Expert Card Technique. Jean Hugard

      3. Press the left little finger gently against the side at the inner right corner. When the spectator releases the upper packet the left little finger will hold a break which is indetectible at the outer end since you hold it closed tightly by pressure with the left thumb, Fig. 1.

      4. Bring the deck before you horizontally and place the right hand over the pack as if to square it. Grasp the ends and tilt the pack to the right and upwards, placing it vertically upon the left fingers with the left thumb at the upper side, and retaining the break with the little finger. This action has a peculiarly narcotic effect upon spectators by lulling their suspicions.

      5. Turn the pack down once more upon the left palm, holding it as if for dealing and still retaining the little finger break for further use.

      The side slip is generally used after the peek to bring the card to the top. The performer should bide his time before executing this sleight; a minute or so after the glimpse the spectator’s perceptions are much less acute. This action is fully explained in The Side Slip, page 47.

      THE SPECTATOR PEEK—THE LAST WORD

      The following method of holding a break after a spectator has peeked at a card is the finest and most deceptive yet discovered. The use of the little finger, described above, has been kept a closely guarded secret by first rank card men but, good as that method is, the one now to be described is far superior from every point of view.

      During the action the tip of each finger remains fully exposed to view and there does not seem to be any possible way in which the spectator’s card can be controlled.

      1. Place the pack in the left hand, the middle phalange of the third finger pressing against the side at the inner corner, Fig. 1, the pack being beveled to the right as shown.

      2. Offer the pack to a spectator, inviting him to glimpse the index of a card by breaking the pack open at the outer right corner. His action will open a break down the length of the side of the pack; when the spectator releases the cards above his glimpsed card, the break will close automatically, but not before the flesh of the middle phalange of the left third finger has been pressed into, and retains, a break at the inner end.

      3. This break is later taken by the right thumb in the act of squaring the pack and the chosen card can then be controlled by the side slip, the pass, the shuffle or any other means as desired.

      AFTER THE SPECTATOR PEEK

      Because of long association, the side slip is generally considered to be the natural complement of the spectator peek, and it is this method which is universally used to bring the spectator’s card to the top after such a peek.

      Under certain circumstances it is just as satisfactory, however, to shuffle the card to the top, the right fingers grasping the pack at the ends with the thumb retaining the break at the inner end as the pack is turned into position for the overhand shuffle, or the cards are riffled off the right thumb to the break for an end riffle shuffle.

      CHAPTER 11. THE GLIMPSE

      A NEW GLIMPSE

      This is a new method of glimpsing a card placed at any number from the top of the pack. Let us say that you wish to sight the fifth card. Here is the method:

      1. Remove the four top cards with the right hand and turn them face upwards to show that the chosen card is not amongst them.

      2. In replacing these cards upon the pack, insert the left little finger under the fifth card.

      3. Transfer the pack from the left hand to the right hand, taking it by the ends; in so doing accept and hold the break with the little finger of the right hand at the outer right corner.

      4. Turn the pack face outwards, the right fingers at the lower end, the thumb at the top. With the left hand immediately spread four or five of the bottom cards to the left as in Fig. 1, thus showing that the chosen card is not near the bottom of the pack and at the same time preventing the spectators from detecting the break held by the right little finger. This break enables you to sight the lower index of the fifth card without arousing any suspicion since it is natural for you to look at the cards as you spread them.

      GLIMPSING A CARD

      This audacious method of sighting a card can be very useful. Let us assume that a chosen card lies second from the top and that you wish to learn its name. Here is the procedure:

      1. Hold the pack in the left hand as for dealing and insert the little finger under the first two cards.

      2. Immediately push off the top card with the left thumb, turn it face upwards and square it with the second card.

      3. Grasp the two cards, at the ends, between the right thumb and second finger, the first finger resting lightly on the face of the face-up card; the left little finger, having retained the break up to this point, facilitates the action.

      4. Lift the two cards into a vertical position as you make any apropos comment concerning the exposed card. Figure 1 shows the action from the conjurer’s viewpoint, the five of clubs being the card he will secretly sight. This card should be sighted without focusing the gaze upon it. To acquire this useful knack, take cards one by one and holds them face inwards, focusing the gaze an inch or two to the left of the card. It will be found that a recognizable image of the card will register in the “corner of the eye.” This useful dodge prevents the spectators from noting that the operator’s gaze has strayed to the card, thus betraying the subterfuge.

      5. Replace the two cards squarely upon the pack, then lift the face-up card only into a vertical position, precisely as in the first instance, release the thumb at its end, causing the card to snap outward, face down, and held by the right first and second finger tips.

      6. Replace the card, face down, at the top of the pack.

      TOP CARD GLIMPSE

      This extremely useful glimpse of the top card is not nearly as bold as it may seem at first sight, but it calls for perfect execution of the one-hand top palm{6} and the top card replacement.{7}

      To make the glimpse, palm the top card in the right hand by the one-hand method and place the pack in the left hand; while addressing a spectator make a gesture, away from the body, in which the back of the hand is turned to the spectators; during this gesture sight the card, Fig. 1. Immediately afterwards return the card to the top of the pack.

      On his first attempts, the reader, being extremely conscious of the subterfuge, will no doubt feel that the spectators must surely suspect his gesture; but after he has successfully performed the glimpse a dozen times or so, with no one the wiser, the sleight becomes as natural as breathing itself, so much so that often he will hold the card palmed for tens of seconds before he finally glimpses it.

      As with all sleights, there is a “feel” to this glimpse which can only be acquired by experience; in this case the knack being that of dropping the eyes to the gesturing hand at the moment made most natural by the operator’s speech. This serves to make unnoticeable the telltale focusing of the eyes which betrays so many glimpses.

      THE