Replacing Palmed Cards

1. Using a Table
2. Without a Table
3. On Bottom of Deck
4. Adding a Single Card to Deck
5. Large Packet of Palmed Cards
6. The Same--Another Method
7. Packet from Right Hand to Bottom of Deck
8. The Same--Another Method

Apart from a casual reference by Erdnase, I do not recall mention of this important sleight in any of the text books on card magic. That it is important and a stumbling block to many card magicians is quite certain. Recently, I saw a performer, who has a great reputation for his work with cards, do a trick of the "Take a Card Variety". Having allowed a spectator to choose a card and replace it, he made the pass very clumsily, palmed the card in his right hand which he at once put behind his back as he offered the pack with his left hand to the drawer of the card to be shuffled. To take the pack back again he extended his left hand to receive it and then deliberately put his right hand on the deck replacing the card on top. This clumsy procedure made his trick quite obvious even to the uninitiated.

The following methods will show how the awkwardness of taking the pack back with the left hand can be avoided and the whole action covered by natural movements:

a. Using a Table

When working at or near a table, after bringing the chosen card to the top, palm it by means of the One Hand Top Palm (Card Manipulations No. 1) in handing the deck to be shuffled. When this has been done ask the spectator to place the deck on the table and cut it. As he lifts off the upper portion of the pack place your right hand on the remaining packet and draw it back towards the edge of the table in the natural way of picking the deck up, adding the palmed card (or cards) to the top and covering operation with the full width of the hand.

Take the cut portion from the spectator with your left hand, place the right hand packet on top of it and square the deck. These actions are natural and can arouse no suspicions.

The tendency to hold the hand and arm rigidly to the side when cards have been palmed, must be fought against. The wrist and arm should be held naturally flexed and be moved about freely in gestures appropriate to your patter, indeed the fact that cards are secretly held in the hand should be forgotten for the moment.

b. Without a Table

When working without a table the best plan is this: A card, or cards, having been palmed in the right hand and a spectator having shuffled a pack, hold out your left hand, fiat and palm upwards, request him to place the deck on it and then cut at any place he desires. The moment he lifts the cut portion bring your right hand over the remainder adding the palmed cards to them and at once bend the right forefinger inward to the middle of the top of the packet. Press downwards with this finger and pull the ends of the cards upwards with the thumb and fingers on the ends, thus taking the crimp out of the cards that were palmed. Take the cut portion from the spectator with the left hand and reassemble the pack.

Here again the action is easy and natural, and so far from arousing any suspicion in the minds of the spectators, it tends to impress them that the cut so freely made must make it certain that the location of any particular card cannot possibly be known.

c. Replacing Cards on the Bottom of the Deck

The operation in this case is simple but must be timed perfectly. Having palmed a packet of cards from the bottom with the left hand, offer the deck to be shuffled with your right hand, and this having been done, take it back with the same hand. Bring the two hands together, the left coming up from the side with its back to the spectators. At the moment the hands meet turn the left hand palm upwards and with the right hand place the deck, which holds by the ends, on the palmed cards. At the same time double the left forefinger under the deck so that its nail rests against the bottom card, and run the left thumb and the other three fingers along the sides of the deck squaring the cards. Fig. 10.

A few trials before a mirror will show the angles necessary to cover the replacement of the palmed cards.

d. Adding a Single Card as in the Color Change

This sleight is generally done with the pack in the left hand, the left thumb being held against the side of the deck. It is much more effective to hold the thumb pressed against the middle of the deck, so that when the right hand is moved over the cards, the left thumb is seen to be still pressing on the middle of the face card, yet the change has been made. To do this, hold the pack in the left hand, the thumb across the middle of the face card.

Bring the right hand with the palmed card towards the deck, at the same time press the first joint of the right hand little finger against the corner of the palmed card and push its opposite diagonal corner firmly against the base of the thumb, thus bending the middle of the card slightly away from the palm of the hand. Fig. 11

Move the right hand over the deck and, without moving the left thumb, slide the card under it and leave it there. As the right hand moves away the left thumb is seen to be still pressing on the middle of the deck, thus greatly increasing the effect of the change.

The same method should be used for placing a card, secured by the Side Slip, on to the top of the pack, the action apparently being that of merely squaring the deck. The left thumb should remain on the back of the deck throughout.

This sleight can be used in replacing a small packet of not more than five or six cards. For any larger number the plan that follows should be used.

e. To Replace a Large Packet of Cards

Hold the pack in the left hand between the first joints of the thumb and second and third fingers, the first finger being doubled under the deck so that its nail presses against the bottom card.

Turn slightly to the left, bring the right hand full length over the deck and instantly grip its ends with the ball of the thumb at the inner end and the first joints of the second and third fingers at the outer end, depositing the palmed cards on top of the deck. Instantly bend the right forefinger inwards so that its tip rests on the middle of the top card. Press down with forefinger and pull the ends of the deck slightly upwards, so taking the bend out of the cards which were palmed. Fig. 12.

f. Another Method

Having cards palmed in the right hand, hold the deck as described in move No. 5. Turn slightly to the left and take the pack with the right hand by gripping its outer top and bottom corners between the first joints of the right forefinger and thumb. The backs of the right hand and the deck should be towards the front. Making some appropriate gesture with the left hand allow it to be seen empty and again take the pack in that hand. At the same moment slide the right hand over the top of the deck and grip the palmed pack by its sides with the left thumb and fingers. Slide the right hand back as if it had merely squared the cards.

g. Placing Cards from Right Palm to the Bottom of the Deck

Proceed as in Move No. 6, but instead of sliding the right hand over the deck, stretch out the left fingers under the deck and, under cover of the right hand, draw the palmed cards underneath. To facilitate this transfer, lift the right hand side of the deck slightly with the right thumb and first finger. The moment the cards are safely under the deck make the usual movements with the right hand to square the cards.

h. Another Method

This sleight can only be used when working at a table. A packet of cards being palmed in the right hand, to get them to the bottom, take the deck in both hands by the ends and make a running cut, i.e. draw off a series of small packets from the top and drop them on the table. The apparent removal of the first packet is merely a feint; simply make the action but take no cards at all, dropping the palmed cards on the table. Then really make the cuts with precisely the same action as in the first pretended cut. The palmed cards thus become the bottom cards of the deck.