check one against theother to determine the place fromwhich an X card was removed, and towhere it was placed. From here howquickly you arrive at the actual selec-tion depends on your ingenuity.

20. The above should suffice to give the

impression of impossible location; how-ever, it is for those who may so desirewe outline the situations that exist inthe follow up shuffles.

21. After the 5th Out Shuffle, eitherone Spade or two Spades together with5 X cards are between each singleSpade as well as the paired Spades.Also, only 4 X cards are betweenSpades after the 8th Spade from the

original top key Spade.

22. The 6th Out Shuffle results in oneset of four Spades and others in sets of three with one section of 9 X cardsbetween Spades and three sections o f10 X cards between the Spades.

23. The 7th Out Shuffle results inseven Spade cards at the top and 6Spades at the center starting with the27th card f r o m the top to the 3 2 n d .There are 19 and 20 X cards b e t w e e nthe two sets. The top set, 19 X cards,and bottom set 20 X cards.

24. After the 8th Out Shuffle, a l l S p a d e 1cards will be at the top. This conditionis due to the eight perfect Faro O u tShuffles. How much of a sequence i sretained depends on the key S p a d ecard used. In other words, if 4S w a sused, the top cards would run 4S t o IAS , but the others would run i n |sequence2S toK S. If you retained theAS on top, all cards run in sequence Ato K from top down.

25. We haven't mentioned the fact t h a tthere is the event of an actual S p a d ecard being the selection as in s u c h jcases, it will become very apparent byan unusual amount of X cards b e i n gbetween the Spades and the S p a d ecard actually in an obviously misplacedposition. If one has studied his e f f e c tprocedure, this presents no p r o b l e mbut rather a direct, no questions a s k e d ,miracle.

26. An aid in cutting at 26 may be i n Iorder here. For other aids see C h a p t e r

6, The Faro Shuffle.The first Out Shuffle should present noproblem; however, cutting at 26 a f t e rthat may. For this reason, knowing thepositions of the following Spades w i l lbe of great help in assuring a p e r f e c tcut at 26 each time.

A. A f t e r the 1st shuffle, KS is 25th c a r din deck; therefore, locating KS and t a k -



199

NEW DECK P. M .

ing one more card with it assures 26c a r d s .

B . A fter the 2nd S huf f l e the 7S i s the2 5 t h card. Follow the same proceedureas be fo re .

C . After the 3rd Shuf f l e the 4S i s the2 5 t h card. Same procedure again whencut t ing .

D . Af ter the 4th Shuff le, the 70S is2 7 t h card. This time locate I OS but donot include it in the cut.

E . A f t e r the 5th Shuffle the 5S is 27thc a r d . Do not include it in the cut.

F . A f t e r the 6th Shuffle the 3S is 27thc a r d . Do not include it in the cut, giv-ing 26 cards in each half.

G . A f t e r the 7th shuffle the 2S is 27thc a r d . Do not include it in the cut giving26 cards in each half, and the finalp e r f e c t Out Shuffle brings the Spadesb a c k in order on top.

A few trials will quickly show how easyit is to remember which Spade to look

for next as well as whether to includeor not include it in the top cut off fromthe deck.

New Deck P. M.

If someone should hand you a brandnew deck of unopened Bicycle orA v i a t o r cards, Bridge or Poker size,t h e n you are really in luck for a practi-c a l l y no questions asked type of Progressive Miracle.

As you know, a sealed Aviator orB i c y c l e deck has the cards in the fol-l o w i n g order, after you first discard theJokers and Score cards, from top down- A to K of Hearts, A to K of Clubs, thenK to A of Diamonds and K to A of S p a d e s .

As explained in Chapter 6, FaroS h u f f l e , the Half and Half Principle, isthe basis of all Stay Stack Systems.M a k i n g use of this, you can perform a

Progressive Miracle, at times withoutasking a single question but by merelyremembering a few things and follow-

ing a Reverse Check Off proceedure toarrive at the exact chosen card.

First of all I suggest sticking to OutShuffles at all times when using astacked deck. Getting back to youroriginal set-up may be of a lot moreuse than not getting back to any par-ticular set up at all.

1. During the shuffles all the Spades inthe bottom half and all the Hearts inthe top half will go through positionsrelative to each other. In other words,regardless of the number of FaroShu f f l e s , at whatever number you finda Spade value, from either the top orbottom, you will find the same value inhearts in a relative position.

The same applies to the two remainingsuits of Diamonds and Clubs. This iseasy to understand once the Half andHalf Principle is grasped.

2. It is an aid to the location of the ulti-mately selected card if the performerfamiliarizes himself with what the cen-tral cards are, i.e., 26th cards from thetop and bottom after each Faro Shuffle.Here is the easy way to remember thecenter key for all the shuffles.

After the 1 st shuffle the center keys areAD-AC.

2nd Shuffle, 7D-7C.

3rd shuffle, 4D-4C,4th shuffle, 9S-9H

5th shuffle, 5S-5H.

6th shuffle, 3S-3H.

7th shuffle, 2 S - 2H .

8th shuffle, KC - KD with cards back inoriginal order.

3. The above keys are very easy toremember as they consist of either



200

FARO NOTES

D and C suits or S and H suits withvalues of 1-7-3-4 for D and C and 9-5-3-2 for S and H suits.

4. The keys are used as the starting

points for the Reverse Check Off indetermining the exact card chosen.Also, if one of the keys are chosen youwill immediately know it or if a strangecard is found between these keys youwill again know it to be the selection;however, for the examples I willassume that such a thing has notoccurred.

5. Having opened the new deck anddiscarded the jokers and extra card,

give the pack two Faro Out Shuffles asyou outline the proceedure for thespectator to f o l l l ow as alreadyexplained in Progressive Miracle.

6. The spectator having cut the deck and selected a card under the condi-tions outlined, you take back the deck.Always be sure to cut the original card,the Ace of Spades, back to the bottom,before proceeding.

7. Next, count the cards, from the face,

till you reach the center keys.If the count should end on 25, thenyou know that the selection came fromthe lower half and was re-insertedsomewhere in the upper half.

If the count at the center keys is 27,then the opposite is true.

If the count is exactly 26, then youknow that the selection was replacedback into its original section. This is

the only time you will have to ask anyquestion to determine which of the twocards is the actual selection. We willassume in this example that the counthas ended at 25.

After reaching the center keys, whichin this example will be the 7C and 7D,then you more or less hold each half of the deck in each hand, close together.Do not separate the deck or hands, but

hold the deck as if you have stoppedcounting the cards.

8. The l e f t thumb now starts to p u s t lthe key of its half, the 7C, towards t h c l

center while the right fingers f r o mbelow start to push its key, the 7 D , Ialso towards the center.

As this is done, notice that the 7C aril7D check against each other, also tinnext cards, the 7H and 7S.

Still continuing to push the cards f r o meach half towards the center you w i l lnotice that the 8S and 8H c h e c k !together, or match, the 8D and 8 C [check, and the 6C and 6D check.

However, in the next pair you will find!that you have the six of Hearts but i t s ;r e a l a t i v e card, the six of Spades, d o e s - ln't show. The 9 of hearts a p p e a r s ;instead. It is easy then, using Step I :to realize that the 6S has to be t h e !selected card.

9. Locate the 6S in the upper p o r t i o n . :On removing it close up the deck a n d !get a left fourth finger break above t h e !

place where the 6S really belongs. I n Ithis case, you would have a b r e a k !above the 6D .

10 . Ask for the card to be named, s h o wit, place it back onto the face of t h t ldeck, then Slip Cut this selected c a r d !

to the break. Thus the cards are badin the order needed for a repetition o lthe e ffec t .

11. From this point you can do a n o t h e rOut Faro Shuffle or two and repeat t h t l

effec t by using the same Reverse C h e c kOff system.

I would suggest, after the Sixth O u t 'Shuffle, to go into the Fingertip!Miracle. The peeked card's position canbe easily calculated as the deck is n o i lin order after 8 shuffles.

Also, the calculations can be m a d equickly by doing it f r o m the top d o w n



201

76-76-67-67

for Hearts and Clubs but from the bot-tom upfor Spades and Diamonds,

In this way, your card's position isn e v e r over 26 from either top or bottomt h u s it becomes easy to calculatequickly and also to place into the nec-essary position for discovery.

12. Familiarity, in a pictured sense,w i t h the order of the cards after eachs h u f f l e will also aid in the location andcorrect replacement into original posi-t i o n of the selected card.

A f t e r the first shuffle the cards will bein red and black order with all suits

s t i l l running in original sequence butalternated in Spades and Club and inDiamonds and Hearts from face tob a c k .

The second shuffle has alternated col-ors with Spades-Diamonds and Clubs-H e a r t s plus valued pairs such as AS-A D and KC -KH , etc., throughout thed e c k .

The third shuffle will have colors inp a i r s wi t h the red color consisting of

H e a r t s and Diamond and black of Spades and Clubs.

The 4th and 5th shuffles haven't gotm u c h of an arrangement you can visu-a l i z e so you will have to be extra care-ful in being sure of the actual selection.

However, after the 6th shuffle the cardsw i l l be in color groups of three and fourw i t h each group having cards of onec o l o r and suit.

A f t e r the 7ths h u f f l e ,

thecards again

run in color groups of 6 and 7 withe a c h group having all one suit. The 8ths h u f f l e brings back the cards to theoriginal order.

S t u d y and rehearsal of this New Deck Progressive Miracle will give you a loca-t i o n that will not only puzzle otherm a g i but will also be well received byth e laymen.

76-76-67-67

E f f e c t : Performer mixes the cards face

up and face down and actually showsthis to be the case. Next, he furthermixes them up by a couple of shuffles.Needless to say, after all this the deck is shown to be all one way.

The above effect follows the pattern of the Slop Shuffle except use is made of Faro Shuffles and depends on remem-bering the formula 76-76-67-67.

1. The pack having been shuffled,thumb off 7 cards and turn them face

up onto the table. The next batch of cards thumbed off is 6 in number andthese are placed face down onto thefirst 7 face up cards.

2. Repeat Step 1 by thumbing off 7cards and turning them face up ontothe tabled cards, then follow with 6cards turned face down onto the tabledcards.

3. At this stage the process is reversedin that now the numbers are reversedto 67-67 so that the next batch of cards should consist of 6 cards whichare turned face up followed by 7 cardsturned face down.

4. Repeat Step 3 with 6 cards face up,then the remaining 7 cards face down.

5. Turn the cards over as you placethem in the left hand.

6. Split the deck at 26, which is easyas the two central cards are back to

back, then give the deck a Faro OutShuffle.

7. Repeat with a second cut at 26,again easy as cards are back to back incenter, then another Faro Out Shuffle.

8. At this stage half the cards are face-up and half the cards are face down.

9. Any form of Half Pass at the pointwhere the cards meet is used to right



202

FARO NOTES

the pack after which it is spread toshow as all one way.

Second Variation of 76-76-67-67

It is possible to get an added effect of showing all the red and black cardsseparated after the initial all one wayeffect.

1. The cards secretly must be arrangedin red-black order.

2. Give deck four Perfect Faro OutShuffles before going into the SlopShuffle effect.

3. After four Out Shuffles do the 76-76-67-67 effect as already outlined.

4. After the conclusion of the effect,turn the deck face towards yourself and quickly displace the 6th and 7thcards which will be of opposite color sothat they go into their proper color sec-tion.

Do the same with the 13th and 14thcards which also are of opposite color.This slight adjustment takes only a fewseconds and will mean nothing even if noticed by someone.

5. Next, perform two Faro Out Shufflesand the cards will now be in two por-tions of red and black.

6. At this stage you can use the redand black arrangement secretly foranother effect or you can show-off by

spreading the deck to disclose that t h eshuffles have not only righted the f a c eup face down cards but that f u r t h e rshuffles have also separated the c o l o r s ,

The Memorized StackIf one will look over the l i s t e dMemorized Stack he will find no partic-ular order as there really isn't any. Itreally is a stack that has to be m e m o -rized, but it has one advantage o v e rany in that it is made openly f r o m anew, unopened deck of cards.

Actually, this is an idea that a n y o n ecan use with the type of deck he m o s toften comes in contact with. The l i s t

here is as made from a Bicycle d e c kdesign. This pack began with the c a r d sin the following order from top d o w n ,First are the two Jokers. Next, theHeart suit from A to K , followed by theClub suit from A to K. The Diamondsuit runs from K to A as does theSpade suit from K to A. The b o t t o mcard is a score card or advertising c a r d ,The pack, at this stage, consists o f 55cards.

By leaving the Jokers and score card in Ithe pack, during the sequence of s h u f - ffles outlined below, the pack w i l l Ibecome broken up as regards su i t s , !colors and values so that no particular |order is kept that can be identified.

Assuming you have a pack that h a p - 1pens to run in the same order as t h a t Idescribed, here are the series of a c t i o n sused to get that pack into theMemorized Stack Order.

1. Holding deck for an overhand s h u f f l efrom the right hand, locate the K G , I

then maintain a break at this p o i n twith the right thumb.

2 . Next, run off the top 7 cards into the Ileft hand, then pick these up at t h e !bottom of the cards in the right h a n d ,

But keep holding the break at the K Cwith the right thumb at the inner end. I



203

THE MEMORIZED STACK

3. Now, throw the cards up to theb r e a k , run 7 cards, then throw theremainder . At this stage the 6D is thetop card of the deck while the K C is the

b o t t o m card. The club and spade suitsw i l l still be in rotation but hearts anddiamonds will have been broken up.

4. Split the deck at the 7D for a FaroOdd Shuffle which means that thel o w e r half will be weaved into the upperh a l f . This means that the bottom cardw i l l be the 7D and the top card 6Da f t e r th e Faro Shuffle.

5. N e x t , run off the top 7 cards in anoverhand s h u f f l e and throw the rest of

the deck onto these.6. Split the deck at the 3C for anotherFaro Shuffle doing an Odd Shuffle withthe upper half weaving into the lowerh a l f this time. The top and bottomcards will be 6D and 2S respectively.

7. Turn the deck face up to remove thetwo Jokers and score card, being surenot to disturb the position of the rest of th e cards.

8. Split the deck at the IOC and do anIn Shuffle with the IO C going to theb o t t o m of deck. The top card becomesth e9S .

9. If the order you started with was thesame as we mentioned and the shufflesw e r e correctly followed, your pack willbe in the same order as that in theM e m o r i z e d Stack.

10. The packs that you may be con-stantly using might, of course, have a

d i f f e r e n t set-up. This means that if yougo thru the various shuffles out-lined,you will get a different run of cards.N a t u r a l l y , this is the list you shouldmemorize .

The whole point is to leave the Jokersand extra cards in the pack to break up the suit and color sequences. Youcan also form your own system of shuf-f l e s , thus getting an entirely different

list of cards.

11. At any rate, try the sequence of shuffles here outlined. Regardless of the original order of the newly opened

deck you will see how the final list willlook.

Briefly, the shuffles are these; make abreak at the last card of the secondsuit from the top, run 7 cards off andpick up to the back of the deck.

Throw to the break, run 7 more andthrow or cut at the 28th card. Do anOdd Faro, weaving the lower half intothe upper half. (Upper half will havecards at the top and bottom of lowerhalf.)

Run 7 and throw the rest on top. Cutat the 27th card, and do an Odd Faroof the upper half, weaving into thelower half so that the original bottomcard remains the same, but the originaltop card becomes the second from thet o p .

Turn the pack face up to remove anyJokers or extra cards. Split the deck at

26, and do a perfect In Shuffle.After this, look over your pack to see if it has any appearance of order. If ithasn't then this is the list you canmemorize. Once you have memorizedsuch a list, you can see its advantagesover others as it will be the onlyMemorized Stack you can get into froma newly opened deck.

Fingertip Miracle

Effect: Holding a shuffled pack at thevery fingertips, at the lower left corner,the cardician has three persons peek atcards. After each peek, the pack isshuffled yet the three cards are laterdiscovered by the performer.

In the above, the cards are shuffledbefore and after each peek. The per-former does not know what cards arepeeked at. Matter of fact, the spectator



204

FARO NOTES

naming his card is the first and onlytime the cardician is aware of whichcard was selected.

1. The secret lies in a memorized pack,

properly handled as to throw even themost astute card men off the track.

2. No matter what system of memoryyou use, even Si Stebbins if necessary,the pack is first prepared by giving it 4Faro Out Shuffles, then it is replacedinto the case for the performance.

3. When ready to present the effect,remove the deck from the case. Splitthe deck at 26 and give it one OutShuffle. The pack is now in its 5thshuffle.

4. Hold the deck at the fingertips asper Fingertip Co n t r o l , Chapter 3, butlet the spectator pull back a corner tolook or peek at a card.

5. After the peek, split the deck at 26to give it another Faro Out Shuffle. Thepack is now in its 6th shuffle.

6. Repeat the peek process with a sec-ond spectator, plus another Out

Shuffle thus getting pack into the 7thshuffle.

7. Repeat the above with a third per-son. Give pack another Out Shuffle,thus making it the 8th shuffle, whichbrings the pack into your originalmemorized order.

8. As the shuffles, after each peek,have the appearance of a control of some sort, you already have them

walking on the wrong road.Actually,

atthis point, you haven't any idea as towhat the selected cards may be.

9. Turn to first spectator and have himname his card.

10. Once you know the card, the rest isup to you as to how you find it. Thereis no set rule only the ability to quicklycalculate the named card's positionbased on the Stack used. Then decid-

ing on an expedient discovery of t i ncard.

11. A few examples may be in o r d e rThe card may be in spelling position or

at least quickly placed into position b j just cutting a few cards from top tobottom, or bottom to top. The card m a jbe somewhere among the near the 2 6 t iposition. Again, cutting can place it at26 and then you can go into a C a r dStab Effect with the pack wrapped inpaper.

Perhaps you can have someone c a l l anumber between such and such anumber in order to restrict between f i v e

possibilities that include the selection, IAgain, the top or bottom card may h a v e !

just the right value to use as a c o u n l

down, or perhaps the total of the topand bottom or the total of two b o t t o m ;cards, or two top cards. Addition o i lsubtraction of these perhaps can b t lused. As can be seen, this is an e f f e c t

where one will have to be always a l e r t !and think fast; however, the effect c r e - latedwill be worth it.

Full Deck - Five Faro's

The following e f f e c t is strictly to p u z z l e

other magicians; however, the u n d e r l y -ing idea can be used as another t y p e d !Faro Shuffle Throw Off.

Effect: Magician shows a deck to be ina New Deck order. Next, he Faro s h u f -fles the cards asking his brother c o n - ,

juror to count the shuffles. A f t e r f i v e jshuffles have been made, the m a g i c i a n

points out that eight are required tobring the deck back to its o r i g i n a lorder. However, he states that the finalthree he will do invisibly. Pretending t o ;go through three invisible Faro S h u f f l e she then spreads the deck to show it inits original order.

The above is the effect but as has b e e npointed out the method can be used asa Throw Off because it doesn't s e e m



205

THE REVERSE FARO

possible to Faro Shuffle in such a man-ner and yet attain the same resultst ha t normally require eight Out FaroS h u f f l e s .

1. The pack is in suit order from thetop down of Clubs, Hearts, Spades,D i a m o n d s with each suit running, fromtop down, Ace to King.

2. Crimp the bottom card of the deck atthe l o w e r l e f t corner in readiness fo rFaro Shuffling Above A Crimp. (SeeChapter 6, Faro Shuffle)

3. With the right thumb, r i f f le the sidesof the deck and cut off 10 cards fromthe top and transfer them to the bot-tom, This is easy as all you do is locateI O C which is the 10th card from top.

4. A f t e r the above cut the crimp cardw i l l be llth from the bottom.

5. Cut at the 26th card, which in thiscase wil l be the 10S, then do a FaroOut Shuffle above the crimped card.

6. Cut at 26th card again. In this case,a f t e r the first Faro the new 26th keyw i l l be the 5D. Repeat the Faro Out

S h u f f l e above the crimp.

7. Continue the process for three mores h u f f l e s each time cutting at the new26th key which will be the 9D, JD andQ D in that order.

8. A f t e r the above five shuffles, cut atthe crimp to bring it to the bottomagain.

9. The pack is now back in its originalO d e r . The 5 keys, 10S-5D-9D-JD-QD

are easy to remember..10. You can use the same system on amemorized pack. Simply cut at yourm e m o r i z e d 10th card from the top tob r i n g the top 10 cards to the bottomb e l o w the crimp.

F r o m here cut at your 26th keys fore a c h Faro Out Shuffle above the crimp.Of course, you would previously deter-

mine your five 26th keys so as toinsure cutting at the 26th card eachtime.

The Reverse Or Backward Faro

Many years ago I discussed withMartin Gardner the possibilities of what I chose to call the Backward orReverse Faro. This was the usualprocess of taking a packet of cards and

jogging one inwards, one outwards, oneinwards, one outwards etc., until thewhole packet was thus run through.The result was that some cards wereinjogged and some were outjogged. Theinjogged cards are then stripped out

and placed on top of the others.In my experiments, I found that usingthe Backward Faro, a small packet of cards from A to K , top down, could bebrought back to A K order after 6 suchFaros, except, the cards were then inreverse order. In other words, the cardsrunning from A to K now would runfrom K to A if the top card, the Ace,was transferred from top to bottomafter the sixth Backward Faro. On the

other hand, it takes twelve BackwardFaros to bring the packet back to itsoriginal order of A to K.

Adding another 13 cards to make up apacket of 26 cards, each set in numeri-cal order, we found that in order to getthese cards back in order, it requiresan impractical number of BackwardFaros. It seems that with the additionof extra cards, the number of Backward Faros needed to get cards

back in original order increases buteventually they do come out in order.

One interesting thing about the 26card packet is that the cards will beback in sequence but in reverse, bothin suit and value while an Ace willremain on top and a King on the bot-tom. Transferring these two cards willhave both suits in rotation A to K, bot-tom to top.



206

FARO NOTES

By starting the Backward Faro with thetop card jogged outward, then the sec-ond card inwards, and continuing tothe 26 cards, and then stripping outthe injogged cards and placing themonto the outjogged cards, thus losingoriginal top and bottom cards, thepacket is brought to perfect order, butin reverse to the original, after nineBackward Faros. However, this procee-dure alters nothing for the 13 cardpacket except the K has to be trans-ferred from bottom to top instead of theAce from top to bottom. As mentionedbefore, it seems fewer cards take fewerBackward Faros, while more take

more. As an example, 20 cards, eachten in sequence, will come back to orig-inal exact order after only 6 BackwardFaros.

We're sure there is much here for theserious card student to uncover andapply. For the present, let us give onepractical application for the BackwardFaro.

When using a stacked deck, if onewanted to set it, so that one or two

Faro Shuffles could be made and thusrecover the set-up, the usual procee-dure would be to previously give it sixor seven Faro Shuffles beforehand. Thefinal shuffles during performancewould then give the required order of cards.

Using the Backward Faro eliminates thenecessity of doing six or seven Farosbeforehand. Merely have your deck set-up as required. Next, do a Backward

Faro, starting by injogging the top cardand continuing throughout the deck.Strip out lower portion and place ontop.

Now, during performance, a regularFaro Shuffle will bring the cards back in order. If you want to do two Faros,then do two previous Backward Faros,etc. The best example of utilizing theReverse Faro is when it is used to set

up a combination of shuffles such as:

A False Shuffle Combination

Actually these are not false s h u f f l e sbut, because of the previous a r r ange -ment, they do bring one into therequired order of cards necessary forany effect using a stacked deck, yeteven those familiar with Faro S h u f f l e swill not be suspect as to any ar range-ment really being kept intact.

1. First of all, assume that you have apack of cards arranged in suit ord e r o f Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds andthat each suit is in sequence of A to Kfrom the top down.

2. You wish to give this pack a c e r t a i nnumber of shuffles and retain t h e i rorder without it being too apparentthat you are retaining an order throughthe use of Full Faro Shuffles. The b e s tsystem to use is to preset for a d e f i n i t eCombination Shuffle such as the o n e

that follows.

3. Take the set up deck and subject i t Ito a Reverse Faro of the In type - one in Iwhich the original top and b o t t om !cards become lost. This is the f i r s tstep, a Reverse In Faro.

4. Next, take off the top ten cards o fthe deck and put them off to the right.Also take off the bottom ten cards andput them to the left. This is merely soyou don't get the two sets of ten m i x e dor confused as to where they o r i g i n a l l ycame from.

5. You now have a packet of 32 c a r d s .

Crimp the bottom card of this p a c k e t .Next, give this packet two R e ve rseFaros of the Out type which will r e t a i n

the crimped card on the bottom.

6. Now replace the ten cards that c a m e1

from the top and bottom of the ded.This time give the full pack a R e v e r s eFaro of the In type again after w h i c hyou can place the cards in the case toawait its use in performance.



207

THE WRONG HAND

7, Obviously, when the pack is takenout for shu f f l i ng , you start by cuttingat 26, then doing an Faro In Shuffle.N e x t , do tw o Above the Crimp Faros

concluding with another Faro InS h u f f l e . Result, the deck is back inorder as before .

You can set up your own combinationsusing the Reverse Faro.

The Wrong Hand

In effect , the Cardician seems to havemade a mistake in his shuffles as theusual four Aces have fallen into thewrong hand; however, everything turns

out all right as thecardician's

handhas a straight flush to beat the Aces.

1 . Previously or secretly nail nick, orscratch the sides of one of the Aces.Let's assume this Ace to be the Ace of Spades.

2. The effect is best performed after thepack has been in use for other effectsor if it is thoroughly shuffled beforestarting.

3. On getting the deck, you run

through it to remove the four Aces butat the same time secretly gather, to thebottom, any five cards of a suit rotationto form a straight flush.

4. In getting the straight flush, alwaysstart with whatever the bottom or facecard is, then build your straight flusharound it.

5. As an example, I have the 8H as thebottom card. I run over the faces of the

cards and I spot a 10H and QH togeth-er. I transfer these to the face of deck as I mentally note that I need a 9H andJ H to complete the straight flush.G o i n g along I remove each Ace as Icome to it but at the same time keepingan eye out for the JH or 9H.

6. The four Aces are now on the tableface up and the straight flush is on thebottom of the deck.

7. Overhand Shuffle and run off 21cards from the top of the deck to thebottom; however, break up the shuffleby running off 10 cards, then throw the

deck, run off 5 cards and throw thedeck, then run off 6 cards and throwthe deck.

8. At this stage, if you are working forother cardicians, pass the deck aroundto show no crimps, marks, etc.

9. Next place the Aces on top of thedeck but do so one at a time. As youhold out each Ace, point out how freeof marks, waves, or crimps, each cardis, if working for other cardicians. The

Ace to go on top last should be the keyAce of Spades in this case.

10. With all the Aces on top, cut thedeck to lose the Aces. Hand the pack tothe spectator and tell him to straightcut the deck as many times as he wish-es or until he is sure no one could pos-sibly know the position of the Aces.

11 . On receiving the deck, hold it inposition for the Faro Shuffle at thesame time look for your nicked orscratched Ace of Spades.

12. If the nicked card is in the lowerhalf of the deck, cut the pack at 26 anddo a perfect In Shuffle. If the nickedAce is in the upper half of deck cut at26 and do a perfect Out Shuffle.

13. The first stage will weave the Acesinto the straight flush with the Acespreceding.

14. Cut the deck at the nicked Ace of

Spades to bring this Ace to the top of the deck. At this point the alternatedAces and straight flush are all at top of the deck.

15. Cut the deck, at least the top fif-teen cards or more, then do a ThrowOff Faro ending with one that becomesan In Shuffle. Do the Double Cut tocomplete the series of actions.



208

FARO NOTES

16. Deal out four hands of five cardseach, face down.

17. Turn over the first hand as yousay, "Of course, this fellow has nothing

and neither does this one," as you turnover the second hand. Howeve r , at thispoint you act surprised when you see itcontains the four Aces. Pick up thethird hand as you mutter somethingabout wondering what happened.

18. At this point your spectators maymention something about the fact thatthe wrong hand won.

19 . No m atter what the reaction of youraudience is, state that, "The idea wasto deal myself the winning hand and itlooks like I s u c c e e ed" , as you tu rn overyour five cards and arrange them insequence so that everyone can see youhave a straight flush to beat the fourAces.

One thing more - If one wishes theeffect can be done without the need of a nail-nicked Ace. In this case, afterthe cutting, merely riffle the sides of the deck to spot whether the Aces are

in the upper or lower section of thedeck, then proceed with either the In orOut Shuffle as required.

If you have taken the prec au tion of remembering the top Ace of the fouryou can now riffle the sides of the deck to locate this Ace and cut the deck atthis point. From here the p r o c e e d u r e isas outlined above.

It's Mathematical

During a Perfect Faro Shuffle, eitherthe In or Out type, w hatever changes inposition occur in the cards of the tophalf of a deck, the same changes occurin the bottom half of the deck but inreverse order. In other words, the top26 cards go through the same changesin position as the bottom 26 cardsexcept in reverse to each other.

The original top card, after a num ber of perfect In or Out Faro Shuffles mayend up in the 9th position from thetop; therefore, the bottom card, or so

called first card of the bottom half of the deck, will also end up in 9th p o s i -tion from the bottom . This applies notonly to a pack of 52 cards but to anyeven number of cards. One can r e a d i l ysee that if a pack is memorized you can Icalculate the position of any card f r o m Ieither half. This will be shown in a n Ie f f e c t using a memorized deck, t h e n Ithe use of this principle as applied to Ilocating a freely chosen card.

First Effect:

The performer states that todays m a g i - 1cian no longer needs sleight of hand to jdiscover the identity of a chosen card, Ibut like the present day s c i e n t i s t , |depends on higher mathematics tosolve his problems. He then proceedsto prove his point.

1. A pack that you have memorizedusing any of the mnemonic sy stems soas to enable you to recall any card's

original position.2. The memorized deck can be g i v e nany number of In or Out Faro S h u f f l e sas long as these shuffles are perfect.

3. Instruct the spectator that at anytime he wants you to stop s huf fling youwill do so.

4. Place the deck face down to the t a b l eand ask the spectator to name a n ynum ber. Suppose he calls ten. Instru cthim to count down and look at t h e

tenth card. Point out that due to t h e )shuffles you couldn't possibly k n o wthat card.

5. After the spectator has looked at t h ecard the deck is squared. Say, "I w i l luse a few cards to make a mathemati-cal calculation." Her e, cut off almost all |the cards leaving ten or more cardsthe bottom.



209

IT'S MATHEMAT ICAL

Point out that his card is naturallyamong those you are not using.

6. Pick up the bottom portion and withthe card's faces towards you, count to

the tenth card from the bottom.

7. From this tenth card you will be ableto make a calculation which will giveyou the name of the 10th card from thetop or the one spectator had looked at.

8. W h e n you note the 10th card fromthe bottom you must recall its originalmemorized position before the shuffle.Suppose its original memorized posi-t i o n was 20th. Subtract 20 from 53

w h i c h will give you 33. Now recall the33rd card in the original memorized listand this will give you the exact cardthat spectator just looked at.

9. Should the spectator decide on an um b e r over 26, such as say 40, youfirst subtract 40 from 53 to give you13; therefore, you would cut off at least13 cards from the top. Next you wouldc o u n t d o wn f r o m t he t o p t o t he 1 3 t hc a r d and note its name. From here youagain recall this card's original memo-rized position. Subtract the originalmemorized position from 53 to give youa new number. This new numberrecalls a card originally at that numberin your memorized deck. Thus you caneasily tell what card spectator lookeda t .

10. You can pick up the deck, continuew i t h perfect In or Out Faro Shufflesand repeat the effect as many times asyou w i s h .

11. Although mention is made of In orOut Shuffles, I suggest using OutS h u f f l e s . In this way every eight shuf-fles will return the deck to the originalmemorized order. This effect can thenbe combined with one where a memo-r i z e d or stacked deck is needed. Alsoyou are in the process of doing ane f f e c t so the time element of eight shuf-fles will be camouflaged.

Second Effect:

Although not really an e f f ec t , rather a

method of location, it does show theapplication of the principle explained inthe previous effect.

1. In this a key card is used in such amanner as to be unsuspected. The keycard can be one that is either crimped,nicked, daubed, scratched, short cardor any other type that can be discernedwhile looking at the sides of the deck.

2. During a shuffle the key card issecretly brought to the bottom and

kept there during subsequent shuffles.3. Square up the pack placing it facedown on the table. Have a spectatorcut off a small packet of cards from thetop of the deck.

4. Spectator is requested to count thenumber of cards in the small packet,then to place the packet aside for thetime being but to remember the num-ber.

5. He is now instructed to count downin the deck the same number as cardshe originally cut off. In other words, if the packet he cut off had fourteencards, he would now count down to thefourteenth card from the top of thedeck and remember the card at thatnumber.

6. The deck is now placed onto thesmall packet originally cut off and thedeck openly squared.

7. Pick up the deck and cut the bottomcard to the top. Follow by doing a SlipCut to lose the top card into the center of the deck.

8. The above actions have nowarranged matters so that the originalbottom key card is the same number of cards from the bottom of the deck asthe actual selection is from the top of the deck. Even though you may not



210

FARO NOTES

know the actual number, of this condi-tion you are sure. In our example thekey card is 14th from the bottom andthe selection is 14th from the top.

9. You now indulge in perfect FaroShuffles of either the In or Out typeand although the key card and selec-tion may change their positions theywill always be the same relative num-ber from top and bottom.

10. Continue the perfect Faro Shufflesuntil the key card comes to a position,at either top or bottom, where it caneasily be sight counted by a slightspread of either the top or bottom

cards.

11. As an example, let us say that aftera number of perfect Faro Shuffles thekey card ends up about 5th from thetop, then, of course, the actual selec-tion is fifth from the bottom. Thereverse also holds true.

Example, when the key ends up at thebottom, at say the 4th position, theselection will be in 4th position fromthe top. No matter at what number thekey card ends up the selection isalways at the same number from eithertop or bottom in the opposite half.

12. With the selection in a known andreadily accessible position, it is a sim-ple matter to spread the cards, as if topoint up that no one could know wherethe selection could be, get a break either above or below the actual selec-tion, then Double Cut it to either thetop or bottom. With the card undercontrol use it as you wish.

Alternative Procedures

Here are two alternative procedures toget the card under control using theabove principles.

1. Having arrived at the necessary con-dition of a key card in relation to aselected card give the deck any numberof perfect Faro Shuffles but there is no

need to shuffle until the key card isnear top or bottom. Instead the keycard being further in the deck is b e t t e r ,

2. Assuming the key card is in theupper portion of the deck, cut here andinclude the key card. Do an In Faro of this portion into the bottom of the p a c kbut in the squaring up, push d o w n -wards on the pack so as to obtain abreak above the Faro Shuffled cards,Cut the cards at the break and theselection will now be at the bottom of the deck.

3. If the key card is in the lower s e c t i o nagain cut to and include the key c a r d

but this time do an In Faro Shuff le i n t othe top portion of the deck. That is, thekey card would become the top c a r d ,this time l i f t upwards on the w e a v e dcards so as to get a left fourth fingerbreak below the Faro Shuffled c a r d s .Cut at the break and the actual s e l e c -tion will now be top card of the deck.

The second p r o c e e d u r e is to make useof In and Out Faro Shuffles to eventu-ally control the card to either the top or

bottom. It is as follows:1. Suppose the key card ends up at 5thfrom the bottom of the deck; therefore,the actual selection is 5th from the top,

2. Cut off the top portion of deck anddo a Faro Throw Off Shuff le obtaining abreak above the weaved cards. F o l l o wby cutting at the break at the s a m e ;time doing a Cover Up Cut to slip thetop card onto the cards below the!break thus making the Faro an In t y p e

:

to bring the card to 10th position f r o mthe top.

3. Repeat the Faro Throw Off S h u f f l emaking it another In Shuffle to b r i n gthe 10th card to the 20th position.

4. Cut off 20 or more cards and doanother Faro Throw Off S h u f f l e o n c eagain making it an In type to bring t h e :card to the 40th position from the top.



211

TWO DISCLOSURES

5. Subtract 40 from 53 which gives you13 or the position of the card from thebo t t o m o f th e de ck .

6. Repeat another Throw Off Shufflebut with the bottom por tion of the deck.See Chap ter 6, The Faro Shuffle

7. Get a break below the wea v ed cardsand cut at the break to bring the cardto 25th position from the bottom as foran Out Shuffle. Next, cut the top cardto bottom. The selection is now 26thf r o m the bottom, set for an In Shuffle.

8. Cut the deck at 26 and do a PerfectFaro In Shuffle which brings the card

to the top.9. One can see that the above is merelyan example of how the use of Throw Off Faro S h u f f l e s , either from top or bot-tom. These can be used to bring aselection to either the top or bottom.

10. Once one understands the simplemathematics of the In and Out Shufflesas concerns doubling the position, ordouble less one, the selection can easi-ly be man u e v e r e d into either the 26th

position f r o m the top or bottom so thata f i n a l cut at 26 and one Faro InS h u f f l e wil l bring the selection to eithertop or bottom.

11. Working both halves of the deck inthe above manner, plus the system of Double Cutting previously explained inN o t e s On The Faro S h u f f l e will befound most expedient.

Two Disclosures

H a v i n g controlled a selected cardthrough the use of a Faro Shuffle, theproblem is usually how to disclose it ina manner that is in keeping with thetype of control used. The following twodiscoveries fit in perfectly with the FaroS h u f f l e .

First Disclosure:

E f f e c t : Spectator selects a card from aspread deck. Whatever the value of the

card it is used to count down thatmany cards wherein is found the previ-ously selected card.

1. Control a selected card to the top,then from there into the 8th positionfrom the top via 3 Faro In Shuffles.

2. Spread the pack face down and havea spectator remove any card from thecenter but be sure he does not look atit as yet.

3. Scoop up the deck and hold it facedown between both hands.

4. Now, have the spectator turn thetabled card face up. The chances of

getting a 7-8 or 9 are very much inyour favor.

5. If a 7, count down seven cards andshow the next card. An 8 is right onthe number. In the case of a 9, casuallypick up the card and add it to the topof the deck, then count to the 9th card.

6. In the event of a 6 or 10 spot beingchosen, quickly cut either a card fromtop to bottom or from bottom to top.You can very easily cut two cards fromtop to bottom as well as two from bot-tom to top thus your number range isfrom 5 to Jack or 11.

However, by making all picture cards avalue of ten you need never cut morethan one card from top to bottom atthe same time increase your range of possible values you can use.

7. In the case of the card being of a lowvalue such as an Ace-two-three or four,

then merely spread the deck and havea second card chosen with the chancesof the two cards totaling a numberclose enough to use in the count down.Any way, you think on your feet all thetime when doing this effect but thenumber of times it works out perfectlyis worth the few times you may have tomanuever around.



212

FARO NOTES

Second Disclosure:

Effect: This is a form of "Stop" effectbut one that works out all the timewith absolutely no chance of failure yet

all the opportunity of winding up as areal miracle.

1. Previously remove any spot card,such as a nine for this example. Placeit aside face down but be sure not tocall any particular attention to it asyou may not have to use it.

2. Control a chosen card to the top,then from there into the position denot-ed by your chosen value card. In this

case the card would be brought toninth from the top.

3. Hand the deck to the spectator andtell him that he is to deal the cards facedown one at a time and stop dealing atany time he wishes. Tell him this beforehe starts any dealing at all.

4. Although you are not working anypsychological angle the chances aregood that he may stop at or near hiscard. If he does you can build it up,

then after disclosing that he stopped athis card you can terminate the effect.

5. In the event that he stops, say, afterdealing down three cards proceed byasking how many cards he dealt. Hewill say, "Three" to which you say,"Drop the deck onto those."

6. Call attention now to the tabled cardoff to one side. Turn it face up to showit is a nine spot. Ask how many cardshe dealt to which "Three" will be the

reply. State, "Three from nine is six."Have him count to the sixth cardwhich, of course, is the selection.

7. The above subtraction method willwork up to any number dealt that islower than your value card.

8. In the event that a spectator dealsway past the selection you again ask him how many cards he dealt. The

chances are he will have to count t h e mto f ind out .

9. If he counts and reverses the cards,then, of course, the selection a g a i n

becom es the 9th card from the top andthe terminat ion of the e f fect i s obv iousas you m erely have him count down tothe 9th card.

10. In the event that he doesn't reversethe cards in his recount, you m e r e l yturn over the value card, then h a v ehim subtract i t from his number of cards and count down that many c a r d sand turn over the next card which w i l lbe the selection.

11. As an example of Step 10 , supposehe dealt off 24 cards. The value card issubtracted f r o m this number, in t h i scase 9-24 would give a rem aind er of 15. Have spectator count off f i f t e e ncards from his packet of 24, then toturn up the next card which will be hisselection.

12 . In the event you want to repeat theeffec t you can, by merely using a d i f f e r -ent value card, but remember to p l a c ethe selection at the same number f r o mthe top as the value you use. In o t h e rwords, if you decided to use a 6 s p o t ,then the selection would be controlledto the 6th position f r o m the top. F r o mhere the rules of subtraction apply asalready detailed plus that chance for a |perfec t mirac le.

Automatic Placement

Eff ec t : Ac tua l ly this i s pr im ari ly a

method of being able to place a c a r d ,that has apparent ly mere ly b e e nthought of, in a position known to theperform er. From this point any numb erof effective conclusions are possible.There are no key cards involved of anykind and thus the pack can be h a n d l e dand shuffled freely by both the specta-tor and cardician.



213

AUTOMATIC PLACEMENT

1. Have the spectator shuffle the deck,then have him place it face down onth e table.

2. Next, instruct the spectator to cut off a few cards from the top of the deck and then to count the number of cardshe has cut from the deck. In the mean-t i m e , you can turn your back duringth i s , as you actually do not need toknow anything at all.

3. A f t e r the spectator has counted thecards you then pick up the remainderof the deck and give the spectator thefol lowing instructions which are verysimple. Whatever the number of cardshe has cut off, he is to note a card atthat position in the deck as you passthe cards one at a time before his eyes.

As an example, if he cuts off twelvecards, he would note and rememberthe twelfth card you show him.

4. As you pass the cards in front of himyou can keep your face averted toimpress on the mind that you do notl o o k at the faces of the cards.

5. During this, you count the cardspassed but only to yourself and stopw h e n you reach twenty six. A t thisp o i n t you will still have some cards left.Therefore you can bring out the factthat obviously if you went any further,they may accuse you of counting theremainder to thus gain knowledge of the original number cut off. If desired,you can actually leave some cards onthe table when you pick up the pack thus pointing up that you couldn't pos-sibly know how many cards were cutoff. Just be sure your packet of cardscontain 26 or more.

6. The cards that still remain in yourl e f t hand are now placed on top of theca rds in right hand. Hold the packetf a c e d o w n in the l e f t hand.

7. Believe it or not, the thought of cardis exactly twenty-six cards from the top

of the pack at this point. All thatremains is to take the small packetfrom the spectator and shuffle it orweave it anywhere below the top half or

merely drop the pack on top of thesmall packet.

By secretly arranging matters so thatyou can split the deck into two halvesof twenty-six in each half (use the 26thCard Faro Check here} you can nowhave two spectators each cut off a fewcards from their halves. From here youproceed as in the full deck versionexcept in this case you work with eachhalf separately and run the cards only

as far as the number thirteen and thenassemble the packet.

The card will be in the thirteenth posi-tion. So it is with the second half. Theresult will be that although both spec-tators may have remembered cards atdifferent positions, the two cards willnow be in the same positions from thetop in their respective halves.

Use of the Automatic Placement is ev i -dent in the complete #329 issue of the

Phoenix as well as in the items termedFaro Foolers; however, here are somevariations we made at that time thatmay be of interest because they weredesigned to puzzle those who may haveabsorbed the methods in the Phoenix.

Variants On Automatic Placement

1. In this method you need not handlethe cards at all as the spectator cancount down, to the number selected, allby themselves. All you have to do is totake the small packet and Faro it intothe top portion of the deck (small pack-et's top card should become top cardafter the Fa ro ) , then in squaring get abreak under all the w e a v e d cards. Adouble undercut will bring the selectedcard to the top.

2. A subtler variation of the above is asfollows: In handling the major portionof the deck, crimp the bottom card and



214

FARO NOTES

then cut the deck. Pick up the smallpacket and aparently weave into centerbut actually do a Faro Shuffle on thecards below the crimp. The result after

the cut, will be the selection on top.3. This method is bold but a good effectis possible. Proceed as above with thespectator doing his own counting downto note a card. Now , when you turnaround, pick up the major portion of the deck and drop it onto the smallpacket but in a jogged position. Pick upall the cards and obtain a break abovethe small packet which you thenDouble Cut to the top, still holding a

break. Next go into an overhand shuff l eby running off all the cards up to thebreak, then throw off.

Needless to say that you have countedthe cards as you ran them off and nowyou know the exact position of theselection. You are now set to do thee f f e c t .

Place the pack in front of the spectatorand have him cut off about half thedeck. Pick up the lower half and run

through it to pick out a card or cardsthat will denote the number of cards hehad cut o f f .

Throw these cards face down and pick up the upper half to remove his cardwhich is easy since you know its posi-tion. Hold all cards face down and havehim name his card. Turn his card faceup to show. Wait a while, then ask himif he remembers the number he thought of. When he tells you, show him that

you have a card, or cards, that total histhought of number.

4. The same effect as in 3 but the pro-cedure is a little more subtle. After youturn around you pick up the majorpacket and give it a Faro Shuffle. Thiswill only double the number he has inmind. From here proceed as in 3.

Faro Foolers

The following Faro Foolers are based onideas originally appearing in Phoerm#329, page 126 for the year 1955 ,

Namely , they a re the A u t om a t i cPlacement and the use of the 2 6 t hCard Faro Check which should b e

studied first in order to easily under-stand the cryptic descriptions of t h e s eeffects.

First Fooler

Performer divines the names of two ormore thought of cards.

1. Have 1st spectator shuffle the d e c k ,

then have him think of a card by u s i n gthe Automatic Placement process.

2. The Automatic Placement makes thefirst spectator's card 26th in the deck.

3. Cut the deck and using the 2 6 t hCard Faro Check you will be looking atthe 1st spectator's selection.

4. Remember this 1st spectator's c a r das you actually do a Faro In S h u f f l e ,The First spectator's card is now on the

bottom of the deck and can be retainedthere; however, in this case it is best tooverhand shuffle to lose it.

5. Repeat the Automatic Placementprocess plus the 26th Card Faro C h e c kon the second spectator.

6. You now know the names of the twocards as you actually go into a Faro InShuffle which brings second selectionto the bottom.

7. If you had kept first selection on thebottom you would now have the twoselections on the bottom of the deck.

8. If you had decided to remember thetwo cards while actually losing them insubsequent shuffles, then you end upby telling the spectators to think of their cards while you name each one.Do not remove the cards from the pack,but name them as if you are reading



215

FARO FOOLERS

their mind not locating their cards.

9. If you had decided to control bothcards to the bottom, then you can palmthem off as you hand the deck to spec-tators .

10, Instead of producing the cardsf r o m the pocket, you can state that youw i l l cause their thoughts to vanishf r o m the pack.

Second Fooler

A thought of card and a selected cardarrive at same positions in two halves

of the deck providing that the mentaland physical are closely allied.

1. 1st spectator shuffles the deck. Thisspectator thinks of a card, and usingAutomatic Placement you get his cardto the 26th position.

2. Second spectator cuts the deck intot h r e e equal packets. These packetsconsist of bottom, center and top sec-tions.

3. Second spectator is asked to shufflethe top section, then replace it onto thecenter section. Next, he shuffles thebottom section, and removes one cardf r o m it. He notes it and places it on topof the deck, then places the rest of thebottom section on top of the selectedcard.

4. Next the deck is given a couple of straight cu ts,

5. Performer picks up the deck, cuts it

for the 26th Card Faro Check as if toFaro Shuffle; however, changing hism i n d he merely places the two halveso f deck onto the table.

6. At this stage each selection will bethe same number of cards down intheir respective packet.

7. Have the two cards named. Say, "Top r o v e that the mental and physical areclosely allied, I will deal a card face up

s imul taneous ly from each half."

8. Continue dealing the cards thusuntil the named pair show up which

will be at the same time.Third Fooler

Two packets of cards, each containingan unknown number of cards, are usedto find two mentally selected cards.

1. After a pack has been freely shuf-fled, do the 26th Card Faro Check,then, as an afterthought, give half thecards to spectator A and second half tothe spectator B. Each, unknown to

them, has exactly 26 cards.2. The cards are mentally selectedusing the Automatic Placement exceptin this case each mental selection is atthe 13th position in each half.

3. Pick up packets in such a way thatyou In Faro Shuffle spectator's A 'spacket into spectator B's packet.

4. After the above In Faro, the 1st spec-tator's card, A, will be the 26th cardwhile the second selection, B, willbecome the 25th card.

5. Have spectator A cut a few cards off the top of the deck. Turn the deck faceup and have spectator B cut a few off the bottom.

6. In the above cutting, be sure thatthe remaining center section has morethan 26 cards. This is easily managedby handling the spectator's cuttingproperly.

7. Overhand Shuffle the center packetto reverse the order of these cards.

8. Turn the deck face up and fan countto the 25th card, cut at this point,placing the remainder to the face in ani n j o g g ed position. Turn the packet facedown, inwards, or end over end, andobtain a break above the jogged cardsas you square up the cards.

9. Have spectator A count the top sec-

tion he cut off. Whatever this number,



216

FARO NOTES

you count off that many cards fromyour section. Place the card that fallson that number in front of Spectator A.

10. At this stage, B's selection is actu-ally on top of the cards in your hand.Do a Slip Cu t , to the break, to send thetop card to below the break. After theSlip Cut you need not hold a break.Drop the cards from your hands ontothose you just counted off onto thetable.

11. Pick up this center packet and turnit face up in the hands. Thumb fromface to back counting up to the 26thcard and cut the cards at this point.

12. Turn the packet face down and ask spectator B to count the number of cards he cut off. The second selectionwill be at this number so all you needdo is count to that number placing thecard that falls on that number in frontof spectator B. All that remains is tohave each spectator name his card,then turn them over for the climax.

Fourth Fooler

A card placed face up in the deck locates two mentally selected cards,one on each side of the face up card.

1. Proceed as per the Third Fooler upto Step 3, where the two selectionsbecome 25th and 26th cards in thedeck.

2 . Place the deck face down and have itcut into three equal packets.

3. Have the top section shuffled and

replaced on top of the center section.4. Have any card removed from thebottom section and turned face up ontothe top of the deck. The rest of the bot-tom section is shuffled and placed ontop of the face up card.

5. Deck is now given straight cuts. Alsoriffle sides of deck to see whether theface up card is in lower or upper por-tion of deck.

6. If the face up card is in the l o w e rhalf of the deck, do a perfect Faro InShuffle. If the face up card is in theupper portion of the deck do a p e r f e c t

Faro Out Shuffle.7. Spread the deck face down to r e v e a lthe face up card. If the Faro S h u f f l e shave been accurate, the cards on e a c h

side of the face up card are the m e n t a lselections.

Fifth Fooler

The presentation follows the l ine of TwoClue Cards giving you the clue as tothe actual selected card.

1. A f t e r a shuffle, do the 26th C a r dFaro Check to note the 26th card f r o mthe top. Assume it is the 10D.

2. Have a spectator think of any n u m -ber f r o m 1 to 15 and to remove t h a tmany cards f r o m the top of the d e c k )while your back is turned.

3. Turn around and have a s e c omspectator cut a small packet of cardf r o m the bottom of the deck. Be s u r f he leaves you more than 26 cards i n

the remaining cards.

The reason for cutting off a small p a c ke t from the bottom, you state, is to p r e -

vent you from counting the cards antthus easily finding out how many c a r d sthe first spectator took.

4. The remaining cards are o v e r h a n cs h u f f l e d a s f o l l o w s : R u n 2 5 c a r d s ,i n j o g g i n g , shuffle off. Undercut to t h ti n j o g and throw the rest on top. D r o p

the deck onto the bottom section of cards, then hand the assembled d e c k lto the spectator who counted off t h ttop packet of cards.

5. Whatever number he had taken h t lis to count the same number of c a r d s !down from the top of the deck and t o lnote the card at that number. N e e d l e s s !to say, he will arrive at the 10D w h i c hyou already know.



217

A DOUBLE LOCATION

6. Hav e him place all the cards togeth-e r , then shuffle the whole deck.

7. Take the deck and remove what youc a l l your Two Clue Cards. You reallyremove any ten spot and any diamondc a r d which you place face down to oneside.

8. N e x t , remove the actual 10D whichyou say must be the actual cardac cord ing to yo ur Two Clue Cards.Place it aside face down.

9. Have spectator name his card . Showhim the two cards, a ten spot and adiamond as the clue cards. "Which, of

course, gave me the clue to the actualselection over here," you say, as youturn over the 10D.

Sixth Fooler

T h i s is a variation of a Warren Wie r s b ei d e a f r o m his booklet, Mental CasesWi t h Cards. In this case, a f r ee choiceof the two outside packets is giveninstead of forcing the top section as inhis Packet Prediction. Also a key cardis not used but rather the selection

i tself is used as the key.1. Overhand Shuff le the pack runningoff thirteen cards and i n j o g g i n g the14th. Hold the deck face down in thel e f t hand.

2. Get a break above the 13 cards bypul l ing up on the i n j o g g e d card withthe right thumb. The left fourth fingerm o v e s in to hold the break above the13 cards at bottom .

3. Spread the deck for the selection of acard while retaining the break abovethe 13 cards .

4. A f t e r the selection is removed, con-t i n u e the spread so that the selection isreplaced on top of the 13 cards.

5. Openly square up the cards. Theselection is 14th from the bottom. Cutthe deck at 26 for a Perfect Faro OutS h u f f l e which will place the selection at

26th position from the top.

6. Have a few cards cu t off from the topof the deck and placed to the right.Have a few cards cut off from the bot-tom of the deck and placed to the left.7. Point out that you couldn't possiblyknow how many cards were in the twocut-off packets. You could guess butyou would not be sure. Futhermore,you will give them a free choice of either p acket.

8. If the original bottom packet is cho-sen, then pick up the central packet,turning it face up. Thumb through it

counting up to 26, then cut the packetat this point. The selection is now thesame number of cards from the top of the deck as there are cards in the cho-sen packet.

9. If the original top packet is chosen,pick up the central packet for anOverhand Shuffle. Run off the cards,reversing their order, until you reach25, then i n jog the 26th card and shuf-fle off, Und ercu t to the injog and throwon top. The selection is now at theposition designated by the number of cards in the top packet.

10. In either case the chosen packet of cards is counted, then that number isused to count down in the center pack-et where the chosen card is disclosed.

Seventh Fooler

A Double Location

1. Cards are freely shuffled.

2. Two small packets of cards are cutoff from the top of the deck.

3. Spectator who cut the first packet isasked to count his packet and whatev-er this number of cards, he is asked tocount down that many cards into thedeck and remember a card at thatnumber.

4. Performer picks up the deck and



218

FARO NOTES

overhand shuffles the cards reversingtheir order. Also at the same time,counts the cards up to 26, i n j o g s the27th card, then shuffles off. Hold a

break at the i n j o g as you do the follow-ing shuffle. Run off the cards singly upto the break at the same time countingthem. Let's say you ran off seven cardsup to the break, then threw the rest of the deck onto them. Repeat by runningoff another seven cards or what evernumber you originally ran off beforereaching the break, in this case, seven.

5. At this point have the second specta-tor count his cut off packet. He also

counts down that number into thedeck to note a card.

6. Pick up the deck and repeat theOverhand Shuffle to reverse the orderof the cards. Also count up to 26 andinjog the 27th card as before, thenshuffle off, undercut to the injog andthrow on top.

7. Have the second spectator place hispacket of cards on top of the deck.

8. Pick up the deck and drop it on topof the first spectator's packet.

9. Believe it or not, the two noted cardsare now together at the 26th and 27thpositions.

10. Do a Perfect Faro In Shuffle andthe selections will be on top and bot-tom of the deck with the 1st selectionon the bottom of the deck and the sec-ond selection on top of the deck.

First Note On Fourth Fooler

Use any Standard Control to get twocards to the bottom, then proceed asper the Fourth Fooler, or merely spreadthe cards having one selected from thelower half of the deck. A card is turnedface up on top, then the deck is cut.Proceed with either In or Out Shufflesdepending on whether face up card isin the lower half or upper half.

Second Note On Fourth Fooler

As a prediction effect. Spot two bottom Icards and write these down on a p i e c eof paper. Do a 26th Card Faro Check t oplace the glimpsed cards at 25th a n d26th. Have a card selected and placedface up on top of the deck. Proceed as

p er instructions fo r Fourth Fool e rexcept in this case the two cards o neach side of the face up card are y o u rpredicted cards.

Variation On Automatic Placement

These two variations on the AutomaticPlacement are the result of experience,

In doing th e original method, m a n ytimes the spectator, in spite of b e i n gcautioned, let the performer know t h a the had already mentally selected a c a r dlong before the required secret count of 26, by the Cardician, was reached. T h i susually caused an awkwardness in thepresentation as the operator t r i e dsecretly to reach the 26th card b e f o r ecutting the deck. The following twop r o -ceedures avoid this situation.

First Method:1. The deck is shuffled by a spectator.

2. Spectator is asked to cut off a s m a l lpacket of cards and count them secret-ly .3. Performer picks up remainder of thedeck; however, he lets a few c a rd s ,from the botom of the pack, remain onthe table. Just being sure to take m o r ethan 26 cards is required and theremainder can be left on the table.

4. Pass the cards in front of the specta-tor as you request him to think of acard at the position that corresponds tothe number of cards he originally cuto f f , counted, and is keeping out of s i g h tat this stage.

5. As the cards are passed from the l e f thand into the right, the performercounts them secretly. Now, should the



219

FARO FOOLER # 8

spectator suddenly tel l you he hast h o u g h t of the card, all you needr e m e m b e r is the number of cards iny o u r right hand at the time.

For example, let us say you counted 17w h e n the spectator said, "I have it." Allyou do now is to place the 17 cardsf r o m the right hand to under those inthe l e f t hand. Also remember the num-b e r 1 7 .

6. You now go into an OverhandS h u f f l e of the run type, i.e., one card ata time. At the same tim e, c ount thecards run off but starting this count on18, then continuing the run count up

to 26 at which point the remainder of the cards are thrown on top.

7. Next , pick up the original bottompacket and place it on top of the deck in your hand. Follow by dropping thed e c k o n t o the spectator's original cutoff packet. The selection is now 26thf r o m the top of the deck as in theAutomatic Placement.

Second Method:

1. A spectator shuf fles the deck.2. Spectator cuts off a small packetand secretly counts it and places thepacket in his coat pocket.

3. Whatever the number of cards hecut off, he now counts down that manycards from the top of the deck tor e m e m b e r the card that lies at hisn u m b e r .

4. Throughout the above, your back

can be turned.5. Turning around pick up at least 26 or more of the deck thus leaving a fewcards on the table from off the bottomof the d e c k . Th i s is to indirectly pointout that even if you counted the cardsyou now hold, you still couldn't knowthe exact number of the spectator'scards due to the small remaining pack-e t l e f t on the table.

6. The cards that you hold are nowOverhand shuffled using the run andcounting up to 25, then i n j o g g i n g the26th card and shuffling off. Undercut

to the i n j o g and throw on top. Drop thepack onto the original bottom card,then have the spectator remove hispacket and place it on top of the deck.The selection is now 26th from the top.

Faro Fooler #8

Here is a Faro Fooler you can go intoafter either of the two methods of theAutomatic Placement.

1. Control the 26th card to the bottom

of the deck using an In Shuffle.2. Overhand Shuffle the deck so thatthe bottom selected card is brought to4th from the top. In other words, besure to sort of spread last few cards inthe shuffle so that the last four aredropped on top thus bringing the selec-tion fourth from the top.

3. Do a Faro Out Shuffle to bring theselection to 7th position. Nex t , do aFaro In Shuffle to bring card to 14th

position from the top.4. Pass the deck to the spectator tosquare up perfectly, then take the deck back.

5. Hold the deck face down in the lefthand. With right hand, lift off top card,by the ends from above, snapping itface up so it is held by right thumb onupper end on its face while the rightfingers are on the back of the card.

6. At the same time, the left thumbmerely pulls down on the side of thedeck to cause an opening at its upperleft corner. It will also be found that if this action is made without any rifflingbut merely moving the left thumb downthe lower three thirds of deck, thenpulling downward, a break will bemade at about the 12th or 13th card.Into this space place the face up card.



220

FARO NOTES

7. Square up the deck pushing the faceup card flush into the deck.

8. Now, respread the deck counting thecards till you come to the face up card

which should be right next to the 13thcard, on either side. This, of course, isanother application of the AutomaticCut or Riffle Principle first explained inthe Phoenixmagazine.

Uses Of Partial Faro Check

For the mechanics of the Partial FaroCheck see Chapter 6, "The FaroShuffle." Here are a few uses of thePartial Faro Check in additional "Faro

Foolers."Faro Fooler #9

Two selected cards are found by a faceup indicator card.

1. In an Overhand Shuffle from face toback, run off 13 cards. Note this 13thcard, then shuffle off. A card, known toyou is at 13th position from the top.Assume it is the 10D.

2. Turn the deck face down. Cut to and

include the 13th key card, in this case10D, in readiness for a Partial FaroCheck.

3. Do an In Weave of the 13 cards intothe top portion of the deck, then StripOut at the same time obtaining a left4th finger break as per the partialFaro Check.

4. Drop packet from the right hand tothe right. This has the 13 cards.

5. Cut off the cards up to the break,and at the same time pick up an extracard to make this a packet of 14 cards.Drop this packet to the left. Theremaining portion of cards drop to thecenter.

6. For convience let's call the packet of 13 cards the A packet, the center orlarge packet of 25 cards the B packetand the 14 card packet the C packet.

7. Have a spectator shuffle packet A ,then replace it face down.

8. Have the spectator shuffle packet Band then note the bottom card of t h i spacket. This packet B is next dropped!on top of packet A.

9. Have a second spectator s h u f f l epacket C and also note the bottom c a r d

after the shuffle. He is instructed t odrop his packet onto the rest of t h epack.

10. At this stage the two selections a re

in identical positions from the top a n d

bottom as already pointed out in I t ' s

Mathematical. In other words, the f i r s tselection is 14 cards from the b o t t o mwhile the second selection is 14 c a r d sfrom the top.

11 . Cut the deck at 26 and do a p e r f e c tOut Shuffle. This results in both c a r d scoming together at positions 26 and 2 7from the top. At this stage, if you cu t a t26 and do an In Shuffle, the two s e l e c -tions will become the top and b o t t o mcards; however, for the e f f e c t at h a n dmerely Double Cut the top card to t h e

bottom to bring the two selections t o25 and 26th positions from the top.

12 . Place the deck on the table and c u t |it into three about equal packets. Y o ucan have the spectator do this if youwish.

13. Have the spectator pick up thepacket that was originally the top of the deck and shuffle it, then have h im

replace it on top of the deck.

14. Have spectator pick up what is t h eoriginal bottom portion of the deck togive it a shuffle.

15. Have him remove any card f r o m

this shuffled portion and place it f a c e

up on top of the deck. Follow this byplacing the rest of the packet face d o w non top of the pack thus burying theface up card.



221

USES OF PARTIAL FARO CHECK

16. The deck is now given any numberof straight cuts after which the per-f o r m e r receives the pack.

17. With the left thumb, down riffle theu p p e r l e f t corner of deck to ascertainw h e t h e r the face up card is in thel o w e r or upper section of the deck.

18. If the face up card is in the lower sect ion you cut at 26 and give deck anIn Shuf f l e which will result in the faceup card going to between the two previ-ous selections.

19. If the face up card is in the upper section, split deck at 26 and give it an

Out Shuffle which will give you thed e s i r e d result of the face up cardbetween the two selections.

20. A f t e r the shuffle, spread the deck f a c e down. Remove the face up card,w i t h the cards on each side of it, havethe selections named and conclude thee f f e c t to the best of your abililty.

21. An added feature, in case you maywant to repeat the effect, is as follows:

A . Make sure the value of the face upcard is under a ten. In other words,f r o m A t o 9 .

B . A f t e r all three cards are together youcontinue with additional Faro Shufflesso as to bring the selections to thenumber away from the face up indica-tor. As an example, for values such as2 , one Faro Shuffle will s u f f i c e . F o r val-ues of 4, two Faro Shuffles while forvalues of 8, three Faro Shuffles.

C. It wil l be seen that while the FaroShuffles keep the cards an even num-ber away from the indicator yet anyodd number can be used as in thisexample:

Suppose the indicator is a 9, all you doinclude the face up card in the count toeach side and the 9th cards on eachside are the selections.

Should the number be a seven, then

you would not include the face up card.Instead you would count over 7 andtake the next card.

Same for the other side in the spread.Obviously, a six, ten, Jack, Queen andKing can not be used as a count butthey can be used to spell their valuesand in this way the number of cardsused amount to either 3-4-5 so theproceedure for these cards would bethe same as if these values were turnedup.

Added Note For Faro Fooler #9

At Step 11 you have to Double Cut the

top card to the bottom in order to bringthe two selections to 25th and 26thfrom the top. On several occasions Ihave found that this simple proceedurewas completely forgotten with the effectresulting in failure; therefore, if oneadopts the following proceedure heneed never bother to Double Cut at all.

1. In doing the 13 Card Faro Check donot pick up the extra card for the sec-ond packet. Instead, the two outside

packets will both contain 13 cardswhile the center section will have twen-ty six.

2. Follow the exact proceedure of selec-tion as per Faro Fooler #9, Steps 7through 9.

3. At this stage, the 1st selection willbe 14th from the bottom while the sec-ond selection will be 13th from the top.

4. At this point, you have two alterna-

tives open with the remaining 26 cards.One, you can do a 13 card Faro Check.Or Two, note the bottom card, over-hand run shuffle 13 cards from top tobottom, then throw the rest of thecards onto them. Cut at the noted cardto give you two packets of 13 cardseach.

5. In either case, you end up, veryquickly, with four packets of cards with13 cards in each packet.



222

FARO NOTES

6. Have a spectator pick up the firstpacket and have him shuffle it, thenreplace it to the table.

7. Have him pick up any of the other

three packets, shuffle it, note the bot-tom card and then drop this packetonto the first packet he snuffled.

8. Have two other spectators pick upthe other two packets. Each shuffleshis packet, then notes the bottom cardafter which their packets are droppedonto the first two assembled.

9. After the above, the selected cards,unknown to spectators, are in 13, 26

and 39th positions.10. Pick up the deck and give it twoperfect In Faro Shuffles. This brings allthree cards to the bottom of the deck.

11. Thumb count or Buckle Count thebottom three cards and get a break above them. Double Cut the three bot-tom cards to the top.

12. The three selections are now on topof the deck in the order of their selec-tion and returned to the performer. It isup to the performer to disclose them invarious ways. Even if these disclosuresare standard and well known, they willbe most effective in this case, due tothe seemingly impossible method of control.

Exact Placement

This idea enables one to place the topcard into the exact position indicatedby the value of any card, that happens

to be at the bottom of the deck,through the use of the Left OverBottom Faro.

1. As an example, suppose you have just controlled a selected card to thetop of the deck.

2. Next, glimpse the bottom card.Suppose it is a ten spot.

3. Break down the value of 10 into half

which is 5. Then break down the 5 i n t o !

half and use the larger half or 3. Breai jdown the 3 into half again using t h e l

larger half or 2.

4. The value of 2 is always your small!est number; therefore, due to the callculations in Step 3, you have arrived a ll

values of 2-3-5-10.

5. The even values represent IEShuffles and the odd values r e p r e s en tOut Shuffles. The bottom card must toretained during these shuffles.

6. With the selection on top and y o u r

first value a 2, you know you must do

an In Shuffle while retaining the b o t -tom card to bring top selection to s e c -

ond from the top.

7. An Out Shuffle now will bring t h etop card into the third or odd value o f3from the top.

8. Another Out Shuffle will bring theselected card into the 5th position f r o mtop.

9. As the indicator card is an e v e nvalue of 10, it is obvious that you m u s t

do an In Shuffle to bring selection tothat position.

10. The bottom card can now be s h o w nand its value called to attention or itmay be cut to the top, then dealt f a c eup as its value is noted. In either c a s epoint out that the tenth card, n o l |including the indicator, will be t h t

selected card.

11. This system of calculation can to

used not only on any indicator but forany number and as an example, l e t u !take 15.

12. Half of 15 is 8 or the larger h a l l

always. Half of 8 is 4. Half of 4 is I

Thus your numbers are 2-4-8-15 r e p - [

resenting three In Shuffles and one O u t :Shuffle.

In Faro Fooler # 11 is given not only aneffect but an example of how the E x a c t



223

EXACT PLACEMENT

Placement is used for both top and bot-tom cards simultaneously.

Faro Fooler #11

Two selected cards are found in eachh a l f of the deck at a previously thoughto f n umbe r .

1. Have the pack shuffled and on itsr e t u r n , glimpse the bottom card. Placethe deck face down onto the table.

2. Have spectator cut off a small packetof cards from the top of the deck. Whileyou turn around he is to count thecards and remember the number.

3. Turn around, pick up the balance of the deck, drop it on top of the smallp a c k e t , then very openly square it up.

4. Remove pencil and paper from yourpocket. Hand these to your spectatorand have him write down the numberhe now has in mind.

5. During Step 4 you have two alterna-t i v e s . One, you can casually pick upthe deck, then turn around so as not tosee what the spectator is writing.

During this time you count, from thef a c e of the deck, to the original bottomkey card and remember the number of cards preceding the key card. Two, youcan stand facing the audience as youcasually overhand shuffle the cardswith the faces towards you. As yous h u f f l e , count the cards until the keycard is reached. Remember the numberof cards preceding the keycard,which,in this case let's assume, is fifteen.

6. Hand the deck out to be shuffledagain. During the shuffle, mentallyb r e a k down the number fifteen to itsvarious keys to denote In and Out FaroS h u f f l e s . In this case, the numbersw o u l d come out 2-4-8-15 or three InS h u f f l e s and one Out Shuffle whichyou remember.

7. On return of the deck have twoca rds selected by any of the means

outlined here or by other methods aslong as the two selections become thetop and bottom cards of the deck.

8. With both selections on top and bot-

tom go into the calculated perfect FaroShuffles, as figured in Step 6, in thiscase 3 In Shuffles and one Out Shuffle.

9. After the shuffles one selection willbe 15th from the top while the otherselection will be 15th from the bottomas per our example.

10. Cut at 26, Faro Check if you wish,then place the top half onto the table.The remaining half you shuffle toreverse the order of these 26 cards andthen place the packet face down alongside the other.

11. Ask the 1st spectator what numberhe thought of and wrote down.

12. On getting the answer, take off thetop 14 cards from each packet usingboth hands. Hold the 15th card fromeach packet in each hand. Ask for theselections to be called, then turn thecards face up to reveal them.

Here are 3 more variations of theEleventh Fooler.

First Variation:

1. Proceed as per Faro Fooler #11 fromStep 1 through Step 9 .

2. At Step 10you cut and place the tophalf to the table but the remaining half you do not shuffle but merely lose thetop card to the bottom in a Double Cut.Place this half down on the table.

3. Give the top half to the spectatorwhose card is in that half. Have thefirst spectator open his billet to readhis number. Have selector count off cards from the top half, onto table,until he reaches that number. Havehim name his card, then ask him toturn face up the card at that number.

4. At this stage, the first selector still



224

FARO NOTES

has some cards l e f t in his hands. Havehim count these cards.

5. Whatever this number of cards is,hand the second selector the bottom

half of the deck to count down thatmany cards where, of course, he findshis selection.

Second Variation:

1. Again proceed as in Faro Fooler #11but only to get the required informationas to the number that the first specta-tor has written down. There is also noneed to start calculating the shuffles.

2. Here you control the two selections

into the 26th and 27th positions in thedeck by any means listed here or oth-ers at your disposal.

3. Secretly crimp the bottom card.Next, overhand shuffle, from the face of the deck, one card less then the num-ber written down by the spectator. Inour example, 15 is the number; there-fore, 14 cards would be run off fromthe face of the deck. These are thenthrown back onto the face of the deck.

4. Step 3 results in the crimped cardbecoming the 14th card from the bot-tom while the two selections stillremain in the 26th and 27th positions.

5. Cut at 26 and do an Above TheCrimp Faro (See Chapter 6). This givesthe same results as the previously cal-culated method without the necessityof In and Out Shuffles.

6. From here you can finish as in the

original l l th Fooler or as in the 1stVariation.

Third Variation:

1. In this there isn't any number decid-ed on, the effect terminating in a sort of coincidence effect in that both selec-tions are found in the same position ineach half.

2. Begin by controlling two selected

cards to either top and bottom or i n t othe 26th and 27th positions.

3. With the cards in either of the a b o v epositions, give the deck its proper O f l

Center Faro which automatically p l a c e sboth cards at identical positions f r o mtop and bottom.

4. Cut at 26 and place the top half tothe table. Shuffle the remaining half toreverse the order.

5. Now, you can ask for the names of both cards, then dealing s imul taneous -ly from the top of both halves, continueuntil the two cards show.

6. If you wish you can hand either h a l fto one of the spectators telling him torun through the cards and when hecomes to his card he is to reverse i t ,leaving it in the same position, t h e n )

square up the packet and place it f a c edown on the table.

7. You now deal off cards, f r o m b o t hhalves at the same time, faces d o w nuntil you reach the reversed card andthen stop.

8. Point out the impossibility of b o t h ]cards occupying the same position ineach half. Ask for the name of the o t h e r !selection, then disclose it.

9. After an Off Center Faro you cancontinue with additional perfect In orOut Shuffles and the two selections w i l l

always be in the same relative positionsfrom the top and bottom.

Faro Fooler #12

Tw o widely separated face up c a r d scome together except for a face d o w ncard between them. This face up c a r dturns out to be the selected card.

The above effect we submitted to t h t lGenii many years ago; however, t i n

present method differs greatly from t h eoriginal. It makes use of the P a r t i a lFaro Check and basically is as if c o n - ftrolling three selections. However,



225

INSTANT 26TH LOCATION

presentation enables you to do thee f f e c t even if you have only one specta-t o r .

1. Assuming you have one spectator,

quickly make two packets of 13 cardse a c h via the Partial Faro Check. (SeeChapter 6)

2. Have the spectator shuffle one of thepackets, then place it face down. Havehim shuffle the second packet and thenr e m o v e any one card, turn it face upand place it face up onto the first pack-et. D r o p his remaining cards face downo n t o the face up card. Thus two pack-ets are assembled with a face up card

somewhere in the center. Rememberthis card as your key.

3. During the above actions you willh a v e had ample time to do anotherPartial Faro Check making two morepackets of 13 cards each.

4. Give spectator a choice of eitherp a c k e t . He is to shuffle th e chosenpacket , note the bottom card after thes h u f f l e , then drop the packet onto thea s s e m b l e d packets thus losing his

selection.5. The last packet he also shuffles, andremoves any card. He turns it face upand places it face up on top of theassembled packets. He then drops theremaining cards face down onto thef a c e u p card.

6. To the spectator's viewpoint thereare two cards face up widely separatedand a noted or selected card face downsomewhere in the deck.

7. Have the deck cu t several times asyou point out that no amount of s t r a i g h t cutting will bring those tw ocards together.

8. A f t e r several cuts, spread the deck to show the two face up cards widelyseparated, noting the position of thekey card. "I will now attempt to bringthe two cards together in just two shuf-

fles, one for each card."

9. If your key card is less than 13 fromthe top or bottom, do a Faro I n -Shuf f l e ;if more than 13 from the top or bottom,

do a Faro Out-Shuffle.10. After the first Faro Shuffle the twoface up cards will be together. Quicklynote if they are in the upper or lowerportion of the deck.

11. If the two face up cards are in thelower portion of the deck, cut at 26 anddo an In Faro Shuffle which will resultin the selection going between the twoface up cards.

12. If the two face up cards are in theupper section of the deck, cut at 26and give the pack an Out Faro Shuffleto obtain the same results as in Step11.

13. Say, "I have now succeeded inbringing the two face up cards togeth-er", as you spread the deck faces down.

14. Act surprised to f i nd a face downcard between the face up cards. As anafterthought, ask for the name of the

selected card. Reveal the card betweenthe two as the selection.

15. You can reverse the effect in theevent you happen to get another spec-tator later on. In this case, merely havethe original two face up cards becomethe two face down selections while theoriginal face down selected cardbecomes the singleface up card.

The effect then terminates with a faceup card between two selected cards. Of course, this effect has already beenobtained in a previous Faro Fooler butknowing another method for it maycome in handy when it becomes neces-sary to repeat the effect.

Instant 26th Location

This is not an effect but rather amethod for getting a selected card tothe top very quickly using a combina-



226

FARO NOTES

t i o n of Faro, crimp, 26th Faro Check and Half Plus One principle.

1. Do a 26th Card Faro Check to gettwo equal packets of cards, i.e. 26

cards in each half.2.. Have one half, either half, shuffled,then replaced to the table.

3. Have the second half shuffled, thenthe bottom card noted by a spectator.This half is placed onto the first shuf-fled half.

4. Pick up the deck and in squaring it,crimp the bottom card being sure notto so much as glance at the deck.

5. Cut the pack casually as you passthe cards to the spectator for him tocut as many times as he cares to.

6. On getting the cards back, notewhether the crimped card is in thelower or upper portion of the deck.

7. If it is in the upper portion, cut at26, then do a perfect Faro Out Shuffle.The crimped card will come above theselection. Cut at the crimp bringing it

to the bottom while the selectionbecomes the top card.

8. If the crimp is in the lower section,then do a perfect Faro In Shuffle but besure to turn the deck around so thatthe actual crimped card will not inter-fere with the Faro; however, by under-cutting the lower portion into the righthand, then doing what appears to bean Out Shuf f le , the deck need not beturned.

9. Again the crimped card or otherform of key, will come above the selec-tion. A cut at the crimp to bring it tothe bottom brings selection to the top.

10. Instead of cutting at the crimp youcan indulge in additional Faro shufflesand these need not be perfect as longas the weave, in the vicinity of thecrimp, is correct.

11. By keeping track of how many such Iadditional Faro Shuffles are made you Iwill know how many cards from the top Ithe actual selection is after cutting the

crimp to the bottom.The 17th Location

This could very well be classed in the Isame category as the "26th Location"except in this case two cards are Ibrought under control despite variousshuffles and cuts that create an air of Iimpossibility.

1. First be sure you secretly get rid of Ione card thus leaving you with only 51

cards.2.. Using an In-Jog Shuffle or o t h e r ;method, spot the 17th card from the Itop of the deck.

3. Cut to and include the 17th card. Doa Partial Faro Check to end up with 3 1packets of 17 cards each.

4. Have a spectator pick up any one o fthe packets, shuffle it, then d r op i t Ionto the table.

5. Have the spectator take a choice o fthe remaining two packets, shuffle it, Iand note the bottom card. Then h a v ehim drop this packet onto the one hepreviously shuffled.

6. A second spectator is asked to s h u f - lfle the remaining packet and note t h e !bottom card. Then to drop this packet!onto the rest of the cards.

7. Pick up the pack and secretly c r i m pthe corner of the bottom c a r d ,

Immediately place the deck back o n t othe table as you request the spectatorto give the pack several straight cuts. I

8. On the return of the pack, give it a n IOdd Faro Shuffle- that is, weaving 2 5 'cards into the 26 cards. Give the d e c ka couple of straight cuts after the F a r o IShuffle.

9. Continue with the Faro Shuffles a n d ,



227

THE 13TH LOCATION

cuts until you fee l the sharp ones arelost, then make a final cut so as tobring the crimped card back to the bot-t o m .

10. At this point the two selections ares t i l l 17 cards apart with the spectator'stwo cards in the same original posi-t ions. Here you can use an OverhandC u l l Shuffle; (See Deck Deception) how-e v e r , a more deceptive combination isas follows:

1 1 . Cut the bottom crimped card to thetop, Next , run off 17 cards from the topof the deck into the left hand. Throwthese cards back on top of the deck.

12. The above action has placed thecrimped card above the 2nd spectator'sselection.

13. Cut to and include the crimpedca rd , then Faro these cards into thetop portion of the deck giving it an InS h u f f l e Faro.

14. Result is now the 2nd spectator'sca rd on top of the deck while thecrimped card is now above the 1st

spectator's selection.15. Cut to and include the crimpedcard, then Faro shuffle the large por-t i o n into the small portion so as toresult in an In Shuffle of the larger por-tion.

16. You now have the two cards on topin their proper order of selection asw e l l as the crimped card on the bottomwhich can be used again as a marker if you should wish to cut the deck again

at this point.The 13th Location

The Faro Fooler #10 has alreadyb r o u g h t out how three cards can becontrolled but here the introduction of the crimp plus the fact that you canFaro or Weave into the portion with thecr imped card, through the use of the4th Finger Table. (See Chapter 6, "Faro

Shuffle", for use of the 4th Finger Tableto eradicate Flare Out.)

1. Make use of the Partial Faro Check to get 4 packets of 13 cards each.

2.. Proceed as in Faro Fooler #10 to get3 spectators to select cards.

3. Pick up the deck and secretly crimpthe bottom card. Drop the deck back onto the table for the spectator to givethe deck several cuts.

4. With the cards back in your handssee whether the crimped card is in thelower section or upper section of thedeck.

5. Cut deck at 26 for a Faro. If thecrimp is in upper portion give the deck an Out Shuffle, if it is in lower section,give deck an In Shuffle. Follow by cut-ting the deck several times or let thespectator do this.

6. Again cut at 26 and do either an Inor Out Faro Shuffle depending onwhether the crimped card is in theupper section, Out Shuffle, or lowerportion - In Shuffle.

7. After the above shuffle, believe it ornot, all three cards are under thecrimped card. With a cut at thecrimped card to bring it to the bottom,the three selections will be on topeither in the order they were selected orin reverse order. In other words, 1-2-3or 3-2-1.

By glimpsing the top card, then havingthe first spectator name his card, you

will know from this whether the 3cards are in reverse or proper order. If they are in reverse it is a simple matterto bring them into proper orderthrough an Overhand Shuffle as fol-lows:

Run off 3 cards from the top as the 4thcard is taken, also pull off the bottomcrimped card at the same time, thencontinue the shuffle normally.



228

FARO NOTES

Follow by a few cuts ending by cuttingat the crimped card to again bring it tothe bottom while the selections arebrought to the top.

8. It is possible to always get the threeselections to the top in their properorder if you make sure that when thecrimped card is in the lower section of deck it is in a position less than 13cards from the bottom, when doing anIn Shuffle or more than 13 cards fromthe top when doing an Out Shuffle.

9. As the Faro Shuffles in Step 8, meshthe 1st selection above the 3rd selec-tion; the final shuffle, regardless of

where the crimped card lies, will meshthe second selection between the 1stand 3rd selections.

10. The opposite instructions from Step8 will bring the cards to the top inreverse order.

Wrong To Right

Cardician fails in locating two selectedcards; however, using his magical pow-ers changes the wrong cards into the

right ones.The method of proceedure is such thatthe element of failure becomes not onlyplausible but, even before well versedcard men, is taken for almost a certain-ty. It makes use of the ideas previouslyexplained under 26th-17th~13th loca-tions.

1. Run off 13 cards from the top of thedeck, i n j o g the 14th card and shuffleo f f .

2. With the right thumb at the back obtain a break below the i n j o g g e d cardas the right hand takes the deck fromabove by the ends.

3. Advance the right hand to the tableand let the bottom packet, cards belowthe break, drop off to the table as yourequest a spectator to shuffle these.

4. While the spectator is shuffling his

cards you run off another 13 cards,!injog the 14th card and shuffle off!Obtain a break below the i n j o gg ed lcard, then maintain this break with t h e !

left 4th finger.5. After the spectator has shuffled n i s ipacket of cards, ask him to drop t h e m !on the table as you hand him a n o t h e rpacket, those cards above the 4th fin-jg e r break, to shuffle.

6. The spectator shuffles this l a r g e r !packet, which consists of 26 cards, h eis to note the bottom card after theshuffle, then to drop this packet o n t o 'the one on the table.

7. Hand the remaining cards to a s e c - l

o n d spectator. He is also to s hu f f l e a n t i lnote the bottom card, then drop it o n t othe tabled cards.

8. Pick up the deck and in squar ing,crimp the bottom card. (See T h i

Cardician for an excellent method o f lcrimping.) Immediately drop the p a c kfor the spectator to cut several times, I

9. On picking up the deck, spot w h e r e !

the crimp is located. As you will w a n t jthe two cards in proper order for t h i s je f f e c t , be sure that the crimp is e i t h e r }

less than 13 cards from the bottom ormorethan 13 cards from the top. If it isnot in either of these positions m e r e l ygive the cards another cut to get itthere.

10. Having ascertained the c r i m p e dcard's position, merely give the pack In or Out Shuff le de p end ing on

whether the crimped card is in lower orupper section of the deck.

11 . After the above Faro Shuffle a g a i nhand the pack out for cutting or cut ityourself several times.

12.. Once more give the deck an In 0 1Out Shuffle depending on the l o c a t i o nof the crimped card, after which cut atthe crimp to bring it to the bottom.



Chapters Eight, Nine &Ten

Seconds, Centers,Bottoms

—Foreword—

The contents of these chapters are the

results of an analytical study of FalseDeals, the conclusions of which were

not arrived at overnight. Over a periodof years ideas were formed, changed,tested, and changed again. Who knowsbut that another span of years mayagain change some of the opinionsformed but I'll gamble on the sound-ness of what has been set down in thethree chapters to follow.

As in the past I have recorded inspira-tional sources, credited the original

ideas of others as well as claimingthose I feel are rightfully mine.

I know that the opening theories in

regards to the motions of the handswill not readily be accepted by magi-cians at large. Only time will eventuallyconvince them. How long this will takeis difficult to say. Although the immo-

bile dealing hand was mentioned as asuperior method twenty-seven yearsago it has not been taken up, not only

by magicians, but also disregarded bythose who supposedly make their livingcheating at cards. A book titled

Cheating At Bridge by Judson J.

Cameron and published in 1933 hasmention of the immobile hand and

refers to 'taking the second c a r d ' b u t

perhaps due to the lack of t echnica ldetails failed to catch the attention of \its readers. I'm sure no such excuse

can be made after reading the con ten ts

of this volume.

In just looking over the illustrations inthis book one may get the impress ionof repetition; however, reading the

instructions will show that at t imes athumb, a finger, a grip may be a l te redfor just that particular technique. In I

those cases where the illustrations are Irepetitious they were made so for th e Iconvenience of the reader in order t h a i I

he may not have to thumb back t o o ;

many pages in order to arrive at thereferred figure.

The various One Hand Stud S e c o n d

Deals are my technical variations o f adeal known as the California Second ,There have been other books detail ingOne Hand Seconds but they d ep en d edon a propulsion force to execute t he m

and were not of the Stud type. A l s othey did not advance the i m p o r t a n tbasic principle that really make s uc hdeals work.

Permission was asked for and gran ted

in the deals by Carmen D ' Am i c o ,Warren Wiersbie and Stanley James.



231

FORWARD

E a c h of these men do their specialties: v e r y w e l l , otherwise I would not have

a s k e d for their permission to includet h e m . My own variations of these deals

as w e l l as their application to effects[ m o r e than show their practicability.

[Tomake this as complete a treatise of F a l s e Dealing as possible I have re-prin ted three of my own contributionsfrom various publications; namely,The

fardician and the magical magazine:M . U . M . These are The Tabled Second,T a b l e d Bottom, and Mechanical

c o n d s while the Tabled Center Deal

t h e r e printed for the first time.U K t e c h n i q u e s of Center Dealing in

[ t h i s book are strictly my own. The

a p p l i c a t i o n of the Step Principle to theactual deal of the Center Deal is origi-

[ n a l w i t h me. I have checked all existings o u r c e s and none of them employ thet e c h n i q u e of directly dealing f r o m thes t e p . I bel ieve i t to be the finest methodof all. I have taught only one personthe Center Deal and that is Frank H e m ' c h o f Chicago w h o technically does

k s f i n e a Center Deal as any.

I h a v e never seen Charlie Miller per-f o r m his Center Deal which reliables o u r c e s tell me he does skillfully. I

h a v e never chased so called 'cardin an effort to discover their

l e thods and I have asked no ques-m s , regarding this sleight, from anyf the other card experts. Most of my

i n f o r m a t i o n came f rom a cinema shortfeaturing Louis Z i n g o n e and

[ some of the existing methods in print.T h e s e sources were the starting point

own experiments in the CenterD e a l .

[The "Uni t Controls" is something that Iexperimented with on and off for a

n u m b e r of years. It had its beginning

with an unorthodox second deal con-tributed to the pages of the Sphinxmany years ago.

This deal was one in which the deck was straddled and the top card waspulled straight back, buckling itupwards. Under the tunnel thusformed the right thumb was insertedand the second card was removed bythe right hand. In experimenting withthis method I found that two cardscould be pulled back. The right thumbcould enter under them, as shown inFigure X, and the third card removed.

Figure X

Many years later Paul LePau l also usedthe idea of pulling back two cards asper Figure X except he utilized it in asort of One Hand Shooting Deal of thesecond card. That was in 1949 and in1955 this same buckling back idea wasused by Tony K a r d y r o in his book Kardyro 's Kard Konjuring. Here it wasused not only as a method for dealing

3rds, 4ths, etc. but also as a CenterDeal, except that the right thumb dealtthe cards off the front end of the deck.In this same Book Tony Kardyro says,"Another much talked about deal orsleight is the dealing of Thirds,Fourths, Fifths, Etc. . . . I have never seenanyone perform this or even attempt toput it into print..."



232

SECONDS, CENTERS , BOTTOMS

I must concur with part of Kardyro's

statement in that I myself have heardof such a deal but have never seenanyone perform it; however, an attempt

was made in print. In "The Magic of Rezvani" by Maurice Sardina, translat-ed from the French by Dariel Fitzkee in1949, there is an explanation of aSecond Deal, and on page 28, para-graph 8, there is a mention of using thedescribed Second Deal as a possiblemethod of dealing 'thirds'. There isn'tany mention of 4ths or 5ths and appar-ently that particular method was notpractical for more than the number

mentioned.

The Unit Controls described here Ibelieve are the most practical to date,and of all False Deals these seem tohave a greater flexibility of magicalapplication than any other. To addproof I have applied the Unit Control toseveral effects of an unusual nature,not possible with any other False Deal.

In the "No Touch Theory" section thestudent may f i n d Second Deal Gripsthat bear a resemblance to those of Jack Merlin's in his And a Pack of Cards, the Walter Scott manuscript"Phantom At the Card Table" and Vynn

Boyar's Ghostly Seconds.

In fact, in one of the grips, it is just theapplication of the "No Touch Theory"that will allow the practitioner tounderstand how these deals operate,

thus making his road, in this type of Second Dealing much easier, enablinghim to attain his goal that muchsooner.

The previously mentioned book,Cheating At Bridge describes what is

termed as the ' I ron Thumb', the actionbeing the same as that described inGhostly Seconds, i.e., the right t h u m bpushing the left thumb downwards in

order to get at the second card. I m u s twarn the student that the "No T o u c hTheory" does not depend on s u c hactions. Rather, the left thumb m o v e sdown as the right thumb comes over totake the second card. The finer thebrief the more imperceptible is t h i smovement of the left thumb. One hasonly to try the "Strike Unit Control" tofully appreciate the "No Touch Theory."

The section on "Cover U p s " containssome standard methods as well assome of my own. The introduction of the Wrist Turn as a principle s h o u l dstart some sage comments. As wel l asmy "Concluding Observations."

The 225 excellent illustrations w e r emade by Charles A s t e , Jr. They cer-tainly are a great help in understand-ing the text but more than that t h e y

were made by a man who understandsthe subject. Charles Aste, Jr. is notonly an illustrator but has a deep l o v eand passion for the magic of cards. Heis a clever card man with definite ideasof his own. Anyone having the s a m einterests and who may at some time bein the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn . isalways welcom ed to a session over acard table. [Note: for this edition, HoyPalloy made the illustrations. E.C.]

To the students of card lore everywhereI o f f e r this text with high hopes t ha tthe contents will reveal something new,

Cardially yours,

Edward Mario



Chapter Eight

Seconds, Centers, Bottoms

Parti

T h e Master Grip and Deal The Bottom Deal New Push Out Bottom Deal Double Deal

T h e Over Count The Bottom Deal Count Strike Bottom Deal Strike Bottom Deal Count

The Second Deal The Take Second Deal The Push Off Second The Stud Deal

T h e Havana Deal The New Bottom Stud The Stud Second The Push-Off Stud The SailOne Hand Bottom Deal One Hand Count Down Shifting The Grip Two Strike Methods

S p ec ia l Push-Off Techniques Small Packet Second Deal The Side Push-Off Second T h e Related Bottom Deal The Throw Bottom Deal The Outward Deal The Inward Deal

M y Favorite Stop Effect The Deep Bottom Deal The Moveable Thumb The Clip Bottom Deal

Se co n d Clip Method

T h e s e chapters are the ones devotede n t i r e l y to False Dealing in its variousp h a s e s . I realize that many booksa l ready have had pages and pages of i n s t r u c t i o n s on this phase of cardmanipula t ion ; howeve r , I f e e l that thenew methods and theories about to bea d v a n c e d w i l l give the serious studentm u c h to think about in his approach to1t h e s e sleights.

T o b e g i n with, in most of the text bookslie g r e a t stress on the fact that yous h o u l d have the correct informationb e f o r e you practice. After making suchs ta tement s naturally they do give you

:the correct methods for bottom dealing,

a l s o c o r r e c t methods for second dealingand if you were to decide to use eitherone of these sleights you wouldproba-p ly be doing it correctly.

I B u t w h a t happens when you decide tom a s t e r both of them? Here is where thet r o u b l e starts because after you dom a s t e r both sleights you have alsoa c q u i r e d a great fault. This fault is thatth e grip is not the same for both deals.

More trouble along this line is evident if one masters, for example, the StrikeSecond and the Strike Bottom. In theStrike Second the instructions tell youto take the cards between the first fin-ger and thumb but on the bottom dealyou are told to take them between sec-ond finger and thumb. Not only are thegrips changed but also the method of taking the card.

Should you decide to do the Two CardPush Off Second Deal, then, of course,you would be taking the cards betweenthe second finger and thumb in bothcases. But what about the appearanceof the left hand? Well, in the second

deal you are instructed to keep the leftfingers along the side of the deck.These are supposedly to act as yourgauges to insure only two cards beingdealt over the side of the deck; howev-er, on the bottom deal these same fin-gers, according to usual instructions,are to be held out straight and rigid.



234

SECONDS CENTERS AND BOTTOMS

As if all this isn't bad enough, theworst of all is they tell you to acquirethe swing.

Now I am not against a normal move-

ment of the hands but when any stressis laid on such actions they usuallybecome greatly exaggerated because of a subconscious desire to include themin the deal. Once acquired instead of being an asset they are the greatest tip-off of a second deal. One can be seatedacross the room and spot the deal sim-ply because of this motion of thehands.

One more point is the beveling of the

pack. Before dealing seconds one istold to bevel the pack as it aids materi-ally in getting out the second card;however, for the bottom deal you aremeant to just forget about it.

In our case we forget about it in bothinstances with exceptions only in casesof deals that will be studied separately.

As was mentioned in the beginning if you have decided on any one particularsleight these problems will not confront

you. On the other hand, wishing tobecome an expert cardician, you maydecide not only on the second and bot-tom deals but on the double deal, thebottom deal count as well as bothstrike and push off methods for bothbottom and second dealing.

Readily one can see what an assort-ment of grips have to be masteredusing the present methods. It is ouraim to begin this chapter by detailing a

method of holding the deck, as well asdealing the card, where there isabsolutely no change as to grip anddeal during any of the various sleightswhether they be the strike or push off methods. This Master Grip and MasterTake is chiefly for those Cardicianswho wish to acquire the greatest num-ber of sleights that will use primarilythese basic methods.

Before proceeding with the a c t u a lmechanics of the Grip and Deal a w o r d , !which other texts seem to have o v e r - llooked, as to where to practice. T h e l

standard table is much too high fort h e

1

person of average height. This w i l lcause him to be seated rather low a n d Isoon he will find himself tiring of c o n - 1stantly pulling himself up to gain t h e Iproper height.

In order not to tire easily, as well asobtain practice under the best c o n d i - i

tions. A bridge card table should b e j

used. The tables are low and bring thehands down to a comfortable positionfor second as well as bottom dealing;howeve r , once the practitioner feels hehas acquired the necessary dexterity heshould also practice the deal seated atthe standard table as well as standingover one.

First we will once more repeat our-selves by setting down some importantpoints to be followed during practice.

1. Forget about beveling the cards.

2. Forget about the swing. One of the

best reasons for eliminating the s w i n g .of the hand holding the deck, is t h a tthe false deals become surer with lesschance of a miss. The right hand can Icome back to the actual dealing point alot more accurately than otherwise.

3. During the deal do not exceed y o u r |normal speed. B y that w e mean, if y o u r '

physical makeup is such that you nor-mally move slowly it would arouse sus-picion if, during the deal, you s h o u l d

exceed this speed. On the other hand itwill be quite an advantage if theunusually quick moving person s l o w shimself down but not to the p o i n twhere the company or himself may f e e lu n c om f o r t a b l e .

4. Although in second dealing a finebrief is to be desired, it is not essent ial ,Remember that the fellow with a finebrief who has tipped off his second deal



235

MASTER GRIP AND DEAL

is w o r s e off than the one who pulls hisc a r d half-way down but hasn't tippedhis deal. Lulling the minds of yourc o m p a n y is more important than daz-z l i n g their eyes.

5. N e v e r use the Master Method fore x h i b i t i o n purposes as you will teard o w n everything you have worked for.

F u r t h e r on in this chapter will bed e s c r i b e d other methods that can beuse d for such exhibitions or other pur-p o s e s .

The Master Grip and Deal

1. The usua\ descriptions So r \ ,VieMechanic's Grip tells you to place the

l o w e r l e f t corner of the deck just belowthe base of the left thumb. In theM a s t e r Grip this same corner of thep a c k is brought down to a lower posi-t i o n nearer the edge of the palm ass h o w n in Figure 1 which shows theh a n d marked off at the points wherethe opposite diagonal corners of thed e c k wil l be gripped during the deal.

2. Place the pack face down into thel e f t hand so that the two diagonal cor-

n e r s of the bottom card of the deck c o m e at the points marked X in Figure1. The left thumb comes down acrossthe top of the deck and lies diagonallyw i t h its tip near the upper right cornerof the deck. The tips of the left threef i n g e r s are pressed against the side of the deck. These fingertips should below enough to let the top card pass

over them during a deal and yet keepback the others. The pack is, of course,gripped only between the tip of the leftforefinger and the edge of the palm.Figure 2 shows packs position in the

left hand.

Figure 2

3. With your left thumb move the topcard clockwise to the right. This move-ment is sort of an arc with the fulcrumpoint being the lower left corner. Thiscorner is pressing against the palmduring the deal as shown in Figure 3.

The corner of the top card should project about a 1/4 inch beyond the restof the deck but not more.

4. The right hand which will now takethe top card should have its fourth andthird fingers curled in against thepalm. The first and second fingers areextended but not stiffly. The tips of right second finger and thumb shouldbe touching to give the proper curledappearance to these fingers. This posi-tion is obtained before the handapproaches the pack.

Figure 1 Figure 3



236


5. The right hand approaches the deck to take the top card. In order to do thisthe right thumb and second finger sep-arate only slightly. Do not make this a

pincer movement. In taking the topcard it is important that the tip of theright thumb falls on the deck at a pointwhere it will touch the tip of the leftforefinger as in Figure 4. In this waythe thumb will touch not only the topcard but also a portion of the secondcard.

Figure 4

6. The right second finger, from below,nips the top card against the ball of theright thumb, then carries it off the deck to the right and deals it face down on

the table a few inches away from thedeck. The next top card is now pushedover the side, the right fingers taking itin an identical manner and once moredealing it down on the table. As thedeal continues the deck will diminish.As this happens the left fingers, at theside of the deck, gradually move down-wards to conform to the thickness of the deck, thus always keeping the topcards under control.

The Master Grip and Deal should bepracticed until one feels comfortabledoing it before proceeding with any of the false deals. Finally, remember thatthe grip of the pack is always the sameas well as the taking of the card withthe right hand. Never deviate fromthese two points when mastering thevarious deals that use the Master Gripand Deal.

The Bottom Deal

Using the Master Grip alone you canmaster the Strike method of b o t t o mdealing, the New Push Out Method of

bottom dealing, Bottom Deal C o u n t ,Double Deal as well as the B o t t o mStud Deal and a One Hand Bottom. Allthis is possible not by changing thegrip but by designating c e r t a i nmechanics to the finger tips of the l e f t

hand. The first type of bottom deal t h a twill be discussed is the -

New Push Out Bottom Deal

This is an entirely new technique of pushing out the bottom card. There isa minimum of flash to the fingers andin action it is indetectable. Once h a v i n gmastered it the cardician can very e a s i -ly acquire a much improved method of Double Dealing, a One Hand B o t t o mDeal, a Stud Deal as well a B o t t o mDeal Count.

In order that the student can m o r ereadily grasp the underlying p r i n c i p l e sof this deal, the required actions wil l bepurposely exaggerated.

1. The deck is held in the left hand asfor the Master Grip.

2. The lef t three fingers that are a l o n g -side the deck should now be moved uptill the left second finger touches theside of the left forefinger. All four f i n -

gers will now lie close together as inFigure 5 but are still just low e n o u g h tolet the top card pass over them as inFigure 3.

Figure 5



237

PUSH OUT BOTTOM DEAL

3, The l e f t thumb now pivots the topcard o v e r the side as shown in Figure 3o f th e Master Grip.

4. As soon as the top card is over the

s i d e , the left second finger pressesi nwa rd on the bottom card. This pres-sure is applied to the upper right cor-ner of the bottom card without chang-ing the position of the left three fingers;h o w e v e r , the left second finger willb e n d slightly at the first knuckle. Thisa p p l i e d pressure will cause the bottomcard to buckle as in Figure 6. Note thatthe buckle is greatly exaggerated heref o r clarity.

Figure 6

5. Once the bottom card has beenb u c k l e d the l e f t three fingers, as a unit,m o v e slightly forward and to the right.T h i s causes the bottom card to alsom o v e forward as in Figure 7 whereo n c e more the action is seen greatlyexaggera ted .

The top card, of course, covers the pro- j e c t i n g bottom card that at this pointrests on the left fingertips which havestraightened slightly. This straighten-ing is only from the first knuckles, notb e y o n d that and constitutes a sort of r o c k i n g m o v e m e n t .

6. The right fingers now come over toapparently take the top card. Actuallythe right second fingertip goes under-n e a t h the corner of the bottom cardw h i l e the right thumb falls on the cor-ner of the top card. The left thumbp u l l s the top card back onto the deck.

Figure 7

At the same time the right thumb andsecond finger come together to nip thebottom card and carry it to the right asin Figure 8. This shows the bottom

card already dealt out and the top cardalready pulled back onto the deck aswell as the left fingers back to theirnormal position at the side of the pack.

' Figure 8

7. The actions outlined are repeated foreach successive bottom card.

During practice go very slowly till youlearn the mechanics of the deal.Practice alternating tops and bottomsas well as taking the bottom card atcertain predetermined numbers. Alsolearn to take successive bottoms. Later

this practice of dealing will be gone intomore thoroughly but for the present letus go into t h e—

Double Deal

Once the Push Out Bottom Deal hasbeen mastered the Double Deal willcome very easily. As this type of deal isvery seldom used with a full pack of cards its acquisition should be mucheasier than the bottom deal itself.



238


1. Take a small packet of cards, sayabout twelve, hold them in the lefthand in the Master Grip.

2. Push over the top card with the left

thumb, into the same position shownearlier in Figure 3.

3. As the right hand approaches totake the top card the left fingers pushout the bottom as already explained inSteps Four and Five of the Bottom Dealand shown in Figures 6 and 7. The topand bottom cards should be directly inline with each other.

4. The right fingers, in the Master Dealposition, now come over to apparentlytake the top card. Actually, the rightsecond fingertip goes underneath theprojecting corner of the bottom cardwhile the right thumb falls on the pro-

jecting corner of the top card.

5. The right thumb and second fingernow pinch the two cards together atthese corners. The two cards, perfectlyaligned to look like one, are dealt to theright at the same time being sure to letthe upper ends of these two cards ride

along side of the left f o r e f i nge r t i p whichfurther insures them coming off inalignment.

As a rule the Double Deal is almostnever attempted on the first count butrather after some cards have alreadybeen dealt onto the table. In this wayshould the two cards separate slightlyit will not be noticed, but rather betaken for the card, or cards, that havepreviously been dealt down. A good

example for the use of the Double Dealis the following count down effect.

The Over Count

Effect: A spectator selects a card whichis then lost into the deck. Later thecard is discovered at a freely chosennumber. Although the plot is time wornthe method is not and has fooled othercardicians for many years.

1. Have a card selected by removal orthe peek. Eventually control it to thebottom. The Double Undercut is asgood a method as any.

2. Place the pack in front of the selec-tor requesting him to cut the cards atabout half. As soon as the cards arecut, pick up the lower half and s a y ,"You had a free choice as to where youcut; therefore, we will use the cards inthis center portion."

3. Have the spectator name any num-ber. For example, let us say he callsout fourteen.

4. Count off fourteen cards slowly andlegitimately. Do not stop here butimmediately count " F i f t e e n " as youDouble Deal the next c a r d ( s ) .

5. As soon as the fifteenth card, reallytwo, has been dealt down, stop sud-denly, then say, "Oh, I am sorry, yousaid fourteen, didn't you?"

6. Pick up the top card of the countedpacket and return it to the top of thedeck. Ask the assistant to name his

card, then very slowly turn over thesupposed fourteenth card from thetabled portion.

Any one who may have been looking forseconds or bottoms will be completelythrown off the track. All the cards c o m eoff the top except on the Double De a land in this instance the top card i tself is a perfect cover. Another touch is t ha tthe fifteenth card is put back on thedeck and the spectators know that thefourteenth card was a very fair deal ,Your whole attitude should assumethat a mistake had been made and you

just over-counted, then went back tothe original number.

The Bottom Deal Count

The Bottom Deal Count is a methoddeveloped for the placing of cards inany desired position under the guise of counting the cards.



239

BOTTOM DEAL COUNT

It also, under certain conditions, is aper fec t cover for the bottom dealing of as i n g l e card. It is ideal to use in ademonstration of the game of Pinochle

as the method of giving out the cardsc o n f o r m s to this particular Bottom D e a l.

The grip usually described uses theErdna s e method while the one to bedescr ibed here uses the Master Gripan d Deal.

1. Let us suppose that you have apacket of twenty five cards, the bottomf o u r of which are aces. It is your aim toset these aces to the tenth, fifteenth,

t w e n t i e t h and twenty-fifth positionsdu r ing the innocent action of merelyc ou n t ing the packet.

2. Hold the deck in the left hand in theM a s t e r Grip with the left thumb push-ing the top card off to the right as inFi g u r e 3 .

3. The right hand moves over to the leftto take the card and seize it with theright second finger at the face of thecard and thumb on top.

1 4 . As the right hand is withdrawn, thecard is pulled in, by the right secondf i n g e r , more towards the right palmw h e r e it now will be supported by thecurled right third finger from below andthe thumb on top as in Figure 9 whichs h o w s several counted off cards in thisposition as seen from the bottom.

5. The count is legitimate up to thec o u n t of ten, the cards being taken

under each other. At ten, the three fin-gers of the left hand move out the bot-tom card as already explained. Thecards in the right hand will cover any

movement and stealing of the bottomcard.

6. The bottom card is more or lesswhipped out from under the left handpacket, beneath the bottom of the righthand packet. This action is accom-plished solely by the movement of theright second finger.

The left three fingers merely move thecard to an easily accessible position asin Figure 9 which also shows the two

hands about to come together and theleft second finger ready to whip out thebottom card.

7. At the same time, although no cardis taken from the top of the left handpacket, the combination of sound andmovement creates the illusion that thetop one is taken, just as the regularfalse count does.

8. After the bottom card is taken at thecount of ten, the next four cards are

taken fairly off the top until the num-ber fifteen is reached whereupon theBottom Deal Count is again executed.

9. The counting process is continuedwith the Bottom Deal sleight made onthe number twenty. Naturally, the lastace will automatically be the last ortwenty-fifth card and no sleight isneeded.

10. The Aces are now set at the tenth,

f i f t e e n t h , twentieth and twenty-fifthposition as intended.

As in all counts, false or otherwise, it isabsolutely necessary to perfect theaction to the point where there is nointerruption in the regular rhythm of the count. This however, also meansnot to exceed your normal rate of speedin counting.



240


Strike Bottom Deal

It will now be shown how, using thesame Master Grip and Deal, one canalso practice the strike method of bot-tom dealing.

1. Hold the deck in the left hand in theMaster Grip position except the leftthree fingers are moved down and awayfrom the left forefinger so that a slightgap is open between forefinger and sec-ond finger.

2. The top card is arced over the side inthe approved manner as the righthand, in the Master Deal position,

approaches the deck to apparently takethe top card.

3. Actually the right thumb falls on thetop card but the right second finger-tipgoes into the slight opening, betweenthe left first and second fingers, to con-tact the bottom card at the upper rightcorner. Remember only the tip of theright second finger should be on thebottom card. Do not dig the whole fin-ger under the deck.

4. With the tip of the right second fin-ger resting on the face of the bottomcard and the right thumb on the topcard, you are ready for the withdrawalof the bottom card as follows.

5. The right second fingertip pressesinward, towards the body, on the upperright corner of the bottom card. Thisinward pressure will cause the cornerof the bottom card to escape fromunder the left forefinger. Once the bot-

tom card is no longer kept by the leftf o r e f inge r it will be found an easy mat-ter to withdraw it.

6. The three left fingers at the side of the deck play an important part in let-ting the card come out with the leastpossible noise. As the right second fin-ger starts to withdraw the bottom cardthe left three fingers sort of rock back by bending at their first knuckles. In

other words, the left three f i n g e r swhich will normally be curled aroundthe side of the deck, will straighten outat the first joints only as in Figure 10,

This shows the bottom card b e i n gdrawn past the left fingers. Notice theleft fingers remain curled overall anddo not straighten or extend.

Figure 10

Keep in mind that the lef t three f i n g e r sdo not straighten out fully to look l i ke abunch of bananas but rather arestraightened very slightly at the first

joints only. By bending the first k n u c k -les inward this slight straighteningrocks the tips of these fingers a w a yfrom the top side of the deck and car-ries them nearer the bottom where the

bottom card, upon being pulled out,rides over them.

Strike Bottom Deal Count

The basic idea of this count has b e e nfully explained in the Bottom D e a lCount using the push-out m e t h o d .This then, is the same sleight e x c e p tthat a strike technique is used to w h i pout the bottom card at the proper num-ber.

1. Hold the packet of twenty-five c a r d sin the Master Grip, aces at the b o t t o m ,The left thumb pushes over the topcard.

2. The right hand moves over to the l e f t

to take the top card and seizes it w i t hthe right second finger on the f a c e of the card and thumb on top.

3. As the right hand is withdrawn, thecard is also pulled in, by the right s e c -



241

THE SECOND DEAL

o n d finger, more towards the palmv h e r e it will be supported by the curledr i g h t third finger from below and thet h u m b on top exactly as in the first

m e t h o d of Deal Counting, shown inF igu re 9.

4. The cards are taken under eacho t h e r during the count. This count isf a i r until you reach ten. Then the rights econd finger-tip goes under the pack-e t, in a position similar to that of theS t r i k e Bottom Deal.

5. The bottom card is now more or lessw h i p p e d out from under the l e f t handp a c k e t to the bottom of the right hand

p a c k e t . This action is accomplishedso le ly by the movement of the rights e c o n d finger. The l e f t three fingers, of c o u r s e , rock back as in the StrikeB o t t o m Deal, to enable the card to passo v e r them.

6. At the same time, although no cardis taken from the top of the left handlacket, the combination of sound andm o v e m e n t creates the illusion that theo p one is taken.

7 . The counting process is continuedw i t h the Strike Bottom Deal Count exe-c u t e d at f i f t e e n and twenty while thew e n t y - f i f t h is, of course, the last card.t h e aces will now be set at the 10-15-2 0 - 2 5 positions ready for the deal.

A comparison of both methods wills h o w that the manner of holding thep a c k e t is in each case identical as wellas the method of taking the top card.

The Second DealB e f o r e proceeding with the Second Dealre-read the first pages of this chapter.N o t e especially those points about thes w i n g , bevel and speed. Note that inthe second deals to be described theM a s t e r Grip and Deal are still usedt h r o u g h o u t .

It has been stated that the strikem e t h o d of dealing can easily be spot-

ted. This is not the fault of the basicprinciple but rather of those methodsthat have been taught. As long as thesetexts keep insisting that you strike the

second card out, the deal will alwaysbe open to suspicion because in orderto strike out the card the right thumband second finger invariably separatetoo much and look like a pair of tongsabout to nip a cake of ice.

Another great fault that is usually mas-tered along with the strike, is that of the right thumb going across the end of the pack for almost its whole lengthcausing a sweeping motion wide

enough to blow the rest of the cards off the table.

Yet with all its faults the strike methodcould still be a wonderful deal if itweren't for the "Look how clever I am attaking the second card" attitude of some magicians. I say magicians sim-ply because I feel that a cardician ismuch too smart to thus expose himself to his audience. And if he must demon-strate his skill at second or bottomdealing under pressure from hisbrethren he will wisely choose the infe-rior methods to show off with.

All this brings us to the second dealtechnique which we call the TakeMethod. If the student follows theinstructions for this deal he will findthat between it and the two card push-off, which will be gone into later, therewill be little appreciable difference. As amatter of fact, one can switch from the"Take" to the "Push Off with no notice-

able change in the style of the deal.

The Take Second Deal

1. As always hold the deck in the lefthand in the Master Grip position. Leftthumb pushes over the top card and incase one has forgotten how, refer oncemore to Figure 3.

2. The right hand approaches the deck in the Master Take position.



242


3. As the right hand comes to take thetop card the right thumb and secondfinger separate only slightly.

4. The tip of the right thumb should

fall on the deck at a point where it willtouch the tip of the left forefinger. Inthis way the thumb will not only touchthe top card but also a portion of thesecond card. The position of the handsis now similar to that shown earlier inFigure 4

5. At this point either the top card canbe dealt off or the second one taken. If the top card is desired, the right sec-ond finger, from below, nips the top

card against the ball of the right thumband carries it off the pack.

On the other hand if the second card isdesired the tip of right thumb pressesdown on the second card as the righthand moves to the right, dragging thesecond card because of the appliedpressure. The right second finger nipsthe 2nd card from below as soon as thecorner of this card is out far enough off the deck.

6. At the same time that the secondcard is being drawn off, the top card isswung back to the left with the leftthumb.

Remember that the second card is notswished out but taken out.

Once more, I will repeat that only thetip of the right thumb, that part abovethe ball of the thumb, presses down onthe second card causing it to more or

less adhere to this thumb as the righthand moves back to the right. The rightsecond finger is very close by to imme-diately help the right thumb nip theupper right corner of the second cardas this corner moves off the deck. Theright thumb always falls in the sameposition whether the second card istaken or the top one. Just once more -take that second card, don't hit it.

The Push Off Second

1. The cards are held in exactly thesame manner as for all the previousdeals with the exception that the l e f t

thumb moves up further towards theupper end of the pack until the tip of the thumb protrudes slightly above itas shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11

2. Push the top card clockwise in theusual way until its upper right c o r n e rprojects, for about a quarter of an i n c h ,over the pack. At the same time it w i l lbe noticed that the tip of the lef t t h u m bnow rests on the second card while theball of the thumb is on the top card.

3. Press the tip of the lef t thumb d o w n -ward on the second card while at thesame time push the cards still f u r t h e rover the upper right corner of the d e c k .This will result in two cards project ingbeyond the deck with the top oneslightly in advance of the second one asdepicted in Figure 12 which is exagger-ated for clarity as only all white w i l l

show if using a white border deck.

4. The right hand, in the Master T akePosition, approaches the deck andplaces the tip of the right thumb d i r ec t -ly onto the upper right corners of thetwo cards while the right second finger-tip assumes a similar position f r o mbelow.

5. The right fingers can now take eitherthe top card or the second card. If thetop card is desired it is nipped at its



243

PUSH OFF SECOND

Figure 12

c o r n e r between the tips of the rightt h u m b and second f i nge r , then carrieda w a y . In taking the top card the rightt h u m b exerts a slight downward pres-

s u r e on this card while the right sec-ond f i nge r rests rather loosely on theb o t t o m .

O n c e the right thumb has started thec a r d off the d e c k , the right second fin-ger comes up to help nip the card.T h e s e actions of course, are so slightas to be unnoticeable.

6. Should the second card be desired,m o r e pressure is put to bear, with ther i g h t second fingertip from below, on

the second card while the right thumbl oose ly touches the corners of the toptwo projecting cards. The second cardis started out by the upward pressureo f the right second finger-tip, as thish a n d moves to the right, while the rightt h u m b rides loosely over the top card,t hen automatically makes contact withthe second card as the deal is conclud-e d .

7. O n c e the second card has been with-

d r a w n the left thumb moves back thetop card but only slightly, not enoughto cover the card below it but with thenew second card's upper right corners t i l l showing. In this way the tip of thel e f t thumb can again make contactw i t h the second card at this corner.

8. Although all three left fingers are atthe side of the deck it is the left secondand third finger-tips that do the major

portion of controlling, preventing morethan two cards from being pushed overthe side of the deck. The left thumbonce again moves two cards over the

upper right corner of the pack, wherethe right hand can once more take itschoice of the top or second card.

The great difficulty in the two cardpush-off second deal is the ability totransfer from a top card deal to thesecond deal and vice versa without anybreak in rhythm.

This problem is easily solved by alwayspushing two cards forward regardlessof whether the second card or top card

is taken. In other words, with the twocards advanced as in Figure 11, afterthe top card is taken, it will still leavethe second card projecting and theupper right corner of the deck exposingthe new second card. All that has to bedone is for the left thumb to moveback, engage this new second cardwith its tip, and push forward twocards again.

This is repeated each time a top card is

taken thus you are always ready to gointo the second deal. Naturally, on thesecond deal you will still be pushingover two cards; therefore the action willlook normal throughout whether deal-ing the top or second card.

A final word of caution. Do not makethe mistake of striking out the secondcard with the right second fingertip asis commonly done but rather give theimpression of taking the card in much

the same manner as in the TakeSecond Deal.

The student can now practice all thevarious deals without changing his gripor manner of dealing. In one runthrough of the deck he can alternatebetween taking the top card, then thebottom one by either the Strike methodor Push-Out or both, then switch toseconds; both the two card deal and



244


Take method, finally finish off with theDouble Deal and the Bottom DealCount.

The Stud Deal

The deals that will be dissected at thispoint still use the Master Grip as in theprevious Deals; however, the manner of taking the card with the right hand ischanged to conform to those actionsusually associated with the gameknown as Stud Poker.

Once having mastered the most impor-tant principles of the previous deals thepractitioner will find little to stand inthe way of his acquiring the added skillnecessary for the Stud Deals.

The Havana Dealor

The Myth of Manuel Pedro

One of the first deals of the Stud typethat I devised was a bottom Stud Dealknown as the "Havana Deal" and wassold by the Ireland Magic Co. While I'mon the subject I may as well clear upthe question of "Who is Manuel Pedro,

the Cuban gambler?" Actually, therenever was such a person but then thisis getting ahead of the story which Ibelieve must contain some moral.

For many years I had seen many meth-ods of Stud dealing and in most of them the top card is always taken off the deck, by the right fingers going ontop of the card and the thumb below onits face. The card is now brought faceup by turning the right hand inward

towards the body and palm up. In thisway the face of the card is seen first bythe operator, then by the players as thecard is thrown face up onto the tablenear the player's hole card.

Now, this action of Stud dealing I knewhad been successfully duplicated as faras its application to second dealing wasconcerned; however, no such satisfac-tory method was available for the bot-

tom deal. Strictly on my own I decidedto experiment and the result was a v e r y Ideceptive bottom Stud deal that h a s !since proven its worth in the fastest o f j

company.So pleased was I with my method tha t Ishowed it to Laurie Ireland who took toit immediately. For the next two yearsno more was said about it until oneday Laurie said to me, "You know t h a tStud Bottom is a good thing. I think weought to market it before it gets k i c k e daround too much." I acquiesced andthe deal was set.

The big problem arose now. How could

a sheet of instructions describing asleight, a bottom deal at that be so ld?It was then that Francis Ireland c a m eup with the idea of making it look as if the deal was a jealously guarded secre tof some gambler.

As Laurie actually was in Cuba at onetime, Francis set the scene for theintroduction of her fictitious character,Manuel Pedro. Thus the Havana D e a lwas born. So well had Francis done her

part that even to this day M a n u e lPedro is a real h o n e s t - t o - g o o d n e s sgambler who imparted to us cardicianshis most prized possession, the H a v a n aDeal.

Oh yes, the moral to this story is sim-ply that when the magicians buy amethod that is supposedly being u s e dby a professional gambler, why it'sgreat, it's terrific, it's actually used bythe gambler.

On the other hand, if it is known that abrother cardician is responsible for itthe arguments usually go somethinglike this. "It will never work", " Y o u c a n tget away with it", "The guy's talking outof his hat." Under these conditions youcan't blame us for inventing a m y t h .Who knows, maybe Erdnase was amagician.

All this brings us to the new type of



245

THE STUD DEAL

S t u d Bottom that has been deviseds i n c e the innovation of the HavanaD e a l .

The New Bottom Stud

1. H o l d the pack in the l e f t hand in theM a s t e r Grip position. The top card ispushed over by the l e f t thumb in readi-ne s s to be taken by the right hand.

2. The right hand approaches the deck palm up. The right thumb falls diago-na l l y , across the top card, starting atthe lower right corner with its tip end-ing about the center of the card. Theright fingers will be touching the backs

of the left fingers. This position of thehands is shown in Figure 13. The righth a n d in this position will screen thew h o l e right side of the pack and alsoaid in covering any movement of thel e f t fingers during the actual bottomd e a l ,

Figure 13

3. As the right thumb peels off the topca rd it automatically goes against thef i n g e r s of the right hand. The righth a n d immediately turns back up and

tosses the card face up onto the table.Thi s then is the Stud Deal action thatshould be simulated throughoutwhe ther the top card or bottom card isb e i n g taken. It is also important thatduring the deal the first two phalangesof the right fourth finger brush againstthe face of the bottom card at its lowerright corner. In this way the dealt cardw i l l end up being held, more or less,between the right thumb on top, fourth

and third fingers below or on the faceof the card.

4. The above deal is continued until thebottom card is needed. At this point

the left fingers push out the bottomcard as prescribed for the Push-OutBottom Deal. This will result in the bot-tom card being free enough so that asthe right fourth finger brushes againstits f a c e , at the lower right corner, thecard will be pulled upwards and out asin Figure 14 which shows the right sideview of the action.

The left thumb holds back the topcard. This results in the right thumb

slipping from the top card onto the bot-tom one where it nips the card againstthe right fourth and third fingers.

F i g u r e 14

5. Follow through by turning the righthand back up and dealing the cardface up onto the table. The left thumbpulls back the top card flush with thedeck simultaneously with the bottomdeal.

The bottom cards can be dealt withless chance of detection in the StudDeal than in the normal deal as theturning of the cards face up draws theattention to them and away from thedeck itself.

Those who know the mechanics of theHavana Stud Deal can improve it con-siderably by using the above method of pushing out the bottom card but tak-



246


ing it with right hand in the Havanamanner. As this is a marketed i t em, weare not at liberty to detail the action of the right hand in this case.

The Stud Second

As in the Second Deal one must becareful in not making the Stud action astriking one but rather as if taking acard. Also eliminating all points alreadydiscussed, such as swing, bevel, etc.apply as well to the Stud Second Deal.

1. Hold the pack in the left hand in theMaster Grip position. The left thumbpushes over the top card in readiness

for the right hand to take it.2. The right hand is held palm down asit approaches the deck and the rightsecond finger is placed across theupper right corner in such a mannerthat the tip of this finger rests on theexposed corner of the second card. Theright third finger should be below theprojecting corner of the top card withthe fourth finger alongside it. The rightforefinger and second finger will lieacross the left thumb with the rightforefinger resting across the left thumbknuckle and the right second fingerresting across the left thumb nail.

In this position the right first two fin-gers, lying across the left thumb, willbe at such an angle as to prevent thesecond finger from coming in contactwith any portion of the top card. Thehands at this point are in the positionshown in Figure 15. Note that the rightthumb is below the palm and touchingthe side of the left fourth and third fin-gers.

3. Press down, with the right secondfinger-tip, on the exposed corner of thesecond card, moving the right hand tothe right at the same time. This willcause the second card to move off thedeck. As soon as it's upper right cornercomes off the pack proper, the rightthird finger moves upwards to clip this

Figure 15

card, between the back of the third fin-ger and the tip of second finger, as inFigure 16 which also shows the direc-tion the second card takes as it isbeing pulled clear of the top card. The

right thumb is below the card lightlytouching its face.

4. As the second card moves off thedeck the left thumb simultaneouslymoves the top card back to its originalposition. Once the second card is c learof the deck, the right thumb, which isunder the card all the while, presses

Figure 16

upwards on the face of the card at itsupper right corner. As the right thumbapplies the pressure to this corner, theright third and fourth fingers move intowards the palm of the hand with theresult that the card will end being heldface up between the right thumb at it slower index corner, first and secondfingers on the back of the card at th issame corner.

5. The turned up card will wind upbeing held a few inches to the right of the deck but this position is not held



247

THE PUSH-OFF STUD

for long because almost immediatelythe right fingers toss the card forwardo n t o the table before the spectator.

6. The Second Stud Deal can be con-t inued by repeating the actions out-l i n e d . At anytime~that the top card isneeded , the right second finger doesnot press down onTme second card butm e r e l y brushes past it and straightensout slightly to come in contact with thetop card. As the top card is taken off itis clipped between the third and fourthfingers, carried off the pack, turnedf a c e up and dealt onto the table in thesame manner that the second card was

handled .O n c e the proper amount of practicehas been put in, it will be found aneasy matter to deal either the top cardor second without any apparent changein the action.

The Push-On1Stud

T h i s Stud Deal is one to be used inconjunction with the two card push-off second deal. The mechanics of the lefthand are identical to that of the TwoC a r d Push Off Second Deal alreadydescribed. Only the action of taking thecard with the right hand is changed.

1. Hold the pack in the lef t hand in theMaster Grip and deal over the top twoc a r d s , as detailed for the Push Off Second, in readiness for the right fin-gers to take either one.

2. The right hand, in position for theMas ter Deal, approaches the deck but

instead of grasping the cards betweenthe second finger and thumb they areclipped between the right second andthird fingertips in the same way as inthe Strike Method except here the TwoCard Push-Off makes this even simplerin execution than the strike in gettingt h a t second card. Note that the rightthumb is already going under the faceof the card in readiness for turning itf a ce up as shown in Figure 17.

3. The underlying principles of takingthe second or top card are identicalwith those of the Push Off Second.Whenever the second card is desired

the right third finger applies the pres-sure to the under card. If the top cardis wanted the right second fingerapplies the pressure to the top card.These pressures are of course, appliedduring the time the right hand movesto the right, then the proper card isclipped and dealt face up onto thetable.

The Sail

Once the student has mastered the

bottom deal or second deal he mayconclude that he now is proficient inthe art. This, however, depends entirelyon the way that he has practiced.

Figure 17

If he has practiced dealing seconds orbottoms, like the average magicianusually does, by dealing the cards in aneat stack off to his right, then he isfar from being proficient at dealing andif he persists in this sort of practice thechances are he never will be. Of course,he will become proficient in pulling outthe bottom or second card. He mayeven impress others with his skill buthe will be far from a dealer of bottomsor seconds,

However, if he follows these furtherinstructions he will have started out onthe right track and eventually may beable to say he can deal.



248


To become proficient in dealing onemust learn "The Sail" which is themeans whereby the card is projected infront of the various spectators seated

around a card table. Any one who playscards a lot has in all probabilityalready acquired it; however, we willdescribe the action in case the presentcompany is unaware of it.

1. The top card is taken between thetips of the right second finger andthumb. This hand is in the Master Dealposition with the right third and fourthfingers curled into the palm.

2. The right third and fourth fingers,

which have been curled into the palm,now move out until the first knuckle of the third finger touches Jhe^ right sideof the card.

3. These two fingers now straighten orkick out suddenly against the side of the card causing it to be sailed or spunacross the table as the right thumband second finger release their hold onthe card.

4. Just before the Sail, the right handmoves forward slightly in the generaldirection in which the card is to be pro-pelled. In other words, if the card is tobe dealt to the left the right handmoves in that direction for only theshortest distance. The rest of the spaceis covered by sailing the card towardsits destination.

5. Do not make a regular pin-wheel of the sail but rather a flutter. Only forexhibition purposes, in connection with

the sleights labeled for this type of showing off is the Sail exaggerated.

6. During the deal the left handremains as stationary as possible withthe right hand always coming back totake the next card from the deck. Inother words, do not make the mistakeof shifting both hands in the generaldirection of the deal.

7. These identical maneuvers apply of course to the various bottom and s e c - ,ond deals as well. They should be p r a c - lticed by dealing to the extreme left, to

start, then continue in a s em i - c i r c l etowards the extreme right and finish in |front of the dealer.

Try to visualize the tempo of the dealalways remembering that many th ingsmay be lying around the table that w i l l 'normally slow down any dealing.

Once the student uhderstands the rea-sons for the seven steps outlined hemay consider himself on the right track as far as dealing seconds, bottoms etc.

is concerned.One Hand Bottom Deal

Using the Master Grip and the tech-nique of the Pushout Bottom Deal avery deceptive one hand bottom deal ispossible. Although it can be masteredwith a f u l l pack it is a lot easier withfewer cards, about half the deck. Forthat reason we believe it will be morepractical whenever there is an excusefor handling fewer cards, as in somecard tricks. First off it will be describedas if one were to practice it in connec-tion with the Sail, using two hands,The one hand bottom deal is alwaysmade on the deal towards one's self a sit is this action that makes it deceptive.

1. Hands are well forward on the tablewith the elbows resting on the back edge of the table. The deck is held inthe left hand in the Master Grip posi-tion.

2. Assuming you are giving an exhibi-tion of a five handed game, the top f o u rcards are sailed off to the other players,using both hands, during the deal.

3. As the fourth card is sailed to theplayer on the right the operators l e f thand swings inward towards the body,The left hand fingers at the same t i m eexecute the required mechanics for the



249

ONE HAND COUNT DOWN

Push-Out Bottom Deal.

4. The inward swing of the left handt o w a r d s the body, plus the suddens t o p , will propel the now loosened cardoff the bottom and to a point out inf r o n t of the operator. The action iscompletely covered by the back of thel e f t hand as it swings towards theb o d y .

5. The One Hand Bottom Deal can berepeated on each successive deal andis fairly normal as many players havethe habit of sloughing off theTbp cardw i t h one hand when they dea l_ tp them-s e l v e s . A count trick using-ihe One

Hand Bottom Deal can be made practi-cally i n d e t e c t a b l e if performed in themanner as described.

One Hand Count Down

E f f e c t : A selected card appears at aselected number.

1 . A peeked at card is held under con-t r o l by the usual break held below it inreadiness for the Bold Steal. (SeeChapter 4; Side Steal for the mechan-

ics of this move.)2. The top ten cards of the deck areapparently counted onto the table butactually the first card tossed onto thetable is the center or selected card; itb e i n g stolen out of the deck by meansof the Bold Steal. The remaining ninecards are immediately counted off thedeck using the same action as for theBold Steal. This results in the selectedcard being the bottom one of the ten

cards .3. The ten card packet is picked upand held in the left hand in the MasterG r i p Position. The l e f t hand is also heldw e l l forward on the table with thee l b o w resting near the table's edge.

4. A spectator is requested to name anynumber from one to ten. As an examplesuppose he says four. Deal the firstthree cards, using only the left hand to

do this, face down on the table. Nowthe left hand swings inward towardsthe body, the One Hand Bottom Deal ismade, the card landing in front of the

performer on the count of four. Theselected card is named and the per-former turns the tabled card face upfor the climax. ^

For those who may wish to eliminateusing the Bold Steal they can controlthe selection to the bottom by use of the Double Undercut. Have the top half of the deck cut off by the spectatorthen pick up the lower half as if usingthe portion to which they cut. Have a

number named but do not restrict thechoice to ten; however, not above whatis in the left hand. Finish the effect asalready explained.

Shifting The Grip

The Cardician who has thoroughlystudied the preceding Master Grip andTake with all its possibilities need gono further as, for practical magicalpurposes, he has everything he needswith no confusion of changing grips for

the various deals.The methods, ideas and theories thatfollow are strictly for those who wish torun the gamut of these further tech-niques of false dealing. I may as wellforewarn the student right now that if he wishes to master what is to followhe first must be able to acquire profi-ciency in Shifting the Grip using onlyone hand. Shifting the Grip has alsoseveral sub headings such as Shifting

The Inner Corner as well as ShiftingThe Thumb and Shifting the Forefinger.

Sometimes only one of the above Shiftswill be required to execute the deal andat times all three plus a possible bevel-ing of the pack. A ll this must be doneusing only the hand holding the deck.Having warned the student as to thepossible confusion he may encounterhe may follow if he still desires.



250


A - Shifting The Inner Corner

1. The cards are held in the MasterGrip as already explained however,from this position the inner left corner

of the deck can be shifted to two otherpositions. Each of the positions has itsspecial advantages in certain deals.

2. First is a picture of the dealing handwith the numbers 1-2-3 marking thethree different positions at which thelower left corner of the bottom card, ina full deck, will rest. The number twoposition is that of the standardMechanics Grip. Number three is theHigh Grip in that it is above the major

crease of the palm. The Figure 18clearly shows the markings.

3. To shift the corner from position 1 toposition 2 proceed as follows: Assumethe deck is held in the Master Grip asin Figure 19. The left forefinger, whichis on the deck's upper right corner,pulls down on this corner causing thedeck to lift, at the inner end, off thepalm as in Figure 20. The left 2nd 3rdand 4th fingers also aid in slightly

pulling down on the side of the deck.

Figure 18

4. With the pack lifted at the back endas in Figure 20 the left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers easily swing the deck, usingleft forefinger as a pivot point, into theposition marked 2. The result is shownin Figure 21 which is the MechanicsGrip.

5. If you want to get the deck up intothe High Grip or at 3 merely repeat the

action, shown in Figure 20, of lifting upthe inner end of deck and swinging thepack into the High Grip as shown inthe Figure 22 a back end view.

Figure 19

6. While the Shifting Corner has beenexplained as it works up to the othergrips the reverse also holds true in thatthe inner end of the deck can beworked from, say the High Grip all theway down into the Master Grip. Inother words the Shifting Corner can beplaced up to any position and alsodown to any position from any previous

position.

Figure 20

Figure 21



251

SHIFTING THE GRIP

Figure 22

B - The Shifting Forefinger.

1. The left forefinger can be shifted orplaced to any of these three positions.

1 . Curled around-the end of the deck

near the upper right corner.2. The tip of the left forefinger on theupper right corner of the deck.

3. The left forefinger on the side of thed e c k , near its upper right corner,alongside the other three fingers.

The Figure 23 shows the positions thel e f t f o r e f i n g e r can change to as desig-nated by the circles numbered 1, 2, 3.

2. In the Master Grip the left forefinger

can move into positions 2 and 3 veryeasily, while position 1 will be awkwardand is never used with the MasterG r i p .

3. In the Mechanics Grip the left fore-finger can move into any of the threepositions and all three positions havet h e i r advantages in certain types of deals.

Figure 23

4. For the High Grip only positions 2and 3 will be found comfortable and attimes useful.

C - Shifting The Thumb.

1. The left thumb can be shifted toalmost any position along the top endof the deck as well as the front end of the deck, that is the upper right cor-ner, with either of the three gripsexplained. The only difference will be inthe appearance of the left thumb itself.

As an example, the composite Figure24 shows the three different positionsof the left thumb, at the upper end of

the deck, using the Master Grip. Notethe straight flat appearance of thethumb in A and then its gradual angu-larity in B and C. You can perform aTwo Card Pu s h o f f Second Deal with thethumb in all positions as well as theStrike method.

2. While Figure 24 shows the angularappearance of the left thumb, whenusing the Master Grip, this does nothold true for either the Mechanics Gripor the High Grip as the left thumb willhave a flat appearance at the 3 posi-tions designated in Figure 24. Also,only with the left thumb at positions Band C can you do either a Strike orTwo Card Pushoff Second Deal.However, with the left thumb at posi-tion A, only the Strike method of Second Dealing is possible.

3. Bottom Dealing is also possible withthe left thumb at any one of the A, B orC positions; however, the left forefin-ger's position is always best at position2 on the upper right corner of the deck.

D. Beveling the Pack

1. Beveling of the pack may be requiredfor only two of the grips, namely theHigh Grip and the Mechanics Grip. It isnever used in the Master Grip.

2. As the action of beveling the cards isthe same for either Mechanics or High



252


Grips the description will be givenusing the Mechanics Grip.

3. Suppose you have shifted the deck into the Mechanics Grip. Place the tip

of the left thumb angled against the leftside of the deck as shown in Figure 25.Place the left forefinger at position 1around the top end of the pack.

4. Now move the left thumb outwardwhile at the same time pressing inagainst the side of the deck as inFigure 26.

5. With the thumb in this position keeppressing down and rubbing slightly.

This will eventually cause the deck tobecome beveled as shown in Figure 27where the left thumb has now taken aposition as in A near the upper right

corner of the deck.6. The position of the deck shown inFigure 27 is at times preferred by somedealers when using the Strike methodof Second Dealing. By shifting the l e f tforefinger from position 1 to position 3but retaining all other finger andthumb positions, the Grip will be asshown in Figure 28 which is anothertype that is often preferred to thatshown in Figure 27. Both will be dealt

with separately.Two Strike Methods

First Method:

This first method basically uses theposition shown in Figure 27 with thel e f t forefinger at position 1 and the l e f tthumb at position A; however, theinner left corner of the deck can be

Figure 25

Figure 26



253

TWO STRIKE METHODS

Figure 27

Figure 28

either in the High Grip, Mechanic'sG r i p or the Master Grip. Experiment

w i t h each grip till you fee l which givesthe best results. In the description thatf o l l o w s the Mechanic's Grip as picturedin Figure 27 is used.

2. The top card of the deck is arcedo v e r slightly. The right hand, withthumb and forefinger extended, theother three fingers curled in towardsthe palm, advances to take the topcard. The right thumb comes at a pointbetween the left forefinger and thumb.

The tip of the right forefinger touchesthe back of the left forefinger. The rightsecond fingertip is touching the upperright corner of the top card from below.R i g h t second fingernail is against thecorner of the deck while the right 3rdand 4th fingers are slightly furtherback as they fo l low their natural curva-ture in towards the palm. The startingposition is shown in Figure 29

3. The top card is now easily taken byholding onto it between the rightthumb and right second finger as it isdealt. This card will actually be

pinched between the underside of theright thumb at its knuckle and the topside of the right second finger at its tip.The right first finger takes its place onthe outer edge of the card as the takingof the card is completed.

This identical action is later repeatedwhen taking the second card.

4. When it is required to take the sec-ond card the right thumb again goesbetween the left thumb and forefinger;

however, this time the lower half of theright thumb is placed above the topcard and directly onto the second cardas shown in Figure 30. All the otherfingers of the right hand are in theidentical position as when taking thetop card.

Figure 30

5. Pressing downward with the rightthumb, the second card is movedslightly outward as the right handmoves to the right and slightly forwardas shown in Figure 31.



254

SECONDSCENTERS AND BOTTOMS

Figure 31

6. As soon as the second card has beenstarted out far enough the right second finger pinches it against the rightthumb. This action is shown frombelow in Figure 32.

Figure 32

7. The right hand continues its dealingaction of taking the card forward andto the right as shown in Figure 33where the top card has already beenpulled back, flush with the deck, by theleft thumb.

Figure 33

8. Once the 2nd card is clear of thedeck, the right 3rd and 4th fingersstart to Sail it towards the table as

shown in Figure 34 which is the startof the Sail action.

9. The "brief has been exaggerated inall the drawings in order to show the

action. Actually, a very fine brief is pos-sible with nothing but the white show-ing in a white border deck, during thedeal.

Figure 34

10. While the above Second Deal andthe one to follow are fairly s t a n d a r d ,note that the second card, in eachcase, is not taken by the right first fin-ger and thumb but between the rightsecond finger and thumb.

Second Method:

1. Change the position of the lef t f o r e -finger so that the deck is held as inFigure 28, repeated here, with all f o u rleft fingers at the side of the deck.

Figure 28

2. Again, any one of the three CornerGrips, High, Mechanic or Master, canbe used but for this description theMechanic's Grip will be used. Naturallythe bevel of the deck can also beretained using any of the three Grips.

3. The left thumb arcs over the topcard only slightly. The right handcomes over and places the side of its



255

TWO STRIKE METHODS

thumb across the top end at aboutcenter as shown in Figure 35.

4. N o t e that the right forefinger has

now moved in deeper and its tip touch-es the back of the left forefinger at thesecond knuckle. The right three fingersare curled in as before except this timethe right second finger's first knuckletouches the first knuckle of the leftsecond finger. This position is shownf r o m below in Figure 36.

Figure 36

5. As the top card is taken off the deck the tip of the right forefinger brushesacross the back of left forefinger in a

sort of soft pincer movement as the topcard is dealt off.

6. When it is desired to take the secondcard, the side of the right thumb isp l aced above the top card, which isarced out of the way, as shown inFigure 37.

7. Here the action of taking the cardand dealing it out is similar to thatalready shown in Figures 32 to 34

except in this case all four fingers areat the side of the deck during the deal.These four fingers gradually work downwards as the pack diminishes

during the deal.8. The grip in the above deal while sim-ilar to that in Expert Card Technique, isquite different in its right hand action.

Figure 37

Special Push-Off Techniques

The Second Deal Count: While youcan use any of the several Two CardPush-Off methods for this particular

sleight the one to be described has onepoint in its favor in that it can be donewith the cards facing the spectator.

1. The pack can be held in either theHigh Grip or Mechanic's Grip. The leftforefinger, howeve r , is at position 1 andis curled around the upper end of thedeck while the left thumb is at positionB to start with. The left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers are against side of the pack.

2. With the left thumb, arc the top cardoff the deck slightly as if about to deal.Then pull back the top card with thethumb so it comes back at an anglewith its upper right corner touchingthe tip of the left forefinger. This willcause the top card to be angled asshown in Figure 38 which is a diagramwithout the hand to clearly show theangle of the top card in relation to thedeck.



256


3. During the pulling back of the topcard the left thumb moves from posi-tion B to position C at the upper leftcorner thus coming in contact with the

exposed second card as well as keepingcontrol of the top card as shown inFigure 39.

Figure 39

4. The left thumb now pushes the toptwo cards forward as shown in Figure40 which is the operator's view. Fromthe front only one card's index will beseen due to the fact that the top card isslightly behind the preceding secondcard.

5. The right hand comes over and

grasps, the exposed upper right cornerof the second card, between the rightthumb and second finger. When thissecond card is clear of the deck itsposition, in the right hand will be, asshown in Figure 41, between the tips of the thumb and second finger.

6. The position of the card in the righthand must be brought deeper into thehand. To do this the right hand is

Figure 40

slightly tilted palm upwards. As a mat-ter of fact if this tilting action of theright hand is done, almost as the card

is taken, the card will practically fa l linto place deep into the right hand. Theaction is almost as if you momentarilylet go of the card, then caught it deepin the hand as shown in Figure 42.

Figure 41

Figure 42

7. The Figure 42 shows the next twocards already pushed off the deck. Theright hand, still holding a card, isabout to advance and take anothercard beneath the one already there;however, the action as seen by thespectator is that shown in Figure 43.



257

SPECIAL PUSH-OFF TECHNIQUES

H e r e you w i l l see only one index of acard is shown being pushed over whilethe right second finger is extended,about to be placed on the index of the

exposed card.N o t e that the right forefinger lies alongthe top end of the card, also extended,w hi l e t he r ig h t 3 r d a n d 4 th f in g e r s a r ecurled in towards the palm. These willact as a support for any of the cardsthat are taken into the right hand.

Figure 43

8. The extended right second finger isplaced on the index of the exposed cardand the hands start to separate withright second fingertip pressing onto

second card as shown in Figure 44.

Figure 44

9. At exactly the same time that thehands separate, the right second fin-gertip, pressing on the index corner of the second card, whips it in towardsthe palm and under the first card asshown in Figure 45 where the takeaction has been completed.

10. Having completed the action as perFigure 45, the right second fingerex tends ready for the next card that is

pushed over from deck with the pictureagain as at the start or Figure 43.

11. The whipping out action of the

right second fingertip is most impor-tant as it practically gets the secondcard, from the pack, to beneath thosein the right hand even before the twohands separate.

Figure 45

The whipping out action of right 2ndfinger is also important if doing theDouble Deal Count head on, as shownin Figure 46, because the action of thisfinger clearly conveys the impressionthat a card is taken. The action of thisfinger is also important in certain false

counts.

Figure 46

12. With proper attention to angles this

Second Deal Count can be made withthe pack down in a normal dealingposition; however, for the best possiblecover the cards in the right handshould at all times come in very closeover the deck so as to almost cover thepack with the cards held in right handas shown in Figure 47, a top view.

13. This type of second deal can beused as a regular deal as you innocent-ly (?) tilt the deck just enough so they



258


can see the card that is about to bedealt off. Needless to say the card theysee is dealt, say, face up, but you areactually keeping back the top card.

Figure 47

14, For a quick effect, using theBottom Deal Count facing spectators,proceed as follows: Have a card select-ed or peeked, then bring it to the topvia a Cut, Pass or Side Steal. Ask for anumber to be called. Hold deck facestowards the spectator and count off toone less than the number called. Tosscards from the right hand onto thetable and lower the left hand to normaldealing position. Have the card namedand cleanly show it as the card at thechosen number. Of course, it can bedone also as a stop trick.

15. Some may notice the fact that thereis a showing of two cards at the lower end of the deck as the cards face theaudience. Do not worry about this asfrom experience I have found that anaudience watches the point of contactduring any deal. That is, the point

where the fingers meet for the taking of a card. Even an expert card man's firstreaction will be to watch the point of contact. It is only after many repeats of the deal that he will start to analyzeand look for any defects.

Small Packet Second Deal

Two of our pet effects, which called fora Second Deal, were The Nomad Acesby Charlie Miller and an effect from

Amazing Isn't It called You Do As I D o , IU Can't Unless I Want U 2. At that t ime!we devised a very easy way of doing the ISecond Deal via a two card Pu s h -O f f !

using the technique explained for the IOne Hand Turnover from Off the T o p , IIn 1942 we showed the move, first t o IMartin Gardner, then over the years to Isuch as Neal Elias, Bert Fenn, Carmen ID ' Am i c o , Bill Simon, Art Altaian a n d !many years later, in 1956, to D a i 'Vernon. It is an easy and de c ep t i v e !deal once the push-off technique has Ibeen mastered.

1. Assume you have a packet of eight!

cards and wish to deal a second on thefourth deal.

2. Spread the packet between b o t hhands saying "Only eight cards" and inclosing up the spread get a break under the 5th card with the left f o u r t hfingertip.

3. All four fingers are alongside of thepacket with the thumb on top acrossthe packet as in Figure 48. Note theangle of the left thumb.

Figure 484. Now the left thumb pushes off thetop card and straightens out naturallyacross the middle of the packet. At thesame time the left fingertips m o v einward slightly to permit passage of topcard over them; however, they s t i l lmaintain pressure against the packetin order to keep the break. This w i l lrun along the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th f i n g e r sand is also covered by these fingers.



259

SMALL PACKET SECOND DEAL

5. Continue the deal normally until thef o u r t h card is reached. At this pointthe second and third fingers of the lefth a n d press against the break and thus

push two cards upwards slightly whileat the same time the left thumb press-es down on the cards so that the twocards are now firmly gripped at thee d g e between the l e f t thumb on topand the left 2nd and 3rd fingers under-neath . Move the l ef t 2nd and 3rd f in-gers f o rward as in Figure 49 thus thec a r d s , because they are being pressedbetween left thumb and fingers, willalso move forward as one card.

Figure 49

At this point the right hand advancesand grasps the two cards, at the upperright corner between the second fingeron the bottom, thumb on top and fore-f i n g e r along the top edge. Next the leftt h u m b pulls back the top card whilethe right fingers and thumb hold ontothe under or second card and deal itout as in Figure 50.

Figure 50

Immediately after this second deal theleft four fingers resume their originalposition alongside of the packet as thedeal continues. The whole deal is done

with no hesitation at any point andlooks very normal and is deceptive.

In pushing off two cards as one itshould be done so that the card goesway over the side just as the others;however, if it is desired to push thesetwo off only slightly, just enough forthe right fingers and thumb to graspthem, then the other cards must alsobe dealt off only slightly to conform tothe second deal.

6. When using the above deal with afull deck, as in Miller's Nomad Acesyou would spread the top four cards asyou say "Four Aces". Now in squaringup the deck you would get a break under the fifth card from the t op .Thedeal is made as already detailed so thaton the 4th card an easy second deal isavailable.

Following are a few examples of holdinga break, plus the push-off previously

explained as used in False Counting bymyself long before the invention of theso called Buckle.

First Example: In The C a r d i c i a n weused a Triple Buckle to spread outapparently four cards when in realitythere were eight.

The same result can be obtained byreleasing three cards at the back viathe right thumb, then the left 4th fin-

ger getting a break over them. Next, theright 1st and 2nd fingers enter into thespace so that right thumb naturallygoes on the top or face of the cards.

These cards, a block, are now firmlygrasped between the right thumb andfingers while the left hand moves away,to the left, with its cards at the sametime spreading them with left fingersand thumb.



260


To further aid in the deception, thecards in the left hand are counted intothe right. The right fingers movingaway with the block of cards, and then

returning to the left fingers to receivethe first face card dealt under the rightthumb at the inner right corner. This isfollowed by the next card, then thethird thus doing a reverse count as yousay, "One, two, three, four Aces" orKings, or tens or whatever four you aredealing with. Naturally, you can hold atwo card break, or a one card break, oreven a four or five card break depend-ing on the purpose at hand.

Second Example: I used this in afalse count feeling that the last two orthree single cards would add to thedeceptiveness as compared to a singleBuckle. For years before we have usedthe following to false count twelvecards as nine.

The packet is held face up or face downas the case may be. The first four cardsare counted off, being taken one ontothe other, then taken by the right handat its upper right corner with thethumb on top and 1st and 2nd fingersbeneath.

The cards are literally shoved underthe right thumb as the left hand dealsthem into the right.

During the deal the left fingers willautomatically go above the cards heldin the right hand and be momentarilybetween the cards held in the righthand and the one dealt off by the left

hand into the right. After thus takingfour cards the count is stopped undersome pretext and the cards from theright hand are returned under thepacket in the left hand but inward sothey are injogged towards the body.

The right hand now comes over thecards to square them but the rightthumb presses downwards on the fourinjogged cards so that the left 4th fin-

ger can obtain a break above them. Thecount is now resumed.

The first four cards are pushed off andas before, taken by the right hand buton the fifth count the left second andthird fingers and left thumb move allthe cards, above the break, as inFigure 49, into the right hand whichtakes them, then the remaining f o u rare counted singly with no QuadrupleBuckle being necessary.

During the count it is sometimes expe-dient to take the cards into the r igh thand into almost a dealing position. Inother words, from a dealing position in

left hand the cards are taken, one on tothe other, into a dealing position in theright hand. The cards from the l e f thand are in this case shoved under theright thumb, which remains pressedagainst the base of the right f o r e f i n g e ras each card is taken and held. Againthe left fingers will automatically goabove the cards held in the right hand,during the count.

Third Example: In Devilish Miracle it

was already pointed out that a break could be used in place of a SingleBuckle for the vanish of one cardamong five. Next, we will show howholding a break on two, three or four of even an indeterminate number of cards, a vanish can be effected usingthe Push-Off as described so manytimes.

Let's assume you have a packet of twelve cards held face up. It is possible

to vanish a card that may be some-where in the center of the packet withno adjustment or placing and withoutthe use of any Buckles. Spread thetwelve cards face up and let us assumea selected card is in the center of thatpacket. All you need do is to note thecard in front or to the right of it, thenin closing up the spread get a break below the selected card.



261

SMALL PACKET SECOND DEAL

Now deal the cards normally into theright hand, or onto the table, but whenyou come to the noted key card yourl e f t fingers move tw o cards forward (See

Fig u r e 49) as one, then the rest follows ingly ,

S o m e may prefer to note the position of the actual selection and work f r om .t h e r e but the noting of a key card isf a s t e r and preferable in cases wherethe actual selection is unknown butmarked by a key, especially when thevanish has to occur from a full deck of cards in which the selection lies in thec e n t e r s o me w he r e .

Fourth Example: In some cases it isnecessary to shove over one or twocards, then execute a Double or TripleB u c k l e so here again is use of theBreak and Take as explained in the 1stexample. Let us say you have six cardsyou wish to show as four but the firsttwo have to be moved over fairly. Inthis case, get a break above the bottomtwo cards. Now shove over the top cardw h i c h the right fingers take at thel o w e r right corner with thumb on top,1st and 2nd fingers beneath.

The card is not removed but remainspushed off and resting on the othercards. The second card is pushed overand the right fingers take this one, stillunder the first card, in a sort of a fanf o r m a t i o n but held with right fingersand thumb, along with the first card,by the lower right corner. The right fin-g e r s now grasp the third card, reallytwo, and hold onto it while the lefth a n d moves away spreading its twocards to thus show a formation of apparently five cards.

The Side Push-Off Second

One of the first methods of seconddealing using the Side Push-Off wasthe second method in Erdnase. It wasamong the first I ever learned and overthe years 1 have found it to be one of

the most psychologically deceptivemethods in existence. You will note Isaid psychologically as from a visualstandpoint of the "See if you can see it

come out" type this one wouldn't rateat the top; however, for a completelydisarming method this one can't bebeat. It has almost none of the usualt ipof f s of a precision squared or beveledpack, the thumb lies at none of thetricky corners or edges but normallyand naturally across the deck. Mostimportant of all, the fingers at the sideof the deck are not pressed against itas obvious gauges of control but ratherare extended, relaxed and move in a

normal manner during the deal.Across the table, with the proper atten-tion to angles, plus details, it is in allrespects a deal so natural as to be sus-pect free. Here then is my analysis of the Erdnase 2nd method of seconddealing.

1. The deck is held loosely in the lefthand as shown in Figure 51.

2. Study Figure 51 carefully. Note that

the left forefinger is at position 1 butthe left thumb is across the center of the deck. The left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-gers are extended and because of thisthe cards have spread out looselyagainst these fingers. The pack is in asort of loose Mechanic's Grip althoughlater actions will put it into a firmerposition yet appear quite natural.

Figure 51



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3. With the left thumb push over thetop card. A few cards may start to moveover rather than one; however, the left3rd fingertip pulls back the excess

cards to leave only one projecting.At first it may appear as if the left 2ndfingertip is doing part of this work. It isan aid but the major control is with theleft 3rd fingertip. This is only naturalas it is the one extending beyond theothers, due to the peculiar angle of thedeck in the left hand, and thus comingin contact with the pushed off cardsbefore any of the others.

4. The top card now rests on the left

2nd and 3rd fingertips and off the deck at the right side as shown in Figure 52.Note the left fingers have curled inslightly.

Figure 52

5. The right thumb and second fingertake the card. The right forefingerextends across the top right edge of card during the Take. After the topcard is removed the left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers relax, straightening out in anormal manner, so they are again inposition of Figure 51.

6. Once more the Steps 3 through 5 arerepeated for each card that is to betaken. When it is required to deal asecond, using the tip of the left thumbfirst push the top card forward onlys l i gh t ly , then with the balance of theleft thumb press down so as to moveoff the second card along with it. If more than one card is pushed over donot worry as the action of the left 2nd

and 3rd fingertips will take care of t ha t ,

7. Assume several cards have b e e npushed over as seen in Figure 53, a topview, while Figure 54 is a bottom view

of the existing condition. You will notethe several cards in contact with l e f t2nd and 3rd fingertips.

Figure

8. With an inward action of the left fin-gers all the cards are pulled back ontodeck except the forward two. Figure 55shows the action from below.

9 . A s t h e l e f t 3 rd a n d 2n d f in g e r t ipspull back the excess cards, the l e f tthumb pushes forward to assure twocards being over the side of the deck as

in Figure 56, a top view.10. Notice the inward movement of theleft fingers when the top card is pushedover the side. This same action is nowbeing used in the Second Deal. It is aslight action in either case and obvi-ously used to keep other cards back asthe top one is taken; however, it servesa double purpose during the SecondDeal. It also keeps the other cards on



263

SIDE PUSH-OFF SECOND

top of the deck leaving only two cardsresting on the left fingertips as perFigure 57, right side view, where youw i l l note that the two cards are not

on ly res t ing on the l e f t 2nd and 3rd f in -gertips but the two cards are alsoslightly separated from the deck at itsouter side just as was the one card.

1 1 . The right hand now comes over totake apparently the top card. As thehands meet, the left thumb pulls back the top card leaving the side of the sec-ond card exposed as in Figure 58. Thisshows the card pulled back and theright thumb and 2nd finger about to

t a k e the second card. Note that theright f o r e f i n g e r is extended across thetop edge of the card.

Figure 56

12. Pull the top card back first, thenbring the right thumb onto it. It is theTake action, same as for top card, thatmakes it difficult to tell whether a sec-ond or top has been taken. A properang l e , where the top of the deck can't

Figure 57

Figure 58

really be seen, but keeping the frontend of the deck in view is important togiving the impression that all of thedeck is seen.

The underlying principle is similar to

that of placing a playing card, acrossthe top of a glass, at eye level to a spec-tator. They can see all of the glass butnot the card. At any rate the right handtakes the second card and deals it tothe table.

Remember you must not slide the sec-ond card out as this will tip-off thedeal, you must take it and this is onlypossible by pulling the top card back and out of the way as explained.

13. After the second card is removedyou will note that the original top cardremains on the left fingers and separat-ed from rest of the deck, as in Figure59, but flush with the top of the deck.Note the angle of the thumb as the topcard is pulled back.

14. The left thumb pushes over the topcard again but only very slightly. At thesame time the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th



264


fingertips sort of straighten out to nor-mal as before. Figure 60 shows the lefthand at this stage.

15. Press down with the balance of theleft thumb in order to engage the sec-ond card thus pushing over two cardspast the left fingers.

Figure 59

Figure 60

It doesn't make any difference if the leftthumb starts to push over more thanthe desired two cards as it is the left3rd fingertip on the underside that willeventually prevent more than one cardgoing past. Thus two cards will be for-ward on the left 2nd and 3rd fingertips.The Figure 61 shows two cards pushedforward, one preceding the other, with

the rest of deck held in a loose fannedcondition.

16. Right hand continues taking thesecond card as already explained.Anytime a top card is needed only onecard goes over the side of the deck.When a second deal is imminent, youagain go into pushing the first oneslightly forward followed closely by thesecond. Again in the event, especially

Figure 61

with tacky cards, that several aremoved over the left 3rd fingertip, whichpresses upwards against the edges of the cards, it pulls back what is not

needed to leave only two cards forwardfor the deal. Don't forget to push thecards well forward off the deck as thisis part of its deceptive action.

The Related Bottom Deal

I call this the Related Bottom Dealbecause in action it resembles the nat-ural action of the Side Pu s h -O f f SecondDeal. Here again it is the complete nat-uralness of action which is its greatestasset rather than that of a visualdeception.

1. Hold deck in the Loose Grip as perFigure 51 of the Side Push Off SecondDeal except the left forefinger is atposition 2 at the upper right cornerand because of it the deck will not fanor spread out as much; however, theleft 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers remainextended in a relaxed and natural way.

2. With the left thumb across the mid-

dle of the deck, push the top cardstraight off past the left fingers. Theright hand comes over to take the topcard. The right thumb goes above theleft thumb and falls at about center of the card near the upper end at a slightangle. The right 1st and 2nd fingersare extended so that the right forefin-ger touches the back of of the lef t f o r e -finger while the 2nd finger goesbetween the left 1st and 2nd fingers to



265

THE RELATED BOTTOM DEAL

touch the face of the bottom card at itsupper right corner. The right 3rd and4th fingers are only slightly curled intothe palrn and they also travel below the

extended left fingers. Figure 62 showsthe position of both hands at a stagew h e n either the top or bottom cardmay be taken.

Figure 62

3. When the top card is taken the leftthumb pushes over the next one andso forth as the deal continues. As longas the deal is fair the left hand doesnothing but deal in a relaxed manner.

4. When it is required to deal the bot-tom card a slight and imperceptible

change of the left hand takes place.The lef t forefinger presses inward onthe upper right corner of the deck thusforcing the deck's l e f t side into the l e f tthumb crotch. The pack is thusmomentarily held under control,between the tip of the left forefingerand crotch of the thumb, just longenough for the right second finger topull out the bottom card.

5 . As the right second finger pulls outthe bottom card the left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers straighten out a bit to allowpassage of the bottom card. As thesel e f t fingers are almost straight out dur-ing the regular deal, the furtherstraightening of them is only for am o m e n t and passes unnoticed. Rightthumb, of course, falls onto the cardand so it is taken between the rightthumb and 2nd finger.

6. As the right second finger contacts

the bottom card to remove same, itdoes so by pressing on the face of thecard, then bending the finger intowards the right palm.

As the right hand moves away from thedeck to deposit the card on the table,the left thumb simultaneously pullsback the top card and immediatelyadvances it over the side of the deck again as the deal continues in a normalmanner until another bottom card isrequired.

F i g u r e 63

Figure 63 shows a frontal view of theaction as the bottom card is pulled out,by the right second finger bending intowards the right palm, while the left

thumb is starting to pull back the topcard.

The Throw Bottom Deal

This is a one hand bottom deal. Whileit is not original with me the underlyingtechnique is. The original techniqueconsisted of shooting the bottom cardout with the left forefinger which Ifound not only awkward but not con-forming to the top card deal. As a mat-ter of fact no satisfactory method of

dealing the top card, to conform withthe bottom deal had even been used.The procedure was to rapidly deal thebottom cards while retaining the topone rather than dealing tops and onlythe bottom one when required. Mytechnique consisted of a Block Pu s h o f f ,of the top cards, in order to loosen thebottom card which then, by a forwardwrist action, was dealt to the table.



266


This technique was originally shown toDudley Possum who took it back Eastwhere it was kicked around, then sev-eral years later shown back to me, as

something new by Jerry Styker. Thisincident led me to devise anothermethod or approach which I called theInward Deal and showed to Bert Fennwho recorded it in January, 1949.

With the years I also devised a tech-nique for dealing the top card thatwould conform to that of the BottomThrow Deal. I shall describe theOutward Deal and the Inward Deal aseach have just a slight difference in

their technical action of the top carddeal as well as the bottom deal.

The Outward Deal

1. This deal can be mastered with a fulldeck but it is best with half a deck orless. Assume you are using a smallpacket of cards.

2. Hold the packet in the Mechanic'sGrip with the left forefinger curledaround the upper end at position 1.

The left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers arepressing against the right side of thepacket, while the left thumb is at theright side of the packet with its tip onthe edge of the outer left corner. Theposition of the left fingers and thumb isshown in Figure 64.

Press downward with the left thumb onthe left side of the packet and at thesame time press downward with theleft 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers on the

right side. This causes the packet tobuckle over onto the left first finger.Now, simultaneously, move the l e f tforefinger to the left and release down-ward pressure on the left side by rais-ing the thumb.

3. The above action will automaticallyseparate the bottom card whichremains on your palm while the rest of packet is raised by the left thumb asshown in Figure 65.

4. The action in Figure 65 takes placeduring the deal not prior to it as a getready. The dealing action is forwardwhich causes the loose card to shootout at the front of the deck past the l e f tforefinger which is momentarilystraightened in order to make way forthe bottom card's exit.

5. The deal is started by moving the l e f thand inward as in the Figure 66. Thisis a side view to show the relative angle

to the body. Backs of cards are towardsthe performer's chest.

Figure 65

Figure 64

Figure 66



267

THE OUTWARD DEAL

A l s o note that at this time the bottomcard is being readied for the release.

6. The left hand, in an action almostentirely of the wrist, moves downwardstowards the table at the same time thel o o s e card shoots out f ro m front end of deck, past the left forefinger which isstraightened at this time, towards thetable. The Figure 67 shows the bottomcard in the process of coming out thef r o n t end of the deck.

Figure 67

7. As the forward wrist action is madethe left hand and packet is literally

jerked away from the separated bottomc a r d so that the l e f t hand ends upmore towards the body at the finish of the Throw Deal.

8. The action so far explains only thebottom deal. Now for the top card deal.H o l d the pack in the same position asfor the Bottom Deal.

9. As the left hand turns inward thel e f t thumb presses inward on the upperl e f t corner of the top card. This causesthe top card to buckle upwards at thefront end just enough for the left firstf i n g e r t i p to press in against this curvedcard.

10. The l e f t thumb maintains its posi-ti o n b u t th e l e f t 2 n d , 3 r d a n d 4 t h f i n -gers m ove out just enough so that thebuckled card will straighten out andremain resting on the tip of left first

finger. At this stage, the top card is off the deck at its right side as shown inFigure 68. Its upper right corner ismore or less resting on the tip of theleft 1st finger and still kept in place bythe left thumb at the upper right cor-ner.

Figure 68

11. The left hand now turns down-wards, at the wrist, towards the table.At the same time the left thumb releas-es the top card which slides over thel e f t f o r e f i n g e r a n d o f f t h e f r o n t e n d o f the deck in an identical manner to theBottom Deal.

12. The most important action, that of the left thumb, is identical when deal-

ing the top or bottom card. There is adefinite inward action of the left thumbduring the deal for both the top andbottom card. Do not try to hide thisaction during the top deal and you willnot have to hide it when getting readyto Bottom Deal.

The Inward Deal

1. Hold the pack exactly as shown inFigure 64.

2. This time do not buckle the packetbut hold it rather loosely as the leftthumb shoves over all the cards exceptthe bottom one which is kept back bythe base of the left forefinger. The leftthumb has been moved aside as seenin Figure 69 to show the bottom card'sposition which is normally covered byleft thumb. For this action, the Block Push Over, the left fingers must moveout slightly in order not to buckle thepacket as in the Outward Deal.



268


3. The left thumb presses down on thesingle bottom card at the same timerolling on its left side to engage thepacket of cards above the bottom one.Raise the left thumb so that the packetis raised while the bottom card remainsin the left palm. You will note that dur-ing the raising of the packet the majorgrip is by the left thumb on the left cor-ner at the side and the left 3rd and 4thfingers on the right side. These fingersact as a pivot point during the Block Push Over and the eventual raising of the packet to a position shown inFigure 70 which is a back view.

Figure 70

4. The dealing action now is not for-ward but rather to the rear. To deal abottom, turn the hand inward, entirelyin a wrist action, at the same time let-ting the separated card fall out theback end as in Figure 71 to end up facedown in front of you.

5. The left hand, once the bottom cardis dealt, moves back naturally to your

left on the table to its original startingposition.

6. To deal the top card the left thumb,at the upper left corner, moves the top

card, in an action similar to that of theBlock Push Over, over onto the left fin-gertips. At this stage the top card'sright side is resting on the left finger-tips. The card is slightly above the restof the cards and held in place by theleft thumb.

Figure 71

7. Hold your left hand with the cardsnaturally to your left on the table. Now,in the same action as before, almost

entirely with the wrist, twist your l e f thand inward towards yourself and d ea lthe top card in front of you by merelyreleasing it with left thumb, the inwardaction doing the rest. This is the sameaction you simulate when dealing aBottom card. Remember the B o t t o mDeal get-ready is made as the left handturns inward to deal.

8. It is helpful in getting the bottomcard out if , in the reverse action to the

normal deal po s i t i o n , you literally j e rkthe hand and packet away from theseparated bottom card. It should endup with its side to you in the normalposition.

9. You can further strengthen the illu-sion if you hold your left hand well for-ward on the table as well as to y o u rleft. Howeve r , as the spectator is nor-mally in front of you, the Inward D e a l



269

THE DEEP BOTTOM DEAL

need not depend on any visual decep-tion or speed.

My Favorite Stop Effect

Th i s one is taken from a routine of mine I call "Never Miss."

1. Have a card selected and control itto the top of the deck.

2. Hand the deck to a spectator to dealcards face down into your left hand.A f t e r he has dealt about a half dozencards tell him that he can stop dealingat any time he wishes.

3 . When he stops dealing, position thecards using one hand throughout, asyou ask if he is sure he wants to stopn o w , etc.

4. His decision having been made ask him to name his card. At the same timedo either the Inward or Outward Dealwhich throws the bottom card, theselection, to the table.

5. If you use the Outward Deal followby pushing the dealt card forward withl e f t forefinger, as you say, "Just take a

l ook at the card." Naturally it is hisselection.

6. If you use the Inward Action theright fingers pick up the card, thenslowly turn it face up to show that it istheselection.

7. Of course, you can have a cardappear at a selected number also deal-ing top cards until you arrive at thechosen number, then deal a bottom.For this, control the selection to the

bottom, have the deck cut and use thelower half.

The rest is obvious; however, one point,you can use either the top card deal of the Outward Method for the InwardDeal, or use the Inward Method for theOutward Deal. Experimentation willsoon enable you to decide which com-bination you prefer or perhaps onemethod for both.

The Deep Bottom Deal

1. Hold the deck in either theMechanic's Grip or Master Grip. Thetip of the left forefinger should be at a

position around the upper left corner of the deck. The left thumb is straightacross the deck. The left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers can be either against thesides of the pack or extended.

Figure 72 shows the pack in the MasterGrip with the left three fingers extend-ed to later permit clearance of the bot-tom card. The left thumb has movedthe top card over very slightly, in fact

just enough for its upper right corner

to come free of the left forefinger.

Figure 72

2. The right hand comes over to takethe top card. The right thumb moves invery deep, above the left thumb, untiltip of right thumb touches upper leftcorner of deck as in Figure 73. At thesame time the other right fingers arepositioned as follows: The right forefin-ger lies across the left forefinger. Theright second finger has gone way underthe pack, into the gap caused by theleft 1st and 2nd fingers, until its tiptouches the bottom card almost at itsupper left corner. The right 3rd and 4thfingers are also extended, in a slightlycurled position, so they go below theleft hand and touch the backs of theleft 2nd and 3rd fingers.

3. With the right hand in the positionof Step 2 , Figure 73, the operator hasthe choice of taking either the bottom



270


card or the top card. In any case thetaken card will end up in the righthand, deep into the palm and heldbetween the thumb on top, second fin-

ger below, at the upper left corner of the card. As the card is taken, the right2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers curl into thepalm. This aids in getting the cardtaken, into the position shown inFigure 74.

Figure 73

4. For each succeeding card to betaken off the top the left thumb merelymoves the top card over very slightly asshown in Figure 72. When the bottomcard is taken instead then of course,the left thumb simultaneously can pullit back or merely leave it as is. Becausethe top card has not been moved overnoticeably, it is not really essential tobother bringing it back.

5. The dealing action is that of the rightthumb sweeping across the top card inorder to take it. This sweeping actionlater adds to the illusion of havingtaken the top card when in reality thebottom one is dealt.

The Moveable Thumb

Probably the first recorded source of the principle of the Moveable Thumb isthat in Walter Scott's manuscriptPhantom of the Card Table. There it isapplied to the Second Deal and herethe application is to the Deep B o t t o mDeal.

1. Hold the pack exactly as for theDeep Bottom Deal except that the l e f tthumb is at the upper end of the deckas shown in Figure 75. The top cardremains stationary at all times, it is notmoved.

2. The right hand action is identical tothe Deep Bottom Deal except, as theright hand comes over to take the topcard, the left thumb moves downward,as indicated by the arrow in Figure 75,until it reaches the position alreadyshown in Figure 72. This enables theright hand to get into position, Figure73, for either the top or bottom deal.

Figure 75

3. When the right hand has taken itscard the left thumb moves back to theposition shown in Figure 75. By co n t in -

uing this back and forth action of theleft thumb you give the illusion of deal-ing a card even though the top card isnever moved.

The Clip Bottom Deal

The following Clip idea came about in1946 while trying a move called theTurnover Switch from Nea l Elias' book-let At the Table. As a matter of f a c t ,when I first did this for Neal Elias and



271

THE CLIP BOTTOM DEAL

B e r t Fenn on the streets of Colon,Michigan, they saw no differencebetween this and what Elias alreadyhad in his book and actually there was

none except for one little detail; TheC l i p , which made for an easy release of the bottom card.

F i r s t will come a description of theoriginal method of setting the card intothe Clip, then the refinements.

1. The deck is held in the left hand facedown. Card to be clipped into positionis on top of the deck.

2. The first card is counted off face

d o w n into right hand so that the upperr i g h t corner of the card comes directlyo v e r the third joint of the forefinger.The right thumb tip is also at this cor-ner pressing down on the card to keepit in place as shown in Figure 76.

3. As the right hand moves towards thepack to take the next card, the rightf o r e f i n g e r moves over onto the card'supper right corner, clipping the itbetween the first and second fingersnear the base of the palm. The rightthumb keeps pressing down on thecard to keep its position while the rightf o r e f i n g e r can change its position inorder to Clip the card as in Figure 77.

4. The next card is taken onto the firstone and, of course, now covers the factt h a t the card is clipped. As a matter of f a c t , the situation would now appearagain as in Figure 76.

5. Steps 1 through 4 are the original

method of getting into the Clip during acounting process and will be referred toas the First Clip Method. The 2ndmethod is a great improvement, notonly in technique but in flexibility of application.

Second Clip Method

1. In this case the card to be secretlyclipped can be either the 2nd, 3rd or4th card from the top.

Figure 76

Figure 77

2. The left thumb shoves over the topcard which is taken into the righthand. The second card is shoved over

and taken under the first card and alsokept slightly jogged to the left. Thisprocess is repeated with the third cardbeing taken under the first two, and ittoo is kept jogged slightly to the left.

The result is three cards held in righthand as shown in Figure 78 which is atop view of the right hand. The action,of course, has been that of countingthree cards into the right hand.

3. The fourth card, the apparent selec-tion, is also taken under the cards inright hand; however, this card ispushed way under the spread of threecards and into the Clip position shownin Figure 77 except in this case thefirst three cards above hide this actionso that the picture, as far as spectatorsare concerned, remains more or less asin Figure 78.



272


4. Having shoved the selection into theClip, the right hand now makes a ges-ture under some pretext, such as ask-ing if he still remembers his card. The

count is resumed but this time all suc-ceeding cards are taken one onto theother so that the clipped card remainsat the bottom of the packet.

5. Using this Second Method of gettinginto the Clip also has the advantage of being used with a card that is face up.

Figure 78

6. Suffice it to say that the Clip can beused in the same effects as theTurnover Switch from Elias' At the

Table except the Clip will make thesubsequent release of the bottom cardmuch easier than before. The switch ismade simply by separating the rightfirst and second fingers as the righthand either turns the supposed topcard face up onto the deck or takes itoff the deck, and onto the cards in theright hand, which then seems to dealthis card face up to the table.

The action of taking it off the deck,with the right hand, then dealing itapparently face up to the table, is farsuperior to that of turning it face uponto the pack. Of course if a table isnot handy, and you are working stand-ing up, then the turnover of the cardonto the deck is the only course.

The Clip Deal makes for an excellentStop effect as well as a direct substitu-tion of a known card for another. As anexample, suppose you control a selec-

tion to the bottom of the deck. Thenturn the deck face up. Everyone seesthe selection on the face of deck butyou say, "I will run the cards face up.

Do not say anything but merely think 'Stop' when you see your card." Here,of course, you have got the face card,the selection, into the Clip and are tak-ing off more cards, onto it, from theface of the deck.

Suddenly you stop at one and say,"Yes, that's the card on which youthought 'Stop'. Here the right handtakes the face card off the deck into theright hand. Right hand turns to dea l

the supposed card face down to thetable but actually an exchange is madevia the Clip Release.

The Spectators disavows the card butyou insist that was the card on whichhe thought 'Stop'. When he eventuallyturns the card over you again say,"That was the card at which youthought 'Stop' wasn't it?" He will haveto admit you are correct.

By using the Second Method of getting

ready for the Clip Deal you can work an exchange of a face up card in a facedown deck.

Briefly, assume you have a card secret-ly reversed third from the top. Get thisface up card into the Second Methodposition, as per Figure 78, withoutexposing its face. Now take the rest of the cards, one at a time, onto those inthe right hand as you ask someone tocall stop. When a halt is called the top

card, of left hand packet, is turned f aceup with the aid of the cards held in theright hand.

The right hand now takes this face upcard onto its packet. Immediately theright hand travels to the table, turningbacks up, seemingly to deposit the card

just taken but actually the C l i p p e dcard is released which, because it waspreviously reversed, lands face d o w n



273

SECOND CLIP METHOD

onto the table. The right hand placesits cards face up onto the face downcards in the left hand.

You can now run through the face up

cards to show that he could havestopped at any card, actually to i n d i -rectly prove that the card stopped at isnot among them so it must be the onef a c e down on the table. A f t e r showing

the face up cards casually transferthem to the bottom of the deck. Thusthe actual stopped at card is nowunder control on top of the deck. (For

another type of Switch see "SpreadSwitch" notes of August 10, 1956 and"Applications of Spread Switch" notesof July 3, 1957.)



Chapter Nine


Part II

The Movie Second The Deep Second One Hand Stud Second The Hit Deals D'Amico One Hand Second From Out of Nowhere A D'Amico Variation Stanley James Stud Second Variations ofD'Amico's Deal The Top Card Deal One Hand Bottom Deal The One Hand

Center Deal Mario One Hand Second D'Amico's Variation As a Color Change As Production of Selection As Production of Aces As Ambitious Asa Vanish D'Amico'sFavorite Mario's Routine The S. F . Grip The S.F . Bottom Deal The S.F . Second DealsS . F . Natural Second Deal Wiersbie 's Double Deal Mario's Double Double Stop M.S.F . One

Hand Bottom Added Technique For Wiersbie D. D. Missing Finger Deals Streamlined Dunbury Delusion Off the Face Seconds Mechanical Seconds Technical VariationsTab l ed Bottom Deal Tabled Seconds

The Movie Second

It must be every bit of twenty-five yearssince I first saw this method of second

dealing in a movie which had the usualgambling scene and a crooked dealer.It is obviously a good expos'e methodbut there is no reason why it can't beused secretly especially if the audienceis seated in front of the performer.

1. Hold the deck in the Master Gripw i t h l e f t forefinger at position 2 aroundthe right corner of the pack. The leftthumb is at position A and the left 2nd,3rd and 4th fingers are against right

side of the deck. The Figure 79 showsthe hand position on the pack.

2. The left thumb presses down on thetop card then moves straight down , atthe same time maintaining pressure onthe upper right corner of the top card.T h i s will cause the top card to bemoved so it does not project over thes ide of the deck but will buckle insteadat the back end of the deck.

At the same time the upper right cor-ner of the second card is exposed asshown in Figure 80.

3. Of course the right hand approachesthe left hand and not until the rightthumb is ready to take a card does theleft thumb buckle back its top card inorder to expose the under card whichis then taken by the right thumb ontop and right 1st & 2nd fingers frombelow.

Naturally the right thumb pulls thesecond card off the deck sufficiently to

Figure 79



276

SECONDS CENTERS & BOTTOMS

Figure 80

enable the right 1st and 2nd fingers tocome up and meet the card from below.

4. To keep the left thumb action uni-form for both top and second dealing it

is essential that the left thumb movedownwards in the same direction eachtime; however, no buckle is executedwhen dealing the top card. The leftthumb merely moves downwards out of the way and the right thumb alwayscomes at the upper right corner of thedeck for the take.

5. There can be two variations in theright thumb taking the second card. Itcan take the second card at the center

side as in Figure 81. In addition it canalso enter under the top card as seenin Figure 82.

Figure 81

Both methods may be found of someuse. The method wherein the rightthumb goes under the top card can bedone standing up and used as a formof Top Change by using the same ges-tures as for the Top Change.

Figure 82

6. In Figure 82, where the right thumbgoes under the top card, the deal ismade straight back towards the per-former as this is easiest.

The Deep Second

This type of Second Deal is very decep-tive because the take action is at thecenter of the card rather than theusual corner. Across the table it is d i f f i -

cult to tell when a top card or secondcard is taken.

1. Hold the deck in the Mechanics Gripwith the left forefinger curled aroundthe upper end at position 1.

The lef t thumb extends above the f r o n tend of deck at about center. Left 2nd ,3rd and 4th fingers are at the side of the deck.

2. The left thumb pulls the top cardstraight down to expose the under cardfor no more than its white border.

3. The tip of the left thumb now press-es down on the top card as well as theexposed second card. The left thumbnow arcs the top two cards, as one o v e ronto the left finger tips but not pastthem.

4. At this stage the two cards, as one,are slightly off the pack and their rightsides resting on the left fingertips.

5. The right hand 1st and 2nd fingersare extended as they come overtowards the pack. The right 3rd and4th fingers are curled into the palm.



277

THE DEEP SECOND

The right 1st and 2nd fingers cometowards the top card at a point directlybelow that of the left 4th finger. Theright thumb and right 1st and 2nd fin-

gers wil l be touching the top cards asshown in Figure 83.

Figure 83

6. The right 1st and 2nd fingers nowl i f t up the two cards almost in a slidingm ot ion . This is easy as the cards pro-

ject over the side of the deck. At thesame time move the right 1st and 2ndf ingers deep under the two cards as inFigure 84, a bottom view. Left thumbprevents these fingers from going anyf u r t he r than required.

Figure 84

7. From the top, the right thumb willbe on the center of the card as shownin Figure 85.

8. To take the second card, a firmupward pressure is maintained by theright 1st and 2nd fingers against the

face of the second card. As these fin-gers actually take the card out, theright hand moves to the right and theright thumb rides lightly across the top

card until it eventually comes down ontop of the second card as it is removed.This action is shown in Figure 86.

Figure 86

9. As the second card is removed theleft thumb arcs back the top card butnot flush; only as far as the upperwhite border of the next card. Again,the left thumb presses down on the twocards which are easily arced over asone to continue the Second Deal.

10. When only the top card is needed

you must arc over only one card whichis taken by the right hand in the identi-cal manner as was the second. To getfrom a top card deal to a second dealrequires practice in quickly pullingdown the next card as the right handtosses its card to the table. By the timethe right hand comes back to the deck the left thumb is already pushing off two cards.



278


11. This Deep Second Deal is a slowdeliberate type and does not depend onvisual deception; however, this may beobtained by certain actions or charac-

teristics of the deal. As an example,with the fingers in position shown inFigure 83 instead of moving under thecard slowly do so by going in veryquickly and coming out just as quickly.

This action will be found to conform tothat characteristic of a 2 1 dealer whodeals another card to a player whocalls "Hit". In this way the deal canbecome visually deceptive. The rightthumb sliding across the top card aidsthe illusion of having taken the topcard.

12. A very easy and deceptive methodof this deal is to arc the two cards fur-ther over the side of deck. Now theright thumb and fingers deal the carddirectly from the position alreadyshown in Figure 83. In other words thefingers do not go under the two cardsbut rather deal from the right centeredge. The left thumb obviously pushingover the top card(s) plus the right fin-

gers taking them at the center edge addgreatly to a very deceptive action of seeming to deal the top card.

One Hand Stud Second

If the deal, about to be described, isdone correctly you will have to practi-cally prove you are dealing a second,something which I hope you will avoiddoing. It is one that I have used andanalyzed over the past two decades,

trying the various Grips to f i nd whichis the best for this particular deal. Ihave found both the High Grip andMechanics Grip to work well; however,the preference is for the High Grip andthe description will be with that grip inmind.

First I will describe the action of gettingthe second card out and then the actu-al method of dealing.

1. Hold the deck with its lower left cor-ner in the High Grip. This is at a point

just above the crease in the left handand on the mound of the left thumb.

The left forefinger is at position 1around upper end of the pack while theleft 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers are at theright side of the deck. Their tips are

just high enough to enable the top cardto be dealt over them yet keep back orcontrol the rest of the cards from fol-lowing the top card.

2. The left thumb can bevel the pack if so desired but it is not necessary. Theleft thumb's starting position is impor-tant. It is angled back towards the l e f t

side of the deck until its tip is asshown in Figure 87. Only the left sideof the thumb is touching the top card,Because of the left thumb's angle itsposition is about an inch from theupper left corner.

Figure 87

3. The left thumb now pushes the topcard straight off the deck until it is asfar over the side as the left thumb can

get it. At this stage the l e f t thumb iscompletely extended and lies flat acrossthe middle of the pack as seen inFigure 88.

4. With the top card over the side of thedeck, left thumb extended, keep press-ing downwards and forwards with theleft thumb. This will cause the underbone, at its first crease, of the l e f tthumb to contact the second card. By



279

ONE HAND STUD SECOND

Figure 88

Figure 89

continuing the downward and forwardpressure the second card will alsom o v e slightly forward as in Figure 89.

5. The second card will of course movepast the edge of deck and onto the left

f inger t ips . At this stage the second cardw i l l rest on the 2nd and 3rd fingertipsof the left hand as seen in Figure 90and will also be slightly separated fromthe deck at the right side.

Figure 90

6, The left 2nd, and 3rd fingertipspress slightly upwards in order to keepthe second card in place on these fin-gertips while the lef t thumb pulls back the top card flush with the deck as inFigure 91 .

7. At the stage of Figure 91 the secondcard still rests on the left 2nd and 3rdfingertips and is slightly separatedfrom the pack. Also the left thumb,being back at the extreme left side of deck, does not actually press on thesecond card, as this second card is justbeyond the left thumb's pressure point.

Figure 91

Figure 92

8. This situation results in the secondcard actually being free from the deck.If the left hand is tilted downwards thesecond card will fall out as seen inFigure 92. What has been described

are just the actual mechanics of thedeal; however, the action must be donecorrectly to get a complete illusion of having dealt the top card.

9. First the deck is held as in Figure87. Next the top card is pushed over asin Figure 88 but, this is important, theaction of Figure 89 must be done asthe hand turns palm down in a sort of



280


throwing of the card face up to thetable. Matter of fact as the hand turnsdown the mechanics depicted inFigures 89-90-91 and 92 are all donesimultaneously. Resulting in the sec-ond card being dealt face up to thetable as shown in Figure 93.

Figure 93

10. There should be no movement of the second card, shown in Figure 89,when the hand is palm up as this willdefinitely spoil the deception. The dealitself is a sort of one-hand throw andthe second deal should conform to thatof the top card deal.

11. A slight forward momentum isadded during the deal causing the sec-ond card to practically shoot out whileat the same time the left thumb pullsback the top card quickly enough so itwill not be seen sticking out when theleft hand turns palm down as perFigure 93.

12. Due to the slight separation of thetop two cards, by the left 2nd and 3rdfingertips from the rest of the deck, the

card falling out practically rides overthe nails of the left three fingers. Thusthere is practically no friction to hinderthe second card from travelling freelyfrom under the top card.

The left thumb places no pressure onthis second card but is merely holdingonto the left edge of the top card as thesecond card is left to fall free of thedeck and face up onto the table. There

is no movement of the left fingers dur-ing the deal.

The above deal can be made as astraight face down deal and it is best if

it is done on the swing in towards thebody of the operator; however, its overall effectiveness is best as a Stud typedeal.

The Hit Deals

Ever since 1948 I have experimentedwith applying the principles of the HitMethod of Double Lifting to substitutefor the standard strike and push-off methods of Second Dealing. One of myfirst Hit Second Deals was recorded in

July 1949 by Bert Fenn and here, inhis own words, is the description.

"Hit Second Deal For One Deal

Mario Chicago July '49.

See Hit Turnover. This deal is based onthe same principle. Although this can'tbe used for continuous 2nd deals it isideal for a single second deal.

Hold the deck in left hand Mechanic'sGrip and bevel it to the right. The cardsare "hit" in the same manner as for theDouble Turnover, in this case, hitbetween the left 2nd finger and outerright corner of deck. The left thumbstays constant on the top card. Simply"hit" at the outer right corner, liftingthe corner only of the top two cards.The right first finger on the face of thesecond card deals this card outward,as left thumb holds the top card on the

deck. Very clean deal. Can also be usedfor a double deal."

Over the period of years I have devisednot only other techniques but havecome to the conclusion that it can bedone as a continuous type of SecondDeal provided a certain tempo is setand kept for the deal. Here then are thevariations of technique for Hit Deals.



281

THE HIT DEALS

First Variation:

1. Hold the pack in the MechanicsG r i p . The left forefinger is at position 1around the upper end of the deck. The

l e f t thumb is angled towards the topend of the deck where its tip touchesthe left forefinger . The left 2nd 3rd and4th fingertips are against the side of the deck. The position is shown inFigure 94.

2. The left thumb now arcs over the topc a r d , as shown in Figure 95, justenough to expose the second card atthe upper right corner.

Figure 94

Figure 95

3. The right forefinger is now extendedand its tip placed deliberately onto theupper right corner of the second cardw h i c h it immediately lifts up, awayf r o m deck and then forces the tip of theright forefinger under the corner of thissecond card as seen in Figure 96.Actually, the right thumb almost

simultaneously comes in contact withthe corner of the second card as inFigure 97.

4. With a firm grip on the second card,

with right thumb and 1st finger, thecard is dealt off to the table as the leftthumb pulls back the top card flushwith the deck. A repetition of thesemovements will set you for succeedingsecond deals.

Figure 96

Figure 97

5. Whenever the top card only is need-ed the identical action, of lifting up thecorner of the card, is made except thistime on the top card only; The right 1stfinger and thumb deal the card to thetable.

6. Remember that the same lifting upaction is made on the top or seconddeal. Also the two upper corners of thetop and second card, are fairly closetogether during the Hit and Lift actionso it is impossible to tell whether a top



282


or second card is dealt. Adding thePrinciple of the Wrist Turn, explainedfurther on in this book, enables you todo this deal under close scrutiny.

7. This is a slow type deal so its usewill have to fit the occasion or an occa-sion found for its use.

Second Variation:

This variation can be used as a straightout face down deal; however , it will bedescribed as a form of "Hit Stud Deal"which is visually very deceptive.

1. Hold the deck in the Mechanics Gripwith the left forefinger at position 1

around the upper end of the deck. Theleft 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers areextended and not pressed against theside of the deck. The left thumb bevelsthe pack then takes its position acrossthe deck, its tip pointing towards theupper right corner of pack but nottouching it, As shown in Figure 98. Theleft thumb maintains a firm pressureon the deck.

Figure 982. The right hand, forefinger extendedand the other three fingers curled intowards the palm, comes towards thepack. The ball of the right forefinger"hits" the side of the deck, at a point

just below the l e f t 4th finger, to thusengage two cards quickly which areimmediately lifted as one. This isshown in Figure 99.

Figure 99

3. Immediately as the two cards arelifted, the right forefinger slides up tocenter of the cards, then moves inunder them up to the first joint of theforefinger. Also the right second f i n g e rstraightens out so it lies across the topof the card while the right thumbcomes down to contact the top cardnear its edge. The position at this p o i n tis as in Figure 100.

4. The right forefinger digs in andpresses upwards on the face of the sec-ond card at the same time the r i g h thand starts to move to the right.

5. As the right hand moves the secondcard out, the right thumb and back of the second right finger will automati-cally come in contact with it to insure afirm grip for the next action.

Figure 100



283

D'AMICO ONE HAND SECOND

6. As soon as the 2nd card starts tom o v e out, the right second fingerpresses down on top of this card whileright 1st finger presses upwards on its

f a c e . This causes the card to benddownwards, at its back end, as itm o v e s out of the pack per Figure 101.

Figure 101

1. Continuing the pressure of the right1st and 2nd fingers will cause the cardto pivot face up. The right thumbsimultaneously moves from the back of the card onto its face. As a result thesecond card ends face up in the righthand held as in Figure 102.

Figure 102

8. The right hand now tosses its cardface up to the table, then comes back for a repeat of this Hit Stud Deal.There is a slight upward movement of the right hand as the second card ispulled out and turned face up. Thisupward movement aids in the illusionof the top card having been taken asw e l l as the turning of the card face up.

9. The top card deal is handled thesame way but please note that thenoise of the top card deal must con-form to that of the second deal.

Actually work to make the second deala soft one to conform to that of theactual noise made by taking the topcard in the same manner.

10. The adding of the Wrist TurnPrinciple to the Stud Deal, or thestraight face down deal, will add greatlyto its visual deceptiveness.

11 . For magical use the Hit Deals willbe found of great value especially whensome unthinking host hands you a

dirty, old, sticky deck to entertain hisfriends.

D'Amico One Hand Second

Over fifteen years ago Carmen D'Amicoset the card men agog with an unusualand most visually deceptive one handsecond deal. He first did it for me butgave the first explanation of it toFrancis Finneran who at that time was

just out of the army and passingthrough Chicago.

Later, Francis went back east andextolled this one hand second deal toseveral card men among them beingDai Ve r n o n and Doc Daley neither of which had ever seen or heard of any-thing like it before and in fact, weren'tquite sure that perhaps Finneran was-n't just exaggerating a bit. It wasn'tuntil Vernon met D'Amico personallythat he actually saw how visuallydeceptive the action really was.

Ill never forget the time when CharlieMiller saw D'Amico do this for the firsttime. Of course, he had heard of it fromVernon and later read it in Buckley'sCard Control but he had never actuallyseen it done well until D'Amico demon-strated it. Miller got up and walkedaround to several sides of Carmen ashe requested him to do it again andagain. All he could do was shake his



284


head and say, "It doesn't seem possiblebut you can't see it."

The D 'Am i c o One Hand Second Dealand One Hand Double Lift are closely

allied, one stemming as a result of theother. When Carmen met ArthurBuckley he demonstrated both movesfor him. Needless to say, he wasimpressed to the point of asking per-mission to include the moves in hisbook Card Control. D'Amico then saidhe could have several things of his buthe did not want his One Hand Secondpublished. Buckley must have wantedthe move pretty badly because in the1st edition he put in the One HandSecond, then to justify its inclusionwithout permission he claimed it wasan old Black-Jack, or 21, method of Second Dealing. This was, of course,not true and when D'Amico saw his petsleight in print, with no credit to boot,there was quite a scene at the MagicRound Table in Chicago.

At any rate with Buckley's second edi-tion of Card Control he mentionedD'Amico ' s name in connection with the

Deal but actually gave him no morecredit than in his first edition by stat-ing that D'Amico claims to haveinvented it.

Anyone conversant with semantics canrealize that this could mean the sameas that he hadn't invented it; therefore,let me assure all cardicians that thisparticular One Hand Second Deal isCarmen D'Amico ' s invention and thatno one, Ve r n o n , Miller, Finneran, etc.,

had ever seen or heard of anything likeit previously.

Over the years I have seen several cardmen attempt the D'Amico One HandSecond and yet never get the same illu-sion as Carmen did. One day I men-tioned this to Carmen and asked himto do it for me over and over until Icould properly analyze the action.

Here, for the first time is the correcttechnique broken down into severalmajor steps that will enable you to getas fine a result as that obtained by

D'Amico.1. Hold the pack in the Me c h a n i c ' sGrip position but with the left thumb atthe side of the upper left corner inreadiness for a thumb count.

2. Release two cards, from under theleft thumb at the side of the upper l e f t

corner. Next press down with the l e f t

thumb on its corner of the pack. Theleft 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers pressdown on top of the right side of the

deck. This causes the two thumbcounted cards to separate from thedeck at the left side as in Figure 103.

Figure 103

3. The left thumb moves in under thetop two cards as in Figure 104, a topv iew . The l e f t 2nd , 3 rd and 4 th f inger skeep pressing down on the right side of the deck.

Figure 104



285

D 'AMICO ONE HAND SECOND

4. The left thumb moves in until its tipcomes to the center of a 3 spot as shownin Figure 105 which is a view from thel e f t side.

5. From the top the view is as seen inFigure 106 with the card(s) being heldsecurely in place by the left 2nd, 3rdand 4th finger tips pressing down firm-ly on the right side of the deck.

Figure 106

6. The left thumb tip, pressing on theface of the second card now moves thisca rd forwards and outwards. Figure107 shows the 2nd card being movedout by the left thumb, a left side view of the action.

7. Figure 108 shows the action as itappears from above the deck. Note thatthe lef t forefinger is alongside the rightside of the second card and will play animportant part in the next step.

8. The left thumb continues its actionwhile at the same time the left forefin-ger presses inward on the deck causingthe deck to slide down further into the

Figure 107

Figure 208

left hand. The left thumb moves intowards the left forefinger causing thesecond card to swing towards the rightand out of the deck as shown in Figure109 where the 2nd card is about to

clear the top card.9. Continuing the action of Step 8 thesecond card will clear the pack and endup being clipped between the leftthumb tip and the side of the left fore-finger at about the first knuckle. Thecard will end up as shown in Figure110, the spectator's view.

Figure 109



286


Figure 17 0

Note that the card ends up in Figure110 with the left thumb in the center of the lower side of the card. Also the restof deck will wind up rather deep in the

left hand due to the sliding downwardaction caused by pressing inwards withthe left forefinger during the action of the second deal.

10. The above 9 Steps cover themechanics of the deal; however, the fol-lowing wrist action must be included inthe deal to make it completely decep-tive from a visual standpoint. When thel e f t thumb starts to move in as shownin Figure 104 the left hand turnsinwards at the wrist only, towards thebody. If the left hand wrist action iscorrect the performer will have a viewof the action as shown in Figure 111 if the action were stopped.

11. By the time the left hand turnsback outwards again the second cardwill be out and held as already shownin Figure 110, the spectator's view.

12. The Figure 111 showing the inwardwrist action has been greatly exagger-

ated to give a clear picture of the idea.Actually the wrist action of the lefthand becomes sort of a slight bobbingof the hand. It is done so quickly thatthe impression given is that the top of the deck is never out of view. At timesit can actually be such that only a veryslight bobbing of the left hand will besufficient to cover up the fact that thesecond card comes out.

The thumb action can be so rapid as toactually do the deal with the hand atrest. The left fingers press down on thetop card to keep it firmly in place w h i l e

left thumb whips the second card outand over face up.

13. The right hand now comes over totake the card, by the upper n on i n d e xcorner, with the right thumb on top,fingers below. The card is then tossedor sailed onto the table.

Figure 111

14 . To deal the top card in apparently Ithe same manner and have it end up in Iapproximately the same position in the Ileft fingers, proceed by first releasing I

only one card with the left thumb.

15. Next, dig the left thumb under thecard as shown in Figure 104. Continuethe action up to that shown in Figure105. Here the left thumb keeps press-ing on the card until it flips face upagainst the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-gers. At this stage the left thumb is onthe face of the card but the back r e s t sagainst the nails of the left 2nd, 3rdand 4th fingers as shown in Figure

112, a top view.16. The left thumb now can push theface up card forward because it w i l l

ride easily on the nails of the left 2 n d ,3rd and 4th f ingers . The le f t fo ref ingermeantime moves inwards to beneaththe card, at the same time pushing therest of the deck further into the p a l m .This results in the face up card r i d i n goff the nails of the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th



287

FROM OUT OF NOWHERE

Figure 112f i n g e r s and onto the nail of the leftf o r e f i n g e r .

The card ends up in the position shownin Figure 113which will be almost sim-ilar to Figure 110 but not quite.

17. With a little pulling-in action,towards the left with the left thumband forefinger, the card from the posi-t ion shown in Figure 113 can be swungto an angled position more like that inFigu re 110.

As the card is not held in position forany great length of t im e , being takenby the right hand, the slight discrepan-

cy is almostunnoticeable.

Figure 113

Now for our favorite effect using theabove One Hand Second Deal. Let's callit-

From Out of Nowhere

1. Have a card selected and control itto second from the top.

2. Hold the deck in the left hand as forthis second deal. With the aid of theright hand flip the top card face up andask if it is the selection. Turn the cardface down.

3. Take the deck with the right handfrom above by the ends, display thebottom card and ask if that is theselection. Replace the deck face downinto the left hand.

4. Flip the top card face up and thenface down as you say, "If the top cardisn't your card -. " Now turn the lefthand back up to expose only the indexof the bottom card as shown in Figure

114 as your patter continues, "And thebottom card isn't your card."

5. With cards in position of Figure 114,the left thumb secretly counts twocards in readiness for the One HandDeal as your talk ends with, "Thenwhat is your card?"

6. As soon as the card is named the lefthand turns palm up, doing theD'Amico One Hand Second Deal at thesame time. The result will be the sud-

den appearance of the card whichseems to have come From Out of Nowhere.

Figure 114

A D'Amico Variation

This is D'Amico ' s variation of the OneHand Second which also appeared inthe Buckley book without due credit.



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SECONDS CENTERS& BOTTOMS

The action is identical in every respectas far as getting the left thumb underthe two cards is concerned; however, atthis stage the left hand turns backs up

and the left thumb pushes the cardface up out onto the table as shown inFigure 115.

The left thumb presses down on theface of the card, to keep it against thetable, while the left fingers move thedeck away from the card as in Figure116.

Figure 115

Figure 116

Do not make the mistake of pivotingthe card out of the deck. It mustappear as if you merely laid it down.

The above also makes an excellentchange off the face of the deck. Thefirst method of D 'Am i c o ' s One HandSecond Deal can be used to change ared back card to say, blue.

Briefly the idea is a blue card secondfrom the top of a red deck. Do theD'Amico's One Hand Second Deal andit will appear as if the top red card isnow facing the spectators. Actually this

now has a blue back.

I have used this, at one time, as aphase in a Chamel ion Aces routine andas such it is very effective either with

aces face up or face down, (See N o t e son Chamelion Aces)

Stanley James Stud Second

Among the various demonstrators of magic across the counter in Chicago,one of the best is a young fellow byname of Stanley James. His skill andtempo, with the magical standards,fascinate even magicians. The followingStud Second is given here with his per-mission.

1. Hold the deck in the left hand inMechanics Grip Position with the l e f t

thumb at position A and the lef t f o r e -finger at position 1.

2. With the left thumb arc the top cardover, then bring the right hand over thedeck so that the right thumb g o e sunder the top card at the lower rightcorner.

The right 2nd and 3rd finger-tips con-

tact the upper right corner of the deck,The right forefinger is curled and its tipis touching the back of the left thumb.Figure 117 shows the position of theright hand.

Note that the lower right corner of thetop card is curled upwards as if theright thumb is about to grasp it.

Figure 117



289

STANLEY JAMES STUD SECOND

3. While the right hand is in the posi-t i o n of Figure 117 the right thumbactually lifts up on the corner of thesecond card as seen in Figure 118

which is an exposed view. At the sametime the right second and third ringers,at the upper right corner of the deck,can also feel this second card beingpushed forward just enough to enablethese fingers to feel the edge of onec a r d .

Figure 118

4. Once you feel that this second cardis securely gripped between the right

thumb and right 2nd and 3rd fingersyou can start to move the card outf ro m under the top card. This move-m e n t can be either straight off to theright, back towards the operator orslightly forward as shown in Figure 119w h e r e the top card has already beenp u l l e d back flush with the deck.

5. As soon as you feel that the 2ndcard is s u f f i c i e n t l y clear of the top cardthe right fingers snap it face up so itends up being held between the right

thumb on the face and the right fingerson the back. Actually, the snapping of the 2nd card face up is started while itis still partly under the top card asshown in Figure 120.

6. This second deal not only creates agood illusion, but also will be foundeasy to do.

Figure 119

Figure 120

Some may find it to their advantage tohave the left forefinger alongside of thedeck with the other fingers instead of curled around the upper end of the

deck. Either way this Stud Second isworth spending some time with.

Variations of D'Amico's Deal

These are my variations on the D'Ami coOne hand Second Deal. Youll f i nd herean easy way of surely dealing the topcard as well as a One Hand Bottomand Center Deals.

The Top Card Deal

1. Hold the deck in Mechanic's Grip

Position with the left forefinger curledaround the upper end. The left thumbis extended, across the top of the deck,towards the left 2nd and 3rd fingertips.

2. Press down with the left thumb onthe top card. Bending the left thumbinwards thus causing the top card tomove to the left, over the side of thedeck. The left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers



290


press down on top of the deck to keepthis top card on the left side as shownin Figure 121.

3. Left fingers keep the top card in

place while the left thumb moves underthe left side of the top card. Pressingupwards with the thumb and down-wards with the left forefinger, the topcard is caused to pivot to the left asshown in Figure 1 22 .

Figure 12 1

Figure 122

Figure 123

4. Continuing the action, the top cardwill flip face up to end being held bythe le f t thumb on the face and le f t f o r e -finger on the back. The grip is at the

lower end near center as seen in Figure123.

5. The le f t hand can toss or deal cardto the table or the right hand can comeover to take the face up card and dealit out.

One Hand Bottom Deal

1. You will note that during the TopCard Deal the pack is automaticallytilted on its side as the left thumbenters below the top card. This actionconforms closely to the Bottom Deal.

2. In this case, use the right hand todeal the face up card to the table.Continue with the top card deal untilyou are ready to the Bottom Deal.

3. The Bottom Deal is made as theright hand is tossing a card to thetable. During this the left hand seemsto get another top card ready but actu-ally a Bottom Card is brought out f r o m

under the deck as follows.4. With the pack normally on its side,during the deal as explained, the l e f tthumb goes under the deck. Its tippresses against the bottom card nearits front end. The pressure is a forwardone causing the bottom card to pivotagainst the left forefinger as shown inFigure 124, an exposed bottom view.

5. The action in Figure 124 is contin-ued. The bottom card will pivot out

completely to end up held face upexactly as the top card would be.

6. The timing is important. The bottomcard is not dealt until the right hand isdealing its card to the table. Attentionshould be on the right hand at thetime; however, the Bottom Deal itself,done with a slight wrist action, will notbe seen even if some one should glanceat the left hand at the time.



291

VARIATIONS OF D'AMICO'S DEAL

Figure 124

The One Hand Center Deal

1. Begin by having, say, four Aces atthe bottom of the deck. Crimp the pack downwards for its length. The pack,l o o k i n g at it f rom above, will be convex.

2. Place the deck on the table. Cut off h a l f of it and place into the left hand.In taking the balance do so with theright fingers and thumb at the sides of

[the deck with the forefinger curled ontop. Press downwards with the rightf o r e f i n g e r and at the same time pull

upwards, with the right thumb and fin-ge rs , on the sides of the deck causing itto be crimped, now concave for itsl e n g t h .

This action of crimping is accomplishedat the time the packet is taken from thet a b l e and placed on top of the cardsalready in the left hand.

3. If you hold the deck on its side youw i l l find there is a definite division atthe sides of the deck between thehalves. This separation marks off theposition of the Aces which are the bot-tom cards of the upper half.

4. Hold the pack loosely and you cand e a l the top card, D'Ami co style, yetthe division at the center will be main-tained. Anytime at all, during the deal,y o u r left thumb can dig into the sepa-ration and execute a Center Deal.

5. The left thumb moves to the side of the deck and lifts up the top portion atthe separation formed by the two oppo-site crimps. The Figure 125 shows left

thumb separating the deck at this divi-sion.

6. The left thumb moves in quicklyand, pressing forwards, on the centerca rd , causes the card to pivot againstthe left forefinger and out of the deck.The Figure 126 shows the insideexposed view of the Center Deal.

7. Continuing the action, the card willflip out from the center to end face upon the deck as already shown in the

Top Card Deal. The timing for this isthe same as for the Bottom Deal. TheCenter Deal is made while right hand iscalling attention to its card.

As in the other deals, any wrist actionyou apply will aid greatly in the visualdeception. The best wrist action is

Figure 125

Figure 126



292

SECONDSCENTERS & BOTTOMS

inwards toward the body and then out-wards as the deal is made. However, nohard set rule can be laid down as eachindividual's timing and coordination

differs.Mario One Hand Second

I have used this Second Deal on and off since 1945 having created it oneevening, in the company of Bob Nelsonof Chicago, while discussing D'Amico ' sOne Hand Second. This deal needsmore cover than D'Amico's but will befound a lot easier especially since thereis not any difficult get-ready.

1. Hold the deck in the Mechanic's Gripwith the side of the left thumb at theupper left corner while the left forefin-ger is held at position 1, in front of theupper right corner of the deck.

2. With the left thumb pull the top cardover to the left until the card rides onthe upper left corner of deck and isthen forced to tilt upwards off the pack as shown in Figure 127.

3. The right hand now comes over to

take the top card, fingers on top,thumb below; as shown in Figure 128.You will note how the right hand alsocovers the front end of the deck whichwill be important later. The right handdeals the top card face up to the table.

4. Each fair card is taken as explainedin Steps 2 and 3. When it is time to

Figure 128

Figure 127

Figure 129

deal a Second the right hand comes infront of the deck, before the top card ispulled upwards over corner of the deck,as shown in Figure 129.

5. Under cover of the right hand thefollowing action takes place. The tip of

left thumb presses downwards andinwards on the upper left corner of thetop card. Now push the top card for-ward against the left fingers which donot give way but remain at the side of the deck. This causes the top card tobuckle upwards as shown in Figure130.

6. At Figure 130 a large portion of theleft thumb will be in contact with thesecond card as well as keeping the top

card buckled.7. Press down with left thumb on thesecond card at the same time movingthe left thumb back to the left. Thisresults in the buckled card straighten-ing out and the second card b e i n gpulled out to the left as shown inFigure 131.

8. The left 3rd and 4th fingertips press



293

MARLO ONE HAND SECOND

Figure 130

Figure 131

down on the deck to keep the top cardin place as the left thumb moves outf u r t h e r to the left dragging the secondcard with it, as shown in Figure 132.

9. The action of the left thumb contin-ues to the left while pressing down-wards against the upper left corner of the deck. This downward pressureagainst the corner of the deck causesthe second card to flip out from underthe top card and end up in the sameposition as the top card normallywo u ld as already shown in Figure 127,

10. Naturally the actions shown inFigure 131 and Figure 132 are coveredby the right hand so that, after thesecret maneuver, the right hand seems

to be merely taking the top card, asseen in Figure 128 of the Top CardDeal.

Of course, the above dealing is in reali-ty a two handed action; however, to dothe deal one hand at all times, put thePrinciple of the Wrist Action to work andthe results are as follows:

1. Turn the hand inwards into a simi-lar position shown in Figure 114 inD'Amico's From Out of Nowhere.

2. With the left thumb, buckle downthe top card only slightly, then turn thehand palm up while at the same timedragging the top card, over the cornerof the deck, so it ends up as shown inFigure 127.

3. With the card in this position the lefthand tosses the card forwards onto thetable by merely moving the left fore-arm, for a short distance, forward andat same time releasing the card with

the left thumb.

4. When ready to Second Deal thesame Wrist Action is used but, of course, the secret manipulation of Figures 131 and 132 are executed sothat the second card is the one thatactually comes into view. Of course, itis dealt to table in the same manner aswas the top one.

5. If you wish to do the Out of Nowhere

effect with this One Hand Second, thenyou must get the selected card to sec-ond from top, in a face up condition inorder to reproduce it face up as in theoriginal effect.

Of course, in showing the top and bot-tom cards you must not expose thecard that is face up under the top one.

Figure 132



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While the Figures. 131 and 132 showthe card coining out at an angle actual-ly you will find the Second Deal easierif the left thumb pulls the 2nd card out

straight to the left while the left fingerspull on the right side of the deck. Thesetwo opposite actions will cause the sec-ond card to clear the top card thatmuch sooner. This action is especiallygood for the D'Amico Variation. Alsothe further to the right you buckle thetop card, the closer the second cardcomes in to the crotch of the left thumbwhich traps the second card and canquickly bring it out from under the topcard.

D'Amico'sVariation

The mechanics of the One HandSecond Deal just explained, are hereused to obtain an entirely differentresult.

It consists of performing exactly theactions depicted in Figures 130 and131 except that the 2nd card is pulledstraight off the side to the left andbrought back on top of the deck. In

other words, the second deal actionsare used to quickly transpose the topand second cards.

At first, the reader may say to himself of what use is this; however, after read-ing through some of our ideas below,it's possible you may get others.

A. Color Change

1. Hold the deck face up in the lefthand in position for the One Hand

Second just described.2. Hold the right hand, palm flat outand down, about six inches above thepack thus covering it from view for themoment.

3. Under cover of the right hand exe-cute the moves to transpose the faceand under card. When the right handis removed the face card has changed.

4. Work towards as fast a transpositionof the top and second cards, as youcan but also try to make it as quiet aspossible. Practice and experience with

the move will eventually give you morethan satisfactory results.

B. Production of Selection

1. Have a card selected and control it face up to second from the top.

2. Hold the deck face down in the l e f t

hand as the right hand, palm d o w n -wards and fingers extended, is he ldacross the top of the deck.

3. Do the moves to transpose top and

second cards thus when right handmoves away the selection has appearedmagically face up on top of deck.

C. Production of Aces

1. This is D'Amico's favorite openingAce effect. Have the four Aces face upunder the top face down card. Falseshuffle and cut, retaining the top stock.

2. Hold the deck face down in the l e f t

hand. Now place the pack either under

the table, if sitting, or behind yourback if standing.

3. While the pack is out of sight do theTransposition Move to get an Ace faceup to the top of the deck. Bring the l e f t

hand out, show a face up Ace, t h endeal it face up to table.

4. Repeat the above until all four A c e sare thus produced. The quicker youcan bring the deck back into view, a f te rbeing out of sight, the better the effec t

will register.Be sure to show that you hold nobreaks of any kind. Also, after produc-ing an Ace, show that the Aces are noton the top or bottom of the deck. Whenshowing the top card, of course thedeck is held so that the face up A c e sare not disclosed.



295

D'AMICO'S VARIATION

D . Ambitious

1. A ssum e you have just sup posedlyb u r i e d the AS in the center of the deck,in an ambitious card routine, but it

real ly is on top of the deck.1. Do a Double Turnover of the top twords, as one, onto the top of the deck.

W i t h the right hand cover the X cardand do the Transposition Move. Whenthe right hand moves away the X cardseems to have changed to AS.

3. There are still two cards face up onthe deck so you turn them, down, asone, bury the top card and you are setto repeat the effect or merely show the

AS back on top.E . A Vanish

1. Turn the top single card face upo n t o the deck. Bring the right handpalm down over the face up card.

2. Under cover of the right hand do theTransposition Move then move ther i gh t hand, cupped as if it had palmedo f f the face card,away from the deck.

3. As the face up card is covered theillusion of having taken it is there.Crumple the right fingers and show thecard gone .

F . D'Amico's Favorite

1. Secretly Side-Steal a card into ther i gh t hand as the deck is held face upin the left hand.

2. Call attention to the face card of thedeck. Right hand comes over onto thef a c e of the deck as if to take this card

into the right palm. Actually, the righthand leaves its palmed card on the faceof the deck, then moves away as if itcontained the original face card.

3. Move the right hand down to ther i gh t leg at a point just above the knee.At the same time the left hand, holdingthe deck face up, is placed behind theright leg or thigh.

4. Make a rubbing motion of the righthand against leg. Turn this hand palmup to show the card is gone.

5. During the above actions, of rubbing

the card away, the left hand undercover of the right leg does theTransposition Move thus getting theoriginal face card back to the face of the deck.

6. After the right hand is shown emptythe left hand comes out from behindthe leg to show the card back on theface of the deck.

7. While D 'Am i c o seems comfortableusing the right leg during the vanish

and recovery, I f i nd it less awkward touse the left leg, especially when itcomes to placing the pack behind theleg. Try both ways and decide whichfeels best for you.

G . Mario's Routine

1. The patter theme is sort of a"Through the Leg" idea and thus fitsthe climax logically.

2. Begin the routine by doing D'Amico's

Favorite except using the le f t leg for therubbing. When the right hand is shownempty you say, "It really didn't vanish -it went right through the leg." Hereyour left hand moves out from behindleft leg to show the card at the face of the deck. This completes the firstphase.

3. For the second phase the right fin-gers Double Lift the two face cards asone as you say, "111 do it again." Here

the left hand has turned the deck facedown and right hand flips its two cardsas one face down on top of the deck.

4. Left thumb pushes the top card over just enough for left 4th finger to get abreak below it. The right hand comesover the deck as before but this timeactually does take the top card into theright palm.



296


5. Right hand travels towards the leftleg to do the rubbing motion while theleft hand goes behind the left thigh.

6. During the rubbing motion, of the

right hand, the left hand merely turnsthe top card of the deck face up undercover of the leg. Now just l i f t the righthand up and away from left leg, do notshow it empty, but immediately bringforth the left hand to show the cardreturn face up on the deck.

7. Without hesitation, say, "I'll do itagain." Here the right hand comes overas if to take the face up card but actu-ally the palmed card is added to the

deck thus covering the face up card.8. The right hand again moves to theleft leg as the left hand goes behind theleft thigh. Repeat the rubbing actionwith the right hand, this time beingsure to turn the hand so the palm isseen empty.

9. The left hand meantime has donethe Transpo Move to get the card faceup on top. After the right hand isshown empty the left hand comes out

with the deck to reveal the card as youremark, "You need rickets to do this."

10. Say, "Some people accuse me of atrick leg. Ill do it with the other leg."Here turn the top card face down ontothe deck. Shove this top card overabout half its width keeping it in placewith the left thumb.

11. Rest the deck and projecting cardonto the right leg just above the knee.

Place the right hand directly over andonto the card. Press down on the cardwith right palm so it actually is pressedagainst the right leg.

12. Right here you must convey theimpression that the card was stolenback onto the deck. You do this byquickly moving the left hand away andturning it so it is palm down. If a magi-cian is watching he will figure you for

the usual vanish; however, the card isactually under the right hand.

13. Right hand rubs the leg g e n t l ymoving the card at the same time. Now

move the hand and card just over theright knee. The curve of the knee willforce the card up into the right h a n dwhich palms it by merely moving inonly the right little finger. Thus thecard is palmed lightly between the tipof the right 4th finger and base of theright thumb otherwise all fingers arestill as straight out as possible.

14. Once the right hand feels the ca rdsecure, it moves away from the r i g h t

leg, then immediately brushes off thetrousers at the vanish spot with thebacks of the right fingers. The w h o l emanner and action of the right handconveys emptiness without showing itempty.

15. The left hand now turns palm up toshow the back of the deck. Look sur-prised, then quickly say, "I'm a f r a i dthis leg is a little tougher. The c a r dwent only as far as my pocket." H e r e

the right hand has gone into the p o c k e tand is already bringing forth the ca r d ,to show it, just as the remarks arecompleted.

16. The lef t hand must turn, to s h o wthe top of the deck, at the exactmoment that the right hand is brush-ing off the right thigh. This is i m p o r -tant if the right hand is not to h a n gthere awkwardly after the vanish. Theright hand goes to the pocket immedi-

ately after the brushing action.17. The final vanish just explained canalso be used in a "Cards To P o c k e t "routine wherein a specified card is Imade to travel to the pocket. (See Mario's Cards to Pocket Routine f o rdetails.)

18. Another method of getting a cardinto the right palm is to twist the r igh thand so it is across the thigh. This way



297

THE S. F. GRIP

the curve of thigh is enough to enablethe right 4th finger to move in and holdthe card in the palm.

Another method of getting a grip on thecard is for the right 1st finger to curl inagainst the upper left corner of thecard. This is held only until the right4th finger can take over for the brush-ing act ion.

The S. F. Grip

The following are some deals, Secondand Bo t t om s , using a grip I call theS.F. Grip because it originally appearedin Ma s k e l y n e ' s book called Sharpesand Flats. First of all there is the S.F.G r i p and my modification of the grip.

For the actual S. F. Grip the deck isheld as shown in Figure 133 with allf o u r fingers at the lower end of thedeck. The left 4th fingertip presses inon the side of the lower right corner.

Figure 133

The inner side of the lower left corner ispressing in against the crotch of thel e f t thumb. Actually, these are the two

gr ip po ints . The l ef t 1s t , 2nd and 3 rdfingers are merely alongside to act as asupport but very little of them is usedto actually grip the pack.

The Modified S. F. Grip is shown inFigure 134 where the pressure or grippoints are between the left second fin-ger tip and crotch of the left thumb.The left fourth finger does nothing andthe pack is held higher up in the hand.

Figure 134

In doing the various deals some may

find one grip more efficient for them-selves than the other; however, I shalldescribe each deal with the particulargrip I found best for myself, then letthe student decide for himself which isthe better in his particular case.

The S. F. Bottom Deal

This particular bottom deal was firstexplained in Maskelyne's Sharps and Flats. In his description of the deal youwere instructed to take the cards off at

the upper right corner. I found the fol-lowing technique not only easier butaffording greater cover for the bottomdeal.

1. Hold the deck in the S.F. Grip as perFigure 133.

2. The right hand moves across thefront end of the deck until the the rightthumb ends up on the top card at itsupper left corner. The tip of the rightforefinger touches the corner of thedeck while the right second fingertiptouches the bottom card at the upperleft corner. The situation is as shownin Figure 135 just before the deal.

3. With the right fingers in the positionshown in Figure 135 you can takeeither the top card or bottom card.

4. To take the top card merely pull itforward with the right thumb until the



298


right forefinger can also grasp it. Thusthe card is taken, between the rightthumb and forefinger, then dealtstraight out of the deck. It is then

either dealt face down or face up ontothe table.

Figure 135

5. To take the bottom card, the rightsecond fingertip moves the bottom cardslightly to the left. This is shown inFigure 136. This action insures a singlebottom card coming out cleanly andeasily.

6. Note that in Figure 136 the right

thumb is not touching the top of thedeck. This is correct as actually whenthe right hand moves in front of thedeck, the right second finger immedi-ately starts out the bottom card. Thusthe right thumb, while it is above thedeck, does not actually touch the topcard but merely bypasses it to fall ontothe exposed bottom card.

Figure 136

7. The bottom card is carried forwardand dealt face down or face up onto thetable. The face up deal is the moredeceptive but care must be taken not

to start turning the card until it is clearof the deck.

8. Because of the right hand's positionobviously the deal is most deceptivefrom directly in front; however, in deal-ing cards face down onto the table, if each card is brought down sharply tothe table, the dealing of the bottomcard is most deceptive even when look-ing at it from the top. As a matter of fact, all deals, be they bottoms, sec-

onds or centers, are more deceptive if the card is brought straight down to thetable rather than out from the pack and then to the table. This appliesespecially to Bottom Dealing cards facedown to yourself.

The S. F. Second Deals

Actually there are no such deals inSharps and Flats but these originationsmay be found interesting.

First Method:

1. Hold the deck in the S.F. Grip withthe ball of the left thumb at the centerof the top card.

2 . Bring the right hand over in front of the deck, just as for the Bottom D e a l ,with the right thumb at the upper l e f t

corner.

3. With the front end of the deck thuscovered, the left thumb arcs the topcard over to the right. This exposes the

second card to the touch of the rightthumb, which presses down on it suffi -ciently to get it started forward andover the end of the deck.

4. When the second card is sufficientlyforward, the right forefinger can nip itfrom below. Thus the card is takenbetween the right thumb on top andthe 1st finger below as shown in Figure137 where the second deal is in action.



299

S. F. SECOND DEALS

5. As the second card moves furtherout the left thumb moves the top cardback flush with the deck.

6. The arcing of the top card is doneo n l y when dealing a second otherwiseall top cards are taken as explained inconnection with the S. F. Bottom Deal.

Figure 137

Second Method: The Side Second

1. Again hold the deck in the S. F. Gripbut this time the left thumb openlyarcs the top card over to the l e f t thus

exposing the second card at the upperright corner.

2. The right thumb and forefinger comeo v e r and actually grasp the top card atits upper right corner. However, a por-t ion of the right thumb is also in con-tact with the second card. The positionis shown in Figure 138.

3. With the right thumb and forefingerin this position, either the top card orsecond card may be taken. The otherthree fingers are slightly curled intowards the palm with the nail of theright second finger touching the side of the deck at the upper right corner.

4. If the top card is desired it is merelytaken between the right thumb andforefinger and dealt off to the right. If the second card is desired, the rightthumb presses down on the secondcard, to start it to the right.

Immediately that the right second fin-ger feels the corner of this second cardit comes up to nip the card between thethumb and 2nd finger and, once the

grip is firm, the 2nd card is dealt off tothe right.

Figure 138

5. As the second card is taken, the topcard simultaneously is moved downflush with the deck.

The fact that this top card movesdownwards aids in the illusion, espe-cially from the front, that it has reallybeen moved off the pack. The rightforefinger, at the front end of the card,

can aid in this downward action of thetop card during the second deal.

6. This Side Second can also be usedas a Stud Deal by merely placing theright second fingertip on the exposedsecond card, and moving it out justenough to nip it between the right sec-ond and third fingers, then dealing itface up. The exposed action is shownin Figure 139.

7. Some may prefer to use the tip of the

right third finger to move the secondcard out. Then, at the same time, graspthis card, which will be angled out;between the right third finger at thefront end and the right thumb at theback end.

8. Once the card starts to clear thepack the right hand snaps the cardface up by releasing its lower end fromthe right thumb so that the card ends



300


Figure 139

ace up with the right thumb on theface and the right four fingers on theback.

S. F. Natural Second Deal

1. Hold deck in S. F. Grip. This timearc the card over to the right. Thisexposes the upper right corner of thesecond card.

2. Right thumb comes over to contactthe second card. The right forefinger

touches the bottom corner of the deck while the right second finger is againstthe side of the deck at this corner.

3. Press down with the right thumb tomove the second card out until theright second finger can also contact it.Once the second card is firmly graspedbetween the right thumb and secondfinger it can be dealt either to the right,forward, or sailed to the table.

4. While the three Steps have beenexplained separately, all actions blendinto one. The result is that the takingof the second card should take nolonger than the taking of the top card.

Wiersbie's Double Deal

This unorthodox but deceptive DoubleDeal was shown to me by WarrenWiersbie back in 1945 at the IrelandMagic Co. in Chicago It is bound todeceive any one who is unfamiliar withthis method.

1. Hold a small packet of about twentycards face up in the left hand as shown

in 134. The left third fingertip pressesagainst the side of the lower right cor-ner while the lower left side cornerpresses into the left thumb crotch. Theleft thumb itself is extended across theface of the packet so that its tip rests ata point between the left 1st and 2ndfingertips.

2. The left thumb now arcs the facecard over towards the left using thethumb crotch as its fulcrum. TheFigure 140 shows how the face card isdealt over towards the left.

Figure 140

3. The left forefinger now moves intoaction. By pressing on the back of thebottom card, using the length of theleft forefinger, the card is moved orpivoted towards the left. The bottomcard is swung over until it lines upwith the face card above. The action of the left forefinger swinging the bottomcard into position is shown in Figure141 which is a back view of the action.

4.Now that you know the mechanics of the deal, let's go back and detail theexact actions needed to execute thisDouble Deal deceptively. When the facecard is dealt over as shown in Figure135, then the right hand comes over totake it, by its upper left index corner ,as shown in Figure 142.



301

MARLO'S DOUBLE DEAL STOP

Figure 141

5. Not until the right hand is in theposition shown in Figure 142 does the

l e f t forefinger move its card over asshown in Figure 141. In other words,the right hand completely covers theaction of the actual Double Deal.

6. The tip of the right forefinger shouldbe on the upper left corner to act as astop or line-up gauge. The two cardsare grasped between the right thumband second finger, then dealt forwardto the table either face up or face down.

7. The dealing over of the face card asshown in Figure 140 can be only slightif so preferred; however, it is the actionof obviously moving over only the facecard that adds to the deceptiveness of theWiersbie Double Deal. Now here isan e f fec t using this Double Deal.

Mario's Double Deal Stop

1. Control a selected card to bottom of the deck. Have spectator cut the deck.Pick up the lower portion as you say,

"111 use the cards right where you cut."2. Hold cards in position for theWiersbie Double Deal. Pivot or arc thetop card to the left as per Figure 140except probably more so, in order toimpress the fact that only a single cardis being dealt.

3. Point to the card and ask if theywant it. If not the right hand takes it atupper left corner and deals it face up tothe table onto the face down half of thedeck. Continue in this way each timeeliminating the card when it is notwanted.

4. When the card is finally decidedupon, ask them if they are sure - dothey want to change their mind, etc.Finally ask for the chosen card to benamed.

5. Right here, as you reach for thestopped at card, you do the Wiersbie

Double Deal and then handle these twocards, as one, in either of the followingways.

6. You can deal the card(s) face updirectly onto those face up cardsalready on the table or you can takethe two cards, as one, to hold them inthe left fingers above the deck thus dis-playing what apparently is a singlecard, the chosen one. Either way you'llfind this stop effect can be done at very

close quarters.Modified S. F. One Hand Bottom

1. Hold deck in the Modified S.F. Gripas in Figure 134.

2. Now, with a forward flick of the leftwrist, deal the top card off to the tableby arcing it off the deck as in Figure140 for the Wiersbie Double Deal.

Figure 142



302


Remember, do not arc the card overand then deal but rather flick the wristat the same time arcing the card off thetop of the deck to the table. The action

of left hand is a slight inward move-ment towards body, then a sharp for-ward action to the table.

3. To deal the bottom card the left fore-finger moves the bottom card outtowards the left and forward as shownin Figure 143. The bottom action issimilar to that of Wiersbie's Doubleexcept here the bottom card is shot outcompletely, from under the deck.

Figure 143

4. The left hand action for dealing thebottom card is the same as for dealinga top card; that is, inwards and thenoutwards to shoot the bottom card outonto the table.

5. A very good illusion of dealing thetop card can be obtained by first arcingthe top card over as in Figure 140. Nowthe left hand does its wrist action,

apparently dealing this top card totable. However, the left thumb movesthe card back flush with the deck as atthe same time the left forefinger shootsthe bottom card out onto the table.

6. This deal can be done with a smallpacket of cards or a full deck. Alsosome may find it easier to kick out thebottom card with the tip of the left fore-finger,which has been curled under the

deck for this purpose, rather than theflat swinging out of the left forefinger.Experiment with both the Modified andregular S. F . Grips to see which feels

better for you.Added Technique ForWiersbie's Double Deal

1. Pivot the top card as per Figure 140but now place the right thumb on theupper right corner of the card. Alsoplace the tip of the right forefinger onthe card's upper right edge.

2. Now with the left forefinger, pivot thebottom card to the left until it contactsthe tip of the the right forefinger. Thetwo cards are now in line and can betaken, by the upper right corner, asone card to be dealt face up to the tableor placed face up into the left fingerswhich then hold these cards as one,above the pack for display.

Missing Finger Deals

For many years one has heard of thecard cheats who apparently have cutoff part of their finger in order to enable

them to do a bottom deal with noknuckle flash. I was always curious toknow just what actual advantage thiswould be, but not overly so as to chopoff any of my fingers above the cuticlein order to f i n d out.

Anyway, I did the next best thing. Icurled the finger in under the deck andtowards the palm. I couldn't do anytype of push-out bottom but I was grat-ified by the fact that there was nowsuch a wide gap at the right side of thedeck that the withdrawal of the bottomcard, via the strike method was a loteasier, thus making the deal simplerwith less chance of a possible miss.

If one will try out the various deals tobe explained, I'm sure he will get thesame satisfying results.

1. Hold the deck in the left hand as forthe Master Grip previously explained,



303

MISSING FINGER DEALS

The deck is, of course, gripped mostlybetween the left forefinger tip around

the upper right corner, and the base of the palm, that portion between thefourth finger and the palm crease. Theother three fingers are pressing withtheir tips against the side of the deck.

2. With the left thumb push over thetop card just enough to cover the threef inger t ips .

3. Under cover of the top card, curl the2nd finger underneath the deck. If thetop card were pulled back the hand

holding deck would look like Figure144 where you will notice the large gapbetween the forefinger and 3rd finger.

Figure 144

4. The Figure 145 shows how the deck looks viewed from the bottom with the2nd finger curled in.

5. This missing finger will not benoticed too readily because each suc-ceeding card will immediately cover

this during the deal.

6. When you are ready to do a bottomdeal you will then see how much strik-

ing surface you have, for the right sec-ond finger, as it enters into the gap, tostrike out the bottom card.

7. When you have tried the above onemissing finger deal try it with two, 2ndand 3rd fingers curled in, as shown inFigure 146, then for an easier deal yet,try it with all three fingers curled underthe deck as in Figure 147. The card willpractically fall off the bottom.

Figure 146

The above deals are good exhibitiondeals as you tell the story of the cardcheats who chop off their fingers to doan easy bottom deal.

The Erdnase grip with the 3rd fingermissing or curled under the deck willalso be found quite easy. With both the3rd and 4th fingers curled under thedeck, its so easy its almost like cheat-ing at bottom dealing.

Figure 145

Figure 147



304


While on the subject of Bottom Dealinghere is another of my favorite methodsfor the Du n b u r y Delusion, in this caseusing a Bottom Deal for the count

down. The mathematical angle wassuggested by Jerry Kog e n of Chicagoand makes for a non-confusing type of Dunbury.

Streamlined Dunbury Delusion

1. Control a selected card to the top.

2. Do a Swing Cut of the upper half into the left, (same as a Mario runningcut except done onc e ) .

3. Say, "I'm going to find your card by

mathematics."4. With the right hand portion you tipover the top card of the left hand por-tion, the selection, face up onto the lefthand portion. The left thumb aids bydealing this card off the side so thatthe right hand portion can kick it overto the l e f t .

5. Lef t thumb pushes the face up cardover the side again, while the portion of the deck in the right hand is againused to apparently turn the card facedown. Actually the left thumb doesn'tmove out of the way of the turningcard, with the result that the card issecretly picked up under the righthand portion.

6. The left hand immediately movesforward and deals off the top card,apparently shown, face down as yousay, "That is a - " , (naming only thevalue of the card.)

7. Again the left thumb pushes overthe top card while the side of the righthand portion is used to flip it face uponto the deck. This card is left face upas you say, "And here is a - ", (againnaming the value of the card.}

8. The left hand places its portion, withthe card still face up on it, on the table

just below the first face down card.

9. The portion from the right hand istransferred to the left hand whichtakes it in readiness for a bottom deal.The left hand moves to the right of the

tabled first half.10. Here your patter should give theidea that the value of one card sub-tracted from the other will give thenumber at which the spectator's cardwill be. If you should decide that thisvalue would be too low, then you add the values.

In either case the number arrived atwill be such as to get you in the swingfor a bottom deal and yet the number

will not be so large as to exhaust allthe cards in the left hand.

11. Assuming the total, added or sub-tracted, is a six, you count off f i v ecards face down from the top and dealthe sixth from the bottom. Right handpicks up the sixth card face down whileleft hand places its cards onto the ones

just dealt off.

12. Ask for the name of the card andwhen you eventually disclose it place itface up onto the packet on the right.Thus at the climax you have a niceneat layout.

13. The above has several advantagesas, for example, there is nothing hardto remember, no need to get anybreaks on cards, it is fast, very subtle,and gets a half deck into the hands forthe bottom deal. The single face downcard leaves no doubt in spectator'smind as to where the chosen card is

supposed to be.14. Magicians will be thrown off in thatthey will be expecting you to use theoriginal left hand portion, which youput on the table with a face up card ontop. The sequence of events will be alsovery difficult to re-construct.



305

OFF THE FACE SECONDS

Off the Face Seconds

Sometimes in doing a magical effect itis essential that you apparently deal off the face card of the pack, face downonto the table, without exposing thecard beneath.

The following method, while stemmingf r o m some of my Variations of the Down's Change, (See Notes of 1947)will enable one to apparently keep deal-ing seconds without any apparentpushing over of the card. If properlyd o n e the deal looks just as if the cardwas dropped off the face of the pack.

It can also be used, with the deck facedown, in a sort of a One Hand StudDeal or even a One Hand Throw Deal if the cards are to be dealt face down.

T h i s method is based on the One HandSide Count that appeared in Off theTop in connection with a One HandTurnover. Originally the count tech-nique was described using the left sec-ond finger.

This was deve loped in 1940 as an o f f

shoot of a two handed get-ready fromExpert Card Technique; however, it waso b v i o u s that other fingers instead of the second finger could be used in theOne Hand Count. When the One HandSide Count appeared in 1945 severalcard men, independent of each other,changed the count technique to that of the lef t 4th finger. Among these wereRussell Earnhardt, Ol i ndo Gal l u c c io ,Charles Aste Jr. and several others.

In each case although the fingering waschanged the grip remained with all fourl ef t fingers at the side. Its use was stilltha t as applied to a Double Lif t . In thisinstance, besides changing the grip, Ihave applied it to a One Hand SecondDeal. While it can be done face down ithas certain advantages as an Off theFace Second and will be described assuch .

1. Hold the pack face up in the lefthand in the High Grip. The left thumbis at the upper left corner, the left fore-finger at position 1, around the upper

end of the deck and the left 2nd, 3rdand 4th fingers lie alongside the deck.

The left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers nowpress inwards against the side of thedeck causing it to bevel to the left. Atthe same time the left fingers will liealongside the deck with their tipspointing towards the dealer. The leftfourth fingertip will be pressing inwarddirectly on the lower right corner.

2. With the left 4th finger, press down-wards on the beveled side at the lowerright corner of the deck. At the sametime the left thumb, at the upper leftcorner, presses downwards on its sideof the deck.

The two opposite actions of the leftthumb and left 4th finger, will causeseveral cards to escape, one at a time,from under the left little finger. Therelease of the cards is controlled sothat only the desired number of cards

are allowed to escape. Figure 148shows the position of all fingers. Thetwo cards released are greatly exagger-ated for clarity.

Figure 148

3. Next, the left third fingertip moves inagainst the side of the two releasedcards to sort of trap them between thebase of the left thumb and the tip of the left 3rd finger; however, the left 4thfinger must remain in its position dur-ing this and the succeeding actions.



306


4. With the two cards trapped, betweenthe left 3rd fingertip and the base of the thumb, the left 3rd finger pullsinwards on the cards causing them to

angle slightly off the deck as shown inFigure 149.

Figure 149

5. The left thumb now pulls back onlythe top card leaving the second cardprojecting. At the same time the leftthumb moves back to the deck'sextreme upper left corner so that nowthere is no pressure of the left thumbon the 2nd card as per Figure 150.

Figure 150

6. If the left hand is now turned over,as if to throw the face card on thetable, face down, the under or secondcard being loose will freely fall out, asin Figure 151, to the table. The left fin-gers do not move during the deal andthe illusion of merely having droppedoff the face card is perfect.

Figure 151

7. The actions depicted in Figure 149,the start of the angling, plus thoseshown in Figures 150 and 151 are a Udone as the left hand turns palmdownward to apparently drop off theface card. In other words, there is noapparent pre-angling of the cards actu-ally noticeable to the viewer.

8. After the face card has apparentlybeen dropped off, the left hand remainspalm downwards; however, if doing asort of "General Card" effect, then thel e f t hand turns palm up to show anoth-

er card of the same value at the face of the deck.

9. To repeatedly Second Deal, the l e f t

4th finger, which never moves out of itsposition at the lower right corner of thedeck, will automatically keep the f acecard separated from the rest of thedeck. All that is required is for left 4thfinger to release only one card in o r d e r

to repeat the Second Deal. The knack of releasing the one additional card willbe found quite easy providing the l e f t

4th finger retains its original startingposition at all times.

10. Although this Second Deal hasbeen explained with a face up pack itcan be used with a face down d e c k ,The top card deal must be similar tothat of the Second. To do this only one



307

MECHANICAL SECONDS

card is released by the left 4th fingerand actually dropped off. When theSecond Deal is required the left 4th fin-ger must release two cards, then pro-

ceed into the Second Deal, asexplained, until the top card is againneeded and is actually dropped off tothe table.

The big secret of One Hand SecondDealing is the principle of getting thetwo cards to rest on the fingertips of the hand doing the dealing. This meansthat any type of two card push-off thatwi l l eventually result in both cards rest-ing on the fingertips, slightly above the

rest of the deck, can be used as a OneHand Second Deal. This is done bymerely pulling back the top card so asthe hand turns, the second card practi-cally falls out of its own accord.

Mechanical Seconds

This is another Off the Face Secondwhich was originally submitted toM . U . M . in November of 1956. It will bedescribed in connection with an effectin order to show its possibilities.

E f f e c t : Four Aces are dealt face downonto the table one at a time. Later theyare found to be the Kings. The Aces areback in the deck in their original posi-tions.

1. Arrange the cards so that a King andAce are together but the pairs are ind i f f e r en t sections of the deck. The Kingshould be the face card of each pairand is used as a reflex t ipoff .

2. Hold the cards in the left hand, asfor dealing, face up.

3. Thumb off the cards, one at a time,taking them into the right hand one ontop of the other. The cards are takeninto the right hand into a similar deal-ing position, that is with the right fore-finger curled over the top end of thecards as in the familiar Mechanic'sGrip .

4. Continue taking the cards in thismanner until you take the King. Righthere the King is taken onto the first

joint of right forefinger which curls

under the cards as in Figure 152.5. The next card, the Ace is taken ontothe King so that now two cards areactually held, or trapped, between thetip of the right forefinger and thumb.

Figure 152

6. The right hand now turns back up todeal the Ace it has just taken, onto thetable; however, the right forefinger,plus the others, straighten out which

causes the card beneath to be practi-cally shot out as in Figure 153 thus theKing is dealt face down instead of theA c e .

7. The right fingers should place thecard against the table. Do not make themistake of shooting it out onto thetable from a height of any sort. Theplacing action gives excuse for theextension of the right fingers.

Figure 153



308


8. Continue the action with theremaining cards, the King each timegiving you a tipoff for the move.

9. If desired to do the move without the

reflex cards it will be necessary to slowdown the tempo. Also, the right forefin-ger must enter under every card as it istaken and each time removed as thesucceeding cards are taken; however,when the desired card shows, such asan Ace here, the right forefingerremains under the card, then the Aceis taken onto it and the move executedas already detailed.

10. The Ace that is held back is, of

course, immediately concealed by thenext card taken onto it as the right andleft hands meet to resume the taking of the cards.

11 . The above move can be used veryeffectively in such effects as theSeparating Aces. In this case one of theAces is actually dealt down.

Technical Variations:

Variation #1: Instead of placing theright forefinger between the King andthe deck, as per Figure 152, it is notused at all. Instead the right secondand third fingertips move in betweenthe King and the rest of the cards inthe right hand. The next card, the Ace,is taken onto the King and these twocards are now held or trapped betweenthe tips of the right 2nd and 3rd fin-gers with the right thumb on top. Now,by merely straightening the right fin-gers, as the Ace is supposedly dealt

down, the second deal is made, and theKing goes to the table.

Variation #2: This is merely a slightchange in Variation #1 in that insteadof two fingers moving in between theKing and rest of cards only the second right fingertip moves in to actuallytouch the back of the card at this stage.The other fingers lie in a line along withsecond finger but do not actually touch

the back of the card. The right secondfinger, plus the others, now straightenout to apparently deal the Ace carddown but the Second Deal is made.

Tabled Bottom Deal

This method of dealing the bottom cardis primarily a stud poker type. That is,for most effectiveness the cards aredealt face up onto the table as they areapparently taken off the top of thepack. From the above title one canassume that the pack is resting on thetable during the actual deal. Actually,the mechanics of the bottom deal areas follows:

1. The deck is placed lengthwise infront of you. It is face down and wepresume that you are seated at a table.

2. The left hand takes hold of the pack from above by the left end. The l e f t

forefinger is placed at the center of thetop card near the left end. The left sec-ond and third fingers grasp the upperleft corner of the deck. The left fourthfinger is merely alongside the third fin-ger. The l e f t thumb is at the lower l e f t

corner. Held this way, the deck isgrasped between the left thumb andfingers on the left end of the deck.

At this stage, the deck itself should beslightly off the table at its left end dueto the grip of the l e f t fingers. Its r i g h tend is touching the table. Figure 154shows the position of the left handwhile Figure 155 shows the rear view of the deck in relation to the table top.

Figure 154



309

TABLED BOTTOM DEAL

Figure 155

3. The right hand now comes over thedeck in a palm down position. Theright fingers come across the top of thedeck and pull the top card inward

towards the body as in Figure 156which is a top view of the pack with theright hand removed for clarity.

Figure 156

4. The right hand continues to moveinward, then turns palm upwards, atthe same time the right thumb hascome in under the inner side of the topcard enabling the right hand to removeit. As the right hand comes up, itspalm will face the dealer. The righthand continues to turn inwards and

then moves forward to deal its top cardf a c e up onto the table at the desiredspot.

The above are steps taken to deal thetop card. The bottom deal must simu-late these actions. During the top carddeal, the right thumb must alwayscome to a point near the left thumb. Inf a c t , the right thumb tip will at timestouch the left thumb tip.

5. In order to deal the bottom card, thedeck is held as already detailed. Whenit is desired to deal from beneath thedeck, the right thumb tip goes in under

the deck at its lower left corner andpast the left thumb. If you were to look at the bottom of the deck at this exactmoment, the r ight thumb would bedirectly beneath the left thumb as inFigure 157.

Figure 157

6. The right thumb exerts pressurewhich causes the bottom card to loosenand pivot out past the left thumb. Theright hand, of course, deals the cardface up onto the table.

While the Tabled Bottom Deal justdescribed is practical, it cannot deceiveanyone who decides to glue their eyesto the deck. The Deal depends onlulling the minds of the watchers aswell as calling attention to the face upcards dealt for additional misdirection.

Second Method

This method of Tabled Bottom Dealingis more deceptive as far as watchingthe deal is concerned. However, the

deck has to be lifted more than in thefirst method, off the table. It is includ-ed here for those who may find thetechnique easier or preferable.

1. The deck is held exactly as describedfor the first method.

2. The right hand comes over the deck ,but this time from the front side. Thatis, the right four fingers will be cover-ing the front side of the deck while the



310


right thumb will rest on the top card inreadiness to pull the card forward off the deck, as shown in Figure 158.

Figure 158

3. The right hand, with its card, movesforward, then deals the card face uponto the table.

4. In order to take the bottom card, thesame action is made but this time thefront side of the deck is tilted upwardsto enable the right second finger toenter under the deck at the upper rightcorner.

At this stage, the right second r i n g e rwill be directly beneath the first fingerof the left hand in a position similar tothat occupied by the thumbs in thefirst method of the Tabled Bottom Deal.

5. Once the right second finger hasloosened the card, it will pivot againstthe fingers of the l e f t hand, just as thetop card has, while the right handtakes it and deals it face up onto the

table. During both the top and bottomdeal, the right forefinger remains rigid.

Both methods of the Tabled BottomDeal are practical. However, one neednot feel that he is strictly bound to fol-low these instructions to the letter if aslight change in handling or positionwill improve the above techniques.

Tabled Seconds

As the title implies this is a method of dealing Seconds with the pack on thetable. The method here described is

one of the two that originally appearedin The Cardician, page 65, SecondMethod.

1. Place the deck on the table, length-wise, in front of you. The left handtakes hold of the pack, from above, bythe le f t end . The le f t fo ref inger i s p lacedon top of the upper l e f t corner, its f i r s tpad resting on the top card. The l e f t

second fingertip grasps the far side of the pack near the left end. The l e f t

third fingertip is pressing directlybehind the left end and near the upperleft corner. The fourth left finger ismerely alongside th e third. The l e f tthumbtip is grasping the deck at thelower left corner on the near side. Theposition of these fingers are shown inFigure 159.

Figure 159

2. The left forefinger is placed slightlyover the side of the deck and pressesdown and forward on the top card. This

causes it to pivot outward, as in Figure160. Here the left second f i n g e rbecomes the fulcrum point for thispivot. This fulcrum point is important.

3.The right hand now comes in front of the pivoted card. This also automatical-ly screens the deck. The top card istaken with the right thumb on top andright fingers below.



311

TABLED SECONDS

The card is now tossed face up on thetable by the right hand going upwardand forward at the time of the deal out.This upward and forward action is

important as it later covers the seconddeal perfectly. Now that you know howto deal the top card, the next step is todeal the second card.

Figure 160

4. Each time the top card is dealt off you must let them see the card pivotoff. However, as the second deal isabout to be made, the right handcomes in front of deck before the pivot.

Under cover of the right hand, the topcard is buckled back by the left forefin-ger in a manner similar to Figure 161.Because the left forefinger was original-ly placed slightly over the side of thed e c k , it is now in a position where itcan contact the exposed card.

Figure 161

5. The left forefinger tip presses down-ward and forward on the exposed card.T h i s causes the second card to pivotout from under the top card as inFigure 162 at the same time the topcard straightens out to normal.

6. The right fingers and thumb nowdeal out the card, by taking it asshown in Figure 163, and dealing itupwards and forward to the table

where it lands face up. In doing theabove second deal the pivoted card, thesecond, will show out from under theright hand on the right side. This isquite all right since they assume, asthe card makes its appearance, that itis the top card that is pivoted outward.

Figure 162

Figure 163

Using these deals in connection withmarked cards, it will be necessary tomark the cards only in the centerbecause the full back is at all timesexposed. This applies only to combina-tion marking. In the case of a mark such as the "punch", the work shouldbe put in at each corner. These are thecorners that will normally come in con-tact with the left forefinger.



312


In Tabled Seconds one might make themistake of resting the right hand onthe balls of the fingertips when thishand comes in front of the pack.

Actually, this is wrong because therewill be windows between the fingers.The proper way is to rest the righthand, as it comes over to apparentlytake the top card, on the backs of thefirst knuckles. At this stage the handwill be almost in a finger palm position.

In other words, if you will finger palm ahalf dollar, then bring this hand in

front of the pack until the fingertipstouch the front side, you will have thecorrect position.

The palm of the hand will also slightlytouch the top of the deck. One morepoint - with the right hand in the aboveposition it will be found that the pivot-ing of the second card can be madevery slight. The right thumb can thenmove in and pinch the slightly protrud-ing card between it and the right 2ndand 3rd fingertips. The card is thendealt out as already explained.



Chapter Ten


Part III

The Center Deal Exhibition Center Deal Step Center Deal Weakling's Center DealThe Strike Center Side Steal Center Deal On The Cut The End Jog The Side Jog

My Favorite Center Deal Effect The ExpertsDunbury The Tabled Center Deal

Ma r i o Center Deal Variations of Mario C.D. One Hand Center Deal Mario's Push Off Unit Control Face Up Assembly Order of Aces The Jack Deal Let's Start Over "He's My Partner" Exhibitionism Invisible Aces Easy Unit Control The Fan DealThe No Touch Theory No Touch Stud Deal Mario's Strike Unit Control Cover UpsThe Downward Deal The Upward Deal The Backward Deal Principle of the Wrist Turn

About Noise Concluding Observations

The Center Deal

L o n g before Expert Card Techniquem a d e its appearance, with the firstrecorded Center Deals, I saw as smoothan exhibition of this sleight as I have

ever witnessed. It was performed byone Luis Zingone in a movie short sub-

ject the theme of which was the usualgambling expose. Since that time Ihave worked on various techniques toaccomplish a Center Deal. Among thefirst ones was what today I call -

Exhibition Center Deal

1. Place four aces face up on top of thedeck. Have the deck cut to bring themto the center.

2. Pick up the pack and run it betweenboth hands to show the Aces are reallyin the middle. In squaring up get a left4th finger break below the four face upAces .

3. To further square the pack, theright hand comes above deck to squarethe ends. During this time the righthand lifts up the cards above the break

so the pack is open along the wholeright side. The left forefinger moves intothe break at the upper right corner andtakes over in place of the left 4th fin-ger. Figure 164 shows how the side of

the left forefinger holds the break.

Figure 164

4. With the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-gers around the side of the deck thisbreak will be concealed. The leftthumb, which is across the top end of the deck and touching tip of the leftforefinger, presses down on top of thedeck to aid in closing the break at thefront. The Figure 165 shows the start-ing position of the deal.



314

SECONDS, CENTERS, BOTTOMS

Figure 165

5. The right hand, all fingers extended,comes along the right side of the deck.The right thumb comes on the top card

at about the center of the deck. Thisposition is shown in Figure 166.

6. The l e f t thumb now pushes the topcard to the right only slightly - justenough to get its right side onto thefingertips of the left hand. The rightthumb, pressing down on the top card,takes it off the deck onto the extendedright fingers. The right hand deals thecard into the first hand of a five hand-ed game.

Figure 166

7. Continue taking the top card in themanner as already described. Whenready to Center Deal, to the f i f th hand,the right hand again comes againstright side of the deck. Under the coverthis hand affords , the left 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers pull down the cards belowthe left forefinger break as shown inFigure 167. At this stage the upperportion is firmly under control between

Figure 167

left forefinger tip pressing on the upperright corner while the left side of thedeck is held firmly against the crotch of the left thumb.

8. Note that the lower cards are notbent or buckled but merely pulleddown to create a break large e n o u g hf o r t h e l e f t 2 n d a n d 3 rd f i n g e r t i p s t obend in and press up against the cen-ter card.

9. Press up, then outwards, against thecenter card with the tips of the l e f t 2ndand 3rd fingers. This pressure is at theupper right corner of the center card,near the l e f t forefinger. Using the l e f t

forefinger as a pivot point will causethe center card to swing out at anangle as shown in Figure 168, a b o t t o mview. Note that the break is also closingautomatically and the l e f t f o r e f i n g e rwill again regain its original break.

Figure 168

10. Of course, all these actions are cov-ered by the right hand at the side of the deck.



315

STEP CENTER DEAL

At this stage the performer's viewshows the Center card pivoting outagainst the right hand as shown inFigure 169.

Figure 169

1 1 . The center card is dealt as is intothe f i f t h hand. Without any break inthe rhythm of the deal continue withthe next round until eventually all fourA c e s are face up in the f i f th hand.

12. The fascination of the Aces comingout face up will prevent any discrimi-nating analysis of the deal itself. Forthis reason this Center Deal is an exhi-

bi t ion type .Step Center Deal

The l e f t hand in this case does notdepend on any break held with the leftf i n g e r s but rather the control of a stepw i t h these fingers. The action dependson slightly bending the lower portion of the deck which in turn acts as a sort of tension spring that aids the left fingersin moving out the center card.

1. After the cut you must step thedeck as shown in Figure 170.

2. Place the deck in the left hand sothat the left forefinger is straight acrossthe upper front end of the deck whilethe left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers are

just under the upper stepped portionand pressing up against it as shown inFigure 171, a right side view.

Figure 171

3. From the fron t, the extended leftforefinger covers the front end of thedeck. The left thumb stretched acrossthe deck to touch the tip of the leftforefinger. This causes the folds of skinat the base of the thumb to cover thestep condition on the left side of the

deck as shown in Figure 172.4. This time, in order to enable one todeal off only one card from the top, theleft thumb pushes the card over ontot he t i p o f t he l e f t f o r e f i nge r . T he t i p o f left forefinger also prevents more thanone card from being moved over.

Figure 170

Figure 172

5. The right hand comes over to takethe card as already shown in Figure166; however, when the center card isrequired the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-



316


gers squeeze the lower portion of thedeck inwards as shown in Figure 173.Here the buckling of this lower portionis exaggerated. In actual practice this

buckling action can be very slight.

Figure 173

6. As before, the tip of the left forefin-ger and base of the l e f t thumb controlthe upper portion of the pack duringthe action of the Center Deal. Thebreak in the pack, on the right side, isalso, as before, covered by the positionof the right hand during the bucklingaction.

7. With the lower portion of the deck buckled, press the l e f t 2nd and 3rd fin-gertips up against the center card. Now

just relax these fingers letting thebuckled cards straighten out. You willnotice that the buckled cards will actalmost as a tension spring to the leftfingertips with the result that the cen-ter card will be pivoted out in the samemanner already shown in Figure 168.The right hand takes the card as previ-ously shown in Figure 169 and fromhere the card can be dealt either facedown to the table or face up in a StudDeal fashion.

A few more important points to keep inmind when doing the Step Center Dealare:

A. Bevel the deck forwards, end to end,as you apparently square the ends of the deck with the right hand. The rightthumb, at the back end, pushes for-ward causing the cards to bevel. Theupper left corner of the top half of thedeck, will lie in a bevel across the front

to the tip of the left forefinger. This for-ward bevel not only gives more coverfor the deal from the front but alsoinsures an easier pivoting out of the

center card.B. The center card can be pushed orpivoted by using only the tip of the l e f tsecond finger, thus a closer pivot p o i n tis made between it and left forefinger.This means the bending of the lowerhalf need only be very slight thusinsuring greater coverage at the rightside as well as at the back end of thedeck. The actual breaking or separa-tion of the pack should be held down to

a minimum in all center deals. Thetechnique of the Step Center Deal how-ever, practically assures this.

C. Control of the upper half of the deck is maintained between the l e f t f o r e f i n -ger and palm; however, the upper leftcorner of the top half of the deck, isalso helped by the l e f t thumb and l e f tforefinger at this corner.

D. In taking the center card with theright hand you will find the normal

taking of the card between the r i g h tsecond finger and thumb, quite easyand yet gives plenty of right side cover,An excellent method I have used is toextend the right forefinger but keep theother three fingers in towards thepalm. The right hand comes towardsthe deck so its extended forefingertouches the nail of left f o r e f i n g e r .During this time the center card is piv-oted against right hand. The card isautomatically placed between the right

thumb on top and curled second f i n g e rbelow. These nip the projecting card tocarry it away from the center of thedeck, to either deal it face down or f a c eup as the occasion may call for.

Weakling's Center Deal

I call this by the above title becausethere are many who never will developthe necessary strength to the l ef t f i n -



317

WEAKLING'S CENTER DEAL

gers to enable them to buckle half orm o r e of a pack especially if the cardsare new and stiff. For this reason thef o l l o w i n g Center Deal, which depends

on widening the break by dropping thel o w e r half , should appeal.

1. This time the break at the upperr i g h t corner is maintained by the l e f t2nd finger and the deck is held in asort of Erdnase Grip. The left thumbextends towards the left 2nd finger andtouches its tip. The left forefinger sortof crosses the front end of the deck andl i e s n e x t t o t h e l e f t 2 n d f i n g e r . T h el o wer l e f t corner of deck can rest either

in the Mechanic's Grip position orM a s t e r G r i p p o s i ti o n .

2. The way the left second finger liesbetween the halves is important. Thetip of left forefinger is directly on theupper right corner of the top half, whilethe upper right corner of the lower half rests at a point between the first ands e c o n d j o i n t s o f t h e l e f t 2 n d f i n g e r . T h eFigure 174 very openly shows the posi-t ion of lef t 2nd finger as it lies betweent he t wo halves.

Figure 174

3. Of course, with all fingers aroundthe deck and the left thumb pressingon top, the wide breaks are coveredf r o m all angles. Figure 175 shows aright side view of the finger positions.

4. To deal the top card the left thumbpushes it off the deck onto the left 3rdand 4th fingers. The right hand comeso v e r in the same manner as in Figure166 to take the top card. This is con-tinued for each card until ready to per-f o r m the Center Deal.

Figure 175

5. In dealing the Center card the left3rd and 4th fingers relax to let thebreak widen. Next, the left 3rd fingertipmoves up against the center card andbuckles it inwards slightly to free its

upper right corner from the left forefin-ger. Figure 176 shows a right sideexposed view.

6. Naturally the right hand is in posi-tion on the right side of the deck dur-ing this action. Next, the left 3rd fingerpushes on the corner of the center cardcausing it to pivot out of the deck in amanner similar to that seen in Figure168 of the Exhibition Center Deal. Withthis Erdnase grip, however, there willbe no visible front break during thetime the center card is pivoted out of the deck. The pivot point in this grip isagainst the left 2nd fingertip.

7. The buckling of the center card, withthe left 3rd fingertip, insures that onlyone card comes out of the center. Asthe center card clears the pack, the leftfingers assume their regular position tocover all breaks although a break isretained, by the left second finger, atupper right corner of the deck.

Figure 176



318


The Strike Center

1. Hold the pack in the Erdnase Gripin a similar position as for theWeakling Center Deal. The break is

held by the left 2nd finger; however,the left thumb is at the top end, at cen-ter of the deck, its tip touching the sec-ond phalange of the left forefinger.

2. The left thumb arcs over the topcard, and very slightly past the left fin-gertips. The right hand takes this card,by its upper right corner, between theright thumb on top and second fingerbeneath. The right forefinger is on thetop edge of the card at the same cor-

ner. The right 3rd and 4th fingers arecurled into the palm.

3. The top card deal is continued untila Center is required. At this stage theleft 3rd and 4th fingers pull down thecards below the break thus making awide gap on the right side of the deck.

4. Into this gap goes the right secondfinger and up against the center cardas in the exposed view of Figure 177.

Figure 177

5. The right side view will be quite openunless you make sure to hold thehands close to the table. In that case,the view from the right side will be asin Figure 178 while from the front theview will be as in Figure 179.

Figure 178

6. Once the right second finger f e e l s

the center card, it is pulled out f r o mthe center by a slight inward action of right second fingertip, against the f a c eof the card. This causes the center cardto come away from under the control of the left second fingertip and thus iseasily dealt out.

Immediately as the right fingers takethe card, the left fingers close inaround the pack to conceal all breaks.

Figure 179

7. Some may find this Strike Center

Deal easier if the break is held by theleft forefinger instead of left second fin-ger. In this case, move the left hand intowards the right hand. The right handtakes the card as the l e f t hand m o v e saway. This back and forth action of theleft hand will cover up the fact thatthere is a front break during the CenterDeal. For this reason this is better as ademonstration method. It can be donerapidly and smoothly.



319

SIDE STEAL CENTER DEAL

W i t h proper attention to angles thereisn't any reason why either of theseStrike techniques shouldn't proved ecep t i v e an d e f f ec t i v e .

Side Steal Center Deal

Anyone who knows the mechanics of the Side Steal can easily do this CenterDeal .

1. Hold the pack with all four left fin-ge r s at the side of the deck. L e f t thumbis across the middle of the deck. Thel e f t 4th finger holds a break.

2. The right hand comes over the deck f rom above. The l e f t thumb pushes the

top card off to the right about a quarterof an inch. The right hand takes thiscard from above by the ends, thensnaps it face up by pressing the rightfo re f inger on top of the card and releas-ing the front end from the right 2nd,3rd and 4th fingers, causing the cardto turn face up. As a result it is heldw i t h the thumb on the face and fingersb e l o w .

3. When ready to deal a Center, the

r ight hand again comes above the deck as before. This time the left fingerslower the cards below the break so thatl e f t second finger can move in andpush out the Center card, at a slightangle, so that its upper right cornercontacts the right 4th fingertip and thel o w e r l e f t corner contacts tip of theright thumb.

4. With the center card thus grippedby the right hand it is moved out of the

deck and at the same time snappedf a c e up as the top cards were. As thecenter card starts to clear the deck thel e f t 4th finger moves in to retain thebreak at lower right corner of the pack.

The deal can then be resumed with thetop card until another center card isneeded. The method is easy and for amore detailed description o i f the actualtechnique involved refer to Chapter

Four, The Side Steal under the headingDeliberate Steal. Remember that theleft thumb in the Center Deal is acrossthe top of the deck, touching the tip of

the left second finger. The left thumb isactually an aid in keeping more thanone card from corning out, as it practi-cally holds the right side of the upperpacket while the center card is beingpulled out by the right hand.

On The Cut

Outside of special occasions the com-monest method of getting the breaksrequired for a Center Deal is that of marking off the cut either by a crimp or

jog. In the case of the crimp it is merelya case of locating it, by touch alone,then positioning the pack so that therequired break can be obtained. In thecase of jogging there are two standardmethods the first being:

The End Jog

1. The pack having been cut, the oper-ator completes it by placing the lowerhalf on top of the upper portion. Indoing so he steps the upper portionoutward, over the front end of the deck as in Figure 180.

2. The right hand, holding the deck atits sides near the inner end, concealsthe jog on the inside. The right handplaces the deck into the left hand.

3. Whether you wish to obtain a break with the left 1st finger or left secondfinger governs how the pack is placed.If you wish the break held with left first

finger, then the front jogged portion isplaced directly onto this finger. If the

Figure 180



320

SECONDS,CENTERS, BOTTOMS

left second finger is to obtain a break,then the jog is placed onto this finger.

4. The right hand from above nowsquares the deck by squeezing theends but not before the desired left fin-ger obtains its break. The 1st or 2ndfinger raises the upper portion justenough so that when the deck issquared, the proper left finger holds abreak at the upper right corner,between the two halves, in readinessfor the Center Deal.

The Side Jog

1. In this method the operator, on

completing the cut, side-jogs the upperhalf to the left as shown in Figure 181.

2. Here again the right hand, which isabove the deck, holds it by the ends atthe right to cover the step condition.This time the deck is placed into theleft hand in a normal manner.

3. Keeping the right hand above thedeck, the left finger, either 1st or 2nddepending on which you wish to use,pulls down the upper right corner of

the lower portion. As the pack is even-tually squared, the proper left fingerthen obtains its break.

Naturally, the Side Jog can be used toobtain the usual left 4th finger break orfor that matter a break with any of theleft fingers.

Figure 181

My Favorite Center Deal Effect

The Experts Dunbury

I like this particular method because

the cutting action of the pack in thisversion is logical and natural.

1. Have a card selected and control itto the fifth position from the top. Thecontrol should be one that gives theappearance of impossibility or a chanceof possibly missing the card.

2. Show that top and bottom cards arenot the selection but state that you wil lcut to three cards, one at a time, thatwill give you the color, denomination

and position, in the deck, of the select-ed card.

3. Do a Slip Cut in the hands, eitherMario Slip Cut or the Standard SlipCut. Now turn over the top single cardface up onto pack as you say, "Thiscard tells me the value of your card."Assume it is a five. Turn the card facedown and deal it off, face down ontothe table.

4. Do another Slip Cut but this t imeturn over two cards as one thus actual-ly showing the selection as you say,"This card tells me the color of yourcard." Assume it is red. Turn the cards,as one, face down and deal off the topindifferent card face down onto thetable on top of the other one.

5. This time as you Slip Cut the deck,the left 4th finger gets a break beneaththe slipped card or selection. The resultis the selected card in the center with a

break held below it.6. Turn the top card face up as yousay, "This card tells me how far downin the deck your card is." Here the f a c eup card is tossed, still face up, to oneside on the table, away from the othertwo. Let's say this card was a ten spot.

7. While attention is on the ten spotyou quickly transfer the break from the



321

THE EXPERT'S DUNBURRY

l e f t 4th f inger to the front end asrequired for the Center Deal. Deal off the top nine cards fairly and CenterD e a l the tenth.

8. H ol d this card face down and ask forthe selected card to be named. When itis called, look puzzled and say, "Didn'tI see that card?" Someone is bound top o i n t to the tabled cards and tell you"It's over there." To this you reply,"That's funny, it should be here," andw i th this turn the card face up.

9. In my experience with the effects o m e people will look at the tabledca rds and others will not, but take it

for granted you have out-witted them.I n this case I usually turn over thetabled cards myself as I remark, "Youm u s t have imagined you saw the card."

10. Performers of the DunburyDelusion usually name suit, value andposition. I have, in my versions disre-garded suit to use color.

My reasons are these. Suppose theselection is a 5D. You turn over 5Dsaying, "The card is a Diamond." Now

suppose you next turn over a 5 spot?Obviously, you are in an awkward situ-at ion as you practically have to namethe selection. The effect would have toalmost terminate here, although I haveseen performers do this, making somes o r t of incoherent remarks as theyw e n t o n t o f i n i s h t h e e f f e c t .

Now let's say you turn over the 5D andsay, "Your card is a red card." The nextcard you turn is a 5 spot. You merely

continue by saying, "It is a red five."You will note that here the audience isled to believe that perhaps you meanthe other red five or 5H not the 5D you

just showed. Thus the logic is retainedto enable one to smoothly continuewi t h t he e f fec t .

Y o u r only trouble will be if you shouldactually turn up the 5H. In this casequickly say, "I'm right, it is a red five.

The question is now which of the redfives. Ill find out by using this numberto count down to a card that will posi-tively denote the suit." Here you haveturned the value card face up and dealtdown to the number.

You hold the 5D face down and look atit yourself as you remark, "A Diamond,then there's no doubt but that yourcard is the five of Diamonds. Am Iright?" When spectator affirms this youcounter with, "Just as I thought, it wasthe 5D", and here you show the card inyour hand.

Note how the Slip Cut seems to actual-

ly lose the selection, as far as anothercard man, who may know the originalDunbury, is concerned.

In case you are one of those who feelthe Center Deal is just too much, thencontrol your selection to 6th from thetop. Just do a Triple Turn over on thesecond card you show, after the Slip.Now following the routine of SlipCutting as outlined, the selection willend up on top of the deck. From here

you can use the Second Deal or someother subtlety to get the card at thenumber.

The Tabled Center Deal

From the above title the whole thingmay sound like an impossibility but infact, as a Center Deal, it can be said tohave a lot more cover for its basicmechanics than some of those centerdeals attempted in the hands.

1. The cards, to be eventually dealtfrom the center, are on top of the deck.Assume these cards are the four Aces.

2. Having kept the four Aces on top of the deck during a shuffle give the pack an upward bend for its whole length.Place the pack in front of yourself,lengthwise, then undercut about 15 to20 cards, no more, from the bottom of the deck.



322


3. In placing the bottom portion on topbe sure that the left 3rd finger, whichis at the front left side of the deck,obtains a minute break between the

two portions. The left forefinger canpress down on top of the deck to closeup any visible break from the front.

4. The position of the left fingers, onthe tabled deck, is similar to thatshown in Figure 159 of the TabledSecond Deal, repeated here, but withthese exceptions.

Figure 159

The left 3rd fingertip is holding a break at the front left end of the deck. Theleft second finger is alongside the thirdfinger and later plays an importantpart. The left forefinger is on top of thedeck in readiness to pivot the top cardforward.

5. The left forefinger pivots the top cardas already shown in Figure 160 andthe right hand comes in front of deck to take it as shown in Figure 158.

Figure 160

6. When a Center Deal is required theleft second finger goes into action.

As the right hand comes in front of thedeck the left second finger pulls or

buckles back all the cards above thebreak similar to that shown in Figure161, where the first finger is beingused. This enables the tip of the l e f tsecond finger to contact the top card of the lower half to pivot it out of the deck in a manner similar to that shown inFigure 162.

Figure 158

Figure 162

7. As the left second finger pivots thecenter card naturally the top half of thedeck automatically resumes its normalposition with the left third fingerregaining and retaining the break.

8. Continue dealing the top card u n t i lanother Center Deal is required w h e nthe actions described in Step 6 arerepeated.

9. In the majority of Center Deals if youwill think of them as glamorizedBottom Deals, then a large mentalblock will have been removed makingmastery of them much easier. In thecase of the Tabled Center Deal j u s tthink of it as a glamorized TabledSecond Deal - if you can master e i t h e rone, the other becomes simpler.



323

MARLO CENTER DEAL

The most common fault in CenterD e a l i n g , especially in the precedingmethods, is in stopping the movementof the left thumb at the time of the

Center Deal.The correct procedure to practice is topush over the top card in the same wayas when about to deal it. As the centerc a r d is dealt the l e f t thumb pulls thetop card back flush with the deck.

Sometimes it may be preferable tom e r e l y move the left thumb withoutpushing over the top card, as theC e n t e r Deal is made. This will givegreater control of the upper portion

during the false deal. In either case thew h o l e idea is to give the impressiont h a t the thumb has pushed over a cardw h e t h e r it actually has done so or not.

May I mention that by using theErdnase Grip for the Center Deal, andeas ing the center card out at the upperright corner, it is possible to do aCenter Double Deal. That is, taking thetop card and center card together asone to be dealt into a hand.

Mario Center DealT h i s Center Deal has several exception-al features, among them being; a fairlynormal grip, a regulation "take" of thecard plus the fact that there isn't anybending or swinging down of the lowerh a l f in order to widen the break between the halves. As a matter of fact,one can almost say the center card isactually dealt from a pack in which thehalves are flush against each other.

1. The desired cards are on the bottomof the deck. After the initial cut thecards are put together with the upperha l f angled off to the right as shown inFigure 170 repeated here.

2. W i t h the cards thus stepped thed e c k is placed into the l e f t hand so itgoes into either a Mechanic's Grip orMaster Grip position. The left 2nd, 3rd

Figure 170

Figure 171

and 4th finger tips rest beneath thestep in a manner similar to Figure 171.

I say similar because actually the left2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers are pulledinward and away from the left forefin-ger so that there is a space createdbetween the left forefinger and the left2nd finger. The left thumb is across thedeck to the 2nd finger, so that a space

is also between the left thumb and firstfinger.

3. At this stage if you were to turn theleft hand over you would see just theindex of the center card, as it isstepped over in the upper right corneronly. From above you will see a step atthe upper left corner. For the timebeing do not worry about concealing ituntil you get the basic idea of thisCenter Deal.

4. The upper half of the deck shouldbe under control of the left forefinger.Its tip presses against the upper cornerwhile the lower left corner presses inagainst the palm. The lower half isthus almost automatically under con-trol also.

5. The left thumb arcs the top cardover very slightly, just enough to allow



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SECONDS,CENTERS,BOTTOMS

it to escape past the tip of the left fore-finger. The right hand approaches totake this card while at the same time,the tip of the right second finger comesin contact with the center card at thestep. The right forefinger is, of course,extended in the normal manner but theright 3rd and 4th fingers are curled intowards the palm. The tip of the rightsecond finger comes in contact with thecenter card at the step in the upperright corner. The right thumb is on thetop card in the space between the leftthumb and left forefinger.

6. In the above position the right

thumb and 2nd finger can "take" eitherthe top card or the center card. To takethe center card, the tip of the right sec-ond finger is pressed up against thecenter card at the step. Pulling inwardon this card causes it to free itself fromthe tip of the left forefinger.

Once the center card starts to moveout, the right thumb, which goes intothe space between the left thumb andleft 1st finger, slips off from the topcard of the deck to come in contactwith the center card. Thus the centercard is taken between the right secondfinger and thumb. As the center card istaken the l e f t thumb pulls back the topcard flush with the upper portion. Arepetition of these actions will bringadditional center deals or top carddeals as may be desired.

7. Be sure that the fingernail of theright second finger is clipped short oth-erwise the nail will strike the surface of

the center card and prevent any con-tact with the actual fleshy part of theright second finger, making the takingof the center card an impossibility.

8. In first practicing this deal make thestep at the upper right corner as largeas you wish until you get the idea andknack of this center deal. After this youcan gradually cut down on the amountof jog or step needed.

9. To cover the step in the upper l e f tcorner of the deck it is only necessaryto bevel the top portion towards thel e f t . Remember that you actually needto keep only about four cards, say theAces, under the control of the lef t fo re -finger. The rest of the upper half can beaskew. It is a good plan to never CenterDeal from a squared deck as thisaccentuates any steps or breaks.

10. While the "take" technique hasbeen mentioned in connection with thisdeal one can also easily use the strikeor whip-out method to center deal thecard especially if one is bent on demon-

strating visual deception for his brothermagi. It is, however, a good plan to f i r s tloosen the center card, via the "take"technique before embarking on theStrike Center.

Variations of Mario C.D.

First Variation:

1. The grip of the deck can be eitherthe Mechanic's or Master Grip, butwith the finger positions just as shownin Figure 171, that is, all fingers close

together under the step.2. In the above position the tip of theleft second finger presses against thecorner of the center card.

3. The left thumb arcs over the topcard, then under cover of this card theleft second finger presses upwards andforwards against center card causing itto move outwards to the left in linewith the top card.

4. The above action is made at theinstant the right hand comes over totake a card. Needless to say, the centercard is easily grasped as the l e f t t h u m bpulls back the top card.

5. The Grip of the pack will be correct if you are able to do not only a CenterDeal but, from the same position, aBottom Deal, a Second Deal or aCenter Double Deal.



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ONE HAND CENTER DEAL

Second Variation:

T h i s is using the Erdnase Grip andf r o m its position you can deal eitherthe Take or Strike center, or use the tip

of the l e f t 3rd finger to move or pushout the center card for taking by theright thumb and second finger. My per-sonal preference is for the Grip usingthe Mechanic's or Master Grip; howev-er, there may be some who leantowards the Erdnase Grips.

To those who may be wondering as to j u s t which is my favorite technique Im u s t confess that I lean stronglytowards the 1st Variation wherein the

l e f t second fingertip eases out the cen-ter card. I have found this method tobe the most capable of greater flexibili-ty in its application. This is evidencedby its use in the following One HandC e n t e r D e a l.

One Hand Center Deal

T h e r e is no doubt but that privatelyt h e r e have been many attempts atdeveloping a One Hand Center Deal.T h a t none have found their way intopr i n t perhaps is due to the fact that ag o o d working method had not beendeveloped by these individuals. The oneto be described is not only practical butf r o m a visual standpoint even moredeceptive than a two hand Center Deal.It is a Stud type deal but with no visi-ble finger movement usually so com-mon in the run-of-the-mill Stud Deal.

1. The position of the deck in the lefth a n d is exactly that of the Mario

Center Deal. Also all the finger posi-tions are identical.

2. The technique used, to ease out thecen te r card, is that explained in the 1stVariation of Mario C .D. . In other words,the l e f t thumb arcs over the top card,then the l e f t second fingertip eases thecenter card forward and in line withthe top card.

3. As the left second fingertip easesout the center card, the left hand isturned palm down. At the same timethe two halves are slightly separated

which causes the loosened center cardto fall out from between the cards toland face up on the table. As the lefthand turns palm upwards the twohalves are again flush but still main-taining the necessary step at the upperright corner. The left thumb, which hasdrawn back the top card, now againarcs the top card over for a repetition of the deal.

4. In practice one may find that the

center card has at times a tendency tohook itself at the lower left corner of the deck. If this situation persists it iseasily remedied by lifting the upper half of the deck, at its inner end, so that abreak or separation is made at theinner left corner at the base of the leftpalm. If you will try the same actions,of loosening the center card with tip of left second finger, the center card willno longer hook at this corner and willfall out of the center even more readily.

This idea can even be applied to thetwo hand center deal to insure an easi-er release of the center card.

5. Once you have mastered the Centeryou will find it a lot more difficult todeal off the top card than the centerunless you proceed as follows: When acenter card is being dealt, the leftthumb arcs the top card over veryslightly; however, for a top card dealthe same action is made until the left

hand turns back upwards. Then theleft thumb shoves the top card forwardas much as possible after which theleft thumb swings downwards causingthe top card to fall off the deck to landface up onto the table.

6. An effective combination is to usetwo hands for a regular deal and thenuse the one hand for the actual CenterDeal. It is an ideal procedure for the



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SECON DS, CEN TERS, BOTTOMS

various "Stop" or "Count Down" effects.

Mario's Push Off Unit Control

This idea will enable you to deal not

only seconds but thirds, fourths andeven fifths. Basically, the principle con-sists of controlling, with the dealingthumb, a number of top cards thusenabling you to deal the cards that arebeneath this controlled unit.

To show that the Unit Control is not just an impractical dream I will laterdescribe some effects that can be doneusing it. For now let's go on to thetechnique required to accomplish the

deal successfully.1. H old the de ck in the sta nd ardMechanic's Grip. For now let's supposeyou want to get set to deal thirds.

2. The left thumb should be at theupper end of the deck at about the cen-ter. Left thumb tip is touching the leftforefinger at its first crease. The left

Figure 182

forefinger is in Position 1 around theupper end of the deck.

3. Very slightly push over, diagonally,the top card of the pack as shown inFigure 182.

4. N ow bring the top card back flushwith the deck but jogged down veryslightly as in Figure 183 which is exag-gerated to show the existing condition.

Figure 183

5. The left thumb tip presses down onthe two cards, the injogged one and theunder card, now exposed, then d e a l sthese off, very slightly, also diagonal lyas shown in Figure 184.

6. Once more the left thumb moves thecards, this t ime tw o cards, so t h e ybecome in-jogged as in Figure 185

Figure 184



327

MARLO'S PUSH OFF UNIT CONTROL

i h ich again is an exaggeration todearly show the condition.

I The left thumbtip can now engagethird exposed card as well as keep

Figure 186

the first two under control, as the leftt h u m b now deals over the three cardsas shown in Figure 186.

; 8 , The right second finger and thumbDOW can come over to take the thirdc a r d in the following manner. The rights e c o n d fingertip goes under the upperc o r n e r of the third card but the rightt h u m b should not come down com-

p l e t e l y on this card until the right sec-ond finger, by a slight upward pressurehas started to move the third card outfrom under the top two.

T h e n and only then the right thumbc o m e s down to aid in taking the thirdcard as in Figure 187. The whole objectis to make sure that the right thumb at

no time comes in contact with the con-trolled unit of cards in order not toupset it.

9. As the right fingers take the third

card clear of the deck, the left thumbmoves back to the position required forthe next 3rd deal as shown in Figure

Figure 187

Figure 188

188 where right hand holds the cardclear of the deck and the left thumbhas moved back into the required posi-tion for the next third deal.

10. A repetition of these moves and youcan keep dealing the third card as longas you desire. I must mention thatanother way for the right fingers to

take the card below the controlled unit,is to actually grasp it, at its exposedcorner only, with the right thumb andsecond finger, as you deal.

11. Using the same technique, of push-ing over a card, then bringing it back injogged, can be used to also setup a4th or even a 5th deal depending onhow much practice you wish to con-tribute towards its mastery.

Figure 189 shows three cards injoggedin readiness for a 4th Deal, whileFigure 190 shows the four cardspushed over. Both figures are exagger-ated for clarity. It is Figure 191 thatshows how the cards would actuallyappear in the deal itself. Only all whitewould show with a white border deck.

12. Before going into some of theeffects, let me first point out that when



328


doing a Unit Control Deal and dealingto yourself you do not take the top cardbut rather the lowest card of the unit.This will insure the left thumb keeping

the remaining cards of the unit undercontrol. Let me give an example.Suppose you are controlling 3 Acesusing a 4th Deal and are dealing out,say, five hands of cards. You woulddeal 4ths but when you come to your

' Figure 189

Figure 190

Figure 191

hand you would deal a 3rd or one of the Aces. If you were to take the topcard at this stage the tendency to losecontrol of the remaining cards in theunit is much greater.

On the next round you deal 3rds but a2nd into your hand thereby gettinganother Ace. Now you automatically gointo a push-off second deal and, of

course, this time take the top card intoyour hand to give you three Aces.

Now here are some effects made possi-ble through the use of the Unit Control,

Face Up Assembly

1st Effect: Spectator places the fourAces into different parts of the d e c k ,then shuffles same. Performer takesthe deck and, dealing the cards f a c eup, says he will use the first Ace that isdealt; however, when an Ace does show

it is found that the other three are r ightbehind it. The four Aces have somehowassembled.

1. Spectator inserts four Aces andfreely shuffles the deck.

2. On its return hold the deck face upin the left hand so only you, not thespectator, can see the faces. This ispractically automatic if you sit acrossthe table from the spectator. Just tiltyour hand enough so that he can't seethe face of the pack.

3. Start by tossing or sailing the f a c eup cards into the center of the table.When you reach the first Ace on theface of the deck, you go into a push-offsecond deal to keep back this Ace. Atthe same time you will be able to s p o teach card, below this Ace, during thesecond deal.

4. Continue the deal until you spot thesecond Ace coming into view. At thisstage you say, "I will use the first Ace Icome to." This patter line gives youample time to set-up for a 3rd deal tokeep back the two Aces. At the s a metime you will be able to spot the card,coming into view, below these twoAces.

5. When the third Ace comes into p o s i -

tion you stop and say, "Have you seen



329

ORDER OF ACES

any Ace as yet?" This again gives youtime to set-up but this time for a 4thdea l to hold back the three Aces and asb e f o r e , enable you to spot the card

be low them, coming into view.

6. Now continue dealing 4ths until yous p o t the last Ace and then stop thedeal with all four Aces at the face of thed e c k .

7. Square up the cards in the left hand,t h e n lower them to show the Ace at thef a c e as you say, "Here is an Ace but thestrange part is that the other three areright below it." Here you deal off thef o u r face up Aces in a row on the table.

Order of Aces

2nd Effect: The cardician predicts theo r d e r that the four Aces will come outas dealt from a freely shuffled deck.

1 . First of all decide on a definite orderof the Aces, from left to right. Supposeyou decide on the order of C-H-S-D. Ony o u r prediction slip you write "TheA c e s will come out in Clubs-Hearts-

Spades-Diamond order from my left toright.

2. To begin the effect you can show theprediction slip, then hand it to some-one to hold. Next, have someoneremove the four Aces to mix face down.N e x t , he is to insert the Aces face downinto the deck, then thoroughly shuffleth e pack.

3. Take the deck back and hold it face

up, tilted so no one else can see thef a c e card, then say that you will dealthrough the deck and as you come toeach Ace you will place it face up onthe table, starting on your left and con-tinuing to the right, until all four Aceshave thus been dealt.

4. The deal itself consists in merelyholding back any Ace or Aces, by usingthe Unit Control until the correct first

Ace shows up to be dealt. Then the sec-ond Ace, in the prediction is next dealtetc. for all the Aces. Perhaps an exam-ple may be in order.

5. The pack has just been shuffled andyou are holding it face up for the deal.Remember the Aces have to come outin C-H-S-D order as per our example.

6. As I deal along I come across theAce of Diamonds. Naturally I hold itback via the second deal. The next Acethat comes into view is the AH. Here, Igo into a 3rd Deal holding back the ADand AH in that order. Now here comesthe AC so I actually deal it out as it is

the first card of my prediction. Now Ideal just a few more 3rds, then easilytake the AH, under control with theAD, to deal if face up alongside the AC.Now the second deal is continued untilthe AS shows and of course, it is dealtout alongside the other two Aces. Justa few more second deals and now theAD is dealt out thus completing theprediction of C-H-S-D from your left toright.

7. There may be rare occasions whenyou may have to do a 4th Deal to getthat first Ace of the prediction. Also theother three, controlled as a unit, maynot be in the right order. For this Imake use of what I call the Fan Deal,explananed below, in order to get theadded effect that, for some strange rea-son, the Aces all came together in thatorder. The above two effects can, of course, be done with the deck facedown if you have marked the Aces sothey can be recognized from the back.

The Jack Deal

3rd Effect: This is the standard 3 Jack deal except here the extra Jack isn'tneeded.

1. Place three Jacks on top of thedeck.

2. Deal the top card to a spectator.



330

SECONDS , CENTERS, BOTTOMS

Deal a 3rd, a non-Jack, to yourself.Then a top card to the spectator, a sec-ond to yourself, top to the spectatorand top to yourself. The spectator will

have the three Jacks. Be sure to callattention to the suits of the three Jacksotherwise you might just as well usethat 4th Jack.

3. It is possible to do the effect with 4Jacks. For this effect deal as follows;top-4th-3rd-3rd-2nd-2nd-top-top.

4. After the above deal, designed not tolose control of the unit, the spectatorwill end up with the 4 Jacks.

Let's Start Over

4th Effect: Cardician places four Aceson top of the deck and gives it two FaroShuffles. He deals out four hands andthey should be in the fourth hand;however, on turning it over the Acesare not there. He next turns up theother 3 hands to see if the Aces areamong these. Again not in sight. Withthis he says, "Let's Start Over" anddeals off the four top cards of deck which are the four Aces.

1. Show the four Aces and place themon top of the deck.

2. Split the deck for a Faro In Shufflebut doing it so three cards will go ontop of the 1st Ace. After the first FaroIn Shuffle the 1st Ace will be 4th fromtop while the others will alternate asusual.

3. Another Faro In Shuffle, a regularone, will now have the 1st Ace 8th from

the top while the other three Aces willbe every fourth card from the first Ace.

4. As you deal you must count to your-self one to four, then start again fromone to four. This is done each time soyou will know exactly when to startdealing 2nd, 3rd and 4ths.

5. In this case the first count of four isall fair but on the next count of four

you must deal seconds at four. Nowcontinue with count of one etc, but onthe count of three you start to d e a l3rds and continue to the count of f o u r .

The next round you start to deal 4 t h sat the count of two and continue up tofour and then stop.

6. At this stage the four hands, com-posed of four cards each, are all indif -ferent cards because all four Aces arenow on top of the deck. The rest isworking up to the climax with the l ine"Let's Start Over."

"He's My Partner"

5th Effect: The Cardician's designatedpartner gets four Aces in a poker game.This after the deck has been thorough-ly shuffled and cut by a member of theaudience.

1. Secretly locate and palm off theAces into the right hand. If you can lapthe needed cards do so. At any rate thedeck is handed out for shuffling andcutting during which the Aces are

secretly obtained and held in readinessto be added to the top of the deck as itis picked or scooped up. If you k n o wthe Spider Return use that.

2. The four Aces are now on top of thedeck. Take off the top card, an ace, todeal it face down to your left as yousay, "He's my partner."

3. During Step 2 the right arm will bein front of the deck. This cover plus thepatter line, "He's my Partner" wil l g i v e

you ample time to get into position fora 4th Deal in order to control the unitof 3 Aces.

4. Deal out five hands of cards deal ing4ths until you get back to your partner.Here deal a 3rd, to give him a secondAce and at the same time keeping o ther2 Aces under control.

5. This time around deal 3rds but a



331

INVISIBLE ACES

2nd to your partner. Continue dealing2 n d s , to keep the last Ace, until you

i get to your partner and then deal thetop card. From here deal out fairly to

complete five hands of five cards each.S h o w your partner has four Aces to cli-max the deal.

Remember during the deal that the lefthand remains stationary, on the table

j in front of the performer , while only theright hand moves to take the cards andd e a l them out. Watch your angles forthe l e f t hand to get the best results.

On the subject of "Holding Out" many[unskilled amateurs can do this and

n e v e r get called even though their skillis not of a high order. On the otherhand, many experts have been caughtholding out. Why is this? It's simplythe fault of the approach and some badadvice from the magic books. Howmany times have you been told to havea card selected, replaced, then youp a l m it out as you hand deck out to bes h u f f l e d . Right here is where you areasking for trouble. Many times a"stinker" will check the deck to see if his card is there. Some may even slylyreach for your hand - result, you getcaught. Remember anytime you have acard selected, or even if you show 4A c e s and place them into the deck w h i c h is then handed out to be shuf-

fled, that card or those Aces had betterbe there, because the apparent fairnessgives them time to think and becomesuspicious as to whether that card orthose Aces are in the deck. What fol-

l o w s may be a casual look through thei d e c k , furtive glances a t your hands o reven an out-right "What you got inyour mitt?"

On the other hand, if you have secretlypalmed out, say the four Aces, to holdthem out, then you are pretty safe asthere is no reason for them to suspectanything at all. You haven't pointed upanything like a selection or four Aces -

they are merely shuffling the deck atyour request and that's all.

You can sit there all evening with theheld out cards until you are ready to

cap the pack. With this approach to"Holding Out" even an amateur can dovery well and not get caught.

Exhibitionism

6th Effect: There are those in magicwho can never keep any sleight as asecret weapon but use the sleight itself as a show piece. This then, is for them.

1. Remove the four Aces and tossthem to your audience. Have themselect either the red or black ones.

2. Place the two selected Aces, let ussay black, on top. Now, ask for a smallnumber. Deal 3rds to this number,then slowly show the two chosen Acesstill on top. Repeat if you have to.

3. Now ask for a red Ace to be addedto the other two. Again ask for a smallnumber as you go into dealing 4ths.

On the number, stop, then show thethree Aces still on top.

4. When they venture a guess that youdealt from the bottom you very proudlysay, "Nope, 3rds and 4ths, my friends."This won't help your magic any but itwill sure boost your ego.

Invisible Aces

7th Effect: Spectator places 4 Acesinto different parts of the deck. TheCardician now pretends to invisiblyremove the Aces and place them in hispocket. On running through the deck the Aces are not there. They are takenout of the performer's pocket.

The above effect can be done eitherstanding up at a table or seated but itis best done standing.

1. Hand the four Aces and the pack toa spectator. Have him place the Aces



332


into separate places of the deck. It isthen squared and handed back to you.

2. The insertion of the Aces is madeface up; t h e r e f o r e , this gives you a

chance to see which Ace was placednearest the top of the deck.

3. On getting the deck, hold it face upbetween both hands. Cards lie in theleft hand as for dealing while the righthand is above the deck gently holdingit by the ends.

4. The left thumb riffles down theupper left corner of the deck as yousay, "Remember, the Aces are some-where in different parts of the deck."

5. Step 4 has enabled you to glimpsethe last Ace, nearest the top, so youcan stop the thumb riffle there andkeep open a break. Now release the Aceso it joins the upper section but stillhold the break by pressing the leftthumb in against the upper left cornerof the deck.

6. With the right hand grasp all thecards above the break, then rock the

deck forward. At the same time releasethe break held by the left thumb whilegaining a new one at the lower rightcorner with the left 4th finger. Thusyou have transferred your break fromthe upper left corner to the lower rightcorner.

7. Now say, "I'm going to remove theAces one at a time invisibly, like this,and place them into my pocket." Asyou say these lines you actually SideSteal the Ace at the break into the righthand and thus deliberately place it inyour pocket.

8. The right hand comes out empty, palm towards the audience, one fingerraised as you say, "That's one ace."Here you go through the same motionsbut you do nothing. Merely cup yourhand, run it over ends of deck as if removing something, show the palm of

this hand as you say, "That's the sec-ond ace." Repeat these actions t w i c emore each time placing the invisibleAce into your pocket.

9. At this stage one Ace is already inthe pocket and three are in the pack,Say, "It's possible, I may have taken awrong card that last time. Ill run

through the deck and if anyone sees anAce dealt, stop me."

10. Here you hold the deck facing youand deal off, in a sail, the cards face upto the table. Continue in this mannerbut as you come to each Ace you ho l dit back with the 2nd and 3rd deals. The3rd deal will eventually get you to the3rd Ace and here you stop with allthree Aces are gathered at the face of the deck.

11. Here merely push over the 3 A c e s just far enough so that in squaring, theleft 4th finger can get a break beneaththem in readiness for a palm off.

12. The palm off of the Aces can beeither a Drop Cover Palm or the W r i s t

Turn Palm. See Chapter Two; A c t i o nPalms.

13. The stall required for a l o g i c a lpalm off is as follows: Immediately theAces are palmed, the right hand runsover the ends of the cards in the samemanner as when doing the invisibleremoval. Your patter covers this as yousay, "When I was doing this to invisiblyremove the Aces and placed them i n tomy pocket I wasn't kidding. As you seethere aren't any Aces in the d e c kbecause they are in my pocket."

14. During the above patter line youhave palmed off the Aces, stuck y o u rright hand into the pocket, l e f t t h e mthere as the left hand spreads out theremainder of the cards to show noAces. When the line "because they arein my pocket" is reached the right handcomes out with the four Aces.



333

EASY UNIT CONTROL

T he se a r e on l y a f e w o f t he e f f e c t s p os -s ib le with the Unit Control, besides itsadvantages in you-know-what, for youto use as you're so inclined.

N o t e : You can use marked Aces in thea b o v e e f f e c t and do it with the deck f a c e down. In the absence of markedcards you can set the Aces at deter-m i n e d positions. When you reach thesekey positions you will know that youh a v e to add a card to the deal thusi n c r e a s i n g from 2nds to 3rds and to4ths if such is required. See Mario'sS tr ike Unit Control which can be usedin the majority of the effects describedh e r e .

Easy Unit Control

T h i s method of Unit Control may bef o u n d much easier to do for some. Ithas its short-comings as compared tothe first method but in most cases youcan get the same results.

1. For an example let's suppose you

Figure 192

h a v e the four Aces marked, at extremeu p p e r right and lower left corners, sothey can be spotted from the backs.

2. Hold the deck in dealing positionw i t h all four fingers at the side of thed e c k and the side of the left thumba n g l e d at the upper left corner asshown in Figure 192.

0. The left 1st, 2nd and 3rd finger nowm o v e down beneath the top edge of thedeck. The left 4th finger; however,remains above the top of the deck and

Figure 193

pressing inwards, holds the pack firmlyagainst the base of the palm.

4. Step 3 is important because as theleft thumb moves the top card over for

the deal it will come off as shown inFigure 193 due to the pressure exertedby left 4th finger which acts as a ful-crum point on which the card pivots.

5. The top deal is important as later itwill conform to the action of the UnitControl. Keep dealing the top cardsuntil you spot the first marked Ace.

Figure 194



334


Here the left thumb pulls down the topcard of the deck, injogging it as shownin Figure 194.

6. The left thumb then immediately

moves over onto the exposed secondcard and deals it forward as shown inFigure 195. Note that the left 4th fingernow not only acts as a fulcrum butkeeps and controls the injogged card.

Figure 196

Figure 197

7. With the left hand tilted at the prop-er angle the deal from the front looksas shown in Figure 196.

8. The right hand comes over to takethe card at the upper right cornerbetween the right thumb on top andthe first and second fingers below. Thecard is then dealt in a forward action,onto the table, as shown in Figure 197.

9. The action of dealing 2nds in thismanner is continued until you spot thesecond ace coming up. Again the leftthumb pulls down on this card so itbecomes injogged with the first ace.Figure 198 shows clearly the twoinjogged cards as well as the 3rd cardbeing dealt off.

10. The deal is continued until the 3rd

Figure 198

Ace is spotted when it too is pulleddown to join the previous two. As thecards increase in number the l e f tthumb actually pulls down each ca rd

so it is as flush as possible with thefirst injogged card. This ensures a f a i r

amount of surface for the left thumb tocontinue dealing while the left 4th fin-ger continues to control the block of cards that are held back.

11. A block of cards, again say f o u rAces, can be controlled on top of thedeck just as if they were one s i n g l e

Figure 199

card. All that is necessary is to obtain a

break under the four Aces and t h e nmove them inwards with the aid of right hand which is above the deck.

12. Now deal out 5ths in this c a s e ,until you are ready to deal an Ace. Herethe left thumb moves down onto thetop Ace and deals it forward and diago-nally as in Figure 199 to c o n f o r m w i t h

the rest of the deal.



335

THE FAN DEAL

13, Once the top Ace has been dealtyou very easily go into dealing 4ths andso on until all the four Aces have thusbeen dealt.

14. This Easy Unit Control will enableyou to do almost all the effects donew i t h the Mario Unit Control with fewexceptions.

The Fan Deal

O b j e c t : To enable one to deal out anycard f rom a fan unit consisting of 3-4-5o r more cards.

1. I think it best to describe the Fan

D e a l in connection with a practicala p p l i c a t i o n ; therefore, in this caseassume that a mental effect has beenin progress and that you have boiledd o w n the mental selection to five cardsany of which may be the selection.

2. In the standard procedures youw o u l d start to distribute these f i ve pos-sibili t ies throughout the deck so thatlater, when the actual card was named,you would either show it on top or bot-

tom or reversed in center plus, per-h a p s , two alternatives using either ag l ide or a Double Lift. With the FanD e a l you can apparently deal any oneof the cards named always off the topo f th e deck.

3. Suppose the mental possibilitieshave boiled down to f ive cards. Thesef i v e cards are arranged on top of thedeck with the values in order so thateach succeeding card is higher in value

t h an its predecessor. For the sake of clarity let's assume these cards are theAc e - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 of mixed suits andarranged in that order from the top of the deck down.

4. The left hand holds the deck in stan-dard Mechanic's Grip for dealing. Thel e f t thumb tip now moves the top cardo v e r , diagonally, for only a fraction of an inch. Just enough to expose the

Figure 200

second card.

5. Immediately, the left thumbtipengages the second card as well and

moves it over diagonally but again onlyfar enough to expose the third card.

6. Needless to say, the same action isrepeated for the next two cards thuscausing a Fan Spread of five cards asshown in Figure 200.

Figure 201

Figure 202

7. Note that the comer of each individ-ual card is easily accesible to the rightfingers. Also you have a clear picture of the position of each card.

8. While Figure 200 shows the per-



336


former's view, the spectator's view willbe as in Figure 201 because the lefthand has been tilted in towards theperformer as this hand rests normally

on the table.9. A little subtle touch is now added.The performer lifts up the back end of the top card, with the right thumb, forthe ostensible purpose of looking at it.The action is shown in Figure 202 asseen by the spectator.

Figure 203

Figure 204

10. The right thumb lets the top cardsnap back into place, then the rightfingers take their place near the cor-

ners of the fanned cards as seen inFigure 203.

11. Now ask for the name of the card.Soon as you hear it, the right secondfinger and thumb grasp only the comer of that particular card and deals it outface up onto the table. The Figure 204shows the third card of the fan in theprocess of being dealt.

12. Immediately that the card is dealt

face up, the left thumb pulls back theremainder of the Fan onto the deck.The pack is eventually further squaredby pressing inwards, on its top end

with the left forefinger. This causes thedeck to move slightly downwards i n t othe left hand but also insures a g o o dsquare up of the cards.

In the above I have given the case of breaking down a mental selection tofive cards but if you can break it d o w nto say, three, well so much the easier.

The No Touch Theory

These methods of Second Dealing arebased on the theory that if the top cardis handled in such a way that the righthand's dealing thumb cannot come incontact with it, then the dealing of thesecond card is practically assured.

A study of the various techniques to bedescribed will impress the practitionerof the ease with which the Second D e a lcan be accomplished. Matter of f a c t ,one may have to spend more t i m elearning how to deal the top c a r drather than the second one.

Figure 205

1st Technique:

1. Hold the deck in the left hand as inFigure 205 with all four left fingertipsagainst the right side of the deck. Theleft thumb is at extreme upper r i g h tcorner and practically touching the l e f t

foref inger . The position of the l e f tthumb is important. The pack's l o w e r



337

THE NO TOUCH THEORY

l e f t corner should be in the MasterG r i p . The l e f t thumb must retain itsp o s i t i o n at all times whether the top ors e c o n d card is taken.

2, Now with the left thumb, arc the topc a r d as shown in Figure 206. If youp l a c e your r ight thumb onto theexposed second card at the upper rightc o r n e r , you will find that the rightt h u m b is only able to contact this sec-

Figure 206

Figure 207

o n d card because the left thumb pre-v e n t s the top card being touched.

3. Figure 206 shows the exposedaction. Actually the top card is notarced over until the right thumb comesin to the position shown in Figure 207.The Figure 207 shows a portion of thesecond card; however, the presence of the right thumb will actually concealth i s condit ion. Remember that theright thumb is placed above the left

thumb before any arcing of the topcard takes place.

4. At this stage the right thumb isabove the left. The right 1st and 2nd

fingertips touch the backs of the left1st and 2nd fingers at about the sec-ond joints. The right 3rd and 4th fin-gers are curled inwards towards palm.

5. The right thumb moves downwardsfor the take and at the same time theleft thumb arcs the top card over to theright, thus the right thumb can onlycontact the second card.

6. As the second card is taken therewill be a downward pressure, with the

right thumb on the second card, andan upward pressure of the right 1stand 2nd fingers against the back of theleft 1st and 2nd fingers. This causes

Figure 208

the second card to be moved out morereadily and to finish with the rightthumb and fingers meeting in order to

grasp the second card, which by now isover the side of the deck.

The Figure 208 shows the second cardcoming out. It is held with the rightthumb on top, 1st and 2nd fingersbelow. The tip of the right first finger isunder the front end of the card whilethe tip of right second finger is on theupper index corner of the card. Thusthe fingers are in position for a sail of



338


the card.

7. A repetition of the movements andyou will continue to get the secondcard, simply because it is impossible to

get the top one. L e f t thumb retains itsposition, at the extreme right corner of

Figure 209

the deck, at all times. The left fingers,against the side of the deck, graduallywork down as the deck diminishes dur-ing the deal. This insures control of thetop cards as well as the seconds duringthe dealing action.

8. To deal a top card, with the left

thumb in the identical position, a slightdifference is made in pushing over thetop card. Instead of arcing the top cardthe left thumb pushes it slightly for-ward so its top edge moves forwardover the front end of the deck. Thismovement is very slight but is exagger-ated in Figure 209 for clarity.

9. Now, because of the top card's for-

ward position, you will be able to takeonly the top card. Do this with theright thumb in the identical positionshown in Figure 207. When a SecondDeal is required the left thumb arcs thetop card inwards, so the right thumbcan again take only the second card.

10. In taking the top or second card,with the right thumb, some may preferto use the ball of the thumb during thedeal while others may prefer to use theinner side of the thumb. By using theinner side of the thumb, closest to theoperator, a finer brief can be obtained,The point of contact is that shown inFigure 210.

11 . Using this type of second it is easi-er to deal the card forwards off thedeck rather than straight off to theside. Either technique will become easywith practice, even a deal to take thecard back towards the performer. Thesail is a natural for use with this deal.

The following method has great visualdeception but alas, they just k n o wyou're doing a phony deal. This is just

as bad as seeing it exposed when itcomes to the point of actual deception.

2nd Technique:

Figure 210

Figure 211

1. For this the left thumb is moved toposition B (See Figure 192) near theupper edge of the top card, at aboutthe center. The left four fingers areagainst the right side of the deck act ingas gauges to prevent more than one



339

THE NO TOUCH THEORY

card coming off either during a top dealor a second deal.

2. The right thumb now contacts thetop card by moving in until its tip

t o u c h e s the tip of the left thumb ass h o w n in Figure 211. The other fingers

Figure 212

are in a similar positions as in the 1stTechnique; however, only the rightf o r e f i n g e r is extended, touching theback of the lef t forefinger.

3. The l e f t thumb pushes the top cardf orward and to the right, very slightly,

just enough to climb over the left fin-

g e r t i p s . At the same time, the rightthumb and second finger nip the topcard to take it off the deck,

4. When it is required to second deal,the right thumb moves in front of thel e f t thumb. At the same time the l e f tt h u m b arcs the top card over to exposethe second card. This is when the right

thumb comes in contact with the sec-ond card as per Figure 212.

5. Once more it is possible to take onlythe second card because the left

thumb's position on the top card pre-vents any contact with it by the rightthumb. The Figure 212 is not exagger-ated as actually a very fine brief is pos-sible using this method.

6. The second card comes out, to theside, being taken by the right thumb

Figure 213

Figure 24, C

above, and 2nd finger below. The 2ndfinger is curled in towards the palm onthe bottom while the right forefingerlies across the card's top edge. TheFigure 213 shows the second card

coming out with the right hand fingersin correct position on the card.

7. This technique, like the first, enablesyou to deal straight off to the right orforward as well as sail the cards. Note:See this technique as applied toMario's Strike Unit Control.

3rd Technique:

1. This is exactly like the SecondTechnique except that the left thumb is

placed at the far left outer corner of thedeck as in Figure 24, position C,repeated here.

2. To take the top card, the rightthumb takes it in exactly the samemanner as in Figure 211 except it willgo in further on the deck due to the leftthumb being at the far left

3. To take the second card the right



340


Figure 23

thumb moves in front of the left thumbexactly as shown in Figure 212 except,again due to left thumb being at posi-tion C, the right thumb will be practi-cally across the top end of the deck during the deal.

Figure 214

4. With this change in grip of the deck,there will be less noise noticeable inthis technique as compared to the first.

No Touch Stud Deal

Using the No Touch Theory, here is avery effective Second Deal of the StudType which also has a very fine brief during the deal.

1. The pack is held in the left hand

Figure 215

with all four fingers at the right side o :

the deck. The left forefinger is near theupper right corner at position 3 f r o mFigure 23, repeated here.

The left thumb extends, across thepack, with its tip coming to a pointbetween the left 1st and 2nd fingertips,The deck's lower left corner can beeither in the Master Grip position orMechanic's Grip. The Figure 214 showslower left corner in Mechanic's Grip.

2. The l e f t thumb pushes the top c a r dforward over the end of the deck v e r yslightly. At the same instant, the righthand approaches, palm d own , to

extend its first and second fingersacross the top of the left thumb as inFigure 215. The right 3rd and 4th fin-gers are also extended but are b e l o wthe left forefinger. The right thumb isunder the right 1st and 2nd f i n g e r s

Figure 216

and cannot be seen in Figure 215.

3. The right hand now takes off the topcard. The right 1st and 2nd f i n g e r spress down on the projecting top c a r d ,

and carry it off to the right. The right3rd finger comes up to nip the u p p e rright corner, of the top card, b e t w e e nthe right 2nd and 3rd fingers. As thecard clears the pack, the right t h u m bcomes up, against the face of the cardto turn it face up in Stud fashion.

4. The above action is the top c a r ddeal. Now to deal a second. As the rightfingers come across the left thumb, as



341

MARLO'S STRIKE UNIT CONTROL

Figure 217

s h o w n in Figure 215 , the l e f t thumba r c s the top card downwards to the

right. Due to the angle caused by theright fingers going over the top of thel e f t thumb, the right 2nd fingertip cano n l y come in contact with the exposeds e c o n d card. This is shown in Figure216 but exaggerated for clarity as actu-a l l y a very f i n e brief is possible.

5. The right second finger at about thefirst joint, hits the exposed second cardto the right, thus carrying it fromu n d e r the top card. Immediately the

r i g h t 3rd finger comes up to nip theu p p e r right corner of the card between

Figure 218

the 2nd and 3rd fingers. Figure 217s h o w s the second deal in action.

6. The second card is carried awayf r o m the deck, then the right thumbturns it face up in the identical manneras were the cards dealt previously. Thel e f t thumb has meantime swung the

top card back flush with the deck.

7. A repetition of the actions describedwill result in succeeding second dealsor top card deals depending on which

you wish to do at the time.8. There are some that may prefer tostrike out the second card with theright 3rd finger, thus carrying the cardaway held between 3rd and 4th fingersof right hand as shown in Figure 218which depicts the Second Deal inaction. Note that the right hand actual-ly gives more cover. The card has to becarried forward rather than off to theside in both instances but more so in

this case.9. The important point to remember is

to get the proper angle to the right fin-gers. This angle, if correct, will notallow you to easily take the top card for

a fair deal unless it is pushed slightlyforward over the end of the deck.

Also, if the angle is correct, you willonly be able to take the second card if the top card is pulled or arced inwards.The right fingers will miss the top cardand contact only the second or exposedcard.

Mario's Strike Unit Control



342


I have already described a Push-Off type Unit Control now here is a Strikemethod which is based on the NoTouch Theory.

1. Hold the deck in the left hand in theidentical position to that shown inFigures 192 and 213. Naturally youwill be able to deal seconds easyenough but now how about dealing3rds and 4ths?

2. Let's assume you are dealing the NoTouch Second, First Technique, andwish to go into a 3rd deal. You normal-ly bring the top card back flush withthe deck after each Second. This time,

however, the top card is only broughtup just enough so its top edge blendsin with the bottom of the white borderof the second card.

3. The left thumb now moves up sothat its tip is now on the edges of bothcards at the same time. As the leftthumb is moved the left four fingerskeep a firm grip on the pack.

4. The left thumb can now move both

Figure 219

cards, a unit, downwards. The rightthumb goes in front of the left thumbexactly as shown in Figure 212 whichprevents any contact with the twocards controlled by the left thumb. Theresult is that only the third card can bedealt. The dealing action is identical tothat of a No Touch Second Deal.

5. When it is necessary to deal 4 t h s ,again the left thumb brings back itstwo cards only up to the white borderof the third card. The l e f t fingers press

in on the deck to keep not only a firmgrip on the deck, but to prevent anyslipping of the two cards under contro l ,The left thumb now positions itself so itis in contact with all three cards.

6. Left thumb moves its three cardsdownwards while the right thumb goesin front of it to now deal the 4th c a r d ,Figure 219 shows the 4th card b e i n gdealt while the left thumb is controllingthree cards in the Strike Unit Control.

7. With a little practice you'll f i n d itincredible as to how quickly you can doa 3rd and 4th deal. In this method,when taking one of the Unit cards, youmust keep the others under control atthe same time by maintaining pressurewith left thumb.

8. The Figure 219 clearly shows t h reecards under control. These cards, how-ever, if using white borders, will blendtogether into a single all white border.

9. By making the jogging or stepping of each additional card as minute as pos-sible you can deal beyond 4ths. M a t t e rof fact, you can develop this S t r i k eMethod of Unit Control to the pointwhere you can deal as far as 7ths andperhaps further.

10. The important thing to rememberin all Unit Controls is that the foremos tcard of the Unit is the key to theControl. In other words, if you are d e a l -

ing, say 5ths, the 4th card is the onemost under control by the left thumb,This insures that when the 5th card isdealt none of those above it will m o v eout. This is the key to all Unit Controls,

Cover Ups

No matter how much one may try toconvince magicians that in false d e a l -ing i t is psychological deception



343

PRINCIPLE OF THE WRIST TURN

th rough attention to proper angles plusnatural actions, that is far superior tot r y i n g to attain perfect visual decep-t i o n . Nevertheless, there will always bet h o s e who will work towards the highlyd o u b t f u l phrase of "That's a beautifulb o t t o m deal - or second deal - or centerdea l - I can't see the under card comeout." For those the following methodsof Cover Up dealing will be an aid inattaining such visualdeceptiveness.

The Downward Deal

In this the action of dealing the card off the deck is a sharp straight down tothe table action. The card is not first

p u l l e d off the deck then dealt to tablebut rather snapped down directly fromthe deck to the table.

H o l d i n g the pack slightly higher off thet a b l e than normal is also an aid. Ind o i n g a Second Deal, using this action,a f i n e brief gives even more visualdeception. It is, however, most ideal fora bottom deal especially one in whichthe bottom of the deck is free of fingerssuch as in the Missing Finger Dealwhere in all fingers are curled in underthe deck. This permits the bottom cardto come straight down off the bottom of the deck. Do not let go of the card if you are going to deal it forward, butsail it instead.

The Upward Deal

Th i s deal is made with the right handtaking the card in an upward directionstraight off the deck, then tossing it ordealing it out into any position on the

table. There is a distinct snap to thec a r d as it escapes from under the leftt h u m b . This sound conforms to thatheard when taking a bottom card orsecond card.

In the case of Second Deals it must bea two-card push-off type in which ther i g h t fingers can definitely grasp thecard in order to pull it upwards. Forbest results the two card card push off

must be very slight.

In both the Downward and UpwardDeals it is best if the left hand, holdingthe deck, remains stationary while all

the work is done with the right handdoing the dealing.

The Backward Deal

In this deal, the right hand takes thecard inwards, towards the dealer, sothat the taken card ends up justbehind the deck after which the righthand moves forward over the deck toeventually sail the card to the table.This "over the pack" action holds trueon the left side and front but, of

course, not on the performer's deal tothe right.

Principle of the Wrist Turn

While many sources have described theaction of a Wrist Turn not one has everchosen to look upon it as a Principle.One has only to note the myriad of uses the Wrist Turn has been put toand he will quickly become consciousof the fact that it is more than just an

Figure 220

Figure 221



344


action.

To give a few examples of the applica-tion; This Principle has been put to usein False Counts especially the one by

L .L . Ireland in which the Wrist Turnhas been applied to both hands to givea visually deceptive false count. Otheruses of the Wrist Turn Principle will befound in Chapter 2; Action Palms bothfor palming and replacing cards. It hasbeen used by others to cover up thefact that the second card remainsreversed after a double lift, in whichonly the top card is removed as well asin some Top Changes and BottomChanges. Here it is applied to a Bottom

Deal as well as a Second Deal.In the case of a Bottom Deal the Figure220 shows how the bottom card wouldappear if it were pulled straight outwhile Figure 221 shows the same

Figure 222

Bottom Deal using a Wrist Turn.

In doing the Wrist Turn for the BottomDeal you must remember an importantpoint. With the right 2nd finger you

merely press on the bottom card but donot move it out. Instead the left handexecutes the Wrist Turn leaving thebottom card in the fingers as perFigure 221 .

When you yourself cannot actually seethe action depicted in Figure 220 t h e nyou are doing it correctly.

The Figure 222 shows the same d e a lwithout a Wrist Turn, while Figure 223

Figure 223

Figure 224

shows the same deal again, but h e r e ,using a Wrist Turn. Again, when youyourself cannot see the card c o m i n gout, then you know you are on theright track.

You must have a logical excuse for theWrist Turn in False Deals. The b e s texcuse is the One Hand Stud D e a l ,That is because a wrist turn is aninherent part of the deal itself. In thecase of the Face Down Second orBottom Deals the continuous W r i s tTurn will give a visual deception butwhether this is worth the suspicion theaction would arouse is questionable.

This method used once in a B o t t o m



345

ABOUT NOISE

D e a l to conclude a count down, is per-fect ly logical because immediately afterthe Wrist Turn both hands come downto square up the tabled cards as shown

in Figure 224. This then becomes thel o g ica l excuse for the action of theWris t Turn .

Bear in mind that the Wrist Turn mayt a k e any direction, downwards,upwards, forwards, backwards, or tothe side, etc. depending on the sleightone is working with.

At times when only one Bottom Deal isrequired, it is excellent cover to movethe deck away from the hand taking

the bottom card. In other words theright fingers, having taken a firm gripof the bottom card, remain stationary.The l e f t hand moves away with thed e c k , for the ostensible purpose of placing it aside, while the right fingersretain the bottom card, eventually plac-ing it on the table, or on top of a packeto f cards.

About Noise

A l m o s t all texts avoid the question of

noise, especially that in a Second Deal.B e f o r e one can avoid noise one mustk n o w what causes it.

First: The pressure point of the leftthumb on the deck has a lot to do withn o i s e . If the thumb is at the upperfront end of the deck there will be morenoise because the under card has topass the pressure point for a longerdistance. On the other hand if thet h u mb is nearer to the upper left cor-

ner there will be less noise as it comesf r e e of this pressure point sooner.

Second: Overly heavy pressure of thet h u m b on top of the deck will causen o i se . A light touch, just enough toke e p top card under control, will resultin less noise.

Third: Without realizing it the dealeris apt to remove the second in a slight-

ly upward direction, so that the secondcard brushes against the left fingertipsat the side of the deck. In this casethere will be a very distinct and notice-

able difference in the amount of sound.Fourth: Magicians are apt to be mostconscious of noise because they do notuse Seconds in the way a cheat does ina game. As a Magician he is apt to deala larger amount of successive secondsin any given effect, such as a countdown or Stop effect, as compared to acard cheat who may only have to dealtwo at the most in any given round of hands. The solution then seems to be

to avoid any effects which call for anunusual amount of successive SecondDeals in order to arrive at a result.

Fifth: In the event that you are overlysensitive to the noise but can't elimi-nate it to your satisfaction then theonly course is not to eliminate it but to

put it in. This means that you mustpractice getting a noise in the top cardas you take it so that it more or lessconforms to the noise you may makewith a Second or Bottom Deal.

At all costs acquire the habit of keepingthe dealing thumb always close to thedeck. Avoid lifting the thumb whendealing fairly as it then becomes obvi-ous, to the expert observer, when youdo a false deal, as then the thumbstays close to deck in order to retainthe top card.

Incidentally, it is possible to deal falseor fair and retain the normal lift actionof the dealing thumb at all times. Thethumb must be lifted immediately asthe false deal is started just as if itwere a top card taken The thumb rais-es as the right hand takes off the card,the thumb falls onto the next card inorder to push it off, etc., timing theaction so it is the same when a falsedeal is made.

With an observer in front and you



346


using the Raised Thumb technique,without any swinging of the hands, youhave an excellent chance of deceivingeven an expert.

There is, however, less control of thedeck using the Raised Thumb tech-nique. That is why I have advised theClose to Deck technique at all times asit permits greater use in all types of deals. The Two Card Push-Off seems tohave the Raised Thumb action as aninherent part of its deal because thethumb has to raise very slightly andthen press down again in order toengage the second card.

Concluding ObservationsAt the very beginning of this chaptermention was made of practice at abridge table. However, when actuallyusing seconds, centers, or bottomsavoid the bridge table or any table thatis so low as to enable the spectatoracross from you to look down directlyon top of the deck. There are a fewexceptions where the low height of atable is to your advantage such as in

One Hand Stud Seconds or One HandBottom Deals of the same type.

Using the standard Mechanic's Gripyou can do practically all the thingsthat can be done with the Master Gripexcept you will experience more diffi-culty in doing the Bottom Deal, eitherstrike or push out, the Bottom DealCount, Double Deal or the One HandBottom Deal. This, more than anythingelse, should impress you with how

important the Grip is for certainsleights.

As you use the various Grips you willnote how each new position places thethumb and fingers at a different anglein relation to the deck.. Note that theMaster Grip places the thumb nearerthe upper right corner for all the dealswhereas the Mechanic's Grip places thethumb further away from this corner.

The best way to test the efficiency of your Second Deal is through the use of marked cards. These can be the edgemarks, punch, daub shade, s and ,

block out, etc. but the whole pack isnot marked but rather a combinationof desired cards is thus treated. Thisway a needed card is very quickly spot-ted thus the dealing action can be nor-mal and not slow and studied whichwould be the case if the whole pack, forevery card, was marked. For this rea-son the commercial magical markedcards are unsuitable for this purpose.

In the event you do not wish to use any

marked cards yet still wish to test yourSecond Dealing then the following ideawill serve your purpose. I call it —

The Opening Gambit

It is quite normal when getting a pack of cards to count them to see if all thecards are there. It is during this proce-dure that you can set-up a good h a n dof poker for yourself. First of all dec ideon a combination of cards that you willalways intend to "hold back for your-

self." Also the number of hands youwill deal. Let's suppose they are theAces and Kings and 7 hands. Hold thedeck face up and start to count thecards, still face up, to the table in thenormal manner, To yourself count 1-2etc., up to 7.

In between, if you should come acrossa King or an Ace, you hold it back unt i lthe count of 7 is reached when youdeal the needed card onto the t abled

cards. The count is thus continuedeach time holding back an Ace or aKing until it is ready to be dealt in tothe 7th position. After the counting of the cards you will have, a large per-centage of the time, a full house' r e a d yto deal out. Of course, it is preceded bya false shuffle and cut.

In doing the Opening Gambit the deckis held so that the face of the cards are



347

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

not seen. If any one is watching thec o u n t at all their eyes will be drawn tothe cards on the table. The count canbe either rapid or slow but the most

important point is that there should beno hesitation at any point during thec o u n t . Once it is started it has to runto conclusion in a smooth rhythmicm a n n e r . The needed cards are spotted,by their index, at the upper left corner.T h i s is possible with almost any type of S e c o n d Deal; however, should you beu s i n g a deal that hides this corner thens w i t c h to spotting the cards at thel o w e r right corner. This will make it alot more difficult as you don't get a

" p r e - t i p " , of the up-coming card, whichis most important when using secondsw i t h a marked deck.

In magic one of the worst possible usesfor a Second Deal is any effect whereinthe selected card is on top and thencontrolled from there to a named num-ber, spell position or as a Stop effect.The best possible use for a Second Dealis one where the selected card is at acerta in number f r o m the top so that

the first cards come off very fairly ando n l y two or three Second Deals arenecessary to arrive at a satisfactoryconclusion. Here are a few examples:

A. You have the selection 7th from thetop. You are depending on a psycholog-ical stop e f f ec t . The top cards are dealtoff slowly and very fairly. In accordancew i t h the procedure the chances are youw i l l not have to deal any seconds butit's there as insurance for those extra

two or three deals. One more th ing, donot speed up when you do go into theSecond Deal. Keep the tempo the same.

B . As an exchange in the classic CardTo Pocket effect. You know, the onew h e r e spectator looks at a card at acertain number. You later ask for thenumber because you want others tonote the card also. Naturally all cardsc o m e off fairly except for the one at

that number.

C. As a means of spelling out anunknown card to arrive at the letter S.You would control the selection to 10th

from the top. The lowest combinationsof 10 are the Ace-2-6-10 of Clubs so aSecond Deal is not required. The high-est spell combinations are the 3-7-8-Qof Diamonds which use 15 letters. Thismeans five second deals but only afteryou have first established the fairnessof the deal with the preceding 9 cards.

Actually in most such count down orspell effects the Bottom deal is farsuperior but for some strange reason

magicians insist on getting the card tothe top then asking for a number. Thismay be 15-20-30 etc. and entails asmany seconds, whereas if the card is atthe bottom only one such deal isrequired, at the exact number.

Some Second Dealing magi s restrictthe choice of a number from one to ten.This is a waste of Second Dealing as its

just possible the spectator may callsome number around 7. Of course, the

big argument for Second Dealing isthat the top card can be taken off fairlyat that number, but what good is it if they spot that you've not been takingthe top card all along.

The most intelligent use of SecondDealing is that in connection withmarked cards. In a 5 handed game youmay not have to deal more than two orthree seconds per round and on somerounds, if you are lucky, none at all.

With a mixture of tops and seconds itis fairly impossible to tell when theSecond Deal comes in; however, with amagician dealing sixteen or twenty con-secutive seconds to place a selectedcard it becomes fairly obvious.

The worst compliment you can possiblyget, after doing an apparent magical"Stop" or "And Number" effect, is forsomeone to say, "That's a beautiful



348


Second Deal." The most sadistic plea-sure you can derive is to get the samecompliment after merely going throughthe actions of Second Dealing in the

same type of effect.You are starting to get the idea whenthe magician asks "Was that a SecondDeal?" The question obviously impliesthat he is not sure. Please don't try toprove it.

You are really arriving when you canuse a Second Deal in a Stop effect andthey think you were psychologicallylucky. Avoid at all costs a reputationfor doing any particular sleight espe-

cially False Deals. Remember that areputation for doing effects does not tipoff the sleights you may be using ortheir technique.

Avoid like the plague the fellow whoasks you to do any of your false deals.The chances are he has already madeup his mind to nail you on some smallpoint in the deal. If you must do it thendo it only once and no more. If you goalong and repeat and repeat the deal

he will start to become analytical andcritical to the point where he mayunnerve you so that you won't even beable to deal the top card. If he is a bet-ter bluffer than you are, the chancesare hell convince you that what youhave been doing for years isn't as goodas what he has been doing for only afew weeks.

For some strange reason the quickestway to get a reputation as a great card

expert is the ability to do a SecondDeal or Bottom Deal even though thesemay be the only thing you do. You onlyhave to look at the magical journals tosee how low the magicians bow to theso called retired card-cheats. If you adda Center Deal to your other two accom-plishments, pose as a man who makeshis living cheating at the game. You arepractically assured not only of a largereputation but other magis will even

look up to you and revel in the plea-sure of your company. As such a per-son you will be in an authoritativeposition to tell a mere magician or hon-

est card man that he knows nothingabout False Dealing even though actu-ally he may be doing a better job of itthan you. Remember the theory ourown experts have passed on to us; t h a tno honest card man can do False Dealslike a card cheat.

If you intend using the False Dealshonestly you will have to be a lot betterat doing them than a card cheat. T h i smay sound illogical but it really isn't.

As a card man doing card effects younaturally invite attention to yourhands. A card cheat depends on b e i n gabove suspicion and not b e i n gwatched. Also you will be called sooneron any False Deals in an effect than acard cheat will in a card game.

Assume you are doing a Stop effect andare using a Second Deal. If the SecondDeal is spotted or tipped off in s o m eway the person watching, especially if he is another magi, will very quicklysay one of two things, "You didn't f o o lme - you dealt seconds", or, a less ;

embarrassing remark, "That is a p r e t t y Igood second deal." On the other hand,and I have seen this happen, the s a m emagi seeing a card cheat do a false dea lwill say nothing at the time, but secret-ly perhaps hope to get together w i t hthe man after the game, for anexchange of confidences.

A lot of assumption enters into anyFalse Deal and especially when itcomes to Second Dealing. There aremany times when you know the o t h e rcard man can't possibly see you t a k ethe second card yet he seems to k n o w .I say seems because it is really m o s t l yan assumption on his part and this hearrives at because he has been exposedto the technique of the deal. Now, anytime you indulge in this associated



349


technique he will assume a false deal.

O v e r a period of many years I havetested this assumption in variousw a y s . One method was to have a card

i selected, controlled to the top, then ask ( f o r a number. Suppose "Ten" was

c a l l e d . I would go through the usualassociated motions of the Second Dealand after dealing ten cards would stopand ask for the selection to be named.

W h e n it was named I merely turnedo v e r the whole packet on the table tos h o w the selection on the bottom. Ita l w a y s got a laugh. Why? Because thecard man assumed a Second Deal was

being done. Remember, he did not seethe second deal performed but to himI the assumption that you were doing itw as enough.

To conclusively prove this assumption It r i ed the above count down e f f e c t , on

I other occasions, in a different way. The; procedure was similar and it got thes a m e laugh because card men thought a second deal was used. But here isw h a t they did not know. The first card,

the selection, was actually dealt onto[the table but from then on the secondd e a l was actually used yet the assump-t i o n was that the whole deal was faked.

S t i l l another test was to place theselection at a psychologically favorablepo s i t i o n in the pack. Using the popularand accepted technique of second deal-i n g , even though the call of "Stop" waspsychologically perfect, the assumption

I was still that the outcome was arrivedat by the Second Deal; however, by[ r e so r t i ng to the No Swing-Take[Technique, a better method, I actuallydea l t seconds, yet the end result wasb e l i e v e d to be psychological.

.Assumption works against the magi al l o t m o r e than it does against a card[ c h e a t . In a game of cards you will think t w i c e about "calling" a man you may•suspect of second dealing. A lot more

enters into it, such as how is hisSecond Dealing. If he is False Dealing,is it giving him an advantage? Are thecards marked? How are they marked?

Is he peeking or glimpsing? Is he win-ning or is someone else? Is he alone? Ishe the stranger in the game or are you?Keep in mind that it is not always thecard cheat who gets his - he does havean honest reputation to uphold.

There are times when two card men gettogether and one of them does aSecond Deal for the other. Even thoughthey are seated across from one anoth-er and the onlooker can not possiblysee the back of the deck, because thedealer has taken precaution to "kill thedeck" yet the spectator will unerringlycall when the dealer is taking a topcard and when he is taking a second.

This is actually the fault of the dealer. Not so much because of possiblechanges during the top or second dealbut because he has made the mistakeof letting his manner of dealing becomeover-analyzed through repetition of thedeal before the same party. If this is a

very close friend not too much harm isdone and a lot of value can be accom-plished through such an association;however, to permit yourself to be soanalyzed by a mere acquaintance is amistake.

Never be afraid of using any FalseDeals the first time on any occasion inwhich there is not the slightest refer-ence to such deals. Always avoid use of such deals if the conversation is about

such things.In any deals you do the first instinctivepoint that any card man will watch,expert or otherwise, will be the point of contact. That is where the right fingersgo to presumably take the card. If youare asked to "Do it again" the watcherwill now switch to some other point inan effort to analyze the deal and findits weaknesses. Beware of the card



350


man who out-right asks to see yoursecond, bottom, center or any sleight.The chances are he already has a pre-conceived notion as to what to look for

and is ready to pounce on you.My advice is to try to avoid doing it andif your ego won't let you, then do itonce only. If you are asked to repeat,this time fake it. If he says "Oncemore , " tell him you refuse to proveyourself.

Another alternative is to look him inthe eye and say, "You do the deal andI'll be the critic."

When an expert says he knows a dozenor so methods of Second Dealing orbottom dealing or Center Dealing whathe really means is he knows severaldifferent techniques. Remember thatthere are only two basic principles inall these deals regardless of technique.These two principles are the striking orpulling out of a card or the pushing orloosening of a card or cards. This istrue of all false deals. There may be aquestion as to which of the two princi-

ples is the better - the Strike or Push-Off. They each have their advantagesbut the overall picture shows the Push-Off principles as having greater possi-bilities.

There are those who will always useFalse Deals as a means of getting areputation quickly. They are alwaysanxious to show their skills in thesedeals. For these persons I have the fol-lowing bits of advice.

When doing an exhibition of dealingwherein the obvious solution will be aSecond Deal, then by all means use a llthe other obvious mannerisms that go

with it, such as the swing of b o t hhands, peculiar grip, undue speed. Inthis way any magician watching w i l lassume this is the way you deal sec-onds, bottoms, etc., so that later, indoing a magical effect, you can switchto the other technique and catch himcompletely off guard.

If you are looking for compliments onyour false dealing, very seldom shouldyou expect it from another who also

does False Deals unless both of you arebig enough to admit each other's skill .It is amusing to see two such personsdemonstrating their technique for oneanother and each thinking he does itbetter.

Don' t expect any praise from the so-called retired card cheat - only criti-cism. Not constructive either, butdesigned to make you feel incompetent.Also if you see someone who actuallydoes do a certain false deal better thanyou - but you can't admit it to yourself - you will never learn and improve.Don't bury your head in the sand,instead try to find out why he does itbetter.

If these observations at times seemedrepetitious it was done with a purpose.If the reader had missed a point in oneplace he was sure to come across it inanother. Hoping these chapters h a v ebeen a Good Deal for you, I remain,

Cardially yours,

Edward Mario



Chapter Eleven

The Multiple Shift

The Spade Multiple Shift For One Card Side Jog Multiple Shift - Neal Elias DoubleUndercut Multiple Shift- Neal Elias Mario's All Around Square Up The Moveable JogS ing l e Cut Side Shift Mario's Single Cut Shifts Single Side Cut Shift Technical VariationSingle Cut Swivel Shift The Moveable Block Shift Strip-Out and Push-Thru Multiple ShiftsThe Strip-Out Shift The Push-Thru Shift The Shuffle Shift Shuffle Shift and Palm Off The Faro Shuffle Shift D'Amico's Multiple Shift Veeser's Bluff Multiple Shift Tom Wright's

M ultip le Shift Mario's Subtle Shift Alternatives The Most Flexible Shift The Simple Shift

Mes: The Crimped Ace Aces and Numbers Simple Shift - Undercut Variation TheImmovable Multiple Shifts To The Bottom - Delayed Type To The Top - Deck Face Down M a r io Sleeve Technique The Block Shift To The Top Block Shift Variations Added NotesM a r i o ' s Turnaround Glimpse Mario's Side Squaring Glimpse Mario's Acrobatic Aces

Basically, the Multiple Shift means toc o n t r o l several cards together or rathersimul taneously. There have been sever-al techn iques and variations foraccomplishing this but it is alwaysinteresting to know who was the firstone to think of such a process.

L o o k i n g in Erdnase I f ind that such athought is not exactly new as you can j u d g e by the following quote from theErdnase Diagonal Palm Shift - "Thep l a n of having one or several cardsinse r ted in the deck, then forcing themthrough slightly diagonally, and twist-ing them out to the top or bottom, isw e l l known to most conjurers, and bys o m e treated as a blind shuffle."

In view of the explanation Erdnaseg i v e s for the Diagonal Shift I must con-d u d e that the last words, "As a blinds h u f f l e " , can only mean a sort of falseS t r i p - O u t shuffle done in the hands.He further states, "That the process isnot satisfactory is seen by the fact thatis is seldom or never employed, andbut rarely even mentioned in any list of c a r d sleights."

Erdnase then goes on to give hisimproved version of the sleight and it isinteresting to note that his "diagonalpositioning" of the card is being usedby some conjurers to this day.

The use of the Diagonal Push Thru is

evident in the Cardini Ace Trick onpage 545 of Greater Magic; however,the use it is put to is far different fromthat of Erdnase. Matter of fact, it ismore in the subtle class. It is to benoted that the steps of the Diagonal, asshown in Figures 2 to 5 on page 546 of Greater Magic, have been claimed asoriginations by at least three presentday card men who use this techniquefor their particular Multiple Shift.

The next source to have a descriptionof an entirely new procedure for theMultiple Shift is that of the TarbellCourse, revised edition for 1943 onpage 192 of Volume 3. Although thereis no credit given to any particularperson for this "Move" it undoubtedly isthe Vernon Multiple Shift. In 1946when Buckley published his Card Control, he included the Vernon Shiftwith credit. At the same time he gave



352

MULTIPLE SHIFT

his own method for accomplishing thismanuever.

There is one important addition in theBuckley method and that is he gets the

desired cards to the top of the deck while the pack is face down. In theVernon sleight the pack has to be heldface up. However, Buckley fails to givea method to bring the cards to the bot-tom while still holding the deck facedown. In the various methods I will setdown here I intend to give proceduresthat will get the cards to either top orbottom without any apparent change inthe handling of the deck.

While the Buckley and Vernon Shiftswere described using a Single Cut, tocontrol the cards, present day cardmen, for some strange reason, all havefollowed the original Strip Out with aseries of Run Cuts called the HinduShuffle. I personally feel that the lessyou do to the cards the more effectiveany control; therefore, I have alwaysstayed with the Single Cut idea in all of my shifts.

In a book called Mario in Spades wasgiven a Multiple Shift that had severalnew advances to the sleight. Up to thistime the Shift was done "straight away"so to speak. In the "Spade" book thecards were pushed flush and then aSquaring Action was made to give theimpression of the cards really beingflush with the deck but in reality theywere behind a bevel of cards.

The squaring action was an end square

but later I added a sort of SideSquaring action by holding the ends of the deck between both hands and sortof bending the sides of the deck justbefore the eventual single cut thatbrought the cards to the top of thedeck. Thus this was the first steptowards what finally became the "MarioAll Around Square Up" which will bedescribed and applied to the variousMultiple Shifts in this chapter.

As I have never been particularly h a p p ywith the fact that some of the d r a w i n g sin the "Spade" book were made upsidedown, thus confusing the text for t h a t

particular Multiple Shift, a brief andcorrect description, as done today, w i l lnow be given.

The Spade Multiple Shift

1. Hold deck face down in the lef t h a n das per Figure 1, which will be in m o s tcases the standard starting p o s i t i o n .The left thumb sort of bevels left side of the deck.

Figure 1

2. Assuming the four Aces are on topof the deck, the right forefinger l i f t s upthe top card as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Note that the right thumb is on theback of the deck at about the c e n t e r ,The other three right fingers are l e f t

free until the top card is lifted s u f f i -



353

SPADE MULTIPLE SHIFT

ciently f o r t he r i gh t 1st a n d 2 n d f i n g e r -t i p s t o m o v e i n a n d n i p t h e f r o n t e n d o f the card while the thumb presses onthe back. Thus two fingers are on the

f a c e of the card and the thumb on theb ac k .

3. The left thumb at the side of thed e c k , pulls down, does not r i f f l e , aboutsix cards at the bottom of the deck thus creating an opening into whichthe Ace is inserted as in Figure 3. Thel e f t f o r e f i n g e r remains extended, it doesnot curl under the deck during theopening of left side of cards.

Figure 3

4. The next Ace is picked off the top of the deck, as per Figure 2, as the leftthumb again breaks the left side of thed e c k but this time about six cardsabove the first Ace already inserted.Thus the Aces are inserted moretowards the bottom of the deck approx-imately six cards apart. They projectoutwards for about a third of theirlength from the deck. Figure 4 shows

not only the distance they project fromthe deck but also how they lie nearerthe bottom of the pack.

Figure 4 also shows how the right handhas come over across the deck as if topush in the Aces. However, nothing asyet, is happening. Note the Squareback end of the deck at this point.

5. At Figure 4 the deck is at the finger-tips of the left hand with the 1 st finger

curled under the deck, thumb at theleft side about center and 2nd, 3rd, 4thfingers on the right side of the deck.The right hand is above the deck with

its 1st finger curled on top, thumb atthe back end and 2nd, 3rd, 4th fingersat the front end.

Figure 4

6. Actually, the performer is lookingdown on top of the deck so to him thedeck would appear as in Figure 5 fromabove.

Figure 5

7. Now the left fingers and thumb movethe deck back against the right thumbwhich at the same time presses for-ward thus causing the deck, at theback end, to bevel as shown in Figure6, a side view.

8. Once the deck is beveled, the righthand moves to the lower end of thedeck to take a position similar to thatof the left hand at the top of the pack.



354

MULTIPLE SHIFT

In other words, the right 1st finger iscurled on top of the deck, near the bot-tom end, the thumb is on the left side,and the right 2nd and 3rd fingers areat right side of the deck, also at thelower end. However, the right 4th fingeris under the lower end of the deck.Study Figure 7 for this position of bothhands.

Figure 6

9. The right hand retains its fingerpositions while the left hand forefingermoves over to the top of the projectingAces as in Figure 8.

Figure 7

10. The left forefinger now apparentlypushes the Aces flush with the deck as

in Figure 9. The real situation is shownin Figure 10 where you will note thatthe Aces still protrude at the front dueto the bevel. This, of course, is the sideview while the picture offered to theaudience is that in Figure 9.

11. At this point, the left thumb and2nd finger move up to cover the joggedAces from the sides. Next, the righthand seems to square the ends of the

deck by running its thumb and f i n g e r sover the deck as shown in Figure 11.

12. The right hand, after the end

squaring action, returns to the positionalready shown in Figure 10 and thenbends the sides of the deck in anotherapparent squaring action. Also at thisstage the left thumb and 2nd finger geta f i rm grip on the projecting Aces aswell as a few of the cards in front of theAces.

13. The right fingers now start toremove the lower portion of the deck,minus the Aces, as seen in Figure 12.



355

FIRST VARIATION

Figure 11

This pulling of the lower packet or half is done only enough to clear the leftthumb as in Figure 12; however, theactual cutting action is done by moving

the lower half towards the performer.Figure 13 shows this cutting actionf r o m the spectator's view. Continue theaction of Figure 13 until the lowerpacket clears the top portion.

14. At this stage, when the packets areclear of each other and Aces are at bot-tom of left hand portion, you have twoalternative handlings.

One; you can hold onto the left handhalf as it is and merely place the right

hand portion on top of it. Two; you canlet the portion from the left hand falli n t o the l e f t palm and then toss theright hand portion on top.

Figure 12

If you use procedure One, you canagain square the sides and ends of thed e c k as the cards remain at the tips of the fingers thus making this almost anatural follow up. If you use procedureTwo, then you merely joggle the deck

into dealing position, the actions show-ing an obvious lack of control over thecards or rather Aces. Don't forget, if you want Aces on top start with deck

face up. If you want them on bottomstart with deck face down.

Figure 13

Now here are a couple of variations inthe handling of the Bevel Control.

First Variation:

1. Proceed exactly as in the above ver-sion from Step 1 through 7, Figures 1to 6. With the right hand still above thedeck as in Figure 6, the right fingersnow merely pretend to push the Aces

flush. This would appear the same asFigure 11 where the right hand nowruns along the ends of the deck toapparently square it.

2. After squaring the ends of the deck the right fingers can move to the sidesof the pack where the bending orsqueezing action is performed to simu-late the squaring of the sides. This issimilar to Figure 10.

3. Now the right fingers hold onto the

lower ends of the deck and at the sametime the right end is brought upwards.During this the left thumb and 2nd fin-ger pivots on the left end of deck as thel e f t hand turns palm down. This bringsthe left and right hands into the posi-tion shown in Figure 14 where bothhands are above deck holding it ateach end. The left thumb and 2nd fin-ger hide the jogged Aces at the left end.



356

MULTIPLE SHIFT

4. With deck as in Figure 14, the leftthumb and 2nd finger hold firmly ontothe jogged Aces as well as the top por-tion of the deck. The right thumb and

2nd finger now pull out the lower por-tion of the deck as shown in Figure 15but only up to the stage shown whereinthe lower half is starting to clear theleft thumb.

Figure 14

Figure 15

5. When the cards reach the stageshown in Figure 15, both hands do aSwing Cut as in Figure 16. That is theleft and right hands swing their respec-tive halves outward and away fromeach other. Now the two hands movetowards each other again with the righthand placing its half of the deck ontothat of the left hand, in a sort of cross-wise position as seen in Figure 17,

6. You have two ways of squaring up,after the cut, from the crosswise posi-tion of the top half. First, the twohands can square up while the pack ison the table as seen in FigurelS. Thisis the Erdnase method of squaringafter a shuffle or cut.

The second way is to lift the deck, withthe right hand, still in a crosswise posi-tion, then to square up as both hands

Figure 17

tap the lower end of deck against thetable, seen from above in Figure 19.

The left hand is above the right andboth hands occupy a similar f i n g e rposition. That is, 1st finger curledagainst the deck, thumb on one side

and three fingers on the other.

Figure 18

Figure 19



357

SECOND VARIATION

7. The Swing Cut described and shownin Figure 16 also makes for a verydeceptive False Table Cut. If done prop-erly it is practically impossible to tell

which is the top half and which is thebottom. After a bit of hesitation youcan replace the halves as they original-ly were but do it crosswise as in Figure17 which gives the impression that thetop crossed half came from the bottom.

Second Variation:

1. H o l d the pack face up. The four acesare either at the face of the deck or toone side on the table.

2. With the left thumb pull down alarge part of the deck leaving a fewcards at the face of the deck and withthe right hand insert the first ace abouta half dozen cards down from the face.The ace is inserted for about threequarters of its length.

3. R i f f l e about six more cards past thef i r s t ace and insert the second Acebelow the first one. Repeat with then e x t two Aces with the result that all

f o u r Acesare

separatedbut

theyare

distributed throughout the upper por-t ion of the deck.

4. Turn the deck over lengthwise thusbringing all the cards faces down withthe four aces projecting at the innerend of the deck as in Figure 20.

Figure 20

5. As the deck is turned over, end forend, the left forefinger bevels the upperend of the deck inwards with the result

that the cards will be angled as inFigure 21, a side view showing also thefour aces projecting at the back end.The beveling is mostly done, by the left

1st finger near the upper right cornerof the deck.

Figure 22

6. With left forefinger curled down overtop end, to maintain the beveled condi-tion of the cards, the right hand comesover the deck from above. The rightthumb at the back apparently pushesthe cards flush, but actually the acesonly go as far as the top edge of the top

card.This results in everything looking nor-mal from the front and above but theactual condition is as in Figure 22 withaces still projecting slightly.

7. The right fingers and thumb runalong the ends of the deck in a squar-ing motion just as if the aces werepushed flush. Also both hands cangrasp the sides to squeeze them asalready described.

8. The right hand now takes the deck by the inner end between second fingerand thumb with the forefinger curledon top. The other right fingers liealongside. The left hand now down rif-fles the front end of the deck, with theleft thumb on top, fingers below, as inFigure 23 which shows position of bothhands.



358

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Note how the right thumb and secondfinger at the ends effectively concealthe injogged Aces. The front end rifflingaction adds to the illusion of having no

possible control over the Aces.

Figure 23

9. Both hands now grasp the outsideends and place the deck face downagainst the table preparatory to a cut.

10. The right hand now starts to takethe upper portion of the cards plus theinjogged four aces as in Figure 24which shows position of both hands.

Figure 24

11. The right hand moves forward onthe table to deposit its upper portion.The right then comes back, takes theremaining half from the left hand, thenplaces it on top of the other portion.The deck has been cut and the fourAces are together at the bottom.

12. If it is desired to bring the Aces tothe top the right hand does not placeits cut out portion on the table. Insteadit comes back over the deck as in

Figure 25 where you will note a break is apparent between the four strippedAces and the top balance of the cards.This break is held by the right thumb.

13. The left fingers now grasp theupper portion of cards while the righthand moves away with its four Aces asin Figure 26.

Figure 26

14. The right hand immediately throwsits four Aces on top. The whole actionis that of seeming to do a double cut.

At times a series of cuts, thus simulat-ing a running cut, will be found e f f e c -tive in cutting the Aces to the top. Thislast, a running cut, is most deceptiveas the excuse of a small packet of cards, being dropped on top at the fin-ish, is more plausible.

For One Card

1. To apparently place one card intothe deck yet keep control of it you holdthe deck face down with the left forefin-

ger, of course beveling the cards asrequired.

2. The card to be lost is inserted f r o mthe back end similar to Figure 21except here only one card is used. Thiscard should be placed at, or below thecenter.

3. The right thumb alone now pushesthe card in as in Figure 27. The ball of right thumb now moves back and f o r t h



359

FOR ONE CARD

along the back end as if squaring thed ec k and flushing the inserted card.

4. The right hand now seems to squarethe ends from above, then the deck canbe held in left hand as for dealing.

Later, when it is necessary to controlthe card, the right thumb can relocateit then cut it to either the top or bottomas needed.

Figure 27

5. If you wish you can use this method,for one card, on four Aces. The top Aceis taken by the lower right corner andinserted into the back end of the deck

starting at about six cards from theb o t t o m .

The insertion of the Ace is aided by thel e f t 4th finger pulling down on thecards at the inner left corner. Repeatby placing each of the other three Aces,one a few cards above the other, untilall four are inserted.

6. Now proceed as in the SecondVariation, Steps 6 through 9 , Figures21-22 and 23. From here you can dothe cutting action of Steps 10 to 14 of the Second Variation, Figures 24-25-26, bringing the Aces to the top. Or youcan use the Swing Cut of the FirstVariation and bring the Aces to the bot-tom.

You will note that here the deck is han-d l ed in an identical manner in eachcase, yet, in one instance, the Aces canbe brought to top and in another they

can be controlled to the bottom. I willdiscuss this point further in still othermethods.

In May, 1955, Ne a l Elias sent me acouple of Multiple Shifts with anentirely new aproach. In fact, it wasdownright revolutionary and startedme thinking further along the samelines but first, let me give you NealElia's original Multiple Shifts and see if you do not agree that it is a brand newidea.

Side Jog Multiple Shift -

Neal Elias - (January 1955)

1. The four Aces are on the face of thedeck. The deck is face up in the lefthand in dealing position.

2. The left thumb pushes off the 4 Aceswhich are taken in the right hand,thumb on faces, in a fanned position.

3. Both hands are turned over so thatboth the deck and the fan of Aces areface down as in Figure 28.

Figure 28

4. The left thumb riffles the deck (as forthumb count) to about the center of thedeck. The right hand slides the first acehalfway into the side of the deck. Theother three Aces are placed in the deck in the same manner with about 5 or 6cards between each Ace.

5. Turn the left hand over again so thatthe deck is face up with the Aces side

jogged at the left side.



360

MULTIPLE SHIFT

6, Place the right hand over the deck,fingers at the outer end and thumb atthe inner end.

7. The left thumb presses on left edgeof the Aces, and with the help of theleft fingers (which are still on right sideof deck) squeezes the Aces into thedeck as in Figure 29.

Figure 29

8. When the Aces are all but in thedeck (that is, when less than half aninch of the aces extend from the deck),stop squeezing and slide the left handto the right. This brings the Aces flushwith the left side of the deck, and jogsthe cards that are between them to the

right.9. The right forefinger swings to theleft, taking the Aces with it, as well asthe packet at the top of the deck (whichis square with the Aces). The left handtakes this packet in the crotch of thethumb and forefinger and draws thispacket clear as seen in Figure 30.

Figure 30

10. The right hand drops its packet onthe left hand packet. Turn the deck face down. The Aces are now on top. If

you want the Aces on the bottom of thedeck, start the above move with thedeck face down.

Next, here is what I consider the reallygreat approach, to the sh i f t , by NealEllas. Again it is in his own words plusdate of origination.

Double Undercut Multiple Shift -

Neal Elias - (January-1955)

1. The deck is held face down in theleft hand as for the thumb count. Thefour Aces are held in a face down fan inthe right hand.

2. As the left thumb riffles the corner of the deck the Aces are inserted half wayinto deck. The first Ace should beabout 10th from the top and the otherthree at intervals of about 7 cards.

3. Place right hand over deck, thumbat the inner end near the base of theleft thumb. The right forefinger is dou-bled on top of the deck and the other 3fingers are at the outer end of the

jogged Aces as in Figure 31.

Figure 31

4. The right fingers push the Aces intothe deck. The second finger doing mostof the pushing which will automatically

jog the Aces. The Aces are kept undercontrol by the right thumb at the innerleft corner and the right little finger atthe outer right corner,

5. The right hand slides the deck back and forth in the left hand apparentlysquaring the deck. The left thumb slid-



DOUBLE UNDERCUT361

ing on the left side of the deck adds tothe illusion.

6. The left hand momentarily grips thedeck, fingers underneath and the

thumb on top, so that the right fingerscan slide a little to the right and theright forefinger can be placed next tothe right second finger at the outer endof the deck. See Figure 32.

Figure 32

7. The moment the right fingers haveshifted to the new position, the lefthand undercuts the port ion of thedeck below the diagonal Aces. Figure33 shows the cutting action and condi-t i o n of Aces, with the hands omitted.

Figure 33

8. As the left hand moves away withthe under-cut packet, the right littlefinger moves to the right, followed bythe 2nd and 3rd fingers taking the aceswith them. The Aces pivot out of thepack on the Right thumb. The rightforefinger, on the outer left corner of the deck, prevents the rest of the pack-et from moving with the Aces whichwi l l now be side jogged about 1/2 inch

along their length. Note the arrowedaction in Figure 32. After this action,the condition of the deck as shown inFigure 34, in the right hand.

Figure 34

9. The left hand now slides its packeton top of the deck, following the han-dling of the double undercut. In slidingthis packet onto the deck, the left fin-

gers curl around the side of the joggedAces and then slides this packet to theleft, sliding the Aces flush with theright side of the deck and side-joggingto the left all the cards between theAces. This is shown in the Figure 35.

Figure 35

10. The left thumb presses down onthe jogged packet squeezing the outerleft corner in the crotch of the leftthumb and forefinger and moves to theleft, sliding the jogged packet free of the Aces, and places it on top of thedeck. The Aces are now at the bottom of the deck. If you want the Aces on top of the deck, start with the deck face up.

Before proceeding I must mention thatwhen Elmsley was in Chicago, for theC o v e n t i o n , he had demonstrated amethod similar to Nea l Elias's DoubleUndercut Shift. At that time I informedElmsley that Elias had preceded him inthe idea by several years. I also men-tioned that there was one thing thatneither Elmsley or Elias thought of inconnection with the Multiple Shift andthis was what I call the All Around



362

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Square Up. I then gave a brief demon-stration to Elmsley on the purpose of the All Around Square Up.

I consider this a really revolutionary

addition to not only the Multiple Shiftbut to the Control of Cards in general.While in my notes the All AroundSquare Up takes on many facets, suchas with peeked at cards, in this case Iwill deal with it in connection with theMove ab l e Jog. Once the All AroundSquare Up with the Moveable Jog isunderstood, then the various MultipleShifts will be grasped more easily.

Mario's All Around Square Up

The Moveable Jog

1. As can be inferred from the title theobject is to square the deck on all sidesand ends, yet keep control of certaindesirable cards.

2. For the time being insert the fourAces so they lie more in the center por-tion of the deck and are still projecting,for about an inch, from the front end of deck.

3. The left forefinger now curls underthe deck and the pack is held, at theupper ends, between the left thumband 2nd finger while the left 3rd and4th fingers lie idly along side of thepack.

The right hand comes over to apparent-ly push the Aces flush into the deck asin Figure 36. Actually, the right fingers

do push the cards in for a little dis-tance, until about a quarter inch of cards is left projecting.

Then only the right second finger push-

es on the upper l e f t corner of the Aces ,thus causing the Aces to jog as inFigure 37 which shows the condition of the cards with the right hand removed.

Figure 38 shows the deck with righthand apparently having pushed thecards flush. Note that the right f o r e f i n -ger is curled on top of the deck duringthe pushing in of the Aces.

Figure37

Figure 36

Figure 38

4, The left thumb is run along the l e f tside of the deck to help push in any

projecting corners of the Aces, thatmay show at the upper left corner of the deck. Next, the right hand holdsonto the deck and turns to bring thethumb upwards. Figure 39 shows theperformer's view of the cards at thisstage.

Note the edges of the angle jogged Acesare facing you. Also, the turn is madeusing the left forefinger, curled under



363

MOVEABLE JOG

the deck, as the pivot point. The lefth a n d also turns at the same time thusits thumb is facing performer as inFigure 39. Here, the left thumb has

purposely been kept out of the way toshow the edges of the angle jogged Acesat this stage.

Figure 39

5, The right forefinger, which up to thistime has been curled on top of thed e c k , now moves so its tip is againstthe side of the deck, near the corner.Actually this corner of the deck isbetween the right forefinger on one sideand the right 2nd finger on the otherside. If the right hand were turned overthe finger positions, plus the angled

cards, would be as seen in Figure 40.

Figure 40

6. The left thumb is now placed directlyonto the angled jogged Aces where theyproject from the right rear corner of thedeck. Figure 41 shows the deck held asin Figure 39 with the left thumb press-ing down on the corner of the aces.

The positions of the other left fingersare; the 1st finger still curled againstthe deck, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-

gers on the left side of the deck.

7. Pressing down, with the left thumb,on the angle-jogged cards will causethem not only to slide downwards butalso to start breaking through at thecorner occupied by the right 1st finger.At the same time that the left thumbstarts pressing, on the corner of theangle jogged Aces, the left 1st fingermoves to alongside the other fingers onthe side of the deck.

Figure 41

If the right hand were removed fromthe deck you would see how the Acesare now breaking through the oppositeside of the pack as in Figure 42; how-ever, this is prevented by the right 1stfinger, and will later be concealed bythe right 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers.

Figure 42

The right hand changes its position tohold the end of the deck. Sliding alongthe side of the deck, the right first fin-ger eventually curls on top of the deck as the right 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingerstake their place on the side of the deck as shown in Figure 43.

Here you will note the Aces have bro-ken through, during the movement of



364

MULTIPLE SHIFT

the right hand. They will now be con-cealed and squeezed back, by the rightfingers, to end up injogged as in Figure44 where both hands now bend or

squeeze the sides of the deck.

\

Figure 43

The condition in Figure 43 will not beseen by the performer as the end of thedeck will still be towards him; however,the Figure 44 will be seen if performerdecides to tip the deck so as to bring itback up, otherwise, if the deck remainsend up this view will not be seen.

Figure 44

8. While the above 7 steps basicallycomprise the All Around Square Up,

there are other refinements that enterinto it depending on the type of Multiple Shift you intend to use.

As an example, with the Aces injogged,again as in Figure 44, you can not gointo the Second Variation of the SpadeShift. On the other hand, suppose youwish to use the Double Undercut Shift.In this case you would have to get theAces angled again.

To do this the right hand holds onto itsend of the deck so that the left handcan position its fingers as follows: The1st finger curled under the deck, l e f t

thumb on the left side near the uppercorner, left 2nd finger on the right sideof the deck, also near the upper corner.T h e l e f t 3 r d a n d 4 t h f i n g e r s l i e i d l yalong on the right side of the deck.

The right hand is now f r e e to come o v e rthe deck from above. The right 1st fin-ger is curled on top of the deck and theright 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers at thefront end. The right thumb now does aspecial action. Its tip is placed against

the jogged Aces, at the lower left cor-ner, the thumb pulls on the Aces mov-ing them, angle wise, to the right as inFigure 45. Now by pressing straight inwith the right thumb the Aces w i l lagain be Angle Jogged and you can gointo the Double Undercut Shift.

Figure 45

9. There are other finesses for gettingthe Aces into various jogged positions.As a further example, suppose youwish the Aces to be side-jogged. To dothis, f r o m the above angle-jog, the l e f t

forefinger curls around the upper rightcorner of the Aces and by moving theAces to the right the Aces will becomeside-jogged. The Figure 46 is anexposed view of the left 1st finger'saction. Normally this is covered by theright fingers from above as well as thefront.

10. To get the Aces back into an angledposition all you need do is squeeze the



365

MOVEABLE JOG

outer ends of the deck, with the leftthumb and 2nd finger, and the Acesw i l l again be angled as before.

Figure 46

To get the Aces in a reverse angle posi -t i o n , f r o m that of a side jog, the leftthumb and 2nd finger squeeze theinner ends of the deck. To get the Acesinjogged again, from the reverse angle,merely place the left 1st finger ontothe upper right corners of the Aces.The left 1st finger goes between theA c e s and the deck at this corner asseen in Figure 47 which normallywould be covered by the right handf r o m above. Pushing the l e f t 1st finger

inwards will cause the reverse angledA c e s to move downwards. Place rightthumb at the left side of the deck, right2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers on the rights ide , thus preventing Aces from break-ing through on the lower left side.Instead the Aces are forced to go intothe injog position, shown at F in Figure48 as you press in with the left fingersand thumb on the side of the deck.

Figure 47

11. No matter what sort of convolu-tions you go through during Mario's AllAround Square Up you will eventuallyhave to arrive at one basic position

from which you will eventually do theMultiple Shift. For this reason I willgive the basic positions that the deck may have to be in, before doing any of the Multiple Shifts to be described, aswell as each succeeding action. Later indescribing any particular Shift I willrefer you to the basic position the pack has to have before starting with theactual shift.

12. The composite Figure 48 shows allthe various jog positions of the Aces. InA the cards have been apparentlypushed in but, of course, secretlyangled. At B the Aces are in-joggedafter the All Around Square Up. At Cthe right thumb has pulled the

injogged Aces to the right, then pushedthem flush again, resulting in the Acesonce more being angled. At D the Acesare side-jogged by the left 1st fingerpulling the upper right corner of theAces to the right thus straightening orside-jogging the Aces. At E the side-

jogged Aces are squeezed, by the leftthumb and 2nd finger, at the lowerends thus Reverse Angling the Aces.The F position, which is an injog condi-



366

MULTIPLE SHIFT

t ion again, is obtained by placing theleft 1st finger onto the upper right cor-ner of the reverse angled Aces. Studythe composite Figure 48 and the above

finger positions as reference will laterbe made to them.

Mario's Single Cut Shifts

As I have stated I always had a prefer-ence for a Multiple Shift that used onlyone cut to control the cards. My rea-soning is that the less done to thecards in the way of cutting or shufflingthe more effective the end result, as faras a Multiple Shift is concerned. Thefollowing methods, obviously inspired

by the Elias Double Undercut Shift,you will f i nd has several fine advan-tages. Among these is the fact that thecards or Aces to be controlled can bebrought to either top or bottom of thedeck, yet the pack is handled facedown and apparently in the same man-ner for either condition desired. Theintroduction of the Thumb Hook is agreat aid in the executing of the initialstrip out or cut of the pack.

Single Cut Side Shift1. Having inserted the four Aces andthen perhaps going through all theactions of the All Around Square Up,eventually get the Aces into a side-

jogged position as in D of Figure 48.

2. The left 2nd and 3rd fingers nowpress down on the side-jogged Aces asin Figure 49 which locks the Aces intoplace and at the same time lets theportion of deck, above the Aces, liftslightly as seen in Figure 49. Of course,this operation is normally concealed bythe right hand from above, but here ithas been omitted for clarity.

3. The right hand moves the cards,above the Aces, to the right, directly inline with the side-jogged Aces. This isshown in Figure 50 which is an endview diagram of the existing conditionof the cards at this stage. The hands

have been omitted for a clearer pictureof the situation.

4. The left thumb now Hooks aroundthe upper left corner of the under sec-tion and pulls these cards diagonally tothe left. This use of the Thumb Hook insures no binding of the cards in theinitial stages of the cut.

Figure 49

Figure 50

The right thumb and 3rd finger arepressing on the ends of the side joggedAces, as well as the cards that areabove the Ac e s , holding these cardsback during the time the left thumb ishooking the lower section to the l e f t .This action is seen in Figure 51.

Figure 51



367

MARLO 'S SINGLE CUT SHIFTS

5. Once the under section has beencleared far enough, to insure no bind-ing of the cards, the left thumb goes ontop of the upper left corner as in Figure

52. The left thumb presses down onthis corner thus nipping it between thebase of left 1st finger and thumb. Thel e f t hand can now easily carry the cut,p l a c i n g the l e f t hand portion on top of the right hand section, to complete thesingle cut. The Aces will be at the bot-tom of the deck.

Figure 52

6. To get the Aces to the top of thedeck, using apparently the same

actions, get the Aces again in a side- jogged position as in D of Figure 48.This time the l e f t hand, from beneath,m o v e s the cards, that are below theA c e s , to the right. The technique is forl e f t forefinger to curl under the deck and the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers topress upwards on the jogged Aces thusenabling the left fingers to curl in ontop of the packet of cards which arepractically falling into the left hand.This f r e e packet of cards is nipped byl e f t f i r s t finger on the face of the packetand the other three left fingers on theback of this packet. Next, the left fin-gers sort of straighten or stretch so thebottom portion of cards is now in linewith the side jogged Aces as in Figure53 which is a line drawing, with handsomitted, to show the condition of pack at this time.

7. The left thumb now Hooks the upperleft corner of the top half. This action isidentical to that shown in Figure 51except here the top half is being moved.

The left thumb now falls on top of thecards, similar to Figure 52 except hereyou are dealing with top portion, tocarry the cut by placing the right handportion on top of the cards in the lefthand. The Aces are now on top of thedeck and you have apparently used thesame actions as previously with veryminor but secret actions.

Figure 53

Technical Variation of

The Single Side Cut Shift

1. After the All Around Square Up getthe Aces into the angle jog positionshown at C in Figure 48. Next, with left3rd and 4th fingers press down on theangled Aces thus locking them in placefor the moment and at the same timethe cards above the Aces will riseslightly. The situation is similar toFigure 49 except here the Aces areangle- jogged .

2. The right thumb now moves to thelower right corner, of the cards that areabove the Aces , to swing this corner of the upper portion to the right, in linewith the angled Aces. Now the topcards are also at an angle at this pointas in Figure 54 which shows the condi-tion of deck with right hand omitted.

3. The right hand continues by press-ing its right thumb against the lower



368

MULTIPLE SHIFT

right corners of both the angled cardsand those below it. This causes thelower half of the cards to jut out at theupper left corner as in Figure 55 where

you will note that the left thumb isalready Hooking itself around this projecting corner.

Figure 54

Figure 55

The angled portion of the deck will becontrolled mostly by the pressures of the right thumb at the lower right cor-ner and the right 3rd finger at theupper left corner. Study Figure 55 forthese positions.

4. The l e f t thumb now starts to move

out the lower section of the cards asalready shown in Figure 51. Then theleft thumb positions itself as in Figure52 continuing the action started, andeventually completes the cut by placingthe left hand portion on top of thecards in the right hand. The Aces arethen at the bottom of the the deck.

5. To use the same apparent actions toget the Aces to the top you again get

the Aces angle jogged as at C in Figure48. The corners of the angled Aces w i l lbe felt by the right thumb at the back end, near the lower left corner of the

deck. By lifting up on the bottom mostAce the cards below it will remainagainst the left palm as shown inFigure 56. This is picture is exaggerat-ed to give a clear view of what happens.

Figure 56

6. The right hand now swings its cardsto the left thus bringing the bottom f r e eportion of the deck in line with the

angle-jogged Aces as in Figure 56. Hereyou will note that the bottom cards arein line with the jogged Aces but as yetthe right thumb has not released itscards to fall flush onto the bottom por-tion. Once the bottom cards are in l i n ewith the Aces, the rest of the deck isreleased or lowered by the right thumb.

7. The right thumb moves up againstthe two lower right corners of theangled cards and presses inwards thus

causing the top portion to sort of m o v eforward at the upper left corner wherethe l e f t thumb can Hook around t h i scorner. Figure 57 shows condition of the deck as well as the positions of both hands. The lower portion of cardsis held back or controlled mostly bypressure of right thumb at inner r i g h tcorner and right 3rd finger at upperright corner.



369

SINGLE SIDE CUT SHIFT

8. The actions depicted in Figure 51and 52 are made and the cut complet-ed by placing the right hand portion ontop of the cards in the left hand. The

A c e s are now on top of the deck.

Figure 57

9. While some may prefer to insert thef o u r Aces nearer the top, when control-ing them to the top, and nearer thebottom when controling them to thebottom, I have found that if the Acesare inserted into the center of the deck it is not only more convincing but thecontrol actions are actually easier. Inother words, after the Aces are insert-ed, separately, into the center of the

d ec k there should be about ten cardsabove the separated Aces and aboutten below the Aces. There are approxi-mately six to seven cards between theinserted Aces.

Single Cut Swivel Shift

1. The preceding actions for this SwivelS h i f t are identical to that of theTechnical Variation Single Side CutS h i f t except that the manner of strip-p i n g out the block of cards from theAces is different. Sometimes anunorthodox action, in a rather accept-ed sleight, can add to the deception.

2. To control the Aces to the Top gothrough all the actions needed to getthe cards into the position shown inFigure 57. At this point the right handturns the deck clockwise to bring thelower end facing the performer. At thesame time the left hand also turns to

place the left 1st finger onto the innerleft corner of the cards, that is, the pro-truding corner of the upper packet. Theleft 1st finger now presses on this cor-

ner of the cards and swings them upand outwards, as in Figure 58.

Figure 58

The cards pivot on the right 2nd fingerand turn end for end. As the aces arefreed from the upper packet the handsreturn to their previous position, allow-ing the upper packet to fall face downinto the left hand, as in Figure 59. Theright hand remains immediatelybehind, ready to place its cards ontothose in the left hand, completing theSwivel Cut.

Figure 59

3. To control the Aces to the bottom gothrough the actions required to get thecondition shown in Figure 54. The righthand will be holding the cards in amanner similar to Figure 55 except atthis stage the right hand turns itscards to get into the Swivel Cut posi-tion shown in Figure 58; however, here



370

MULTIPLE SHIFT

the left 1st finger will be swinging outthe Bottom section of the deck.Continue till you reach the positionshown in Figure 59 and right here theaction is changed by placing the cardsfrom the left hand onto those in theright hand. While not exactly l og i ca l ,this slight change is not noticed if theSwivel Cut is carried through withoutstopping.

4. While all the shifts thus describedhave been handled strictly in the handsyou can at times vary the procedure bydropping the halves, as they arestripped out, to the table thus complet-ing the Single Cut.

The Moveable Block Shift

1. This type of shift is interesting inthat during the apparent actions of theAll Around Square Up the block, plusthe jogged Aces, are moved at the sametime. First I will describe the actions toget Aces to the top.

2. Begin by angle-jogging the Aces as inA of Figure 48. With right thumb pullupwards on the inner left corner of the

projecting Aces and swing the deck over so the jogged Aces will be in linewith the bottom section of the deck asin Figure 56.

3. Without altering the right hand'sposition on the deck the right handturns the deck clockwise, using the l e f tforefinger as a pivot point in a mannersimilar to the All Around Square Up,

bringing the inner end of the deck toface to the performer as in Figure 60.You will note how the edge of the bot-tom block, to the left, is in direct line

with the angle-jogged Aces to the right.4. The left thumb is now placed againstthe jogged block and Aces. This will besimilar to the action shown in Figure41. With the left thumb, press down onthe angle-jogged cards causing them toslide downwards. From here you do allthe actions as described in Step 7 of the All Around Square Up, Figures 42,43, and 44, repeated here.

Figure 42

Figure 60

Figure 44

Al though , here not only will the Aces

become in-jogged but the lower Block as well, as seen in Figure 61. The jogged end is covered, at this point, bythe right hand from above .

5. From here the injogged cards plusthe bottom block are first started outand then cut out, inwards toward your-self as in Figure 62 after which the cutis completed by placing the right handportion on top of the left.



371

MOVEABLE BLOCK SHIFT

N o t e t h a t i n F i g u r e 6 2 t h e l e f t f o r e f i n -ger has moved over onto the top end of the deck during the actual cutting of the pack.

Figure 61

6. If you wish to make this into a TableCut, merely pivot the deck into theposition shown in Figure 14, then do aSwing Cut as in Figure 16 placing theright hand half onto the cards in thel e f t . Square up on the table as in Step6 of the First Variation.

7. To apparently use the same series of actions and get the Aces to the bottomproceed as follows: Angle the Aces as in

A of Figure 48. Next, move over the topportion of the cards in line with theangle-jogged Aces as in Figure 54. Theright thumb now presses on the innerright corners of both the deck andangled cards.

This causes the cards to assume theposition shown in Figure 55 with theupper left corner, of the lower half, pro-

jecting from the cards squeezed in the

right hand. At the same time the lowerleft corner, of the upper half, is alsoprojecting from the inner end of the lefthand's cards.

Now the right hand turns the deck clockwise to bring the inner end facingthe operator as in Figure 63. You willnote how the left forefinger is alreadynearby to be placed against the joggedcards.

Figure 63

8. The left 1st finger is now pressedagainst the jogged cards at the left cor-ner and the left thumb presses againstthe same cards on the right side as inFigure 64 where the right hand fingershave been moved out of the way toshow what is taking place.

Figure 64

9. The action of the All Around SquareUp is continued resulting in the block of Aces in-jogged on the left end of thedeck as in Figure 65 where the leftthumb has purposely been moved outof the way to show the condition, oth-erwise the left thumb normally coversthe jog.



372

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Figure 65

From here you can do the cut in thehands, placing the right hand poritononto the left, or you can get the deck into position for the table Swing Cutagain placing the right hand half ontothe left. The Aces will be at the bottomof the deck.

Strip-Out and Push-Thru

Multiple Shifts

One of the very first to use what I call aMultiple Table Shift was Clark Crandallusing the basic mechanics of theVernon False Shuffle used in theTriumph effect from Stars of Magic.

Years later Jerry Andrus used basicallythe same idea as Crandall's which waspublished in M.U.M. Magazine.

Crandall's logic was superior in that heargued that it was illogical to start theinsertion of the Aces with the deck inthe hands and then use the table forthe rest of the manuever. It is, howev-er, logical to start the action on thetable and finish it there.

I have applied this logic to the methods

that follow but have stayed with almostthe basic principles of the standardStrip-Out and Push-Thru Shuffles ingetting my results. These will takepractice but in the long run will proveto be superior. They all require only asingle cut to get Aces to either top orbottom.

The Strip-Out Shift

1. The Aces should be off to one side of

the table and the deck face down. Theleft hand is above it, holding it at thesides. The left thumb lifts up abouttwo-thirds of the deck, at the front endonly, to enable the right hand to insertthe Ace as shown in Figure 66.

2. Insert the other three Aces aboveeach other until all four are projectingfrom the right end of the deck for abouta third of their length. Both hands nowcome over the pack just as if to pushthe Aces flush and square the deck.

Figure 66

Actually the actions of the Strip-OutShuffle are made to cause the f o u rAces to move in diagonally as in Figure67 which is a diagram view from above.The numbered circles show the posi-tions of the fingers as well as b o t hthumbs during the actual angling of the Aces.

Figure 67



373

THE STRIP-OUT SHIFT

3. The left thumb now moves to the leftinner corner of the deck, and its tipmoves in under the Aces to pressupwards on them. At the same time the

curled left 1st finger moves back towards the inner left corner andpresses downwards on top of deck.Thus the Aces are locked, for them o m e n t , between the pressure of thel e f t thumb under the Aces and theback or nail of the left 1st finger press-ing on top of deck at this corner.

4. The bottom section of cards, justbelow the jogged Aces, is now movedinwards by the right 2nd finger thusmaking this bottom section swing intoline with the angled Aces. This isshown in Figure 68 which is a bottomv i ew of what takes place.

Figure 68

This moving of the bottom block is dif-ficult to explain but once tried you willget the idea. Actually, the right thumbalso aids, in moving the block, bypulling inwards and to the right at thesame time that right 2nd finger ispushing inwards and to the left.

5. Once the bottom block is in line withthe Angled Aces the left thumb moves

between the two corners on the innerl e f t as in Figure 69 which again is adiagram showing finger and thumbpositions of both hands as seen fromabove. The left thumb presses inwardsand to the right on the angled cards,causing them to move to the right. Thestraightening of the cards is as seen inFigure 70 which is a view of the pack'scondition from the performer's s ide .

6. Once the cards are as in Figure 70 itis a simple matter to do the Swing Cut,as per Figure 16, then place the righthand portion on top of left to thus have

the Aces on top of the pack.

Figure 69

Figure 70

7. To get the Aces to the bottom of thedeck, using apparently the same

action, proceed in the manner justdescribed to get to Strip Out conditionas in Figure 67. At this stage the leftthumb presses down on the inner leftcorner of the angled Aces. This leavesthe portion of cards, above the Aces,free to be moved by the right thumb.

The right thumb merely pulls on theinner right corner of the top cards,above the Aces, causing this section toswing over in line with the angled Aces.

The line picture, Figure 71, shows thethumb positions as well as the arroweddirection of each action. The other fin-ger positions have been omitted forclarity but they will be similar to Figure69 at this stage.

8. The squaring action is now maderesulting in the cards being as inFigure 72 which again is a view fromthe performer's side.



374

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Figure 71

Figure 72

9. With the cards as in Figure 72, dothe Swing Cut as per Figure 16 beingsure to place the right hand portionbeneath that of the l e f t thus bringingthe Aces to the bottom of the deck in asingle cut.

The Push-Thru Shift

1. This shift is based on a Push-Thrutechnique I devised many years ago butit was first recorded by Milt Ko r t in1946 to whom I taught the method. Of course you can use any particularmethod you prefer.

Begin by ribbon spreading the cardstowards you. Insert the Aces into thespread as shown in Figure 73. Gatherthe spread by placing both thumbs atthe inner end of the spread (Figure 73),

then move both hands forward. Thiscloses the spread neatly enough so thatAces still remain jogged. Immediatelyboth hands come over the deck as inFigure 74 This is the starting positionof the Push-Thru.

2. The Figure 75 shows the positions of the fingers during the Push-Thru. Notethat the little fingers of both hands do

the actual Push-Thru mechanics. Thetwo thumbs are close together at theright inner corner. This is so the diago-nal movement at the left end is not hin-

dered during the Push-Thru. Both 1stfingers are curled on top of the deck.

Figure 73

3. Once the Aces have been pushedthrough they are not squared butinstead the fingers of both handschange position so that the cards arenow gripped by the 2nd and 3rd fin-gers, at the front corners of the deck,and the thumbs at the back corners of the deck. The 1st fingers of both handsare curled on top of the deck and the4th fingers lie idly at each end.

Figure 74



THE PUSH-THRU SHIFT

375

Figure 74

The grip of the left fingers is mostly onthe slightly diagonal Aces. The rightf i n g e r s merely press on their end of thedeck to keep the Aces from breakingthrough. The positions of the fingers of both hands is seen in Figure 76 whichis a sort of Strip Grip in that the leftf i nge rs and thumb can actually f e e l theedges of the Aces just as if they werereversed in a Stripper Deck. This StripGrip is very fine. In fact the deck looksas if no control were possible.

Figure 76

4. While the left fingers retain the StripGrip of Figure 76, the right fingers are

f r e e to move over the top block of cards, as in Figure 77, thus makingthese cards, above the topmost Ace,

j o i n the Aces in the diagonal position.

The left fingers, of course, now holdonto this top block as well as the Acesas both hands go into the Swing Cut,as per Figure 16. The right hand por-t ion going on top the l e f t hand packet.The Aces will be at bottom of the deck.

Figure 77

5. Some may prefer to start the Push-Thru action by using the 3rd fingers of each hand, as per Figure 78. Thisallows you to get the required StripGrip at the same time. In this case, the1st fingers, of each hand, should be in

front of the deck. The Figure 78 showsthe thumb and finger positions at thestart of the Push-Thru.

Figure 78

6. To get the Aces to the top proceedexactly as outlined in Steps 1 to 4except use the suggested Push-Thrutechnique of Figure 78 to get immedi-ately into the Strip Grip.

7. With the Aces in the Strip Grip, held

by the left fingers and thumb, the rightfingers and thumb are free to moveover the bottom block of cards so theygo in line with the Aces. The left thumbcan aid in this action by firmly press-ing the Aces against the left 3rd fingerand then slightly lifting the pack at theback only. This enables the rightthumb, at the back, and the right 2ndand 3rd fingers, at the front, to swing



376

MULTIPLE SHIFT

the bottom block over in line with theAces. This is seen in Figure 79, whichis a bottom view of the same actionseen in Figure 68.

Figure 79

Once the block is firmly gripped by theleft fingers and thumb, along with theAces, the hands do the Swing Cut withthe right hand placing its half under the cards in the left.

While the above techniques have beendescribed using only the Aces, obvious-ly they can be used as out and outFalse Shuff les. Also in moving over thetop block , as in Figure 77, some mayprefer to use the left 1st finger in

pulling it over in line with the Aces.On False Shuffles - The All AroundSquare Up can be used in a FalseShuffle that is done in the hands.

The Shuffle Shift

There have been several techniquesalready in print for this type of ShuffleShift, namely, by Cardini in Greater Magic, Fred Braue in Miracle Methods

No. 4, and Arthur Buckley in his Card

Control. The technique I have devised isentirely different from any of the abovementioned.

1. With deck face down in the left handinsert the four Aces, nearer the bottomof the deck, so only about an inch of the Aces protrude from the front end of the pack. With the right hand grasp theinner right corner of the deck and turnit, to the left, on its side. The left hand

grasps the sides of the deck with thethumb on top, three fingers below and1st finger curled against the back of the deck. The pack is thus displayed toshow the separated aces.

2. The right hand now comes over as if to push the Aces into the deck, as seenin Figure 80, three fingers at the f r o n tend, 4th finger under the corner andthumb at back. Note also that the l e f t1st finger has now moved over to thelower left corner. I will now describeseparately the actions which lateroccur simultaneously.

Figure 80

3. The right fingers, in pushing the

Aces does so by first pulling the A c e s ,inwards and slightly to the right. T h i screates a separation from the block of cards above the Aces. This separation,taking place at the front end, wi l l l a t e raid the action to be made by the l e f t

1st finger.

Next, the Aces are pushed in diagonal-ly, as in Figure 81, by moving the r i g h tfingers upwards during the pushingaction. The right 4th finger, under the

corner, aids in this.4. As the Aces move up diagonally thel e f t 1st finger, which is at the lower l e f t

corner, moves the top block of cardsupwards as well, seen in Figure 82.This lines up the top block with theAces. At this stage the right fingers w i l lbe holding a grip on the Aces as well a sthe top block of cards.



377

THE SHUFFLE SHIFT

Figure 81

Figure 82

5. The left 1st finger now moves to theouter left corner of the lower packet.W i t h the tip of the l e f t 1st finger pull

downwards on the outer left corner, asin Figure 83, to thus easily disengagethe lower packet from the Aces.

Because of the top block this actionlooks more like an undercut of thedeck in preparation for an Overhand

Shuffle. Note that the l e f t 4th finger isat the opposite end of this packet andthe finger positions are quite similar tothose used for the Erdnase OverhandShuffle.

6. Once this lower packet is clear of theAces the right hand taps the lower sideof its packet on the top side of thecards in the left hand. This is seen inFigure 84. It is an important stall tomake them forget about the discrepan-cy in the initial undercut for the shuf-fle.

Figure 83

Figure 84

Once the two halves are neatlysquared, the right hand shuffles off thecards onto the ones in the left hand

being sure to run the Aces to the top. If the Aces are needed at the bottom justinjog the right hand packet before youcome to the Aces. Now undercut to thei n jogged packet and either throw allcards onto the small Ace packet orShuffle off onto the small Ace packet.

7. Now Remember, the Aces and topblock are angled simultaneously. Theposition of the right and left handaround the deck will hide this slight

angling. The Figure 82 has been pur-posely exposed to show the corners of the angled cards but in actual perfor-mance it will be obscured by fingerpositions.

If you start this Shuffle Shift with thedeck face up you will find that the deck will go into the required face downposition much more rapidly and withless movement. Note that the shuffle



378

MULTIPLE SHIFT

itself is a neat one in that the Strip Outhas been done before the actual shuffleand not during the shuffle.

Shuffle Shift and Palm Off

This one I worked out in 1946 whiletrying to decipher the BuckleyOverhand Shuffle and Shift from hisbook, Card Control While basically Iuse the same idea of the Buckley Shift(See page 64, Card Control! the under-lying technique is different plus thefact that I have added the Palm Off of the Aces which is practically a part of this particular shift. Also I have addedan idea in what I term the Delay Strip

Grip. This Delay Strip Grip will befound of use in other forms of control.

1. Hold the deck face down and insertthe four Aces into different parts of thedeck. Now push the Aces into theangled position shown in A of Figure48. At this point the left 1st and 4thfingers straddle the angled Aces as inFigure 85. This, of course, is coveredby the right hand from above.

Figure 85

Now, the right thumb, at the back end,brushes against the top block of cardscausing them to slide over, ratherloosely, to cover the angled Aces. Theleft thumb is placed against the upperleft corner to cover any slight jogs.

The left hand is now tilted downwards,to the right, as well as forwards. Theright hand can now be removed as theleft hand alone holds the cards as inFigure 86. This is the Delay Strip Grip.

2. After a su f f i c ien t length of time haselapsed, to give the impression thatyou have no control of any kind o v e rthe Aces, the right hand comes b a c k

over the deck. The right thumb at theback and the 2nd finger at the f r o n tnow push the top block back in l i n ewith the major portion of the deck.

Figure 86

The result will again be as in Figure 85but covered by the right hand, the 1stfinger curled on top, the other threefingers at the front and thumb at back,The right thumb should be at theextreme inner left corner and 2nd fin-ger at the extreme outer left corner.The grip on the deck is mostly between

right thumb and 2nd finger during thenext moves.

3. The right hand, holding f i r m l y o n t othe deck, moves it slightly forward asthe left fingers, which straddle theAces, maintain a firm grip. This for-ward action results in the c o n d i t i o nshown in Figure 87. Here the r i g h thand has brought the deck f o r w a r dwhile leaving the Aces behind in the

Figure 87



379

SHUFFLE SHIFT AND PALM OFF

l e f t finger and thumb. The right handis omitted here but normally covers thel e f t hand from above.

4. The pack is now tilted on its side, in

the conventional manner, for theOverhand Shuffle. However, while ther ight hand lifts up all the cards it holdsat the left side, the left fingers retaint h e i r straddle grip on the right. Thisresults in the Aces being retained inthe left hand, as in Figure 88, whereyou will note that the left 4th finger hasmoved onto the face of the Aces.

Figure 88

5. Without hesitation, the cards fromthe right hand are shuffled onto theA c e s but the l e f t 4th finger is still kepton the Aces thus keeping them sepa-rate from the balance of the deck. Afterthe Shuffle, the right hand comes overin a normal fashion to square the deck.It is during this time, when the deck isstill on its side, that the l e f t 4th finger

moves outwards to force the Aces upagainst the right palm as in Figure 89.

6. The right hand retains the Aces inthe palm as the deck is pivoted , backsup, into the left hand and a squaringaction made as in Figure 90. The deck can now be placed off to one side andthe palmed Aces reproduced later inaccordance with your particular rou-t i ne .

Figure 89

Figure 90

The Faro Shuffle Shift

Probably of all Shuffle Shifts the use of the Faro Shuffle is the most convinc-ing. I have already described proce-dures of this type both in the Spadebook as well as in the Chapter calledFaro Notes. There is, however, a bit of business here that will make this par-ticular method much better. This elimi-nates the cutting of the last ace intothe deck as in the original method of the Spade book.

1. First cut to any Ace so it is the topcard of the deck. Now, in removing theAces note the 13th card from the faceof the deck. Then note every 12th cardafter this. Actually you need rememberonly three such cards. Assume theseare the 4C-7D-QS.

2. Hold the deck face up in the lefthand and with the left thumb r i f f l e theupper left corner of the cards till you



380

MULTIPLE SHIFT

spot the first Key card, which in thiscase is the 4C. At this point insert oneof the Aces in front of the 4C. Continuethe left thumb riffle to the second KeyCard which is the 7D and again insertan Ace in front of this Key. Rif f l e , withthe left thumb, to the 3rd Key card, theQS, inserting the third Ace in front of it. This procedure places the three Acesat the positions 13-26-39 from the faceof the deck.

Now, the left thumb riffles the cards toopen a break as if to insert the 4th Aceinto it; however, the right fingers actu-ally insert the last Ace directly above orbelow the third Ace. As all Aces are stillprojecting, this last part is easy.Immediately square up the deck byopenly pushing the four Aces flushwith the deck.

3. At this point many will make themistake of immediately going into theFaro Shuffle. Instead, merely place thepack aside for the time being. After aninterval, in accordance with the routineyou may be doing, pick up the deck and split the pack at 26 or half. This is

easy as an Ace is at 27th position fromthe top so all you do is cut above thisAce, taking the upper half into theright hand for the Faro.

Perform an In -Shuff le Faro after whichone Ace, the one from the 27th posi-tion, will be on top of the deck. Theother three Aces will be together in thecenter of the deck at the 26-27-28thpositions from the top.

4. Here you have two choices. Cutabove the three central Aces and doanother In-Shuffle Faro which willcause the three Aces to go on top of thesingle Ace thus getting all four Aces tothe top of the pack.

The other procedure is to do a regularRiffle Shuffle, table type or in thehands, making sure that the single Acefrom the right hand section falls onto

the three Aces in the left hand section.If you prefer you can make the threeAces fall onto the single Ace and thismay be preferable as it does seem tolose the top card.

At least three card men I know of haveindependently thought of the subtletyof inserting two aces together w h i l eseeming to place them into deck sepa-rately. These three are Art Al tman ,Nea l Elias and Del Ray; however, ineach case it was applied to the MultipleShift with the purpose of making theeventual control of the cards easier. Inmy case I have used it in connectionwith the Faro Shuffle.

Here is a thought you may like toexperiment with which I call theEstimation Faro. The idea is that youtry to get the first three Aces insertedat 13 cards apart, placing the last onetogether with the third one. Then cutabove the central Ace and do a Faro InShuffle to get this Ace to top. Now threeAces will lie somewhere in the center,but not necessarily together. Anyway,cut above the last or third Ace in the

center. Do another Faro, using y o u r judgement so as to be sure that at leasttwo Aces come to the top.

Now if you have been pretty accurate inyour estimation, all four Aces will be ontop and if not, the other two are not faraway, with not too many cards betweenthem. From here the situation is com-plex as it will depend on your personalprocedure for getting all Aces together.I have just tried the idea myself and

have wound up with three Aces on top,then 3X cards intervene before the l a s tA c e . A n y o n e h a v i n g m y R i f f l e S h u f f l eSystems will see no problem as to howto get them all together.

Note: The Technical Variation of theSingle Side Cut Shift can also be doneusing an Overhand Shuffle. Here is anexample for con troll ing the Aces toeither top or bottom. After getting the



381

D'AMICO'S MULTIPLE SHIFT

cards into the position of Figure 55,instead of using the Thumb Hook,s w i n g the deck downwards, with thel e f t hand, as the right hand holds ontothe pack. The left 1st finger can nowp u l l down on the outer left corner, of the lower half, in an action similar toFigure 83. From here you go into anOverhand Shuffle, after first tappingthe halves as per Figure 84.

If you use the procedure of the SingleS i d e Cut Shift, that will get the cardsi n t o the position shown in Figure 57,then the action of Figure 83 will look l i ke a regular Undercut of the deck asin this case the left 1st finger will actu-

al ly pull the top block. As the Aces willbe the first cards in the run, it will benecessary to keep track of them usingan in - jog, above the Aces, during thes h u f f l e .

Personalized Multiple Shifts

H e r e I will describe the Multiple Shiftsof Carmen D'Amico , Robert Veese r andTom Wright. Each is just differentenough in handling from the accepted

that I feel they warrant being recorded.D'Amico's Multiple Shift

In 1946, when I showed CarmenD'Amico my Simple Shift, he devisedth i s particular technique for his ownpurposes. It is fast and casual in itshandling and typical of D'Amico ' s style.

1. Insert the four Aces so they projectabout an inch from the deck. The leftforefinger is at the front of the Aces, left

thumb at the left side and 2nd, 3rdand 4th fingers on the right side of thecards. Figure 91 shows the situation,the left thumb having moved across thetop of the deck presses very lightly.

2. Now, holding the position of Figure91, the left hand is tilted forward caus-ing the top block of cards to slide overonto the Aces as in Figure 92.

Figure 92

3. Immediately the right fingers graspthe inner ends of the deck, thumb onone side, 2nd and 3rd fingers on theright side with the 1st finger curled ontop. The left thumb meantime has

moved over to the left side again inorder to press against the top block and jogged Aces. The left 2nd fingerpresses against the Aces and top block from the right side. The left first fingerremains in front of the deck.

The Strip Out action is shown in Figure93, and brings the Aces to the bottomof the deck. If it is needed to get theAces to the top, then start with thepack face up.

Figure 91 Figure 93



382

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Veeser's Bluff Multiple Shift

This particular Shift of Robert Veeser'smay at first glance appear to be toobold, but it has taken in many cardmen and will without a doubt leave noclue to a layman.

1. Show the four Aces and place themon top of the deck which is face downin the left hand. As the Aces are placedon top, get a break, with the left 4thf inger- t ip , beneath them.

2. Apparently you now take the top Aceand insert it into the deck. In reality,however, you take the whole block of four Aces as a single card. This isplaced into the deck but left projectingin the usual manner.

3. The other three supposed Aces, real-ly three X cards, are now placed abovethe block of Aces. Thus you have fourAces apparently in different parts of deck.

Figure 94

4. Lift the left hand up so as to displaythe cards as in Figure 94 where thefront Ace is seen. Still keeping the pack facing front the right hand pushes theprojecting cards into deck doing this ata slight diagonal so that the left 4thfinger can get a break on the block of Aces. If the break is below the Aces,then a later cut will bring them to bot-tom. If it is above the block of Aces, thena cut brings them to top.

Second Variation

1. In this case you must begin w i t hthree X cards above the Aces. You cando this as you apparently locate theAces in order to bring them to the top.Spread the top seven cards, getting aleft 4th finger break. Turn over theblock of seven and at the same t i m emaintain the break below the now f a c eup cards.

2. Thumb over the face three Aces thusdisplaying four, re-square and turn the

block face down again, keeping the l e f t4th finger break. Take the top card andinsert it face down into the deck. Thenext two cards are inserted below thefirst projecting card. On the 4th cardyou take the block of Aces, as one card,to insert them below the other three,Now lift the left hand to display the Icards as already shown in Figure 94, IFrom here the conclusion is as alreadyexplained in the 1st Method.

In experimenting with the Veeser B l u f f Multiple Shift, I have found that it isbest to handle the block o f Aces b y l i f t - 'ing them, with the right forefinger andthumb, b y t he upper l e f t corner. In t h i s ;

way the block thickness is concealedby the extended finger across the f r o n tedge. Also, after inserting the block , Ithe right hand remains in front of the 1block as the right thumb moves b a c k , jt o t h e upper l e f t corner of t h e t op c a r d , ;

in order to slide the next card off the

deck and towards the right 1st f i n g e r . \Thus the top card is again taken at its Iupper left corner.

As the right hand goes to insert t h i ssecond card you will note that it a u t o -matically is in front of the deck t h u seffectively still hiding the block. The2nd card having been inserted, theright thumb immediately pulls over thenext top card, in the manner described,to insert this card into the deck.



383

TOM WRIGHT'S MULTIPLE SHIFT

Continue until all four cards are thustreated but as the 4th card is put intothe deck and before the right handmoves away, the pack is lifted up as in

Figure 94. Some may prefer a ThirdVariation which is simply to place theblock of Aces flush into deck while get-ting a break either above or below it,depending on whether you want theA c e s on top or bottom. The other threesupposed Aces are also placed flushi n t o the deck as each time you veryo p e n l y square up.

TomWright's Multiple Shift

I f any magician ever visits Clara

County, Eire, he would have no troublelocating Tom Wright as he is ClaraCounty's most proficient sleight of hand man especially when it comes tothe pasteboards. Here is Wright's han-dling of the Shift, described in his ownliterary style.

1. With Aces on top of the deck holdsame face down and a little forward inthe l e f t hand. Right hand inserts theA c e s so that about a quarter of the

deck precedes the first Ace from face tob a c k .

2. With the right hand grasp the upperright corner of the Aces, and as the lefthand turns back outwards, to displayt h e m , l if t up on the Aces thus enablingthe lef t pinky to get a break below theAce nearest the face of the deck.

3. Right hand comes over to push themflush, with the fingers on top of theA c e s and thumb on the lower end of

the pack. When they are almost flushthe l e f t hand moves all cards below thebreak upwards to align this portionw i t h t h e A c e s .

4. The downward movement of theAces and the upward movement of theportion below the break must be syn-chronized, otherwise the illusion of having pushed in the Aces is lost. Nowthe right fingers and thumb lightly run

over the ends of the pack as if squaringit up. Turn the left hand palm down-wards. The right hand, which has beenwith the pack all along, hides its true

condition.5. Run the right fingers and thumbover the sides, of the now face up pack,in a squaring motion. Holding onto theAces and the one quarter face up por-tion of the cards, pull out the half below with the left hand. Place this half on top of the face up portion in theright hand thus simulating a cut.

Tom Wright points out that this is afull front type of Shift and that the ini-

tial break on the bottom cards enablesyou to do the Shift without any greatdifficulty.

Mario's Subtle Shift

Basically, the idea of this is that whileyou give the impression that the Acesare placed into different parts of thedeck, actually, they all go into thesame spot. I will describe my favoriteprocedure and then give other alterna-tives.

1. The four Aces are face down on thetable and the deck is in the left handface down in the usual position. Righthand picks up the first Ace, shows itsface and then inserts it into the centerof the deck. The left thumb, on the sideof the deck, in this case should lightlyriffle the upper left corner of the deck to create the opening into which theAce is placed.

2. The Ace is pushed in angle-wise andthen the All Around Square Up is doneto end with the Ace in-jogged. Now if you run your left thumb down theupper left corner of the deck you willnote that the in-jogged card acts as asort of short card at this upper corner.This then is what you make use of.

3. While the right hand picks up one of the tabled Aces and shows it, the left



384

MULTIPLE SHIFT

hand very quietly riffles down to the injogged short card to form an openinginto which this second Ace is placed.The Ace is pushed flush with the deck and the right 2nd finger is run lightlyacross the front end of deck in a frontalsquaring action. As the in-jogged cardis still in position, you can do anotherAll Around Square Up but that is amatter of choice.

4. Continue in the same manner, asabove, for the next two Aces. You willfind that all the three Aces will auto-matically be placed below the in-joggedshort card. After the last Ace is thusapparently lost you can again do theAll Around Square Up ending with theinjogged card angled at the lower rightcorner. From here the left 4th fingerpulls down on the angle-jogged Ac e ,then a single cut gets all four Aces tothe top.

Alternatives

Instead of the in-jogged card you can,of course, use a short card or any otherkind of key card that you can locate by

touch. Any form of crimped card canalso be used such as a corner crimp ora bellied crimp. In this case the leftthumb would not riffle the corner butrather Lift up, very slightly, the left sideof the deck thus enabling the Aces tobe inserted either above or below acrimp. If the Aces go below a crimp,then a cut would get them to the topwhereas if they go above the crimp,then they are brought to the bottom.

The use of my Estimation Placementcan be very effective. All it amounts tois the left thumb breaks the deck atapproximately the same place eachtime and the Aces are inserted intothat spot. If you are accurate you mayget four Aces together but even if youdo no t , the chances are at least somewill be together and the others not veryfa r o f f .

Such a procedure can be very useful, .

especially with a very sharp card man.By thumbing the sides of the deck, inorder to spot the topmost Ace, you cancut this Ace to the top and rest assuredthe other three are close by. Again mayI suggest that those who have R i f f l eShuffle Systems will have no problemgetting the Aces together at the top.

The Most Flexible Shift

Of all the Multiple Shifts I have devisedand experimented with, the one I s t i l lprize most highly is one that I f i r s tworked out in 1946 and only manyyears later published in The Cardidan

under the title of The Simple S h i f t ,When I point out to you all its flexibleand practical applications you will real-ize my reluctance to release it for somany years. First I will describe theSimple Shift as it appeared in TheCardidan with some minor correctionsfrom the original text.

The Simple Shift

1. Hold the deck face up in the l e f thand. Aces face up on the table.

2. Pick up an Ace with the right handwhile the left thumb riffles the pack atits upper index corner and stops atabout ten to twelve cards from the top,Keep this break open to insert the f i r s tAce here. As you insert the Ace, n o t ethe card below it. This is your key c a r dto be used later.

3. The remaining three Aces are nowplaced above the first Ace but arespaced in a manner as to leave aboutten or twelve cards undisturbed at theface of the deck. In other words, theAces are distributed through the centerportion of about thirty cards. The A c e sare inserted up to their indexes as inFigure 95. The only visible portion of the Ace should be its "A" but not itssuit. This you do upon the first inser-tion of the card. Do not place them inhalfway and then adjust to this p o s i -



385

THE SIMPLE SHIFT

t i o n as you will lose the casualness of the whole sleight.

4. With the cards held face up in thel e f t hand as for dea l ing, see Figure 95,

the l e f t thumb presses on the face of the pack so as to cause a slight pres-sure between the thumb and base of the 1st finger.

Figure 95

5, With pressure applied, merely pushin the Aces with the left forefinger. Youw i l l f i n d the Aces will go in, but willplunge out a center portion of the pack at the inner end as in Figure 96.

Figure 96

6. On examining the deck at this stage,you will find that one Ace is flushagainst the bottom block, the other

flush with top block and two in thecenter sticking out of the plunged por-t i o n .

7. So far the action has been done withone hand. Now the right hand comes into strip out this center portion c o m -p l e t e l y , b u t n o t b e f o r e y o u m o v e t h e l e f tthumb to the side of the pack so as tohold the four Aces back as in Figure97. Remember the cards in the left

Figure 97

hand are not shifted from the dealingposition, only the left thumb moves tothe side of the deck. The right handthen strips out the center portion, as inFigure 98, while the left thumb andsecond finger keep pressing on theupper sides to hold back the Aces aswell as the block above and belowthem. Figure 98 is a diagram of all fin-ger positions during the cut. Completethe cut by placing the cards in theright hand on top of those in the left.

Figure 98

8. If you will examine the deck now ,the four Aces will be together some-where below the top ten or twelve

cards. To bring them to the top, youspread the bottom or face of the pack to show no Aces there.

Turn the deck over and spread the topcards, but not too many so as not toinclude any Aces, and show them in afan. Keep taking single cards, from thetop to add to the fan and flash eachtime to show no Ace. You do this untilyou reach your key card.



386

MULTIPLE SHIFT

9. When the key card is spotted,replace all cards on top of the deck butkeep a left little finger break. Do a

Double Under-Cut to bring the Aces tothe top. If you like you can use aQuadruple Cut, a Triple Cut or a SingleCut or cut your fool head off.

10. To summarize the action: You placethe Aces in different parts of pack.Using one hand, the left , you push inthe Aces with the left forefinger.Immediately, the right hand comes overand strips out the injogged portion in asingle cut. Show Aces not on bottom or

top. Locate the key card and bring Acesto top with a series of cuts.

Notes:

A. In placing the Aces in different partsof the pack they may be placed in whilethe pack is in a fanned condition. Thespotting of a key card is simpler in thiscase. Also, the closing of the fan, plusthe pushing in of Aces and Strip OutCut combine to make a bewilderingand hard to follow series of natural

actions.B. In stripping out the plunged cards,you will find it easier and less bindingto strip them out sort of sideways, as inFigure 98. The left 3rd finger is the ful-crum point as the cards are swung ortwisted, to the r ight, by right hand.

So far in all Multiple Shifts, the controlof the Aces has been to either the topor bottom and that is about as far as

they usually went; however, using theSimple Shift and the added idea of acrimped Ace you can control the Acesin Combinations as will be shown next.

The Crimped Ace

1. Decide on the Ace you wish to crimpand always use the same one to avoidconfusing yourself or forgetting.

2. At what point you insert the crimpedAce will decide on the combination youwill eventually get. The deck is handled

face down in these instances.

3. To Get All Four Aces To The T o p -

Insert the Aces, as for the Simple S h i f t ,with the crimped Ace going above theother three. After the execution of theSimple Shift the four Aces are togetherin the center with the crimped Acemarking off the location. To get them tothe top, cut above the crimped Ace andall will be on top. Any crimp can beused but the belly crimp, only at theinner end, is best. To take the c r i m pout easily do a side-squaring action of the pack as right forefinger bends top

of deck inwards.4. To Get Three Aces To The Top AndOne On The Bottom - All you do is pro-ceed as in Step 3, cut the crimped Aceto the bottom which brings the otherthree Aces to the top.

5. To Get All Aces To The Bottom -Insert the crimped Ace first with theothers above it. A f t e r the Simple Sh i f t ,all the Aces will be together. A cut tobring the crimped Ace to the b o t t o m

gets all four there.6. To Get Two Aces To The Top andTwo To The Bottom - • Insert thecrimped Ace in the 2nd position f r o mthe top among the four inserted Aces.A f t e r t h e S i m p l e S h i f t , a c u t t o b r i n gcrimped Ace to bottom will result int w o A c e s o n t o p a n d t w o o n t h e b o t t o m ,

7. To Get Three Aces To The BottomAnd One On Top - Insert the crimped

Ace into the 2nd position from thebottom among the four projecting A c e s ,After the Simple Shift a cut to bring thecrimped card to bottom will result inthree Aces at the bottom and one ontop of the deck.

8. For those who may just wish to con-trol the four Aces and yet not c r i m pany one of them, then use a c r i m p e dkey card that is about ten cards f r o mthe top of the deck. In inserting theAces the first one is placed directly



387

ACES AND NUMBERS

b e l o w t h e c r i m p e d k e y . A f t e r t h eS i m p l e S h i f t all the Aces are togetherm a r k e d o f f b y t h e c r i m p e d k e y . A c u t a tthe crimp and all four Aces are on top.

9. To Place All Four Aces At A CertainNumber From The Top Or Bottom -Suppose you wish to place the Aces atn i n e cards from the top. In removingthe Aces note the 9th card from top of d e c k as your key card. Hold the deck f a c e up in the l e f t hand as the righth a n d h a n d l e s t h e A c e s . I n r i f f l i n g t h ed e c k , at upper l e f t corner, locate yourkey and insert the first Ace at thisp l a c e . The other three Aces are inserteda b o v e the f i r s t one. Now, just doing the

S i m p l e S h i f t automatically gets all fourA c e s together under the top nine cards.

T h e r e are several e f f e c t s possible noww i t h the Aces at this position such asthe standard mathematical effect of "Between Ten and Twenty" or somef o r m s of spelling to the Aces such asthe one I contributed to the Sphinx forSeptember, 1950. Except using thea b o v e placement you need not shufflecards onto the Aces after the Simple

S h i f t .To get the Aces to a certain numberf r o m the bottom again spot the key butthis time from the face of the deck.I n s e r t the f i r s t Ace in the usual mannerstarting at the back but in putting inthe last Ace, placed it in front of thekey card. (In this case you would spot akey card at a number one greater thanthe number at which you wish to placethe Aces. For example, you want Aces

w i t h nine cards f r o m the face of thed e c k , so you must use the 10th card asy o u r key.) With all Aces inserted first,t u r n the deck face down, then do theS i m p l e Shift. The aces will be ninecards from the bottom of the deck.

10. To Get A Center Stock Of Cards ToThe Top Or Bottom - Suppose you wishto insert the Aces and while keepingt h e m under control, as a unit, get per-

haps a previous stack of cards intoplay at either the top or b o t t o m .Assume you have a stack of twentycards in the center of the deck. Alsoyou know the top and bottom cards of the stack. In inserting the Aces the firstone goes in back of the top card of yourstack. The last Ace goes in front of thebottom key of your stack. Now if youwish to get the stock to the bottom allyou do is the Simple Shift while thedeck is face up. This will bring thestack to the face of the deck. If youwant the stack on top, then turn thedeck face down before doing the SimpleShift. The stack to be thus controlled

can be any number of cards. The fol-lowing effect will show how use of theCenter Stock, involving only four cards,is made in connection with the Aces.

Aces and Numbers

In effect, the four Aces are found atnumbers designated by playing cardsapparently arrived at by chance.

A. Secretly arrange the following fourvalue cards of 4-7-9-5. The suits do not

matter but the arrangement is fromface to back. Place these cards togetherat about ten cards from the face of thedeck. Remember the face card of thefour value cards as your key. Assume itto be the 4D.

B. Assume the four Aces have beenremoved and you are holding the deck face up in the left hand. Place the firstAce to the back in the usual mannerfollowing with the next two beingplaced in front of it. The fourth Ace isplaced in front of your noted key card,the 4D. Be sure to note a key card forthe First Ace you insert. This will laterbe used to get the Aces to the top.

C. Do the Simple Shift and here iswhat will happen. As the Shift is madethe center section will be plunged outbut the 4D will be the face card of thisinner section. Cut the in-jogged center



388

MULTIPLE SHIFT

portion to the face of the deck. The 4Dwill be the face card and directly follow-ing it are the 7-9-5. The four Aces aretogether below the key card noted

when the first Ace was inserted.D . Immediately after the cut youspread the face cards of the deck andsay, "The Aces are not on the bottom.Incidentally, as long as I cut to thesecards I will use them." Here the fourface cards are taken off, withoutreversing their order, to be tossed facedown onto the table in a packet. Thetop card of the four will be the 5, thenthe 9-7-4. Continue with, "Of course,the Aces are still not anywhere at thebottom and they are nowhere near thetop." Here you have turned the deck face down and shown the top cards tillyou reach the key card. From here theAces are brought to the top of the deck by holding the break under the keycard and cutting the deck.

E. With the Aces on top split the deck for a Faro In-Shuffle to place the Acesat 2nd-4th-6th and 8th positions.Show the top and bottom cards as stillnot Aces. Call attention to the four facedown cards and say, "We will use thosecards, arrived at by chance, and whichno one knows, to find the Aces ." Takethe top card of the four tabled cardsand say, "Whatever the value of thiscard we will use it to count down thatmany cards into the deck." Turn thecard face up against top of deck as yousay, "It is a five spot. We will countdown five cards into the deck." Here

turn the card face down on top of thedeck. Next, count off five cards one at atime, reversing their order, onto thetable. The f i f t h card is turned face upto disclose an Ace.

F. Return the counted cards to the topof the deck. Pick up the next tabledcard, the nine spot, placing it face upagainst deck, then turning it face downonto the deck. Count down nine cards

and turn the ninth card to show thesecond Ace. Repeat the process for thenext tabled card, the seven spot, to dis-close the third Ace. Here hand the deck

to spectator and say, "So sure am Ithat the last Ace is at the number des-ignated by that card I want you tocount down to it." Here turn over thetabled card but retain it in your handsas you say, "Four, count to the fourthcard, please." The effect finishes whenspectator turns over the last Ace.

While I have described the effect asneeding pre -se t t ing there is no reasonwhy the expert can not locate thedesired cards, bring them to the face of the deck in proper order, all while inthe process of removing the four Aces.A short Overhand Shuffle to place thefour value cards at tenth f r o m the f a c eof the deck and you are all set to do theeffect. (For another effect involving theuse of value cards and Aces see N e a lElia's effect, 10-6-9-4 in Show StoppersWith Cards by Hugard and Braue . )

Some may prefer to have the four valuecards at the top and insert the f o u rAces so the first one is directly abovethe four top cards. Now the SimpleShift, the deal off of the top four cards,a Faro In Shuffle and you are all set todo the effect; however, you do not getthe subtlety of the Center Block Stock.

To Use In A Mental Effect

Here you can give the impression of actually distributing, throughout thepack, the mentally selected cards, yet

later they are together, in the center,marked off by a key card of some sort.The procedure is to tell the spectatorthat you will show him some cards andas you do you will insert the cards f a c edown into various parts of the deck;however, he is to think of any one of the cards that you show to him. As thelast card, depending on how manycards you intend to show, is insertedinto the deck, it of course, goes above



389

SIMPLE SHIFT VARIATION

the others. Here it is secretly crimped,at its upper right corner, by the rightf i r s t finger pressing the corner downo v e r t h e r i g h t 2 n d f in g e r .

A f t e r the Simple Shift all possible men-tal selections are under the crimpedcard and can be cut back to the top of the deck. From here handle them inyour favorite manner, eliminating downto the actual mental choice. Anothermethod of crimping is to crimp the topcard as you are showing the next tolast card of the group. In other words,the right hand displays a card. The lefthand, which is holding the deck in

Mechanic's Grip position, thumbs overthe top card so that the left 2nd finger-tip comes in contact with the top card'supper right corner. Now all you do isp u l l downwards on this corner justenough to crimp the upper right cornerof the top card, then pull it back flushon to deck. The misdirection of showingthe face of the card to spectator isenough for the crimp to be put inunnoticed. Note: For an effect using theabove Mental Distribution idea see The

Mental Sandwich notes of October 20,1954.

Simple Shift - Undercut Variation

1. Insert the Aces as per the SimpleS h i f t , Figure 95. Now place l e f t thumbacross the pack as in Figure 95 but donot as yet place the left forefinger at thef ron t end .

2. Right hand now comes over thepack, as if to push in the Aces, withthe 1st finger curled on top and the2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers at the frontend, thumb at the rear of the deck butnot against it at this point. As the righthand comes over the deck, the rightfingers will normally extend whenabout to push in the Aces, Under coverof the right fingers the left 1st fingerplunges the Aces, as per the originalaction of the Simple Shift, to cause thecenter section to come out at the inner

end. Naturally the right fingers moveinwards just as if they had done thepushing in of the Aces.

3. Immediately as the center section isplunged out, the left thumb moves overto the left side of the deck. The rightthumb, at the back end, pivots the in-

jogged center section to the right asseen in the Figure 99 which is a dia-gram showing action and finger posi-tions of both hands. The right hand ismarked by R's and the left hand ismarked by L's. The arrow indicatesdirection of pivot with the fulcrumpoint being the left 3rd finger.

Figure 99

Note that the right 1st finger is curledon top near the upper left corner of thedeck while the right 2nd, 3rd and 4thfingers are still in front of, and cover-ing, the left 1st finger. The rightthumb, at the back end, has pushedover the in-jogged section and is nowpressing against the back end of thedeck near its inner left corner.

4. Once the center section is angledleft, the 4th finger pulls inwards onthis section causing it to swing out of the deck into the position shown inFigure 100 where already the left 1stand 4th fingers have straddled thiscenter section. Of course, this is nor-



390

MULTIPLE SHIFT

ma l l y covered by the right hand fromabove. The circles show the right handfingers' position around the deck.

Figure 100

5. The left hand, with its straddledcards, now moves backwards until thissection clears the rest of the pack. Theline of action is seen in Figure 101.Immediately as the straddled portion isfree, the left hand comes around andover to place its packet onto the cardsin the right hand. The whole actionsimulates a Single Undercut.

Figure 101

6. If the pack is handled face up, thenthe usual noted key card can be usedto tip off the location of the Aces whichare now together in the center. If thepack is handled face down the crimp is

recommended as a means of markingoff, and later locating the Aces, inanother cut to the top.

7. Some may prefer to place all f o u r

fingers at the front end, during the jog-ging action, to give greater cover for theleft 1st finger. Also some may wish touse the right fingers to do the actualpushing in of the Aces. Grasping thedeck with all four right fingers at thefront end, during the actual Undercut,will be found easier as there is lessbinding of the cards. I have, however,described the technical p r e f e r e n c e ,with the right 1st finger curled on top

of the deck, rather than the easiestmethod. Do not press down too h a r dwith the right 1st finger on top of thedeck and in time you will find it as easyas having all four fingers at the f r o n tend. Still the choice is yours.

The Immovable Multiple Shifts

These are those Shifts in which afterplacing the Aces into different parts of the deck they seem to remain there,The deck is not cut in any way but

apparently only squared and yet thecards, to be controlled, end up at e i the rthe top or bottom of the deck as youmay wish.

To The Bottom - Delayed Type

1. Deck is face down in the left hand,Insert the four Aces and get them tothe angled position shown at A of Figure 48. Next straddle the angledAces between the left 1st finger and 4thfinger as already shown in Figure 85.

This is all covered by the right handfrom above.

2. With the right thumb at the back end, move over the top block of cardsto cover the angle-jogged Aces thusgoing into the Delayed Strip Grip, asper Figure 86, while the right handmoves away from the deck for themoment.



391

IMMOVABLE MULTIPLE SHIFTS

3. On bringing the right hand back tothe deck place all four fingers at thef r o n t end and thumb at the back nearthe inner left corner. The deck is now

mostly held by pressure between theright 1st finger at the upper left cornerand right thumb at the back, near thei n n e r l e f t corner. With this grip them a j o r portion of the cards are con-t rol led.

Figure 85

Figure 86

4. With the deck under control by the

right hand the left fingers can move thestraddled Aces to the position shown inFigure 100. This is done by stretchingthe left fingers to the right until the left1st finger, which is straddling the Aces,can clear the upper right corner of theright hand cards. Once this is done theright hand moves the deck forward.The left hand now remains stationaryduring all the next actions.

5. Keep moving the right hand forwarduntil the Aces in the left hand clear therest of the deck. At this stage the situa-tion will be as in Figure 101 where the

hands have been omitted to show whatis taking place; however, the Figure102 shows how it looks to the per-former.

Figure 102

Note that the right hand is almostdirectly in line with the back packet of Aces. From the spectator's view the pic-ture would be as in Figure 103 whereyou will note how the forward positionof the right hand effectively concealsthe straddled Aces held back by the left

fingers.6. The right hand now moves back-wards, keeping the deck down veryclose to the left palm. The Figure 104shows the backward action almost inthe process of being completed.Remember to keep the left thumb alongthe side of the deck during the forwardand backward movements.

Figure 103



392

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Once the backward action is complet-ed, and the Aces are at the bottom of the deck, the right fingers and thumbrun over the ends of the deck in a

squaring action to complete the sleight.

Figure 104

Second Variation

1. With the deck face down, insert theAces and angle jog them as in theabove method. Here do the All AroundSquare Up to get the Aces in-jogged atthe back end of the deck.

2. With the right thumb pivot theinjogged Aces as in Figure 99. This nowis followed by the left 4th finger pulling

inward on the Aces in order to get theminto the straddle position shown inFigure 100.

3. From the straddle position executeall the actions depicted Figures 101 to104 of the Delayed Shift. The Aces willbe at the bottom.

4. It is also possible to use the sametwo above methods to control a block of Aces, inserted into the deck as a unit,to the bottom as well as a card that has

been peeked at. In this case the left 4thf inger , which normally holds the break after the peek, is used to angle the cardout as needed. From here the singlecard is handled in the exact manner asexplained for the Shift to the Bottom.In this form you have practically a SideSteal control to the bottom of the deck.

In the above, To The Bottom Shift, Ihave described it with all four fingers

at the front end because the extrawidth will give greater cover for theaction of the left hand as it swings i t sstraddled cards around the upper r i g h t

corner of the deck; however, if youposess a fairly large hand then you canuse the curled right 1st finger on top of the deck during the actions described.

To The Top - Deck Face Down

1. Insert the four Aces into the deck inthe prescribed manner. Angle-jog theAces as per A of Figure 48. The Acesshould be inserted as near the bo t tomof the deck as possible in order for thenext move to be successful, in f a c t ,

among the bottom twenty cards.2. With the Aces angled the corners of these cards will be felt by the rightthumb and right 4th fingertip. Keepingpressure on the corner fe l t by the r i g h tt h u m b , the left 2nd and 3rd fingerspress inwards on the right side of theangled Aces, thus forcing the upper l e f t

corners of the Aces against tip of theleft thumb.

The ball of the left thumb is now

pressed against these protruding cor-ners. The protruding corners, againstt h e t i p o f t h e l e f t thumb, a r e f u r t h e rmaintained by pressure against theright side of the Aces by the left 3rdfinger which is in a better position tocontrol the four cards then the left 2ndfinger.

3. The left hand remains stationarywhile the right hand moves the d e c kforward. The left thumb and left 3rd

f i n g e r retain their pressure on the A c e sso that as the deck is moved fo rwardthe Aces automatically move towardsthe rear of the deck at an angle.

This forward movement is continueduntil the left and right thumbs meet atinner left corner of the deck as inFigure 105. The jogged corners of theAces will be about an inch f r o m l o w e rleft corner.



393

TO THE TOP SHIFT

4. Once the Aces are towards the rearof the deck, as per Figure 105, theright hand lowers the deck into the lefthand so that the jogged corners of the

A c e s come in at about the l e f t thumbcrotch. The approximate position of thed e c k is seen in Figure 106 with ther i g h t hand omitted. You will know if you have the correct position when youtry the next moves. Note that the leftthumb is along the left side of the deck.The deck is also forward in the handm o r e than usual.

front the view is amply covered byattention to angles and properly tiltingthe deck upwards.

Figure 107

6. The right fingers at the front of thedeck now move lightly across the frontend, as if squaring again, while theright thumb at the back end pivots theAces to the left as in Figure 108, Thepivoting action is continued until theAces come clear of the deck as inFigure 109.

Figure 108

Figure 106

5. With deck as in Figure 106 the righthand can either move away from thel e f t hand and come back later or it canremain above the deck right along.Assuming the right hand is above thedeck, the right hand simulates an endsquaring action. This results in theright thumb being able to move to theright side of the Aces as in Figure 107which is the operator's view. From the

Figure 109



394

MULTIPLE SHIFT

At this stage the Aces will be trappedbetween the crease in the left palm andthe right thumb. The left fingers at thesame time pull on the right side of the

deck causing it to move in against theleft palm. This not only aids in freeingthe Aces but also enables the rightthumb to swing the Aces back and ontothe top of the deck as in Figure 110.

Figure 110

Figure 111

Figure 111 shows the spectator's viewat this stage. Note how the back of lefthand is practically towards spectator.This tilt action covers the Aces effec-tively until the left hand swings back into the position shown in Figure 112.Figure 112 is the performer's view, andshows the Aces going onto the top of the deck. The right thumb now movesback far enough to get at the back endof the Aces after which the right thumbmoves the Aces fo rward , as in Figure113, to eventually get the Aces flush onthe top of the deck.

Figure 112

7. The above sleight can be used on ablock of Aces inserted together and asa matter of fact, it is much easier thisway then when they are separated. Italso can be used from a peek to controla selection to the top and in this waymakes for a very deceptive form of SideSteal to the top of the deck. It can alsobe used as a secret Card Add as fol-lows;

* Figure 113

Secretly get a block of four cardsi n j o g g e d near the top of the deck,about ten cards or less including theAces which are on top. Show the fourAces by first taking them off, in a fan,

into the right hand. Replace each Aceseparately to the top of the deck doingthis so the Aces are more or lessuneven. After the last Ace is shown, theright hand comes over the deck as if tosquare it. Instead the right thumb, atthe back end, pivots the block of in-

jogged cards to the right. This anglesthe block. The corners of this block, atits upper end, are taken over by the l e f t



395

MARLO SLEEVE TECHNIQUE

thumb and left 3rd finger. From heredo all the actions shown in Figure 105to 113, when you will have secretlyadded four cards above the Aces. From

h e r e y o u a r e o n y o u r o w n .Mario Sleeve Technique

T h i s sleeving technique is, of course,the result of studying the one by JerryAndrus from his book Andrus DealsY o u In. There are several advantages inmy technique especially the fact thatt h e r e i s n o m o v e m e n t o f t h e l e f t f i n g e r sd u r i n g the action. It also uses most of the technique already explained in theSh i f t To The Top. It is done seated at

the table.I 1. Although you can have four cardsinserted, a single card inserted or ablock of cards inserted, for this partic-ular case let us assume you have had acard peeked at and are holding theu s u a l l e f t 4 t h f i n g e r - t i p f l e s h b r e a k . A tthis point the l e f t 4th finger enters thebreak, presses upwards on the peekedcard at its lower right corner thus mak-ing it angle out in a manner similar to

that of A at Figure 48.2. At the same time that the left 4thf i n g e r is angling the peeked card thel e f t arm rests against the table and thef o r e a rm is moved to the l e f t causing thel e f t coat sleeve to billow out or openm o r e on the right side of the l e f t wrist.

3. The angled card is now taken over,at its upper corners, by the left thumband third finger in order to execute theaction of Figure 105 and bring the cardto the rear of the deck as in Figure106; however, the right hand remainsabove the deck and the action shownin Figure 107 is made next.

Now the card is pivoted to the left as inFigure 108, but this time the card isgoing into the sleeve as seen in Figure114. This is practically automatic asthe card moves into the opening of thesleeve immediately as the pivot to the

left is made. Note also the V spacemade, near the lower right c o r n e r ,between the card and the deck. Thisplays an important part.

Figure 114

4. The right hand can now move awayto perhaps brush the table or justplace something aside. When the righthand comes back to the left it does soby placing its right thumb into the V asin Figure 115. The right three fingersmeantime go in front of deck and andright forefinger curls on top. With themomentum of the right hand moving tothe left, the right thumb also is extend-

ed causing the card to be pushed upinto the left sleeve as in Figure 116.

Figure 115

5. The above action should appear onlyas if you came back to take the deck out of the left hand to place it on thetable. If you do not wish to take yourright hand away from the deck at anytime, then the card is pushed up the



396

MULTIPLE SHIFT

sleeve while apparently squaring thedeck. Matter of fact, done this way theright hand can almost conceal the cardgoing up the sleeve as most attention,

from the right, will be on the front of the deck or what is normally visible tothe spectator.

Figure 116

If you are working behind a Bar youcan use this approach very successful-ly as the line of vision of the spectators,that may be to the right of you, is notthe same as if they were around a tableon your right.

6. The actions of To The Top Shift canalso be used while seated at a table orstanding up; h ow e v e r , in order tosleeve the cards, while standing, meansthe preparation of the sleeve so it willremain billowed out on the right side of the wrist.

There are two fairly satisfactory proce-dures to use when away from a table.One is to place your left foot on a chair,if your host will permit it, thus getting

a chance to place your left forearm onthe left knee. This will give the sameresults as a table. If seated and awayfrom a table the mere crossing of theleft leg over the right and then restingthe left forearm on the left thigh willenable you to sleeve the cards unde-tectably.

The Block Shift To The Top

While actually one card or several sep-

arated cards, such as four Aces, can bebrought to the top I will describe theaction required for a block of cardsinserted as a unit into the center of thedeck. Later I will describe the specialdifferences to bring separated cards tothe top. An entirely new and fast jog-ging action is introduced. This sleightcan be done either standing up or at atable.

1. Assume you are using four Aces asthe block of cards. The deck is in thel e f t hand with four Aces on top. The l e f tthumb shoves over the top four cardsin a spread. The right hand comes o v e rto square these cards against the de ckas the left 4th finger goes below theAces. This enables the right hand tocome over the deck, from above, to takethe squared block of Aces with theright 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers at thefront end, right 1st finger curled on topof the packet and the right thumb at

the back end. The block of Aces is l i f t e doff the deck and then the right 1 st and4th fingers straddle the sides of thesecards. This enables the right thumb tomove away from the back end andmove onto the back of the block.

Meantime the left hand has curled theleft 1st finger under the deck and theleft thumb has pulled down the upperleft corner of the deck, at about thecenter, to create an opening into which

the Aces are inserted. This action andthe straddling of the cards, by righthand, as they are inserted is shown inFigure 117.

2. Having inserted the block of Aces theright hand comes over the deck as if topush in the block. Actually the block ispushed in but only up to the pointwhere the tip of the left thumb meetsthe tip of the right 1st finger. All f o u r



BLOCK SHIFT TO THE TOP397

Figure 117

r i g h t fingers are at the front of deck

during the push-in action as in Figure118 which shows the exposed action.Actually even the performer will not bea b l e to see the jog as the right fingersw i l l cover it from the front and abovewhile the l e f t thumb and fingers coverthe sides.

Figure 118

3. Immediately that the impression hasbeen conveyed of the block having beenpushed home the right fingers remainat the front end of the deck as the right

thumb and fingers grasp the deck andturn it face up, end for end, as inFigure 119 where you will note the

jogged block is concealed by the posi-t i o n of the right fingers at the back e n d .

The left hand is tilted upwards justenough to hide the gap of the in-joggedblock. The right fingers grasp the deck at the lower right corner, thumb on

Figure 119

top, fingers below, to turn the deck

over to the l e f t and thus face down.4. Both hands now lift the deck intothe Side Square Up Position shown inFigure 120 where the left 1st finger isover the top end of the deck, leftthumb at the side near the inner leftcorner, left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers onthe opposite side. The right hand'sposition is; right 1st finger curled ontop of the deck near the inner end,right thumb actually pressing on the

in-jogged block at the lower left corner.The right 3rd finger presses on theblock of Aces on the opposite side withthe 2nd finger alongside but not incontact with the block, but only theside of the deck. The right 4th finger isfree of any contact with the cards. TheFigure 120 shows the in-jogged block and this Side Square Up Position. Thisis important for the next moves to fit inwith the rest.

Figure 120



398

MULTIPLE SHIFT

5. The pack is now lowered into the lefthand but the right hand remains at therear of the deck. Here it swings into theposition shown in Figure 121 where it

nips the block, at its lower right corner,between the tips of the right 2nd and3rd ringers. Although the deck is nowlow in the palm the left fingers retaintheir original positions.

Figure 121

6. The left hand now moves the deck forward while the right 2nd and 3rdfingers keep the block clipped. Theright thumb should be touching theright 1st finger during the action, asseen in Figure 122, not stuck out. The

left hand not only moves the deck for-ward but also slightly upward as theblock becomes more and more free of the pack. The block of Aces rides, onits lef t side, along the crease of the lef tpalm.

Figure 122

7. Continue moving the left hand for-ward and upward until the block isclear of the deck. At this stage the back of l e f t hand is towards spectators while

the block of cards is behind the l e f twrist. The left thumb at the same timeriffles the uppper left corner of thedeck. All this is shown in the two illus-trations where Figure 123 shows theperformer's view of the situation w h i l ethe Figure 124 shows the spectator'spicture of the same situation.

Figure 123

Figure 124

8. The right hand now moves its b l o c kslightly forward so it comes up againstthe top of the deck as in Figure 125.The l e f t hand now turns inwards caus -ing the block to ride up further ontothe deck as in Figure 126. The righthand now comes over the deck to pushthe block flush with the deck. Thisaction is similar to that already s h o w nin Figure 113.



399

BLOCK SHIFT TO THE TOP

Figure 125

t

Figure 126

9. Here again a block, which has beensecretly i n - jogged , can be swung overo n t o the Aces thus making a secretcard addition; however, I will detail am e t h o d that is more in keeping withthis particular series of actions.

10. In order to use the above Block S h i f t on cards that have been insertedseparately into the deck the followingmust first take place. After in-joggingthe cards to the back end, the cards

are held as in Figure 120, the SideSquare Up Position. The pack is heldend on towards the spectators in orderfor the next move not to be seen. Thisconsists in merely pulling out the in-

jogged cards, with the right thumb and3rd finger, for about half their lengthas in Figure 127, which is the per-former's view as the deck is held endon towards the audience. This now

loosens the cards enough for the rightfingers to clip them between the 2ndand 3rd fingers the situation beingsimilar to Figure 122.

Figure 127

The rest of the sleight is now concludedas in the first instance, Figures 123 to126 with Figure 113 being the finalmove to get the cards flush onto thedeck.

If doing these Block Shifts on the tablebe sure the left hand hugs close to thetable during the moves. If standing,turn your l e f t side, slightly, to the audi-ence and be sure to watch your anglesof visibility.

Special Handling

Here now is the special handling to geta secret block of cards over, say, thefour Aces.

1. Hold the deck face up in removingthe Aces. The Aces are placed facedown on the table. Run through thebalance of the deck as if to make sureyou have what you wanted. In themeantime get a break, with the left 4th

finger, above the four last cards. Theright hand now moves the deck for-ward, all except the four cards, thusin-jogging the four cards. With theright hand turn the deck over, to theleft, face down into the left hand. Theleft hand is tilted slightly to conceal thenow top four in-jogged cards.

2. Right hand picks up the Aces, one ata time, to place them onto the deck.



400

MULTIPLE SHIFT

The first Ace is placed directly in linewith deck but out-jogged for about half its length. Remaining Aces are nowplaced, one onto the other, in a fan.

Once the jogged cards are covered, theleft hand can tilt down so as to showthe backs of most of the fan.

3. The right fingers now move acrossthe top of the fan, as if adjusting it.Gradually the right thumb moves downto the lower right corner of the topmostcard of the fan as in Figure 128. Thisplaces the right 2nd and 3rd fingers inposition to clip the in-jogged block.

Figure 128

4. Once the in-jogged block is securelyclipped, between the tips of the right2nd and 3rd fingers, the left handmoves outwards and to the right tothus display the faces of the fan of cards. This action frees the block fromunder the fan and the block is behindthe left wrist. In f a c t , the actions from

now on are similar to Figures 122 to126 except here the fan of Aces is theexcuse for the left Wrist Turn instead of the riffling of the deck.

5. Once the block is moved on top of the Aces, but still at the rear of thedeck, the right hand closes the fan of Aces still leaving them ou t - jogged . Theright hand comes over the deck as if topush the Aces flush with the deck.

Actually by pushing down on the Aces,as they are pushed inwards, the block of in-jogged cards will be forced awayfrom the deck. The top block of cards

will rise up slightly to be immediatelytaken by the right 1st finger, which hasbeen curled on top of the out-joggedAces, at the upper left corner and theright thumb at the lower left corner,The other right fingers, at the f r o n tend, have done most of the pushingand levering up of the top block. Theright hand raises the block above thedeck to square it and the whole actionappears as if the Aces had been taken.

Block Shift VariationsThese variations can be used on ablock of cards or one card such as a

peeked selection.

First Variation (Block Shift)

1. Have a card peeked at. Angle it, asin A of Figure 48, with the tip of the l e f t4th finger. Do the All Around SquareUp to end up with the card in-joggedand the deck in the hands as shown inFigure 120. From here, get to the posi-tion shown in Figure 121 where theright 2nd and 3rd fingertips clip thelower right corner of the card.

2. Face the spectator full front duringthe next moves. Say, "Don ' t forget yourcard", at the same time, the left handmoves directly forward in a gesturetowards spectator. Naturally, the rightfingers hold onto their card so it endsup clear of, and behind the deck as inFigure 129. The left hand is also tilted

upwards slightly during the forwardmovement.

3. A reverse of the forward move,shown in Figure 129, places the rearcard on to deck as in Figure 126. Theright hand comes over the deck andpushes the rear card flush with thedeck (See Figure 113) while at thesame time the pack is raised up to theleft fingertips and a Square Up action



401

BLOCK SHIFT VARIATIONS

Figure 129

is made with both hands, of the endsand sides of the deck. See Chapter 2;Act ion Palm, for the Square Up Positionmentioned here. The card is now on topto be dealt with in accordance withyou r e f f e c t .

Second Variation (Block Shift)

1. This Second Variation can be usedon a block of cards, four or more sepa-rated cards or a single peeked at card.For this description I will assume ablock of cards is to be shifted from cen-t e r to top.

1. Having inserted the block get intothe Angle Position of A of Figure 48and from here do the All AroundSquare Up to get into the in-joggedposition. The deck is held, betweenb o t h hands, for the Side SquaringA c t i o n as in Figure 120. From here the

injogged block is moved out at the rearas shown in Figure 127.

3. When the cards reach the point of Figure 127, the deck is lowered into thel e f t hand. The right hand immediatelypositions itself as follows: The length of the right thumb is placed along the leftside of the block. The right third fingerw i l l lie along the length of the block of cards on the right side. The inner right

corner of the block will be pressingagainst the center of the right palm.

4. The left hand now moves forwardand upwards so that back of the lefthand is towards the spectator. At thisstage the cards in the right hand willbe behind those held in the left handas in Figure 130. Originally, the leftthumb is at the side of the deck at thestart of its forward movement but oncethe block is clear of the deck the leftthumb moves on top of the deck as inFigure 130.

Figure 130

The cards in the right hand will be cov-ered, on the right side, by the extendedfingers of the right hand. On the leftside they will be covered by the leftwrist so the move is practically coveredon both sides and front and only opento someone in back of the performer. Atthis stage, the deck is riffled by left

thumb at the upper left corner.5. To get the cards to the top of thedeck just bring the left hand back towards the waiting right hand thusgetting the block on top and shoving itunder the left thumb, which holds it inplace. This gives the right hand achance to come over the deck and pushthe block flush, (see Figure 113) thensquare the deck.



402

MULTIPLE SHIFT

Concluding Observations

In all Multiple Shifts described thedeck is at all times handled face downunless it is strictly essential, from a

presentation standpoint, to have thepack face up.

While I have not exactly stated, in everycase, to show the Aces or cards beforeyou insert them into deck, it isassumed that you will do this in yourbest possible manner.

The degree of the Angle Jog, at A of Figure 48, is controlled by how far theprojecting Aces or cards protrude

before the right 2nd finger starts topress on the upper left corner of theAces. If the Aces or cards protrude,say, a half inch from the deck and theright 2nd finger presses inwards on theupper left corner, the degree of angle,at the lower right corner, will be greaterthan if you start pushing, with right2nd finger when the Aces are only pro-

jecting say, a quarter inch. The closer you push the Aces into the deck, beforethe right 2nd finger pushes, the finer

or smaller the eventual Angle Jog willbe. During the angling only the leftthumb and 2nd finger keep pressureon the front ends of deck.

The first variation of the Block Shiftcan be used on four separated cards ormore. All you need to do is to get, say,the four Aces moved out far enough tothe rear of deck as in Figure 127. Youwill find that the moves in Figure 129and 126 can easily be done.

A subtlety you can use with anyMultiple Shift, that brings Aces toeither top or bottom, is the following:With the deck face down and the Aceson top of the deck, the right fingerspick off the top card as per Figure 2.Insert this first Ace in upper portion of the deck. The next two Aces are pickedoff, one at a time in the same manner,to be inserted below the 1st Ace. As

you pick off the last Ace Actually twocards as one are taken and insertedbelow the other three Aces. Now, a f t e reven the standard Multiple Shift, you

can immediately show the bottom of the deck as not having the Aces and, of course, also the top. Yet the Aces are

just above the one X card at the bottomof the deck.

If you handle the deck faces up thesame procedure is used, i.e., the lastAce is a double card. After the MultipleShift the Aces are shown not on thebottom and the top X card can beshown to apprent ly prove the Aces are

not there; however, they are in an easi-ly accessible position just under thetop X card.

Straddling the cards, between 1st and4th fingers, has been used in one f o r mor another by several card men.Erdnase describes it in a form of thecolor change as well as its use justbefore the Back Palm. Walter Scottmade use of it in his Bottom Deal andFarreli suggested it as a form of controlover the cards during a Second D e a land Buckley applied it to his ShuffleMultiple Shift in his book, Card Control. Other present day card mensuch as Art A l t m a n , Nea l Elias, andBill Simon have used the Straddle ideain one form or another. My use of the"Straddle" differs from any of thesources mentioned or those of theCardicians mentioned.

A s o n e c a n s e e , t h e I m m o v a b l e S h i f tbasically consists in twisting theinserted cards out to the top or bottom,Just in case some student may p o i n tout that according to Erdnase suchprocedures are old hat may I remindhim that first, Erdnase gave no d e f i n i t etechnique for such an accomplishment(Outside of his Diagonal Palm S h i f twhich has been used by present daycard men, notably Danny Ross, to getthe cards to the bottom of the deck,



403


although Erdnase himself does notmention that his sleight be used in thatway, and that of Jerry Andrus, whoalso has a special technique for twist-

ing out a block of Aces to the top of thedeck, there seems to be no other) andsecond, whatever methods are aroundin his day he found apparently not verypractical or deceptive. The ones in thischapter are both practical and decep-tive and the underlying techniques, foreach, original with me.

M o s t approaches to the Multiple Shiftare what I call the "Direct Approach".In other words, the insertion of the

Ace s is always pointed up, as it is usu-ally a part of the intended effect; how-ever, the "Indirect Approach" can beused very effectively. This consists inapparently inserting the four Aces,w h i c h may have just been used in ane f f e c t , without pointing up the fact,

just as if you were merely replacingthem into the deck and getting them out o f the way.

The All Around Square Up done atsuch a time is ideal as the handling of the deck will convey the impressionthat you put the Aces out of the wayand are now on the verge of doingsomething else. At such times you donot look at the deck. Your conversationshould be the chief attraction and notyour handling of the cards. Havingbrought the Aces to top or bottom yous t i l l should not be in any hurry to movei n t o the next effect. After a slight lapseof time you casually start what

appears, on the surface, as an entirelydifferent effect, yet later on the Acesw i l l figure prominently in the effect, orperhaps two or three effects later.

In some of the Multiple Shifts, especial-ly those using the Double Undercut orSingle Side Cuts, you must be carefulthat the Strip Out Action is not seen atthe front end of the deck. For this rea-son tipping the deck forward, so the

back of the deck is seen, during theactual Undercut will give cover; howev-er, other procedures can be used suchas turning slightly left or holding the

deck faces towards the audience, espe-cially if the control of the Aces is to beto the top, or being sure the right 2nd,3rd and 4th fingers stretch across thefront end of the deck during the actualStrip Out Cut.

Most forms of the Multiple Shift,described here in this Chapter, can bedelayed. Any of the types in which atop block is used to cover the joggedAces can be held in the usual

Mechanics Grip thus delaying the actu-al Strip-Out. The left forefinger, acrossthe front end of the deck, extendstowards the upper right corner andconceals the slight jog of Aces at thisend. The side-jogs, especially of theangled type, will be concealed by theleft fingers curling around pack whilethe major portion of the jogs aretowards the back and will not be seen.A proper tilt, to the hand holding thedeck, also aids in concealing any jogs.

After a sufficient wait, to give theimpression of no control over the cards,the particular Multiple Shift of yourchoice is made.

Added Notes -

The I n j og Glimpse - This consists of injogging a card or cards so that the pro-trusion is for about three quarters of an inch. Now by seeming to square thesides of the deck you can easily readthe indexes of any of the injogged

cards. The position of the deck andhands is similar to Figure 127 exceptthe cards would not be injogged as farbut only enough to get the indexes inview. If you have a good memory youcan remember the cards, assumingthey are selections, then push thecards flush. The deck can be handedout for shuffling and as you know thenames of all selections it should be no



404

MULTIPLE SHIFT

problem to relocate each selection inturn for its subsequent disclosure.

For easy remembering just rememberthe values of the four cards and make

only a mental picture of the suits. Youwill be surprised how easily the suit of the card is recalled as soon as thevalue is remembered. It is also possibleto crimp the four jogged cards so thatlater you can locate them a lot faster.To crimp, after first memorizing as sug-gested, merely push the injogged cardswith the right thumb until only about aquarter inch is left projecting. Now withball of the right thumb press down

sharply on the inner left corner of thefour injogged cards thus down-crimp-ing all four cards just before pushingthem flush and handing the deck outfor shuffling. On getting the deck back all you do is locate the cards in theorder memorized, the crimp makingthis a lot easier.

Mario's Turnaround Glimpse

The action here is similar to that of theAll Around Square Up except it is used

to glimpse the bottom card. The deck isheld at the fingertips of both hands inthe familiar Square Up position withthe left forefinger curled under thedeck and the right forefinger curled ontop. The right hand starts to turn thedeck clockwise and at the same timethe left hand, releasing its hold on thesides of the deck but keeping its leftforefinger pressed in against the bot-tom card, turns counter clockwise inorder to regrasp the sides of the deck as the right hand completes its turn.

When the left hand has grasped thesides of the deck, the right hand nowreleases the pack and turns counterclockwise, using the right forefingeragainst deck as a pivot point, toregrasp the deck by the ends again.Thus the deck is back in the Square Upposition after the Turnaround. Duringthe turning of the deck, however, it

will be noted that the bottom card willcome momentarily in performers line of vision just long enough for him toglimpse the card and remember same.

From the spectators view it seemsimpossible that you could have accom-plished anything but the mere turningof the deck. A glimpse is psychological-ly ruled out as the spectator himself sees only the backs of the cards.

The Turnaround manuever is excellentto use immediately after the replace-ment of a palmed card or cards. It isespecially effective after a Side Stealreplacement of the card to the top of

deck. The Turnaround and replace-ment are almost simultaneous.

Mario's Side Squaring Glimpse

This consists in doing the Side SquareUp as in Figure 120 while having acard palmed in the right hand. You willf i nd it an easy matter to glimpse thepalmed card during this action and noone will suspect the glimpse because of the Side Squaring action. Again this iseffective immediately after a Side Steal.

Mario's Acrobatic Aces

Effect: In this routine the four Acestravel repeatedly to the top, with noshuffling, then to the bottom and final-ly they are produced from the pocket.The effect is practical and can be doneclose-up behind a bar or on a platform.Also it is a routine that employs severalof the Immovable Shi f t s , therefore; byadding this to your repertoire it wil lkeep you in "trim" on the Shifts being

utilized.

1. Turn deck face up to remove fourAces meantime pointing out therearen't any others in the pack. Inresquaring the deck get a break on thefour last cards and i n j og them. Thuswhen the deck is turned face down thetop four cards are injogged.



405

MARLO'S ACROBATIC ACES

2. Show the Aces, one at a time, plac-ing them flush onto the deck.Apparently square up, but do theImmovable Shift to the top, as per

Figures 105 to 113, thus getting theinjogged four cards onto the Aces.

3. Patter here is, "You have perhapsseen me do the trick where I put fourAces into the middle of the d e c k ,square up the cards, and the Acescome to the top?" Here you havefanned off the top four X cards, strad-dled them as per Figure 117, insertedthem as a block into de ck , squared thesides of the deck, to conform to later

moves, thumbed over top four Aces andare displaying them fanned in the righth a n d .

4. Here close the fan, against the top of the deck, inserting the block of Acesinto the center again. Perform theImmovable Shift to the top. Thumbo v e r the top four cards, Aces, to displayt h e m , in a fan in the right hand. Patterfor these actions is, "Are you sure youhaven't seen me do the trick where I

place four Aces into the center of thedeck and they come to the top?"

5. Once again square the Aces againstthe deck and place them into the cen-ter but only about ten cards from thetop of the deck. At the same time anglethe block of Aces and get a break abovethem. Retain this break by pressing thetip of the left 4th finger against the sideof the deck near its inner right corner.L e f t thumb deals over the top four Xcards and the right hand shows the

faces of these, in a fan, to spectator.The line of talk, to cover the above is asfollows: "Well anyway I place the Acesinto center of the deck and they cometo the top. Marvelous isn't it?"

6. Take the fan of four X cards and insquaring them up against the deck steal those cards above the left 4th fin-ger break as well. These cards are of course straddled, thus concealing their

thickness, as per Figure 117 andinserted as apparently only four Xcards into the center of the deck. Thisof course brings the Aces to the top.

The top four cards are taken off anddisplayed to show the Aces.

The glib lines, especially if the specta-tor starts to tell you that the four Xcards are not the Aces, are as follows,"No - you don't understand, I place theAces in the center and they come to thetop - see".

7. The four Aces are once moresquared against the top of the deck,taken from above, with the right hand,in the straddle position shown inFigure 117, to be inserted into the deck as a unit. The deck is apparentlysquared but you do the ImmovableShift this time to the bottom. The line of chatter is, "Well then have you seen theone where I place the Aces in the cen-ter but they don't go to the top (point totop of deck) instead they go to the bot-tom".

8. Thumb off the four Aces off the face

of the deck and hold them face down inthe right hand. Turn the deck in theleft hand so it is face down again.

9. This time insert the Aces into sepa-rate parts of the deck. Do the Shuffleand Palm Multiple Shift, to control theAces and also palm them off into theright hand. With the Aces palmed inthe right hand ruffle the front end of the deck with the right fingers. Movethe left hand, with the deck, to the left

and flip the deck face up. Right handreproduces all four Aces from eitheryour right coat or trouser pocket orfrom under the left side of your coat ina face up fan.

The concluding patter lines are,"Actually the idea is to place the Acesinto different parts of the deck - pushthem in - then shuffle them. Now theAces do not appear on top or on the



Chapter Twelve

Card Switches

Rear Flat Palm Rear Angle Palm Thumb Clip Palm Latest Thumb Clip Palm ChangingP alm Positions Flat Card Pickup Rear Angle Palm To Flat Rear Palm Flat Rear Palm To Rear Angle Palm Getting Into The Palm Positions Methods of Unloading The X Card After \ T h e Switch The Flexible Unload Suggestions The Card Switch Transfer Single Card Switches An Impressive Sequence A Simpler Sequence A Third Sequence Further

Alignment Move Switches Variations of the First Switch Mario's Card Switch Additional

M eth od s For Getting Into The Basic Position Methods of Disclosure Effects Using The M a r io Card Switch Mario's Push Switch Push Switch Variation The Circular ChangeI M a r l o and D'Amico) Rub-A-Dub Change (Mario) In And Out Switches UnloadingSwitches Without The Deck Pseudo Card Cheat's Switches Simplest Push Switch AnglePa lm Switch Four and Four Transposition Additional Rear Palm Switches Top Palm

[Sw i tch The Throw Switch One Hand Switch Another Rear Palm Switch The Spread Switch Switcheroo Monte Swindle Mario's Regulation Palm Switches Added Notes

It is very difficult to make a cleardistinction between"CardChanges","Card Exchanges", and "Card

Switches" yet some attempt at definingthe difference should be made. Perhapsone general definition would be to saythat a Card Change is one where thelace of the card is noted and later it isshown to be another card. Thus the• c a r d has been Changed. A "CardSwitch" would then be one in which acard or cards, either noted orunknown, would apparantly be takento still be the same cards although anExchange or Switch had been made.

Still even this is not quite the answeras even in Card Changes the originalcard is taken to be that card until it isshown to be another card. Maybe thisK the difference - that in a true CardSwitch you do not show it to be another card but it is taken to be the originalcard or cards. In other words theapproach of a Card Switch differs fromt h a t of a Card Change. Therfore it is

evident that so called Card Changescan also become Card Switches. As anexample- the Curry Change is used to

turn a face up card face down. Laterthe card is shown to be different. ACard Change has taken place. On theother hand a card is face down and noone knows its identity. It is turned faceup but in the process "Switched orExchanged" for the top card of the deck thus revealing the face of the card forthe first time. Naturally it is taken to bethe samecard that was previously facedown and apparantly no change hadtaken place.

Having somewhat clarified the mean-ings of Changes and Switches I will tryto be careful and make these distinc-tions whenever it becomes necessary.

The Card Switch is a simpler problemfor the card cheat as he has at all timesthe excuse of using both hands as heapparantly checks, looks or peeks athis card or cards. The uniformity of action is his greatest weapon outside of



408

CARD SWITCHES

being suspect free. The card man,doing card effects, in most cases hasno such excuse; however, he has theadvantage of other alternatives whichare logical and in keeping with theinvented premise. He can move thecard from one place to another, he canturn the card over, in a gesture he canask the spectator to hold his hand onthe card, he can pick up the card tolook at it then toss it down again buthe can not take the furtive look orpeek, associated with looking at the"Hole Card", without any logical reasonfor so doing.

The card man's action must be moreopen and conform to the effect in ques-tion. It can for that reason be moredeliberate providing the Switch is donecleanly and with no hesitation.

The various Card Switches andChanges to be described are based onprinciples inherent with such slightsbut all the methods here described, aswell as their underlying techniques, areof my own creation unless otherwise

stated. At times I have supplied thelogic for a particular Switch or Change;however, in others I have describedonly the basic action of the Switchleaving the student to decide his owncourse. This naturally could mean thatonly the logic of one Switch be trans-ferred to the one preferred.

Most important in Card Switches arethe various Palm Positions and I willdeal with this first. Basically these con-

sist of the Rear Flat Palm, Rear AnglePalm, Thumb Clip Palm and the LatestThumb Clip Palm; however, at timesthere may be others mentioned, suchas the regular palm, in the text that fol-lows.

Rear Flat Palm

In this the palmed card is held as seenin Figure 1, with its upper corners atthe base of the 4th finger and ball of

Figure 1

the thumb. The thumb presses inagainst the side of the card thus k e e p -ing it in place.

Note that the palmed card is well backand in fact the fingers can spread w i t h -

out the card being seen; however, caremust be taken, at the base of the 4thfinger, so this corner does not p e e kout. Also be sure that card does not jutout either side of the palm especiallynear the wrist. With the card Rear Fla tPalmed the fingers can be extendedand the hand held flat on the table or itcan be held with all four fingers curledinto the palm. Figure 1 shows the r igh thand but either hand can be used.

Rear Angle PalmHere the grip on the palmed card issuch that the right side of the card liesalong that part of the palm in line withthe 4th finger while the extendedthumb maintains pressure on the l e f t

side of the card at about its ce n t e r ,Figure 2 shows the position of the cardin the right hand.

Figure 2

Note that the card is held in place bythe ball of the right thumb going diago-nally across the left side of the c a rd ;however, at times the joint below the



409

THUMB CLIP PALM

bal l of the thumb can keep the card inplace. The Rear Angle Palmed Card canlie anywhere from the tips of the fin-gers to further back but the position

shown in Figure 2 is the desired onewhen dealing with these CardSwitches. Either hand can be used forthis palm.

Thumb Clip Palm

Al s o commonly known as the GamblersFlat Palm, I have changed its name toavoid confusion with the Rear FlatPalm and besides, the card is clippedwith the thumb so the above nameseems more appropriate.

Figure 3

The palm is seen in Figure 3 and ispractically self explanatory. I may add

I that at times the 4th finger comes in toclip the outer corner of the card againstthe 3rd finger. In this case the handcan be lifted above the table whenneeded. Again either hand can be usedfo r th e palm.

Latest Thumb Clip Palm

Th i s type of palm is reported to be usedby the elite of the "Holdout" cardsharps. Basically the starting positionis that of the Flat Rear Palm as in

!

Figure 1 and from here the f ingers curlin towards the palm thus forcing thecard well past the base of the fingersa f t e r which the thumb "Clips" the cardat the upper corner as in Figure 4. Notethat the card is past the base of thef i n g e r s thus enabling the fingers to

[really be spread out as they apparantly[ m o v e some object or another card.

Care must be taken that the card doesnot show at the rear part of the handnear the wrist. To get the card back into the Rear Flat Palm all you do is

move the fingers in again and pull thecard forward, with the tips of the fin-gers, until the card comes into positionfor the Rear Flat Palm. The moving inand out of the fingers is of course cov-ered by some plausible pretext such asmoving other visible objects with thehand that has the card palmed. Theleft or right hand can be used for thepalm.

Figure 4

The above four basic palm positionswill be used in most of the Switcheswith perhaps variations entering inother forms of the Switches. A primary

rule to keep in mind is that the hand orhands move close to the table or work-ing surface during the Switches withfew exceptions. While either hand canbe used the descriptions, for the vari-ous Switches, will be given for the righthand as doing the major work. Onemore detail - be sure the palmed carddoes not peek out between the 3rd and4th fingers. This is a major fault evenamong good palmers almost regardlessof what type of palm they use.

Changing Palm Positions

An important requisite for CardSwitches is the changing of a card fromone palm position to another in orderto give greater freedom of movement tothe hand palming the card. A specialFlat Card Pickup of my own inventionwill be described first as it will be of great use in many of the Switches.



410

CARD SWITCHES

Flat Card Pickup

This consists in a card being flat on thetable and the hand being placed palmdown onto the card. As you can see it

is impossible to lift the hand and havethat card come away with it unless youhave unusually wet palms. The follow-ing technique will enable you to get thecard into either a Flat Rear Palm orRear Angle Palm.

1. To get the card into a Flat RearPalm. Keep the hand flat on the cardbut the 1st finger is bent inwards untilits nail contacts the upper corner of thecard.

2. Now the nail having engaged theedge of the card, the 1st finger is bentin still further causing the card tobuckle upwards as in Figure 5 whichshows an exposed view with the thumbout of the way.

Figure 5

3. When the card is buckled, as inFigure 5, the thumb presses against itand the 1st finger straightens outagain. You will note that the card isnow lifted off the table at the uppercorner as in Figure 6 which again is anexposed view. Normally the thumb and

1st finger would be close together tohide this condition.

4. At this stage the lifted corner is heldby pressure of the thumb and all f o u rfingers are extended and close togeth-er. The next step is to curl the four fin-

gers in and under the card at the sametime the card is worked into the RearFlat Palm position. Once the card issecurely gripped, as in Figure 1, thefingers can once more be extended.

5. To get the card into a Rear A n g l ePalm Proceed as per Steps 1 and 2 asin Figure 5, where the 1st finger hasbuckled the card. At this point thethumb moves in against the buckledcard but the 1st finger does notstraighten out. Instead it is curled inabove the card while the 2nd f i n g e rcomes in under the card. The uppercorner of the card is thus clipped, forthe moment, between the 1st and 2ndfingers while the other fingers curl innormally with this action as seen inFigure 7, a bottom view of the grip.

Figure 7

6. The 1st and 2nd fingers now swingthe card outwards in order to enablethe ball of the thumb to engage theside of the card as in Figure 8 which isa top picture of the action.

Figure 6 Figure 8



411

CHANGING PALM POSITIONS

The thumb presses on its side of thecard to keep the opposite side firmlyagainst the palm. In this way the cardis now Rear Angle Palmed as already

shown in Figure 2.7. It is also possible to get the card intoeither the Rear Angle Palm or the RearFlat Palm from the Thumb Clip Palm.Briefly, the procedure is merely torelease the clipped card, from underthe thumb, by slightly moving out thethumb so as to let this corner of thecard escape. With the card now flatunder the palm all you do is gothrough the actions of the Flat Card

Pickup to get the card into either theRear Angle Palm or the Rear Flat Palm.

Rear Angle Palm

To Rear Flat Palm

1. Assuming the card is in Rear AnglePalm position and you wish to get itinto the Rear Flat Palm position pro-ceed as follows: The 1st and 2nd fin-gers curl in to clip the outer corner of the card between them as in Figure 8.

2. With the card thus clipped thethumb now presses in on the side of the card causing it to swing in underthe palm. The card is still clippedbetw een the 1st and 2nd fingers andthe position is as in Figure 7, which isa bot tom view.

3. All that you need to do now is toengage the outer corners of the card bypressure of thumb and base of 4th fin-ger thus enabling you to extend all fourfingers as in Figure 1 which is a bottom

view of the card's position.Rear Flat Palm

To Rear Angle Palm

1. In this case the card is Rear FlatPalmed and you desire to bring it intothe Rear Angle Palm. The 1st and 2ndfingers curl in towards the palm withthe 3rd and 4th fingers following along

in a natural manner. The 1st and 2ndfingers clip the outer corner of the cardas in Figure 7, a bottom view.

2. With the outer corner of the cardclipped, between the 1st and 2nd fin-gers, it is moved outwards from underthe palm and at same time the card israised just enough so its one side willlie along that part of the palm in linewith the 4th finger while the ball of thethumb maintains pressure on theopposite side of the card. At this stage,the Figure 8 shows the situation.

3. Once the card is felt to be secured,the fingers can be extended with the

card retained in the Rear Angle Palmas in Figure 2.

Once it is understood how to "ChangePalm Positions" the next step is how toget into those Palm Positions in thefirst place. Basically all you really needto do is get into anyone of the PalmPositions and from there into any of theother Palm Positions as already out-lined in Changing Palm Positions; how-ever, I will outline several procedures

but for actual details I suggest you look into the references made to the variousChapters of the present volume.

Getting Into The Palm Positions

First Method:

To take a card directly into Rear AnglePalm from the top of the deck, hold thedeck as in Figure 9 with all four fingersat the side and the thumb angled onthe front end of the deck. The otherhand comes over the deck as if to

square the ends.Again, I am not stressing left or righthand as either hand can be useddepending on whether you are left orright handed. Under cover of all fourfingers at the front end, the angledthumb pushes the top card downwardsand towards the hand above the pack as shown in Figure 10.



412

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 9

Figure 10

The action is continued with the thumbpushing the card still further to therear of the hand above the deck, as inFigure 11. At this point the palminghand can press its thumb against theside of the card thus holding it in a

Rear Angle Palm.

Figure 11

The hand above the deck now moves tothe side, as if again squaring the endsof the deck, until the top of the deck isexposed to view. Then this hand aloneretains the cards as in Figure 12where, please note, the 1st finger isnow curled on top of the deck. Thishand can now deposit the pack on thetable as the card is retained in the Rear

Figure 12

Angle Palm and rested on the table.From here the Rear Angle Palmed cardcan be changed to a Rear Flat Palm if so desired and from there into theLatest Thumb Clip Palm if need be. The

reverse procedure will again bring thecard into the Angle Palm. For aMultiple Rear Angle Palm, see Chapter5; The Tabled Palm, page 26 The TipUp Angle Palm

Second Method:

You can cut the top card to center andSide Steal it into Rear Angle Palm. Forseveral cards, insert them into the deck as a unit and then do a Multiple Stealinto the Rear Angle Palm. See Chapter

4; The Side Steal, for details of gettinga card into Angle Palm

Third Method:

Use anyone of the Angle Palm Steals orFlat Palm Steals from Chapter 5, TheTabled Palm. The study of Chapter 5 ispractically a must if you are to get thebest results from the Switches.

Fourth Method:

Use the Clip Steal from either the cen-ter or off the top of the deck. Fromhere, the clipped card can be easilytransferred to the Rear Angle Palm bymoving the hand to the edge of thetable and then pressing the thumbdown against the side of the card.

The Figure 13 shows how the card isclipped at base of the 3rd and 4th fin-gers. Figure 14 shows how the card is



413

GETTING INTO PALM POSITIONS

Figure 13

Figure 14

brought over the edge of the table sothat the thumb can engage the side of the card and thus get the card intoAngle Palm. From the one palm it can,of course, be changed to , say, a RearFlat Palm. For details of The Clip Steal,see Chapter 4, The Side Steal

Fifth Method:

You can use the edge of the table to getinto the Palm Positions, required forthe Switches, from a Regular FullPalm. The card is palmed in the usualmanner into the hand as for a regularpalm. The fingertips of this hand arerested on the edge of the table as inFigure 15.

Once this position is attained, the cardcan be brought to a Rear Flat Palm bymerely rocking the hand slightly so asto raise the front end of the card. Thefingertips will also raise slightly abovethe table just enough for all four fin-gers to curl in under the front end of the card. As the fingers curl in, theypush the card further in towards thepalm which will eventually move the

card into the Rear Flat Palm position.Once this is done the fingers can againbe extended.

To get the card into a Rear Angle Palm,from the position shown in Figure 15,simply turn the hand in towards thebody, then with the ball of the thumbpress down on the side of the card.This will cause the card to tip up intoan Angle Palm similar to that shown inFigure 14 except in this case thethumb keeps the card in place againstthe table while the rest of the handmoves slightly forward in order to bringthe card further back into the hand as

per Figure 14. In either case, once youreach one position or another the cardcan be changed to any other position.

Figure 15

It is interesting the way the table edgecan get you not only into the two Palmsmentioned but also into the ThumbClip Palm. All you need do is merelymove your thumb downwards till youfeel that the inner corner is above thethumb. Now bring the thumb in

against this corner and the card will bein position of Figure 3, the Thumb ClipPalm. This position is also important insome of the Switches.

Sixth Method:

This also uses the Table Edge but it isassumed that in this case the cardhappens to be flat on the table underthe hand which is more or less away



414

CARD SWITCHES

from the edge of the table. With thepalm of your hand flat on the card,move your hand to the edge of the tableat a sort of inward angle, moving intowards the body. As the edge of thetable is reached the card will automati-cally tip up into a Rear Angle Palmsimilar to Figure 14.

Seventh Method:

This has already been explained underThe Flat Card Pickup.

Eighth Method:

From a top Full Palm. Cards arepalmed off the top of the deck into a

Full Palm as the palming hand holdsthe deck from above in the normalmanner. The other hand holds thesides of the deck from below. This handnow grasps the sides of the palmed cards, just above the deck, between itsthumb and 2nd finger. These fingersnow hold the cards above the deck while the hand originally palming thecards, swings down around the cardsso as to Rear Angle Palm them. Thepalming hand can then either retake

the deck or move away with its AnglePalmed cards.

The cards can be Rear Flat Palmedfrom this position, directly off the top of the deck. By merely moving the palm-ing hand forward as the thumb and2nd finger of the other hand hold ontothe cards, the cards come into positionto be clipped into a Rear Flat Palm.

Ninth Method:

Similar to the 8th Method except herethe thumb and 2nd finger, which graspthe sides of the originally palmedcards, do the actual placing of thesecards into either the Rear Angle Palmor into the Rear Flat Palm. The processis very simple as the moving of thecards into position passes off as a side-squaring of the pack.

Tenth Method:

Here the card or cards are palmed inthe regulation manner with the handabove the pack having its first finger

curled on top of the deck. By pressinginwards with the 1st finger the palmedcard will be forced to slip off the base of the palm until the card is clipped onlyby the curled first finger.

At this stage the other hand can leavethe deck. The hand with the deck goesto deposit it on the table but the card,clipped against the palm by 1st finger,is retained. Immediately as the deck isreleased the card is clipped into the

Rear Flat Palm. Of course, from thisposition the card can be changed toone of the other palms.

Figure 16 shows the right 1st fingerbending inwards causing the card totravel, past the base of the thumb,towards the rear of the palm. Figure 17shows how the card is held momentari-ly, by the right 1st finger pressing thecard against the palm, after the deck isreleased. The right thumb is placed

against the side of the card enablingthe right 1st finger to straighten out.The card is now in Rear Flat Palm andfrom there it can be changed to any of the other palm positions.

Figure 16

Note that the right 4th finger has to bemoved outwards only very slightly inorder that the base of the 4th fingercan clip the corner of the card. The



415

THE FLEXIBLE UNLOAD

Figure 17

ca r d is now kept in place by pressureof the right thumb and the base of the4th finger on the upper corners of thecard.

Methods of Unloading The X CardAfter The Switch

It is essential at times to be clean of any card after the initial Switch; there-f o r e , getting rid of the new palmed cardshould be one of the requisites.Basically, you can unload the card intothe lap or directly onto the top of thedeck, from either a Rear Flat Palm orRear Angle Palm. I suggest a study of Chapter 5, The Tabled Palm for severalmethods of accomplishing this.

However , I will detail a method that is

very flexible in its application not onlyto unloading a card, whether the pack is face down or face up, but will also bean aid in several of the effects men-t ioned in Chapter 5, especially in suche f f e c t s as Card To Top, page 19, Out of Y o u r Hands, page 16, and the secondmethod of Rise-Rise-Rise on page 25.A l s o a method for transferring a RearF l a t Palmed card or a Rear AnglePalmed card from hand to hand. Butfirst—

The Flexible Unload

1. Assuming you have a card palmed inany one of the various positions it iseventually brought into the Rear FlatPalm position. Also suppose the card isin the right hand although either handcan be used.

2. With the card Rear Flat Palmed thefour fingers curl inwards under the

front end of the card. The thumb isplaced on top of the upper corner thusthe corner is actually pressed betweenthe tip of the thumb and the tip of the

1st finger.3. The thumb and 1st finger now sortof move the card out so it peeks outfrom under the hand. As this is beingdone the other hand, the left hand inthis case, is placed against the innerleft corner of the tabled deck as follows:The thumb is at the back end at aboutcenter, the 1st finger is pressing its tipon top of the deck at center near theleft side, the 2nd finger is at the left

side of the deck at about center whilethe 3rd and 4th fingers merely liealongside and touch the table top.

4. With the deck thus anchored inplace and the palmed card swung outslightly the position of both hands is asshown in Figure 18. This is showingthe right hand already moving intowards the deck. It is obvious fromthis that the card will be broughtunder the deck and yet as simple as itappears there are a few technicaldetails to keep in mind.

First, do not press down too hard, onthe palmed card, with the thumb asthis will cause the inner left corner tocurl upwards too much and instead of the card going under the pack smooth-



416

CARD SWITCHES

ly it will hit the deck and cause a noiseand even prevent the card from goingunder.

5. The palmed card is not brought out,

as in Figure 18, until the hand startsto move towards the tabled deck. Thelower left corner of the palmed card isstarted under the deck at its upperright corner although this can vary toanywhere from the corner of the deck to down the side of the deck.

Figure 19 shows the corner of thepalmed card being started, under thepack, at about a half-inch from theupper right corner. An attempt at start-

ing the card, under the pack, furtherdown the side of the pack may result inmore trouble, and even failure, but doexperiment.

Figure 19

6. Once the card moves under the deck you will note that the fingers also gobeneath the cards thus it is an easymatter to nip the front end of the deck,between the fingers and thumb, and lift

it up to the left hand. The left handtakes the deck by the sides which givesthe right hand a chance to changeposition so it comes above deck to takeit by the ends. Both hands now squarethe deck in the usual manner afterwhich the cards can be retained oragain dropped to the table.

Suggestions

Besides the already suggested uses forthis Flexible Unload, in reference toChapter 5, here are a few more.

1. The deck is face up or face down ,and the palmed card is in the oppositeway to that of the pack. After theunloading the deck can be cut and thecard revealed face up.

2. It can be used as a secret Pass orShift of the top card to the bottom of the deck. This would consist in thedeck being on the table and the topcard palmed off using a Tabled Palm,The hand then comes towards the deck and unloads the card to the bottom asthe deck is picked up and squared thenreplaced on the table.

3. With the above suggestion in Step 2,some effects are possible. A top cardcan be shown and tossed face downonto the tabled deck. In squaring thetabled cards a Tabled Palm is made.The hand moves away, for only a shortdistance, from the pack, then immedi-ately comes to apparently scoop up thedeck and square it in the hands.Naturally the palmed card has beenunloaded to the bottom of the pack during this action. Deck replaced to thetable. The top card can now be shownas either having Vanished, Changed ortravelled to the bottom ala theAmbitious Card theme.

4. In doing the Flexible Unload theaction is not fast or sharp as if trying to

force a card under the deck. Due to the

left fingers anchoring the deck theUnloading can be easy, smooth andperformed in a natural manner. Theimportance of the fingers being placedon the deck or on a card will be seen insome of the Switches. The unloading isbest and most easily done directly f r oma Rear Angle Palm as the card is practi-cally in the desired position.



417

CARD SWITCH TRANSFER

The Card Switch Transfer

At times it is to one's advantage to beable to transfer a card from one handto another either before, during or aftera Card Switch. This then is such amanueve r .

1. Assume a card is brought to RearA n g l e Palm position in the right hand.The right hand, fingers extended, trav-els to the left hand which it meets as inFigure 20. At this point the left fingersare curled under the front end of thecard while the left thumb is pressingon its upper right corner. Thus thecard is trapped between the tip of the

thumb on top and the tip of the 1st fin-ger below. The extended right thumb,holding the Angled Card, is under thel e f t palm. If the right hand were movedaway at this stage the position of thecard, in left fingers, would be as seenin Figure 21.

Figure 20

Figure 21

2. Before the right hand moves away,the left thumb and 1st finger swingsthe card under the left palm. The lefthand now has all four fingers curled

under the front end of the card as inFigure 22. From this position the cardis easily brought into the Rear FlatPalm enabling the left fingers to be

extended.

Figure 22

3. To get the card back into the righthand a reverse of the actions describedis made. The right hand comes over tothe left. The left thumb and 1st fingerswing out its card, similar to Figure 21,which is taken into the right hand as inFigure 20. The swinging out of thecard, from left hand, does not takeplace until the right hand is close tothe left as in Figure 20.

4. The ball of the right thumb catchesthe side of the card and moves awaywith the card, now in a Rear AnglePalm. From the Rear Angle Palm thecard can be brought to a Rear FlatPalm as already detailed in the sectionon Changing Positions.

Never hold the palming hand flat on thetable when the hand is supposed to beat rest. Using the edge of the table is allright but on the table the fingersshould curl in toward palm in a natur-al relaxed way.

Single Card Switches

These Switches that follow are basicallythose which exchange one card foranother. Where it also can be used forseveral cards I will mention this. Someof these can be used as out and outdemonstrations of skill and as suchcan be impressive to both laymen and



418

CARD SWITCHES

magicians but the road you choose tofollow is yours.

An Impressive Sequence

This introduces several new innova-tions as well as making use of somealready described. It is a sequence thatwill give you a chance to keep up onseveral sleights and for that reasonalone is worth practicing even if younever use it publicly. It can be doneseated or standing.

1. Hold the deck in the left hand as fordealing. The left thumb shoves over twocards one in advance of the other. The

foremost card is taken by the righthand, its face is shown and the card istossed face down onto the table. Theright hand comes back, fingers sort of extended, in front of the card that isstill thumbed off to the side of thepack. The upper right corner of thiscard is clipped between the right 2ndand 3rd fingers, as in Figure 23, nearthe base of the palm.

Figure 23

Once the card is secure between thesefingers the right hand moves in caus-ing the clipped card to go flush ontodeck. The right hand now takes pack

as in Figure 24 but, of course, the topcard remains clipped between the 2ndand 3rd fingers.

2. The right hand now places the deck to the front and right of the tabledcard. As this is being done the left fin-gers position themselves on the singletabled card as follows: The left 1st fin-ger is placed on top of the inner l e f tcorner of the card. The left thumb is atthe back end of the card but near the

1st finger. The left 2nd finger is on theleft side of the card near the left 1stfinger. Thus these three digits convergeat the inner left corner while the 3rdand 4th fingers merely lie alongside orcan be curled into the left palm.

3. The right hand meantime hasdropped the deck but the clipped cardis retained. As the hand moves awayfrom the deck the fingers are extendedbut the thumb moves in alongside the

1st finger. In other words, do not let it jut out. This covers the clipped cardsufficiently on the right side.

Figure 24 Figure 25



419

AN IMPRESSIVE SEQUENCE

4. The right hand, moving close to thetable, starts to move in towards thetabled card as in Figure 25. This showsthe position of the deck, the cardclipped in the right hand and the leftfingers holding the tabled card in placefor the "Alignment Move" to follow.

5. The right hand moves its card under the tabled card as in Figure 26, aneasy matter as left fingers keep thecard in place. The action of Figure 26 iscontinued until both cards are in line.

Figure 26

This alignment is further helped by thel e f t thumb and 2nd finger pressinginwards on the corner of the two cards

just as if squaring up after a tableshuffle. The cards are further helped inthis by the right 2nd finger curling overthe front end of the two cards as wellas the base of the right 2nd and 3rdfingers aiding in the squaring action atthe upper right clipped corners of thecards. The Figure 27 shows the posi-tion of both hands during this time.

6, The left thumb now moves in underthe cards and the cards are turned faceup. To insure alignment at this pointthe tip of right 2nd finger presses in onthe upper left corner of the cards dur-ing the turn. Immediately as the cardsturn face up, the right fingers grasp theupper left corner, of the cards, as inFigure 28. The left fingers remain atthe inner right corner of the cards.

Figure 27

The position of the right fingers, on theupper left corner is, ball of the thumb

on the index of the face card, the tip of 1st finger against the corner of thecards, the tip of 2nd finger under thecorner of the card with the 3rd and 4thfingers curled in naturally under thecards. The cards are more or less in aMiracle Change position except heretwo hands will figure in the next move.

Figure 28

7. With the cards face up as in Figure28, the right 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingersmove inwards toward the palm. At the

same time the tip of the 2nd fingerpresses on the under card thus caus-ing it to move inwards also. The left fin-gers simultaneously start to move theface card outwards, the result being asin Figure 29 which shows what is hap-pening at this point.

8. The action of Figure 29 is continueduntil the left hand has only the singleface up card while the right hand has



420

CARD SWITCHES

retained the under card as in Figure30. Note that the card in the right handis now in a position to be either RearFlat Palmed or Rear Angle Palmed. In

this case the card is Rear Angle Palmedand the fingers extended. All this takesplace as the left hand tosses its card tothe table on the left.

Figure 30

9. With the card now on the table theleft fingertips push it still further for-

ward. Now the left hand moves intowards the right and the Rear AnglePalmed card, from the right hand, istransferred to the left hand into a RearFlat Palm as per Figures 20-21-22 of the Card Switch Transfer.

10. The situation now is a face up cardRear Flat Palmed in the left hand, deck face down on the right and a face upcard on the left. The right hand reaches

for the deck and while this is done theleft 1st finger curls in to go above thepalmed card. The left hand would thenappear as in Figure 31 if seen from

below

Figure 31

11. The right hand has meantimepicked up the deck and now brings itto the left hand which turns palm up tomeet it. The left hand 2nd, 3rd and 4thfingers are extended, but the left 1stfinger remains curled under the card.The deck is placed directly onto thepalmed card as in Figure 32 where youwill note the left fingers are extendedand the left thumb is along the side of

the deck. This position is held only fora fraction of a second as immediatelythe right hand moves the deck forwardand the left fingers assume a sidesquaring position as in Figure 33, abottom view. The left forefinger havingbeen curled in at all times, comes tothis position automatically.

Figure 32



421

A SIMPLER SEQUENCE

Figure 33

12. Should your audience be more infront of you than to the right I suggestyou start the Impressive Sequence by

placing the deck to the Left. The origi-nal tabled card is, of course, positionedproperly so that as the right handleaves the pack it automatically travelstowards the tabled card. From herethere is only the change of workingf r om the left side.

The Clip Palm of Figures 23, 24 and 25is ideal as a regular palm especiallywhere you want to give the impressionof a very clean release of the deck. Get

in the position of Figure 24 and thenhold the right hand in front of a mirror,back of hand to the mirror, so you canstill see the backs of the cards. Nowmerely let go of the deck and extendthe right fingers in the normal manner.N o t e how the clipped card swingsdownwards behind the right hand. Theillusion of having let go of all the cardsis perfect.

To replace the Clip Palmed card all youneed to do is bring the hand directlyover the deck just as if you were goingto pick it up, as if nothing was in your hand. Once more you will note how thecard comes flush onto the deck andswings into view just as the deck is

picked up , with the 1st finger curlingonto the deck, in the usual way. Thepack is transferred into the left handand the right hand just moves awayleaving the card on top of the pack.

Some may prefer to clip the cardbetween the 3rd and 4th fingers at thebase of the palm; however, I havefound the clip position between the 2nd

and 3rd fingers, as described, to bemuch better in this case.

A Simpler Sequence

At this point I will refer to the positionof the card that is to be exchanged,rather than going through the repeti-tion of the obvious procedure as if aneffect of some sort was in progress.

1. The card to be exchanged is lyingface down on the table to the left. The

deck is held face down in the left handbut in a rather forward position so thatthe left 3rd fingertip can hold a break,under the top card, at the inner rightcorner. The left thumb is across thelower end of the deck and practicallytouching the tip of the 3rd finger. Theinner left corner of the deck is in theleft thumb crotch. The position is suchthat the top card can be swung to theleft, by the left thumb, over the left sideof the pack when the time comes.

2. The right hand is above the deck squaring the ends in the usual man-ner. Now the right hand moves acrossthe end of the deck towards the left.During this time the right fingers areextended and the palm of the handcompletely covers the pack from thefront. It is now that the left thumbswings the top card to the left as inFigure 34 where you will note how theright hand is getting the card into theRear Angle Palm.

3. The right hand having Rear AnglePalmed its card starts to move towardsthe tabled card on the left. The lefthand meantime turns its deck face upalso on the left but near performer. Theleft hand now moves towards thetabled card to take its position on theinner left corner in readiness for thefirst stage of the Switch.



422

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 34

4. Remember, the right hand has the

card in Rear Angle Palm position so allyou need to do is merely curl in thefour fingers under the front end of thecard as you move in towards the tabledcard as shown in Figure 41. From hereyou line up the two cards as in Figure42 and then turn them face up as inFigure 28. Next the Miracle Changeaction of Figure 29 and 30 is made.

5. After the left hand deposits its cardface up on the table this hand moves

back to pick up the deck, by the sides,so it is raised slightly off the table butthe relative position of the deck remains the same. Meantime the righthand, with fingers extended, moves thetabled card still further forward.

The right hand now curls its four fin-gers in under the front end of thepalmed card then moves towards thedeck, at the same time unloading thepalmed card beneath the face up pack.

At the same time a follow throughaction is made of the left hand turningits palm upwards as the right handcomes over the deck. Both hands nowhave the pack in a Square Up Positionas in Figure 35.

In the initial pickup of the face up deck the left 1st finger is already curled onthe face of the deck. The Figure 36shows the right hand unloading the

card to under the deck. However, thesame actions in reverse can be used tosteal a card off the bottom of the deck into either a Rear Angle Palm or a Rear

Flat Palm. You need only try it to see.

Figure 35

Figure 36

Also the bottom card, regardless of whether the deck is face up or down,can be pivoted directly off the pack intoa Rear Flat Palm or Angle Palm as inFigure 37, a bottom view. Note that thecard is not moved forward first.

A Third Sequence

1. The card to be exchanged is forwardon the table and face down. The righthand steals a card into a Rear FlatPalm position using, say, the actionshown in Figure 37, except here thedeck is face down so the card is stolenface down.



423

A THIRD SEQUENCE

2. The left hand places the deck aside,to the left, still face down then movesto take its anchor position at the innerl e f t corner of the tabled card in readi-

ness for the Alignment Move.

Figure 37

3. The right hand moves in towards thetabled card as in Figure 41 and Figure42 but when this position is reached,with both cards in line, the right handturns the cards face up into the lefthand as in Figure 38. Note the lefthand finger positions are important.The left thumb is across face of thecards and the tip of left 2nd finger is atthe upper right corner of the cardsthus the cards are held rather low inthe left hand.

Figure 38

A. As soon as the cards, as one, areturned face up, the right hand comesin from above in order to take the facecard by the ends. At the same time thel e f t 2nd finger buckles the bottom cardto thus retain it in the left hand as theright hand takes the face card andmoves forward with it to the table.

The action is seen in Figure 39 whereyou will note that the left thumb hasnow moved to the index corner of thepalmed card. The card is now in the

familiar Cop Position.

Figure 39

5. As the right hand travels with itscard to the table the left hand turnspalm downward and travels to thetabled deck, as seen in Figure 40.

Figure 40

Here it adds the palmed card to the topof the deck as the left hand picks it upor moves it aside or merely rests there.This, of course, is covered by the atten-

tion given to the face up card in theright hand. The motion of the left handtowards the deck on the table isenough to prevent any eyes from seeingthe projecting corner of the Coppedcard. After that the card has joined thepack and the corner blends in with thecards.

While these Sequences have beendescribed as turning a face down card



424

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 42

face up it should be obvious that thesame mechanics can apply to turning aface up card face down. How you han-dle any Switch, of course, depends a loton just what the effect or result is sup-posed to be.

Further Alignment Move Switches

As the Alignment Move here is slightlydifferent, being made while the card isin a Rear Flat Palm position, I willdescribe the action briefly before going

into the various techniques althoughreference has already been made tothis in the previous sequences.

1. The card to be exchanged can beeither face up or face down. Thepalmed card can be in either hand andin any palm position but it is eventual-ly brought to a Rear Flat Palm position

just before the Alignment Move is to bemade. The step where the tabled card

is being held in place by the fingers 1will call "Anchoring The Card" which isappropriate as the card is held in placeto keep it from moving during the

Alignment Move.2. As mentioned, either hand can beused but I will describe all actions of the Switches as using the right hand.With a Rear Flat Palmed card in theright hand the right four fingers curl inunder the front end of the card. Theupper left corner of this card can bepinched between the thumb and 1stfinger. The thumb and 1st finger canalso move the card out slightly to the

left so it peeks out from under thepalm as in Figure 41. Here the righthand is already advancing towards thetabled card which is anchored by theleft fingers. The right hand moves inwith the palmed card so it goes underthe tabled card. The hands at thisstage are as in Figure 42 where none of the card or cards is visible.

3. The above, then, is the basicAlignment Move with perhaps slight

changes in technique. As an example,there may be times when the palmedcard will not be moved out from underthe right hand as shown in Figure 41but remain under the hand at all timesas the Alignment Move is being made.

4. Before going into some of the actualSwitches I must mention that otherfinesses enter into the handling of thenew palmed card after the switch.These could be such as touching ormoving the exchanged card with theextended fingers of the right hand. Theright hand at this point can have thecard in a Rear Flat Palm or a RearAngle Palm or transfer from one posi-tion to another while moving or touch-ing the tabled card.

The Rear Angle Palm gives you achance to raise the hand while theRear Flat Palm lets you hold the handeither flat or with fingers curled in



425

FURTHER ALIGNMENT MOVE SWITCHES

towards the palm. This flexibility of action will give you confidence with thecard being momentarily held out justbefore you unload it back into the

deck.In the Switches that follow only theactual Switch Action will be given andthe details of the above mentionedfinesses will be left to individual deci-sions, although a brief outline at timeswil l be made.

First Switch

1. The card to be exchanged is facedown on the table. A card is Rear FlatPalmed in the right hand. The left handanchors the tabled card.

2. The right hand moves in towards theanchored card and the Alignment Moveof Figure 41 and 42 is made. Now thel e f t hand can move away as all suc-ceeding actions are made only with theright hand.

3. The right thumb now putts back onthe top card causing it to buckle awayf r om the lower card as in Figure 43.

The ball of the right thumb will bepressing in on the buckled card thuskeeping the upper right corner of thecard in place against the base of ther igh t 4th f inger .

Figure 43

4. The tip of the right thumb pressesdown on the back of the lower card,and at the same time the tip of theright 1st finger pulls on the upper leftcorner of the lower card. This willcause the lower card to pivot outwards

as in Figure 44. During this forwardpivot action the right hand mustremain close to the table.

Figure 44

5. The right thumb and fingers nowextend themselves further in order to

turn the card face up as seen in Figure45. By continuing the action the righthand turns so it is palm down and flaton the table with its fingers still touch-ing the face up card as in Figure 46.

Figure 45

Figure 46



426

CARD SWITCHES

6. At Figure 46 the hidden card is prac-tically in a Rear Flat Palm position. Itcan be brought to a Rear Angle Palmposition by curling the fingers under

the front end of the card as the handmoves away from the face up card. Asecond later the right hand, its cardnow Rear Angle Palmed, can againcome towards the face up card to moveit further forward. Now back to, say, aRear Flat Palm and then the eventualunloading of the card as the deck ispicked up. If the card, under the rightpal rn , should get away from you duringthe Switch you can always resort to theFlat Card Pickup to get hold of the

card.7. While the First Switch has beendescribed as exchanging a face downcard in the act of turning it face up theopposite of events can also be used. Inother words, a face up card can beexchanged as it is apparently turnedface down. In this case the card palmedin the right hand must be face up aswell.

Variations of the First Switch

These follow the basic Alignment Moveof the First Switch the only differencebeing in the manner or technique of the actual exchanging of the cards aswell as the method of getting the cardto the fingertips for the Turnover or aTurndown of the card.

First Variation

1. Assume you have the two cardslined up as per Figure 42. At this stage

the right thumb buckles the top cardas per Figure 43; however, from thispoint a change in fingering takes place.The right 1st and 2nd fingers nip theupper left corner of the lower card andthen extend to carry the card forwardas in Figure 47. At the same time theright thumb moves in towards the palmin order that it could be placd underthe forward card as in Figure 48.

Figure 47

Figure 48

The right thumb also keeps the palmedcard in a sort of Rear Angle Palm dur-ing this action.

Now in order for the thumb to lever theextended card so the performer can seeits face, the tip of the right 3rd finger isplaced against the upper left corner of the Rear Palmed Card. This leaves theright thumb free to lever the cardupward so performer can look at itsface as in Figure 49.

Figure 49

2. When the position of Figure 49 isreached you have two alternatives. Youcan continue to turn the card and



427

VARIATIONS OF THE FIRST SWITCH

eventually turn it over (a Turnover) tobring it face up or you can, after appar-ently having looked at the card your-self, turn it face down (a Turndown)

again. In my opinion this techniqueshould be used only when you appar-ently want to look at the card, as if tocheck it, then turn it face down again.Therefore the technique where the cardis turned over directly, as in The FirstSwitch, will be referred to as theTurnover while the one just describedwill be the Turndown.

3. The Turndown will be found to be alot easier if the Rear Angle Palmed card

is broughton top of the tabled card

asthey are lined up. In this case the righthand fingers will have to dig in underthe tabled card in order to pick it upagainst the card in the palm. Once thisis accomplished the Turndown willbecome a lot simpler as you shall see.

You will note that practically only theright 1st finger, which presses on thetop card at the upper left corner, needmove forward and the card automati-cally starts to lever upwards as inFigure 50. Here the right thumb isalready under the card to further aid inlevering the card up. At this point, inorder for right thumb to conclude itslevering action, the tip of right 2nd fin-ger is placed against the upper left cor-ner of the Rear Angle Palmed card.

Figure 50

4. In any event, after the Turndown of the card back to the table, the ball of the right thumb moves against the left

Figure 51

side of the Rear Angle Palmed card.The fingers are then extended and thetabled card is pushed slightly forwardas in Figure 51 except this card will beface down. From this point on it is a

matter of unloading the palmed card byany of the previous methods given.

Second Variation

1. This technique is rather unusualand gives fast results for either aTurndown or a Turnover. The Rear FlatPalmed card in the right hand is not brought directly in alignment with theanchored tabled card. Instead the cardfrom the right hand goes under theanchored card at an angle as shown inFigure 52.

Figure 52

The top card can now easily be clipped,at its upper left corner, by the ball of the right thumb. The right thumbkeeps the clipped upper card in a sortof Rear Angle Palm. At the same timethe thumb's tip presses against the



428

CARD SWITCHES

back of the under card as the tip of theright 1st finger pulls on the upper leftcorner of this under card to cause it toTurnover in a manner similar to that

shown in Figure 44 and 45.2. After the card is turned over theright fingers extend and push the cardforward slightly as seen in Figure 51.As you can see this has been theTurnover technique; however, thissame Angling idea can be used to do aTurndown and you will find it quiteeasy.

In this case you will find that the tip of the right 2nd finger has to be placed on

the upper left corner of the RearPalmed card as the right thumb movesin to lever the card up for you to look at, then Turndown. The palmed cardends up in a Rear Angle Palm but youcan change it to any of the others, if sodesired, or merely unload right fromthe Rear Angle onto the deck as youpick it up.

Third Variation

In each of the Switches, so far

described, the left hand or the one thatanchors the tabled card has nothing todo with the actual Switch once theAlignment is made; however, the verybold technique here described doesmake excellent use of the left hand aswill be shown.

1. The tabled card is anchored by theleft fingers. The right hand has acard Rear Flat Palmed. The right handmoves in towards the tabled card just

as if about to do the Alignment Movebut instead, the right hand card travelsunder the Anchored card so it projectshalfway from under the tabled card asin Figure 53 where you will note thatthe left hand is still nearby at theAnchor Corner.

2. When the stage of Figure 53 isreached you will find that the card nowon top will have a tendency to raise

Figure 53

itself slightly off the table, at the back end. The tip of the left 2nd fi ngerpresses against the raised left side,near the inner left corner, of the cardthus keeping the upper right corner inplace against the right palm at thecrease. This leaves the right fingers freeto move its card past the Anchoredcard as in Figure 54.

Figure 54

This action is continued until the rightfingers bring the card to the positionshown in Figure 55 where you will notehow the tip of the left 2nd finger is stillkeeping the rear card in place againstthe right palm.



MARLO'S CARD SWITCH

429

Figure 55

3. Once the card is as in Figure 55 youcan do a Turndown or a Turnover.Once the right fingers have let go of this card the ball of the right thumb isplaced against the left side of the rearcard thus taking the card in a RearAngle Palm. The left fingers can nowmove away from the right hand.

In the six year period between 1950and 1956 the three Switches, Mario

Card Switch, Mario Push Switch andthe Circular Change, plus their basicprinciples, were demonstrated andexplained to several notable card menamong these being Dai Vernon. Thesewill be described now and I shall startoff with a Switch of mine as well as adiscussion about methods of disclosingthe card.

Mario's Card Switch

I first devised this Card Switch back in

October of 1954. Between 1954 and1956 I demonstrated the Switch to sev-eral notable card men among themCarmen D ' A m i c o , Bill Simon, ArtAl tman , Charles Aste , Jr., Herb Zarrowand in 1956 to Dai Vernon during hisvisit to Chicago as a guest of the JayMarshalls.

The underlying principle can be likenedto a card cheat's Hole Card Switch;

however, the technique, handling andeffects are my own. It is a Card Switchfor one or several cards designed forclose up work at the table. First I will

describe the basic mechanics of theSwitch, then several ways to get intothe necessary position or grip andfinally some effects.

First, an important point. Always havethe hand that is holding out the card,move as close to the surface of thetable as possible during all the actions.In fact, the Hold Out Hand sort of glides across the table top and is sel-dom if ever lifted off the table for any

distance or height.1. The card to be "rung in" is held in aRear Flat Palm and kept in place by thetip of the thumb and base of the littlefinger as in Figure 56. This figureshows the card held in the right handbut, of course, the same grip and posi-tion will apply to the left hand if youhappen to prefer using that hand.

Figure 56

2. With the card in Figure 56 positionthe hand can relax and bend inwardsat the fingers, normally to assume aposition on the table as in Figure 57.

Figure 57



430

CARD SWITCHES

If you have a narrow palm you willhave to take care that the palmed carddoes not expose itself at the rear of thewrist.

3. The forefinger can be extended nowto point to some object, or to move acard as in Figure 58 while the otherthree fingers keep the card in place.

Figure 58

4. As the forefinger is brought back tonormal, again as in Figure 57, it isworked under the palmed card as inFigure 59. The card is now betweenforefinger on the back and three fingersat the face. In this position it is alsoheld snugly against palm by hand rest-ing flat against table with hand in aclenched position as in Figure 57.

Figure 59

5. The left hand picks up the card, thatis to be exchanged, then holds it as inFigure 60 which shows the action of the left and right hands approachingeach other.

Figure 60

6. The left and right hands cometogether as if to transfer the card, seeFigure 60. As the two hands meet,however, the card from the left hand isdeliberately placed into the right hand

directly above the palmed card as inFigure 61 which shows the action fromthe bottom.

Figure 61

7. Thus the card from the left hand isbetween the right palm and the originalcard. It also has been placed into thepalm position so it can be clippedbetween the thumb and base of the lit-tle finger. See Figure 62 for a side viewof this action.

Figure 62



431

GETTING INTO THE BASIC POSITION

8. Both cards are now momentarily inthe right hand; however, the right handmoves forward immediately andstraightens out its fingers to release

the palmed card, keeping the other inthe Rear Flat Palm as in Figure 63.

Figure 63

9. The right hand immediately, withfingers still open touches or moves thetabled card slightly forward with the

fingertips or forefinger only. After this itmoves back to assume the positionshown in Figure 57.

The above nine steps and Figures 56 to63 comprise the basis of the MarioCard Switch. Since the switch itself requires starting with a card in theBasic Position of Rear Flat Palm, weo f f e r these -Additional Methods For Getting Into

The Basic Position

First Method:

1. Palm the top card, by any method,into the right hand.

2. Curl or move the right second andthird fingers towards the palm.

3. The above action will cause the cardto slip back and eventually arrive inthe desired position.

4. During the action of the card movingback, it will be noticed that the thumband fourth f ingers will act like a guid-ing rail.

Second Method:1. Rear Palm the bottom card of thedeck into the left hand. Put deck aside.

2. Place both hands together as if torub the palms.

3. During the above the card can beeasily placed into the right hand in thecorrect position.

Third Method:

1. Top palm card into the right hand.2. Bring both hands together as if torub them.

3. During the above action the righthand can easily slide forward over thecard until it arrives at the desired posi-tion.

Fourth Method:

1. The top card is shoved over the sideof the deck. The right hand comes over

and clips the top end of the cardbetween the 2nd and 3rd fingers, thenmoves away from the deck.

2. The right 2nd and 3rd fingers canactually swing the card into position bymoving the right third finger over ontothe right second finger while the card isstill clipped between them.

3. This will result in the card beingclipped as in Figure 64.

Figure 64



432

CARD SWITCHES

4. To get into the position where the forefinger is curled under the cardmerely straighten out all fingers as youmove or adjust some cards, then as the

fingers come back the forefinger canenter under the card.

5. The change can be made from thegrip shown in Figure 64 if desired butthe card does not hug the palm as well.

Fifth Method:

1. Hold the deck by the sides in the lefthand from above as fo r the Glide.

2. The right hand moves to the front of the deck with four fingers going below

or on the face of the deck and thumbon top.

3. From the above position the rightfingers can pivot the bottom card out tothe right and into the desired palm.(See Figure 37)

Methods of Disclosure

First Method:

The Delayed Disclosure

This type is the best for magical pur-poses as the exchange of the card ismade first and then later it is veryc l e a n l y turned over to climax whatevereffect you may have been doing. I usethis type in one of the items to bedescribed and it usually consists intaking a face down card and apparent-ly placing it aside still face down; how-ever, the Switch has been made.

Second Method:

The Indirect DisclosureThis approach is also quite good formagical purposes as it consists of, say,showing a face up card, then seemingto isolate it by placing it aside facedown. The problem is to get the initialcard into a Rear Flat Palm but with the

face of the card towards the palm.Almost all the methods, for getting intoBasic Position, can be used with the

exception, perhaps, of those directly off the face of the deck. Almost all forms of a Side Steal of the top card, assumingthe deck is face up, can be used to get

the card's face towards palm. Once thecard is in position the other card is dis-played face up in the left hand. Theright hand apparently takes the cardfrom the left hand.

The mechanics of the Mario Switch aremade with the addition that the fingersmove out, with its previously clippedcard, to swing it out from the palm asin Figure 65, which is the performer'sview of the action. The audience's viewis as in Figure 66. It seems as if youmerely turned the card face down. Thishas angles so no one should be in backof you.

Figure 65

Figure 66

The hand, doing the Switching shouldhug the surface of the table at all timesand not be lifted during the action. Asyou can see the technique here is thatof the Turndown .



433

EFFECTS USING THE MARLO CARD SWITCH

Third Method:

The Direct Disclosure

This follows the procedure outlined inthe Indirect Disclosure and the actionsare those as shown in Figures 65 and66. The Direct Disclosure is usuallydone by taking the face down, card andseeming to turn it face up. For magicialpurposes, under certain conditions ore f f e c t s , I consider this the weakestapproache of all. This change, in mostcases, seems to be made at the climaxof an effect when all attention is at itshighest point.

For the Direct Disclosure the initialcard has to be palmed face outward.The face down card from the left is nowtaken into the right hand which seemsto turn it face up to reveal it. Theaction is as in Figures 65 and 66except card should be palmed face out and turned face up.

Effects Using

The Mario Card Switch

First Effect:

A card selected from a blue deckmatches a card previously removedfrom a red deck. The way the effect isstarted is most important as there willbe no tip-off that anything at all isgoing to happen.

1. A red card, which you have previ-ously noted, should be lying off to oneside and face down on the table. Itshould be there almost accidentally as

if it got separated from the rest of thered deck.

2. If you do other things and effects thered card will become as nothing.

3. At the opportune moment locate theduplicate card of the red-backed oneon the table in the blue deck, and get itinto position for the Mario Card Switch.This should give you no trouble as youare not doing an effect or locating a

selected card. The audience at thispoint will not suspect. You could takethe duplicate out and place it in yourhand.

4. Once the card is in the Flat RearPalm the left hand runs out the deck,face down, onto the table from right tolef t .

5. Both hands now come over to moreor less further spread the cards as inFigure 67 which shows the action.

Figure 67

6. Now move both hands back so thateach hand will have its fingers curled

in towards the palms.7. Ask a spectator to touch any card.Take the touched card and hold it facedown in the left hand.

8. With the right forefinger point to thespread and ask if they desire to changetheir mind.

9. Now take the card from the left handinto the right doing the Mario CardSwitch so that the card falls on top of

the red card on the table.10. Move the right hand back to theright end of the spread while the leftmoves to the left end of the spread.

11. Both hands move towards eachother to gather the spread, thus at thesame time the palmed card from theright hand is added to the deck as inFigure 68.



434

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 68

12. Now for the first time point out thefact that a red card has been isolatedon the table previous to spectator'sselection, turn the red card over toshow its face. Then say, "And the cardyou touched in the blue deck is alsothe (name the c a rd ) . "

Second Effect:

A card held in the left hand changes bymerely waving the right hand over it.The card is a single card before andafter the change.

1. Previously sleeve a card up the rightsleeve.

2. The card to be changed will be heldin left hand later.

3. Both hands handle the card freelyshowing it on all sides, snapping it,pulling on it, etc., to show it is a singlecard as you say, "Wouldn't it be won-derful if you could take a single cardlike this and by merely waving yourhand over it, it would change and itstill would be a single card that you

could hand for inspection." Duringthese patter lines that is exactly whathappens and here is the procedure:

4. During the remarks you make about"waving your hand over the card", theright hand drops to the side so that thesleeved card comes into the hand. Theright hand immediately gets the grip,as shown in Figure 59, with the rightforefinger curled under the card. The

left hand holds its card between thethumb and first finger at the left side.

5. The card in the left hand is held facedown, with the left thumb on top and

forefinger below. The left second fingeris directly below the left first finger withother fingers right along side.

6. The right hand, still keeping theposition of Figure 59 comes over towave across the card as in Figure 60.

7. As the right hand passes the firsttime over the card the cards areexchanged by the right hand taking thecard from the left hand into the rightpalm while the card from the rightpalm is nipped between the left 1stand 2nd fingers. The left thumb keepsits position by merely pressing down onthe left forefinger. Do not make themistake of extending the left thumb asthe exchange is made.

8. The first wave is a preliminary toexchange the cards; however, immedi-ately as the exchange is accomplishedthe right hand fingers are extended in amanner similar to Figure 63, then

waved once more over the card held inthe left hand.

9. The right hand, after the two waves,drops to the side.The left hand nowturns its card face up. Under the sur-prise of the change the right handsleeves its palmed card, then comes upto freely handle the single card as inthe first instance. See Chapter One;Miracle Card Changes for sleevingtechnique on this.

10. The change is climaxed by theremark "Of course, such a changewould naturally be impossible."

To conclude we must mention that thissecond effect is very practical, and evenif done without the initial sleeving it isquite a startling change. The handmerely seems to pass over the card yetan exchange is made. If you will try the



435

MARLO'S PUSH SWITCH

change moves without the sleeving youw i l l be convinced of its deceptiveness.Adding the sleeving will put it in themiracle class.

The Mario Card Switch can also beused in routines in which the underly-ing effect is that of a Transposition of two cards as well as that of packetssuch as four Aces and four Kings. Apacket of, say, four cards can beturned face up or face down, duringthe Switch, as shown for one card inFigure 65 and 66.

A very effective bit of chicanery can beachieved by secretly palming out the

four Aces. Have the spectator shufflethe deck which is later spread out facedown on the table. The spectator thenpushes out any four cards which youtake, after first squaring into a fairlyneat packet, into the left hand.

The right hand takes the cards fromthe left and does the switch as thepacket is seemingly placed aside. Theface down deck is scooped up and theoriginal indifferent cards are added to

the deck as per Figure 68. Give thedeck to the spectator as you say some-thing about needing the four Aces forthe effect. Naturally he can not findthem. Have him turn over the tabledcards for the climax.

One of the first Switches I developed,using a basic card cheat's Switch, waswhat I termed the Push Switch. In1952 at Chicago, when I first demon-strated this Push Switch to Bill Simonhe assumed it to be one requiring agreat amount of skill until I insisted hetry it at least once.

Upon doing so he was surprised at theactual simplicity of the underlyingmechanics. I'm sure that if the readerwill try it just once he too will be sur-prised at its ease of execution.

Mario's Push Switch

1. The card in the right hand should bein the Thumb Clip Palm as in Figure 3.The left hand plays no part in this

Switch. The tabled card is to the rightof the right hand and slightly forwardas in Figure 69.

Figure 69

2. The right hand moves in towards thetabled card in such a manner as to getthe palmed card under the tabled card.To facilitate this you can previouslyhave taken the trouble to bend thesides of the tabled card upwards sothat the palmed card in the right handcan enter easily beneath it. Also the

right side of the hand lifts ever soslightly just as the palmed card isbeing introduced under the tabledcard. This lift is very slight and justenough to prevent the right hand fromactually pushing the tabled card away.The upper right corner of the palmedcard enters under the tabled card atabout its center as in A of Figure 70.

3. After the right hand has completedthe action of getting its card under the

tabled card, the right hand will be cov-ering both cards which will be inapproximately the position shown in Bof Figure 70. The single X at lower leftcorner shows the card still in theThumb Clip.

4. When the cards are under the righthand and the lower card still in theThumb Clip the right hand moves bothcards forward just as if pushing the



436

CARD SWITCHES

B

Figure 70

one tabled card aside. When the twocards have been moved sufficiently for-ward, the right thumb releases its holdon the clipped corner but the length of the right 4th finger applies pressureonly on the right side of the top card asshown by the three X marks at B of

Figure 70.5. The right hand now moves back toits starting position sliding the top cardalong under the right hand while thelower card is now on the table. TheFigure 70 at C shows the action of themovement, as the right moves awaywith its card. The Figure 69 shows thefinish of the action.

6. After the Push Switch the right handcan travel to the edge of the table andthen get the card into any position youwish such as a Rear Angle Palm, Rear

Flat Palm or even a standard palm.From here unload as you wish inaccordance with your effect.

7. The Mario Push Switch can be usedin the effect described previously underthe Mario Card Switch, The FirstEffect. In this case your right handwould do the Push Switch so the cardwould be moved above the spread of cards then on the return you wouldscoop up the spread as already shownin Figure 68. You will find the PushSwitch plus this method of un load ing ,into the spread d e c k , an ideal combina-tion.

Push Switch Variation

1. In this case the right hand has thecard in a Rear Flat Palm. (See Figure 1and 56} The tabled card is Anchored bythe left fingers and the situation is asin Figure 71.

Figure 71

2. Once both cards are under the righthand, as in A of Figure 72, the upperright corner, indicated by one X, is stillclipped between the 4th and 3rd fin-gers at the base of the palm. The sideof the right thumb, indicated by threeX marks, presses down on the left sideof the top card. In this position bothcards are moved, still under the righthand, to the right as in B of Figure 72.



437

THE CIRCULAR CHANGE

T h i s shows a ghost drawing of the orig-inal position of the cards, an arrowindicating the direction of movement,and the new position to the right.

B Figure 72

3, At this stage the right 4th fingermoves out very slightly in order torelease its clipped corner. The rightthumb, however, keeps pressing on thel e f t side of the top card. All the righthand does now is move away to the left

with its card, leaving the under card onthe table as in Figure 73.

4. Note that the left side of the newcard is practically under the entirelength of the thumb. This is an idealposition for palming the card using thetable edge. Simply move the hand tothe edge of the table bringing the rightthumb over the table edge.

Figure 73

Now all that need be done is to extendthe right thumb and push down on thelef t side of the card thus causing it tolever up into a Rear Angle Palm posi-tion as in Figure 14. From here youcan indulge in all sorts of finesses andfinally unload the card,

5. An important point in the abovePush Switches is that the right handmust not press down so hard as tocause both cards to move back duringthe Switch. A touch just light enoughto carry away the top card but not theunder card is what you must strive for.The glossier the working surface thelighter this touch must be. A clothworking surface should, of course, beused; however, do not get used to thoseextra thick and soft foam pads other-wise, you will be at a loss on the usualworking surface.

The Circular Change

Mario and D'Amico

The approach here is such that thishas to be classified as a Change ratherthan a Switch. In effect, it is startling

as the cardician merely seems to passhis hand over a tabled card and thatcard changes.

1. Hold the deck face down in the lefthand as for dealing. The top card isshown and placed face down at aboutarms length from the performer.

2. Say, "I will pass my hand over thecard, like this, and it will change." Herethe right hand, which is resting onedge of the table, moves in a circularmotion over the card as in Figure 74which shows the direction of the circu-lar motion but the hand has no card.

3. At this point, when the right handmoves across the tabled card, be sureto touch the card so it moves. It is read-

justed, with right hand, which againpasses over card and perhaps moves itagain.



438

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 74

4. After the actions of Step 3, the per-former asks the spectator to look at thetabled card, to see if it has changed.When he does this the performer hasample misdirection to palm off the topcard of the deck into the right hand.The right hand rests its fingertips onthe edge of the table. The right thumb

swings down, then upward in order toget the card into Thumb Clip position.Refer again to Figure 74.

5. The spectator having looked at thecard informs you it has not changed.The left hand puts the deck aside, thenreadjusts the tabled card as you say,"111 try it again."

6. Here the right hand travels in thesame circular direction and the Thumb

Clipped card is made to go under thetabled card. Without any hesitation theright thumb is extended, in order torelease its clipped card quickly, as thelength of the right 4th finger pressesdown on the right side of the top card,thus carrying the concealed top cardunder the hand and leaving the undercard on the table. Figure 75 shows theaction. Note the extended right thumb.

7. Without any hesitation, the righthand travels around and back to theedge of the table. At this point the righthand releases the card into the lap,easily done by merely bringing the fin-gertips close enough to the edge so thecard falls automatically. Immediatelythe hand continues around again to goover the tabled card once more. Thistime the right hand is sort of lifted byletting the tips of thumb and 2nd fingertouch the tabled surface. In this waythe right hand is arched as it passesover the tabled card the second time.

Figure 75

8. There should be absolutely no hesi-tation as the change is made and asthe card is unloaded into the lap. Mostimportant is that this time the tabledcard should not move. It is this lack of movement, to the tabled card, thatmakes the Circular Change so incredi-ble in appearance and it seems as if you had no chance to touch it.

9. The Circular Change can be madeinto a Switch with the properapproach. For example, suppose youhave someone think of any card andhave him name it. Locate this card ineither a Shuffle (See Riffle ShuffleSystems) or openly locate and cut it tothe top. Spread the deck face down forthe selection of a card which is not noted but merely pushed, still facedown, into position for the CircularChange.



439

RUB-A-DUB CHANGE

In scooping up the deck pa lm , off thetop card into the right hand and get itinto Thumb Clip position. Now say,"The chances of you having actually

selected the card you merely thought of are very remote; however, I willincrease the chances of success with aMagic Pass over the card you selected."Here do the Circular Change.

Believe me if it is properly done it willall appear as actually having takenplace under their very noses. Matter of fact, even after someone knows theCircular Change it will still amaze if itis properly executed. Remember, no

hesitation during the circular actionand unloading into the lap and nomovement of the tabled card. TheCircular Change can be done with thetabled card face up thus creating a vis-ible and startling change.

Rub-A-Dub Change (Mario)

The approach to this change gives youan excuse for plenty of time in which toget the cards set in the exact positionneeded for the exchange. It utilizes the

basic mechanics of the Mario PushSwitch but because of the approach,the change of the cards is more deliber-ate as it is done under the pretense of rubbing the tabled card. Used in ane f f e c t the procedure is as follows:

1. Two selected cards are controlled tothe top. A Triple Turnover or Lift is exe-cuted to show an indifferent card. Thetop card placed on the table. The righthand is moved over and onto the card.

Now rub the card as you say, "Rub-A-Dub-Dub, presto, chango."

2. Move the right hand away and havethe spectator turn over the tabled card.Under this misdirection palm the topcard of the deck into the right handand get this card into Thumb ClipPosition. Rest the right fingertips onthe edge of the table. The left handplaces the deck aside.

3. With the left hand turn the tabledcard face down and position it for theexchange. Say, "Would you like to tryit? All you have to do is rub the card

like this." With this patter line, theright hand moves towards the tabledcard. The palmed card goes under thetabled card and both are covered bythe right hand just as for the PushSwitch. The right hand goes throughthe rubbing action which gives youplenty of opportunity to get the cardsin the correct position for theexchange.

4. Once you feel the situation is just

right, the right hand moves away, withthe top card, leaving the under card onthe table. The right hand comes back to the edge of the table and rests itsfingertips there.

5. While spectator is busy rubbing thenew card you have plenty of time topick up the deck with the left hand,and the right hand can add the plamedcard to the top of the deck. Have thespectator turn over the card he rubbed.He will really be surprised at thechange. In some instances he will rubit again expecting some kind of chemi-cal reaction to cause the change.

6. Naturally the "Switch" approach canbe used with the Rub-A-Dub Change

just as explained for the CircularChange. It also can be done with thecard face up. In this case the palmedcard must be face towards the palm.

In And Out Switches

In these Switches the hand comes overthe tabled card and covers it for a sec-ond or two, then moves away apparent-ly with the tabled card remainingunchanged. In all the In and OutSwitches a reasonable excuse must bemade for the action.

This could be as if you intended to pick up or look at the card but then seemedto change your mind. Other logical rea-



440

CARD SWITCHES

sons can be invented depending on theeffect or result to be obtained. For outand out exhibition purpoos e s it needsnone except to point out how cleverly

you manage to exchange or Switch onecard for another.

Having given you at least a basis forprocedure I will now detail some of these Switches. I must mention thatthe most important part of theseSwitches is the way the left fingers holdthe tabled card. In this case the left 1stand 2nd fingers are on top of the card,at its inner left corner while the leftthumb is under the card. The card is

held close to the table. This positionwill be referred to as the Corner Hold inthe descriptions that follow.

First Method

1. This makes use of the Clip Palmbetween the 2nd and 3rd fingers nearthe base of the palm. See Figure 23 forgetting into Clip Palm. For the presentassume you have the card in Clip Palmposition in the right hand. The left fin-gers have a Corner Hold on the tabled

card. Right hand now starts to move intowards the card held by the left hand.This is similar in action to Figure 25except remember the left fingers have aCorner Hold on its card.

2. Move the Clipped Card under thecard held by the left fingers. The actionis similar to Figure 26. Continue theaction untill you reach the state of affairs as shown in Figure 27 where thetwo cards are now more or less in line.

At this point a radical change in proce-dure takes place.

3. You will note that as the cards are inAlignment, as per Figure 27, the backof the left thumb nail will be pressingdown on the under card while theupper right corner of the (op card will

jam itself between the 2nd and 3rd fin-gers of the right hand. Now comes theimportant action. Press down, with the

back of the left thumb, on the undercard while the right 2nd and 3rd fin-gers pinch the upper right corner of thetop card. Move the right hand away

and the left thumb pressure will retainthe under card on the table while theright 2nd and 3rd fingers will hold ontothe top card. Thus this moving awayfrom the card will result in a situationagain similar to Figure 25 except theright hand does not move that far awaybut remains rather close to the tabledcard.

4. Once more the right hand nowmoves in under the new card but only

for the distance shown in Figure 26. Atthis point the left thumb moves over tothe inner right corner of the top card Inorder to lever it so performer only cansee the face of the card as in Figure 76.

Figure 76

The card at this stage can be turnedface up or returned to the table facedown. The latter is preferable, it beingdone by the left hand as the rightmoves away to Unload its Clipped card.The right hand can move to the edge of the table and the clipped card brought

to a Rear Angle Palm. If you wish youcan get the card into a Rear Angle Palmwithou t moving to the edge of the table.By pressing inwards, with tip of theright 2nd finger, the card held out canbe moved back far enough so that theball the right thumb can engage the l e f tside of the card to hold it in a RearAngle Palm. From here Unload or han-dle as you see fit.



441

IN AND OUT SWITCHES

Second Method

1. The left hand has a Corner Hold onthe tabled card. The card in the righthand is held in a Rear Flat Palm.

2. The right hand moves towards thetabled card as for the Alignment Move.Except here the card in the right handdoes not peek out at any time butinstead stays completely hidden. Whenthe two hands meet they will be as inFigure 77.

Figure 77

The back of the left thumb nail will bepressing on the inner left corner of theunder card. The right thumb and baseof the 4th finger merely close in on thecorners of the upper card and hold itas the right hand moves away.

The left fingers, of course, let go of theupper card but the back of the leftthumb nail, pressing down on theunder card, holds this card in placeagainst the table. Figure 78 shows the

right hand moving away as the left fin-gers apparently still have the same gripon the inner left corner.

Actually this illusion is heightened bybeing sure that the tips of the left fin-gers press down to touch the back of the card, as seen in Figure 78, thushiding the fact that the thumb is ontop of the card.

Figure 78

3. After the exchange, as in Figure 78,the right fingers can be extended tomove some other object or merelyunload the card as it reaches for thepack.

Third Method

For this, use the mechanics of theMario Card Switch. The tabled card isheld in the left hand, as in Figure 60.The right hand with its palmed cardcomes over to the left hand in a man-ner similar to Figure 60, except herethe left hand remains stationary. Afterthe exchange action, similar to thatshown in Figure 61, the right handmoves away with its card, while the lefthand apparently still has the samecard. From here it is a matter of unloading the palmed card.

Fourth Method

1. This is a very fast method but must

be done standing due to the left thumbbeing on top of the inner left corner andthe left 1st and 2nd fingers beneaththis corner. All four fingers are extend-ed but only the 1st and 2nd fingersactually hold the inner left corner.

2. The right hand has its card in a RearFlat Palm and now approaches thecard held in the left hand. Naturallythe palmed card goes under the tabled



442

CARD SWITCHES

card. At this stage the backs of the left1st and 2nd fingers will press down onthe lower card, holding it against thetable, while the right hand retakes the

upper card into a Rear Flat Palm. Theright hand moves away with the cardas the left fingers retain the lower cardby merely pressing down against itwith backs o f the left fingers,

3. The tip of left thumb should movedown to touch the back of the tabledcard at the inner left corner. In thisway the thumb seems to have the sameposition of apparently holding the cardas in the first instance.

There will be those who will try to makethe Switch by actually having the cardin left hand in the same position as inthe beginning. In other words, sort of asecret Top Change technique; however,rest assured that these techniqueshave been tried and found to have aslight hesitation, during the exchange,whereas the four methods justexplained do not have this drawback.Still there is nothing like convincingyourself so try it and see.

Unloading Switches

These Switches are unusual in that notonly do you Switch the tabled card butunload it at the same time. No, you donot drop it in the lap.

FirstMethod

1. The card in the right hand should bein a Thumb Clip position. It could alsobe in a Rear Flat Palm but the Thumb

Clip will work out better. The left handshould have the deck positioned so itwill be held from above at the left end.A card is face down in front of the per-former. The Figure 79 shows how thedeck is held, position of the tabled card

just in front of deck, and the righthand resting on edge of table.

2. The right hand slides over onto thetabled card as in Figure 80 for the pur-

pose of apparently picking it up.Actually, the right hand tips palm up,as in Figure 81, leaving the tabled cardbehind the right hand. At the same

time the right thumb shoves thepalmed card slightly above the top of hand so the spectators can see part of the card peeping out.

Figure 79

3. Simultaneously, the right handmoves forward as does the left handholding the deck. The result will bethat the deck will come over and coverthe tabled card as in Figure 82 while

the performer is still looking at thecard in his right hand.

Figure 80

4. The right hand deposits its card ontable as in Figure 80, then moves backto the edge of the table. The situation isnow the same as in Figure 79, exceptthe right hand does not have the cardpalmed.



443

UNLOADING SWITCHES

Figure 81

5. The same actions of this Switch can

be used for a packet of cards. Assumeyou wish to Switch four X tabled cardsfor Aces which are in the Thumb Clipposition in right hand. State of affairsis identical to Figure 79.

Figure 82

6. The right hand moves over thetabled packet in the same manner asper Figure 80. The right hand then tiltspalm up as in Figure 81; however, herethe right hand moves towards the left,

to give greater cover for the tabledcards. At the same time the right fourfingers are brought inwards to exposethe backs of the palmed cards.Immediately, the right hand fans thecards to look at them. This situation isshown in Figure 83.

7. As the fan is examined, the left handmoves in with the deck to place it overthe tabled cards. The left hand holds

onto the deck, and the right hand tapsthe fan of cards against the table thusclosing them. The right hand now toss-es the packet in front of the deck, then

moves away to the edge of the tablewith hands and cards again being as inFigure 79.

Figure 83

Second Method

This method makes use of a directTurnover of the tabled card or cards atthe same time unloading the originaltabled card or cards.

1. A tabled card is about arms lengthfrom the performer. As the deck is heldin the left hand, the right hand palmsoff the top card. The right hand holdsthe deck momentarily, from above bythe ends, in order that the left handcan grasp the deck, also from aboveand by the ends. The left hand now

takes the deck and brings to againstthe table. The right hand rests on theedge of the table and gets its palmedcard into Thumb Clip position. All isnow as in Figure 84.

2. There are other methods for gettingthe left hand to hold the deck, fromabove, by the ends but the onedescribed in Step 1 will be found quitepractical.



444

CARD SWITCHES

3. The right hand now travels close tothe surface of the table and comes overonto the tabled card. Pressing downwith right hand the tabled card is

taken along as the right hand contin-ues to move in the arrowed direction asindicated in Figure 84. The ThumbClipped card remains clipped but thetabled card is free and being draggedalong only by the palm pressure of theright hand.

Figure 84

4. As the right hand travels inwards,towards performer, the left handadvances the deck to meet the righthand as in Figure 85. At this point,when the side of the right hand touch-es the deck, the right hand, with itsclipped card, starts to turn palmupwards.

At the same time the left hand movesthe deck further forward and to theright in order to cover the tabled card.Do not try to get this even but rather

past the deck so part of the tabled cardwill end up projecting on the left side of the deck but will be covered by the lefthand from above.

5. The right hand continues to turnpalm upwards and turns its card faceup to the table as it is seen in Figure86. The whole action is that performerseems to have scooped up the tabledcard in order to turn it face up. Theillusion of actually having turned the

tabled card is good if properly timed.

Figure 85

Figure 86

6. The whole manuever can be donewith a packet of cards such asexchanging four X cards for ThumbClipped Aces. In this case, as the righthand turns the Aces face up on thetable, the fingertips come over tospread the packet.

7. An alternative handling, using thesame underlying principles, is to havethe tabled card close to the deck as inA of Figure 87. The right hand comesdirectly over the card thus automatical-

ly resulting in the same situationshown in Figure 85 where the deck andright hand are close together. As theright hand turns palm upwards the lefthand moves the deck to the right andover onto the tabled card. The Figure87 at B shows the action with bothhands omitted for clarity. Note the orig-inal Ghost position of the deck before itis moved over onto the tabled card.



445

UNLOADING SWITCHES

Third Method:

This one makes use of the deck held inthe left hand. The cards in the righthand are in a Rear Angle Palm thus theSwitch is even less suspect and quiteeasy to do.

1. The deck is in the left hand heldf r o m above by the ends. The tabledcard is face down to the left and lyinglengthwise. The right hand has a card

in Rear Angle Palm. It can be broughtto this position from a standard palmusing the edge of the table.

2. The right hand, with its card in RearA n g l e Palm, reaches for the tabledcard. Its fingers extend and touch theupper right corner of the tabled card.The condition is shown in Figure 88which shows positions of both hands,the deck and the tabled card.

3. The right fingers now press on the

front end of the tabled card, then closeinwards towards the palm, pulling thetabled card so it goes behind the righthand. At the same time the right 1stand 2nd fingertips nip the upper leftcorner of the Rear Angle Palmed card.The Figure 89 shows the tabled cardbehind the right hand and the right 1stand 2nd fingers nipping the corner of the palmed card. The left hand, stillholding the deck, is nearby.

Figure 88

4. The right 1st and 2nd fingers extendcarrying the Rear Palmed card to the

fingertips as the right thumb movesunder the card to lever it up so the per-former can see the face of it. Also theright hand moves slightly forward sonow the tabled card is behind the rightwrist. The left hand moves in with thedeck in order to cover the tabled card.The Figure 90 shows the action at thispoint.

Figure 89

5. Once the deck has covered thetabled card the right hand swings out,in an arc, towards center of the table toeither Turndown or Turnover the cardnow at right fingertips.

6. While the Figures 88 to 90 show theSwitch using a single card it can beused with a packet. Just be sure theright hand fans out the cards when thestage shown in Figure 90 is reached.From here conclude as before.



446

CARD SWITCHES

Figure 90

Without The Deck

The Third Method just described canbe used without the deck. In this casethe tabled card should be near the per-former. Execute all the actions usingonly the right hand, in the same way asexplained when the deck was used.

After the card or cards are brought tothe fingertips the right hand does not move away. Instead the card is eitherturned down or turned over after whichthe right hand swings its palm down tocover the original tabled card.

From here you can do the Flat CardPickup, to get the card in Rear Angle orRear Flat Palm. The other alternative isto slide the right hand to the edge of the table and there get the card into adesired palm position after which it issimply a matter of unloading the card.

Pseudo Card Cheat's Switches

I call these the Pseudo Card Cheat'sSwitches. They are of my own origina-tion and never have been used in anygames of chance. The procedure is likethat of a card cheat's Hole Card Switchbut the underlying techniques fordoing them are strictly my own. Theyhave little magical value at this time,but will make an impressive demon-stration in the usual Gambling Expose.

First Method:

1. The tabled card is lying lengthwisein front of the performer. The left fin-gers hold the inner left corner of thetabled card. The left thumb is under the corner and the left 1st and 2nd fin-gers are on top of this corner. The righthand has a card in Rear Flat Palm andis resting on the table with the four fin-gers curled under the front end of thepalmed card.

2. You are about to look at your "HoleCard." To do this the right handextends its fingers, then comes over ontop of the tabled card. Position of bothhands is now as in Figure 91.

Figure 91

3. Two actions take place together. Theright hand tilts upward and the lefthand also tilts its card upward andbehind the right hand. This is appar-ently done so no one else can see your"Hole Card"; however, what really goeson is that the left fingers place its cardagainst and in line with the palmedcard in the right hand as in Figure 92.

Figure 92



447

PSUEUDOCARDCHEAT'SSWITCHES

4. In Figure 92 the left fingers push thecard further towards the right palmuntil both cards are in line. Now the leftfingers remove or slide out the under

card. This is similar in action to Figure92 except note that now the under cardwill be pulled forward by the left thumband 1st and 2nd fingers.

5. As the left fingers pull out the cardboth hands move down to the table andend up again as in Figure 91 where theunder card will now be the one in view.The left fingers keep the new tabledcard in view as right hand moves awaywith its card Rear Flat Palmed.

6. Sometimes it is desirable to pivot thenew card upwards, as it comes clear of the right hand, so the performer caneventually turn over the card. Figure93 shows the new card tilted upwardas right fingers curl in towards thepalm to keep the palmed card in place.Both hands work close to the surface of the table during the Switch.

Figure 93

Second Method:

1. The tabled card is held with the leftfingers, thumb on bottom and fingerson top, at the inner left corner. Thecard in the right hand is in a Rear FlatPalm position but a little more forward towards the fingertips.

2. The right hand comes over on top of the tabled card to completely cover it.Right here the left fingers release thetabled card so it remains against the

table. Immediately the left fingers andthumb grasp the upper left corner of the palmed card and pull it inwardsand out of the right hand, for a short

distance, as in Figure 94. Here you willnote how the left fingers have bent upthe card as if to look at its face. TheFigure 95 shows how this looks to theaudience.

Figure 94

Figure 95

3. As the left fingers keep the card inplace, as per Figure 94 and 95, theright thumb is lowered so the side of right thumb is pressed against thetabled card.

4. With the right thumb keeping thetabled card in place, the left fingers canpull out the new card to the position

shown in Figure 93. From here you cando a Turnover or a Turndown of thecard.

5. The card, which is still under theright hand, can be brought into a RearFlat Palm using the Flat Card Pickupor you can merely slide the card to theedge of the table and work from thereinto any desired position. Eventuallythe palmed card is unloaded.



448

CARD SWITCHES

6. A good chance for the right hand todo the Flat Card Pickup is at the timethe new card is in the position shownin Figure 93. You have plenty of cover

for the bending in of the right 1st fin-ger.

Simplest Push Switch

I have decided to insert this Switchhere in that it does make a good exhi-bition but can be used in some way ina magical effect. Also this Switch doesnot need any of the special type palmsbut uses the regular palm.

1. The tabled card, which can be

shown before being placed face d own ,is near the performer. The right handhas a card in the usual standard fullpalm position.

2. The right hand now apparentlyshoves the card towards a spectator;however, what actually happens is this:The right hand is placed over thetabled card in such a manner that theheel of the palm will contact the back end of the tabled card. Thus the actual

palmed card, in right hand, is inadvance of the tabled card while thetabled card is directly under the rightpalm, below the base of the fingers.

The Figure 96 shows how the two cardslie under the right hand with X beingthe under card which will be held back.

3. As soon as the right hand is placedover the tabled card, the right handmoves forward. At the same time thefront or originally palmed card is shot

out, from under the right hand,towards the spectator. This action isseen in Figure 97. The arrow alongsidethe right hand shows the right handnow moving back towards the edge of the table.

Figure 96

Figure 97 4. When the card comes out fromunder the right hand, the right handmoves back to the edge of the tablewhere the held out card is allowed tofall into the lap. Immediately the righthand turns palm upwards in a gesturefor the spectator to turn the tabledcard face up. The right hand travels tothe edge of the table only as far as isnecessary to let the held out card fall

into the lap. This means that the rightfingertips will still be touching the tableas the hand is turned palm up.

5. The whole action of the Switch willbecome apparent if you just imaginethat you are supposedly just pushingor shoving the tabled card towards thespectator in order that he may get at itto turn it over. The patter line, "Justtake this card and place the palm of



449

ANGLE PALM SWITCH

your hand on it", will give a logicalexcuse, especially for the turning of theright hand palm up, as you reach thewords, "palm of your hand". As you

say, "on it", the right hand is turnedpalm down in another gesture of whatto do.

6. The smoother the working surfacethe easier this Switch will work; howev-er, the normal cloth covered surfacewill be no deterrent to the move exceptthat the forward and backward actionof the right hand will have to be a littlesharper in order to shoot out thepalmed card as in Figure 97.

While the action has been explained asa forward one it can be done to either side of the performer. The card in thiscase will exit from under the side of thepalm. This is shown in Figure 98 whereyou will note that in this instance theright fingers need not be extended.

Figure 98

While most Switches so far describedare those done seated at a table theones that follow are of a specializedsort designed mostly for magical pur-

poses and done standing at the table.However, they can at times be accom-plished while seated.

Angle Palm Switch

Although similar in concept to MiracleCard Change No. 1, the technique issuch that no movement of the righthand, or the hand doing the actualexchange is necessary.

1. Hold two cards as one with the leftfingers at the left side and near thelower left corner.

2. The left hand tilts the card(s)

upwards to show the face and then thecard(s) is transferred to the right whichreally drops it face down onto the table.Actually no change has been made asfollows:

3. The right hand takes the cards intoa deliberate Angle Palm as in Figure99; however, left fingers have slightlypushed the two cards apart so thatwhen the right thumb nips the left sideof the cards they will be slightly sepa-

rated at this side.

Figure 99

4. Now the right hand moves forward tothe left, back of hand facing audience,then with a slight outward movementof the ball of the right thumb the lower-most card is released to fall face downon the table while the top card remainsin the hand.

5. Although right now it may seemridiculous to go through a move thatpractically accomplishes nothing there

are nevertheless several possible appli-cations. Among these applications arethe following.

A. In a four Ace effect wherein an Acefrom one packet is secretly transferredto another or Leader packet. Have fivecards in a packet supposedly consist-ing of four. The Ace is secretly 2ndfrom the top. Do a Double Turnover toturn the Ace face up and then face



450

CARD SWITCHES

down. Deal the top X card to the table.The top Ace of the packet is left slightly

jogged over one side of the packet.

The right hand takes the packet intoRear Angle Palm and the top Ace isheld back by the Angle Palm Switch asthe rest of the packet is tossed facedown onto the supposed Ace, really Xcard, on the table. The left hand nowmoves towards the three face downcards to turn them face up as you say,"Oh, these three cards should be faceup on the face down Ace."

Needless to say that during this, theright hand can move over and above

another packet to either drop itspalmed Ace or add it in the act of scooping up the packet.

If it is desired to hold out the Ace , theright thumb should move in along sidethe right forefinger. In doing this thecard will automatically be placed inRear Flat Palmed.

B. A card can be very easily stolen fromthe Leader packet and added to anoth-

er packet while picking it up. Merelyhave the indifferent card or cards ontop of the Leader Packet after the dis-play. Turn the packet face down, trans-fer it to the right hand which retainsthe desired cards as the rest of thepacket is dropped to the table. Thecards from the right hand can now beadded secretly to one of the other pack-ets.

C. If two sets of four cards each arecrimped in opposite directions they canbe exchanged, one value for another,by the Angle Palm Switch. To do thisshow the cards face up showing onlythe first four. Turn the cards face downthen cut at the bridge to transpose thebottom four to the top. Immediatelyafter the cut the right hand, which isholding the cards from above by theends, moves into position automaticallyby just moving the right thumb, from

the back end of the packet, to the leftside where it nips the top four cards.This is easy due to the bridging of thepackets at the start.

D. Using the pack for a four cardSwitch makes this cutting unneces-sary. Also the four initial cards can beshown at the start.

The four Aces are on top of the deck.They are thumbed off into the righthand but at the same time the left fin-gers push over enough cards so that inresquaring the deck, using only the l e f thand, the left 4th finger can obtain abreak under the top four cards whilethe right hand is busy displaying theAces.

The four Aces are now squared againstthe deck and picked up, by the endsfrom above with the right hand, thumbat the back end and fingers in front. Atthe same time the four cards below theAces are also picked up but in such amanner that the right 4th finger isbetween the packets and thus separat-ing them at this corner. Also the upper

right corner, of the top four Aces, isnipped between the right 3rd and 4thfingers. In this manner the whole eightcards are picked off from the deck. Asthere is no switch the whole action of merely squaring the Aces against thepack and picking them up is convinc-ing.

At this stage the right hand is holdingthe packet so that the right thumb islying across almost the length of the

back end. The 1st finger is curled ontop while the other three fingers coveralmost the whole front end as shown inthe Figure 100. The right hand nowmoves towards the left and as the 1stfinger is straightened out, the lowerpacket of cards is dropped as in Figure101. Here you will note that the origi-nal four cards are now hidden by theback of the right hand. The right sideof the cards will be touching the inside



451

FOUR AND FOUR TRANSPOSITION

of the hand thus affording plenty of cover. The right thumb retains its posi-tion at the back of the packet.

Figure WO

Figure 101

As soon as the right hand releases itslower cards it travels to the deck takingit by the ends from above with right 1stfinger curling on top of the deck. It willbe found that the adding of the cardsto the deck is almost mechanical. Asthe right hand takes the deck, asexplained, the left hand points to thefour cards on the table as you say,"Keep your eye on the Aces." Naturallythe sleight is best performed at a fairdistance so that spectator can not look over the hand or under it. Angles aremost important for perfect execution of this maneuver. Once it has beenacquired the following direct transposi-tion effect is possible. Lets call it Fourand Four Transposition. The Effect isthat four indifferent cards changeplaces with the Four Aces.

Four and Four Transposition

1. Start with four Aces on top of the

deck. Below them four spot cards, twoblack and two red, with an 8 of Heartsas the lowest of the four. Below this,have the 7 of Hearts as the ninth cardfrom the top.

2. Thumb off the four Aces and showthem in a fan in the right hand. Dropthem face down on the table.

3. Show the next four cards, the spotcards, in a fan but in returning themget a break under them with left 4th

finger. Patter about using four Acesand four spot cards.

4. Pick up the Aces and show themonce more in a fan. Square themagainst deck getting set for the AnglePalm Switch.

5. Seem to drop the Aces to the left butexecute the Switch as you say, "FourAces. Keep your eye on them."

6. The Aces are now on top of the deck.

Thumb off the top four cards, thensquaring them steal an extra card, the7H. Show the face of the packet as yousay, "And the four spot cards overhere", and drop them to right of the 1stpacket.

7. Place the deck off to one side as yousay, "Have you been keeping your eyeon the Aces?" Pick up the supposedAces on the left, make some magicalpass, then fan out the cards to showthem as the spot cards. Toss these faceup to the table.

8. With the top card of the packet onthe right scoop up the others thustransferring an Ace to the bottom tocover the 7H card.

9. Fan out the cards keeping the lasttwo squared to show you have fourAces. The transposition has been com-pleted.



452

CARD SWITCHES

Additional Rear Palm Switches

These are based on the Rear Palm com-monly known as the Gamblers Cop. Donot confuse the Rear Palm with theRear Flat Palm or the Rear Angle Palm.Several methods will be given using theRear Palm.

First Method

This type of handling is useful at timesas the Switch is made easier by turningthe cards face up or face down previ-ous to putting them on the table.

1. The four cards are Rear Palmed inthe left hand. The cards are face up

and in the familiar Cop position.

2. The right hand picks up the fourcards to be switched. These cards arealso face up.

3. The right hand places the cards intothe left hand on top of the palmedcards but in a forward, jogged positionas shown in Figure 102, the performersview.

Figure 102

4. The right hand can now make somegesture such as moving the deck, etc..

5. The right hand comes over andturns the cards face down in the fol-lowing manner; The right fingers gounder the front end of the packetswhile the right thumb goes on top atthe front end. The right hand nowturns both packets as one, inwardstowards the body. The right fingers will

conceal the jogged portion as in Figure103 during the turning action.

6. The cards are now replaced into le f thand face down.

Figure 103

7. Due to the jogged condition of thepackets the rear packet will automati-cally go into the Rear Palm positionwhile the other will remain forward.This is similar to Figure 102 exceptnow the cards are face down.

8. Immediately after the turnover theright hand takes the forward packetfrom above by the ends. In doing thisthe right thumb will push against theinjogged packet, pressing it further intothe palm. The right hand then drops itspacket face down onto the table whilethe left hand retires to the side.

9. The Rear Palmed cards can later beadded to the deck.

10. Obviously the above Switch can be

made with the cards either face up orface down.

Second Method

1. The cards are palmed in the righthand at the start.

2. The cards to be switched are takenand held in the left hand.



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TOP PALM SWITCH

3. The right hand comes over to squarethe cards, adds the palmed cards butholds a left 4th finger break betweenthe two packets.

4. The cards are next squared alongthe sides by the left hand with theresult that the bottom four cards areleft in a Rear Palm position while thetop four cards are moved forward.

5. The forward packet is taken by theright hand and placed face down to oneside.

6. Above action is similar to Mario'sSquare Up Drop Palm.

Top Palm Switch

This Switch is unusual in that thecards start out being palmed in the lefthand and after the switch the cards arepalmed in the right hand. Also thisswitch is covered by the action of turn-ing over the cards.

1. The cards are palmed in the lefthand in either full or Rear Palm.

2. Cards to be switched are picked up

by the right hand and placed into thelef t on top of the cards there; however,l e f t 4th finger holds a break betweenpackets.

3. The right hand can move awayunder some pretext if desired.

4. Right here the action is most impor-tant. The right hand comes over thepacket and palms the top four cardsand at the same time, the fingers andthumb meet at the front end of the

packet remaining in the left hand. Herethe right hand turns this packet faceup and the left fingers spread the cardsout in a fan as in Figure 104, the spec-tator's view.

5. The left hand now grasps the fannedcards while the right hand releases itshold on the upper end of cards andchanges position. The cards are retak-en, in the right hand, by the same end

Figure 104

but this time as in Figure 105 with theright thumb on the face of the cards.

6. The right hand now tosses the cards

face up onto the table in their fannedcondition.

Figure 105

7. The above change can also be madewhile apparently turning face up cardsface down. In this case start with thecards face up in left hand then proceedas per the original description.

The Throw Switch

This Switch can be very practical undercertain conditions. The exchange is

made with one hand and the titlebecomes evident on trying it out.

1. Begin with cards palmed in the righthand.

2. The cards to be exchanged can bepicked up by the left hand then takenby the right which places them on thetable, or the right hand can pick themup and place them into the left. Duringthese actions the change is executed.



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CARD SWITCHES

3. Let us assume the right hand haspicked up the packet from the table.The four right fingers are at the frontend of the packet while the right

thumb is at the inner left corner. Fourcards are still palmed in the right handand the situation is as in Figure 106.

Figure 106

4. The right hand moves to deposit thecards into the left hand. It is duringthis time that the right thumb movesits cards inwards as in Figure 107 sothat the visible cards are now more orless out of sight.

Figure 207

5. The right hand continues towardsthe left hand and seems to place thecards into the left hand but actuallythe palmed cards are released as

shown in Figure 108.

6. Once the right hand has releasedthe palmed cards it continues ontowards the left arm in order to seem-ingly pull up its sleeve. Actually the

purpose is to push the other packetinto the palm because at this point thepacket will still be held by the tip of theright thumb; therefore, the action of pulling up the sleeve is necessary. Anyother action which pushes the cardsinto the palm proper, will, of course, doas well.

7. While the action has been describedof tossing cards into the hand they canalso be tossed onto the table.

One Hand Switch

A switch designed for several cards.Actually two hands are used to set-upfor the switch; however, the changeitself is made with only one hand.

There are two methods of handling butbasically the mechanics for each areidentical. The first follows a descriptionof the actual mechanics involved in get-ting set.

1. Four cards are Rear Palmed in theleft hand.

2. Four selected cards are taken by theright hand.

3. Both hands are brought togetherand the two packets lined up as one,but with the fourth little finger betweenthem.

4. The two packets are transposed by adeliberate cut so that the upper packet

consists of the original Rear Palmedcards. The left fourth finger still holds abreak between the packets.

5. At this point the two packets areheld in the left hand in dealing posi-tion, similar to the Mechanics Grip,with the left forefinger curled over thetop end. The appearance is that the lefthand is holding a packet of cards.

Figure 108



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ANOTHER REAR PALM SWITCH

6. The left hand now moves towardsthe table to drop the packet face uponto same; however, right here the cru-cial moves are made.

7. As the left hand moves forward thelef t forefinger pushes down on thecards so that they go down further intothe palm as in Figure 109. The leftfourth finger is still between the pack-ets.

Figure 109

8. Continue pushing the packets fur-ther into the palm and at the sametime turn the left hand palm down. Asthe left hand starts to turn palm downthe left thumb also pushes inward onthe upper left corner of the packets.This will cause the packets to go into asort of Clip Rear Palm as in Figure 110with the left fourth finger still betweenthe packets. Figure 110 is the view asit would be seen from the bottom; how-ever, here the action is shown with thel e f t hand palm up.

Figure 110

9. As the cards reach the positionshown in Figure 110, the cards abovethe little finger are released to fall face

up onto the table. Actually the wholeaction is made as the left hand is turn-ing palm down to deposit its packet.The cards are released at the time the

left thumb and 4th finger press theupper corners of the under packet.This enables all four fingers to extendand release the packet while the othercards are held back in a Rear FlatPalm.

10. With the packet upon the tablethere are two alternatives from here.

First, the left hand retires to the sidewhile the right hand comes up tospread the cards from right to left.

Second, the left hand retains its posi-tion and with the extended left forefin-ger spread the face up packet fromright to left as in Figure 111.

Figure 111

Another Rear Palm Switch

A method for switching one or morecards through the use of the RearPalm. The switch is made as follows;

1. The card, or cards, are held in theleft Rear Palm as in Figure 112. Thecards are held lengthwise between thebase of the thumb and the 2nd, 3rdand 4th fingers which leaves the leftforefinger free as the cards are below it.



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CARD SWITCHES

Figure 112

2. The card, or cards, to be switchedare taken with the right hand andplaced into the left hand in such amanner that the front ends of thesecards will be resting on the left forefin-

ger as in Figure 113.

Figure 113

3. Some appropriate gesture is nowmade with the right hand or someobjects, such as the deck, is moved.

4. The right hand comes back to takethe cards from the left hand. The rightthumb goes on top of the visible packetat the inner right corner while the rightforefinger goes between the two pack-ets. The remaining right fingers gobelow the palmed packet with theresult that while the right thumb and

forefinger are grasping the upper pack-et the right second and 1st fingers willbe clipping the Rear Palmed cards as inFigure 114.

5. Once this position has been reachedthe left hand starts to drop to the sidekeeping the upper cards between theleft thumb and forefinger while theright hand moves upwards and for-wards to take the lower cards between

the right 1st and 2nd fingers. The rightthumb will wind up pressing down onthe right forefinger and thus the illu-sion of the sameness of position is

maintained.

Figure 114

6. The packet or card is immediatelydropped onto the table or placed whereever necessary for the effect in hand.

7. The Figure 115 shows the actionwhen taking the exchanged card intothe right hand. As the left hand movesdownwards the right hand movesupwards. The right thumb goes underthe card, at the inner right corner, toturn its back toward the audience.Thus the card ends up being heldbetween the thumb on the face and 1stfinger on the back of the card at itsupper right corner. The other 3 fingerscurl in towards the palm to facilitatethe turning of the card.

Figure 115



457

THE SPREAD SWITCH

8. The cards can be added to the bot-tom of the deck by the right hand plac-ing the deck into the left, or they canbe transferred to a full right hand palm

using Mario's Palm Transfer. SeeChapter 2; Action Palms. They canthen be added to the deck, sleeved,pocketed or merely held out for a time.

The Spread Switch

To Switch a face down card for anothercard in a face up deck. (Note: For origi-nal use of The Spread Switch see"Deuce Sandwich Switches" Notes forAug. 10, 1956.) The mechanics of theswitch now follows:

1. The second card from the face of thedeck is previously reversed. Let usassume this card is the 10H.

2. In order to try the switch, reverseany card somewhere in the center of the deck. Thus one card is face downin the center and one card, the 10H, isface down under the face card of thedeck.

3. Holding the deck face up in the left

hand obtain a break under the twocards at the face of the deck, actuallythe back to back cards.

4. Push off these two cards as one intothe right hand which takes it into theCount Cop Position. Continue by tak-ing the next five cards singly, one ontothe other, into the right hand.

5. At this point the right hand movesaway, with its cards, from the deck in agesture or some excuse. (This excuse

should conform to the effect at hand.)6. As the right hand comes back towards the deck the right fingersbuckle the bottom card of its packet sothat a space is created between it andthe rest of cards above it.

7. As the hands approach each otherthe left thumb spreads its cardstowards the right. These cards go into

the buckled opening between thereversed card and those above it as inFigure 116.

Figure 116

8. The left hand continues spreadingthe cards but these are now all goinginto the buckled space with the resultthat the bottom card stays under thespread but still remains against theright palm.

9. Continue spreading the cards untilthe reversed card in the center isreached. At this stage the spread ishalted for a moment to give a clear viewof the lone face down card.

10. Now comes the switch. The leftthumb is resting on the face down card

from above while the left fingers areunderneath. The left hand movestowards the right thus pushing thereversed card under the spread andsupposedly into the right hand.

Actually the left fingers merely pushthe reversed card under the spread andthe left fingers automatically gobetween the bottom buckled card andthose above it. This action causes theleft fingers to further force the buckledcard firmly against the right hand. Theleft thumb also falls on the face of thepreviously spread cards with the resultthat the whole deck is held by the lefthand while the right hand merelycomes away with a face down card inits hand as shown in Figure 117.

Note that there is a definite step in thedeck at the point from which thereversed card was seemingly removed.



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CARD SWITCHES

This also acts as a marker for the posi-tion of the reversed card now under-neath the section stepped to the right.

Figure 117

11. The right hand tosses its card facedown onto the table, then comes backto the deck. The deck is separated atthe stepped place and the left handsection is run or spread onto the righthand section. The obvious purposebeing to show no other reversed card.These actions leave the originalreversed card on the bottom of thedeck.

12. To right the reversed card the deckis taken from above by the right hand.The left fingers push the bottomreversed card to the right under theright palm as for a side steal except nopalming is done. Instead the left thumbmoves under the deck at its left side inorder to turn it face down. As the deckis on its side the right hand immediate-ly moves upward and at same timeu nd ercu t t in g half the deck, thenimmediately going into an overhand

shuffle. Result is the reversed card isautomatically righted in what seemslike a casual overhand shuffle.

Switcheroo

This is a utility Switch that I devised toenable one to switch either one card orseveral. It is easy of execution, requiresonly a slight amount of practice andhas endless possibilities some of whichwill be pointed ou t.

For the present I will describe themechanics of the Switch itself; howev-er, first, let me point out that althoughthe moves can be made with the pack

face down there is less suspicion if thepack is face up during the Switchwhile the tabled card or cards are facedown. After the student has familiar-ized himself with the sleight he willreadily appreciate this fact. Thedescription for Switcheroo now follows:

1. First let me state it is best if thecards involved in the switch are slightlycrimped lengthwise so later they can beeasily handled when picking them upby the ends.

Assume that you wish to Switch a facedown card, that is on the right side of the table, for one which is still in thepack. Begin by secretly reversing thetop card of the deck as follows. Thepack should be held face up in the lefthand with the right hand above.

The left fingers push out the bottomcard for half its width. The bottom cardrests on the fingertips of the left hand.

By closing the left fingers the bottomcard will be reversed face up under thedeck. This is a pretty standard proce-dure and was first described in VictorFarelli's book Lend Me Your Pack.

2. The left 4th finger pulls down thelower, inner right corner of the reversedcard. At the same time the right handremoves the pack, from the left hand,by taking it from above by the ends.The right thumb comes at the lower

right corner but its tip maintains abreak, between the reversed card andthe rest of the face up cards, at aboutthe center of the back end. The right1st and 2nd fingers take the deck atthe upper right corner while the right3rd and 4th fingers are merely along-side but do not touch any part of thedeck. The right 2nd finger is on thecorner of the deck but the 1st finger ismore at the center of the front end.



459

SWITCHEROO

3. With the pack held in the righthand, as described in Step 2, advancetowards the face down tabled card asshown in Figure 118. Note that the

deck is not directly in line with thetabled card but more towards the left of the card.

4. The right hand, with the deck still inthe described position, comes down topick up the tabled card. The right 1stfinger and right thumb only hold ontothe deck while the right 2nd, 3rd and4th fingers extend to pick up the tabledcard to under the deck.

Figure 118

5. The tabled card is picked up by plac-ing the tip of the right thumb on thelower left corner and the tip of the right2nd finger on the upper left corner. Theright 3rd and 4th fingers also aiding inholding the tabled card, as well as con-cealing the whole front end of the card.The grip and position of the cards atthis stage is shown in Figure 119which shows a bottom view of the con-dition.

6. The right hand moves towards theleft of the table to apparently depositthe card just picked up. Actually theoriginally reversed card, on which the

right thumb has held a break duringall this, is released by simply easing upthe pressure of the right 1st finger andthumb as the toss to the left is made.Anyone who has a Three Card Montetoss will find no difficulty executingthis manuever; however, bear in mindthat the move is a slow, easy one andnot fast or jerky. During this toss theright thumb and 2nd, 3rd and 4th fin-gers hold onto the card picked off thetable. The right fingers will, of course,

mask the card held back as seen inFigure 120 where the actual Switch istaking place.

Figure 119

Figure 120

7. After the actual switch has beenmade there are several alternatives forthe card that was held back.

A The two hands come together, theleft fingers, from below, pull on thecard to bring it back under the face updeck. It thus takes the position of theoriginally reversed card.

B With the card extending to the rightas it does it will be found a simple mat-ter to immediately spread the deck faceup. Because of the jogged condition of the reversed card it will be hidden bythe spread.

C We prefer this method to any of theothers for all practical purposes. It con-sists of merely bringing the two handstogether and having the left fingers



460

CARD SWITCHES

extend straight outwards below thedeck. In this position the pack willmore or less be resting on the extendedleft palm with the left fingertips on the

face of the side-jogged card. The leftthumb enters under the pack to tilt iton its side.

The right hand immediately undercutsthe deck for an overhand shuffle as theleft thumb pulls off the top half whilethe left fingers, where the side-joggedcard was resting, close in to hold thecard, upright, against the portion of cards pulled off by left thumb.

Upon completion of the shuffle the

tabled card will be on the bottom of the pack. This whole action of rightingthe reversed side-jogged card shouldappear as if you merely shuffled thepack as an afterthought.

Note - Farrelli's book, Lend Me Your Pack, had a suggestion of reversing acard in a shuffle but gave no details.The above is what I assume would bethe procedure.

Swi t che roo can be done with a numberof cards. As a matter of fact it is eveneasier with more cards. Because of theadded weight the release, made by sim-ply easing up the pressure of the rightfirst fingertip and tip of the rightthumb, is a lot easier.

A packet of cards has less tendency tobuckle up against the bottom cards;therefore, it will be less apt to hang upthe crucial switch. This is the onedetail that must be guarded against, in

the single card switch. Do not press toohard on the ends of the picked up cardas it will buckle up against the card tobe exchanged.

Before proceeding with some actualeffects in which the above sleight isused, we will introduce an idea using apaper clip in connection with theSwitcheroo. Several years ago we intro-duced, via a booklet called Mario in

Spades, an effect titled "Clipped". In ita paper clip was used to mark a card,namely the Ace of Spades, later thepaper clip was secretly transferred to

another card.The use of a paper clip, in the "Clipped"effect, came to me as a result of watch-ing Russell Earnhardt, of Chicago,vainly trying to accomplish the samepurpose through the use of a rubberband encircled around the cards. Atthis time another idea, along the paperclip line, is introduced. It is the secretuse of a duplicate paper clip to enhanceboth the effect as well as the Switchplus the fact that the deck can be heldface down during the Switch. A brief example of its uses now follows:

What is about to be described shouldnot necessarily be taken as an effect initself but rather something that showsthe possibilities of application. If onewishes to look on this as an effect itwould seem that four selected cards,which have been marked with a clip.These change into four Aces while thefour selected cards appear in the per-former's pocket.

1. Secretly clip the four Aces. Thepaper clip is placed at the center, onthe right side, of the packet of Aces.

2. Place the Aces at the bottom of thepack with the paper clip towards theright. All the cards are face down andheld in the left hand, as for dealing,with left fingers curled around side of deck to conceal the paper clip.

3. A second paper clip is on the tableor brought forth from the pocket at alater time as required.

4. Four spectators are requested toremove cards and note them. The fourcards are gathered by the performerand the paper clip is put on these inthe identical position as is the clip onthe Aces. The packet is placed to theright of the performer.



461

MONTE SWINDLE

5. The cardician now obtains a fourcard break, with the right thumb, onthe bottom Aces. The paper clip makesthis part sure and easy of accomplish-ment.

6. Holding the deck, from above by theends with the right hand, in readinessfor the Switch, the performer's lefthand reaches out and grasps hishelper by the right arm. Having his lefthand thus occupied gives him anexcuse to pick up the tabled packet inthe manner prescribed for the Switch.

7. The performer's right hand picks upthe tabled cards and makes the Switchtossing the cards towards the left, ashe says, "Will you please hold ontothese four cards."

8. Addressing his audience the cardi-cian states that he will cause the fourselected cards to arrive in his pocket.

9. Bottom palm the four selected cardsin the left hand. Reach into the left sidecoat pocket, push off the paper clip,

have the first selection named, removethe proper card and display it to theassemblage.

10. Repeat this procedure with theremaining three cards. Later have theassistant remove the clip from thecards he holds. He shows he holds fouraces. Climax!

Monte Swindle

A paper clip is placed onto the Ace of

Spades. Later it turns out to be one of the red Aces. The effectiveness of theswindle is due to the fact that it isactually impossible to have transferredthe clip from one card to another, yetthat seems to be the only explanation.It is a fine bit of chicanery to pull thenext time you have a p o w - w o w withanother cardician.

1. A paper clip is previously placed, onthe right side, at the center, on one of

the red Aces. This Ace is the central

card of the three, with the Ace of Spades on top as they are held facedown in the left hand.

2. The left hand turns palm down anddeals off the Ace of Spades face up onthe table. The left hand remains palmdown.

3. Left fingers push the bottom red Aceforward for half its length. Now toss thetwo red Aces face up on the table. Theoverlap of the first red Ace will hide thepaper clip on the Ace below.

4. The Ace of Spades is now clipped in

an identical manner and position as isthe red Ace. Turn the Ace of Spadesface down on the table with the clip onthe right side.

5. The Left thumb moves in under thetwo red Aces and the left hand picksup the Aces still in a spread or fannedcondition. Keep the left hand palmdown. Pull out the bottom Ace, with theright fingers, then transfer it to the top.The curled left fingers, which should be

kept close together to avoid windows,will effectively conceal the duplicateclip during the transfer of the card.

6. Turn the left hand palm upwardbringing the backs of the cards intoview. The bottom card is now theclipped Ace.

7. Obtain a break between the twocards, as in the regular Switcheroosleight and hold them from above withthe right hand.

8. Pick up the Ace of Spades under thetwo Aces as for the Switch. Turn thecards face up to once more show theAce of Spades with its clip. It will benoted that the Ace of Spades now con-ceals the duplicate paper clip on thered Ace.

Note that the Ace of Spades is pickedup in the position for the switch similarto Figure 118 and 119.



462

CARD SWITCHES

9. Apparently toss the Ace of Spadesface down actually making the switchwhich will release the red Ace with itsclip.

10. The remaining two cards are nowsquared up from beneath with the leftfingers. Immediately extend the leftthumb till its tip touches the tip of leftsecond finger. Next remove the top cardwith the right fingers as you say, "Aceof Spades on the table and two redAces in the hands." The extended leftthumb will automatically cover thepaper clip during this maneuver espe-cially if you had placed the clip with itsshort loop on the back of the Aces.

11. Replace the card from the righthand on top of the card in the left, onthe left side. Engage the left second fin-gernail on the clip in readiness for theClip Steal. This is done by merely mov-ing in the left 2nd finger until thepaper clip comes free of the card andfalls into a finger palm position of theleft hand or it can be done at the exacttime the right hand takes the cardsfrom the left hand. The clip can also bethumb palmed.

12. Have the spectator turn over thetabled card. To his surprise it is a redAce. Toss the two cards from the hand,(stealing the clip at this time if youwish), face up onto the table to showthat the Ace of Spades has been inyour hands all along.

Mario's Regulation

Palm Switches

These switches do not depend on anyof the previous palm positions but usethe regular palm in which the card ismostly held by diagonally opposite cor-ners. The right 4th f i g e r t i p pressesagainst the upper right corner of thecard while the lower left corner is keptin place by pressure of the palm at thebase of the thumb.

With this grip the other fingers canextend flat yet the card will be retainedin the hand.

Normally the hand having a card in

this position can rest its fingertips onthe edge of the table; however, bychanging the grip to between the right1st finger and the palm, the right 4th,3rd and 2nd fingertips can be rested onthe edge of the table while the 1st fin-ger goes below the table edge thus thecard is held out of sight but is retainedin the arc created by the 1 st finger andthumb. By raising the right 1st fingerthe card is brought up to under theother three fingers and the card trans-ferred to the diagonal grip previouslymentioned. Whether the student wish-es to use this finesse or not is up tohim.

First Method

1. The tabled card is lying lengthwisein front of the performer. It is held withthe left fingers by the lower left corneras for the Corner Hold. The right handhas a card palmed in the regular posi-

tion and is resting its fingertips on theedge of table. Situation is shown inFigure 121.

2. The left fingers move its card so thelower right corner of the card isbrought towards the performer.

\

Figure 121



463

MARLO'S REGULATION PALM SWITCHES

Figure 122

At the same time the right hand, mov-ing close to the table, comes in towardsthe tabled card as in Figure 122.

3. The palmed card is brought overonto the tabled card. The position of

both hands is as in Figure 123. At thispoint the left fingers still hold onto itscard and both cards are more or less inline under the right palm.

4. This is important. The right hand istilted upwards but during this actionthe side of the right hand must be firm-ly pressed against the table thus thehand sort of swings like on a hinge.The left hand, now holding both cor-ners of the two cards, also movesupwards as it follows the right hand.

5. The actions of Step 4 above is for thepurpose of looking at the card. Duringthis time the left 1st and 2nd fingerspull upwards on the card nearest thepalm or the original palmed card Thisupward pull on the card is only forabout a quarter of an inch as in Figure124 where you w il note that the leftthumb and fingers are still holdingonto the corners of both cards.

6. Keeping the cards side-jogged, as inFigure 124, the right hand and lefthand swing downwards back to theposition shown in Figure 123. At thisstage the two cards under the palm willstill be side-jogged with the under cardbeing side jogged to the right.

The left fingers now hold onto the cor-ner of the upper card while the lengthof the right 4th finger is pressed downagainst the side-jogged under card. TheFigure 125 shows a single X denotingthe left fingers hold and the three Xmarks where the right 4th finger, orthe side of the right hand, is pressed.

Figure 124

Figure 125

7. All that remains is for the left fingersto hold onto its card as the right handcarries away the under card by merelymaintaining pressure against it whilethe right hand moves back to the posi-tion shown in Figure 121. Here you canuse the finesse of gripping the twoopposite corners of the card betweenthe right 1st finger and palm in orderthat the palmed card can be broughtbelow the table edge. After a while thepalmed card is unloaded by any of thevarious procedures already explained.



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CARD SWITCHES

Second Method

1. The position of both hands is asshown in Figure 121.

2. The right hand moves in towards thetabled card exactly as in Figure 122.

3. At this point a very importantmanuever takes place as it will berequired to get the palmed card underthe tabled card. This consists in slight-ly lifting the right thumb. This actionwill cause the palmed card to buckleoutwards or away from the palm withits upper left corner hugging the table.This will enabe the palmed card to beslid under the tabled card.

4. With the palmed card beneath thetabled card the hand positions areexactly as in Figure 123.

5. Tilt both hands up to the positionshown in Figure 124; however, thistime the Face card is pulled upwards.Now the two hands move downwardsback to the table but the left fingersmerely peel off the face card as bothhands move back to the original posi-

tion shown in Figure121.

It is possible to do these Switches withthe hands raised above the table. Inthis case, after the s idejogging actionshown in Figure 124, the right 4th fin-gertip presses in against the card to beheld back. Once this diagonal grip issecure on the card the left fingers caneasily move away with its new card.

To use the 1st Method of the aboveRegulation Palm Switch as an In and

Out Switch all you need to do is movethe palmed card over onto the tabledcard until both hands are in Figure123. At this stage the left fingers quick-ly execute the side-jogging action. Theleft thumb pushes its tabled card for-ward under the right hand as the left1st and 2nd fingers pull inwards on thepalmed card. Once the left fingers andthumb have a secure grip on the new

card the right hand merely presses onits card, and moves away from the lefthand. The exchange can be done veryquickly and has the appearance of onlycovering the tabled card for a second orso and then seeming to have changedyour mind.

Added Notes

A. At Figure 113 of Another Rear PalmSwitch it is possible to merely line upthe palmed card and the card above itinstead of making the Switch in ques-tion.

To line up the two cards the left forefin-ger moves in towards the palm, this

action would be similar to Figure 109,until the two cards are in line. This lin-ing up of the two cards takes place atthe same time that the right handcomes over to take the cards, as one,by the inner right corner. The left handdrops down to the side as the rightmoves up to display the face of anapparently single card which was origi-nally placed into the left hand.

B. In the 1st method of Pseudo Card

Cheat's Switches you may find theexchange easier if the palmed card isbrought beneath the tabled card. Inthis way when the hands are tilted, asin Figure 92, it is only necessary tomerely peel off the face card of the two.This is an easier action than theexchange required when the palmedcard is still against the palm.

C. This is a rather trite effect using theFace Up Switch; howev e r , the series of

actions are such as to make the endresult quite startling.

Assume that you have a card secretlyreversed second from the face of thedeck. Run this card under the spreadas per Figure 116. As the cards arebeing spread face up ask the spectatorto touch any card.



465

ADDED NOTES

When he touches the card, the left fin-gers hold onto the touched card. Thecards in the right hand are then usedto f l ip over the touched card, face down

onto the left hand portion. Immediatelythe left fingers move the face downcard to below the cards in the righthand just as if to transfer the card intothe right hand. The Switch is made asthe right hand moves out with the orig-inally reversed card as in Figure 117.

The right hand tosses its card facedown onto the table, then both handssquare the deck and turn it face down.The result is the touched card face upin the deck. All that remains is to pick up the tabled face down card, insert if face down into the face down deck, ruf-fle the front end of the deck, spread thedeck to show the touched card hasturned over as if by magic.

As I have said the effect is not muchbut the series of actions in this casecan be used effectively in some othere f f e c t s of a more substantial nature. Asan example, the Spread Switch can bedone twice in a row to accomplish atransposition and a reversal.Suppose you start with the usualsecretly reversed card at 2nd from theface of the deck. Work this card tobeneath the spread as you ask some-one to touch a card. Assume this cardis the 5H. It is levered over, face down,then the Switch is made with an X cardgoing to the table but the 5H remainsunder the cards in the right hand.

Now the 5H is worked under the spreadas you ask another spectator to toucha card. Suppose this is the 7S. It is lev-ered over face down and the Switch ismade thus the 5H is placed to the tableon the left. The 7S remains reversed incenter of the deck.

The audience assumes the 5H is on theright, the 7S on the left when actuallyan X card is on the right, 5H on the left

and 7S face up in a face down deck. Toconclude pick up the supposed 5H,really an X card, and insert it into thedeck. Ruffle the front end of the deck,

then show the 5H now on the table.Spread deck to reveal the 7S face up.

This transposition effect is best if youdecide on two definite cards to use. Isuggest secretly reversing the 3C as the2nd card from face of deck. Now adjustmatters in the deck so that the AC willbe the first card you come to and theAD as the second card you will use. Of course, after the above Double Switchyou can flash the 3C as the AC justbefore inserting it face down into thedeck. From here the effect is terminat-ed as in the first case.

While I have termed the above aDouble Switch obviously it can berepeated as often as you may wishdepending on the effect, as for examplea Triple Transposition, because aftereach Switch the next card is in positionfor a repeat of the sleight.

D. A Card Switch In Reverse is possible

as follows: The position of both handsis as in Figure 79 with these excep-tions; the right hand does not have acard palmed and the left thumb iskeeping a break, at the inner left cor-ner, on the bottom card of the deck. Atabled card is in front of the performer.The right hand comes over the tabledcard as in Figure 80. The right handpicks up the tabled card to look at itand at the same time the left handmoves in with the deck. The situation

is similar to Figure 82. Still looking atthe card, held in the right hand, theleft thumb and fingers release the bot-tom card and the deck is moved back.Figure 81 shows the condition at thisstage.

The right hand now turns palm downdirectly onto the new card thus bothcards are covered and the picture isagain as in Figure 80. The right hand



466

CARD SWITCHES

holds onto its card and then movesaway to expose the new tabled cardwhich is taken to be the one justlooked at. The situation is now exactlyas shown in Figure 79 with a cardpalmed in the right hand. After awhilethe palmed card is unloaded. ThisSwitch is interesting in that you neednot start with a card palmed. It canalso be done with a packet of cards.

An excellent technique is when theposition of Figure 80 is reached, withtwo cards under the hand, the righthand moves the under card forward,then as the right hand moves back,with its palmed card, it is immediatelyunloaded onto the top of the deck. Theleft hand tilts the deck on its side thusthe right hand replacement is easy asboth hands, grasping each end of deck,tap the side of deck against the table.

The back of the deck will be towardsthe spectator and the four fingers of each hand will practically conceal thetop of the deck thus making thereplacement difficult to spot.

While the Spread Switch has beendescribed with a face up deck it canalso be made with the deck face down.

My notes contain many more effectsusing both the Spread Switch and theSwitcheroo but these will have to waitfor another Chapter. Meantime, thebest Switches to you—

Cardially yours,Edward Mario



Chapter Thirteen

Estimation

Parti

Mechanical Estimation

The Comparison Method The Automatic Gauge Method Variation of Automatic Gauge

The Nail Gauge Nail Gauge Variation Mario's Favorite The Faro Check Mechanical Estimation Effects The Magic Card "Think I'll Stop Here" Chosen Card Count Down The T i p o f f Reversed Card Out

Probably the first source to record theprinciple of Estimation is Downs' Art of Magic where it is looked upon as a sim-ple process of locating a card but thereader is cautioned that, "The bunglingand unobservant perfomer will meethis Waterloo in this experiment. Thekeen-eyed, ready-tongued and adroitperformer; however, will experience nodifficulty whatever in this method, thesecret of which lies in locating theselected card by observing where thespectator breaks the pack."

Thus in a few words a principle of unlimited scope was handed to themagic world, yet in the fifty year periodsince its introduction very little hasbeen added to the subject. Even as

large a volume as Greater Magic haspractically no mention of it; however,Charles H. Hopkins mentions the prin-c ip le in his Outs, Precautions and

Challenges. It is interesting to note thatno mention of estimating the numberof cards is made in either Art of Magicor the Hopkins' book but seems to fol-low the rule of observing where thepack is cut.

It is Expert Card Technique which firstmentions estimating the possible num-ber occupied by the card that is cut,plus an advance in the fact that nowthe estimated card's position is fol-lowed in the course of regulation RiffleShuffles thus adding more deceptionbut also adding the risk.

It is in Chapter Six of the present vol-ume that this risk was lessened tosome degree by the use of the FaroShuffle, which gave more accurateresults, as well as the introduction of Forced Estimation, plus its use in someeffects other than just merely findingthe card.

The following two Chapters, of

Revolutionary Card Techniquenot onlydeal with Estimation but with effects aswell. Mechanical Estimation is forthose who may have never had muchexperience with this branch of cardwork and wish to be pretty sure of suc-cess.

The other subject was first brieflyintroduced in the New Phoenix in 1955and is of a controversial nature in that



468

ESTIMATION

many card men at that t ime, evenexperts, did not believe the principle tobe pract ical . I doubt i f many havechanged their minds in the interim. It

is what I term Natural Estimation andthrough its use some fantastic effectsare possible, some of which have beenincluded in this work.

I can not think about estimation with-out recalling two names in the f ield,namely a character called Moe , whoapparently made use of the principle of estimation in arriving at some of hiscard miracles. Also Bert Allerton withhis Estimation Stab, on which I basedseveral of my impromptu versions, acouple of which are released here forthe first time.

In all the effects I have tried to stayaway from the "Let's play estimation"type of thing so common among magi-cians, wherein they try to guess atwhat number in the deck a noted cardlies. This obvious estimation carries nomystery and should be avoided as youwould avoid displaying a secret sleight.While there are effects in which num-

bers are involved it must be remem-bered that these are apparently arrivedat by chance or seem to be predeter-mined which is akin to a prediction of sorts. I'm sure that the student willf ind much to fasc inate him in thematerial to be presented.

Mechanical Estimation

Object: To determine as closely as pos-sible the number of cards cut off by a

spectator.The usual means of estimation is toguess the number of cards cut off byspectator by actually looking at the cutoff portion or by looking at the remain-der of the deck to determine the num-ber of cards left behind. From this itwas possible to guess how many thespectator had cut off. While it is possi-ble to master this basic procedure the

following ideas will give one more accu-rate results with less practice. Some of the methods are designed to accuratelygive the number of cards cut off by thespectator as well as two other portions.

First Method:

The Comparison Method

1. Having had the pack shuffled by thespectator he is requested to table thecards and cut them but not to com-plete the cut.

2. When the cards are cut the twopackets are normally side by side as inFigure 1 with the ends of the cards

towards performer.3. Notice packet A of Figure 1 as wellas the two arrows. This is what youestimate. In other words you estimatehow many more cards one packet hasthan the other rather than trying todetermine the actual number of cardsin the cu t off portion.

Figure 1

4. Assume that you have estimatedthat one packet contains twelve morecards than the other. In Figure 1 thepacket A would have twelve more cardsthan packet B. Next, halve this numberto give you six. Now deduct six from 26to give you 20 or the number of cardsin packet B. Naturally the packet Awould have 32 cards.

5. Try this method of ComparisonEstimation and you will find that it canbe done quite accurately within one ortwo cards.



469

AUTOMATIC GAUGE METHOD

Second Method:

The Automatic Gauge Method

This works best on a hard surface sodon't expect good results on an overlysoft working surface.

1. The spectator having shuffled thepack places it on the table. Arrangematters so that the side of the deck istowards you. Have him cut the cardsbut not complete the cut.

2. As the cut is seldom equal, one

packet will contain more cards thanthe other. The handling is such thatexactly which packet is the greatermakes no difference. For the examplelet's assume the packet A nearest youis larger as in Figure 2.

Figure 2

3. The right hand is always placed onthe smaller packet, in this case packetB, the one furthest away from you. Thel e f t hand is always placed on the largerpacket, in this case, packet A.

4. Both packets are now movedtowards each other till the sides meet;however, both are jogged as seen inFigure 3, a side view, with the handsomitted.

5. The right 1st finger presses downfirmly onto its smaller packet. The left1st finger also presses down but lightlyon its packet. The left thumb gentlypushes its top cards forward. Whathappens is that only those cards whichdo not jam against the smaller packet,will move forward as in Figure 4 whichshows the action from the end view.The left fingers pick up just this slidingportion of the left hand cards and atthe same time the right hand movesits packet away. The action is seen inFigure 5, another end view.

Figure 3

Figure 5

6. The right hand action in Figure 5 isaccompanied by the request of "Takethe packet you cut off and shuffle it."Meantime the packet, held by the lefthand, is shuffled by yourself.

7. Naturally you Run Shuffle yourpacket counting the cards at the sametime. This Run Shuffle, in the event of a large number of cards, can be brokenup by say, running 10 cards andthrowing the rest of the packet ontothese in an injogged condition. Get abreak at the injogged packet and Run-Shuffle the rest, up to the break, asyou finish the count to give you thetotal of cards in this packet.



470

ESTIMATION

8. Suppose the total is 19. To this, addone to make 20 and then divide this bytwo to give you 10. Next subtract 10from 26 to give you 16 which will be

the estimated total of not only thepacket the spectator cut off but also of the packet still on the table.

At most you will be off by one card onone packet due to the fact that yourRun-Shuff l ed packet may have had anodd number of cards; therefore, one of the tabled packets has to contain thatextra card.

9. Drop your Run Shuffled packet; 19cards in this case to the table alongside

the other packet. At this point youknow the exact number of cards inyour packet, 19 cards, and the estimat-ed number, 16 in this case, of the othertwo packets. It does not matter how thespectator decides to assemble thepackets you can't be off more than onecard.

For example - He notes the bottomcard of his packet and places it on theother estimated 16 card packet then all

onto your packet. Suppose you thenshuffle off the top 15 cards leaving theestimated 16th on top. If he had 16cards in his packet the card is then ontop but if he had 17 then it is the sec-ond card from the top or only one cardoff. Later, in the effects section, I willshow you how a three and even fourcard error can be allowed and yet ter-minate the effect successfully.

10. I have given the handling when the

larger packet is nearest you but sup-pose it is the one furthest from you.The handling is still the same withright hand grasping the smaller packetand left hand the larger; however, inthis case the left 2nd finger pulls thetop cards back as the two halves are

jammed together. This action is shownin Figure 6.

Figure 6

11. The left fingers, of course, lift upthe Sliding Packet as the right handmoves its packet forward for the spec-tator to shuffle. From here everythingis as already explained in order to esti-mate the number of cards in the tabledpackets.

Variation of Automatic Gauge

This embodies the same principle of the Gauge but is a handling devised forwhen the ends of the deck face the per-former.

1. Assume the smaller packet has beencut to the right and the ends of thecards face you. The right hand graspsthe smaller portion by the ends withright thumb at the back end, near thecenter, right 2nd and 3rd fingers at theouter right corner with right 1st fingercurled on top.

This right hand packet is kept firmly inplace but the left hand packet is movedtowards it as seen in Figure 7. Here

you will note that the left hand 2nd,3rd and 4th fingers are at the left sideof the deck with left 1st finger on top,but the left thumb is free and slightlylifted as seen in Figure 7.

2. As the large packet jams up againstthe smaller one you have two ways of lifting the top excess cards. First is forthe left thumb to lightly brush acrossthe top of the smaller packet and



471

THE NAIL GAUGE

immediately moving toward the largepacket and, by pressing inwards, lift off the excess cards as seen in Figure 8,performer ' s view

Figure 7

3. What you are doing is actuallyusing the top of the small packet as aguide for the left thumb to sweepacross and merely lift off the excesscards from the larger left hand packet.Once the excess cards are lifted theright hand moves its packet towardspectator to shuffle it as you shuffleyour packet. The calculations here arethe same as already detailed under theAutomatic Gauge, Steps 7, 8 and 9.

Figure 8

4. The other method of cutting off theexcess cards is for the left fingers tosort of sweep the excess cards acrossthe top of the smaller packet as inFigure 9. At the same time the leftthumb moves in under the packet tolift it off. The right hand, of course,moves its packet towards spectator.

Figure 9

5. In the event that the smaller packetis on the left, then the techniques arestill the same except that left hand willhold the small packet stationary whilethe right hand does the moving and

jamming of its packet against theother.At the same time, the right handcuts, or slides off its excess top portion.

Third Method:

The Nail Gauge

This uses the Nail Gauge attributed toZingone. Its use here is quite differentto any in print.

1. First of all, you have to test yourthumb nail as follows: Hold the deck on its side in the left hand. The rightthumb nail is now dug into the top sideof the deck as seen in Figure 10. Howyou do this is important. The tip of thethumb should be pressed straight andfirmly against deck so that its nailrides over the top side of the cards.

Figure 10



472

ESTIMATION

Now, while maintaining the rightthumb's pressure, you bend thethumb, and with its nail you clip of f abatch of cards. Count these cards tosee how many you got. Now repeat thesame procedure of Nail Cutting andcount the cards again. The object is toget a consistency in the amount of cards cut. There should be not morethan a one card difference at any time.In other words, it is all right to consis-tently cut ten cards but once in a whileget nine. If your thumb pressure hasbeen up to its maximum in order to get10 cards, then you should not be ableto get 11 but you may, due to easing

up, get 9. At any rate, you will eventu-ally get a consistent number of cards.Assume that 10 is your most consis-tent number.

2. Spectator having shuffled the pack,have him table it and cut off a portion.This portion he is asked to shuffle.

3. Meantime, pick up the rest of thedeck in order to give it a series of DropCuts. Actually, you use the Thumb NailGauge, as per Figure 10, and drop each

packet onto each other in a series of apparent cuts. Count each cut as aunit rather than trying to add up eachten count or any number that you maybe working with. In this example, of course, the number ten is used.

4. Suppose you have cut 3 packets andf ind the last is just a few cards. Youmerely spread these and quickly notehow many there are as you drop theselast onto the rest of cards. Suppose

these last few cards totaled six. Youdropped 3 Units of 10 or 30 cards. Thisplus the six cards make a total of 36which deducted from 52 gives you 16or the estimated number of cards cutoff by the spectator.

5. During the Nail Cutting you can spotthe bottom card of the first packet cutoff. Later, the spectator, after notingthe bottom card of his packet, drops it

onto the tabled cards. Now he can givethe whole pack several straight cuts.Later, on getting the pack, you relocatethe original bottom key card and cutthe deck there to bring the spectator'scard back to its estimated numberfrom the top.

6. Always be sure to check your thumbnail just before doing this method asthe growth of the nail, as well as theclipping of the nail will naturally affectthe number of cards you will be able tocut off at that particular performance.

NailGauge Variation

This method uses the nail of the left

forefinger and the handling appears asa series of Strip Cuts to the table.

1. The deck is held as shown in Figure11 where you will note how the nail of the left 1st finger digs into the upperend of the pack.

Figure 11

2. The nail of the left 1st finger pushesdownward on its cards to cause themto plunge out at the bottom end.Meanwhile, the right hand comes in to

take these plunged out cards as seenin Figure 12.

3. The right hand drops these cardsonto the table. This happens as the left1st finger positions its nail for anotherplunging out of some nail gaugedcards. The right hand continues tostrip out the plunged cards and dropsthem onto those already on the table.



473

MARLO'S FAVORITE

4. Naturally you test your nail to see just how many cards it will engageeach time. Assume this number is fivecards. Remember that you try not toadd up each five cards but rather treateach strip-off as a unit. Thus if youcounted five units, then 5 x 5 = 25cards would be your estimated numberof cards plus any few that may be lessthan five, added to the units of five.

Figure 12

5. A procedure quite different, fromthat of Strip Cutting the remainingcards after the cut, is as follows: Afterthe cards have been shuffled, take itinto position for the Forefinger Nail

Gauge as in Figure 11. Now, quicklyStrip-Out the cards as you ask specta-tor to call "Stop". When he does,request him to pick up the tabled cardsand shuffle them. Needless to say, youhave counted the units and know theestimated number of cards. Hand theremainder to another spectator to shuf-fle. Now you know approximately howmany cards each has. By having onespectator note the bottom card of hispacket and the other spectator the top

card of his packet, then placing thehalves together both cards will be inthe center at an estimated positionknown to you.

Fourth Method:

Mario's Favorite

This is rapid, and if you have had anyexperience with the perfect splitting of cards for a Faro Shuffle, this method

can be infallible, and accurate. Even onyour off days, you will not be off morethan one card.

1. The pack has been shuffled and

tabled by the spectator. Have him cutoff a bunch of cards and shuffle them.

2. Meantime, you pick up the remain-der and do a perfect Faro Split. Inother words, you split the cards andeye gauge one portion against the other.If you have an even number of cardsyou should easily cut or split equalhalves as seen in Figure 13.

Figure 13

3. If you have an odd number of cardsno matter how you try to cut, one half will always be heavier or thicker inappearance. For the present, assumeyou have been left an even number andhave split accurately.

4. The right hand drops the top portionto the table. The other half is thenRun-Shuffled to get the number of cards in this portion. Suppose thisnumber is 15. Double this to get 30and subtract from 52 to give you 22 orthe estimated number of cards in thespectator's cut off packet. Drop yourpacket onto the table and now youknow the amount of cards in yourpacket and pretty certain of theamount in each of the remaining twopackets.

5. Suppose you have been left with anodd number of cards. When you FaroSplit these, one half will appear thick-



474

ESTIMATION

er. This becomes evident in tryingrelease or pick up a card as you try toget an even split. In this event, alwaysend with the heavier packet in yourhands for the Run-Shuffle.

6. After the Run-Shuffle, you doublethe number minus one. If you had 19cards, then twice this would be 38,minus one would give you 37. Then,37, from 52 gives you 15 or the num-ber of cards the spectator has. You nowalso know the amount of cards in all 3packets, 19-18-15 respectively.

Fifth Method:

The Faro Check

This is absolutely accurate, its onlydrawback is that anyone familiar withthe Faro-Check (See Faro Shuffle) willget the clue. It is included here notonly for completeness, but because it isa good procedure under certain layaudience conditions where a failurewould be more embarrassing than onein front of some magicians. Althoughamong laymen you do have a greaterlee-way of outs without them realizing

that you are covering up a failure.1. Have the pack thoroughly shuffledby the spectator, then, after it is tabled,have him cut off a packet which, of course, he again shuffles.

2. While the spectator is shuffling youcasually pick up the balance and do aFaro Split. This is similar to Figure 13.Next, do a Faro Check in that one por-tion is merelyweaved perfectly, card forcard, into the other as in Figure 14.(For more details on the Faro Check,see Chapter 6, The Faro Shuffle.)

3. With the Faro Check you will imme-diately be able to spot whether bothhalves are equal as the result will beeither a perfect In-Weave or Out-Weave. If the halves are unequal therewill be a card or cards that are notincluded in the Weave. These may be at

the top or bottom; however, specialcare must be paid to when one half isweaved perfectly but one of the halveshas a card at the top and bottom of theother half. This means that the onehalf straddling the other has one morecard. A few trials with the Faro Check and you will quickly get the idea.

Figure 14

At any rate, the Faro Check havingbeen made, the cards are quicklyunweaved, as if changing your mindabout a Faro, and one of the packetsdropped to the table. If the Faro Check showed an odd number of cards,remember whether the extra card is inthe tabled portion or in the hands.

4. Run-Shuffle the cards in your handto count them. From here you multiplythat amount by two, then either add orsubtract the one card if the packetswere odd. In other words, if in yourhands is the one extra card, then youwould multiply, then subtract one fromthe total. If the extra card is in thetabled portion, then you would add oneafter doubling the number of cards inyour hands. This eventual total is sub-

tracted from 52 to give you the amountof cards being handled by the specta-tor.

5. As the Faro Check enables you toget the exact position of the spectator'scard, after the return of his packet, youcan use a definite procedure for bring-ing the card to the top.

As an example, suppose the card is15th from the top. Lose two cards by a



475

THE MAGIC CARD

cut to bring the selection 13th. Next,do a perfect Faro I n -Shu f f l e to bringthe card to the 26th position. Now aperfect cut at 26 and another Faro In -

Shuffle brings the selection to the bot-tom where you note its name. Once thecard is known you can disclose it inany way you want even letting thespectator shuffle the cards again beforeyou do disclose his selection.

In the next chapter I will deal withanother form of estimation calledNatural Estimation. For the rest of thisChapter, let's deal with some effectsusing Mechanical Estimation.

Mechanical Estimation Effects

One of the most obvious conclusions toan estimation procedure is to merelyshow that you have found the card.This should present no problem if youuse any one of the Estimation Methodspreviously outlined. Naturally, aDouble or Triple Lift is used to com-pensate for any errors. Those who arefamiliar with the K .M . Move can, of course, end up with the single card

after any Double or Multiple Lift.The next most commonly used meth-ods to terminate an estimation, isspelling to the card. To be absolutelysure of your spell you must decide onan Estimation Method that will not giveyou more than a one card error; howev-er, by use of Double and Triple Liftsyou can deliberately over-estimate twocards to insure the selection not com-ing out on the letter before the final "S"

of any suit.For example, suppose you have esti-mated the card as being 20th but it isreally 19th. Also suppose the card isthe AD which spells with 13 lettersincluding the letter "S". Now accordingto your estimation of 20 you would lose7 cards; however, the AD would comeout on the 12th card or on the letter 'D 'and the spell would end awkwardly.

Therefore, it is best to set the card atone or two more cards than the esti-mated spell. In other words, instead of taking off 7 cards from the estimated

20, you would take 6 or 5. As you cansee in this case losing 6 cards, the cardwould spell on the letter 'S' and if youlost 5 cards, then it would be the cardafter the letter 'S'.

You also can see how if you had decid-ed to slough off only 4 or 3 cards thatby riffling the back end of the deck youcan quickly spot whether the spelledcard in on top, 2nd, 3rd or even 4th.Naturally, by the Lift, either Double,Triple or Quadruple, you can alwaysmanage to show the spelled card afterthe letter "S". Here you have practicallya five card lee-way. Using any of theMechanical Estimation Methods, youshould never be off more than one cardor two at the most.

In doing the spelling you have thechoice of dealing the cards face up andshould the card come out on the letter"S", you are automatically concludedotherwise resort to the top of the deck as explained. The other way is to dealthe cards face down but glimpsing thecard on letter 'S' so that if it is the cardthe spell can end here; otherwise, thesame top of the deck procedure isused.

This next effect has been my favoritefor many years and even using NaturalEstimation has been successful. (SeeChapter 14 Natural Estimation) WithMechanical Estimation you should

have no trouble in concluding it suc-cessfully. I call it —

The Magic Card

Effect: Performer places, what he callshis Magic card to one side. Later thisMagic card locates a selected card.

1. From the deck remove any spot cardand place it aside face down without itsface being seen as you say, "This is my



476

ESTIMATION

Magic Card." Let us say you glimpsethat this card is a 4 spot.

2. Use any one of the MechanicalEstimation Methods to get the position

of a seleced card from the top of thedeck.

3. Assume your estimated position of the selection is at 15 from the top. In ashuffle or cut, lose the top 11 cards toget the selection an estimated 4th fromtop.

4. Riffle back the end of the deck, withyour right thumb, as you say,"Someplace in the pack is the card youmerely cut to." During this time

glimpse the 3rd card from the top.

5. Pick up the tabled card and say,"This is my magic card. What was yourcard?" If the card he names should bethe one you glimpsed, 3rd from the top,turn your 4 spot face up as you pointout that it is a value of four. Nowreturn it face down on top of the deck.Count down to the 4th card and dis-close the selection.

6. If it is not the card glimpsed that isnamed, leave the 4 spot face up on thetable as you say, "The Magic Card is afour so I will count to the 4th card."Here, deal four cards face up. If theselection comes out on the 4th card,the effect is concluded.

7. If the 4th card is not the selection,then you turn the next or 5th card faceup on top of the deck as your repeatthe name of the selection. As you cansee, you actually can have room for athree card error. You really have to beout of practice with MechanicalEstimation to need that much lee-way.Naturally use of a Multiple Lift willincrease the lee-way and assure suc-cess; however, strive to get no morethan a one card error. This next effectagain gives you room for error and stilla successful termination. Call it ---

"Think I'll Stop Here"

Effect: A card having been selected, thecardician places the deck face down onthe table. From the top of the deck heremoves a card at a time until he feelsthe urge to stop. He, of course, stopson the selection.

1. The usual procedure of selection bya cut is fol lowed as well as theMechanical Estimation.

2. Bring the estimated position of theselected card to about 9th from the top.Place the deck face down on the table.

3. From the top of the deck, with yourright hand, take one card at a timeplacing it face down into the left hand.During the process count the cardsand when you pick up the 8th cardglimpse it as well as the 9th. Also havethe 8th card injogged in the left hand.

4. Say, "I have the feeling to stop righthere." Have the card named. If it is the8th card the Double Lift is used toshow it. If it is the 9th, then the top

card of the left hand packet is turned.If it is neither the 8th or 9th card it hasto be the top card of the tabled pack.Have spectator turn this card over. It'sa bad day when this three card lee-waywill let you down.

The procedure used in the above e f f e c t

is also used by Dai Vernon in a mentaleffect. See his Inner Secrets series.

This next effect has a subtle idea forgetting the number of cards in yourpacket without the necessity of shuf-fling the packet. It is the -

Chosen Card Count Down

Effec t: From a fan of face down cards,one is chosen. The value of this card isused to count down into the deck, inwhich is found a previously selectedcard.



477

THETIPOFF

1. The spectator shuffles the deck, thentables it. Next, he cuts off a packetwhich he also shuffles.

2. Meant ime , you pick up the remain-

der and cut it exactly in half or use theFaro Check if you wish, although itisn't necessary.

3. One half is dropped to the table butthe other is fanned out or spread into afan which is held face down by theright hand. During the spreading orfanning of the cards you, of course,count them, thus you know the num-ber. From here you now calculate thenumber of cards held by the spectator

as previously explained. Suppose thenumber you arrive at is 17.

4. Have another spectator touch any-one of the cards in the face down fan.This card is removed, still face down,with the left hand and as it is tossedface down to the table, the left handtilts the card just enough to see its faceand note its numerical value. Supposethe value is a 9.

5. After the 1st spectator has noted the

bottom card of his packet, the pack isassembled. As your estimated positionof the spectator's card was 17 and theglimpsed card on the table, a 9, youneed to lose 8 cards from the top of thedeck to bring estimated selection to anestimated 9th position from the top.

6. Have the value card turned overaf te r f i rs t stating that whatever itsnumber you will count down that manycards into the deck.

7. Count 9 cards face down onto thetable. Casually glimpse the top 2 cardsof the deck as your right thumb rufflesthe back end of the deck while you ask spectator to name his card. If it is oneof the two top cards disclose it accord-ingly; i.e. Single card or Double Lift. If it is not any of the top cards you turnover the top card of the tabled packetand that should be the selection; how-

ever, if you wish you can first pick upthis packet and casually glimpse its top2 cards in the usual right thumb lift atthe back end to be sure. This gives you

a 4 card leeway with which MechanicalEstimation shoud never fail.

The Tipoff

Effect: The Cardman removes somecards from his packet. When these aretotaled, they coincide with the numberof cards cut-off by spectator.

The title is called "Tipoff ' only becausesome may feel that doing this type of effect will give away the fact that youcan estimate. As the principle of esti-mation however, is considered doubtfulor impractical even by the majority of magicians, you are pretty safe inassuming that while laymen may con-sider other means of accomplishing theresult, pure estimation will not be oneof them.

1. Have the pack shuffled and tabled.The spectator cuts off a portion of thedeck and shuffles this packet.Meantime, you have cut the remainder

in half. By estimation you decide if both halves are equal or if one half hasone more card than the other. If youwish to be absolutely sure, do a FaroCheck.

2. At any rate you do not shuffle yourcards but instead make the followingstatements: "I have cut off a packet of cards and you have cut off a packet.You do not know how many cards Ihave and I do not know how many

cards you have. Of course, if either oneof us had those cards," pointing to thetabled packet, "it would be easy to tellhow many you or I have. But we do nothave those cards so we could onlyguess as to how many cards you or Icut off. Ill turn around and count mycards and you count yours."

3. Turn your back or have both youand the spectator place your hands



478

ESTIMATION

under the table so that each may counthis cards secretly. Of course, once youhave counted your cards, you naturallycalculate the amount of cards being

held by the spectator.4. Look over the faces of your packetand remove any cards with values thatwill total up to the amount of cardsheld by the spectator. For example, if he has 14 cards, you would remove anytwo value cards that, when addedtogether will total 14. Hold these totalvalue cards face down in your righthand while your left hand tosses therest of the cards onto the table.

5. Recapitulate the conditions and theimpossibility of knowing exactly howmany cards the spectator or yourself cut. Ask him to name the amount of cards he has cut. He says, "Fourteen"in this case. Very slowly turn yourvalue cards, one at a time, as you addthem up to show your total matcheshis amount.

If you know the Key Card Version asput out by Sandu, then use this as a

follow-up. Notice that in this effect youagain did not need to Run Shuffle thecards to determine the spectator'samount.

Reversed Card Out

Effect: A reversed cardequivoce.

1. Proceed with any form of MechanicalEstimation which will result in yourknowing the estimated position of theselected card from the top of the deck.

2. Suppose the estimated position is14. Place the deck behind your back or

under the table. Now count to the 14thcard, without reversing the order of thecards. Turn the 14th card face up andsquare up the pack.

3. Bring the deck forward face up asyou say, "I have reversed a card in thedeck. Please name your card."

4. When the card is named spread thedeck face up. If the named card is oneither side of the reversed card, pointout that you placed a reversed cardright next to his.

5. If the named card is not on eitherside of the reversed card, then it has tobe the reversed card itself. In this caseremove the reversed card and turn itface up to show that you reversed theactual selected card.

6. A very strong form of presentation isthe following: State definitely that youhave placed a reversed card right nextto the spectator's card. Do not ask forthe name of the card at this stage.

7. Spread the deck face up to wherethe reversed card is sure to be seen.

Spread the cards widely at this placeas you say, "See, the reversed card isright next to yours." If the selection isnext to the reversed card, the spectatorwill admit same. If it is not, he will tellyou. Ask him if at least you are close.Again he will say, "No". Now ask himwhat his card was. When he names it,act surprised as you say, "Oh, that isthe card I reversed." With this, turn thereversed card face up for the climax.

Here again you have a 3 card lee-wayand you should have no trouble in con-cluding the effect successfully.



Chapter Fourteen

Estimation

Part II

Natural Estimation

Side Ri f f l e Estimation Pull Down Estimation Back End Riffle Estimation The Cut

Estimate Visual Retention Estimate Fingertip Ri f f l e Peek Estimation The Sudden StopThe Fan Spread Estimate Estimation Demonstration or Practice Packet Estimation KeyC a r d Plus Estimation Fingertip LocationTriple Estimation Peek Triple Estimation Peek Methods Miracle Estimation Peek A Three Locator 15-K-ll Speller Mental Spell 7-5-2X - R a y Spelling Fingertip Face Up Locator Double Peek Face Up Locators Spin Cut Stunner Sudden Stop Ef f e c t Mental Stab Super Mental Stab Miracle Card Stab Location Mario's Favorite Out Sensitive Fingers A Mario Miracle Mario Miracle "Stop" Stab Miracle Coincidence Toss The Magic Throw # J Face Up Finder Sure Throw #1

D'Amico's Latest Method Mario's Suggestion The Dribble Stop The Dribbling Spectator

The methods of Estimation that areabout to be described are strictly of myown origination based on my own theo-ries that over the years have proven tobe practical in my own work and can;b e as well for yours. They may read farf e t c h e d and in fact some great authori-t ies on cards have questioned the origi-nal contributions that I made alongt h e s e lines to The New Phoenix, issue329. It is highly possible that oncem o r e these authorities will voice the

same opinion; therefore, it is only fit-t i n g that I start this chapter off withthe method that started the wholet h i n g . Its title now is The Side R i f f l eEstimation. Its original wording hasb e e n changed but very slightly.

Side Riffle Estimation

T h i s is based on the idea that if youthumb riffle the outer left corner of the

deck with one downward thrust of theleft thumb, and make an effort to timeeach riffle about the same each timeyou do so, you will, with very littlepractice, riffle to about the same posi-tion each time. In my case, I can stopat the 19th or 20th card every time.

The riffle move is hard to describe sofollow with a deck in hand. Deck isheld as for a regular r if f le with the l e f thand forefinger curled beneath, exceptthat the inner left corner of the deck isnot held by the base of the l e f t thumb.This inner corner is left free. The leftthumb riffles downwards with onedeliberate thrust. Because of the posi-tion of the hand, see Figure 15, thethumb will stop somewhere close tohalfway down in the deck, and the stopwill be very deliberate, almost as for ashort card.



480

ESTIMATION

The whole move should be very casual,in fact, there should be no attempt tomake this a studied action. The lessattention you pay to the move the more

accurate it will be, just riffle down.Everyone will have one spot at whichhe will stop the majority of the timeand with a little practice this can bedeveloped into a sure thing.

Figure 15

To use the Side Riffle Estimation in aneffect, here is the one that appeared inthe same issue of The New Phoenix.Have a card selected and control it to21st from the top as follows: Shuffleoverhand, running off 20 cards andinjog the 21st, then shuffle off. Leavethe card i n j o g g e d while having the

selection made. Close the spread,catching the break below the injog.Drop several small packets from thetop of the deck to the table, timing it sothe spectator will return his card to thetop of the tabled packet and leave youwith just the bottom stock of 20 cardswhich is dropped on top of the selectedcard again in several small packets.

Square the deck in the hands and turnthe top card face up, taking the lower

right corner with the right thumb onthe face and 2nd finger beneath. Theright 1st fingertip is on the corner of this card. This is the position of theface card in readiness for the Throw.Hold the deck for the Side Riff leEstimation as explained above and theface up indicator card in the right fin-gers. R i f f l e down with the left thumband Throw the indicator card into the

riffle at your automatic stop. The righthand throws the card from the l e f t sideinto the lower left corner of the deck asit is riffled.

Push the indicator card flush with thedeck. Spread the deck between bothhands while at the same time countingby two's so you can be in a position tocope with the selected card if it shouldbe to the left or right of the indicatorcard.

At any rate, you show that the cardnext to the face up indicator is theselection. In the event you are way off,due only to lack of practice, you can

use the Out as descri bed in Men talStab, further on in this chapter , ' excepthere the pack is handled face down.Some may prefer to put the face upindicator in from the f ront end of thedeck and, of course, this can be d o n eas well.

Pull Down Estimation

Hold the pack in the left hand as fordealing except your left thumb liesalong side of the deck. With the l e f t

thumb pull down, do not riffle, theupper left corner of the deck in order toopen this end just as if you were aboutto insert a card therein. Repeat thisaction several times without changingthe position of the left thumb. In thisway you will note that at each pull youwill break the pack at approximatelythe same position. It will also be fo un dthat if the left thumb is moved down tothe lower two-thirds of the deck, then

pulls downwards, a break will be madeat about the 12th or 13th card. Themost important thing is for the l e f tthumb to always position itself at thesame spot on the left side of the deckwhen about to execute the Pull D o w nEstimate.

You will find an effect titled "FaroFooler #8" in Chapter Seven, FaroNotes, based on the above; however,



481

PULL DOWN ESTIMATION

here is the original e f f e c t that appearedin The New Phoenix. It is based on thef a c t that you can bury two cards, usingthe Pull Down Estim ation, right next to

each o ther .H a v e a card selected, then controlled tothe bot tom where you g l impse i t .Finish by shuffling the selection to thetop. Turn the deck face up and burythe face card into the deck. Turn thedeck face down and bury the top select-ed card into the deck using the PullDown Estim ation. If work ing for amagician point out no breaks, crimps,short cards, etc. as you hand him the

pack to look over for such devices.I pr es um e you know when you areworking for a sharp card man to stillp o i n t out the absence such deviceseven if you are using them.

U p o n receipt of the deck, turn the topcard face up and using the Pull DownEstimation bury it into the pack. Next,spread the cards with the facestowards yourself. As you already knowthe name of the selection you will know

if it is next to th e face up indica torcard. Remove the indicator and selec-tion. Hold them both in your r ighthand as you ask spectator to name hiscard. When he does, you turn overboth cards saying, "My card, right nextto your card!"

In case of a miss, use the Out proce-dure described under Mental Stab.

Back End Riffle Estimation

This again follows the principle of theR i f f l e estimation except in this case thepack is tabled. The left thumb rifflesthe back end of the deck upwards. Atthe same time the right hand, which isholding a face up card, throws its cardinto the deck from the back end. Asthis is used in several of the effects tobe described, I will detail the generalhandling.

1. The pack is tabled so that an end of deck is towards performer. The lefthand takes its position above the packwith the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers

at the f ront end. The l ef t 1s t f inger i scurled on top. The left thumb is at theback end and does the upward rifflingof the pack. The left 1st finger pressesdown on top of the pack to keep it inplace during the riffl ing action.

2. The right hand holds a face up cardby its lower right corner which will bethrown into the pack during the BackEnd Riffle Estimation. The situation,

just before the Throw, is seen in Figure

16.

0>

Figure 16

3. As the riffle is made the right handtosses or throws its card into the deckfrom the back. With the thrown card inthe pack the two hands adjust it so itprojects to the right. This is seen inFigure 17 where you will note that theleft hand is still above the pack and theright fingers have grasped the end of the face up card.

Figure 17



482

ESTIMATION

4. Now the left hand turns palm upand at the same time the right hand,using the face up card as a lever, flipsthose cards above the indicator, face

up into the waiting left hand as inFigure 18.

Figure 18

5, The right hand can now toss its cardaside or replace it, still face up, ontothe tabled packet.

6. Now, in my case, if I should countthose face up cards, I will have between19 and 20 cards; however, in your caseit may be less or more. At any rate,with practice and proper timing youwill eventually get one or two numbersclose together, more often than anyother and this will be your Key Numberfor this Back End Riffle Estimation.Natu ra l ly , the Back End Ri f f leEstimation can be done with the packin the hands but it is more impressivewhen the pack is tabled.

The Cut Estimate

By holding the deck at the sides, justas if you are about to do the FaroShuffle, and using the tip of your rightthumb you can cut a packet of cards

that will always result in the sameamount. Again, in my case, this isaround 20 cards. You can, if you havehad experience with the Faro Shuffle,cut to 26 but the right thumb has tomove in further. This causes the CutEstimate to lose its casual appearanceplus the fact that it is not as obvious ascutting a pack into equal halves. Evenmore important is the fact that whenthe pack is tab led and the Cut

Estimate is made you will more readilyget less than 26 and nearer theamount mentioned. This is also used inseveral effects below so a desc ription in

connec t ion wi th a g l impse i s heregiven.

1. Hold the deck at its sides as for aFaro Shuffle. With the right thumb doa Cut Estimate at the same t i m epulling back the corner of the deck inorder to glimpse the card at this pointas seen in Figure 19.

Figure 19

2. Once you have glimpsed the cardrelease them and square up the pack.You know the name of a card at anapproximate position from the top of the deck.

3. In the case of the deck being tabled,there is no glimpse, so to speak, butyou can make good use of the fact thatthe cut can be made at an approximatenumber. An example of its use is tohave, say, four Aces placed from 19 to22. Using the Cut Estim ate you can cutto the Aces one at a time and point outthat no crimps or locators are beingused. Naturally you precede each Acelocation with an injog shuffle to keep

the Aces in position.4. The Cut Estimate can also be donefrom the back end of the deck as thepack is being held in regular left hand.dealing position. When you use thismethod, the right thumb lifts up theestimated number, the left 4th fingerobtains a break below them. Now do aSquare Up Gl impse (See Chap te rThree, Fingertip Control) to note the



483

FINGERTIP RIFFLE PEEK ESTIMATION

card at this approximate position afterwhich you release all breaks and open-ly square up the deck.

Visual Retention Estimate

In most cases when a spectator cuts off a packet of cards or is asked to take apeek, as the pack is held in FingertipPeek Position, the tendency of mostcard men is to try and determine thenumber of cards cut or the number atwhich the peeked card could be.

The results will be much better if you fo rge t about the number of cards thatmay be involved, but, instead, concen-

trate on the size of the block involved.I f you visually retain this so called SizePicture, you will more readily be able tolater cut to the card or very near thecard. Of course, the cut is im mediatelyf o l l o w e d by a shuffle being sure thatthe bottom of the cut is shuffled to thebottom and the cards that were belowthe cut remain on top . This is using theR i f f l e S h u f f l e , o f course.

The only other source that came close

to this type of estimating is that inOuts, Precautions and Challenges byCharles H . Hopkins. His method can befound on page 56 of the above bookunder "Estimating the Cut."

In the previous chapter I have alreadydealt with the Comparison Estimationbut want to mention that this type of estimation can be used in connectionwith the Fingertip Peek. This now leadsus into that channel.

Fingertip Riffle Peek EstimationSeveral methods of so-called ForcedEstimation can be found in ChapterThree, Fingertip Control, but the m eth-ods depend on the principles set forthof R i f f l e Estimation plus several ideasto insure success to the p oint of infalli-bility. Quite a number of effects havebeen included using this type of con-t ro l .

1. Hold the pack as for the FingertipPeek. Start at the very tip near the faceof the deck at its upper right corner.This riffling will be done with the right1s t fingertip.

2. Starting as suggested, the right firstfinger riffles the upper right corner of the deck in the conventional manner asyou request the spectator to please call"Stop".

3. When you start the riffle, do not hes-itate and, in most cases, you will stopat the same definite number just as the

"Stop" is called. In my case, it is at 14,but yours may be different dependingon how slowly or quickly you riffled.

4. Of course, you can start at otherpoints on the corner such as about athird back from the face of the deck onthe upper right corner. In this case, theriffle will have to be slower and you willdefinitely slow up as you reach theestimated number.

5. At any rate you can use the Pinch

Check, which consists of pinching theupper right corner of cards betweenyour right thumb and 1st finger as inFigure 20. This is done to feel thethickness of the block retained by thefingertip. Sight estimation is also used.In this way you can tell whether youhave more or Zess than the estimated14 cards. This Pinch Check is made asthe spectator is noting his card asshown in Figure 20.

Figure 20



484

ESTIMATION

6. On getting an unfamiliar deck always get your estimated number bysecretly counting off the neededamount, in my case it would be 14,

then use the Pinch Check plus a VisualRetention Estimate of the size of theblock. Do this a few times for yourself and then you can safely proceed.Remember that decks sometimes varyin thickness so it is always best tocheck as suggested before attemptingany effect. This also applies to otherestimation ideas. A few minutes of toy-ing with the pack is all you will need.

7. The most important advice is to

decide on a definite number procedure.As an example, if you practice at get-ting and estimating only 14 cards eachtime, you will more readily be able totell when you have more or less than14 cards. If you insist on working withhaphazard numbers you will have lesssuccess and more failures with theeffects based on the Fingertip Peek Estimation. The same principles of practice apply to other forms of estima-tion, the Back End Riffle, Side Riffle

Cut Estimate, etc.

The Sudden Stop

On many occasions in doing theFingertip Peek you can form what I callthe Sudden Stop. This consists inmerely riffling the upper right corner,with the right 1st finger backwardsrapidly and at one point the cards willsuddenly snap and stop. Note this cardand release all cards.

Now square up the pack and againretake it into the Fingertip Peek Position. Once more riffle the cardsback rapidly as before and again youwill find that the cards snap or stop atthe same card. If this happens, thenext step is to secretly count to thiscard so as to get is exact position.

Now, in getting ready to do theFingertip Peek, first undercut half the

deck, injog the 1st card and shuffle off.Get a break at the injog and shuffle off to the break. You are now set to practi-cally do a Fingertip Force of this card.

In this case you not only know thename of the card but also its exactposition. You can even hand the pack out to be shuffled and finish with anykind of miracle you wish.

The Sudden Stop is caused by a certainbelly in the cards that happen as yourright 1st finger riffles the cards back sharply. Such a condition can actuallyexist so that it will happen even on asoft riffle. Matter of fact, by bending the

top 14 cards upwards, with the rightfingers and thumb holding the packetat the ends, pulling the outer endsupward as the right 1st finger pressesdownward in the center, then replacingthese cards on top of the deck you willhave a very workable method for thePeek Force.

In doing the Fingertip Peek using thesebellied cards, be sure that the rightthumb presses down on the upper

right corner just before the peek so asto prevent this corner from separatingand thus tipping off the fact that thecards are bellied or crimped.

Getting back to the original idea of theSudden Stop, not using any work putinto the deck, it is possible to force thesame card on several spectators. Besure, however, that you include a shuf-fle between each peek. Also see thatthe pack is squared up very fairlybefore and after each peek.

I consider this one of my more amazingdiscoveries with the Fingertip Peek buteven more amazing, is that it happensbetween the 12 and 15th cards. So youcan see that the Fingertip Riffle Peek Estimation is based on a pretty soundpremise.

You can use this Sudden Stop idea inthe various effects dependent on the



485

THE FAN SPREAD ESTIMATE

Fingertip E stima tion Peek; however,included further in the book are somewhich are based on just the SuddenStop.

The Fan Spread Estimate

This is based on the fact that if you doa fair ly even sp rea d of the pa ckbetween both hands, and separate thehands as the spread gets longer, thatyou will be able to spread the cardsonly so far before you start to f e e l thatthe spread is apt to fall or get out of control. Figure 21 shows the FanSpread at its maximum.

When you reach this maximum stage,both hands move in to close the spreadbut get a break under the last card

that is over the right side of the deckand l i f t this portion into the right handwhich takes it from above by the ends.Now count the number of cards in thispacket and replace it onto the deck.Repeat the Fan Spread and as before,when it reaches its maximum, close upthe spread as you again get a break orseparation on the spread cards. Oncemore count these cards. You will findthat it will be either the same numberor pretty close to it.

The whole object is to be sure and do itin such a manner that i t becomesapparent that you could not possiblycount the cards as you are spreadingthem for a selection.

A f t e r a selection is removed, merelybreak the spread above the deck sothat the Fan Spread is really held bythe right hand, with the deck in the left

hand. The chosen card is returned ontop of the deck proper and the spreadin the right hand is fairly closed overonto the selection with no breaks of

any kind held. You now know theapproximate position of the selectedcard. In my case it is the 18th card.For an effect using this Fan SpreadEstimate see Sensitive Fingers later inthis Chapter.

Estimation

Demonstration or Practice

Some twenty years ago , Paul B .Montgomery, at that t ime of Akron,

Ohio but now a resident of San Diego,California, reprimanded me for demon-strating the ability to estimate correctlythe number of cards in a cut off packet.His contention was that this should beused as a secret weapon rather than ameans of exhibition. Ever since thatt ime I have fo l lowed the secret iveapproach to this type of work and Ibelieve that those who aspire to thistype of work should do likewise. Thefollowing is put before you as a means

of keeping in trim on estimation; how-ever, the road you choose to follow asregards this is up to you.

1. Shuffle the pack and then table it.Taking the deck from above by theends, release small packets of cardsfrom the bottom of the deck, until youhave several such packets of not morethan ten cards to a packet.

2. Now pick up any one of the packetsand holding its side to yourself esti-mate as to how many cards it may con-tain. At the same time retain a visualimage of the thickness of the block.Count the cards, it could be you areright. At any rate, you now use thecompar ison of th is f i r s t packet todecide as to how many cards the nextpacket has. Even if you were off on thefirst packet you still use it as a sort of yardstick on the next packet.



486

ESTIMATION

3. Count this packet and again youmay be right or wrong, but regardlessyou are now getting a general idea as tohow to proceed on the subsequent

packets. You will be surprised, usingthis Comparison Method, how many of the packets you will estimate correctly.Once you have done it with the smallnumbers, under ten, try it with largerpackets of over ten. As I have said, youcan use this for practice or an out andout exhibition of skill at estimationwhich, naturally, will detract from anyeffects based on estimation. The follow-ing effect can use the above idea andyet not completely give away the idea.

Packet Estimation

1. Have a deck shuffled and cut intoseveral small packets. This is all doneby the spectator. Packets should havenot more than ten cards each.

2. Have the spectator hand you anyone of the packets. You quickly esti-mate its number of cards as you drop itface down on the table. Have him handyou another packet and you repeat the

process of estimating but, at the sametime, add the two totals of the packets.Thus, you estimate and add each timea packet is handed to you until youreach a total of about 15 to 20 cards.

3. Place your estimated packet aside asyou direct the spectator to gather upthe rest of the packets, shuffle themand then place the cards face down onthe table. Hand him your estimatedpacket to shuffle, and then tell the him

to note the bottom card. He dropsthese cards onto the tabled half and allis squared up.

4. Ask the spectator to name his card.Look at deck as if X-Ray ing it with youreyes, then call out your estimatednumber. Count the cards face up to thenumber called. The selection shouldfall on completion of the count. A star-tling demonstration.

Key Card Plus Estimation

Regardless of how little skill the aver-age magician has when it comes to apack of cards, there is one form of

trickery that even they indulge in, thatis, the finding of a card that had beenselected under what seems like impos-sible conditions. While at times thistype of card trickery can become quiteboring, at the same time it holds apeculiar fascination for the magi whoeither wants to see a miracle or wantsto perform one. The methods to bedescribed here use a combination of principles, those of Estimation and the

Key Card.First Method:

1. Spectator thoroughtly shuffles apack of cards and then places it on thetable.

2. Cardician shows the spectator howto cut the cards, anywhere he pleases,then to note the card and return it torest of the deck. The cards are then cutseveral times by the spectator. Thecard man finds the card.

3. The shuffle is fair and above boardand no key is spotted at this stage;however, after the deck is tabled, theCardician shows the spectator how heis to cut and note a card. During thisyou do an Estimation Cut of half thedeck or 26 cards and look at the card you cut to, then replace this portiononto deck and square it up.

4. You now know a Key card at approx-

imately the 26th position. When thespectator cuts he does as you havedone; cuts off a packet, looks at thecard cut to, replaces the portion ontothe deck and squares it up. A f t e r this,he is told to pick up the cards and givethem several straight cuts. You nowtake the pack for the first time and f i n dthe card.



487

PACKET ESTIMATION

5. Here is how you find the card. Firstof all, when spectator cuts you note

whether he cuts below or above yourEstimated Key Card. Now it is veryeasy to tell if he has cut within at leastten cards on either side of the Key. If hecuts less or more than the limit of tencards on each side of the Key, you willknow, because he will either have cut o ff a very small packet or le f t a verysmall packet on the table.

6. After he has noted the card he cutto, he replaces the cut, picks up the

deck and gives it several straight cuts.On getting the deck you proceed as fol-lows: Spread the cards to yourself faceup. If he cut above the Estimated Keyyou count ten cards, to the lef t of theKey. If he cut below the estimated Key,then you count ten cards to the right of the Key card.

On the other hand, if he cut a verysmall packet, I'm sure you could easilytell if it was more than six cards and

less than twenty. The point is that if the small packet is cut, then you countdown into this packet by moving leftanother ten cards from the EstimatedKey. That is, into the l l t h to 20thcards left of the Key. The same proce-dure would be followed in the event avery small packet remained on thetable. In this case, the llth to 20thcard would be counted to the rightf r om the estimated Key.

7. As you can see all that is required isthat you estimate within ten cards andthat is a big lee-way. Once you areamong the ten possibilities, a questionas to color and suit and then a quick placement of a couple of cards at thetop and one or two at the bottom andyou are all set for a quick production of the card once it is named.

Second Method:

1. If you have become quite proficient

in the First Method of Estimation, then

you can use just the idea of Above orBelow 26th Card. The Key card is spot-

ted later.2. The pack is shuffled by a spectatorand the deck is tabled. He cuts thedeck anywhere, notes the card cut to,replaces the cut and squares the pack.You now pick up the deck in order tohand it to him for cutting, but in theprocess, you spot the bottom card of the pack.

3. After he cuts the pack and hands itto you, all you do is locate the Key cardand cut it back to the bottom. Nowcount over to the 26th card. Here,depending on how the spectator cut thedeck, above or below the 26th position,you handle it exactly as in the FirstMethod. Again you have a ten card lee-way, and by now, the student shouldbe able to estimate within ten cards.

4. If you should run into an unusualbad streak of luck wherein even afterthe question as to color and suit would

leave you with a half a dozen of thatparticular suit, then always assembleonly two cards at the bottom and therest on top. Also in numerical order,from top down for easy remembering.Through the use of Lifts and a Glide,you can show any of the other cardsthat may not be at the top or bottom.

With a little more imagination, a moreingenious method can be devised. Ihave one such procedure but, at this

writing, it would take me too far off mypresent purpose.

Third Method:

1. This makes use of an Estimated Keybut it is more definite. The procedure isthe same with the spectator shufflingand tabling the deck while you demon-strate how he is to cut and note a card.

2. During your helpful demonstration,you cut off a packet of cards, but you

use the Nail Gauge to cut an estimated



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ESTIMATION

number. Of course you also look at thecard, thus you now know a Key at anapproximate position from the top of the deck. Assume the Key card is a 7D

and that your Nail Gauge, which youtested previously, gives you approxi-mately ten cards.

3. When the spectator cuts off a packetof cards he is bound to cut off morethan ten and if he doesn't, the job issimple to find the card. Let us assume,however, that he cuts off more than tencards. As soon as he has looked at thecard he cut to, instruct him to cut thepacket several times.

4. If you were to take the packet fromhim now, you can easily locate the cardas you would merely look for the 7DKey and then count over about 12cards including the Key 7D, and cutthe packet at this point. The chances of the noted card being among the topthree is strongly in your favor. It is asimple matter to disclose the card afterfirst having it named.

5. By carrying step four a little further

you can lose the most astute cardmenas to your method of locating the card.It is based on the use of Three KeyCards which are obtained in the courseof the effect as follows.

The first Key would be your EstimatedKey, plus its Estimated Position. In thisexample, it would be the 7D and theEstimated Number would be ten. Thespectator has cut off his packet, notedthe card, then cut his packet several

times.6. During the time the spectator is cut-ting his packet, you casually pick upthe remainder of the deck. In doing sonote the bottom card and remember it.Suppose it is the 8C. Overhand shuffleit to the top and in setting the deck back on the table, note the new bottomcard. Suppose this card is the 5S.Remember the new bottom card, the

5S, as your First Key Card. Rememberthe 8C, now on top of the deck, as yourSecond Key Card. The 7D and yourestimated number are the third thing

to be remembered.7. After the cards are back on thetable, have the spectator return hispacket, which you insist he cut severalmore times to be sure even he couldnot know where his card could be, ontop of the tabled cards. Have him pick up the complete deck and give this sev-eral cuts also.

8. On taking the deck you first locatethe 5S, your First Key, and bring this

to the face or bottom of the pack. Next,locate your 2nd Key, the 8C. Now allthe cards beyond this 8C comprise theoriginal packet of cards cut off by thespectator. Thumb through the packetand locate your 3rd Key, the 7D. Thencount twelve cards, assuming your Na i lGauge number was ten, including theKey, and cut the packet there to bringthe possibilities to the top of the packet.

9. Remember that the packet, which

has your 3rd Key card, is treated justas a separate packet and the count ismade with this packet only. The rest of deck has been eliminated by the use of the previous two Key cards. Of course,eventually the whole deck is face downin left hand but with the possible selec-tion on top of the deck.

Fourth Method:

1. In this you locate two cards chosenunder what are very fair and impossi-ble conditions. It all depends on thefact that when a spectator is requiredto cut the pack into three packets hedoes so quite evenly. In other words,the packets will be about even. If youare not sure of the spectator doing this,you can suggest this to him. Again youcan do the cutting yourself and thus bequite sure. At any rate, the packets aremade after the spectator has thorough-



489

PACKET ESTIMATION

ly shuffled the pack and as yet you donot have any Key card.

2. After the three packets are cut, you

can have each of them shuffled again if you wish. Now one of the packets ispicked up, shuffled, the bottom cardnoted after the shuffle. Then the packetis dropped onto either one of the twotabled packets. The remaining packetis then shu ffled, the bottom card notedand the packet dropped onto the tabledcards.

3. All is squared up while the pack isstill on the table. Pick up the deck andin handing it to spectator, glimpse thebotto m card as your Key. As everythinghas been handled so fairly up to thispoint, the glimpsing of the Key can bequite open. As an example, you cantake the pack, from above by the endswith right hand, and deliberately holdit up, with the bottom card facing you,as a t same t ime you remark ,"R em emb e r your two cards", then handthe pack to spectator for cutting.

4. On getting back the pack, hold itfaces towards yourself and locate yourKey card which is then cut back to thebottom of the pack. Count 14 cardsfrom the face of the deck and startingwith the 15th, spread out the next tencards. It is practically certain, if thethree cuts of deck were fairly equal,that the 1st selection is among the15th to the 24th cards.

A couple of leading questions as tocolor and suit in a quick casual way,almost as if you were telling them, notasking, and you boil down to a few pos-sibilities among the ten cards. In han-dling these possibilities you do so byremoving them from the center of thedeck and placing them on top and bot-tom. In other words, do not cut thepack. This will retain the approximateposition of the 2nd selection while dis-

closing the 1st selection. In any case,the 1st selection is named and you dis-close it by the Lift, Glide or any othermeans such as the Fan Deal from

Seconds, Centers, Bottoms.5. After the 1st selection is r e v e a l e d ,you must be sure to cut any excesscards that you may have placed on topof the deck, in finding the 1st selectionat the bottom of the deck. This timecount to the 28th card from the face of the deck and starting with the 29thcard spread out the next ten cards. The2nd selection should lie among the29th to 38th cards. Handle the situa-

tion as before to eventually disclose theselected card.

6. Your success is more assured if youcut the packets yourself but be certainthat the action is casual and not stud-ied. The packets will have approximate-ly between 16 and 18 cards each. If,after the cards have been noted, youwish to reveal them both by spelling tothem, play safe by assuming that eachpacket has had 16 cards. Thus, if the

card was say, the Ace of Diamonds,which spells with 13 letters, then youwould first lose the top three cards in acut before proceeding with the spell.The spell should be made by turningeach card face up. If the selection wasactually at the 16th position, then theAD would come out on the letter S . If itdoes not show on the letter S, do aDouble L i f t of the top cards still in theleft hand. If the selection was at 18thposition it will show up on the Double

Lift. If it does not show as you do theDouble Lift, turn the two cards facedown and take top card in your hand,snap it and say, "I forgot to do this".Now turn this card face up and itshould be the selected card.

It all app ears as if you meant it thisway. If you are not squeamish as tohow many cards you Lift, then it isalways a simple matter to lift up the



490

ESTIMATION

few cards on top of the deck, spot theactual selection, get a left 4th fingerbreak below it, then do a L if t to showthe selection. Even with a bad guess at

the cuts you will seldom have to gobeyond a Triple Lift.

Fifth Method:

1. This principle was first explained inGreater Magic and is based on the factthat in a Rif f l e Shuffle, the spectator isapt to retain either the top or bottomcard without realizing it. If he does losethe top card in a shuffle you can esti-mate how many have gone onto theKey card. This Rif f l e Shuffle should bethe Tabled Type although one done inthe hands can also be followed fairlyclosely.

2. Assuming you know only the topcard of the deck, have the spectatorR i f f l e Shuffle the pack and estimate thenumber of cards that may have fallenonto the Key. From here the situationis now handled as in the Third Method.

Sixth Method:

1. This has little or nothing to do withEstimation but if you have done quite afew of this type of location you canthrow this bluff in and it will work 100%.

2. All you do is spot the top card of thedeck. Have the spectator cut and notethe card he cut to. Have him cut hispacket. This brings your Key below hiscard. Next, he is to cut the cards stillon the table and place his packet into

the center of the tabled cards. Havehim pick up the whole pack and give itseveral cuts.

3. As you can see you have given thespectator so many things to do in theselection and the eventual return of thecard that he will be at a loss as to howyou could possibly f ind it. All you needto do is look for your Key card and thecard to the left of the Key is the selec-

tion. While the method is very basic thehandling is what throws them.

Seventh Method:

1. This one is a real miracle if it comesoff, otherwise you will have to resort toyour Estimation to find the card. First,put a slight convex lengthwise bendinto the pack just before you hand thedeck to the spectator for shuffling.

If he uses an Overhand Shuffle, thechances are good he will not take outthe convex crimp in the pack. If youare not sure, Overhand Shuffle thecards yourself but in a very fair man-

ner as you request spectator to tell youto stop shuffling at any time. When hedoes so, make it plain that you do notlook at any of the cards but merelytable the deck and square it.

2. Now tell the spectator, "Here is whatI want you to do. I want you to cut thedeck and look at the card you cut to,then return the cut and square up thepack." During this patter line you havealso demonstrated what he is to do.

When you make the cut do so bypulling upwards, with your rightthumb, on the cards you are about tocut off. This automatically straightensthese cards, and when you look at theface of the cut, this also gives you aKey card. The cut is made at approxi-mately the 26th position, of course.When you return the cut, there is nowa slight crimp in the pack at the notedcard.

3. When the spectator cuts he will cutto the crimp and to your noted card inmost cases. This you can easily t e l lalso by the size of the cut. If he has cuthalf the pack you can be pretty certainhe has cut to your noted card. If hehas, then after the cut is replaced,have him shuffle all the cards. As youknow the card, it is an easy matter toreveal.



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PACKET ESTIMATION

4. If you feel he has cut either above orb e l o w your crimp then use the FirstMethod of locating the card. In eithercase you should be able to end the

location successfully.Eighth Method:

! 1. This follows the procedure of theprevious Seventh Method but is basedon the principle of the natural air pock-et rather than a crimp. In other words,in a perfectly squared pack if you wereto reach over and just cut the pack,providing you do not pull up or rifflethe sides when cutting, the cards willbreak readily at a certain spot or pointm the pack.

I f the cut is replaced and then the cutaction again repeated, the chances of cutting to the same card are very goodand almost certain if you are doing thecutting each time. There may be two orthree such places in the pack where itwill break more readily than any otherpart .

2. With the above in mind, have the

spectator shuffle the deck and table it.You square the deck and then reachover and just cut. The pack will break readily at some point. If it is near thetop, note the card and replace the cut,make another cut further into thedeck. Again it will break readily at onepoint. Note this card and replace it,thus you know the names of two cards.If you can remember three cards youcan try for another cut at some otherpoint in the pack.

3. The above Step 2 is, of course, cov-ered by the patter line, "I want you tocut the deck, look at the card you cutto, then replace the cut and square upthe pack. Of course, you can cut anyplace you like, but remember the card."Knowing the two or three cards, youalso know their estimated position soyou can immediately tell which of thethese have been cut to or cut near to.

4. First, take a stab at naming the cardyou think it would have to be, based onwhere the cut was made. If it is, thenyou have accomplished your goal. If it

is not the card, you do know the selec-tion has to be near that card; therefore,locate your key and work six cards toeither side of it as you ask your leadingquestions. End the location as alreadydetailed in the various methods.

Ninth Method:

1. This makes use of the air pocketformed by the spectator as he replaceshis cut. In orther words, after the usualshuffle and tabling of the deck, he cuts

to a card, then replaces the cut andsquares the pack. All you do is reachfor the pack at the estimated positionand with a very light touch merely cutat this place, then go into a table r i f f l eshuffle. The bottom cards of the por-tion cut off should fall first in the shuf-fle while the top cards, which werebelow the cut, should remain on top.

2. As you are about to telescope thehalves into each other, tip deck up on

its side, faces towards you, and spreadthe cards upwards with both hands asyou ask for the name of the card. Youcan quickly spot just where the selec-tion is from either the top or bottom of the deck. If you cut the deck just right,the selection is on the bottom. In thiscase, quickly push the cards flush andlet deck fall face up to table to disclosethe selection. If it is not at the top orbottom but near there, handle the dis-closure accordingly.

Tenth Method:

1. Many years ago Laurie Ireland intro-duced the principle of retaining a 26thKey card in its position during thecourse of an Overhand Shuffle. He alsoused it to retain a setup that may havebeen in the center of the pack. In theformer he would start to shuffle in theusual manner, passing groups of



492

ESTIMATION

cards, but as he neared the center hewould run the cards singly till he waspast the central point and then contin-ue the shuffle in the normal manner.

In the other he would shuffle till hereached the set-up of cards and at thispoint he would let drop off a wholeblock of cards that comprised the cen-tral stack, after which the shuffle con-tinued normally to its termination.Annemann made use of this shuffle ina Red and Black setup to keep the col-ors separated. An entirely differentapplication of the shuffle, in connectionwith Forced Estimation, was made by

Neal Elias in IBIDEM #26.2. My only addition to the above shuffleis the fact that you do not have to runor drop off any large block of cards inorder to keep a card in an estimatedposition, or in approximately its origi-nal position. As an example, supposeyou do the Estimated Fingertip Peek onthe 26th card or thereabouts.Immediately after the peek, square upthe cards and go into an Overhand

Shuffle which starts at the top of thedeck. Now, in doing the shuffle, you doit normally all the way through thewhole deck. This means that you willbe more or less chopping off groups of cards as you shuffle. These groups willcontain anywhere from two to six oreven seven cards and at places evenmore. The last few cards of about half adozen or so are tossed on top in thelast action of the shuffle. At no pointduring the shuffle is there any sem-

blance of a run of cards or any actualattempt at control. Just go through theshuffle in a normal manner. You canrepeat it if you like. I advise this secondshuffle mentioned as it further makesit look impossible to find the card.

3. You have to try this to see that it ispractical. After the two OverhandShuffles, turn deck faces towards your-self and count to the 21st card.

Starting with the 22nd card, count overten cards and your selection should beamong these ten cards. Finish with theusual pumping procedure or you can

use the Mental Stab procedure usingthe out suggested. See Mental Stab fur-ther in this chapter. Also see NealElias' Method in IBIDEM #26.

EleventhMethod:

1. It is obvious that you can retain acard in a known position during a FaroShuffle as, for example, if the card is26th and you wish it to remain 26th,

you would first lose 13 cards in anOverhand Shuffle or cut, then f o l l o w

with another Faro-In Shuffle to get thecard back to the 26th position.Naturally, you can repeat this as o f t enas you like and be sure of your cardbeing in position. The other method isto use the regular Riffle Shuffle and if itis fairly even, the same results can behad; however, it will not be as accurateas the Faro.

2. My favorite procedure, using the reg-ular Rif f le Shuffle, is to use the

Fingertip R i f f l e Peek Estimation to the14th card. Square up and Double Cutone card from top to bottom makingthe peeked card approximately 13th.Cut the deck in half for a tabled R i f f l eShuffle. Do the shuffle as evenly as youcan. Next cut off about 13 cards f r o mtop to bottom and do another R i f f l eShuffle. The peeked card will now besomewhere in the center of the deck.Count 21 cards from the face of the

deck, then spread the next ten cards asthe selection should be in among theseten. From here proceed in your favoritemanner to disclose the card af terascertaining which one it could possi-bly be.

Twelfth Method:

1. It is a little known fact that when aspectator cuts off a small packet andshuffles it, he will resort to an



493

ESTIMATION AND THE GLIMPSE

Overhand Shuffle and at the start of this shuffle he will in most cases, runoff the top card first, then shuffle therest onto it. Even magicians will do this

without being conscious of it but followthe line of least resistance.

2. Armed with this knowledge, you arein a position to perform a miracle typeof card location. All that you need toknow is the top card of the pack.

3. Placing the pack in front of the spec-tator, have him cut off a small packetof cards. Indicate an Overhand Shuffleas you ask him to shuffle the packet.

4. Watch to see if he runs off that topcard first. If he does, make sure to stophim, as soon as he has completed thes h u f f l e by saying, "Just square up thecards. Now look at the bottom card."Naturally the spectator will be notingwhat was the original top card whichyou already know.

5. After he has noted the card, havehim again shuffle his packet. You placehis packet into the center of the tabledcards and have him shuffle the com-

plete deck. It is an easy matter to dis-close the selection after first buildingup the fairness of the procedure.

6. Sometimes the spectator may shuffleoff two or three top cards in a group ashe starts. In this case, you can useyour original top card as a Key Card inorder to count from it to the card actu-ally noted. In this case, have him mere-ly cut his packet once after noting thebottom card. The packet is placed into

the center of the deck and the pack cut several times. Proceed to find the cardas usual.

7. Should the spectator be one of thoseenergetic shufflers and lose you com-pletely, then you can resort to estimat-ing how many cards are in his group.Then resort to one of the effects thatmake use of a fairly good leeway inorder to conclude. To my knowledge,

the only place this "Top card to bo ttom 'in an Overhand Shuffle" idea appearedwas many years ago in the LinkingRing.

Estimation and the Glimpse

1. This makes use of controlling aknown card in an Estimated Position.There are a number of advantages tothis type of control. You do not have toask for the name of the card as youalready know it. Knowing its approxi-mate position gives you a means of controlling the card in this position, yetit is impossible to follow by anyone notcognizant of such procedures.

2. Hold the pack as for the StandardSpectator Peek. Riffle the upper rightcorner with right 1st finger as you ask the spectator to call "Stop". You reallystop at the 14th card or thereabouts.Hold the pack open for the spectator tonote his card, then release them, butobtain a break with left 4th fingertip inthe usual manner. Now do a Square UpGlimpse (See Chapter 3;FingertipControl) and after noting the selection

release all breaks.3. If you feel you had more than 13cards, cut a few from the top to bottomto bring the glimpsed card to approxi-mately the 13th position. Now do eithera Faro Shuffle or a regular RiffleShuffle. Again cut off about 13 cardsfrom top to bottom and repeat eitherthe Faro or Riffle Shuffle. The knowncard is now somewhere in the center of the pack.

A good use of this type of Estimationand Glimpse is exemplified in the effectMiracle Card Stab Location, includedin the effects section of this Chapter.This idea can also be used with theOverhand Shuffle.

Color Eliminator

Over a dozen years ago I came acrossan idea that enabled me to tell the



494

ESTIMATION

color of a card by apparently feeling theface of it. Outside of this use as an outand out effect I had no other, but nowthis new approach makes it worth

using. As I sent the original idea toCharles Aste Jr. of Memphis Tennesseeon August 5th 1958. I will quote direct-ly from tha t letter.

"Here is a method I've used for years totell the color, red or black, of a card.

1-Deck shuffled.

2-Cut deck at a card.

3-Deck held face down in L .H.

4-Cut off cards held from above by R.H .

5-Left fingertips touch or feel the facecard of packet held by R.H.

6-You are able to tell the color.

7-How?

8-Easy.

9-Just hold deck so a strong light issure to hit the face card of packet heldby right hand.

10-As left fingers feel card naturally thepacket is held rather close to the pack-et in L.H.

11-On the backs of the cards in L.H.you will see a slight red glow if it is ared card and none if it is a black card.

12-This applies to cards with bluebacks. In the case of red-backed cardsa black glow will show on the red-backed card. It will take some experi-mentation to get it right but the basic

principle is there. Applying clear liquid nail polish to the fingertip will give thesame results. Apply to the left finger-tips or just the left forefinger. Hold thecard, face outwards lengthwise. Youwill be able to spot a red glow, or dullblack, in the tip of the left forefinger.The right fingers do the feeling but theleft forefinger is just around the indexand you can easily spot the color if the

light hits against the face of the card.Again you will have to experiment toget just the right angles."

In the above letter I had also men-

tioned that in using the clear liquidnail polish that you could wash yourhands before doing the stunt as a sortof throwoff. Now, here is the way to useit as a Color Eliminator in connectionwith the Fingertip Peek.

1. Assuming that you will use theEleventh Method of gett ing a cardnoted, which is to hold the pack as forthe Estimation Fingertip Peek and havethe selection noted at about 14th f rom

the top.2. Now normally you would just releasethe cards after the spectator notes acard but in this case you very gentlyease the right forefinger forward so asto close the gap between the sections of cards normally separated during thepeek.

3. As the gap is being closed, the facecard, the one which spectator peekedat, is reflected in the back of the cardthat precedes it. In other words, youwill get to know the color of the card byits reflection, providing the light is jus tright, as already explained in the letter.

4. Proceed with the Eleventh Method of Shuffling or use the Overhand Shuffleif you prefer. At any rate when youcome to your ten possibilities, as perany such method which may place apeeked card in an approximate posi-tion, you do not have to pump for the

color of the card as you already know it.Therefore your only concern is the suit.

5. My procedure at this stage is to takea stab and name the suit. You have afifty-fifty chance of being right. Fromthis point the rest is easy. If you arewrong on the suit you can murmursomething about the spectator concen-trating a little harder.



495

COLOR ELIMINATOR EFFECT

Carmen D'Am ico s ' patter line, in caseslike this, is to say, "Don't tell me", as if cautioning spectator not to volunteerany information. Having myself had

many years experience with ThePartagas Sell, from Card Magic byVictor Farelli, I can vouch for the factthat the spectator will continue to giveinformation even though you have cau-tioned him not to; therefore, D'Am ico s 'patter line can be used more than oncein the course of trying to f ind the card,

Using the Color Elimination Principlehere is an effect in which you find thecard without asking a single question.

111 use an obvious title.Color Eliminator Effect

1. There is a slight setup which is easi-ly remembered and just as easy to getready. You use the Nines and Tens of the four suits. Place these at the llthto 18th positions in the deck. The orderof the pairs from 18th card up to thellth, is 9-10 of Clubs, 9-10 of Hearts,9-10 of Spades and 9-10 of Diamonds.As you can see the colors are alternat-

ed and you know the order of the suits.2. Use a false shuffle to retain the set-up or you can have these eight cardson top and run ten cards onto themusing an in jog on the eleventh card,then shuffling off. Get a break at theinjog and shuffle off to the break. Yourcards are now set as needed. If youlike, you can set-up the whole thing toprecede a Faro Shuffle. (See BackwardFaro in Chapter 7;Faro Notes, for pre-

setting of Faro Shuffles.)3. Hold the pack as for the FingertipPeek. Fingertip Riffle Peek to the 14thcard. As spectator is noting the card,you have ample time to observewhether you have more or less thanfourteen cards through use of thePinch Check. You surely should beable to tell the difference between 12cards and 14, or 14 and 16, or 18.

4. Now close the gap slowly in order toget the Color Tipoff from the backs of the cards. This color will practically tellyou which pair of cards are the possi-

ble peeked ones. As an example, sup-pose you feel that you have fourteencards but are pretty certain you do nothave twelve. Also suppose you areusing a Blue Backed Deck.

If there is no Red glow, then you knowthe card must be black. Now you feelyou have 14 cards and you are correctbecause the next black pair is so fardown in the pack you would be certainof having more than 14 cards. The

noted suit, therefore, has to be Spades.5. Again suppose you felt you had 14cards but nowhere near twelve. Butthis time as you closed the gap youwould see a red glow. Now rememberyou know you did not have twelvecards but did think you had 14. Theclosest possible red pair has to be theHeart Suit. If you hold a Pinch Check on the Heart Suit and then theDiamond Suit you will readily see whyit is practically impossible to make amistake on the suit of the card.

This same Pinch Check you can try onthe Club and Spade Suit and again youcan see readily the difference of 14 ascompared to 17 or 18. The same rea-soning holds true if you think you havetwelve cards but as you close the gapyou see no red glow; therefore, you hadeither 13 or 14 cards and so the black suit nearest to this position is theSpade. Your timing of the peek should

never carry you into the top ten cardsand in this way you have an eight cardlee-way on the initial peek.

6. Once you know the Color of the cardyou also know the suit, plus that it iseither a 9 or 10 of that suit. A f t e r thepeek, hand the cards immediately to beshuffled as you tell everyone that youwill not ask a single question in findingthe card. On getting the pack, locate



496

ESTIMATION

the pair of cards and place them bothon top of the pack.

7. Now take off the top card only andhold it face down in the right hand asyou again state that you will not ask asingle question but will merely showthat the card you hold in your hand isin fact the card chosen under whatseems like impossible conditions. Thecard in your right hand is turned faceup as you say, "This is your card."

8. If you are right the effect is over. If not, you can take my word for it thatunder these conditions you can do aTop Change even for magicians and

they will miss it. Just do it nice andeasy with no fast or fancy moves orgestures. In other words, just exchangethe card in your hand for the one ontop of the deck.

9. Yes, it can be done that slow. Why?Because you have set up even a magi-cian to the role of a layman without hisrealizing it. He does not expect you tof ind the card under the outlined condi-tions; therefore, when you apparently

miss, he is quick to Look Up and tellyou so. That is all you need for thechange which again I say must be doneslowly with no gestures or quick move-ments.

Mario's Order Cull

In the various effects it is, at times,required to make use of a small setup.For this reason the following Order Cullwill be found of great value in arrang-ing such set-ups quickly. It is very flex-ible in its application and depends on acombination of well known principles.Either an Overhand or Riffle Shufflecan be used to finish the Order Cull.For the present, let's assume you wishto cull the Ace to Four of Clubs, inorder, to the top of the deck.

1. If you are going to use an OverhandShuffle to terminate the cull, then youmust remember to always get the

Deuce so it is on top of the Ace. Theother thing to remember is that an Aceand Deuce always go together and theFour and Three are always culled

together.2. By this time you should be prettyfamiliar with the method of running, orslipping a card under a spread of cardsso that it runs beneath the spread of cards and is later loaded to eitherabove or below another card. In thispresent chapter the action is explainedin Super Mental Stab.

3. The pack has been in use and is notin any particular order as you take it

and hold it faces to yourself. Spreadthe cards and at the same time, look for either the Ace, Deuce, Three or Fourof the particular suit you wish to cull.For this example we are using Clubs.

4. Suppose, as you spread the pack between both hands, the first Club youcome across is the 3C. You immediate-ly push this under the spread of cardsand continue spreading as you nowlook for the 4C. Remember that the 4

and 3 always are culled together whilethe A and 2 is the other combination.

5. When you reach the 4C, the spreadis then closed but in doing this the 3Cis loaded under the 4C and a left 4thfinger break is taken below the culledpair. Make one straight cut at thebreak. This brings the 3C and 4C tothe top of the deck in order from thetop down.

6. Without hesitation, again start tospread the cards, this time looking forthe Ace or 2. Suppose you first comeupon the AC. Run this under thespread and continue spreading thepack till you get to the 2C. Close up thespread, but in doing so, load the AC,riding under the spread, onto the 2C,at the same time the left 4th finger getsa break below this second pair of cardsas the pack is squared.



497

MAROL'SORDER CULL

7. At this stage you have the 3C and4C on top of the deck. The cards abovethe break are the 2C and AC. The pack is face up in the l e f t hand.

8. The right hand comes over fromabove to take the cards by the ends but only those above the break, at the AC-2C pair, are taken. As the right handswings these cards into position for anOverhand Shuffle. The left hand of course, flips its cards face down, thel e f t thumb merely moves under thepacket, turning it over to the right asfor an Overhand Shuffle.

9. With cards face down and in

Overhand Shuffle position, run off thefirst 2 cards, the 2C and AC, then injogthe third and shuffle off. Get a break atthe injog and shuffle off to the break.The Ace to 4C are now in order on topof the deck.

10. Now you may ask as to what is theprocedure if, in the initial spreading of the pack, you should come acrosseither the AC or 2C first? In this casehandle it in the usual manner to get

this pair to the top, always remember-ing that the 2C must be on top of theAC after the cull. Now go into cullingthe 3C and 4C again remembering thatthese are always in order, the 3Calways on top of the 4C.

11 . At any rate you will end up havinga 2C-AC on top of the deck and the 3C-4C at the break. The simplest proce-dure then is to cut the cards, at thebreak, to transpose the halves as you

obtain a new break beneath the 2C andAC while the 3C-4C are now on top of the deck. From here go into theOverhand Shuffle as explained in Step9. The cards will then be in order.

12. If you want to use a R i f f l e Shuffle toterminate the Order Cull, the processis much simpler as all you have toremember is that now both pairs arealways culled m order. It also doesn't

make any difference as to which pair ison top or at the break. All you have todo is maintain the break, with the left4th finger, as the left hand turns palm

down towards table. The right handcomes over to split the pack, at thebreak, for a Tabled Riffle Shuffle. Allyou have to do is let the Ace and Deucefall last in the R i f f l e Shuffle, on top of the 3 and 4.

In the above Order Cull, values of Aceto 4 have been culled but it is possibleto cull any values in suit order, such asthe four Aces. The problem becomessimple if there is no definite order to be

concerned with, such as merely cullingfour of a kind; however, the epitome of this cull would be to apply it to a set of memorized cards.

For the present, a good use of the cullis not only to get the desired cards,then set them up as for the FingertipEstimation Peek, but also later, afterthe spectator shuffles, to reset themfor, say, the Stop Effect as in "MiracleEstimation Peek" in this chapter.

With the assumption that you under-stand the idea of the Order Cull, I willbriefly outline a —

Five Card Order Cull

1. Ace to 5C are to be culled. Firstlocate the 3C and cut it to the top.Remember that the 4C and 5C gotogether with the 4C always on top of the 5C. The AC and 2C go together.Assuming an Overhand Shuffle is to beused, the 2C always goes on top of AC.

2. Let's assume that in your firstspread of the pack you have broughttogether the 4C and 5C and hold abreak below them in the center of thedeck. With the right hand, cut off thecards up to the break. Place thesebelow the cards face up in the lefthand, Here the left 4th finger does theMario Pull Down Move on the 3C. (SeePhoenix, IB IDEM, Linking Ring and



498

ESTIMATION

other sources) This brings the 3C overonto the 4C and 5C, thus the top 3cards are in order. Now cull the AC and2C in the usual way with the 2C on top

of the AC above the break at the cen-ter. Cut at the break, run 2 cards, the2C-AC, injog third card and shuffle off.Get a break at the injog and shuffle off to the break. The Ace to 5 is now inorder, on top.

3. If the 2C and AC is the first pair tobe culled to the center, with a break below them, then perform the cut withthe Pull Down Move on the 3C, the topthree cards are then in 3-2-1 order.

Now, when the 4C and 5C are culled tothe center, you must transpose thehalves, hold the break, then go into anOverhand Shuffle in order to get all thecards in order on top of the deck.

Aga in, if you decide to use a Riffl eShuffle, the process becomes simplerand you never have to transpose thehalves as in the Overhand Shuffle.

4. It is possible to get a Complex OrderCull such as may be required for the

"Color Eliminator Effect". Briefly, youstart with either the Tens or the Nines.Also the suit order being C-H-S -D, youmust remember that C must be pairedwith H , and S with D.

5. As you should, by now, be able tocull four cards in value order, the suitorder should be no problem. Assumethat you have culled the four Nines inthe required suit order on top of thedeck.

6. Now all you have to do is cull theTens in suit order by disregarding theoriginal four Nines. What will happen,even after the required shuffles, is thatthe Tens will be on top in suit order,but the Nines will be together some-place in the pack. (I can't say "Center"as they may be near the top or bottomof the deck.)

7. To get the Nines and Tens paired,

the most direct way is to locate theNines, split the deck at that point, andgo into a Faro Shuffle of either the In orOut type. The Nines and Tens are now

paired on top and an additionalOverhand or R i f f l e Shuffle is used toadd the required cards above the set-up in order to do the effect. (See Notesof 1953 for other methods of Culling.)

If you use the Riffle Shuffle to termi-nate the Order Cull, then you can startculling the next card regardless of itsvalue. In other words, suppose the firstvalue you come to is a 3 spot whichyou run under the spread.

Suppose the next value card you comeupon is an Ace. Normally you wouldpass by this and go on looking for the 4spot; however, in this case all you do ismake sure that the lower value cardgoes above the higher value card. Inthis example, the 3 spot, under thespread, is loaded onto the face of theAce as the spread is closed. A break isheld and the pack is cut to bring theseto the top of the deck in Ace-3 order

from the top down.Again spread the cards and supposeyou come onto the 2 spot first. Runthis under the spread untill you cometo the 4 spot. Now the 2 spot is loadedbeneath the 4 spot, closer to the top of the deck, and a break is held. Whenyou split for the Riffle Shuffle, youknow that the top of one-half has theAce-3 and the other half the 2-4.

During the Riffle Shuffle all you have to

do is release the cards properly so thatthe order of the cards will be Ace to 4from the top down. Using this R i f f l eShuffle approach, you can cull f iv ecards and eliminate use of the PullDown Move.

Also by the subtle use of a jog you candispense with holding the break justbefore either an Overhand or R i f f l eShuffle . Thus, by a combination of jogs



499

TR IPLE ESTIMATION PEEK

and breaks, you can not only OrderCull but set these cards in the requiredposition from the top or bottom withoutusing a Run Shuffle.

In describing these effects I will use myown estimate numbers when workingthe item in question. It is understoodthat your experience may give you dif-ferent estimated figures. Also, in doingthis type of work be sure that you holdback and display the peeked card inorder to let several persons note thecard stopped at, rather than just one.

Fingertip Location

A card noted by the Fingertip Peek iseasily located even after a shuffle.

1. Have a key card at the Estimated14th position. False shuffle to keep thekey in position.

2. Have a card noted using theFingertip Riffle Peek Estimation.Immediately notice if you think youhave more or less than 14 cards.Release the cards, Undercut half thedeck and shuffle off overhand style. Do

a series of overhand straight cuts thenturn the deck face up to look for yourkey.

3. If you estimated more than 14 cards,cut the key plus one card to the right of it, to the bottom. This gives you twopossibles on the bottom and two ontop. The named card could be on bot-tom or top, 2nd from bottom or 2ndfrom top. Through use of a Glide , the2nd card from bottom can be removed.Use a Double Lift to show the 2nd cardf r om the top .

4. I f you estimated less than 14, cutyour key, plus 2 cards to the l ef t of it,to the top of the deck. Use the Glideand Lifts again to reveal the card.

Triple Estimation Peek

This uses 3 key cards plus theFingertip Estimation Peek.

1. Use any 3 easily remembered keys of all one suit such as an Ace-2-3 of Clubs.

2. The AC should be at 14th from the

top. The 2C at 26th position and the3C 14th from the bottom. These 3 keyscan be pre-placed for a Faro In-Shuffleto precede the Peek. The AC would be7th, the 2C at 13th and the 3C at 7thfrom the bottom. A cut at 26 and aFaro In -Shuf f l e will set the 3 keys at14-26-14.

3. In doing this for one spectator, havehim write down the names of his cardsin the order that he peeks them. This is

an idea I've used for years in doingmultiple locations for a single specta-tor .

4. The first estimated position youwork for is 14th from the top or the ACkey. After the card is noted, openlysquare up. Next, the 2C or 26th posi-tion is forced. Again square up, then gointo the peek to stop at the 3C or 14thfrom the face or bottom of the deck.Square up the deck and give it several

straight cuts followed by a false shuffleto retain the whole order of the deck.

5. Turn the deck face up and locate theAC. Here you cut the pack according towhether you felt you had less or morethan 14 cards in your 1st EstimatedPeek. The spectator names his 1st cardand you reveal it in the mannerexplained under Fingertip Locationsexcept that in this case the card is notonly shown but should be tossed face

up to the table. In the case of Doubleand Triple Lifts, you can use the K.M .Move to slough off the extra cards. (Seethe K.M. Move book.)

6. With the first selection now on thetable, again give the deck severalstraight cuts, then locate the 2C. Fromhere proceed as already outlined, bycutting at the 2C according to whetheryou felt you had more or less than 26.



500

ESTIMATION

This second selection is also placedface up onto the table.

7. Cut the deck several times. Locatethe 3C and repeat the discovery of the

card according to your estimation. If none of the selections are one of thekey cards, you can repeat the effect.Merely locate the AC and get it into13th from the top. Now return thethree selections to the deck as follows:One is placed somewhere among thetop 13 cards, the next into the centerand the last among the bottom 13cards. The keys are approximately inthe same position as before.

8. If you have a good memory you cantake a shuffled deck and then spread itface up to show it is thoroughly m ix e d ,but during this, note and rememberthe 4th and 7th cards from the top of the deck and the 4th card from the

face of the deck. Now do one Faro Out-Shuffle followed by one In-Shuffle . Thisnow places your 3 keys at the desired14th and 26th from the top and 14thfrom the bottom. From here the effectworks as before.

Triple Estimation Peek

Method Two

In this one you use only one key at the14th position.

1. For this use three spectators for theEstimated Peek. Assume that the 14thkey is the IOC.

2. False Shuffle keeping the key card in14th position. Have the 1st spectator

say, "Stop" as you do the EstimatedPeek.

3. Square up and undercut half thedeck in readiness for an OverhandShuffle. Injog the first card and shuffleoff. Get a break at the injog and shuffleoff to the break. The key is back at the14th position.

4. Repeat step 3 for the next two spec-tators. After the last spectator haspeeked at a card, you undercut half thedeck and merely shuffle off.

5. Turn the deck face up and locate theIOC and cut to bring it to 2nd from thetop. From here the situation can varyso much that to describe an actual pro-cedure would be impossible but if youcan think on your feet you can finishthe effect successfully. One boldmethod is to remove the top 3 cardsand tossing them face up onto thetable, say, "And here are your threecards."

6. If they all peeked the IOC they willadmit to their card being among thethree. If two had the IOC and one hadone of the other cards, the same holdstrue. If you're in luck all three cardscould be there. Again they all couldhave one of the other cards rather thanthe IOC and again the result is thesame. With a good sense of estimationthis should work the majority of times.

7. The other procedure is to have all

three name their cards at the sametime. If all name the IOC you have areally good effect with a laugh. If twoname the IOC act surprised, palm outthe card, as you say, "It couldn't be. Ihave that in my pocke t . " Under thissurprise you can quickly locate theother named card and produce thisalso from another pocket. In the eventthat all three cards named are differentyou will have to improvise as you goalong, perhaps first showing one, thenthrough a Double Lift, Top Change orGlide change this card to one of theothers. As you can see this is an e f f e c tthat will challenge your wits.

Miracle Estimation Peek

Effect: In this, after the spectator haspeeked the card, he is handed the deck to shuffle. Performer takes back thedeck, looks it over, then holding it face



501

MIRACLE PEEK ESTIMATION

down starts to take one card at a timeinto the other hand as he requestsspectator to call "Stop" Needless to saythat spectator stops at his peeked card.

1. Have 5 cards of one suit in order ontop of the deck. As an example, sup-pose these are Ace to Five of Clubsfrom top down. Before proceeding,shuffle eleven cards onto the set of 5cards thus making them 12 to 16 withthe 3C at 14th position.

2. Using the Fingertip Estimation Peek the spectator is bound to get one of thef i v e Club cards; therefore, immediatelyafter the peek hand him the pack to

shuffle.3. On getting the deck back you relo-cate the five club cards, sometimesthey are still bunched so this is easy,and arrange them so that the AC is thetop card of deck but the 2-3-4 and 5 of clubs are at 13th-14th-15th-16th posi-tions from the top of the deck. The 3Cis in the 14th position again. Hold thedeck face down in the left hand.

4. Now here is a psychological "Stop"procedure I have used and kept tomyself for many years. It will definitelytake in a magician as the method isunlike any he is familiar with.

5. Without saying a word, start takingthe cards, off the top of the deck, intothe right hand one on top of another.Do this rather rapidly for 7 cards. Nowwhile you are taking the next 3 cards,the line "Just tell me when to stop," isdelivered. Without hesitation, continue

in the same rapid fashion to take thenext 4 cards into the right hand. If thetiming and patter line is delivered cor-rectly he will call "Stop" just as the14th card is taken into the right hand.The psychological angle here is suchthat because of the rapidity of takingthe cards they seem to want to stopyou before you get to where they think you are trying to arrive.

6. There are now 2 possibles in the lefthand and 2 in the right. The AC is onthe bottom of the right hand portion.Have the card named. If it is the AC,

merely turn over the right hand packetface up against the face down portionin left hand to disclose the card. This isthe Veneri Turn first described inFarrelli's Card Magic.

If the 3C or 2C is named, place the lefthand portion aside and disclose thecard on top of the right hand packeteither by a single or Double Turnover.If the 4 or 5 of Clubs is named, theright hand portion is placed aside and

again the proper card shown via aSingle or Double Turnover. Even if allfour possibilities end up on either theleft or right hand portion you can stillmake out through the use of additionallifts.

You should never have to go beyondthe 16 cards but if you do, injog the17th and throw the rest of the deck ontop as you comment about the specta-tor not understanding. Get a break atthe injog and shuffle off to the break.This time run off 8 cards and throwback on top. Now run off 7 cards andthrow the deck onto them. The AC isstill on top but the 2-3-4-5 of Clubs areat 6th to 9th positions.

7. This time say, "Just tell me when tostop", as you rapidly take off the topthree cards, then continue to rapidlytake the next 4. The spectator shouldstop you at the 7th card. Obviously youhad to bring the set up closer to thetop as the spectator by now has beenprimed to call "Stop" and will do somore readily this second time.

8. If the "Stop" idea frightens you, thenyou can always re-organize the cardsso that 2 are on the bottom and 3 ontop. Now through the use of the SideGlide or Lifts you can show the namedcard. This effect is an ideal follow up to"A Three Locator" as you already have



502

ESTIMATION

four cards of the one suit. It is merely amatter of placing them into properposition for the Fingertip EstimationPeek.

A Three LocatorUse of a very easy setup plus theFingertip Estimation Peek gives you amiracle with a nine card lee-way.

1. The set-up from top down is any 4-3-2-A in Red color but any suit. Next , a3S in 5th position followed by Black A-2-3-4 of any suit thus comprising thenine card set-up.

2. When ready to perform, undercut

half the deck, run 9 cards onto thestack, then in-jog the next cards andshuffle off. Obtain a break at the injog,then shuffle off to the break. The 3Sshould now be in the 14th positionfrom the top. Remember that the Red4-3-2-A is to the right of the 3S and theA-2-3-4 in Black is to the le f t of the 3S.

3. Hold the deck for the FingertipEstimation Peek. Naturally you try toforce the peek at the 14th card from

the top; however, you actually have arange of from 10 to 19 so there is notmuch to worry about on this score.

4. Once the card has been noted by thespectator, you give deck another shuf-fle by merely running off the top 9cards, then throwing the rest of thedeck onto these. This brings the 3S to5th from top. Place deck behind yourback, count to the 5th card and reversethe 3S, then cut the deck. Bring the

deck out face down.5. Tell the spectator that behind yourback you have turned one card face up.Ask him to name his card. Once hedoes you will know how to proceed.

6. If he names the 3S the deck isspread to reveal the face up 3S. Shouldhe name any other card you will imme-diately know whether the 3S is next toit or has to be counted to. As an exam-

ple, if he names the Black Ace youknow it is to the left of the 3S while theRed Ace is to the right of the 3S. In thecase of the deuces, three and fours,

you can count to them using the 3S asa value card. If the card is a deuce youwould count over 3 cards starting withthe 3S. If it is a 3 you count to the 3rdcard not counting the 3S. If it is a f o u ragain you do not include the 3S butafter you have counted three cards youturn the next, or really the 4th card.

7. After the spectator names the cardand before you reveal the face up 3S,you can quickly calculate and make

very definite statements such as, " Ihave reversed a card and whatever itsvalue we will use it to count down andfind your card. I will include (or notinclude depending on your calcula-tions) the face up card in the count.Also, I will count to the right (or l e f t ,again depending on your calculations)of the face up card. I tell you this soyou will not say later that an equivocewas the answer to this card miracle."

8. Spread the deck to reveal the face upcard. Now as you go along repeat allthe statements you previously made,i.e. the use of the value card, how youwould count to the right or left, etc.Eventually, have the selection namethen turn the card face up to climaxthe effect.

9. Of course, there may be a similarityto such effects already in print in vari-ous sources; however, there are heretwo subtle advantages over these oth-ers. One is that the Fingertip Peek pro-cedure gives the impression of a selec-tion of any one of the 52 cards withapparently no control over the pack.The other is that you can use the mostobvious and simple set up and, natu-rally, during the riffle it can not bespotted. The location can be quicklycalculated as well.



503

1 5 -K - l l SPELLER

15-K-ll Speller

Effect: A Fingertip peeked card isspelled to successfully. Makes use of Fingertip Estimation and a key card at

estimated spot.1 . Get a key card to 14th position fromthe top. This you can do during a shuf-fle but decide on a card that will alsospell with 14 letters such as the 4D forexample.

2. Hold the pack for the Fingertip Peek.Ask the spectator to call "Stop" as your i f f l e the upper right corner, with yourright 1st finger, in the familiar manner.

3. Naturally you time the riffle to stopat the estimated 14th position. At thesame time, as you hold open the pack for a card to be noted, you estimatewhether you have less than 14 cards ormore than 14 cards.

4. Release all cards and square up thepack. Next, do a false shuffle to retainthe top 20 cards as they are. This iseasiest using an overhand shuffle withan injog location, getting a break at the

injog and shuffling off to the break.Thus the key card is back at 14th fromthe top.

5. Have the selected card named. If thekey card is named it is all set to spell.If any other card is named, your proce-dure depends on whether you felt youhad more or less than 14 cards in theinitial Fingertip Estimation.

6. If you feel you had more than 14cards all you have to do is always

assume the card as being in 15th posi-tion and then lose or add cards inorder for the named card to end on thelet ter "S".

For example, you always assume thecard is 15th. The named card is say,Ace of Clubs which spells with 10 let-ters. As you have assumed the card tobe 15th, you would lose the top 5 cardsin a cut , no t a s h u f f l e .

Merely spread the top cards and in re-squaring get a break under the top 5cards, then Double Cut them to thebottom. All this under the patter line,

"Your card is somewhere in the pack.Ill cut it right into spelling position."

7. If the AC was actually in the 15thposition, then, of course, it will comeout on the letter "S" during the face upspell. If it happens that the card doesnot come out on the letter "S", then doa Double Lift from the top of the deckturning the card(s) face up. If the ACwas actually 17th from the top, it willnow show. If the AC doesn't show, turn

the cards face down, take off the topcard and snap it as you say, "I forgot todo th i s " , then turn it face up to showthe AC which, in this case, had to be16th.

As you can see this same procedurewould be followed if you had assumedthe card to be at less than the 14thfrom the top. In this case you wouldalways assume the card to be in llthposition, then adjust to the spelling bycutting to either add or lose cards.Thus the spell works if the card hap-pens to be at either 11-12 or 13th posi-tions.

8. The use of the key at the 14th posi-tion gives you a chance for a directmiracle and at the same time tips youoff in case the 14th card is not selected.It is quite easy to estimate from herewhether you had more or less than 14.

This actually gives you a 7card lee-way

for success or 3 cards on each side of the key, the 14th card. Now the title of 1 5 - K - l l Speller becomes clear. Thisidea of estimating on each side of a keyor position can be applied to many of the effects depending on a count downor the placing of a selection into a cer-tain estimated position.



504

ESTIMATION

Mental Spell

This is based on the familiar principlethat cards spell with a number of let-

ters that range from 10 to 15. Add tothis the Fingertip Estimation Peek andyou have a card miracle that is practi-cally certain.

1. Assume that you will use the follow-ing six cards: AC-10H-KS-7S -4D-QD.Starting with the Ace of Clubs eachsucceeding card spells with one moreletter.

2. Place the above six cards, startingwith the AC, at the llth to 16th posi-

tions from the top of the deck. If youlike you can have the six card set-upon top and then later get them intoposition by a shuffle.

3. After a shuffle which either placesthe set of six cards into position orretains them there, hold the pack as forthe Fingertip Peek,

4. Using the Fingertip Estimation RifflePeek, you naturally stop somewherebetween the 11th and 16th cards.

5. After the card is noted, release andsquare up the pack. Follow by anOverhand Jog Shuffle to retain thecards in position.

6. Tell the spectator to mentally spellhis card, letter for letter, as you turnthe cards face up one at a time. He is tostop you when he reaches the letter 'S'of his card.

7. Now you can see why the six cards

were placed one card beyond the actualnumber of letters. In this way the cardscan be dealt face up and the spellstopped without his card showing; itwill however, be the top card of thepack instead.

up deal in this effect is stronger thanthe face down procedure. It also indi-rectly conveys the impression of no set-up.

9. As you can see you have a six cardleeway and should have no troublewith the effect but suppose you have alarge block and are not quite sure it is16 cards. In this case, after squaringup and false shuffling, ask for thename of the card. If it is one of the sixcards then you worried for nothing.

On the other hand, suppose he namesan unfamiliar card. Well, you knowdarn well you had more than 10 cards,so the card has to be one past the 16thcard. The safest bet is to calculate thecard as occupying the 17th position.You then lose the required number of cards to make the card come out onthe letter "S".

10. If the card actually was 17th, it willfall on the letter "S" as you deal thecards face up. If not, it could show asyou Double L i f t the top two cards of thedeck still in hand. If it still is not show-

ing, turn these cards face down, takethe top card and apparently change itto the selection. You should never havetrouble with this effect done this wayas the six known cards act as a tipoff.

11. If you go beyond the l l th card,then always calculate the stranger cardas being in 7th position from the top.From here handle it in the same man-ner as before. From 7 to 19 gives a 12card leeway or double the amount of

the set-up. Really, you should nevermiss.

8. Ask him to name his card, then turnover the top card of the deck to revealthe selection. For some reason the face



505

X-RAY SPELLING

7-5-2

E f f e c t : The values of three cards areused to count down into the pack where a previously Fingertip Peeked

selection is found.1. Remove any 7, 5 and 2 value spotcards from the pack and place themface down on the table. The order, fromtop down, should be 7-5-2 and of course, they total up to 14.

2. Have the rest of the pack shuffled bythe spectator. On getting it back hold itin readiness for the Fingertip Peek.

3. Rif f l e the upper right corner of the

deck, with the right forefinger, as yourequest the spectator to call "Stop".Using the Riffle Peek Estimate, stop atthe 14th card from the top. Have a cardnoted and release the rest of the cardsand square up the deck.

4. If you wish you can false sh uffle toretain the estimated 14th position.H old the deck face down and have thespectator turn up the 1st tabled card,the 7 spot. Count off seven cards from

deck onto the table. Repeat with thenext card, the 5 spot.

5. As the 2 spot is being turned youchange your dealing technique by tak-ing the top card at its inner end withyour thumb on the face of the card andf inger on top. In this way as you dealthe next two cards to the table you canglimpse the faces of these cards veryeasily.

6. Have the selection named. If it is one

of the two tabled cards you glimpsed,then pick up the tabled packet andhandle it accordingly to disclose it. If not, casually riffle the back end of thedeck, with your right thumb, to see if the card is on top or nearby and againdisclose as required to show the cardon top.

As you can see the handling gives youp l e n t y of leeway for success.

X-Ray Spelling

Effect: Spectator shuffles the deck.Cardician gives it one cut and whileapparently X-Raying the pack, names a

card. This card is spelled out and it isthere at the end of the spelling. Thismakes use of a bottom glimpse and theEstimated Cut from bottom to top.

1. After the spectator shuffles the deck,on taking it back glimpse the bottomcard. Assume it is the 7H which spellswith 13 letters.

2. Table the deck and from the bottomcut an estimated 13 cards to the top.In doing this, get a momentary break with the left thumb, at the inner leftside, below this block of cards. Thisgives you a chance to further estimatethe size of the block to see if it is moreor less than!3 cards.

3. Depending on whether you think this block is thicker or thinner than 13cards, you either cut to add or losecards so that the spell will come out. Itis however, best to over-estimate.

4. The spelling is now done face up. If you have estimated correctly the cardwill come out on the letter "S"'. If youhave over-estimated the card will notshow. At this point do a Double Lift,This may be the card so stop there. If itis not the card, turn it face down, takeoff the top card. Snap it, then turn itface up and this should be the card. Itwill appear as if you meant the effect toend that way. In any case, a 3 card lee-way is pretty good after you get the

knack of estimating.Fingertip Face Up Locator

1. Have a spectator shuffle the deck.On getting it back hold it for theFingertip Estimation Peek.

2. Force the 14th position and after thecard is noted, release the cards andsquare the deck.



506

ESTIMATION

3. Undercut half the deck, injoging the1st card and shuffle off. Get a break atthe injog and shuffle off to the break.The card is back in its original estimat-

ed position.4. Place the deck behind your back.Now if you feel you had 14 cards on thepeek, count to the 14th card andreverse it. If you felt you had more than14 cards you can't go far wrong revers-ing the 16th card. If you feel you hadless than 14, you can't go much amissreversing the 12th card. With practiceyou will be surprised how often youcan actually tell or feel exactly howmany cards you have on the peek. Inthis case reverse the card at the actualestimated number in order to reversethe selected card.

5. At any rate, bring deck forward say-ing you reversed one card in the deck.Turn the deck face up and ask for thename of the selected card.

6. The card named will be either nextto the reversed card in which case yousay, "The reversed card is right next to

your card", or if it does not show upyou can be sure it is the actualreversed card. In this case up-jog thecard, square the deck, then turn it facedown to reveal the face of the reversedselection.

Double Peek Face Up Locators

1. The deck is shuffled by a spectator.On getting it back, hold it in FingertipPeek position.

2. Force the estimated 14th position,from the bottom of the deck, on the 1stspectator. Force the estimated 14thposition, from the top of the deck, onthe 2nd spectator.

3. Place the deck behind your back andreverse the 14th card from the bottomand the 14th card from the top. Bringthe deck forward face down.

4. Holding the deck by its sides, withthe left hand, the right hand, also atthe sides, can easily break the pack ateach of the face up cards in order to

glimpse them. The excuse for thisaction is the patter line, "Somewhere inthis pack I have reversed two cards."

Have both spectators name their cards.If they are the same as the two face upcards you have accomplished a realmiracle. Merely spread the deck facedown to reveal the two face up cards.

5. If neither of the reversed cards arethose named, then turn the deck f a c eup as you now show that you had

reversed a card next to each of theselections.

6. In the event that one of the namedcards is actually reversed, you mustturn the deck face up and first disclosethe card that is next to a reversed card.Now spread the deck to the actualreversed selection but act as if theselection should be next to the reversedcard. When you see it isn't, ask againfor the selected card to be named. This

time you say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn'tmean to reverse your card." Thisalways gets a smile.

7. Here again in doing the FingertipEstimation Peek you can, with practice,be almost exact in the number of cardsand in many instances you will be ableto reverse the actual selections. In anyevent you should be successful in con-cluding the effect every time.

Spin Cut Stunner

Effect: A Fingertip Peeked card and thedeck are fairly squared. Top portion of the deck jumps off and there is thespectator's card.

1. Hold the deck for the Fingertip Peekusing the R i f f l e Estimation to the 14thcard as you request spectator to call"Stop."



507

SPIN CUT STUNNER

2. Use the Pinch Check to estimatewhethe r you have 14 cards. If you feelit is over 14, then estimate the card asbeing at 15. If you feel it is under 14,

then estimate the peeked card as beingat the 11th position.

3. If you actually have 14 cards, then,of course, you estimate it as at 14;however, you can't go far astray usingthe Over and Under approach as inStep 2.

4. Regardless of what number you esti-mated the peeked card to occupy in thepack you bring this card to 10th fromthe top of the deck. In other words, if

you estimated the card to be 14th, youwould lose four cards from the top in acut or Overhand Shuffle.

5. Spread the pack between bothhands, Group Counting in sets of three, till you reach the 10th card.Then resquare the pack while getting al e f t 4th finger break beneath the 10thcard.

6. The above Step 5 is covered by thepatter line, "Somewhere in the pack isyour card but no one knows where. Wewill find it with a snap of the fingers.Name your card."

7. As you are asking the spectator toname his card, you are also squaringthe ends of the deck with the righthand. During this you transfer thebreak from the left 4th finger to theinner left corner so that the left side of the ten cards are up against the baseof the left thumb.

The transfer is very easy as you merelyl i f t up the ten cards, at the back end,then in a sort of rocking motion theinner l e f t side of the cards ride up ontothe base of the lef t thumb. At the sametime the outer right side of the cardss l ip o f f the t ip o f the l ef t 4th f inger andcomes down flush with the pack on itsright side.

8. The base of the thumb now squeezesinwards against the sides of the tencards while the four left fingers, whichare on the right side of the deck, move

downwards. The inward pressure of theleft thumb's base and the downwardslipping of the four l e f t fingers causesthe top ten cards to sort of pop off orspin off from the top of the deck to thetable.

This is the Ne a l Elias "Se l f CuttingPack" idea and further details can beh a d i n /B / DEM #2 6.

9. The actual Spin-Cut is made after the card is known. The card is named,

you snap the fingers of your right hand over the deck as the left hand does theElias Spin Cut.

10. The right hand immediately reach-es for the tabled packet of 10 cards.This packet is taken and tilted on itsside so the cards face the performer. If the face card is the selection, the pack-et is turned face up. If it is not, thepacket is placed aside.

11. Ask for name of the card to berepeated. Here do a Double Lift Turnover onto the deck. If the namedcard shows the effect is over. If it does-n't turn the card( s ) face down. Take thetop card only and snap it as you say,"Forgot to do this." Turn the card faceup, and it should be the one.

12. If you prefer you can spot the posi-tion of the actual card by using theMultiple Turn Around Glimpse as inFigure 30. This way you can alwaysshow the card on top of the pack in theleft hand and avoid the change alto-gether.



508

ESTIMATION

Sudden Stop Effect

Effect: A card noted by Fingertip Peek is relocated by a Fingertip R i f f f i e as thespectator calls "Stop".

1. Get the pack set with a Sudden Stopand note the card at which the stopoccurs.

2. In performing, undercut the pack and in jog the 1st card as you shuffleoff. Get a break at the injog and shuffleoff to the break.

3. Square up the deck and hold inFingertip Peek position. Use theSudden Stop R i f f l e as you ask specta-

tor to call "Stop". Naturally he notesthe card you have forced, so to speak.Square up the pack and repeat the JogShuffle as in Step 2.

4. This time hold the deck again inFingertip Peek position but with theface of the deck towards the floor. Boththe performer and spectator are lookingdown at the back of the deck.

5. With the right first finger again rifflethe corner of the deck as you ask the

Spectator to call "Stop". Of course, youuse the Sudden Stop and stop at thesame point as before. Pinch this cornerbetween the right thumb and first fin-ger to carry the packet away.

Ask for the name of the selection, thenturn the packet face up to disclose thecard. A real startler, especially if youhave not put in any kind of upwardcrimp.

Second Method:The effect is the same except in thiscase you do not know the name of thecard. It merely consists of getting theSudden Stop on the initial FingertipPeek, then going into the jog shuffleand concluding with the Sudden Stopas in the original effect. Very baffling tothe sharpest of card men.

Third Method:

Again the effect is the same except hereyou actually pull upwards sharply withthe right thumb, about 14 cards at the

back end. During this upward bendingthe left thumb should be across thepack. The card is also glimpsed at theback end as the right thumb bends thecards upwards.

The cards are now bellied in readinessfor the Sudden Stop with the bentcards acting like short cards being,geometrically speaking, not in astraight line with the cards precedingit. While good and practical it cannot

be classed with the first two methods.Fourth Method:

Here it is used to control the cardwhich is not a forced selection in thetrue sense. In other words, after ashuffled deck is handed to you, on theinitial peek you will know if you havehit a Sudden Stop card. If you have, gointo a jog shuffle and get the card backto its original position.

Now holding the deck face down, inFingertip Position, you say, "RememberI had you just peek at a card and thenI shuffled it." During this patter you rif-fle the corner to the Sudden Stop, pushthis corner, moving the top block overto the left. Then go into an OverhandShuffle, taking the stepped block f i r s t ,then shuffling off. The noted card isnow on the bottom of the deck whereyou can control it as you wish. You canalso glimpse the card for a safe mea-

sure in case the spectator wants toshuffle the pack.

Mental Stab

Effect: Performer places a magic Fourspot card next to a card that is merelythought of.

1. Remove any 4 spot from the deckand toss it face down on the table. Therest of the deck is shuffled by a spec ta -



509

MENTAL STAB

tor. On getting the deck, cut off a dozencards from the top and fan them out.

2. Show the fan to the spectator andhave him think of one. Close the fan as

you insert it into the center of the deck.The left thumb breaks the deck, at theupper left corner, to facilitate the inser-tion of the fan of cards.

3. Pick up the 4 spot and insert it faceup into the center of the deck. Turn thedeck, faces towards yourself, as youask spectator to name the card hethought of.

4. You will be amazed how often your 4spot will be right next to the cardthought of. This is due to the fact thatmost spectators will think of one of thecentral cards in the fan of twelve.

5. In the few weak cases you will findyou can easily come out all right byusing the 4 spot to count over to thecard. At times, a mere slipping of onecard will place the 4 spot next to thethought of card. This is up to the per-former to think his way out; however,the following procedure, whichappeared in the the New Phoenix, #329,w i l l b e found most satisfactory.Originally the description of the moveswas with the pack face down but theycan beapplied as well to the pack whenit is facing the performer.

6. As an example, suppose the 4 spotcard was placed so that the actualthought of card is about three cards tothe l ef t of the indicator 4 spot.

7. In this case, as you fan through thecards, up jog the indicator 4 spot butcontinue to spread a few more cards asyou remark about the 4 spot being thethe only face up card.

8. Now you resquare the cards to leavethe face up indicator projecting; howev-er, in resquaring the deck you mustobtain a break, above the actualthought of card, with left 4th fingertip.

9. Maintain this break with the lefthand while the right hand moves to theinner right corner of the pack. Theright fingers, thumb on top and 1st

and 2nd fingers beneath, grasp all thecards above the break at this corner.The right hand removes these cardsinwards at the same time, the leftthumb drops onto the face down indi-cator in order to retain this cardagainst the face card of the left handpacket as seen in Figure 22.

Figure 22

10. As the move in Figure 22 above ismade, both hands tilt downwards. The

left thumb retains the now face downindicator against the face of the lefthand packet in order to fully cover thethought of, face card. The right hand,which has continued its upward action,now holds the other face up portion of the deck.

11. Holding the position momentarilyagain ask for the name of the thoughtof card. On getting a reply you say,"Look, right next to my reversed card."

Here the left thumb pushes over theface down indicator card to expose thethought of card beneath it, as seen inFigure 23.

12. In the event the thought of card isto the right of the reversed indicator,the procedure is to again upjog the facedown 4 spot but in resquaring the pack get a left 4th finger break below thethought of card.



510

ESTIMATION

Figure 24

13. Keep the pack facing you duringthe next move. The right hand, fromabove, moves all cards, above thebreak, forward for about an inch ontothe projecting indicator as in Figure 24.

14. The right thumb and fingers nowpinch the upper right corner of the

Figure 25

deck and moves this upper portion,plus the up jogg e d indicator forwardand away from rest of deck but at thesame time both hands are lowered then

separated to end up as in Figure 25,which shows the action completed.

15. The left hand now places its cardsface down to one side. The right handturns its packet face down into the l e f thand. Take the face up indicator intothe right hand and with it, tap the topcard of those in the left hand as youask the spectator to name his thoughtof card. The left thumb pushes over thetop card and, using the right hand

card, the thought of card is levered faceup as you say, "My card right next tothe card you thought of."

16. The move has been described withthe deck face up but it can also beused on a face down pack. (See The New Phoenix #329, page 125. )

Super Mental Stab

Effect A thought of card is alwaysabove the face up indicator.

1. On getting back the shuffled deck,hold it faces toward the spectator.Spread the cards between both hands,using the Fan Spread Estimation asyou ask him to think of a card.

2. Close up the spread getting a left 4thfingertip break beneath those cardsthat could possibly have been seen bythe spectator.

3. Overhand Shuffle to the break andcontinue the shuffle by first running a

few cards for insurance, then shufflingoff all the rest. Now run off six cardsfrom top to bottom. Thus the possiblemental selection is sandwiched byabout 26 cards on top and six on thebottom.

4. Turn the top card of the deck faceup. Taking it with the right hand jabthis card, still face up, into severalplaces in the deck as you comment



511

SUPER MENTAL STAB

about placing the card face up into thedeck but you will do it behind yourback.

5. Behind your back, place the face up

card about 20 cards from the top oranywhere that will insure this cardbeing above those cards from which amental selection was made. Square upand bring the deck forward face down.

6. Turn the deck faces towards yourself and as you start to spread them, ask the spectator what card he thought of.As you hear the name of the card thespread is still continued but now youwatch for the card in question.

7. As soon as you spot the card the leftfingers push this card under thespread and towards the right hand. Inpushing the desired card under thespread, the left thumb drops on thecard to the right of it. The left thumbthen keeps this card in position whilethe left fingers from below, push thedesired card beneath it and thus underthe spread. The left thumb's positionprevents more than one card going

under the spread.Continue spreading the cards to theright, but now all the cards ride abovethe selection or thought of card; howev-er, as soon, as the desired card is underthe spread, both hands are lowered tobring the faces of the cards into thespectator's view.

8. Continue the spread, with thedesired card of course riding beneaththe spread, till you reach the face down

card. At this point the face down cardis up-jogged while at the same time thedesired card is in a position to beloaded under the up-jogged card.Figure 26 shows the face down cardup-jogged and the thought of card,under the spread, ready to be loadedbelow the up-jogged card.

9. As soon as the face down card is up- jogged the spread is closed and the

thought of card is automatically slidbelow this indicator card. Flip the deck over, face down into the l e f t hand. Theright hand comes over and above the

deck. The right 2nd finger moves orpushes the up-jogged card to the left asthe right hand grasps the deck in theconventional manner as shown inFigure 27.This also more or lesssquares the deck.

Figure 26

Figure 27

10. The actions, up to loading theselection under the up-jogged card plusthe turning over of the deck and endingas in Figure 27, is all done during thepatter lines of, "You recall I placed areversed card into the deck but do you

remember its name? It is the..." ,hereyou name the up-jogged card as youreach the position of Figure 27.

11. The deck is now held in the lefthand alone for a moment as you say,"For the first time tell everyone whatcard you are thinking of." When henames it you say, "Look, right next tothe card you thought of." As this is said



512

ESTIMATION

Figure 28

the left thumb drops onto the angledface up card as the right hand cuts off all the cards above it, then turns palm

up to display the thought of card asshown in Figure 28.

12. Once you have reached the climaxof the effect, replace the cards from theright hand back onto those in the left.The right hand removes the face upcard and turns it face down on top of the deck.

For other and perhaps more detailedmethods of getting a card or cardsunder a spread the student can refer to

Chapter Two, The Action Palm underthe Cull Palm. Other sources are The M.S. Deck, several issues of the IBID EM as well as the Spade book.

Miracle Card Stab Location

Effect: A spectator peeks at a card. Thedeck is immediately tabled and fairlyr i f f l e shuffled. Cardician takes the topcard and inserts it face up into thecenter of the deck. On spreading the

pack it is found that the face up card isright next to the selected card.

1. The selection of a card is made byuse of the Estimation and Glimpse. APeek Force can also be used as well asthe Tilt Glimpse with Estimation. SeeFingertip Control for the Tilt Glimpseand Peek Force. Free or otherwise, theselection is made at about the center or26th position of the deck.

2. Having ascertained the name of thecard and also its place in the deck thecards are very fairly squared andtabled for a riffle shuffle.

3. Cut about a dozen cards off the topof the deck and riffle shuffle these insuch a manner that the dozen or socards are actually shuffled throughoutthe larger portion of the deck. Squarethe deck and cut it this time into twoequal portions or near as equal as youcan. Do as even a riffle shuffle as youcan, then square up after the shuffle.

The above shuffles will place the select-ed card somewhere in the lower half of

the pack, about a dozen or more cardsfrom the bottom, depending on theevenness of the shuffles; however, withalmost fair riffle shuffles the card willbe below the top 26 cards. This is themost important part of the existingcondition required for the success of t h e e f f e c t .

4. The top card is now turned face upand quickly inserted, into the center of the deck. The pack is then turned face

up in the hands for the purpose of spreading it between both hands. Asthe cards are spread you look for theselection and when it is reached it ismoved beneath the spread while at thesame time both hands are lowered .

5. The known card is loaded below theindicator card, which is outjogged. Thetermination of the effect is handled asalready explained in the Super MentalStab effect in steps 9 and 11. See Notes

on "Move a b l e Card Pass" for anothermethod of loading.

Mario's Favorite Out

The "Out" used in the Mental StabMiracle is the one I originally describedin The New Phoenix, #329. The one tobe detailed here is similar to the "Out"used in Mental Stab when the selectionis above the indicator card; however,the handling is always the same, just



513

MARLO'SFAVORITE OUT

as if the indicator card was above theselection whether the selection is to thel e f t or right of the indicator.

1. Assume you have placed a face up

indicator into the pack and are nowholding the pack facing you in readi-ness to spread it in order to up-jog theface up indicator.

2. Suppose that the actual selection isto the le f t of the indicator. As you cometo the indicator card you up-jog it butcontinue to spread the cards for thepurpose of showing it is the only cardreversed. As you continue the spreadyou will come to the selection and

when you do, the left thumb pushesthis card downwards thus in-jogging it.Of course, you continue spreading afew more cards and then close up thespread leaving the selection in-joggedat the back end and the indicator up-

jogged in the front end.

3. Grasp the inner right corner of thedeck between the right thumb on topand right fingers beneath. Displayingthe pack in this manner you comment

about the position of the indicator.Replacing the deck into the left handthe right hand now comes over thepack to grasp it in a position similar toFigure 27.

4. While the hands are in the positionshown in Figure 27, the right thumbpresses down on the in-jogged cardthus a break is obtained, with the rightthumb at the back end. Now the righthand removes the cards above the

break to the right. At the same time thel e f t thumb falls onto the face up indica-tor to hold it in place against the lefthand packet. Thus the indicator endsup lying at an angle across the facecard of left hand packet which is, of course, the selected card. Naturally,the move is made just as you ask forthe name of the selection.

5. Now suppose the selection is to theright of the reversed indicator. Youwould in-jog the selection before com-ing to the reversed indicator which is,

of course, upjogged.Now the spread is closed and the pack is face up. The situation is similar asbefore except the indicator is below theselection; t h e r e f o r e , you can't do thesame move, unless you take the pack,at its inner right corner with the righthand, to display it as before and inreturning it to the left hand you turnthe pack over face down. Thus the indi-cator is still upjogged but now face up.

6. Now the right hand comes over tothe deck as in Figure 27 and the rightthumb pulls upward on the in-joggedselection to form the break. The righthand now moves to the right as the leftthumb holds back the face up indica-tor. The right hand turns its packet

face up to display the selection. The sit-uation is similar to Figure 28 of theSuper Mental Stab.

7. As you can see, the idea here of

holding back the indicator card, is thesame as in the "Out" for Mental Stabexcept the position of the right hand isabove the packet and holding it by theends.

8. The moves have been described withthe pack being handled face up but thesame basic handling will apply to thepack when it is handled face down. Inthe case of a selection above the indi-cator, the deck would first have to be

turned face up in order to disclose it asbeing next to the reversed card.

9. Incidentally, you can pull a cheekybit that will work when the selection isabove the indicator. In this case all youdo is lift off all the cards up to thebreak or selection. At the same time,the l e f t hand turns palm down. The l e f thand turning conceals the fact that theindicator still has some cards above it



514

EST IMATION

and appears as if the left thumb iskeeping it in place. The right handturns palm upwards to display the facecard of its half as the selection. The

right hand drops its packet, thencomes over to remove the indicatorfrom the left hand cards before turningthe left hand palm up again.

If you prefer you can arrange mattersso that the selection becomes the topcard of the left hand portion. In thiscase, after the right hand removes theindicator card, use it to tap the top of the cards in the left hand as this handturns palm up. With the aid of an indi-

cator card, held by the right hand,lever the top card of the left portionface up onto packet to disclose theselection. Using this Wrist Turn bit andthis method the deck need never beturned over when the selection is belowthe indicator.

Sensitive Fingers

Effect: Cardician locates a selectedcard apparently by sense of touch.

1. On getting back a shuffled deck havea card noted with the Fingertip Peek Estimation thus the card is approxi-mately in the 14th position from thetop.

2. Undercut the pack, run 4 cards, in-jog and shuffle off to the break. Thisbrings the selection to 18th from thetop.

3. Openly square up the deck as yousay, "I will find your card by sense of

touch alone." Here do the Fan SpreadEstimate, then in squaring up get abreak below the last card of the spread.Raise the right hand packet so it isheld above the cards in the left hand.The left thumb and 2nd finger stillgrasp the sides of this packet. The righthand grasps this packet from abovewith 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers at thefront end, 1st finger curled on top andthumb at the back end. Both hands are

tilted rather forward to allow you to seethe bottom card of the upper packet.

4. The right fingertips, at the front end, push inwards to bevel the packet. The

ball of the right thumb at the back endnow does the Push Down Glimpse. Inother words, as the right thumb movesdown it engages the edge of a card,then moving down a little more engag-ing the edge of another card, etc. untilabout three separated cards have thusbeen pushed down. Due to the separa-tion of the cards and the tilted positionof the hands you can clearly see theindexes of these cards as is shown in

Figure 29.

Figure 29

5. Maintain the separation as in Figure29 above, as you ask for the name of the selected card. If it is not any one of those you glimpsed, then it has to beone of the cards in the lower portion.

For the present let us assume it is oneof the cards you are glimpsing andalso, that you did this badly, and ithappens to be the 3rd card from theface of this packet.

Remember you are maintaining a break on these glimpsed cards and they aremore or less separated; therefore, it isvery easy to simply drop off the excesscards, onto the lower portion, as youmake a Side Squaring action of theupper packet. This is made easier if theleft 4th finger moves into the packet



515

SENSITIVE FINGERS

and does a Pull Down Move on thecards belowthe selection.

6. As you make the side squaring

action, in order to slough off the excesscards you say, "I told you I had a senseof touch." By this time you have turnedthe right hand packet face upwards todisclose the selection at the face of thisportion.

7. Suppose that the card is in the lowerhalf, but of course you are not sure if itis the top card. In this case the follow-ing handling will be found most satis-factory. The right hand drops its packetface down to the table. During this thel e f t thumb casually spreads the top 3cards to over the side of the deck justfar enough so that if the packet wasturned face up only the indexes of these 3 cards would show.

Figure 30

8. The right hand, having released itsoriginal packet to the table, comesback to take the cards from the lefthand. The right 1st finger should curlon top to keep the 3 shoved over cardsin place during the next move, which issimply to grasp the packet by theends, then turn the right hand clock-

wise. This automatically brings the faceof the packet into view as well as the 3side jogged cards. The l e f t hand, whichhas its 1st finger curled on the face of the packet, comes up to retake thecards. This plus the glimpsing action isall seen in Figure 30.

9. During this turn around gesture youhave glimpsed 3 cards and you knowthe position of the actual named card.

Ask again for the name of the card,then do either a Single, Double orTriple Lift depending on the position of the named card, to disclose the selec-

tion on top.10. This combination of glimpsing anddisclosing the card can be used in amental effect wherein you are left withsix possibilities, or limit it to six. Hereyou can deliberately state that you willcut to the card they are thinking of,and work through it as outlined above.

11 . Some may prefer to use the FanSpread Estimation for both the selec-tion and the final disclosure of thecard; however, the use of two differentmethods is much better.

In 1946, Carmen D'Am ico prepared amanuscript of effects titled, D'Amico

fs

D eviltries, which he submitted to JoeBerg for publication. Due to unsatisfac-tory financial arrangements the book remained unpublished. One of my owncontributions to D'Am ico's manuscriptwas the following Stab effect and ishere reprinted, with permission, with

its original title -A Mario Miracle

"A Mario Miracle usually means onlyone thing - the best in cards. The read-er can consider himself fortunate forgetting this brilliant conception.

A card which has been selected isfound to have vanished leaving onlyfifty one cards. The pack is nextwrapped in a piece of paper after whicha knife is inserted into the pack. Whenthe paper is torn away it is found thatthe knife has discovered the selectedcard. The card is actually in the pack.It is neither at top or bottom. There areno crimps of any sort used yet theknife finds the card.

Before giving the secret, I wish to statethat I have seen Ed Mario do thiseffect dozens of times and never has he



516

ESTIMATION

failed in arriving at its successful con-clusion.

Begin by noting the bottom card of thepack. Have a card selected. Undercut

the pack as you ask for the return of the card, thus you bring the key direct-ly over the chosen card. Square thepack carefully. Tell the spectator he isto watch for his card and note intowhat position it falls as you countthem.

Deal the cards face up, counting themas you do so. Continue until your keycard shows. When the key card shows,push off the next two cards as one,

dealing them face up as one butremember at what number these twohave fallen. As an example, let us saythe count was sixteen. Continue deal-ing when you will naturally end upwith a count of fifty-one. Turn to youraudience and remark, "Fifty one, thenyour card must be gone." Casually pick up the pack and shuffle, from the faceof the deck to the top, enough cards tobring the noted number to twenty-six.In this case the remembered number issixteen; therefore, you would run onten cards.

Wrap the pack in paper tightly so thatthe paper is stretched over the pack.Use a small pen knife and insert it intothe exact center which should be abouttwenty six. Tear the paper away andthe card will be either above or belowthe knife.

At times Mr. Mario has two cards

selected making them both vanish, byuse of a triple push-off, after the key isspotted. The same procedure is gonethrough of bringing the number up totwenty six. The knife is run into thepaper and the cards are discovered oneon each side of the knife."

At the end of this effect Joe Berg madethe following notation, "The routinemay be varied using the same clever

principle for the finish." This stab e f f ec tis the llth effect of 13 in the manu-script of 26 pages.

Mario Miracle"Stop"Stab

Probably the first one to stab a card byestimation was Bert Allerton in whichhe used a setup deck. I worked out thefirst impromptu methods one of whichwas the "Mario Miracle", as submittedfor D'Amico's Deviltries but the firstmethod to appear in print was thatdescribed in the Spade book. To any-one having experience with either the

set-up or impromptu version itbecomes evident that if the card hap-pens to fall into 26th or 13th, from thetop or bottom, the stab becomes sim-pler especially if you visualize the pack as consisting of four equal portions of 13 cards each.

Naturally the next step was to get aselected card placed into a position forthe stab. Both Russell Earnhardt andmyself decided that the 26th positioncould become too obvious and that anyposition nearer the 13th would be bet-ter. I maintained the use of a key card,as a tip off, to insure success and alsoto keep from asking for the selectedcard to be named. Thus if you missedyou could always rewrap the pack andtry again.

This discussion took place in 1947 butin 1952 I gave Bill Simon a manuscriptof Control Effects to peruse amongwhich was an effect, "The MiracleStab", which made use of a key cardplus a very direct method of placing itand the selection into the positionneeded for the Stab. In 1954 I recordedthe same effect but with anothermethod of placing the position of thecard.

The present method to be described isentirely different from the others andhas a very subtle way of getting the key



517

MARLO MIRACLE STOP STAB

card, as well as placing it above theselection at the desired position for thestab. This also utilizes an idea thatinsures success every time plus a

"Stop" idea in connection with the stab.1. Have the pack thoroughly shuffledby a spectator. On getting it back holdthe deck face down in the left hand asfor dealing. With the left thumb shoveover 3 cards. Take these with the righthand and drop them face down ontothe table. Repeat with another 3 cardsdropping them onto the tabled cards.

2. As you start to take the very first 3cards you say, "As I do this you say"S top" at any time." The cards aretaken in three's but it is done ratherquickly so it appears as if you are tak-ing an indeterminate number orbatches of cards which you drop to thet ab l e .

3. As you drop each 3 card packet youkeep track of the number as you musteventually get the selection to 20thfrom the bottom. For the present let usassume the spectator has stopped you

when you have 15 cards on the table.4. At this stage give the spectator achoice of the top card of the ones onthe table or the top card of the deck inyour left hand. Suppose he takes thetop card of the cards still in your hand.Have him note the card, then to drop itface down onto those on the table. Thismakes the selection 16th from the bot-tom for the present.

5. As soon as the selected card isdropped onto the tabled cards you con-tinue thumbing over some cards, fromthe deck, to drop these onto the selec-tion; however, this time you actually dotake just any amount or batch of cards. Continue in this manner but asthe pack diminishes, the left fingerskeep spreading the last few cards toinsure the last 4 cards remain in thel e f t hand. These last 4 cards are now

used to scoop up the tabled cards.Thus the 4 cards have been added tothe bottom of the deck and now theselection is 20th from the bottom,

6. Square the deck as you say, "Yourcard is somewhere in the pack but it isnot near the bottom and not near thetop. But you may have an idea as to itsposition so 111 give it a shuffle to makesure you do not know where it is."During this patter line you have showna few of the bottom cards and also 7 of the top cards but you remember the 7thcard as your key card. Again square upthe deck and do a perfect Faro Out-

Shuffle. This puts your key card 13thfrom the top and directly above theselection which is now 14th from thet o p .

7. Before proceeding with the stab itmust be mentioned that a thin blade isbest for the stab effect. Allerton used afile which was especially smootheddown on the file surface as well asground to a fine but dull point. This toprevent actually sticking into and split-

ting the edge of the card itself. Withcare the average pocket or pen knifecan be used but be careful of the sharpedge.

Using a newspaper is still the best andmost convenient wrapping for the pack especially in this method. The actualsize does not matter much as long as itis enough to cover the top side of thedeck and then drape out along itssides.

8. The pack here is held so that the faces are towards performer. The news-paper is placed over the side of thedeck and pressed down firmly so as toform a very sharp outline of the deck.Also the newspaper may cover up thefront or l e f t end of the deck but mustgo only as far as the right end of thedeck. See Figure 31.



518

ESTIMATION

9. Performer now takes the knife andruns it along the top side of the packas he says, "When I do this I want youto say, 'Stop' at any time you wish." By

this time you have finished the actionand are about to start over. As you dothis, again repeat, "Just say, 'Stop'anytime."

Here it is all timing it so that you willarrive at the 13th or quarter of thedeck posi t ion by the t ime he says"Stop"; however, it does not make anydifference if he stops you before youreach the 13th position. Merely stopright t h e r e , then look up and you mere-ly move the knife over to where youwant it and the spectator will neverknow the difference. The knife is nowpushed into the deck as shown inFigure 31.

Figure 31

10. The right hand hold s onto the knifeand tears the paper by pulling the knifeaway f rom yourse l f . The le f t hand

remains on the left end of the deck butthe left fingers open outwards to permitthe portion above the knife to be pulledaway. This pulling away will expose thecard, resting against the knife or f i le, toyourse l f before anyone e lse ge ts achance to see it. Should this card bethe key card you know the card belowit is the selection. You can now com-plete the tearing or spl i t t ing of the

paper as you separate the halves of thedeck. Ask for the name of the selectedcard. Turn over the top card of thelower section, those that were below

the blade to show you have stabbed tothe card.

11. In case the key card doesn't showagainst the blade pull down the cornerof this face card to see if the key card isabove it. If it is then the blade is rest-ing on face of selection. In case itshould not be here, you know you areoff on the estimation; therefore, youcan try again. That is why you do notask for the name of the selection until

you are sure you have it. A bit of prac-tice and you will be able to do it everytime.

1 2 . 1 did mention that there is a way Iworked out to be successful every timeand there is. It depends on a subtlemove and being sure to underestimateless than 14 cards. Assume that youhave underestimated and have pushedthe blade in as far as the table top.

Figure 32

Now with the blade in the pack movethe blade to the right at the same timegently sawing the pa per fo r its length tothe right only. Now move the bladeback to its central position as seen inFigure 32.

13. Now the right thumb riffles theupper r ight end of the deck as inFigure 33 as you say, "You could have



519

MIRACLE COINCIDENCE TOSS

stopped at any place in the pack."During this riffling you can spot yourkey card.

14. As soon as the key card is spottedthe tip of the right thumb is wedgedinto the pack. At this point the tip of the thumb is on the face of the keycard. Now the right thumb is movedalong unt i l the b lade or knife i sreached. During this movement the tipof the right thumb maintains thewedge. The right thumb and fingermeet at the knife and now, not only dothe right fingers grasp the knife bu t ther ight thumb is a lso press ing the

wedged cards against the blade.

Figure 33

Figure 34

15. With the tip of the right thumbpressing its cards against the blade thepaper is split by pulling forward andaway with the right hand. The result is

Figure 35

shown in Figure 34 where you will notethat the knife is not actually on theface of the packet but rather severalcards behind it.

This Figure 34 is the performer's view;however, as the tear is made the righthand tilts this half downwards at sametime letting the lower half of the deckfall flat and face down to the table. Thisis seen in Figure 35.

16. The right hand retains its positionand the knife in place, as in the Figure35, while the l e f t hand turns the topcard of the half now on the table, afterfirst asking for selection to be named.After this the left hand merely removesor takes the knife from the right handand all is clean. Some may prefer toremove the knife first but retaining theposition of the Figure 35 until after the

disclosure is much better.Miracle Coincidence Toss

Effect: A selected card from a blue decktossed face up into a red deck finds itsduplicate mate!

1. Two packs, red and blue, are used.Have a spectator shuffle the blue deckfirst. On getting it back hold it facedown in the left hand as you gesture



520

ESTIMATION

with the right for the spectator to pick up the red deck and also shuffle it.

2. While the spectator is shuffling hiscards, you hold your deck on its sides

and do the Estimation Glimpse at the20th card from the top. Immediatelysquare up the pack and place it facedown on the table. All this takes only afew seconds and you know the name of approximately the 20th card in theblue deck. Assume this card is the 7C.

3. Upon getting the red deck, hold itface up, spreading it between bothhands and point out how thoroughlythe pack has been shuffled. Meantime

look for the 7C and then count sixcards to the left of it and cut the deck to bring the 7C seventh from top of thedeck. Turn the deck face down.

4. This time re-spread the pack facedown and as you do, run the seventhcard, the 7C, under the spread of cards. You can do this using either themethod explained for the SpreadSwitch (See Chapter 12, Card Switches)or the Cull Palm action. (See Chapter

Two, Action Pa lm }5. In any case the 7C now rides underthe spread of cards as you ask specta-tor to touch any card. When he touchesa card, break the pack at this pointtaking the touched card beneath thecards held by the right hand. Of course, the actual selected card goesabove the 7C so that the 7C becomesthe face card of the packet.

6. The right hand moves to the table

and the right fingers push out the bot-tom card of the packet which is pre-sumed to be the card touched but isreally the 7C. The 7C is face down onthe table. The rest of the red deck isplaced aside.

7. Without showing the face of the redback 7C, pick it up in the right handfor the Card Shoot. The left handpositions itself for the Back End

Riffle Estimation.

8. As the left thumb riffles the end of the deck the right hand tosses its cardinto the deck. Flip off and over, those

cards above the indicator, face up intothe waiting left hand. If the 7C is at theface of this packet you can now showthe face of the red backed card for themiracle coincidence. If it is not at theface of the packet, turn over the topcard of the tabled half and this shouldbe the card.

9. In the event that you miss the firsttime merely replace the cards as youlook up and say, "Do you know what

I'm going to do?" They don't but it givesyou a chance to try again. On the veryfirst try, if the 7C does not appear onface of packet, be sure to spread theface cards to see if you perhaps over-shot the 7C. This little bit of a clue letsyou know whether the Riffle Estimateshould be less or more on the secondtry. Anyway you should conclude thissuccessfully and if you have any kindof address you may fail more thantwice and still amaze your audience.

The Magic Throw #1

Effect: A card is noted under conditionsthat preclude any possible control. Thedeck is tabled and its back end riffledwith one hand while the other handthrows a face up card into the pack.The original selected card is found nextto the face up card.

1. Using the Fingertip Peek Estimatehave a card noted. Assume this card is

approximately 14th from the top.2. Undercut half the deck and in anOverhand Shuffle run seven cards,then injog the eighth and shuffle off.Get a break at the injog and shuffle off to the break. The selection is nowapproximately 21st card from the top.

3. Table the deck and take the top cardface up into the right hand. With the



521

MAGIC THROW #2

i l e f t thumb do the Back E nd RiffleEstimation and toss the face up cardinto the deck at the proper time.

4. Square the deck getting the face up

card into the position for the reveal-m e n t as per the Back End RiffleEstimation. Ask for the name of thecard and then flip the top portion faceup into the waiting left hand. The righthand places its face up card to oneside.

5. If the named card is at the face of the left hand packet the effect is over. If it is not, then turn the top card of thetabled portion face up and this should

be the card.6. If you have missed, try again as thee f f e c t is so strong that even after a cou-ple of misses it goes over very well as itdoes look impossible.

Magic Throw #2

This method may give you more confi-dence as it does make use of a Keycard tipoff.

1. Use the Standard Spectator Peek but

w i t h the R i f f l e Estimate to about the14th card. Hold this open for the spec-tator to note the card but as you lowerthe hands the right 1st finger, whichhas done the riffling of the upper rightcorner, releases this noted card so thatlater the left 4th fingertip gets a breakabove the card.

2. You are now holding the usual a f t e r -t he -peek break above the noted card.N e x t do a Square Up Glimpse (See

Chapter Three, Fingertip Control) thusglimpsing the key card which is abovethe selection after which you irnmedi-a t e ly release all breaks and openlysquare up. You may even hand thedeck to the spectator to do this.

3. Undercut the deck and run 7 cards,then injog the 8th and shuffle off. Get abreak at the injog and shuffle off to thebreak. Table the pack taking the top

card into the right hand turning it faceup in readiness for the Throw.

4. Do the Back End Riffle Estimationtossing in the face up card. Do not ask

for the name of the card but merely flipthose cards, above the indicator, faceup into the left hand.

5. If the actual selection is at the faceof the deck the spectator's gasp willgive him away. If he has control, thenmerely move over the face card and if the key card is there, then you knowyou have hit exactly on his card. In thiscase you may admonish him for notadmitting to his card with sheer

amazement alone.6. Naturally if your Key card is at theface of the packet, then you know theactual selection is on top of the tabledportion. Disclose it by first asking thespectator to name his card, then turnthe top card face up onto its own por-tion of the deck.

7. If neither of the above described sit-uations has occurred you have lostnothing. Remember you do not knowthe name of the selected card and thespectator feels that under the condi-tions you could not possibly know thecard or its position in the pack. Merelyshake your head, replace the face upcards from the left hand, back onto thedeck and tryagain. Eventually you willsucceed but, of course, the sooner thebetter.

Magic Throw #3

In this presentation there is no selec-tion of a card but the performer namesthe card or cards that lie next to theface up indicator card.

1. In this the spectator thoroughlyshuffles the deck. On getting it back hold it at the sides, do a Side CutEstimate of 20 cards. Glimpse thiscard, release it and also glimpse thenext card. Square up and remember



522

ESTIMATION

the names of these two cards. Theirapproximate position is twenty fromthe top.

2. Place the deck on the table. Take the

top card face up into the right handand, using the Back End RiffleEstimation, toss in the face up card.Now look at the deck, as if X-Raying itwith your eyes, and name the twocards you previously glimpsed. In theby now familiar manner, flip the cardsabove the indicator face up into thewaiting left hand.

3. You should have one of threeresults. One; both cards could be at

the face of the portion in the left hand.Spread cards slightly to see if such isthe case. Two; both cards could be ontop of the tabled portion. Take a peek at the top card first. If one is there,then the other is right below it. Three;the ideal situation would be the face upindicator between both cards, i.e. oneat the face of the left hand packet andthe other on top of the tabled portion.

All of the above three methods can also

be used in connection with the KnifeStab in which a paper is placed overthe top side of the deck and a knifeused to stab to the approximate posi-tion. You will find, however, from expe-rience that you will do these effects asdescribed more often and what's more,in the event of f a i l u r e , they are a lotquicker to set up for repeated attempts.

Naturally over the years I have workedout various so called sure fire methods

and it is fitting to close this sectionwith these.

The first method devised was that byCarmen D 'Am i co and included in hisproposed D'Amicos' Deviltries manu-script. This is also the method D'Amicoshowed to Dai Vernon in 1946. I men-tion this only because of the underlyingmove which has since been credited toother persons.

Face Up Finder

Carmen D'Amico

Briefly the effect is; that after a cardhas been selected, then lost in thepack, another card is taken face up inthe hand. This face up card is thenthrown, towards the side of the pack,with enough force to drive it into theside of the pack. The original selectedcard is then discovered next to the faceup one. The performer has apparant lyused great skill yet the modus operand!is quite simple.

Begin by having a card selected. Thereturned card is then controlled to thebottom. The right hand holds the pack several inches above the table as thefingers loosen their hold on the cardsso that they fall, starting with bottomof the pack, in small packets, but inone heap onto the table.

Figure 1

The result is that the pack is now onthe table in a heap, which is not per-fectly squared. This is important for the

easy success of the following. The topcard is now taken and turned face up.Hold the card, in the right hand, withthumb and second finger at lower rightcorner. With a slight wrist motion tossthe card sharply against the side of thepack where it will force itself into it asin Figure 1.

This face up card is now pushed fur-ther into the pack with the right



523

FACE UP FINDER

Figure 2

thumb; however, as you do this youw i l l find that the cards above the faceup card will move with it. The deck isthen turned clockwise so that its rightside faces the performer. The conditionis now that the upper half is joggedabove the lower half as in Figure 2.

At this time you take the pack fromabove, at the sides, with the righthand. The left hand grasps the face upcard, and bottom half of the deck, withthe left thumb on the face of the cardwhile the left fingers go under the bot-tom packet, where they touch the bot-tom selected card. This position isshown from the performer's view inFigure 3a.

Figure 3a

With the left fingers, push the selectedcard so that it is forced beneath theright hand portion, the fingers of whichcurl around it as in Figure 3b. In this

figure the action of sliding the Ace overis exposed from beneath, and shownfrom the spectator's view.

Pull the two halves apart as you makethe remark, "I will have to square upthe pack a little." As you say this, youknock the upper portion in the righthand against the face up cards of thelower portion as in Figure 4.

Figure 4

This causes the selected card to also bepushed flush with the other cards inthe right hand. Place the upper half back onto the lower portion and squarethe pack. All that remains is to spreadthe pack face down from right to left sothe face up card will show. Ask for thename of the selected board. Take outthe card to the left of the face up cardand show that you have apparently

thrown the face up card next to specta-tor's.

Note: Later that same year CarmenD'Am ico made the toss of the face upcard as the left hand was dribbling thecards. Mario's method used a crimp atthe right corner so that the face upcard actually is tossed next to theselected card.

Figure 3b



524

ESTIMATION

The following methods of The MagicThrow I developed to give the impres-sion of pure estimation but weredependent on mechanical subterfuges.

Call it -Sure Throw #1

1. Hold the deck in the StandardSpectator Peek position. After the peek get a break, with the left 4th fingertip,below the selected card. Now in squar-ing the ends of the deck the left fingerspress inwards, on the cards that arebelow the break in order to crimp thisportion of the deck at the back endonly. Now you can release all breaks as

the selection is marked off by the crimpas seen in Figure 36. This crimpshould only be at the back end and notvisible from the front.

Figure 36

2. Table the deck and take the topcard, face up, into the right hand. Theleft thumb now riffles the back end of the deck several times as you remark about the selection being somewhere inthe deck. This also conveys a fairnessto the procedure.

3. Follow this next closely. You seem todo exactly the same thing as the faceup card is thrown into the deck; how-

ever, what really happens is this. Theleft thumb actually lifts up the cards at the crimp. The right hand immediatelytosses its card into this opening butsimultaneously the left thumb riffles off the cards thus trapping the face upcard. Properly done it appears as youwere riffling the pack at the time youwere making the throw but in realityyou have made the toss first and thenriffled the pack.

4. In this instance after flipping thecards above the indicator face up intothe l e f t hand be sure that the face upcard remains face up against and

across the inner end of the tabled half.This is to cover the crimped conditionat the inner end of the tabled half.

5. An alternative procedure is to shovethe face up card flush into the deck after the throw, then pick up the deck and square to remove all traces of thecrimp. Now spread deck and removethe card to the right of the face up cardto show it as the selection. I prefer themore dramatic revealment originallydescribed.

Sure Throw #2 and #3

Same in procedure as already outlinedexcept you can use either a Short Cardabove the selection or a Long Cardabove the selection. If you like you canforce the short or long card. In this wayyou can have spectator shuffle the deck before the actual disclosure.

Sure Throw #4

This makes use of the Jog. For meth-ods of jogging a card you can refer toChapter Eleven, The Multiple Shift.Procedure is as follows:

1. Hold the deck for the Standard Peek getting a break below the peeked card.

2. In squaring up the deck get thepeeked card jogged to the back end.Table the pack, by grasping the deck atinner sides with right hand to hide the

jogged card, so that the front end is

towards the spectator.3. Left hand now conies over to graspthe deck by the ends for the Back EndRiffle; however, in order to retain con-trol of the jogged card the left thumbpushes the inner right corner, of the

jogged card, to the left thus the selec-tion is now angled as in Figure 37which is a diagram showing the angleof the card and the finger positions.



525

D'AMICO'S LATEST METHOD

4. The left hand is above the deck andrather low over it so that the jog is hid-den on all sides. Press down firmlywith the left forefinger, curled on top of

the deck, to keep the jog in place dur-ing the next actions.

5. The left thumb riffles the back end of the deck but riffles only the cards thatare above the Jog, This prevents anytell-tale snap or click which would hap-pen if you included the jogged card inthe riffle (This also holds true if youuse a short or long card as perMethods 2 and 3.) Do the riffle severaltimes.

Figure 37

6. When you are ready for the Throwmerely lift up on the jogged corner of the selection then toss in the face upcard and immediately riffle off thecards with the left thumb. From hereconclude as before.

The above methods were sent in a let-ter to Bill Simon around 1956 and Imention this only because at that timeI also sent him an Estimation Method,except the selection was controlled tothe 26th position, which was conclud-ed with the remark that no one wouldbelieve this method possible. This wasabout the time that the great cardauthority, Jean Hugard himself, doubt-ed the practicability of my theoriesand, of course, the remark in my letteralluded to this attitude.

While I'm at it, I may as well describeCarmen D'Am ico's latest method usingmy crimp idea as in the first method. Itwas shown to Bill Simon in 1959 and

he was most enthused over the subtleprocedure.

In using the 26th position method youactually lift up at the 26th place, tossin a card and then do the R i f f l e . If youlike you can use the Cut Estimate atthe back end with the left thumb. Thisis similar to Figure 16. Toss in the faceup card with the right hand, while theleft thumb at the same time quicklyreleases its cards to trap the indicator

card. Conclude the effect as before.D'Amico's Latest Method

1. Have a card peeked at by theStandard Peek Method holding a break below the selection. In squaring thepack, crimp the inner end of the deck only then table the pack.

2. Take the top card of the deck intothe right hand. Now the left thumb rif-fles the back end of the deck while theright hand tosses its card just any-where into the center of the deck. Itmakes no difference if the card landsabove or below the crimp.

3. Gently square the deck with the faceup indicator projecting to the right.Here you look at the back end to seethe position of the crimp. The nextactions are what make or break thee f f e c t .

4. Ask for the name of the selected

card. As soon as the card is called youmove both hands towards the tableddeck and here is what happens. Theleft fingers go for the crimp and at thesame time the right hand grasps theindicator at its sides. Both hands moveoutwards or away from each other asat the same time they rise upwards.The hands are at this stage in the posi-tion shown in Figure 38.



526

ESTIMATION

Figure 38

Figure 39

5. Both hands continue moving awayfrom each other and then the left handturns its cards face up while the rightfingers snap its card face down as seen

in Figure 39. As you can see, what isreally happening is that the right handhas pulled out the face up indicatorfrom wherever it originally landed inthe pack while the left hand has merelycut to the crimp. The combined actionsof both hands as in the Figures give theillusion of actually having picked off the cards up to the indicator.

Mario's Suggestion

I have found from experiment that if you make a conscious effort to toss theface up card above the crimp that theactions as described are not only easierbut can be done at a slower tempo.

With the card above the crimp the leftand right hands first l i f t straight up butdo not separate as yet. This part can bedone slowly. Once the packet is liftedboth hands move away from each otheras explained and the revealment takes

place as in D'Am ico's method.

One more suggestion, some may findthat hitting the crimp position with theright hand is better for them. In this

case merely shove the indicator to thele ft side of the deck just before goinginto the disclosure of the selection. InD'Amico's hands the effect is a reallystartling bit of card magic received withgreat reaction from either laymen ormagicians. D'Am ico puts the crimp intothe deck as follows: The right handtakes off the top card and tosses it faceup to the table. Pointing to the card hesays, "Hold onto that card." Meantime

his left hand, holding the pack, puts inthe crimp.

My suggestion is to get a peek made soit is in the lower third of the pack. Nowyou will f ind this small portion of thepack easier to bend and crimp.Actually to put in such a crimp thewhole pack should be bent by pressingdown with the left thumb and squeez-ing in with the left fingers; however, asthe pressure is released the cards,above the break only, are eased but theleft fingers keep pressing inwards, onthe cards below the break, in order toput in the crimp.

The next two effects are those that Ihave kept to myself for many years butas it depends on a form of timing theyare here included. The first is called -

The Dribble Stop

Effect: Cards are allowed to dribbleonto the table as the spectator says,"Stop". At this point of stopping, a pre-viously selected card is found. (See Notes of 1958, Dribble Stop Effect, forhistory and other methods.)

1. After receiving a shuffled deck holdit by the ends from above with the righthand. Right 1st finger is curled on topof the deck. Let the cards dribble off the bottom onto the table as yourequest spectator to call "Stop".



527

THE DRIBBLING SPECTATOR

2. When stop is called tell the spectatorto note the top card of the tabled cards.Meantime you very quietly crimp thebottom card of those still in your

hands. I usually crimp the outer rightcorner of the bottom card with the tipof my left forefinger all under cover of the right hand which is held above as if squaring the ends.

3. The card having been noted isreturned on top of the tabled cards.The rest of your cards are openly drib-bled onto it to lose the selection. Pick up the deck squaring it. Do a pressurefan and close it reversing the ends of the deck to thus bring the crimp to theinner left corner of the deck.

4. Next, you overhand shuffle the deck fairly but it is done in such a manner

A slight downward pressure of thecurled right forefinger on top of thedeck also aids in a smooth release of the bottom cards as they are dribbled.

After a few experiments you will be sur-prised at the results.

This next effect was first sent to Nea lElias and Bert Fenn around 1948 andis different enough in its approach touse it to close this book. I realize thetitle is open to the usual comedy barbs.

The Dribbling Spectator

Effect: Spectator dribbles the cardsfrom a height of about a foot. Thecardician throws a face-up card intothem as they fall. When the card nextto the face up card is shown, it is theselected card.

1 d k d h

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Ed Marlo - Revolutionary Card Technique

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