The Expert at the Card Table

Infobox Book
name = The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Cover"
author = S. W. Erdnase
illustrator = Smith, M. D.
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject = Card tricks, Sleight of hand, Magic (illusion),
genre = Non-Fiction
publisher = Lybrary.com
pub_date = 2001
english_pub_date =
media_type = ebook
pages =
oclc =
preceded_by = 1st Ed., 1902
followed_by =Infobox Book
name = The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Cover of the 1995 edition."
author = S. W. Erdnase
illustrator = Smith, M. D.
cover_artist = Ed Smith Design
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject = Card tricks, Sleight of hand, Magic (illusion),
genre = Non-Fiction
publisher = Dover
pub_date = 1995
english_pub_date =
media_type =
pages =
isbn = 978-0486285979
oclc =
preceded_by = 1st Ed., 1902
followed_by =

"The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation"cite book
url = http://www.lybrary.com/expert-card-table-p-28.html
last = Erdnase
first = S. W
title = The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation
origyear = 1902
accessdate = 2008-01-04
edition = 1st Ed. reprint
year = 2001
publisher = Lybrary.com
location = Cambridge, MA ] is a book on cards and magic written in 1901 by S. W. Erdnase, a pseudonymous author whose identity has been a long-discussed mystery for over a century. [Silverman, Rachel Emma. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB966384617725070438.html?mod=googlewsj "Fresh Clues Could Reveal Magic-Trick Writer Who Pulled a Disappearing Act a Century Ago"] , "The Wall Street Journal", August 16, 2000. Accessed January 13, 2008.] The book is considered to be one of the most influential works on magic or conjuring with cards and card sharps.

quote|"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."|the Foreword by Martin Gardner, p. vii.cite book
last = Erdnase
first = S. W
title = The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation
origyear = 1902
accessdate = 2008-01-04
edition = 1st Ed. reprint
year = 1995
publisher = Dover Publications
location = Mineola, NY
isbn = 978-0486285979 ]

Description of the book

The author's identity remains an unsolved mystery, despite his widespread influence on the magicians' community. (See Gardner's Foreword, pp. vii-ix.)

Although the author did not renew the copyright, the book has remained in print since 1902, albeit small private printings on occasion.cite web
url = http://www.erdnase.com/editions/index.html
title = The Expert at the Card Table Editions
accessdate = 2008-01-08
last = England
first = Jason
year = 2007 ] The influence of this book is such that it has been issued in annotated form;cite book
last = Ortiz
first = Darwin
title = The annotated Erdnase
origyear = 1991
accessdate = 2008-01-08
publisher = Magical Publications
isbn = 978-0915181216
pages = 270 pages ] translated into Japanese, German, Spanish, French, and Italian; issued as a series of DVDs by a professional magician, demonstrating and explaining Erdnase's techniques and methods.cite web
url = http://www.magictricks.com/videos/dvds/dvderdnase.htm
title = Expert at the Card Table by Wesley James
accessdate = 2008-01-08
last = James
first = Wesley
year = 2007
format = DVD ]

Dai Vernon, "The Professor", is credited with popularizing this influential text in the community of professional magicians. Well past ninety years of age, Vernon was fond of quoting from it, with page numbers, when discussing card techniques with his colleagues at the Magic Castle.cite book
last = Johnson
first = Karl
title = The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist
origyear = 2005
accessdate = 2008-01-08
edition = Adapted edition
publisher = Henry Holt and Co.
location = New York
isbn = 978-0805074062
pages = 368 pages ]

The book is divided into sections. Each section describes individual card manipulation techniques. This article will describe the sections in précis form.

= Foreword, Preface, .

Card Table Artifice

"Professional secretes" begins Erdnase's general discussion of card play with emphasis on card manipulation for the advantage of the reader, magician or card sharp.

Technical Terms

Erdnase defines important specialty words and topics to be used throughout the remainder of the text.

Erdnase System of Blind Shuffles

Sixteen shuffles and card cutting techniques are explained. Those are divided among eight subsections on different types of shuffles and cuts, with illustrations.

Bottom Dealing

The technique of bottom dealing is explained, with illustrations.

Top and Bottom Dealing with One Hand

The technique of bottom dealing is explained. Illustrations omitted.

Second Dealing

The technique of second dealing is explained, with illustrations.

Ordinary Methods of Stocking, Locating, and Securing

Techniques of arranging the order of the cards in the deck are explained, with illustrations. This is referred to as "stacking the deck" in modern terms. As Erdnase uses the terms, the "stock" is the portion of the full deck that has been "stacked" with "culled" cards.

Stock Shuffle

Techniques of arranging the order of the cards in the deck, while shuffling, are explained, with illustrations.

Erdnase System of Stock Shuffling

Seven individual techniques are discussed in detail, with illustrations. Each technique applies to a different number of cards to be stocked, from two cards to twelve and two methods of Euchre stocking.

Erdnase System of Cull Shuffling

Four individual culling techniques are discussed in detail, with illustrations. Each technique applies to a different number of cards to be culled. Erdnase defines culling as "the act of selecting one or more cards." The culled cards may be stocked, as described earlier in the text.

Erdnase System of Palming

Five card palming methods are discussed, with illustrations.

To Maintain the Bottom Palm While Dealing

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

To Hold the Location of Cut While Dealing Shifts

Three techniques are discussed, with illustrations.

To Ascertain the Top Cards While Riffling and Reserve Them at the Bottom

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

Mode of Holding the Hand

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

Mode of Skinning the Hand

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

The Player Without an Ally

The general strategies are discussed. Eight techniques for implementing the strategies are discussed in detail, with illustrations.

Three Card Monte

Techniques for both European style and Mexican style three card Monte are discussed, both honest and manipulated, from the viewpoint of the dealer, with illustrations.

Legerdemain

Twelve sections define and discuss over thirty techniques of performance magic, with illustrations. Erdnase defines "legerdemain" as sleight of hand with cards, as opposed to his definition of card tricks.

The techniques Erdnase presents, with illustrations, in this section are as follows:

columns
col1 = Legerdemain "(a general discussion of sleight of hand card illusions)"

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 CARDFORCING
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

col2 = 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

Fifteen card tricks are discussed. Erdnase defines "card tricks" as including either or both sleight of hand and self-working illusion effects. The latter do not always require legerdemain for their performance.

The techniques Erdnase presents, with illustrations, in this section are as follows:columns
col1 = Card Tricks: Explanatory "(a general discussion of card tricks)"

:The Exclusive Coterie
:The Divining Rod
:The Invisible Flight
TRICKS WITH THE PREARRANGED DECK
:The Traveling Cards
:The Row of Ten Cards :The Acrobatic Jacks

col2 = :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

References