08-June-2010

In the first installment of AceHoyle.com’s “So You Wanna Be a Card Sharp” series, we showed how “card mechanics” keep certain cards on the top or bottom of a deck. This, we said, is called “false shuffling,” and it is one of the most basic ways card sharps achieve “card control.”

Card control is so essential to every sleight-of-hand trick that if you still haven’t mastered false shuffles we suggest you backtrack to our previous article. If, however, you’re confident in your ability to perform the trick explained there, the next thing you’ll probably want to know is how you can turn your newfound card control into an advantage.

This is an obvious question, but hardly a dumb one because of how standard poker rules require you deal: All poker variants' rules dictate that you must deal from the top of the deck and that you must deal clockwise, beginning with the first opponent on your left.

Now, obviously, these rules would make that Ace of Spades you stashed for yourself through false shuffling only helpful to one of your opponents. But that’s assuming you aren’t interested in breaking the rules. And, considering you’re already learning how to cheat at poker games, we doubt you’ll have many qualms overlooking a few finer points.

Of course, as the old saying goes, “You’re only in trouble if you get caught.” But considering there’s usually money on the line, your opponents in most home poker games will be watching your every twitch and tremor. Under these circumstances, getting away with, say, dealing in reverse order is out of the question. Sure, you can possibly feign ignorance, play the rube, and maybe that’ll even help you in the psych game once or twice. But you can bet your opponents will call you on any attempt to commit such an obvious poker faux pas and make you deal the hand over.

All things considered, then, your only hope as a card sharp is to break less obvious rules. Take the rule about always dealing from the top of a deck, for instance: Maybe you’ll get caught dealing the second card; maybe you won’t. Likely, few casual players know the rules of Texas Hold em, Omaha, Five-Card Stud, etc. well enough to realize they should never play a bottom-drawn hand. But even in the case of pure pros, if done fast enough—and stealthily enough—you might be able to get away with it.

How to Use the “Mechanic’s Grip”

Perhaps the easiest way to deal your opponents rags and reserve the best cards for yourself is to “deal the second.” This maneuver relies entirely on your manual dexterity in that you will have to cover the deck with your passive hand while simultaneously sliding back the top card with your dominant hand.

Certainly, performing all these actions in one a seamless, unnoticeable motion is no small order. And to master the trick well enough that your opponents won’t string you up by your bits will take lots of practice. Still, there are specific ways you can position your hands to make pulling off this trick helluva easier. And foremost of these positions is called the “Mechanic’s Grip.”

The Mechanic’s Grip involves arranging the deck so that seeing it is next to impossible. To use it you’ll first want to place the deck in the palm of your dominant hand so that it extends lengthwise from your wrist and the bottom card is facedown in your palm. Next, position your dominant hand’s fingers so that your pinky, ring and middle fingers wrap around the deck’s inner edge and the deck’s outer edge rests against the base of your thumb.

You’ll want to clench the deck between your fingers and the base of your thumb, cupping your hand slightly and leaving about 2.5 centimeters between the bottom card’s face and your palm. But be careful not to squeeze so hard that you can’t slide the top card back and forth because doing so will make dealing the second impossible.

To test whether you’re applying too much or too little pressure, simply hold the deck as described above and use one of your passive fingers to slide the top card back and forth. If the card slides side to side as well as back and forth you’re not applying enough pressure; if, on the other hand, it doesn’t slide at all, you’re applying too much.

Once you’re holding the deck properly, you’ll next want to position your dominant hand’s thumb so that the side of its pad nearest your index finger rests on the top card. Finally, position your index finger so its pad rests against the front of the deck. Done right, this position will allow you to slide the top card back and forth with your thumb while your index finger acts as a stopper when you slide the card forward.

How to Deal the Second

Just as the position of your dominant hand is integral to dealing the second, so is the position of your passive hand. With your passive hand you must not only flick cards toward yourself and your opponents, but also effectively cover up what your dominant hand is doing.

This means of hiding a second deal is similar to the trick we covered at the end of our first “So You Wanna Be a Card Sharp” article. The difference is, though, that in this case it is far easier to position your fingers properly without giving yourself carpal tunnel: Holding your passive hand so its thumb points upward and the flat of its index finger is parallel to your chest, you simply clench your fingers into a Karate chop and sweep your passive hand toward the front of the deck.

As your passive hand nears your dominant hand it will mask the fact that your dominant thumb is sliding back the top card of the deck. Be careful, however, to only use your passive thumb to slide cards forward. Otherwise you risk breaking the cover this position provides and revealing your dirty tricks.

As for catching hold of the second card with your passive thumb, the best method is to drag the outer edge of its pad across the second card’s outer, front corner. This might not seem like an effective method because you’re not actually grasping the card. But, believe it or not, your thumbprint comprises hundreds of miniscule ridges that will snag the card’s corner and pull it free from the deck.

The key to this motion is to simultaneously slide the top card back with your dominant thumb as your passive hand nears the front of the deck; then to slide the top card forward with your dominant thumb as your passive hand moves away. Doing so, you can conceal any irregularities created when your passive thumb pulls the second card free, ensuring your hapless opponents are none the wiser.

A Final Note on Dealing the Second

By and large, the above explanation is all there is to know about dealing the second. But there is one matter of technique that will make performing the trick far smoother and less noticeable: Never slide a top card back so far that the colored portion of the second card’s back is visible.

The reason you should be careful not slide a top card back too far is that printers expressly use solid, dark colors in card back designs so that they are in stark contrast to their surrounding white borders. This has been standard practice for centuries because it makes dealing the second far more detectable and, as a result, discourages cheating.

The moral of the story, then, is that, in order to perfect dealing the second, you’ll have to get extremely good at avoiding such pitfalls. Normally, fledgling card sharps are unaware of these sorts of traps because the authors of the books they read omit many of the most important details from their explanations.

Obviously, such omissions can be devastating for the uninitiated, which is why we here at AceHoyle.com hope you will take our last little piece of technical advice to heart. After all, it’s not every day you come across a sleight-of-hand how-to that reveals everything; and, really, getting caught during your next poker game because you ignored our advice is probably going to hurt you a lot more than us.

By: Phill Provance & Edgar Arce
phill.provance@acehoyle.com

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