Читать книгу Expert Card Technique - Jean Hugard - Страница 90

This extremely useful glimpse of the top card is not nearly as bold as it may seem at first sight, but it calls for perfect execution of the one-hand top palm{6} and the top card replacement.{7}

To make the glimpse, palm the top card in the right hand by the one-hand method and place the pack in the left hand; while addressing a spectator make a gesture, away from the body, in which the back of the hand is turned to the spectators; during this gesture sight the card, Fig. 1. Immediately afterwards return the card to the top of the pack.

On his first attempts, the reader, being extremely conscious of the subterfuge, will no doubt feel that the spectators must surely suspect his gesture; but after he has successfully performed the glimpse a dozen times or so, with no one the wiser, the sleight becomes as natural as breathing itself, so much so that often he will hold the card palmed for tens of seconds before he finally glimpses it.

As with all sleights, there is a “feel” to this glimpse which can only be acquired by experience; in this case the knack being that of dropping the eyes to the gesturing hand at the moment made most natural by the operator’s speech. This serves to make unnoticeable the telltale focusing of the eyes which betrays so many glimpses.