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00:00 [ Music ]
00:09 [ Music ]
00:38 [ Music ]
01:07 [ Music ]
01:13 >> Before we begin talking about some of these palms,
01:16 I believe are practical and simple to do,
01:20 I like to do a very old card trick
01:22 with 10 regular size playing cards.
01:24 There's card number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
01:35 Now, everybody in this room knows a 5-year-old child can snap a coin
01:40 and make it go up your sleeve, but very few people know,
01:42 you can make a regular size playing card pass up the sleeve
01:45 under the jacket and down into an empty right-hand trousers pocket.
01:50 Now, it's impossible to see these cards go.
01:53 You can hear them go, but you can't see them go.
01:55 Here's card number 1, a little click, all you do is reach in
01:59 and take out a card.
02:01 Another click, nothing in the hand, another card.
02:05 Oh, I hear some laughter.
02:07 Some of you think I have extra cards in my pocket.
02:09 If that were the case, I'd still have 10 cards in the hand,
02:11 but two cards have passed, I should have 8.
02:13 Let's check that.
02:14 There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
02:20 Every time you hear the little click, a card never fails
02:23 to arrive in the pocket.
02:24 And over here, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
02:29 Now, some of the card players in this room can remember some
02:32 of these cards.
02:33 You'll see that I use the same cards throughout the trick.
02:36 The whole secret to the trick, oh, that young lady thought I tried
02:39 to sneak a card in.
02:40 I know it's difficult to tell when you do that.
02:42 Sometimes you send them over to this pocket,
02:44 so now don't get ahead of me.
02:46 Now, we have 6 cards.
02:47 There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
02:51 I'll try the hardest part.
02:52 I'll send two cards at once.
02:55 Two clicks, 1, 2 cards.
03:03 There's 7, 8, 9, and 10.
03:05 Now, it's possible to catch these cards on the way across.
03:08 All you do is give it a shake, you reach in,
03:10 and you take out a card.
03:12 And that leaves 3 cards in the hand.
03:13 Of course, the fewer the cards, the more difficult the problem.
03:16 The whole secret is to keep the cards perfectly square.
03:19 If you keep them perfectly square and you give them a shake,
03:22 you just reach in and take out a card.
03:24 Another shake, another card.
03:27 That leaves a single card in the hand.
03:29 Now, this is where you say, well,
03:30 we're going to catch the magician.
03:32 This is the only one you can see go.
03:33 I'll make you go in slow motion.
03:35 All you do is place the card on the fingertips.
03:39 You twiddle your fingers, and when you do, you reach in,
03:43 and there's card number 10, and that's all there is to it.
03:47 In a few moments, I'm going to take off my jacket
03:49 and go into the other room.
03:50 I'm going to sit down and explain the techniques
03:54 and the mechanics of some very practical card palming.
03:58 I understand that in most instances,
04:01 cards are palmed while you're standing.
04:03 If you take a card out of your pocket,
04:05 you do it while you're standing.
04:06 I'm going to cover the techniques.
04:08 Then I'll deal with the management of palming cards
04:11 while you're standing.
04:13 Let's go into the other room.
04:23 Before we talk about some of these practical methods
04:26 of palming a card, I'd like to take just a moment
04:28 to address the issue of how a card is held correctly when
04:33 it's in palm position, or what they call classic palm
04:36 position or magician's palm.
04:38 The pad of the little finger and the base of the thumb,
04:42 there's a diagonal line that passes across
04:45 and creates pressure on a playing card that holds it
04:48 and frees up the hand otherwise.
04:50 In other words, if I were to take a card, not palm a card,
04:53 but just place a card in my hand,
04:56 the very nature of a playing card with a semi-sharp corner
04:59 will dig into the flesh at the pad of the finger
05:03 and the base of the thumb, and this line passes right across.
05:07 If I were to flex that card out, you
05:09 can see that it's held in only two places,
05:12 right here and right here.
05:13 Now the same is true in reverse.
05:15 If you push the card in so that the card flexes inward instead
05:19 of out, then it has a tendency to cling or to hug the hand,
05:24 so it takes on a natural posture.
05:26 Now you must bear this in mind.
05:29 When a card is palm, the thumb is never
05:31 extended in this manner.
05:33 It's never held this way with the fingers extended
05:36 or the knuckle bent in.
05:38 There's a natural line that runs from the forearm
05:41 through the wrist down to the very tip of the thumb
05:44 it must be adhered to, so that if you place both hands side
05:47 by side, that they look normal.
05:50 And to get that posture, you must bend the card in.
05:55 In other words, the thumb folds in.
05:59 The flesh moves in as if you were palming a coin.
06:04 Then the thumb relaxes, and the hand
06:06 can take on a very, very natural posture
06:09 if the index finger is curled in slightly.
06:11 Now to change the grip or to free up the little finger,
06:15 then the grip is never changed to the second
06:18 and the third finger, nor is a card held that way
06:21 after it's palmed from the pack.
06:23 To transfer the grip, the grip is transferred
06:26 to the pad of the third, the base
06:28 of the pad of the third finger, and the flesh
06:31 at the base of the thumb.
06:32 In other words, the diagonal line
06:34 now runs from here across the card over to here.
06:39 And it can be very easily transferred from one grip
06:42 to the other by doing this.
06:44 And then when the hand is folded in and transferred
06:47 to the third finger, the little fingers can be freed up,
06:50 index finger curled in.
06:51 If the thumb is placed on the corner of the card,
06:54 that covers it from various angles.
06:56 And the hand can be in a very, very natural posture.
07:00 And these are things that must be remembered
07:03 as we talk about some of the do's and some of the don'ts
07:05 in palming a card and the various methods
07:08 that we're going to discuss as we proceed right along.
07:12 [ Silence ]
07:19 Now that we've talked about how a card is properly held
07:22 in palm position from the tip of the little finger
07:24 across to the base of the thumb, there's some things
07:26 that we must remember to do and things we must remember not
07:29 to do when we're actually making the palm.
07:32 In other words, when the hands approach the deck,
07:34 they must approach it at the proper angle
07:37 to execute the palm.
07:38 And then the deck is covered for the shortest possible time.
07:42 In other words, you don't hold a pack like this and reach in
07:45 and execute the palm this way, nor do you dip down to pick
07:49 up the card as it comes from the deck
07:51 or make a clockwise twisting of the wrist as the hand comes
07:56 in to pick up the card.
07:57 The hand approaches the pack, makes a slight squaring motion,
08:01 and places the cards down in a perfectly natural manner
08:04 so that it's executed without being seen.
08:07 Now I said a moment ago, when a card is actually palmed,
08:13 you must avoid dipping down
08:15 or making a clockwise motion to palm the card.
08:17 Instead, the card goes to the hand, from the pack to the hand,
08:22 and the right hand should remain as motionless as possible.
08:26 Now as strange as this may seem, one of the biggest problems
08:29 that people have at this stage, they'll either expose the card
08:32 between the little finger and the third finger
08:35 or between the index finger and the second finger.
08:38 The fingers must be held tightly together
08:40 so that when the card is palmed, the card is going to be placed
08:43 down on the table in a natural manner and the posture
08:45 of the hand looks normal.
08:48 You know, it goes without saying that it takes a certain amount
08:52 of audacity to reach over and palm a card off the deck
08:55 and reach into your pocket and take it out.
08:57 But if you hesitate, when the hand comes over
09:00 and palms the card, if the cards are placed down
09:02 and there's any hesitation
09:04 in the hand moving back and forth,
09:05 if the hand moves back slowly,
09:07 it completely destroys the illusion.
09:10 In other words, if you take the cards, palm the card,
09:13 place it down, come to the edge of the table stall,
09:15 open your jacket and reach in,
09:17 I can assure you you can get away with that.
09:19 But it's disastrous for the hand to freeze at the edge
09:22 of the table because if it's there for any length
09:25 of time, people realize the hand isn't used.
09:27 That also applies if you're standing.
09:30 If the hand drops to the side, if it drops normally
09:33 and naturally and the hand freezes at the hip
09:36 and doesn't move back to pull up the sleeve
09:39 or to do some small gesture before you reveal a card
09:43 from your pocket, I can assure you,
09:45 you'll never get away with it.
09:47 Now as we go through some of these palms, I'm going
09:58 to remind you of some of the do's and don'ts that we spoke
10:00 about a few moments ago.
10:02 But one of the easiest and simplest palms to perform
10:05 is described in Erdnase, Ledger Domain section
10:08 in one sentence.
10:09 All you do is make a squaring motion of the cards
10:12 and place the cards on the table and you palm the top card
10:14 into the right hand.
10:16 Now when I say this is very simple,
10:18 all you do is hold the cards in dealing position.
10:21 You push the card to the right with your left thumb.
10:25 The right hand little finger makes a downward pressure
10:29 on the card and when the thumb is released,
10:31 the card springs into the palm of the hand.
10:34 From beneath, it looks like this.
10:36 The card is pushed over, a downward pressure,
10:39 the thumb is released and the card springs
10:41 into the right hand.
10:43 Now another way of doing this is to push the card over
10:47 just as before, about three quarters of an inch,
10:50 but the second and third finger just push the card
10:54 up into the palm, which eliminates some
10:56 of the downward pressure, which is a method
10:59 that I prefer between the two.
11:01 And that's a very simple palm.
11:03 It's described in Erdnase.
11:05 All you do is push the card straight off
11:10 with the left thumb.
11:12 Under cover of the right hand, the card is pushed off.
11:16 The little finger presses down.
11:18 When the thumb releases the card,
11:20 it springs right up into the palm
11:22 and finish with a squaring motion by taking the cards
11:25 and placing them down like this
11:27 and the card is held in palm.
11:28 Don't forget to press the card down this way
11:31 and hold it so that the back of the hand has a good posture.
11:35 I'll do that once more.
11:37 The card is pushed straight off with the left thumb.
11:40 The right little finger presses down,
11:43 the thumb releases and the cards are squared
11:46 and placed on the table.
11:57 Now the Vernon Top Palm looks like this.
11:59 Now that palm is very similar to the one
12:06 that we did just a few moments ago.
12:08 The cards are held in dealing position
12:10 and the left thumb pushes the top card off.
12:13 The deck is gripped between the second finger
12:16 and thumb of the right hand.
12:18 As the top card is pushed off,
12:21 it pivots, it's pushed forward and pivots
12:24 around the second finger.
12:26 It puts it in a more desirable position
12:28 for a downward pressure.
12:30 Now the moment the thumb releases the cards,
12:33 the cards are brought to the fingertips of the left hand
12:37 and then placed onto the tabletop like that.
12:40 Now I'll do that again from beneath.
12:42 It looks like this.
12:43 The top card is pushed off, pushed forward
12:46 and pivots counterclockwise,
12:48 a downward pressure of the little finger
12:51 and as the thumb releases the card,
12:53 they are instantly brought to the tips of the fingers
12:56 and then placed on the table in that manner.
12:58 And that's the Vernon Top Palm
13:01 and sometimes called topping the deck.
13:03 Now I'm going to do this very slowly
13:07 so you can see the difference between
13:09 the Vernon Top Palm and the Simple Erdnase Palm.
13:13 The cards are gripped between the thumb
13:15 and the second finger.
13:17 The left thumb pushes forward to cause the card
13:20 to pivot around the second finger.
13:24 The little finger of the right hand presses down.
13:27 Now as the left hand moves to the edge of the cards,
13:31 it releases that card and it springs
13:33 right into palm position.
13:35 Remember the right thumb doesn't move at all.
13:38 It locks down at the back of the deck.
13:39 And as the hand leaves the pack,
13:41 remember, press the card in this way
13:44 so the hand takes on a nice posture.
13:47 (silence)
13:49 The Tip Up Palm is a very quick and efficient way
13:57 to get one or several cards palmed into the right hand.
14:00 It looks like this.
14:02 Cards are just palmed in and placed on the top of the table.
14:05 And you can palm one or you can palm several cards
14:08 off the top of the pack.
14:09 Done slowly, pardon me, it looks like this.
14:12 You get a break under one or several cards
14:16 and the cards are pushed forward slightly
14:18 with the right thumb.
14:19 Not with the tips of the fingers this way.
14:22 Break under the thumb, they're moved slightly forward,
14:24 about a quarter of an inch.
14:26 The right fingers are on the top edge of the card,
14:29 the little finger at the corner.
14:31 A downward pressure, the left thumb guides the cards
14:35 into the palm like that.
14:37 And the cards are palmed.
14:39 When this palm is executed, you must be very, very careful.
14:42 So when the cards are pushed in,
14:44 that the right thumb does not extend
14:46 to get the cards in the proper position.
14:48 The thumb must be held dead still.
14:51 The cards go right into the palm
14:53 and the cards are placed on the table.
14:55 This is what it looks like done from below.
14:57 The cards are pushed forward, downward pressure.
15:01 The thumb guides the cards over into the palm
15:04 as the cards are squared and placed on the table.
15:07 That's the tip up palm and it's very, very similar
15:10 to the bird palm that we're gonna talk about
15:12 in just a few minutes.
15:15 (silence)
15:18 Now you remember I said you don't push the card forward
15:20 with the fingertips and then press down
15:22 to get it in the palm.
15:24 The card is moved forward between the thumb
15:27 and the fingers like this,
15:29 except you only move it forward about a quarter of an inch.
15:32 The little fingers on the upper corner
15:34 and the reigning fingers lay across the end of the card.
15:38 There's a downward pressure.
15:39 The right thumb does not move at all.
15:42 There's a downward pressure
15:43 and the card goes right into the palm.
15:46 Remember, when the palm is executed,
15:49 do not adjust the thumb.
15:51 That's prone to happen when this palm is done.
15:54 It's done at speed.
15:55 It's done like this with no movement of the thumb whatsoever
15:58 and the cards are placed on the table.
16:00 (silence)
16:02 The bird palm is named after Joe Berg
16:12 who was a magic dealer for many, many years in Chicago
16:15 and then he moved to Los Angeles
16:16 and opened a magic shop out there.
16:18 Here's the bird palm.
16:19 It's very similar to the tip-up palm
16:22 in that there's a downward pressure.
16:23 But this is what the palm looks like
16:25 and when this palm is done,
16:27 you can palm one or several cards
16:30 just like you do when you do the tip-up palm.
16:32 It's more refined to this extent.
16:35 The deck is held in dealer's position
16:38 with the thumb on the upper left corner.
16:41 The cards are slightly beveled.
16:43 The right little finger comes over
16:45 and can either pick up or just push forward the top card.
16:49 The card pivots flat on the deck.
16:54 A downward pressure makes it come into the palm.
16:56 In other words, the left thumb is held here.
16:59 The little finger moves the card across the pack like this
17:03 and then the downward pressure causes it to come up
17:06 like that under cover of the hand.
17:09 If the palm is done with several cards,
17:11 a break is held at the back
17:13 and the same thing is executed and the cards are squared
17:16 and you can palm several cards off the pack.
17:19 From beneath, it looks like this.
17:21 Thumb is over here on the upper left corner,
17:24 little finger here.
17:26 The card moves flatly across the top of the pack.
17:30 A downward pressure causes it to move into the palm
17:34 and then the cards are squared and placed on the tabletop.
17:38 And that, it will be easier to be seen
17:40 when we film it from the back in just a moment.
17:42 Now you remember the bird palm, the thumb is at this corner.
17:48 The little finger takes the card at this end.
17:51 The other fingers remain, the thumb is down here.
17:54 The card moves across the pack.
17:57 Then a downward pressure of the little finger
17:59 causes the card to press into the palm.
18:03 Remember again, no movement of the thumb
18:05 and if the index finger is curled in slightly,
18:07 it gives a nice look to the hand as the cards
18:10 are placed on the table.
18:12 I'll do that again, I'll do that again at speed.
18:15 The card is pushed over right into the palm
18:17 and the cards are placed onto the table.
18:19 Now all the palms we've talked about earlier
18:32 have been very easy to do.
18:34 The Ernest Top Palm is not quite as easy
18:36 but if you understand exactly what it is you're trying to do,
18:39 it's not difficult.
18:40 This palm is different from the others
18:43 in that all the palms we've discussed so far
18:45 have had a downward pressure to propel the card up
18:48 into the hand.
18:49 The Ernest Top Palm is vastly different
18:52 and when it's executed at speed, it just looks like this.
18:55 Cards are palmed and you can also
18:56 palm one or several cards using this technique.
19:00 Here's what happens.
19:02 As it's described, the cards are held at the fingertips
19:06 with the index finger curled beneath,
19:08 the little finger of the left hand at the lower left corner.
19:12 The right hand with the index finger curled
19:15 approaches the pack, the little finger of the right hand
19:19 picks up the top card, the index finger extends
19:24 while the backward pressure or pressure
19:27 between the two little fingers
19:29 causes the card to move out.
19:32 In other words, the palm is controlled
19:34 between those two little fingers.
19:36 It moves out like this and it is snapped into the hand
19:39 with the second and third finger
19:41 and then the cards are squared
19:43 and placed on top of the table.
19:45 Now I'll do that again, I'll do it very, very slowly.
19:48 The cards are held at the fingertips,
19:51 the right little finger picks up one or several cards,
19:55 there's a backward pressure between the two little fingers.
19:58 In other words, when I push back with my right little finger
20:01 it jams against the left little finger.
20:05 The left little finger just extends
20:07 and moves the card under cover of the right hand.
20:13 The second and third finger, primarily the third finger
20:17 presses the card up into the palm,
20:19 the little finger releases it
20:21 and the cards are brought back,
20:22 squared and placed at the fingertips.
20:25 Now there's a variation on that palm.
20:28 It can be done from a dealing position.
20:30 It's a little more strained when it's done from here
20:33 but the grip is identical.
20:34 The little finger is stressed a little to hold back
20:38 but the same thing happens if you're working at a table,
20:41 this is much nicer and it looks like this
20:43 and the card can come from beneath the thumb
20:46 and the card is palmed.
20:47 I'll do that with my hands tipped up.
20:50 The cards are in dealing position.
20:52 The little finger picks up, presses back,
20:55 the left little finger extends
20:59 and snaps the cards into the hand.
21:01 It's a little more confined and it's a little more stressed
21:05 but it looks very nice when it's done at the table
21:07 and then the cards can be put down like this
21:10 and this is what this looks like from the back.
21:12 Now the Ordinaise top palm from the back looks like this.
21:19 Remember there's no downward pressure.
21:21 The left little finger is down here,
21:24 the right little finger is at the corner
21:26 so that it can pick one card up in that manner.
21:28 The other fingers are at the side.
21:31 When the palm is executed,
21:32 the right finger picks up the card,
21:35 makes a backward pressure, presses in this direction
21:38 so that the card can freely move
21:41 between the two little fingers like this.
21:43 The card is pushed back, the left little finger extends
21:48 and puts the card right into the palm.
21:51 The third finger presses in and the card is snapped right up
21:56 and there's absolutely no motion whatsoever
21:59 of the right hand.
21:59 The right hand remains completely dead
22:02 through the entire palm.
22:04 Done at speed, it looks like this.
22:06 The cards are at the fingertips.
22:08 The cards are squared and placed onto the table
22:10 and that's that.
22:11 Now to make the little adjustment
22:13 and do it from the dealer's position,
22:15 the cards are just lowered into the hand.
22:17 The procedure doesn't change.
22:20 The right little finger picks up here.
22:22 There's a little strain on the left little finger
22:24 as it comes around but the card comes off the pack
22:27 just the same, it passes underneath the thumb.
22:30 The left thumb doesn't move.
22:32 This thumb doesn't move.
22:34 The right hand doesn't move except to leave the pack
22:39 and that's the little adjustment and the variation
22:42 in Erdene's top palm and this works very, very nicely
22:45 when you're seated at a table.
22:55 Now here's a palm that I like very, very much.
22:57 I call it the small packet palm.
22:59 I came up with this myself about 10 or 12 years ago
23:03 because it can be done with a small packet.
23:05 It can also be done from a regular deck
23:08 and it works nicely seated at the table
23:10 because the hands are in dealing position.
23:12 The cards are simply squared and placed on the table.
23:16 I'll do that again at speed.
23:18 You simply square the cards and place them on the table.
23:21 Now that's easier to execute.
23:22 It has all of the attributes but a little bit easier
23:24 to execute than the Erdene's top palm.
23:26 Here's what happens.
23:28 If you want to palm one card, you do it
23:30 like the Erdene's top palm.
23:31 You just pick up one card with a little finger
23:34 after the cards have been beveled.
23:35 And all you do is move the card over less than a quarter
23:39 of an inch so that it is on the pack of cards like that.
23:43 Now the index finger of the right hand extends slightly
23:48 and catches this corner and propels the card backward
23:52 into the palm.
23:54 It goes right in and is pressed up.
23:56 And all it appears is that the cards are squared.
23:59 Now if you want to do it with several cards,
24:01 you simply get a break under.
24:03 And you can pivot the cards around
24:06 by making a motion like that with one hand
24:08 to make this corner come around.
24:10 Or you can do just like you did, push them over a little bit.
24:13 Index finger is extended and moved back.
24:16 And the cards come from right under the thumb.
24:18 There is no appreciable movement of either hand.
24:21 The only movement is a slight backward movement
24:24 of the index finger and the movement
24:26 of pressing the cards into the hand with the left second
24:29 and third finger.
24:30 And here's what it looks like at speed.
24:32 You simply square the cards and place them on the table.
24:35 If you want to do it from under the thumb,
24:38 you simply square the cards.
24:39 The cards come from under the thumb.
24:41 And the hand reposes on the table.
24:44 Now the reason that I like it so much
24:46 is because a packet of five cards,
24:49 it's difficult to do an urdnace top palm with five cards
24:53 because the cards are flexible and they bend.
24:56 But with this palm, if you want to palm two cards,
24:59 you simply push the cards over.
25:01 They come from under the thumb.
25:02 And you can place the cards on the table and go about it.
25:05 I use it in cards up the sleeve.
25:07 And I also use it in the slow motion aces, Dave Vernon's
25:11 slow motion aces.
25:12 And it works very nicely as a small packet palm
25:15 because you just place the cards down.
25:17 And that's the small packet palm that
25:20 can be done with a full packet.
25:22 And it's easier than the urdnace palm to learn.
25:25 And it might be something that some of you
25:26 would like that you haven't seen before.
25:28 Now this little palm has all the attributes
25:34 of the urdnace top palm.
25:35 You can palm one or several cards.
25:37 But it works better with a small packet
25:39 than the urdnace palm does.
25:41 Here's what happens.
25:44 The little finger picks up one or several cards
25:49 and moves them slightly over so that the cards are
25:52 slightly diagonal on the pack.
25:54 The index finger extends forward just a little bit
25:58 and is drawn back.
26:00 And the card is propelled into the palm.
26:03 The second and third finger press up.
26:05 And the card is drawn from underneath the thumb.
26:09 Now done at speed, it looks like this.
26:14 And the cards are placed on the table.
26:16 Now done with a small packet, it's very much the same.
26:21 If you want to palm two cards off, all you do
26:24 is get a break beneath the two cards, push them over.
26:26 It's done like this.
26:27 And the cards are tossed on the table as you reach to pick up
26:30 or you do whatever it is you want to do.
26:32 The small packet palm is very, very good.
26:34 Now there are several good methods
26:46 to get a card from the bottom of the deck into the left hand.
26:50 But getting a card from the top of the pack into the left hand
26:53 is an entirely different matter.
26:55 But Professor Lowy came up with a solution.
26:57 And it's called the Lowy palm.
27:00 And here's what it looks like when it's executed at speed.
27:02 You simply place the cards on the table.
27:04 And you palm the top card into the left hand.
27:07 I'll do that again.
27:09 You simply reach over.
27:10 You take the cards, place them on the table.
27:12 And you palm the card in the left hand.
27:15 It comes from the top.
27:16 Now here's what it looks like when it's done slowly.
27:18 The cards are held in a forward position in the hand like this.
27:22 The left thumb is placed on the top card.
27:26 And it's pushed over the index finger
27:30 and is pivoted around like this.
27:33 Now you notice that these fingers don't extend forward.
27:36 All of this is done under cover of the right hand.
27:39 When the right hand completely covers,
27:41 those fingers are extended forward and brought back in
27:44 so that when the cards are placed on the table,
27:47 this hand turns and has a reasonably nice posture.
27:51 And here's a very interesting little tip
27:53 that I've never let out.
27:55 Assume you're in a dealer's position
27:57 and you want to do the Lowy palm.
27:59 You have to take the cards and move them forward.
28:01 Now that's not bad because you can go right into it.
28:03 But if you hold the cards in dealer's position
28:06 and you take your little finger and put it behind the cards
28:09 and scoot the cards forward with a little finger,
28:12 it makes it very, very simple to reach over and take
28:15 the card into the left hand.
28:17 Now one of the nice features of the Lowy palm
28:20 is it can be done with the other hand,
28:22 especially if you have a small packet
28:24 and you're doing a trick like cards up the sleeve
28:26 and you have four or five cards.
28:27 The cards are held here.
28:28 You do exactly the same thing.
28:30 As this hand reaches over, the card is taken.
28:34 As you give the cards a shake, you can reach in
28:36 and you can take out another card.
28:38 So it's very, very versatile.
28:39 And it's very quick.
28:41 And it's the best method that I know
28:42 of to get a card from the top of the packet into the left hand
28:45 by simply doing that and then reaching into the pocket
28:48 to produce the card.
28:50 And that's the Lowy palm, Professor Lowy.
28:52 Now when the cards are pushed up with a little finger,
28:56 the little finger just moves out of the back
28:59 and moves the cards forward in the hand.
29:01 The left thumb pushes one card over the fingertips.
29:05 The fingers don't extend until fully
29:07 under cover of the right hand.
29:09 Then they extend, and the cards are taken and placed
29:13 on the table as this hand turns in in a normal manner.
29:16 Done in speed, it looks like this.
29:18 Hand comes over, takes the cards, places them on the table,
29:21 and that hand turns in.
29:24 Now that's the Lowy palm.
29:27 [ Silence ]
29:34 Before we get off the subject of palming cards
29:37 from the top of the pack, I want to take just a moment to talk
29:40 about the one-handed top palm
29:41 because it's a very deceptive and devilish move.
29:44 But I'm not going to try to do it in speed.
29:47 But there are a couple of tips I like to pass along
29:49 to young fellows who have moist hands that can do it.
29:52 As you advance in age, the cuticle of the hand begins
29:55 to dry, and this is a palm
29:57 that I rarely use anymore for that reason.
30:00 But the biggest problem or the biggest mistake that I see
30:02 and have seen is the posture of the right hand.
30:06 To get the pad of the little finger on the top card
30:09 so that you can make the card pivot off the top of the pack,
30:14 the posture of the hand is very, very flat and very bad.
30:18 The tip that I like to pass along to keep the arch
30:21 in the hand is to place the very tip of the little finger
30:24 on the extreme corner of the right hand,
30:28 of the upper right-hand corner of the pack.
30:30 With a great deal of pressure,
30:32 you can make that card snap right off, and the arch
30:36 of the hand remains the same.
30:37 Now, I'll try to do it down so that you can see that the arch
30:41 of the hand does not really change and doesn't get flat
30:44 as you place the cards into the other hand,
30:46 and you palm the card off that way.
30:48 Now, I pass that along for some of you younger fellows
30:51 that will attempt that.
30:52 You can probably do it very, very well.
30:55 Now, this is the posture that you want to try to avoid,
31:01 that flat look on the hand when you do the one-hand top palm.
31:05 That's why it's important to hold the cards
31:07 with an arched hand and press down as hard
31:10 as you possibly can almost on the very tip,
31:13 of the very tip right there, and the card comes
31:17 up without losing the arch of the hand
31:20 as the card is taken in the palm.
31:22 And that's a very, very deceptive palm.
31:24 And for some of you young fellows that have a lot
31:26 of moisture in the tips of your fingers,
31:28 that's one you ought to work on.
31:30 Now, a few moments ago, we talked about palming cards
31:41 from the top of the pack and methods I believe are very,
31:43 very practical that anybody could do.
31:45 I want to take just a couple of minutes to talk
31:47 about palming cards off the bottom of the deck.
31:50 And the first one that I would like to show you is the
31:52 Erdnase bottom palm described in expert at the card table.
31:58 The card is moved into the hand very,
32:00 very quickly and is palmed in this manner.
32:03 Now, I'm going to explain how that's done.
32:06 It's very, very quick.
32:08 But when this palm is done, I've seen people do it
32:11 and make a terrible mistake.
32:13 When the card is, the cards are held forward
32:17 in the left hand like this.
32:19 The finger, the third finger can reach up and pull down one
32:23 or several cards in that manner.
32:26 And then the cards are kicked slightly aside like that
32:31 so that the tip of the right little finger touches the tip
32:35 of the card.
32:37 Now, the card is propelled back by the little finger.
32:41 But you notice when I do that, that these fingers,
32:44 my left fingers never move.
32:46 Now, I'll do that again.
32:47 The left fingers never move.
32:49 You see, the card bends until it gets in palm position.
32:52 The mistake that people make is they do it perfectly
32:57 to this point.
32:58 Then they extend the fingers to pick up the card.
33:02 And this is radically wrong.
33:04 If you do this and reach out, it becomes apparent
33:07 that you're taking a card.
33:08 On the other hand, if you take the card, bend the card,
33:13 move the finger down, the card goes right into the palm
33:16 and no one sees how it's done.
33:18 Now, there's a variation of that palm that we're going to take
33:21 up in just a moment after we take a look at this
33:23 from the back.
33:25 Now, it's going to be very difficult
33:29 to see the little finger propel that card back into the palm.
33:33 But you see that from the other side.
33:36 From the back side, you can see that the left hand doesn't move.
33:41 You can see the card bend as he comes down and puts the card
33:45 right on the tip of the little finger so that it's held
33:47 like this so when the hand turns over,
33:49 it takes on a natural posture.
33:52 And done at speed, of course, it looks like this.
33:55 But there is no movement of that hand.
33:58 And that's the back of the Erdnase bottom palm.
34:02 Now, if you ever read the description of the bottom palm
34:12 of an expert at the card table, he goes on to say
34:15 that there's a second method of doing a bottom palm that's
34:18 very similar, but it's done without the aid
34:21 of the little finger to propel the card into the palm.
34:24 In other words, it's done at speed.
34:27 It looks like this.
34:28 And the cards can be placed aside,
34:30 and the card is in the palm.
34:32 I'll do that again.
34:33 There's absolutely no movement or motion
34:36 of the left hand or the right hand.
34:38 The card goes into the palm without any motion whatsoever.
34:43 In California, they call this the dead hand palm.
34:46 It was a very favorite of the professors.
34:49 Here's what happens.
34:51 The cards are held exactly the way
34:53 they are in the bottom palm, advanced in the hand.
34:57 The second finger and little finger
34:59 pull the cards down that are going to be palms.
35:02 In other words, they pull them down this way.
35:05 The fingers move like this.
35:11 Then the second finger extends along with the third finger
35:15 and draws the card in this way.
35:18 So that when it's done from the top,
35:21 there is no motion of any of the fingers
35:24 beneath to get the card into the palm of the hand.
35:28 Here's what happens.
35:29 The card bends two ways.
35:31 I'm going to remove the pack so you can see what happens.
35:35 As the card is drawn down, the little finger and second finger
35:39 bend the card as you can see that way.
35:43 Then the second finger extends along
35:45 with the third and little finger and bends the card this way.
35:50 Now that all happens under cover of the hand.
35:52 So when the card bends this way and it bends that way.
35:55 Of course, you can't see it because it's
35:57 under cover of my hand.
35:58 But you see the card goes right into the palm.
36:01 And that's the second method of doing the palm.
36:03 And that looks very, very good from the back.
36:06 But I'll do it once more in speed.
36:08 The cards are pulled down, done like this and like that.
36:12 And then the card can be reached into the pocket
36:14 and taken out with a selection.
36:16 Now with the cards held forward, the little and third finger
36:25 bend the cards in in this manner.
36:27 Then the other fingers extend and bend the card
36:31 in the opposite direction.
36:32 I'm going to remove the pack of cards
36:34 so you can see how that's done.
36:35 They're held like this.
36:37 These fingers bend the card in without movement
36:39 of the other two fingers.
36:41 These fingers extend and bring the card in and bend it this
36:44 way so that there's absolutely no movement of this hand
36:48 as it's covered with the right hand.
36:50 And that's a back shot of the Ordinaise palm
36:53 without the assistance of the little finger.
37:05 Another palm may not be deemed very practical
37:08 by a lot of magicians.
37:10 But it's very, very good.
37:11 And it can be done much better standing than seated.
37:14 But I want to give a vivid explanation as to how it's done.
37:17 So I'm going to do it seated.
37:18 But it's the Hofzinscher palm.
37:20 And this is what the Hofzinscher palm looks like.
37:23 The cards are just very, very quick.
37:26 Cards are palmed into the hand.
37:27 Now there are a couple of inherent weaknesses
37:29 or things I dislike about it.
37:30 The first is it can be done with any number of cards.
37:34 But the first is the hands-- left fingers
37:38 extend to get the card in the palm.
37:41 But here's how it's done.
37:43 And on a slight turn or something,
37:45 this can look very, very good.
37:46 And it's quick.
37:47 And it can be done with several cards.
37:50 The cards are held in the hand like this.
37:52 Not in the inner position, but a little forward.
37:55 The right hand grips the cards between the second and third
38:00 finger at the tips, and the thumb at the end,
38:03 and the index finger on the left side of the pack.
38:07 Beneath, the break is held with the left little finger.
38:12 Now the cards are moved in the hand
38:16 so that the card pivots on the two little fingers.
38:20 In other words, the card pivots like this.
38:23 So as it's done, the card pivots into the hand.
38:26 And it can be placed down or reach into the pocket
38:29 and produce a card.
38:30 But that's the Hofzinscher bottom palm.
38:33 And I didn't want to conclude the bottom palms
38:35 without mentioning that one.
38:36 And that one can be seen very clearly
38:39 from the back, which we're going to do in just a moment.
38:42 Now the Hofzinscher palm, the grip is like this.
38:50 The right index finger goes over the left edge of the cards.
38:53 And the cards are pivoted between the index
38:56 and little finger in that manner.
38:58 Now done at speed, it looks like this.
39:01 Cards are placed on the table.
39:04 Again, like this, the cards are placed on the table.
39:08 And that's the Hofzinscher palm seen from the way you see it.
39:12 Now when you're palming cards off the bottom of the pack,
39:25 it's a simple matter to get the bottom card into the left hand.
39:29 But it's an entirely different proposition
39:31 to get it from the bottom into the right hand.
39:33 I'm going to show you a method that was shown to me
39:35 many, many years ago by Charlie Miller, where all you do
39:38 is make an apparent squaring motion of the cards.
39:41 You square the cards like this.
39:43 And you palm the card off of the bottom.
39:46 Now I'm going to do that once more at speed.
39:48 And then I'm going to explain how this is done.
39:51 The card on the bottom is the queen of clubs.
39:55 All that's done is the hands come across,
39:58 square the cards like this, and the card
40:00 is palmed off of the bottom.
40:02 That can also be done with more than one card.
40:04 Here's what happens.
40:05 The left little finger draws down one or two cards
40:09 from the bottom.
40:11 The right hand grips the cards between the second finger
40:14 and the third finger of the right hand
40:16 and the thumb at the bottom.
40:18 Now this is similar to the Erdnase top palm
40:21 in that all of the action takes place between the two
40:24 little fingers.
40:25 The right little finger is dug into the upper right hand
40:29 corner of the card.
40:30 The left little finger is placed at the center
40:33 of the card at the back.
40:35 Now the left little finger extends,
40:40 propelling the card out.
40:42 The second and third finger press the card
40:45 into the edge of the palm like this.
40:49 Then the hand is withdrawn from the pack,
40:52 and the card is flexed.
40:54 In other words, the palm is bent in after the card
40:57 clears the edge of the pack.
40:59 If you do it in advance of that, the card scrapes up the edge,
41:03 and you can hear it as it's palmed.
41:05 Now I'll do that once more from the bottom.
41:07 The cards are gripped between the second and third finger
41:10 of the thumb at this end.
41:11 Little finger digs in at the corner right here.
41:14 This finger is at the center of the bottom.
41:16 The cards are moved over, pressed into the palm
41:20 as the hand goes away to make a squaring motion of the pack.
41:24 And you can palm one, or you can palm several cards
41:27 with that method.
41:29 The Browie Bottom Palm.
41:31 Now the Browie Bottom Palm, you pull a card down
41:37 with a little finger like that.
41:39 These fingers grip this way, and the little finger
41:42 is brought in like this.
41:44 The other finger is held at the extreme tip
41:47 of the upper right hand corner, and the little finger
41:50 moves forward.
41:52 Under cover of the right hand, this card
41:54 comes out and touches right there.
41:57 The card clears the edge of the pack
42:00 before the card is flexed like that,
42:03 so that it doesn't scrape along the edge of the pack
42:07 as the palm is executed.
42:09 Deck is squared and placed on the table.
42:12 And that's the Browie Bottom Palm.
42:23 From time to time, when you have a card palm
42:25 in your right hand, or your left for that matter,
42:27 you have to return it to the pack.
42:29 Now the method that I like the best,
42:31 it's almost a complete reversal of the Tip Up Palm.
42:34 The card is palmed, the hand comes over,
42:37 the fingers back here, and the thumb
42:39 take the card like this, and then bring it back
42:42 onto the pack.
42:43 Done at speed, it looks like this.
42:45 The card is in the hand, hand comes over,
42:48 and a squaring motion is made, and the card is added back.
42:51 I don't know how clearly that can be made,
42:54 other than doing it one more time to show you
42:57 the card is taken here and here, and brought back
43:00 onto the pack as there's a squaring motion.
43:02 Now that's how a card is added from the top.
43:04 To add a card from the bottom, it's
43:07 the method that's used in urdnace.
43:08 When the card is palmed in the left hand,
43:12 the card does this beneath the hands.
43:14 The card pivots and goes right onto the bottom of the pack.
43:17 In other words, the card is here, it's pivoted like that,
43:21 and goes right onto the bottom of the pack.
43:23 And that's the replacement in case you ever
43:25 need to replace a card on the top or the bottom.
43:28 Now this is going to be kind of an informal discussion
43:40 of a little management of palming cards.
43:43 Before I-- I'm going to give you an example of what I'm talking
43:45 about.
43:46 I have a single card in my hand, a king of spades,
43:48 king of hearts.
43:49 If you're going to do a palm or a color
43:52 change or something like that, you just
43:55 place the hand over the card and the card changes.
43:57 So you still have a single card and no other face-up cards
44:02 in the pack.
44:02 But that's just an example of what
44:04 I'm talking-- I'm going to give in a few minutes
44:06 about management of palming.
44:08 But before I do, I want to talk about some of the fears,
44:12 or I want to address some of the fears that most people have
44:14 when they palm a card.
44:16 There's just a couple of reasons that people
44:18 are afraid to palm a card.
44:21 And that's either the posture of their hand is terrible
44:24 and it'll attract attention, or they're
44:26 afraid somebody's going to see the card,
44:28 or they just don't have the nerve
44:31 to take the card off the back of the deck
44:33 while everybody is watching.
44:35 Now the worst thing, the thing that everybody needs to avoid,
44:41 is when a card is palmed off of the deck,
44:43 it doesn't make any difference how you do it.
44:45 The hand should never drop to the side and freeze there.
44:48 They talk about letting the hand drop naturally.
44:50 I mean, the hand can drop naturally,
44:51 but it must come back up.
44:52 It must do something.
44:54 It must come back up and reach into the pocket
44:56 if you have a card palmed.
44:57 But to drop it to the side and let it freeze there
45:01 is as bad as palming the card at the table
45:03 and putting your hand on the table
45:05 and letting it freeze there for more than just a moment.
45:08 As I said a little earlier, if you're
45:10 going to put your hand on the table,
45:12 push your body back a little bit,
45:13 then reach into the pocket to take out a card.
45:16 But the three reasons that people are afraid
45:20 is they're afraid somebody's going to see the card,
45:23 their posture of the hand is not good,
45:25 or they don't have the heart to palm it off of the deck.
45:27 Now I wanted to go over just a couple of those palms
45:30 that we talked about a minute ago in terms of management
45:33 and what's done.
45:34 If you're going to palm several cards off the pack,
45:37 it's best to get a break under the cards,
45:40 casually, so that you can casually speak.
45:42 So when the hands come together and you palm the cards,
45:45 the hand can drop to a natural position in front of the body.
45:49 Now at this position, you say, well, there's
45:53 a fear of people seeing the card.
45:55 Some of you may remember this old card production
45:58 where you hold the fingers like this
46:01 and then produce the cards.
46:03 You can see in here that the thumb covers,
46:06 and then they would produce the cards in a manipulative act.
46:09 Well, the same principle applies when you're palming a card.
46:12 The hand can drop to the side, but it must come back up
46:15 and pull at the elbow or take the cards and feel here
46:18 and then reach in to say, well, the card is over here,
46:20 or some of these kind of things.
46:22 Now the demonstration on the palms
46:24 I'm not as concerned with as I am the management
46:26 and it getting across to you what's done.
46:30 So when a card is palmed, as I say,
46:32 it doesn't make any difference whether you
46:34 use an urdinase palm or the LaBrowie palm or any.
46:37 The hand drops to here and comes back,
46:39 and it'll square the pack or riffle the edges
46:41 or do something before you reach into the pocket.
46:44 Now if you have to hold out the card,
46:47 the principle is very simple.
46:48 I mentioned it earlier.
46:49 You put your finger--
46:51 you put your thumb on the upper left corner of the card
46:55 and switch the grips like we talked about a little earlier
46:58 and just stand and relax with the card in your hand.
47:01 Say, young lady, would you scoot over a little closer,
47:03 or I'm going to make the card go up the sleeve,
47:05 or you straighten your tire.
47:06 You do something that comes perfectly natural before you
47:09 reach into the pocket.
47:10 It's disastrous.
47:11 It doesn't make a difference what palm
47:12 you use to go from here into the pocket like this.
47:15 I mean, a five-year-old child will know you did something.
47:18 So you palm the card.
47:21 Technique, the method of palming makes no difference.
47:25 The card is now in my hand.
47:26 I riffle the cards.
47:27 I relax.
47:29 Place the cards over here.
47:30 It drops here.
47:31 There's a momentary pause.
47:32 Then you reach into the pocket, and you take out the card
47:36 and show it.
47:36 Or you go into the wallet, but there's a momentary pause.
47:39 If you're reaching into the wallet, the card drops to here.
47:42 You open your coat.
47:43 It meets you in your wallet.
47:44 You never go from here like this into the wallet.
47:46 It looks terrible.
47:48 And as I say, this is a very informal portion of this DVD.
47:55 But it's an important part.
47:57 The worst thing I've seen is somebody
47:59 will do a decent job of palming the card.
48:01 They let their hand drop, and they put it behind them.
48:04 Everybody behind you can see what's
48:06 happening if you're working close-up magic.
48:07 But this looks absolutely foolish.
48:09 You palm the card.
48:10 You drop the hand.
48:11 You put it behind you.
48:12 It looks like you're trying to adjust your britches
48:15 or something back there.
48:17 It looks foolish.
48:18 But if you drop your hand naturally, and then come back
48:21 up and riffle the cards, and say,
48:22 would you step over a little bit closer?
48:24 Or here, I want you to take these cards
48:26 and hold them in your hand.
48:27 By the way, I have a card in my pocket.
48:29 Say, and by the way, I have one for you, too.
48:31 And young lady, I didn't leave you out.
48:33 There's your card.
48:34 And young man, here's your card over here.
48:36 So I mean, it's just a matter of folding the hand in,
48:43 adjusting the palm to the third finger,
48:45 adjusting the card to the third finger,
48:47 so that that line, that invisible line we talked about
48:50 goes across.
48:51 Relax the hand at the wrist.
48:54 You don't break the wrist and hold your hands like this.
48:57 You just relax.
48:58 You forget that the card is in your hand, if you possibly can.
49:02 And remember, remember, do not be afraid to fold a hand in
49:09 on a card.
49:10 This is the worst thing that you can do,
49:12 to hold a hand like this, so that the fingers are
49:15 extended in the thumb.
49:16 That's terrible.
49:17 I mean, if you take your hand and reach into your pocket,
49:19 that won't fool anybody.
49:21 The hand must relax.
49:22 You bend the hand.
49:23 You bend the cards.
49:24 And in concluding this, I was very fortunate
49:28 that I had a lot of help from a lot of very capable people.
49:31 And I've been interested in palming cards
49:32 since I was 18 years old.
49:34 It was a challenge to me at the time
49:36 to do it and get away with it in front of knowledgeable people.
49:40 And one of the best pieces of advice that I ever had--
49:43 I'm going to conclude this DVD with--
49:46 when Charlie Miller was helping me palm a card, he said, Bob,
49:48 when you palm the card, bend the hell out of it.
49:52 Because he said, the card will straighten.
49:55 And on that, good luck on some of these things
49:58 that we've talked about on the tape.
50:01 And I hope they serve your purpose
50:03 as well as they have mine for nearly 45 years.
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