The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation

Marc Notes:
Originally published by the author in 1902 under the title: Artifice, ruse, and subterfuge at the card table.

Table of Contents:
Foreword to Dover Edition
Preface
Introduction
CARD-TABLE ARTIFICE
Professional Secrets
Hold Outs
Prepared Cards
Confederacy
Two Methods or Shuffling
Primary Accomplishments
"Possibilities of the "Blind"
Uniformity of Action
Deportment
Display of Ability
Greatest Single Accomplishment
Effect of Suspicion
Acquiring the Art
Importance of Detail
TECHNICAL TERMS
ERDNASE SYSTEM OF BLIND SHUFFLES
POSITION FOR SHUFFLES
BLIND SHUFFLES
I. To Retain Top Stock
II. To Retain Top Stock and Shuffle Whole Deck
III. To Retain Bottom Stock and Shuffle Whole Deck
ERDNASE SYSTEM OF BLIND RIFFLES AND CUTS
BLIND RIFFLES
I. To Retain Top Stock
II. To Retain Bottom Stock
BLIND CUTS
I. To Retain Bottom Stock. Top Losing One Card
II. To Retain Complete Stock
III. To Retain Top Stock
IV. To Retain Bottom Stock
COMBINATION RIFFLE AND CUTS
V. To Retain Bottom Stock
FANCY BLIND CUTS
I. To Retain Complete Stock
II. To Retain Complete Stock
ONE-HANDED FANCY TRUE CUT
TO INDICATE THE LOCATION FOR THE CUT
I. By Crimp
II. By Jog
III. By Crimp
IV. By Jog
BOTTOM DEALING
TOP AND BOTTOM DEALING WITH ONE HAND
SECOND DEALING
"ORDINARY METHODS OF STOCKING, LOCATING AND SECURING"
STOCK SHUFFLE
ERDNASE SYSTEM OF STOCK SHUFFLING
Two-Card Stock
Three-Card Stock
Four-Card Stock
Five-Card Stock
Twelve-Card Stock
Euchre Stock
Euchre Stock
ERDNASE SYSTEM OF CULL SHUFFLING
To Cull Two Cards
To Cull Three Cards
To Cull Four Cards
To Cull Nine Cards
ERDNASE SYSTEM OF PALMING
"Top Palm, First Method"
"Top Palm, Second Method"
"Bottom Palm, First Method"
"Bottom Palm, Second Method"
Bottom Palm When Cards Are Riffled
TO MAINTAIN THE BOTTOM PALM WITH DEALING
TO HOLD THE LOCATION OF CUT WHILE DEALING
SHIFTS
Two-Handed Shifts
"Erdnase Shift, One Hand"
"Erdnase Shift, Two Hands"
TO ASCERTAIN THE TOP CARDS WHILE RIFFLING AND RESERVE THEM AT BOTTOM
MODE OF HOLDING THE HAND
SKINNING THE HAND
THE PLAYER WITHOUT AN ALLY
Dealing Without the Cut
Replacing the Cut as Before
Holding Out for the Cut
Shifting the Cut
Dealing Too Many
Crimping for the Cut
Replacing Palm When Cutting
The Short Deck
THREE CARD MONTE
Mexican Three Card Monte
LEGERDEMAIN
SHIFTS
Single-Handed Shift
The Longitudinal Shift
The Open Shift
The S. W. E. Shift
The Diagonal Palm-Shift
THE BLIND SHUFFLE FOR SECURING SELECTED CARD
FORCING
PALMING
The Back Palm
CHANGES
The Top Change
The Bottom Change
The Palm Change
THE Double-Palm Change
TRANSFORMATIONS. TWO HANDS
First Method
Second Method
Third Method
Fourth Method
Fifth Method
Sixth Method
TRANSFORMATIONS. ONE HAND
First Method
Second Method
"BLIND SHUFFLES, RETAINING ENTIRE ORDER"
First Method
Second Method
Third Method
Fourth Method
Fifth Method
METHODS FOR DETERMINING A CARD THOUGHT OF
A. By the Riffle
B. By Springing Flourish
C. By the Cut
D. By the Gaze
TO GET SIGHT OF SELECTED CARD
THE SLIDE
FAVORITE SLEIGHTS FOR TERMINATING TRICKS
Catching Two Cards at Fingertips
Leaving Selected Card in Hand of Spectator
The Revolution
Cards Rising from the Hand
CARD TRICKS
Explanatory
The Exclusive Coterie
The Divining Rod
The Invisible Flight
TRICKS WITH PREARRANGED DECK
The Traveling Cards
The Row of Ten Cards
The Acrobatic Jacks
A Mind-Reading Trick
Power of Concentrated Thought
The Acme of Control
The Card and Handkerchief
The Top and Bottom Production
The Three Aces
The Card and Hat


Publisher Marketing:
" The Expert at the Card Table is the most famous, the most carefully studied book ever published on the art of manipulating cards at gaming tables." --from the Foreword by Martin Gardner.
For almost a century, this book has been considered indispensable to attaining the highest level of card mastery. In it, S. W. Erdnase, a supreme master of card manipulation, teaches card enthusiasts how to perform the dazzling tricks and sleights -- many of them his own creations -- that made him famous.
The first section of the book deals with card table artifice, or, to put it more bluntly, cheating at cards. Step by step, Mr. Erdnase demonstrates his own systems of false shuffling, false riffling and cutting, dealing from the bottom, and such slick moves as palming cards, "skinning the hand" -- even three-card monte.
The second section covers legerdemain: the art of forcing a card, one- and two-hand transformations, the devious "slide" and more. Card handlers will love Erdnase's selection of dazzling card tricks, including The Acrobatic Jacks, The Exclusive Coterie, The Divining Rod, The Invisible Flights, A Mind Reading Trick, and many others.
In an informative Foreword to this edition, Martin Gardner relates the unhappy details of the author's personal life, and recounts the history of this famous book, whose methods, Mr. Gardner asserts, "are as useful today by magicians and card hustlers as they were in 1902. This book is still the bible of card 'mechanics, ' and as much a delight to read as it was in the early years of this century."