Category
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CreativityTranscript
00:00 Let's look at some fake feeling.
00:17 Now in your toolbox, it's useful to have various obscure slides because you never know when
00:22 you might need them.
00:24 The Push-Off Second Deal is a slide I adore.
00:27 It's useful for forcing cards, for doing gambling demonstrations and so on.
00:31 So let's add it into your toolbox right now, why don't we?
00:36 Let's say we have the Ace of Clubs on top of the deck.
00:39 And let's say just for a moment we're going to force that Ace of Clubs.
00:42 I would deal cards down and ask you to say stop whenever you like.
00:46 You say stop and you've stopped right at the Ace of Clubs.
00:54 So how do we do this?
00:56 That's the Push-Off Second Deal.
00:58 You see I'm not dealing the top card each time, I'm actually dealing the second card
01:03 down each time.
01:06 With the card face down, it looks exactly as though you're dealing the top card each
01:12 time, but you're not.
01:15 You're dealing the second card each time.
01:18 Now this is a long learning curve, but it's a great one to pick up.
01:25 Let's look at it in a little bit of detail.
01:29 The deck is held in a very loose grip in the left hand, beveled over to the right.
01:37 The left thumb is on the deck and you see how the, I think this is called the phalange
01:43 of the thumb.
01:44 I call it the fatty bit of the thumb.
01:45 In other words, the joint of the thumb is on the edge of the deck.
01:52 Now half the action is this, the thumb is going to start pushing over and the fat part
01:58 of the thumb is going to hit the second card and start pushing that over.
02:04 The fingers underneath are going to stop any more cards coming over.
02:10 So if you feel a third card coming over, you can squeeze it back in.
02:16 So it starts to push, push and now you push all the way across.
02:23 This is pushing out two cards as one.
02:27 The more you do this, the tighter they'll get.
02:31 That's half the action.
02:33 Now the other half of the action is that the right hand is going to come in and the right
02:38 thumb is going to scoot, almost slide across this top card as if it was going to deal it.
02:47 So it's going to scoot across, just as so.
02:50 Now the moment the right thumb hits the right first finger, which is just covering the cards
02:58 here, the right second finger is underneath.
03:02 The moment it hits, the left thumb is going to pull back that card and the right hand
03:09 is going to deal the card.
03:11 So put the two hands together, two cards are pushed, the right thumb scoots across and
03:20 the left thumb pulls back.
03:22 And you put it all together with about 18 months or so of practice and it starts looking
03:29 really, really, really pretty.
03:36 And that's the push off second deal.
03:39 A somewhat tenuous, devastating and nail biting experience into your toolbox.
03:55 Having spent ages learning your second dealing, you're going to want to learn how to deal
03:59 studs as well, of course, for your gambling demonstrations.
04:02 Luckily for you, if you've got the left hand action down, it's just an adjustment of the
04:08 right hand action.
04:10 So we have the Ace of Clubs on top of the deck and we want to deal some studs, just
04:16 as so.
04:18 Let's look at this action.
04:19 Oh, by the way, the Ace of Clubs still is on top, just in case you thought I'd sneaked
04:23 it away.
04:25 So we're doing exactly the same left hand action of pushing off those two cards.
04:29 Exaggerated for clarity here.
04:33 As the right hand comes over, the fingers come over the top of the two cards, the thumb
04:40 comes underneath and now the left thumb pulls back as the right hand turns over.
04:48 So it's under, pull and over, just as so.
04:56 This is one of the most convincing second deals I've ever come across.
05:01 It looks beautiful to keep that Ace, in this case, on top of the deck.
05:08 And that's the stud push off second deal.
05:12 [MUSIC]
05:19 Let's add something else to your second deal repertoire.
05:22 A one-handed second deal.
05:24 You may have your arm around a beautiful lady or your hand around a drink.
05:28 So you still need your second deal.
05:31 Let's add in that one-handed second deal.
05:34 There's the Ace of Clubs.
05:36 Let's do a little deal and another little deal and keep that Ace of Clubs on top.
05:42 I'm not kidding.
05:43 We're doing one-handed second deals here.
05:48 Here's how you do it.
05:50 You're doing exactly the same action as you did before.
05:55 Your left hand is pushing off the two cards.
05:59 As you reach in, you're twisting your left hand in to spin out to throw the card.
06:07 Your left thumb pulls back.
06:09 And simple momentum will take that card out.
06:13 Inertia, if you will.
06:15 So it's pull in, go out.
06:19 Pull in, go out.
06:21 Pull in, go out.
06:23 What's lovely about this is with the card face down,
06:27 it looks just as though you're dealing cards from the top of the deck.
06:31 However, sneaky little you have been doing a one-handed second deal from your toolbox.
06:40 So let's look at this in a little more detail.
06:42 As you can see, the deck is being held in what is commonly termed the mechanic's grip.
06:47 It's actually just a traditional way to hold a deck of cards by most dealers.
06:51 As the left hand turns in, it's going to turn towards you and push off two cards as one as the turning action happens.
07:02 So there's the two cards as one coming in.
07:06 As I'm going to spin out, the left thumb is going to pull back.
07:10 And inertia is going to take this card spinning across the table.
07:16 The other fingers are just holding on to the rest of the deck so that they don't go flying across the table.
07:22 So we come in and deal.
07:26 Come in and deal.
07:28 Come in and deal.
07:30 And that's all there is to it.
07:33 Push two, pull back, throw out.
07:38 And there's a one-handed second deal in a little second deal-y detail.
07:45 [Music]
07:52 Okay, having learned second dealing and stud second dealing and one-handed second dealing, what more could be left?
08:00 Well, let's learn a little one-handed stud second dealing.
08:04 So we have the Ace of Clubs on top of the deck.
08:08 And let's just do a little deal there.
08:10 That's the five. There's the Jack.
08:14 There's the four. There's the nine.
08:16 And the Ace of Clubs is still on top of the deck.
08:19 This is a great way to force a card, by the way.
08:21 It's just to deal through them until they say stop.
08:24 So how do you do the little one-handed stud second?
08:29 It's very simple if you've learned this push-off action of two cards.
08:34 What you do is you, as your hand turns, you're going to push off two cards.
08:40 That's as your hand is turning.
08:43 So two cards as the hand turns.
08:46 As the hand reaches the exact moment of its stopping point, you push back that top card.
08:55 So just pull it back with your left thumb, just as so.
09:01 So as the hand turns, you're pushing two.
09:04 Pull one back. Drop the card.
09:08 So now you can do stud one-handed seconds all the way through, well, the deck.
09:19 That would be good because when you run out of cards, there's only going to be the Ace of Clubs left.
09:23 And you can go, "Hello, little buddy. Nice to see you."
09:27 So with the Ace face up, it would look a little like this.
09:31 As the hand turns, you're pushing two cards.
09:35 As it turns over, you're pulling the Ace back and then letting the card below it go.
09:42 So pushing two, card below it goes.
09:48 And then just make it a smooth little action.
09:53 Keeping that Ace on top of the deck.
09:58 [Music]
10:05 Another very useful tool for the magician is the bottom deal.
10:09 I'll just show it to you as a very simple example of a gambling little routine here.
10:17 You know, we have an entire crew in this studio.
10:20 It's not just me. They're just being very, very quiet.
10:23 They're like little hamsters in the background.
10:25 But let's pretend I'd asked one of those to name a number of hands.
10:30 And let's say they said four or five hands.
10:33 And let's say they chose hand number three to win.
10:36 So let me deal out five hands.
10:43 And they've asked for hand number three to win.
10:47 And that hand would have a pair of Aces in it.
10:52 Now that's pretty neat.
10:54 What is it?
10:55 It's base dealing or subway dealing, which is also called by magicians bottom dealing.
11:01 Leaving the cards face up, it looks a little like this.
11:05 Just so you can see it exactly, let's give them another little shuffle act.
11:10 So as I deal out the cards into the third hand, I bottom deal from the deck.
11:18 So how do you bottom deal?
11:20 Let's leave those two Aces face up on the bottom of the deck just for now.
11:27 Here's your grip.
11:29 The deck is beveled a little over to the right.
11:32 The first finger, it's not like a mechanic's grip.
11:35 It's not over the front of the deck.
11:37 It's more curled around the edge of the deck here.
11:41 And it's backed into the base of the thumb.
11:45 Now notice also as a bonus for you in a moment that that bevels down some of the bottom cards of the deck.
11:54 That's going to come in really handy for you.
11:57 So there's your grip.
12:00 Just like so.
12:03 This is going to be a very important point for you.
12:06 This is just like the phalange at the top of the second finger.
12:11 You don't want to use the tip of the finger.
12:13 You're going to get a big finger flutter otherwise.
12:15 What's going to happen is the phalange of that finger is going to press against the card and squeeze it out slightly.
12:24 Just as so.
12:25 Let me show you again.
12:27 It's going to squeeze against that card and push outwards just like that.
12:35 Now we're going to split the deal into two halves.
12:38 And that's what makes this a very deceptive deal.
12:40 When I deal the first card of the hand, that's when I'm going to do that little push.
12:46 That little phalange action is just going to take that card out just enough so it's just sticking out maybe a quarter of an inch.
12:57 So I'm going to deal one card.
13:01 Now this card is set.
13:03 Two cards.
13:04 Let's say I need to deal to the third hand as I come in.
13:07 That's when I straighten my left fingers and I miss the deck.
13:13 This could almost be called miss the deck bottom deal.
13:16 Five, six.
13:18 As I deal the first card again, now I've reset my little moment.
13:23 Two, miss the deck.
13:26 Four, five.
13:28 Let's do it one more time for you.
13:30 The bottom deal is a very useful little artifact to have in your system.
13:34 So there's the two aces.
13:37 So let's say we want to deal them third out of four hands.
13:41 So that would be one, two, three, four.
13:44 One, two, three, four.
13:47 And it's just a matter of timing it all down and making your fingers bleed yet again, my friends.
13:55 But it's another great tool to have in your toolbox.
13:59 [Music]
14:06 Having gone through our second deals, of course, you'll know that we need to do stud bottom deals.
14:11 Let's go for a black jack here.
14:14 I think I'll just say stop right there.
14:18 That's the jack of clubs.
14:21 This is very, very similar to the bottom dealing action we used before.
14:27 But luckily for me, I have the other black jack on the bottom ready to explain.
14:33 Once again, you're going to flex those cards just as you did before.
14:38 So that you can use the flange of the second finger to squeeze that card around the edge of the deck.
14:46 And that's all going to happen as you deal the first card.
14:52 So the deck is gripped.
14:54 As I deal this card, which gives a load of cover, as you can see.
14:59 Let me take my hand away.
15:01 That's when I do the squeeze.
15:03 That's when this card is turning.
15:06 So that's one, two, three.
15:09 Now when I want the card I want, perhaps it's a force card or whatever.
15:14 As my hands come in again, fingers over the top.
15:18 The left finger straightened.
15:21 Thumb goes underneath.
15:23 Fingers on top.
15:25 And I just turn that bottom card face up.
15:30 So at speed, it looks exactly as though the card comes from the top of the deck.
15:40 But it's actually come from the bottom of the deck.
15:44 Oops.
15:46 [Music]
15:53 So now you can one hand second deal.
15:55 You can stud deal.
15:56 But can you one hand bottom deal?
15:58 Let's have a look at a one hand bottom deal used for a force.
16:03 I would deal the cards down one handed.
16:06 And ask somebody to call stop whenever they like.
16:08 They call stop.
16:09 There's my force card.
16:11 The Ace of Diamonds.
16:13 Okay, you don't have to believe me that that was my force card.
16:16 But I'll show you exactly how I did it.
16:20 If you've learned the bottom deal, you've pretty much learned this one.
16:23 It's just all about straightening your fingers and turning your hand at the same time.
16:28 So as we deal off our first card, that's when we do our normal little phalange of the second finger.
16:37 Curling around the bottom card.
16:39 Now we've got a bottom deal set.
16:41 So we deal, deal, deal, deal, deal.
16:45 They say stop.
16:47 As they say stop, this hand is going to turn over.
16:51 As it turns over, your left fingers straighten out.
16:56 And drop that card onto the table.
17:01 So at speed, for your little toolbox here my friends, it's just say stop whenever you like.
17:08 They say stop.
17:10 You've stopped at the Ace of Diamonds.
17:13 What's fascinating about using this as a force, and various people have used this in various ways,
17:21 to have a different colored back or a message on the card,
17:24 is because this card was on the bottom of the deck, it can actually be an odd backed card.
17:30 Or it could have a message on the card saying, I knew you'd stop here.
17:35 And you see because it's coming off the bottom of the deck, they never actually see the back of that card.
17:43 So not only is it a great force, it's a great way to force a card that's got some sneaky message or different colored back on it.
17:52 So that's how you do one handed bottom dealing, along with a couple of little sneaky uses for it my friends.
17:59 So here's what it would look like if you were doing it with a kind of weird force card.
18:04 So you would say, say stop sometime.
18:07 They say stop.
18:09 They stop at the Ace of Spades.
18:11 You would spread out your deck.
18:13 It's a red backed deck.
18:15 And yet they've managed to stop you by sheer lunacy, at the only blue backed card in the deck.
18:24 Now that's spooky.
18:28 [Music]
18:35 Occasionally when you're going to do the gambly kind of moves, you're going to be asked about center dealing.
18:39 Could somebody really deal from the center of the deck?
18:43 Well yeah, you can, but it's a lot of learning curve.
18:46 I'm going to teach you a way to bluff a center deal.
18:50 Let's use the Ace of Clubs.
18:54 And let's put it right here in the center of the deck.
18:59 I'd ask you how many hands you want.
19:02 Let's say you said five.
19:04 I'd ask you which one you want the Ace in.
19:06 Let's say you said four.
19:08 So I'd go one, two, three, four, five.
19:11 And there's the Ace of Clubs, directly from the center of the deck.
19:17 Exactly where you said.
19:19 So how do you do it?
19:21 Is it really a center deal?
19:23 Yeah, it is.
19:24 The card's coming out of the center, but you're kind of bluffing it.
19:29 So the card goes into the center.
19:32 Take a break on it, a little break.
19:35 As you're squaring up the cards, just tilt it out just a little bit so it's sticking out from the deck just a snidging.
19:46 Move the top cards, top half of the deck over so they're beveled over to cover up that card.
19:52 So now it's sticking out underneath those beveled over cards.
19:57 Now you're in a position to do an instant center.
20:01 So let's say they call again.
20:03 Four out of five, you deal a card off the top.
20:05 One, two, three.
20:10 On their number, you just reach in with your thumb and at the same time, your left fingers push a little bit,
20:18 pushing that card out of the center.
20:22 Four, five.
20:26 I'll show you that again at working speed.
20:28 This is very, very easy to do.
20:30 So if you've learned second dealing, you'll pick this little guy up in a heartbeat.
20:35 There's the Ace of Clubs in the center of the deck.
20:38 Take a little break on it.
20:39 How many hands do you want?
20:41 Five.
20:42 Which one do you want to do?
20:43 Four.
20:44 Here we go.
20:45 One, two, three, four, five.
20:48 And there's the Ace of Clubs, exactly what they said.
20:51 And that's how to bluff a center deal.
20:55 And you know, after all that work second and bottom dealing, you deserve a bluff every now and then, right?
21:02 [Music]
21:11 Now I make no secret of the fact that I prefer the push-off second to the strike second.
21:16 However, some magicians prefer strike second.
21:19 So for the sake of your toolbox being complete, let's look at a couple of strike seconds for you.
21:25 We'll have the Ace of Clubs here on top of the deck.
21:29 I actually quite like the side strike second as opposed to the top sweep second.
21:35 And most of the books describe taking a second this way as a strike.
21:39 I think it's more interesting to take the card from the side this way.
21:44 I believe Slidini was one of the first ones to advocate this way of dealing seconds.
21:52 You see, when you're dealing a second this way, you don't get any bad corner over here.
21:58 There's no bad flash.
22:00 When you do a top sweep, there's a possibility of flashing here.
22:04 When you do a side sweep, especially with that little rocking action of the hand, there's no way you can see anything at this edge.
22:13 And that's the little side sweep second deal.
22:18 [Music]
22:26 The traditional way to do the second deal, I guess, in the magical world is the top strike second.
22:33 It's actually my least favorite, but it's here for completeness.
22:37 It's all about the timing of the deal.
22:39 As the left hand comes up, that's as you do the deal.
22:44 So the left hand comes up.
22:46 It's all about the timing of the deal.
22:50 It's nothing to do with how big the brief is.
22:53 The brief, by the way, is the gap between the cards.
22:56 It's a brief, a break, a gap, a spread.
23:00 A small monumental valley, a wobbly llama.
23:04 Okay, the last one was stupid.
23:06 So it's all about the timing as the hands come together.
23:11 And that's a top strike second deal.
23:15 In slow motion, the right thumb comes in.
23:19 As the card moves out of the way, it's dealt.
23:23 It's almost like you want to feel this card moving underneath the thumb.
23:29 It almost hits that card as it's moving out of the way as you're doing the deal.
23:39 Little thing from Edward Marlowe on the second deal, the automatic second deal.
23:53 It involves the jack of diamonds.
23:55 Let's just pop that little puppy onto the table there and a wiggle of the fingers.
24:00 Love that magic wiggle because that's what makes the card change.
24:07 So how does this guy work?
24:09 This is quite interesting.
24:12 You have a break under two cards on the deck.
24:17 You can lift them to show the card.
24:20 Put them back.
24:21 Now your first finger is going to curl right inside here onto the face of the deck.
24:29 So your first finger curls right in and your thumb goes on top of it, holding those two cards as one.
24:37 First finger curled in, thumb on top.
24:45 Now as the hand turns over, the first finger is going to straighten out.
24:50 But the thumb is going to keep hold.
24:52 So what's going to happen is that second card is going to squeeze out just as so.
25:00 That all happens as the hand turns over.
25:03 So you're showing the jack and as you turn the hand, the second card down goes onto the table.
25:14 And you've done your switch.
25:16 So one more time for you.
25:18 There's the cards.
25:20 As the hand is turning, there's your switch.
25:27 And coincidentally, just an extra little addition to this for you.
25:31 It's actually nothing to do with the switch at all.
25:35 But I published a little thing called Sidney the Hamster based around this, which is a little fan move.
25:41 Which is where you put your finger into the middle of the deck and do exactly the same move to do a backwards fan.
25:49 So you would just have the deck in your hand and do a backwards fan from exactly the same action.
25:59 What you're doing is you're putting your finger in just as about as if you're going to do the two card change,
26:04 but with half the deck and now you fan out the other half of the deck.
26:10 And that's a little thing I called Sidney the Hamster.
26:13 It's not particularly brilliant, but it is possibly the only magic trick in history called Sidney the Hamster.
26:22 And that's what I'm proud of, my friends.
26:25 [Music]
26:48 Having had a card returned to the deck, you want to control it during a shuffle.
26:53 Let's look at a couple of ways to do this.
26:55 First of all, using the Jog shuffle.
26:58 We'll use the Ace of Clubs as the chosen card.
27:02 We can do a nice little overhand shuffle just as so.
27:07 Looks just as though you're mixing up the cards.
27:09 Looks just as though they're messing up.
27:11 And yet, you've kept that Ace of Clubs on top.
27:16 How do you do it?
27:17 Let's use again the Ace of Clubs as the card and let's leave it face up for you.
27:22 What you're going to do is go into an overhand shuffle.
27:25 Remember, this card would normally, of course, be face down.
27:29 You lift off a packet of cards from the back, about three quarters of the deck.
27:33 And you're going to in-jog the first little packet you drop.
27:39 In other words, that's leave it back from the Ace of Clubs.
27:43 So it's sticking out of the back here.
27:45 Now you're going to shuffle messily off on top.
27:50 It looks like a complete mess, but you've still got your little jog here.
27:56 The right thumb comes in, presses against it, allowing you to take a break right there.
28:04 And now you shuffle off to your break, bringing the Ace of Clubs back to the top.
28:11 So with the Ace of Clubs face down, it looks just like you do a messy little shuffle.
28:17 But magically, you have that Ace of Clubs on top.
28:22 A pretty little control.
28:24 [Music]
28:33 Using an overhand shuffle is great because it really looks exactly the way people shuffle cards.
28:42 But let's say you want to control a card such as the Ace of Clubs.
28:47 During that shuffle, all you do is shuffle exactly as anybody else in the normal planet would shuffle.
28:55 Except of course with your god-like ability as a magician, you've kept that Ace of Clubs on top.
29:02 How do you do it?
29:03 The Ace of Clubs is on top of the deck, a chosen card if you will.
29:08 The cards are held face outwards in your hand.
29:13 Now you're going to go into an overhand shuffle action, but the fingers of your left hand are going to put pressure on the back of that top card.
29:21 So you're going to hold it in place just as so as you lift off the cards to shuffle.
29:29 And you can shuffle as much as you like so long as you hold that card in place.
29:34 This is very deceptive. It looks exactly as though you're mixing the deck completely.
29:40 And yet, wow! There's that Ace of Clubs on top of the deck.
29:47 Exactly where you want it to be.
29:51 [Music]
29:59 Overhand shuffling is great. Let's look at a way to hold a stack of cards on the bottom of the deck.
30:05 Let's say your next little miracle involved three Aces on the bottom of the deck.
30:10 Here's a couple of ways to hold them into place.
30:13 First of all, you could just shuffle like this and still have those three Aces on the bottom of the deck.
30:23 How do we do that?
30:25 It's a little bit like the top stock control. The cards are back outwards.
30:29 See how these fingers are curled over the deck there?
30:32 I'm not actually going to take cards from the back of the deck.
30:35 What I'm going to do is take cards from the center of the deck.
30:40 I'm leaving the entire bottom stock in place.
30:44 So although it looks like I'm shuffling the cards somewhat messily and somewhat crazily, mixing everything up,
30:53 those Aces are going to stay exactly where they started at the bottom of the deck.
31:00 Another way to control the Aces as a bottom stock control is to start shuffling cards from the top of the deck, just as so.
31:09 Now when you feel in the mood and somewhere in the middle, in jog a card.
31:15 That's in jogging the card and throw the rest of the cards on top.
31:20 You now have an in jogged card.
31:23 All you're going to do is put your right thumb on the card and now this time push downwards, not upwards on it.
31:30 You pull downwards, take a break, lift and now shuffle off.
31:37 There's your Aces on the bottom again.
31:40 So we're shuffling, just as a normal person would do.
31:45 In jogging, throwing off, very exaggerated of course.
31:50 Let's pull in, lift and shuffle off and yet again we've kept our little bottom stock or card in place.
32:01 Always nice to know where those chosen cards are my friends because then you can use them to do magic.
32:08 [Music]
32:16 Bear in mind when you're controlling a single card at the top, you can of course use it to control a stock of cards at the top, a little stack if you like.
32:26 All you have to do is lift from the back, in jog and shuffle.
32:31 Lift with the right thumb, shuffle off again.
32:35 You're actually controlling not just one card, you're actually controlling more than one card.
32:42 Enough for you to control say 10 or 12 cards quite easily on the top of the deck for a top stock control.
32:52 [Music]
33:00 This is quite a prized little thing of mine.
33:02 I love this. It's a very casual shuffling action of a deck of cards where you appear to be overhand shuffling the deck.
33:11 Just very casually, exactly as somebody would do.
33:15 But you're leaving in this case the entire deck in the same order.
33:21 This is great for when you have a full stack deck.
33:24 You're just simply just giving the deck a little casual overhand shuffle, but the whole deck stays in the same order.
33:32 So how do you do it?
33:33 Well first of all you drop about a third of the cards, bring your right hand back, drop another third of the cards but in jog.
33:44 Now come forwards with the right hand and drop the last third or so forward jogged.
33:51 So now you have a kind of staggered position here in the deck.
33:56 The right thumb comes in onto the middle packet.
34:01 The right fingers come over the bottom packet, squeeze and lift both packets just as so.
34:10 Separating them out, drop this packet, then drop this packet.
34:16 So we're coming up, back, forwards, highly exaggerated.
34:24 Lift, pull, drop, drop.
34:30 This is a very cute little looking shuffle.
34:33 It looks very casual.
34:35 It looks just as though you're just casually shuffling the deck of cards and in fact you're leaving that deck of cards in exactly the same order.
34:45 How cool is that?
34:49 So just to show you the shuffle, I've split a deck of cards here into reds and blacks.
34:58 For example, for Out of This World maybe a great little trick.
35:01 And now I would give the deck a little overhand shuffle.
35:07 And there it is still split into reds and blacks.
35:13 It's a very convincing little false shuffle.
35:16 Quite delightful.
35:19 I think it's time for lunch.
35:22 Oh man.
35:25 They didn't pack me anything.
35:27 I guess it's back to work for this toolbox, sadly.
35:34 It's not real brick by the way.
35:36 It's just a fake, it's fake, complete.
35:39 Look, it's just a film set.
35:42 Stop it. Get back to work.
35:44 No toolbox to go.
35:46 Now of course in these days where Texas Hold'em has become quite crazily popular and card credence has become more commonplace, people tend to riffle shuffle.
36:08 So if your friends are riffle shufflers, let's look at a way to control cards that way.
36:13 Let's say for example you want to control some cards during a riffle shuffle.
36:20 And let's say you wanted to control four kings.
36:23 Well hey, after two riffle shuffles you can control four kings.
36:31 Actually riffle shuffle controls tend to be a little easier than overhand shuffle controls.
36:37 You see, let's put those four kings on top of the deck face up.
36:43 What I'm first of all going to do, I'm going to cut the top half of the deck to the right.
36:49 And I'm going to cut just a little more to the right than I leave on the left, a little more than half the deck.
36:55 Now I'm going to start shuffling, but I'm going to shuffle a little faster with my left thumb than I do with my right thumb.
37:03 That's going to leave some cards on top of that section.
37:07 In other words, leaving the cards I want where they are.
37:11 Squeeze up.
37:12 Now most card parlance would say you shuffle the deck twice.
37:16 So this time I cut the top cards to the left.
37:20 Again, more cards than on the right hand side here.
37:24 And again do exactly the same kind of shuffle, this time shuffling faster with my right thumb,
37:30 leaving those four cards on top.
37:34 So when you do it face down, it looks as though you're giving the deck a couple of very fair shuffles.
37:43 Except of course, you're not.
37:47 Because there are your cards in place.
37:59 Now for your toolbox, of course, there are times when you don't just want cards on top of the deck.
38:04 There are going to be times when you're going to keep cards on the bottom of the deck.
38:07 So let's give the deck a couple of riffles this time.
38:12 And have some cards controlled onto the bottom of the deck.
38:16 In this case, it would be the 1, 2, 3, 4 kings.
38:23 This is exactly the same as your top stock control, my friends.
38:27 It's very, very easy to do.
38:30 So I'm cutting off some cards to the right, leaving a little more to the left.
38:37 All I'm going to do is as I go into the riffle shuffle, I'm going to drop a few cards from the left hand,
38:44 and then riffle shuffle up.
38:47 And I'm going to cut the other way, give another little riffle shuffle.
38:52 All I'm doing is letting those bottom 4, 5, or 6 cards fall first,
38:57 to make sure that they stay exactly where I want them to be.
39:04 Now for some of the tricks you'll read about in books, and indeed some of the tricks you'll see in my DVDs,
39:20 you'll need to be able to riffle shuffle a deck of cards and keep some cards on top and at the bottom at the same time.
39:27 Tough? No. Don't panic, my friends. It's nice and easy.
39:31 Let's have the 2 red kings on top of the deck.
39:34 Let's have the 2 black kings on the bottom of the deck.
39:38 Let's give the deck a couple of riffle shuffles.
39:44 And of course, we've kept those 2 red kings on top.
39:49 And the 2 black kings on the bottom.
39:52 This is really not difficult. This is all about shuffle management.
39:57 So let's say we have the 2 blacks on the bottom, 2 reds on the top.
40:03 Shuffle management. Just remember where your cards are.
40:06 Let's split the deck into about half and half.
40:09 We know we need these bottom ones and these top ones.
40:13 So as we go into the shuffle, we drop a few from the bottom.
40:17 Now we shuffle a little faster on the right thumb and keep those ones on top.
40:23 It's just a case of remembering where you want them to be.
40:27 Let's split them over to the other way.
40:30 Drop a few from here and make sure you leave a few on top from there.
40:35 Hey, how good is that?
40:37 You now have the cards you want on top.
40:39 You now have the cards you want on bottom.
40:42 And thanks to your toolbox, you'll be able to do all of those tricks where you need a card kept on the top and the bottom.
40:50 Full deck false shuffles are quite prized. They're very useful.
41:03 So let's show you a full deck false riffle shuffle.
41:08 So we have a deck of cards here split blacks and reds.
41:13 And let's give them a little shuffle up.
41:16 Just as so. A little shuffle. A little couple of cuts.
41:23 Look fair, right?
41:25 No, no, no, no, my friends.
41:27 That deck is still split into reds and blacks.
41:32 This is the push through riffle shuffle.
41:34 I think it's one of the best of all of the false riffle shuffles.
41:38 Let's explain it to you.
41:40 The deck is cut the top half to the right.
41:46 This is the way I do it anyway.
41:48 And I cut more to the right and leave less on the left.
41:52 I'm now going to put a bed down, about 10 or 12 cards from the right-hand cards.
41:58 Now we're going to shuffle in and leave some of the right-hand cards on top.
42:04 The cards are genuinely riffled right now.
42:08 At this point, it's the third fingers that are going to do all the work.
42:12 As the first and second fingers come over the deck,
42:17 the third fingers are going to start apparently just squaring in.
42:21 What's actually going to happen is the third fingers are going to angle the packets against each other.
42:27 So now this packet is going to start coming through at an angle to the other one.
42:33 And you push through.
42:35 Notice how the front fingers are covering everything,
42:38 but that packet has come all the way through.
42:42 So now when I square here, it looks as though I've squared up the deck,
42:48 but in fact I have the shuffled cards right through the other side.
42:54 I'm now going to use a strip action here.
42:57 I'm going to hold with my third finger and thumb on this packet,
43:03 thumb and third finger on this packet,
43:06 and I'm apparently going to go into my cutting action, but I'm going to strip the cards out.
43:11 So if I freeze it halfway, what I'm doing is I'm stripping out those cards.
43:17 They come up to the top of the deck, and I hold a break with my left thumb on them right here.
43:26 Now I cut about half the cards below that break up to the top.
43:33 Then I cut to the break to the top, and it looks just like I've shuffled and cut those cards,
43:42 but they're still in completely the same order.
43:46 At a working speed, what it looks like is that we actually shuffle the cards together,
43:53 give them a cut, a cut, and a cut, and let me tell you, false shuffles don't come much better than that.
44:00 And that's the push-through riffle shuffle.
44:03 Well worth the effort to add to your toolbox.
44:07 So let's just go through the push-through action again.
44:12 We'll cut again. Let's make the packets very uneven here so you can see it.
44:17 In fact, let's turn one packet even face up so you can see it better.
44:21 So you drop a bed, you shuffle, then drop on top.
44:26 So we have the packet sandwiched there.
44:30 The third fingers come in as the first and second fingers are providing shade or cover.
44:37 So as you push, suddenly the packet's angled.
44:41 You're just kinking the hand around a little bit.
44:46 So as the packets push together more, they're starting to go through each other.
44:53 A little more, and now this packet has come all the way through.
44:59 Now with those fingers providing cover at the front, we square the cards.
45:05 And notice, of course, between your fingers they see a complete deck.
45:09 They don't really see these cards are sticking out at all.
45:13 Some people advocate making this gap about an eighth millionth of an inch.
45:17 I don't see why. That's just them. This is the way I do it.
45:22 So now we're going to strip these cards forwards, just as so.
45:29 And that's our first cut. Comes to the top. Hold your break.
45:35 Now you're going to cut and cut to your break.
45:39 And now the deck is back in exactly the same order it started.
45:43 The good old push through shuffle. Gotta love it.
45:47 There are very few moves that cross over from the magic world to the gambling world.
45:58 This, however, is one of them.
46:01 And if there's ever something that qualifies to be equal to the push through shuffle, in my opinion,
46:08 it's the Zaro shuffle, as a full deck false shuffle.
46:12 Here we have a deck of cards split into red and black.
46:17 And what I'm going to do is give these cards a little shufflette, just as so.
46:25 And that's it. It's all over, my friends. It's all done.
46:29 That deck of cards. This is exactly the same order as we started.
46:35 This is Herb Zaro, who I have to say is another good buddy of mine. I love him to death.
46:40 He's a great guy. Herb and Phyllis. Hi, Phyllis. How are you doing?
46:44 Give her a little mention there.
46:46 This is his beautiful invention that's actually moved way over into the gambling world.
46:52 Here's how it's done.
46:53 There's actually a number of ways you can do it, but this is the magic-y way of doing it.
46:58 You lift up about half the deck.
47:00 Now you're going to do a slip cut of the top card.
47:04 So your left first finger is on the card.
47:09 You're going to pull out the cards underneath that card.
47:14 So just as so.
47:18 So this is the original top card of the deck.
47:22 Now you're going to shuffle the cards together, but slightly precise.
47:26 Not too precise, but slightly precise.
47:28 You want to drop some cards from the left hand first, then shuffle together with the right hand,
47:33 and hold back just one card with the left hand and drop that down.
47:40 Just one card.
47:42 Now your fingers are going to push forward slightly of those top two cards
47:48 as you twist the deck to put it back together.
47:53 To push it back together, if you will.
47:55 As you do that, you'll find the cards separate.
47:57 They're stripped out.
47:59 See what we have now?
48:01 They're stripped out.
48:04 All I'm going to do now is lift with the right hand a little to push those cards back in.
48:10 So if you can see what I'm doing, I'm actually just pushing the two halves back into each other.
48:18 Just as so.
48:21 So for the Zaro shuffle in action, it's with shuffle, push, and squeeze.
48:30 Shuffle, push, squeeze.
48:35 And the deck is in exactly the same order.
48:48 Everybody likes to look fancy with playing cards, I guess.
48:52 So you'll find your friends will be doing these kind of shuffles,
48:55 where they'll shuffle the cards as so, trying to make themselves look very cool.
49:02 What's great about this, this is a great way to control cards, of course, as well.
49:07 Let's take a chosen card.
49:09 Well, let's take the Ace of Diamonds.
49:11 That's a pretty cool chosen card.
49:13 Let's have it on top of the deck.
49:15 Let's give it a little shuffle.
49:17 Hey, I bet you remembered that from earlier on, right?
49:20 Now let's give it a little enhanced shuffle, and a little water-fally action.
49:25 Everybody thinks you're the fancy-pants-card-sleight-of-hand guy, and you are.
49:30 Because you've still got that Ace of Diamonds controlled.
49:34 This is easy-peasy pudding and pie.
49:38 All you've done, let's leave the Ace of Diamonds face up.
49:41 All you've done is held it in place, as we did before with overhand shuffle action.
49:47 So now we can shuffle away, like a madman, and still have it there.
49:52 And now when you do your enhanced riffle shuffle, you just let it drop last of all.
49:59 To do an enhanced riffle shuffle, the first finger curls in on the face of the deck.
50:06 Thumb at the back, fingers here.
50:09 So now you've got a kind of flex point on the cards.
50:13 Flex, or riffle, some of the cards into your other hand, onto the fingers, to make it look smooth.
50:19 Now lift with the right fingers upwards, putting them into exactly the same position in the left hand.
50:27 So now you have two halves of the deck held identically.
50:31 Now all you have to do is keep these fingers curled underneath, and riffle them off.
50:39 And to do the little waterfall action at the end, all you have to do is bow the cards against each other, and let them spring down.
50:49 No big shakes, but now you're not just shuffling the cards, you're controlling one too.
50:58 [Music]
51:05 Along your magical journey you're going to come across a somewhat esoteric little slight called the Pharaoh Shuffle.
51:12 At first sight it's going to be quite daunting, but it's actually much easier to do than you'd think.
51:18 The actual Pharaoh Shuffle itself consists of meshing a deck of cards together, so that each and every card alternates correctly.
51:33 Now don't worry, you don't have to do a 26 and 26 Pharaoh like I just did there, because most Pharaoh tricks just rely on a partial Pharaoh.
51:42 But here's the technique for Pharaohs, and I use actually Edward Marlowe's technique, the table shelf technique if you will.
51:50 The deck is held in the left hand, the left first finger is curled underneath.
51:58 Three fingers on this side, thumb on this side, because it would be kind of stupid to have the thumb on that side as well, I guess.
52:06 Now we're going to cut off about half the cards. If you're going to go for a 26 and 26, that's just practice, but that's okay.
52:14 Notice how I'm lifting them up. First finger at the front, two fingers at the side, little fingers pressing on the top there.
52:25 So it's actually holding it in a kind of bridge position. So now I can butt the two packets together.
52:35 So now I'm going to go here with my little finger. See how that little finger is kind of just right on the join of the cards?
52:44 And I'm going to squeeze, and this really is a feel thing, I'm going to squeeze those two packets together.
52:53 And if you do it just right, it looks exactly like that. A perfect Pharaoh shuffle.
53:02 Now there are two kinds of Pharaoh shuffles, and you're going to use both of them if you get into Pharaoh magic.
53:09 One is the In Pharaoh, and that's where the original top card of the deck goes second from the top of the deck.
53:20 And then there's the Out Pharaoh, just so you know what it is, where the original top card of the deck stays on top of the deck.
53:32 This is all just a feel and practice thing, but trust me, if you learn to do Pharaohs well, then you'll have some amazing magic.
53:43 Harry Reiser has published beautiful things, Ed Marlow's Estimation Aces is probably one of the greatest tricks I love to do all the time,
53:52 and there's a whole slew more. Learning to do a Pharaoh simply by mixing those cards perfectly together is something that will open up a whole new magical world for you.
54:08 And in fact, I'll tell you interestingly enough, most of the Pharaoh tricks that require full deck Pharaohs, such as for example Paul Gertner's Unshuffled,
54:18 normally you get a little glimpse of the card you need to cut to.
54:22 So don't panic my friends, you don't have to be tremulous. There's always outs built in.
54:29 Pharaoh shuffling, well worth learning. Give it a bash.
54:34 [Music]
54:42 So we have a little deck of cards split into reds and blacks.
54:47 Another little false shuffle act for you, if you will.
54:50 A little thing I have come up with years ago. I love this little puppy.
54:54 This is exactly how guys in English public houses or bars would shuffle cards. They just kind of force them into each other like that.
55:05 Lovely. Looks like the deck's mixed up. Oh no, no, no.
55:09 Au contraire mon ami. It's exactly in the same order it started.
55:16 So how's this little guy done? I call this the wedge shuffle, and it's a total bluff.
55:23 What you're doing is you're cutting about half the deck from behind.
55:28 You're pushing up with your thumb on the top card of the left hand side.
55:34 So you're pulling up from the back, push up, so now you can lean against it.
55:39 So you're tipping out that card.
55:42 Now you're going to shuffle in, but you're going to back jog them slightly.
55:46 So it looks like you're shuffling in, but actually you're just pushing them in on top of the cards that were already there.
55:56 Your right thumb comes in, lifts up everything.
56:03 Again, push up that top card, and now you can do the same action.
56:09 From the side, of course, it's very apparent, but from this side it looks as though you're forcing the cards in against each other.
56:18 At the end of the day, well, that's a false shuffle that's called a block and a wedge.
56:27 I'll just show it to you again very quickly.
56:29 So we're lifting up, we're shuffling, shuffling, shuffling, shuffling.
56:35 Yeah, let's give them another little shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
56:39 Very casual, very deliberate, and yet perfect for you.
56:46 [Music]
56:54 Goodness me, how many more false shuffles do you need, but let's do another.
56:59 So we have a deck of cards split into red and black.
57:06 Let's do a little riffle at, squish them together, and that looks like a riffle shuffle deck of cards.
57:17 But it's not. The deck is in exactly the same order.
57:23 This is the popover riffle shuffle. It's not one they really want to be burning with their eyes.
57:31 It's one you want to do casually, but it's quite cute.
57:35 So the deck is set in your order. Let's cut some to the right.
57:40 And now we're going to shuffle, but you really want to shuffle not deep, just corners.
57:46 Just tiny, teeny, weeny little corners like that.
57:50 So it's just as if they're going together.
57:54 Your hands are now going to come over to apparently squidge the packets together,
57:58 but as they do so, what's going to happen is your right hand's going to lift,
58:03 and your left hand's going to twist slightly away.
58:07 So your left hand twists slightly away, clearing the packets as your right hand lifts,
58:13 and what that's going to do is put one packet on top of the other packet.
58:20 Now you apparently just square the cards together,
58:26 and that would be the deck, of course, in exactly the same order.
58:32 So the packets are split. We just do the corners.
58:37 Just those little corners. The left hand twists out as the right hand comes over the top.
58:43 Do you see how deceptive that looks?
58:46 And now it looks just as though you're squeezing the packets together.
58:51 And that's...