Читать книгу Expert Card Technique - Jean Hugard - Страница 30

In this deal the top and bottom cards of a small packet are dealt as one card. One of the specialties of Jack Merlin, it was suppressed by him when writing his booklet, … and a Pack of Cards.

A method of duplicating the deal, not necessarily Merlin’s, follows:

a. 1. Hold a small packet of cards, face upwards, in the left hand in position for the bottom deal, page 36. Push the top card diagonally off the pack with the left thumb, the inner end pivoting upon the flesh at the base of the thumb.

2. Place the outermost phalange of the right second finger upon the back of the bottom card, exactly as in removing this card in the bottom deal. From this point onward, however, the deal differs from the bottom deal.

3. Place the ball of the right thumb upon the outer right corner of the top card. Drop the rigid left fingers a little lower than in the bottom deal, allowing the right second finger to move freely inward, over them, during the following action:

4. Draw the bottom card inward to the right with the right second finger, this card also pivoting upon the flesh at the base of the thumb, until it is directly under the top card at the face of the packet, Fig. 1.

5. Pinch these two cards tightly together between the ball of the thumb and the outermost phalange of the second finger and deal them as one card upon the table, Fig. 2. If there happens to be any overlap of the two cards, let it be on the right-hand side, for the cards should be dealt directly under the right hand, which is two or three inches above them, obscuring them from view immediately as the hand moves with a wrist action upwards to remove another card.

The double deal should not be made until a number of single cards have been dealt from the top, when the presence of an overlap in the two cards when placed on the table pile will not be noticed.

This deal can be used to show that a single card has vanished from a packet, or to effect a set-up of cards stocked at the top of the packet in dealing them. Many other uses will suggest themselves. Merlin’s Lost Aces trick, in another part of this book, is an excellent example of the use to which the sleight can be put.