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his selection would be not even be in your pack of twenty-six duplicates.
But, like I said in the beginning, you may decide that it s just as easy to spread the cards face up and have the
volunteer name any card that he sees. It s a bit transparent, if you ask me, and if you do elect to take that
approach you will miss the chance to start sharpening your skills at psychological forcing and control.
You will also lose the opportunity to render a one-hand top palm competely invisible, as you will now see.
The only tricky part of the effect, as far as physical technique goes, comes after the spectator finally names a
card. Apart from the psychological usefulness already discussed, the riffling sequence creates a visual precedent
for the moves that follow. By visual precedent, this is what I mean:
You are about to bring the cards to the same eye-level position that they occupied during the riffling sequence.
The sequence has served as a visual precedent. After the spectator has named a card from the face -up spread, the
selection is apparently cut to the top of the pack and the cards are returned to their original vertical position, just
as they were at the outset.
If you were to omit the riffle sequence and just have the spectator blatantly name one of the face up cards, the
audience would have no visual precedent for the eye-level position in which you now hold the cards. It would
be the first time that you held the cards this way, and the position serves no noticeable purpose related to what
comes next, the simple dealing of the selection onto the subject s outstretched palm. All it would serve to do is
attract suspicion at the time you least need it.
If, on the other hand, the selection is preceded by the riffle sequence, the return of the cards to eye-level position
simply creates the impression that you are going back to where you left off earlier.
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Having a prior visual precedent for the position, therefore, removes the suspicion that would otherwise attach
to an unexpected, and seemingly pointless, hand and deck position.
Let s now go back to the point in the routine immediately following the naming of the card.
The performer cleanly cuts the selection, actually a roughed pair, to the top of the of the face-up pack.
(Important note for those who are entirely new to this business and have somehow managed to wade into this lesson: Whenever moves
involving playing cards are described, time honored definitions and conventions are employed. The top always refers to the side of
the deck which displays the back design. Similarly, the bottom, also referred to as the face of the pack, always refers to the side of
the deck which displays the face of a card. Even if the pack is turned face up, the face is still referred to as the bottom of the deck and
the top card remains the top card even if your own senses try to convince you that it is actually on the bottom. We re not talking reality,
here. We re talking communications.}
The spectator is asked to hold out his hand. The performer brings the pack back up to the eye level position it
occupied during the hopeless riffling sequence. He grasps the deck with his right hand. The two middle finger
tips are centered on the upper short edge of the vertical pack, and the right thumb is centered on the opposite
short edge of the pack- that is to say, the edge which presently faces the floor. The performer s right palm
directly faces the volunteer and the entire surface of the bottom card is exposed to the spectator s view. andthe
top card the pack with his left hand, the mentalist clearly keeps its face in view as he brings the card to the
volunteer s outstretched handA cuts it to the top of the pack. The spectator is asked to hold out his hand. The
performer brings the pack back up to the eye level position it occupied during the opening riffling sequence. He
grasps the deck with his right hand. The two middle fingers are centered on the upper short edge of the vertical
pack and the right thumb is centered on the opposite short edge of the pack which presently faces the floor. The
performer s right palm directly faces the volunteer and the entire surface of the bottom card is exposed to the
spectator s view.
The left hand releases its grip on the pack and draws the top card gently off of the pack to the left.
This must be done gently or you will actually deal off a roughed pair. You may find it helpful to use your right
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