Uniformity of Action - The Expert At The Card Table

For my final blog post on The Expert At The Card Table, I have decided to write about one of the most important things in having truly great magic. This topic also ties into all 4 of my previous blog posts. This one thing is "Uniformity of Action".

For a magician, it is very important that every time he sits down to show magic, he does every move and technique the exact same way every time. "Any departure from his customary manner of holding, shuffling, cutting or dealing the cards may be noticed" (Erdnase 22). Magicians do this to stay under the radar and not reveal anything about their trick and make it so everytime they show a trick, it has no difference from the previous time they did it. 

When I perform magic, I have gone to the point with a lot of my tricks where I can do them consistently without ever changing the way I say things, hold the deck, do sleights, etc. It is definitely one of the harder skills to master however it is so rewarding to get rid of certain suspicion or oddity in your performance. 

This directly ties in with another concept I previously blogged about which was the effect of suspicion. When spectators suspect you of doing anything sneaky, they immediately watch you like a hawk and this attentiveness can ruin a secret of a trick. I wrote about this in one of my previous blogs and having uniformity is one of the best ways to counteract suspicion. 

To avoid suspicion, a magician needs to make everything he does appear natural and consistent. This can only be done with constant practice - ingraining your techniques into your muscle memory and to do this you must practice properly. See my previous post on how a magician needs to practice in order to be more successful.

Furthermore, for a magician to have full knowledge of what he is doing he needs to know the vocabulary behind it so that he knows exactly what it is he needs to duplicate during every performance of his trick. You can read more about basic magic terminology in my post about traditional magic terms.

Finally, with the idea of uniformity of action in mind we need to put it in context of a trick. My first blog described how to do a proper card vanish with Erdnase's technique. This is one of those tricks that I have practiced over and over again and know extensively so I can do it with uniformity and avoid suspicion. This is why it is such a powerful effect.

In conclusion, reading The Expert At The Card Table greatly improved my magic ability and philosophy on practice and the art of magic in general. I hope to improve more on my magic in the future and I hoped you have enjoyed my blogs.

Erdnase, S. W. Artifice, Ruse, and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.

Acquiring the Art - The Expert At The Card Table

Magic is one of those hobbies that you truly need constant practice to get good at. Erdnase, author of The Expert At The Card Table, writes about the most efficient ways of practicing.

Today, I will be describing these tips and talking about how to practice magic properly.

1. Location: Erdnase says that "the only proper way to practice is to be seated in the usual manner at a card table with a looking glass opposite". I used to practice magic at a card table, but no mirror. After reading Erdnase's book, I have begun practicing in front of a mirror. I love how it lets me see how moves will actually look to a spectator and whether the manner of my movements look suspicious or not. 

This practice mirror is ideal for practicing magic as it will show you not only the front angle but the side angles. Most of the time spectators will not exclusively watch from in front so it is important to be mindful of what can be seen at your sides and diagonals. 

Erdnase puts it as the magician "becomes his own critic" (Erdnase 24). 

2. Hands: Basically, what Erdnase writes is that proper card manipulation requires hands that are not too moist and not too dry. I won't go into too much detail with this. It's pretty simple. "Of course dry fingers may be moistened, or damp ones dried, but either operation is objectionable" (Erdnase 25). 

3. Card Quality: "For superior work the cards should be new, thin, flexible and of best quality. Cheap cards are clumsy and not highly finished. Cards that have been handled two or three hours become more or less sticky, and the slightest friction is a detriment to perfect manipulation" (Erdnase 25). 

I have dozens of packs of cards in my room. Some have been barely used and some have been used heavily. Erdnase does not lie, cards are in the best condition in the first two or three hours of use fresh out of the package. I love playing with these cards as they are so smooth and have very little friction so sleights are simply easy. The highest quality of cards come from companies like Theory11 and Ellusionist. 

If you are interested in getting packs of cards from these distributors, here are some links for purchasing:

Ellusionist - http://www.ellusionist.com/

Theory11 - http://www.theory11.com/

In conclusion, Erdnase stresses that it is important to practice a lot but it is more important to practice correctly in small amounts than incorrectly in large amounts. So, practice in front of a mirror, with hands that are not too dry or wet, and a pack of brand new high quality cards. This is what I do and it has made my magic improve because of it.

Erdnase, S. W. Artifice, Ruse, and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.

Effect of Suspicion - The Expert At The Card Table

One of the most amazing things that the book, The Expert At The Card Table, offers is that it not only describes magic tricks and techniques but also goes into the theory surrounding performing magic. One of Erdnase's most interesting ideas is the "effect of suspicion."

Erdnase states that "to be suspected of skill is a death blow to the professional" (Erdnase 24). Erdnase believes that magic is only surprising and truly entertaining when doubled with shock factor. When a spectator suspects that you are good or that something magical WILL happen they pay close attention to all of your moves and they aren't truly baffled when you finally reveal the climax of a trick.

I know this idea very well. With being a child magician, I learned very soon that many people won't take you seriously. It was because of this that I think I had a lot of success in entertaining friends and teachers when I first started. They thought that the trick I would show them would be very common and skill-less, and when I showed them something actually astounding they were TRULY astounded. However, for years I just continually showed tricks to my friends at school and my teachers. Too much of it made people think I was actually good and they became suspicious of me during every trick. This developed the "effect of suspicion" that Erdnase writes about on me and it totally hurt my performing. I never wanted to show magic because my peers no longer were entertained by my magic since I was now suspected of skill.

Last year, I began performing on the streets of Pike Place in downtown Seattle. It was due to this change that I overcame the suspicion effect. By performing in front of strangers I got rid of people knowing that I was good at magic. The typical spectator would see a 15 year old kid standing in pike place and perhaps chuckle and watch me perform not expecting much. These types of people were my prime audience because they were actually surprised because their preconception of me was altered.

Performing in front of friends is no longer as rewarding. Since reading The Expert At The Card Table, I now know why. This book already has shown me many ways to improve my performance. And just one I learned from Erdnase's concept of suspicion is that I should only try performing for strangers.

Erdnase, S. W. Expert at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.

Traditional Magic Terms - The Expert At The Card Table

"Many of the methods of card manipulation explained in this work originated with us, and we have, in describing the various processes and conditions, used certain terms for the sake of brevity, to designate the particular matters referred to. The reader desiring to follow the action intelligently must clearly understand the meaning of the terms" (Erdnase 25).

I have been performing magic for almost 7 years now. When I first got into the practice, I learned the majority of my tricks from beginner websites and YouTube videos. Due to this, I learned a lot of unofficial and non-traditional terms involved with certain illusions. Since beginning to read the book: The Expert At The Card Table, I have discovered that I have been using incorrect vocabulary to describe my tricks for a very long time. Vocabulary is very important in an art like magic - where there is so much variation and exactness. Also, to understand HOW to do many techniques in the book you need to understand Erdnase's vocabulary. So today, I am going to go over some basic and traditional magic terms that were explored in The Expert At The Card Table.

1. Stock: "The portion of the deck that contains certain cards, placed in some particular order for dealing; or certain desirable cards placed at top or bottom of the deck" (Erdnase 26). A stock will usually refer to the portion of the deck that you have stacked in any trick where it requires you to stack. For example, I can deal myself a hand of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten by placing those cards spread out a certain number of cards. If a portion is organized in a specific way to do this type of stack, that certain portion would be referred to as "the stock".

2. Jog: "A card protruding a little from any part of the deck" (Erdnase 26). A jog can also be used on multiple cards. Below is a picture example of one involving 3 cards.

From a certain angle, you wouldn't see the protruding cards and therefore could use this advantageously to know the exact position of a card/s in a deck to easily pull out, cut to, and find for the last part of a trick.

3. Break: "A space or division held in the deck" (Erdnase 26). A break is normally held with a finger or 2 and is useful in most of the situations that a jog would be useful in. Below is a picture of a break.

As you can see, a pinky and middle finger break the deck into 2 different portions for easy access to cuts in the place it splits. I could place a selected card on the top of the bottom portion, for example, and when I need to find it I could simply cut the top half of the deck to have your selected card go to the top. A break is something Erdnase goes into great detail over and it was awesome to read about the different uses it had.

4. Culls: "The desired cards" (Erdnase 27). The culls refers to any desired cards in a trick. This could be the spectator's selected card or could refer to a certain card that you are looking for like the Joker or Ace of Spades. 

5. Blind: "Any method of shuffling, riffling, or cutting, designed to appear regular but in reality retaining, or arranging , some preconceived order" (Erdnase 27). This is another name for any false shuffle. False shuffles are used in many tricks to make a deck appear randomized but actually is stacked in a very exact way designed to deceive you. They are extremely hard to pull off and due to their technicality and difficulty I will not be exploring how to do any of them. 

6. Crimp: "To bend one or a number of cards, so that they may be distinguished or located" (Erdnase 28). 

Bending a card simply makes it very easily distinguishable in a stack of cards but if bent in one corner, will make it visually exclusive to yourself and the spectator will not even know the crimp exists. 

Those were 6 card terms as well as a quick explanation of the uses of those techniques. I hoped you learned something. I sure have! I hope to improve my magic knowledge and practices now with knowledge of these terms. 

Until next time, abracadabra!

Erdnase, S. W. Expert at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.

The Back Palm - The Expert At The Card Table

I have been practicing and performing magic for almost 6 years now. Throughout the years I have studied several different card manipulation techniques and I have found that no matter what, there is 1 trick I can perform that will always get a positive response from my audiences and will impress them - the back palm.

This is a trick in which a magician will present their empty hand and make a card appear out of thin air. Or  perhaps they'll make a card disappear and then show their now empty hand. It is a trick I urge every aspiring magician to master as it is useful to have in your repertoire in case you get a stickler crowd. I promise you, this one never fails to mystify people the first time they see it.

I learned the trick through watching YouTube videos at a younger age. Due to this, I never got formal training or knew any of the more technical processes that go into making the back palm look really great. Reading this book, however, I have been able to discover exactly that knowledge and overall this book has allowed me to improve my performance of the back palm and many other tricks. The Expert At The Card Table by S.W. Erdnase goes into great detail about several different palming methods, it really is a great book.

In today's blog, I am going to explain how the back palm method is accomplished as well as provide images of me performing each step. At the end, I will display the trick at full speed in video format. A variety of my own tips and direct pointers from the book will be detailed and I hope it helps you achieve the illusion that is the back palm.

Firstly, you should understand the idea of palming in general. Palming is a sleight of hand that conceals cards in your hand from the spectator. It is a sleight that should only be performed "advantageously under special circumstances" where it is suitable (Erdnase 144). In general, the main thing about palming is that it is to be discrete. One way to do this is to do it without your spectator ever noticing. As Erdnase puts it, "in all cases of palming the deck should be covered for the smallest possible space of time, and the covering and exposing should be made under some natural pretext, such as squaring up the cards... or turning it [the deck] over" (Erdnase 145).

Step 1 (The "Natural Pretext"). Hold the card between your thumb, index finger, and middle finger. This would be a fairly relaxed, natural position for one to be holding a card. This is the perfect place to start as it does not look like you are about to do something peculiar and to a laymen's eyes, it will seem very normal.

Step 2 (The "Set-up"). Re-position your finger placement so that your index and little finger contact the sides of the card at their joints. The middle and ring finger then curl inwards so that their fingertips are facing your palm and the nails of those fingers are in contact with the back of the card. The thumb remains in the same place. At first, this position will feel quite awkward but with practice it becomes muscle memory and feels comfortable.

Step 3 (The "Disappearance"). Actually making the card "disappear" is an easy concept but is difficult to execute cleanly. Basically, you need to take the card that is on the front side of your hand and shift it to the back of your hand. To do so, you "clip" the card between your little and ring finger as well as your index and middle finger. Next, you literally just "straighten out the four fingers" (Erdnase 146). It is important the you keep your fingers tight at this point as you need to retain the "clipping" that was done previously so the card doesn't fall. If you retain the clip and straighten out your fingers, the card will shift to the back of your hand and will have a slight curl along the back of your hand. Erdnase says to stay relaxed at this point so that "the card lies along the back of the hand" (Erdnase 146).

Step 4 (The "Prestige"). The prestige is a magic term describing the part of a trick when something that has disappeared, reappears. To make the card come back to the front of your hand, simply curl the card back, keeping it clipped in between your fingers. Simultaneously, the thumb must "take its place holding the card" so that the card can return to the finger position described in step 2 (Erdnase 146). Then simply relax your hand back into the finger position described in step 1.

If you follow all these steps you can successfully pull off a back palm. To get even better at it, continually practice the set of moves one after another. Eventually, you will be able to pick up the speed and the entire trick will look cleaner. Below is a video of me performing the trick so that you can see it at the speed it is meant to be performed at. 

Now, you may try this trick out now. If you do, most likely your first few attempts will not look as clean as mine. But remember I have been doing it for years. What is important to get the trick down is to keep practicing it. You will build up the muscles in your fingers over time that allow you to do it with ease and incredible speed later on. Persevere and work hard and I guarantee you that you will be able to achieve this awesome illusion like I did. Also, read The Expert At The Card Table, it is fantastic and I love translating the information within it to my own skills and practices. 

Erdnase, S. W. Expert at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.

Expert At The Card Table

The activity I chose for my IRP 2  was card manipulation. The book I chose to explore said activity was The Expert at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards by S.W. Erdnase. This book will be helpful in the process of learning more about card manipulation, because according to several magicians including Daniel Madison, Dai Vernon, Neil Patrick Harris, and several others, this book is the most valuable piece of instructional writing about card magic. Some magicians refer to it as the "Bible of card magic", even. In the citation, I used the name of the original print of the book, which was entitled Artifice, Ruse, and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. I went with the original print for the citation, my copy however is the new name.

Erdnase, S. W. Artifice, Ruse, and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, 1905. Print.