Expert Card Technique. Jean Hugard
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to a spectator on your left to hold between his two hands and finish the trick in the usual manner but with special emphasis that the cards that pass across are the very cards which were initialled by the spectators themselves.
This method of palming will also be found very useful in securing the first cards to be passed from the left hand in the popular trick of passing cards into the trousers pocket.
CHAPTER 6. FALSE SHUFFLES
THE PERFECT RIFFLE SHUFFLE
The master minds of card conjuring, those who aspire to the heights of virtuosity in the handling of cards, have sought for years to master the perfect riffle shuffle; that is to say, to make the shuffle by interweaving the two packets card for card. By dint of incessant practice some performers have attained sufficient skill to make the perfect shuffle some four times out of five but, in spite of all attempts they cannot acquire an absolute certainty of success. By resorting to a subterfuge, however, not only is all this tedious practice eliminated, but success is assured every time. The following very easy method, which exactly simulates the movements of the riffle shuffle, is actually an application of the principle of the weave. With it, as with the Perfect Faro Shuffle, a pack can be brought back to its original condition after eight shuffles.
a. 1. Place the hands over the tabled pack, the second and third fingers at the outer side close to the corners, the first fingers resting on the top, the thumbs at the inner sides near the corners.
2. Cut the pack into two packets, A and B, placing the upper half (B) to the right, the inner ends of A and B parallel and touching but with B three-eighths of an inch beyond A, as shown in the small drawing, Fig. 1.
3. Place the tips of the little fingers against the ends at the outer corners. Both packets are boxed in at these corners by the second, third and little fingers, the extreme tips of which press firmly against the table top and maintain the same position throughout the action to follow, Fig. 1.
4. Lift the inner sides with the thumbs, retaining the position of the fingers and thus mooring the outer corners of the pack in the two right-angle vises formed by the three fingers of each hand. Press firmly with the first fingers against the backs of the packets. By means of an outward pressure of the thumbs at the inner sides, swivel the two packets a quarter of an inch outward, the inner corners of A and B now making the only contact between the two packets, Fig. 1.
5. Remove the first fingers of both hands and relax the pressure of the thumbs at the sides, holding the packets very lightly. This relaxation of pressure will cause the two packets to commence weaving together at the bottom.
6. Move packet A outward, packet B inward, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The change of position of the inner corners of the two packets makes the meshing of the cards, swiftly and exactly, a complete certainty. At the end of the mesh the packets are still supported by the thumbs, save for the few at the bottom which, interweaving, may have dropped to the table.
7. Immediately run the thumbs of both hands up the sides of the cards, producing the riffling sound associated with the riffle shuffle, the cards dropping off the thumbs to the tabletop, Fig. 2.
The entire action is made possible by the peculiar grip at the corners with the second, third and little fingers, this boxing of the outer corners producing a tension at the inner corners when the packets are moved into the position shown in the figure, this tension making the perfect mesh possible.
b. Another method is to make the shuffle as follows:
1. Cut the pack, placing the two packets with their ends parallel and touching, as in Fig. 2.
2. Place the tips of the little fingers against the ends at the outer corners. Both packets are boxed in at these corners, as in the preceding method, by the second, third and little fingers, the tips of which press on the table top and maintain the same position throughout the shuffle. The thumbs, as shown in the illustration, are at the middle of the inner sides.
3. Lift both packets with the thumbs and press outwards, as shown in the ghost illustration in Fig. 2. The touching inner corners press against one another.
4. Relax the pressure of the thumbs, allowing the cards to mesh at the corners, at the same time moving the thumbs upwards to simulate the usual action of the riffle shuffle. The interwoven cards, dropping off the thumbs, produce the characteristic riffling sound of the regular shuffle.
This method is used by Charles Miller.
THE STRIP-OUT FALSE SHUFFLE
Charles Miller Method
Mr. Miller has made some modifications in this shuffle which make it not only more deceptive but easier to do.
1. Divide the pack, taking the top half in the right hand, place the inner corners together, and seize both packets at the sides close to the adjoining ends between the second finger and thumb of each hand, the third and fourth fingers curling in with the first joints resting on the packets and the first fingers pressing down on the backs.
2. Raise the thumb corners and release a half dozen cards from the right thumb, then continue the action with both thumbs until all the cards have been riffled in. When the corners are interlaced, move the hands to the outer ends, grasping the sides near the corners between the thumbs and second fingers, and telescope the two packets about two thirds, Fig. 1.
3. Shift the position of the fingers at the outer ends, placing a second finger at the middle of each end and resting the ball of each thumb upon the inner side opposite the inner corner of a packet, Fig. 2.
4. Press the tip of the right second finger upon the table to hold the right packet motionless during the following actions. Push the left packet to the right with the left second finger, pressing it diagonally inwards. This forces its inner right corner against the ball of the right thumb, which prevents it from breaking through the inner side. The packet continues to slide diagonally into the right packet, the ball of the right thumb moving along with it at the inner side and always pressing back upon the corner as it seeks to break through.
Note in A that the left thumb remains motionless on the inner corner of the right packet, but that the right thumb moves with the inner corner of the left packet, as indicated by the small circles.
Thus during this action the outer side of the pack, which the onlookers can see, always presents a regular appearance. When the action is completed the pack appears as in B. The diagonal jog at the inner side, exaggerated for the sake of clarity, is in practice no more (and sometimes less) than a quarter of an inch.
5. Place the thumbs and third fingers at the end corners, Fig. 3, and apparently push the packets flush, but actually apply a pressure with both thumbs as indicated in B. This serves to move the pack into the condition shown in C, in which there is shown an extension of each packet of a quarter of an inch. Grasp this extension at each end with the thumbs and third fingers, draw the right hand packet half an inch towards the right, then move the hand outward so that the packet slides free from the outer side of the left hand packet, at the same time drawing both hands inwards towards the body, Fig. 4.
6. Drop the right hand packet on top of the left hand packet, returning the pack to its original condition.
Note that when the two packets have been telescoped, as in C, prior to the strip-out action, the hands may be removed from the pack and the spectators will find nothing unusual or suspicious in its appearance.
HINDU SHUFFLE VARIATION
It is many years since