Expert Card Technique. Jean Hugard

is hardly necessary to point out that the sleight can be performed with the cards face upwards or face downwards; with face-up cards and a face-down deck; or face-down cards and a face-up deck.{4}

      THE DROP SWITCH

      A subtle and easy method of obtaining possession of a freely selected card is the following:

      1. Hold the pack in the left hand as for dealing. Have a spectator insert the joker crosswise at any point in the outer end of the deck.

      2. Place the right hand over the deck, the thumb at the inner end, and with the second finger at the outer end lift all the cards above the inserted joker. Show the face of the upper packet—say, the ace of diamonds.

      3. Allow this card to drop off the right thumb at the inner end.

      4. Move the inner end of the upper packet to the right, the cards pivoting on the right second finger. When this packet extends diagonally over the lower packet as. in Fig. 1, remove the right hand. All the cards of the upper packet have thus been moved to the right except the ace of diamonds.

      5. Grasp the upper packet and the joker between the right second finger below and the thumb above, carrying them away and placing them to one side on the table. Retain the ace of diamonds at the top of the lower packet by curling the left little finger around the right side of the lower half of the pack.

      6. The ace of diamonds, supposedly the face card of the tabled packet, now reposes at the top of the left hand packet, ready to be dealt with as the operator pleases.

      CHAPTER 9. CRIMPS

      THE REGULAR CRIMP

      In this case the crimp is made in the outer right corner of a chosen card when it is returned to the pack by the spectator and the cards have been spread between the hands in readiness to receive it.

      When the card has been pushed in amongst the others, press the tip of the left second finger upwards against its face at the outer right corner (the top index corner); in the act of closing the spread with the right hand, strike the tip of the right second finger against this index corner and crimp it downwards over the tip of the left second finger, Fig. 1.

      Square the pack in the left hand, take it by the outer left corner and hand it to the spectator for shuffling. This action reverses the pack end for end, bringing the crimp to the side away from the spectator and, therefore, it cannot be noticed by him when he makes an overhand shuffle. After the shuffle place the pack in the left hand vertically, back outwards, Fig. 2, and the crimp will be found at the upper inner corner.

      THE LITTLE FINGER CRIMP

      Hold the card upright by one end, slanting slightly to the right, its face towards you, in the right hand, the thumb pressing against the face, the first, second and third fingers against the back and the middle joint of the little finger resting against the lower left corner, Fig. 1.

      Make an upward crimp at this lower left corner by pressing inwards against it with the bony middle knuckle of the little finger.

      The crimp can be made in an instant, with perfect safety, merely by picking up a card to note what it is and at once dropping it.

      THE GAMBLERS’ CRIMP

      In crimping cards gamblers favor the upward crimp, since it is more difficult to detect the subterfuge when a card so crimped is laid on the table.

      The following method of putting an upward crimp in a card is indetectible and easy of execution:

      1. Push off the top card with the left thumb and grasp its inner right corner between the right first and second fingers at the face of the card and the thumb at the back, Fig. 1.

      2. Turn the card face upwards; in so doing press down upon the face of the card with the second finger and against the back with the thumb, crimping the card against the thumb. This is shown in Fig. 2 with the crimp exaggerated.

      In the simple action of showing the face of a card, you have crimped it for use as a key card for any other purpose. For instance, suppose that in the Merlin Spread trick{5} a perverse spectator removes a card at too great a distance from your key card; take the card from him under the pretence of showing it to everyone and crimp it as above. Let the spectator indicate a spot for its return to the spread, push it in and invite him to gather the cards and shuffle them. The crimp being in the opposite end to that of the key card there can be no confusion when you come to locate the card.

      THE PEEK CRIMP

      A spectator having peeked at a card in the familiar manner, hold a break under it at the side near the inner right corner with the left little finger.

      Cover the pack with the right hand, accepting and holding the break with the thumb at the inner end.

      Under cover of the action of squaring the pack, let the spectator’s card—the bottom card of the upper packet—slip off the right thumb against the tip of the left little finger. Bend this finger inwards and crimp the corner of the card upwards, Fig. 1.

      The card can then be immediately located after honest shuffling and cutting.

      CARD MARKING CRIMP

      The usual method of crimping a card is to bend a corner up or down. A refinement when using a crimped card as a key card is to place the crimp in the card by means of the method described in connection with the Gamblers’ Card Marking system. This type of crimp performs all the functions of the ordinary crimp and yet, no matter how carelessly it is made, it never can be made so heavily that it will be noticeable in the pack. More important, it can be sighted at the top of the pack, or in a table spread, exactly as the crimp is sighted in the marking system-by noting the break in the glaze of the card as the light strikes off the surface of the card—and the card is much more easily found than are cards marked by the usual method.

      The crimp may be placed in a single corner, at diagonal corners or at both corners of one end. The last is the best practice since the pack cuts easily to the card and the position of the key card in the pack can be sighted in an instant should this be desirable.

      CHAPTER 10. THE SPECTATOR PEEK

      THE SPECTATOR PEEK IMPROVED

      This sleight is very little known although it has been used for decades by the best and almost legendary characters of card conjuring. The original method wherein the break after the peek was held by the tip of the first finger is still prevalent.

      1. Hold the pack in the left hand as for dealing, but with the little finger flush with the inner end, the cards being beveled to the right with as much of the face card showing as possible.

      2. Holding the pack vertically, invite a spectator to glimpse a card by breaking the pack at the outer right corner and thus sighting an index; as he does this the pack will break open down the length of the right side.