
The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation - c--misura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expert_at_the_Card_Table
======
ChuckMcM
Link to the actual book :
[https://books.google.com/books?id=_7wyAQAAMAAJ&printsec=fron...](https://books.google.com/books?id=_7wyAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)

------
markgarity
The Expert at the Card table is a classic, but pretty advanced for someone
just getting started with card handling.

For anyone looking to learn more, I would strongly recommend some of the video
tutorials available at
[http://www.theory11.com/tricks](http://www.theory11.com/tricks) (some are
free, many are cheap, and majority can be streamed online)

Specifically look for anything you can find by Jason England. That man is a
modern master of card sleights if their ever was one, and over the years he
has created some great walkthroughs for techniques from the Faro Shuffle to
Palming to Dice Switching.

(Full disclosure, I have done some work for this site, but it's legitimately
one of the greatest resources for learning more about this topic that I know
of)

------
spinchange
Erdnase is like the Genesis of the card magic canon. While it has an important
& worthwhile place on any cardworker's bookshelf (Dai Vernon basically
considered it the bible), there are some newer & more modern treatises a
little more accessible in terms of language, descriptions, illustration, and
just overall instruction. The multi-volume Card College series by Roberto
Giobbi comes to mind.

~~~
diiq
Yeah, Erdnase is the last thing I'd recommend to someone who wants to learn
card work -- that is, I'd recommend it, but after all my other recommendations
:) Erdnase was revolutionary as a catalog of slights and subtleties that
existed -- but if you want to learn to _perform_ them, all you'll get from
Erdnase is frustration.

~~~
britknight
What would you suggest?

~~~
dsrguru
_Card College_ by Roberto Giobbi is pricey but provides excellent instruction.
If you don't mind reading older, more formal language (though not as old as
Erdnase!), _The Royal Road to Card Magic_ by Hugard and Braue, and its sequel
_Expert Card Technique_ , cover more material than Giobbi at a fraction of the
cost, albeit with _slightly_ less attention to the subtleties of finger
position.

~~~
spinchange
Hugard and Braue are, again, totally canonical. (Almost sort of analogous to
Thompson & Ritchie's published works on C/Unix, but for cards...sort of ;)
They're cheap and easy to come by for <$10 each, and I agree that pound-for-
pound, you're going to get more effects from them than anywhere else.

I do think for a _serious_ beginner right now, though, Giobbi is probably more
appropriate. I would argue he offers considerably more detail on subtleties of
handling and overall performance and in more accessible language which is
important. It's kind of like you're getting the best of Erdnase, Hugard, Braue
and so many of the greats who came after them in the 20th century distilled
down to best practices with Giobbi's course. There's nothing wrong with taking
it slow either. You don't have to get all the volumes at once. In fact, it
would be better to spend a long time mastering each before buying and moving
on to the next.

------
kqr2
For a fascinating look at one of the masters of card manipulation, see
_Secrets of the Magus_ :

[http://rickyjay.com/NewYorker_RickyJay.pdf](http://rickyjay.com/NewYorker_RickyJay.pdf)

There was also a recent documentary on Ricky Jay (available on Netflix) called
_Deceptive Practice_ :

[http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/](http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/)

~~~
viggity
I love Ricky Jay. My dad is a slight of hand specialist and his entire
basement is essentially a magic library. Anyway, when I was a kid I took
particular interest to Ricky's book on how to throw playing cards as he used
topless models to demonstrate form.

Knowing how hard you can throw a card, I feel like I'm lucky that me and my
brothers escaped childhood with our eyesight intact.

------
aristus
I have a copy of this, reprinted in 1940s sandwiched into another work by
MacDougall. Lots of fun for a bored child. I still shuffle cards in the rather
striking way he describes:

Cut the deck perfectly in half. This is easier than it sounds.

Pincer the halves at the end, and push the two other ends together.

Push harder, smoothly, and rotate your wrists opposite slightly. The two
halves will fan into each other. With practice you can perform 2 (4?) perfect
shuffles and end up with the cards in the same order you started in.

~~~
rcoppolo
It takes 8 perfect shuffles to get back to the start.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_shuffle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_shuffle)

------
nawitus
Here's a nice video by Richard Turner demonstrating various card manipulation
techniques:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11R-jy8DZt8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11R-jy8DZt8)

~~~
sev
And the guy is blind!

------
joosters
That's nothing, there are _whole books_ dedicated to some of these individual
techniques and tricks, like 'Second Dealing'

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_dealing](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_dealing)

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-None-Art-
Dealing/dp/098191666...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-None-Art-
Dealing/dp/098191666X/)

------
brucehauman
I'm a big fan of "The Complete Works of Derek Dingle" and "The Secrets of
Brother John Hamman"

Both are absolutely excellent.

