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Sleights & Techniques
Excerpted from the pages of 'Carpe Chartaes' by Mick Ayres.  Copyright 2003 by CardWorker.com.  All rights reserved.


THE STILES BUCKLE

Back in the seventies, Kirk Stiles was a friend and mentor to a few south Florida magicians...Russ Burns and David Rumfeld,
Sheldon Waldman and myself.  He encouraged us to develop our own material and, although Kirk was drop-dead honest with
us when we showed him stuff that was below standard, his forthright manner inspired us to keep pushing the creative envelope
as much as possible.  He was a stickler for performance details and he taught us to give back as much as we took from magic.

For example Kirk himself wrote, illustrated and published Magic & Spells Quarterly plus made several contributions to Bobo’s
classic Modern Coin Magic.  Russ Burns’ creativity can be found published in several volumes of Jerry Mentzer’s great series
Card Calvacade.  His Liquid Silver was the inspiration for Michael Ammar’s Coins Thru Silk, one of the most popular versions
of this trick today.  Shelly Waldman’s book Underhanded Sorcery hit the market about twenty-five years ago and contains
some of the most creative magic available.  In 1978, David Rumfeld and I collaborated with Lonnie Sutherland in a cinder-block
garage to produce An Introduction to Close Up Magic.  According to T.A. Waters, this was the very first instructional video in
the history of magic and paved the way for the thousands to come.  As for myself?  You’re reading some of it.

When an illness got the better of Kirk in the early eighties, his passing left a gaping hole in all our lives and his three protégés
drifted away from magic for several years.  Fortunately, we have maintained contact with each other to some degree and today
magic remains a major influence in our lives.  For some, it’s a living; for others, a serious hobby at least.

To give you an idea of Kirk Stiles’ attention to detail, I want you to perform an small exercise with me.  Get three or four cards,
find a mirror and stand in front of it.  Hold the cards in your left hand in dealing position.  Now, buckle the bottom card and
freeze.  Hold this position and look in the mirror.

What do you see?  Can you see the buckled card bent along the inside curve of your index finger? If not, then pat yourself on
the back and move on to the next trick in the book.  However, if you can see the bent card then please realize that your
audience can see it, too, every time you do a buckle.

Don’t get down on yourself, though, because you are right up there with the nine out of ten sleight-of-hand professionals who
don’t realize they’re telegraphing the fact that they’re doing something sneaky.  The next time you go to a convention, pay
attention to both the guys in the lobby and the paid performers.  You’re going to be amazed.

How do you get rid of this anomaly?  Well, you could just substitute a pinky pull-down in some cases or you could apply a bit of
finesse that Kirk discovered.  The bend in the card is caused because you are using the tip of your index finger to pull the card
sharply toward the left which warps the card at the front a little but gives you a whopping break at the back, right?

Kirk’s suggestion is to change the direction in which you pull.  Instead of pulling to the left, simply pull your index fingertip in
towards your belly.  This causes the inner left corner of the bottom card to press against the heel of your hand.  The card is
buckled and still creates the same whopping break, but look back in the mirror.  There’s no visible bend at all, is there?

In the realm of sleight-of-hand, details like this are what separate the men from the boys.  Hope you like it.



BURN'S SENSATIONAL SECOND

This isn’t a trick so much as it is a largely undiscovered card sleight with a misleading title.  If you can find a copy, this sleight
can be found in Russ Burn’s lecture notes from the late seventies.  At one time, Russ was a prolific contributor to several magic
publications and his influences can be seen in the routines of many top-notch performers.  Today, Russ is retired and living in
south Florida, filling his days as a grandfather and self-proclaimed professional hurricane-dodger.

The title is a bit misleading because this is not a second deal at all.  Instead, it is the technique Russ uses as a get-ready for a
double-lift.  Using the Sensational Second maneuver, you can align the top two cards perfectly at an angle to the rest of the
deck and ready for a very clean double-turnover.  In addition, this is done with one hand and without ever looking at the deck.

Hold the deck in your left hand in dealing position.  Shift the deck back in your hand about half an inch, so the middle of your
thumb pad lies comfortably on top of the front edge of the deck.  You want to feel the upper edge of the top card under the ball
of your thumb.  The index finger rests across the front edge of the deck and is not curled over it.  The middle finger is
positioned on the right side of the deck, just below the upper corner; and this is critical...the tip of the middle finger barely rises
above the top card of the deck!  You’ll see how important this is in a moment.  The ring and little fingertips are held against the
side of the deck as well, but below the top.

To execute the sleight, the thumb moves the top card of the deck to the right and back a little, angling it as if you were about to
perform a second deal, hence the name of the move.  As the top card moves back and to the right, the ball of the thumb
contacts the second card and moves it along as well, until the upper right corner of both cards glides past the middle finger tip!

Now, reverse your thumb’s direction and you’ll be able to push both cards forward slightly until they contact the tip of the middle
finger.  The cards will align themselves between the middle fingertip and the heel of palm.  At this point, it should look like the
top card is in position and ready to be dealt to the table or turned over.  However, since the second card of the deck is lined up
with the top one, an effective double-turnover should be a piece of cake.

With a bit of practice you’ll get the hang of this sleight quickly.  However, like all double lift get-readies, you need to be able to
accomplish this maneuver without looking.  Drop your hand to your side and go for it.

Trust your feelings, Luke...especially those in the tip of your middle finger.



THE AYRES SHIFT

A long time ago, in a land far, far away, some cardworker was fiddling around with the Tenkai Palm and decided to turn the card
90 degrees and invented the Longitudinal Palm.  In the late seventies, I stumbled across a mimeographed sheet that was being
handed around from magician to magician and this sheet had some sketchy information describing how to hold the card but
nothing about how to get it there.  To date, with rare exceptions, little has been written about this technique and few magicians
use it.  Probably because it is an awkward palm to get accustomed to and it does have its angle problems.

I took a liking to the palm though and developed a few techniques for secretly loading the card into position.  I created one
method in 1978 (titled the Cardworker Shift) that is technically demanding because it blends the longitudinal palm with some
injogging techniques borrowed from Jerry Andrus’s Panoramic Shift.

In 1979 I created another, much simpler technique for stealing a selected card from the center of the deck into a longitudinal
palm.  The sleight offers great versatility, has no unnatural movements, yet remains quite invisible.  Friends titled it the Ayres
Shift and it has remained a well-used tool for card control over the years.  This shift allows you to secretly move a chosen card
from the middle of the deck to the top or bottom (or any specific location in the deck) invisibly.  It is not difficult and can be
mastered relatively quickly.

Have a card freely selected.  While the spectator is memorizing his card, square the deck face down in the left hand so the
inner left corner is pressed firmly into the heel of your palm.  Lift half the deck off and allow the spectator to replace his card on
top of the bottom half.  As you move to replace the upper half onto the lower half, the dirty work happens.  The tip of your right
thumb comes into contact with the back of the selection at a spot about one-quarter inch from the back edge.  Relax your left
middle, third and fourth fingertips so they are below the surface of the lower half of the deck.

During the movement of placing the deck halves together, your right thumb pushes directly backward on the selection.  
Because the inner left corner is jammed against the heel of your palm, the selected card will swivel or pivot off to the right until it
is angle-jogged about 45o to the rest of the deck. The deck halves come together neatly with  your right palm hiding the angle-
jogged card.

Underneath the pack, you now place your left little fingertip onto the face of the selection near the bottom right edge of the
deck.  Extend your little finger to the right and the selected card will slide sideways about half an inch.  This puts it in perfect
position to be gripped by the right hand in a longitudinal palm.  That is, the short edges of the card are held between the ball of
the thumb nearest the first joint and the fleshy part of the palm directly underneath the right little finger.  Once the card is
gripped properly, you may have to move your right hand a fraction of an inch further to the right so the edge of the card will
clear the inside right corner of the deck.

Your left thumb is lying across the top of the pack.  Lift it up ever so slightly.  Now, bring your right hand over the deck and slide
the palmed card underneath the thumb until it is square with the rest of the pack and your thumb is holding it down.  With your
right hand, release your grip on the card and, in one smooth motion, continue moving your right hand up the left arm and push
your sleeve up.  Come back and take the deck into your right hand, so the left hand can push the sleeve up on your right arm.

That’s it.  After a little mirror-time, you’ll see the Ayres Shift is invisible and, more importantly, quite natural.



THE BANSHEE CUT

According to ancient Scots and Irish folklore a banshee is a ghost; a dead soul with unfinished business.  This restless spirit, or
shade, tends to roam about trying to set things right, often to no avail.  This false cut flourish does the same thing...it looks like
you have rearranged the deck nicely when really nothing has happened at all.

To execute the Banshee Cut, the deck is held face down in a left hand mechanic’s grip.  The left thumb riffles the left edge of
the deck and stops about one-third of the way down.  Put your right thumb at the back edge of the deck and your right index
finger at the front edge of this upper third, closer to the right corner.  Your fingertip now lifts up on this section and angles it
slightly to the left.  Your right thumb maintains its position at the back of the deck.  Your left thumb again riffles down along the
left edge of the deck about another third of the way and stops.

Now your right middle finger does the same thing that your index finger did.  Lift up on the center third of the deck, angling it
slightly to the left also.  The ring and little fingertips reach down and hold the bottom third of the deck secure against the ball of
the thumb.  The left hand can now release its grip.

Place your left index fingertip at the back edge of the middle third of the deck and push forward and to the left, pivoting this
section off the right middle finger.  This section should swing out and into the left hand.

Bring the right hand forward and drop the bottom third into the left hand so that these cards are jogged forward about two
inches.  Immediately draw your right hand back and deposit the upper third of the deck into the left hand so that this section is
directly above the lowest portion.  To check yourself, the deck is now held in the left hand with a block of cards jogged forward
in the center.

The right hand now moves to the rear of the deck and grips the sides of the upper and lower packets and, in hindu-shuffle
fashion, pulls back on these packets, stripping the center packet free.  The right hand cards are now placed firmly on top of the
left hand cards.  Square up and you are finished; the deck is back in its original order.

With practice, of course, this in-the-hands false cut looks very convincing despite one major discrepancy...the top portion of the
cards always stays on top!  Why don’t spectators notice this?  I’m not completely sure, but I do have a couple of theories.

First, in the final phase of this cut, the right hand firmly places the upper two-thirds of the deck onto the bottom third with a
degree of authority.  Perhaps the sound of the deck portions coming together is the psychological-convincer for the spectator.  
If you are familiar with the popular Winnipeg cut, this firm action is precisely what convinces people that the cutting of the deck
was completely legitimate.  Also, during this same segment of the cut, the right hand can give the audience a flash of the bottom
card just before it places the upper two-thirds of the deck back onto the lower third.  During any repeats of the cut, that bottom
card will change every time and that serves as yet another subtle convincer.

The Banshee Cut looks fair and fancy and can be mastered in about ten minutes.  



THE SLIGO FORCE

Its hard to keep your feet still while listening to a good dance fiddler play a slip-jig.  A Celtic fiddling style defined by its unique
rhythms, slip-jigs originated several hundred years ago in County Sligo (pronounced sly-go) in Ireland.  And what, you may ask,
does this have to do with a deck of cards?  Good question.

The Sligo Force is a reconstructed handling of the ever-so-popular Slip Force.  The end results are the same.  As you riffle
your thumb down the side of the deck, a spectator asks you to stop somewhere near the middle.  The deck is opened and the
spectator takes a card.  You just forced the top card of the deck.

First, note the top card of the deck.  Let us assume it is the jack of diamonds.  Hold the face down deck in your left hand in a
dealer’s grip.  Your left fingers, the ring finger in particular, should be slightly overlapping the right edge of the cards.  Now,
using your thumb, run down the left edge of the cards until the spectator tells you to stop.  If you can, try to control the speed of
the riffle so that you are stopped somewhere in the upper third of the deck.  Your thumb continues to press down a bit, clearly
marking the point where the spectator stopped.

The left ring finger should begin adding a slight downward pressure to the top card of the deck.  The reasons why should
become clear in a moment.  With your right hand, reach over the deck from above and place the tips of your index and middle
fingers directly on the forward left corner of this upper packet.  To be precise, your middle finger is positioned on the front of
the deck and the index finger is actually on the left edge.  The two fingers are touching each other with the corner of the cards
pressing between them.

Using these two fingers, start moving the upper packet forward and to the right.  At this point, you’ll cause three things to
happen all at once.  First, the jack of diamonds will remain in place because of the downward pressure being applied by the tip
of the left ring finger.  Second, the upper packet will pivot around the left middle finger.  Since the left middle finger is usually
positioned fairly close to the front of the deck, this will cause the upper packet to move forward as it swivels 90 degrees to the
balance of the deck.  Third, as the packet is about to reach the 90 degree position, use your right fingers to pull up on the
packet only.  This exposes the faces of the cards.

Your right thumb now contacts the back of the packet and begins to fan the cards.  It is critical that the lowest edge of the
packet’s bottom card maintains contact with the leading edge of deck until the jack of diamonds has settled directly down on top
of the deck.  At this time, your right hand continues to fan the upper cards with the faces directly toward the spectator.  The left
hand, holding the balance of the deck is free to drop a little.

Say, “People usually stop me somewhere in these cards...but it doesn’t matter”.  Bring your left hand up and, with your left
thumb, simply push the jack of diamonds forward a bit so the spectator can take the card.  “This one will do.  Please look at it
and remember it.”  With practice of course, these actions will become more fluid.  Please use a mirror.  You will be surprised to
see that the only truly bad angle is from directly above the deck.  You will also realize that the effectiveness of the Sligo Force
comes from the fact that as the upper packet separates itself from the lower packet, the cards are at such opposite positions to
each other that a slipping a card from one half to the other would be extremely unlikely.  The Sligo Force eliminates the tell-tale
'see saw' action that usually indicates that a conventional slip-force is about to occur.

One last point.  If it matters to you, I have found this force slips right past magicians (pun intended).



RUMFELD'S CARD TO POCKET

When I first met David Rumfeld in the 70's, he was general manager of Paul’s Magic & Fun Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  
We discovered that the same offbeat sense of humor flowed through our veins, so I’ve got a ton of stories to tell you about
those days if you ever have the time.  Rumfeld has always been a large, tall fellow and in those days he sported thick black hair
and a wild, bushy beard.  Imagine a friendly guy who looks like a human road- block of a biker making you laugh with a deck of
cards and you got the picture.

Rumfeld had developed this Card To Pocket trick that was incredibly easy to do, required no palming at all and fooled
magicians badly.  Well, sometime around our nation’s bicentennial year, Rumfeld was doing a week-long run at The Magic
Castle.  While there, he found himself in a ‘pass the deck’ session.  Among those at the table was Mike Skinner, Charlie Miller,
Dai Vernon, Paul Diamond and a few others.

Being justifiably nervous, when the deck came around to Rumfeld he decided to do his Card to Pocket, thinking these guys
might give him a little credit for originality at least.  So he had Vernon choose a card and sign it.  A moment later, it appeared in
Rumfeld’s shirt pocket.  The professor just chewed on his cigar and looked at him.  Rumfeld had to ask, “Did you like it?”

Vernon replied, “It was good.”

“Do you know how I did it?”

“Sure...you palmed the card.”

“No sir, I didn’t.”

“You didn’t palm it?”

“Nope.”

Long pause.

“Then that was very good, young man.  Why don’t you show it again to Charlie over there?”

And so, the trick made the rounds.

Afterwards, Rumfeld had Vernon take his signed card and insert it back into the deck.  Then he put the deck back in the card
case and dropped it into his jacket pocket.  Vernon waited a moment and said, “So, you gonna do something or what?”  
Rumfeld chuckled and said, “Are you kidding?  I just fooled you with a card trick...I don’t plan to ever shuffle that deck again!”  
As far as I know, he never has.

To perform the trick, have a card selected and then ask the spectator to sign it.  Have the card returned to the deck, then
secretly control it to the top.  Give the deck a shuffle, but retain the top card.

Say, “Watch!  I’ll cut right to your card...”  Now give the deck a convincing false cut.  Continue by saying, “...see?”, and perform
a double lift showing the second card.  “Oops...no signature here.  Maybe its on the bottom.”  Flip the card(s) face down, then
turn the entire deck face up to display the bottom card.  “Nope, missed again.”  Spread the cards face up between your hands
and, without showing the top card of the deck ask, “Do any of these look familiar to you?” for a bit of a laugh.

Close the spread and flip the deck face down.  Hold it in a left hand dealer’s grip and drop your hand to your side.  Using your
left thumb, injog the top card of the deck about one full inch.  Only the front edge of the deck is visible to the spectator and the
leg of your trousers provides additional cover.

Say, “Seriously, I’ve goofed here.  What card did you choose?”  After the selection is named, use your right hand to gesture (so
they can see it is empty without you actually telling them) and say, “No way!  That can’t be your card!”.  He will insist that it is, of
course.  Meanwhile, bring the deck straight up to your shirt pocket, keeping the back of your left hand towards the spectator.

Stick your left thumb only into your shirt pocket and pull forward.  This gives the top of the pocket a wide opening.  With your
right hand, reach across the back of the left hand and stick your right thumb into the pocket as well.  You’ll notice that it is an
easy task to clip the jogged end of the selected card between the tips of your right index and middle finger.  Pull straight up on
the card and it will pivot around the base of the left thumb as it comes into view.  To the spectator, it looks for all the world as if it
is coming straight out of your shirt pocket.  Say, “No, it couldn’t be.  See?  I put that card in my pocket before the trick started.”  
Look confused and finished by adding, “But if I did that when did you sign it?”

Try this in front of a mirror.  For a slightly better angle, it might help if you turn about 5o to your left while performing this trick.  
Rumfeld often inserted this trick in the middle of his Ambitious Card routine.  Sometimes, he would be wearing a shirt with no
pocket, but he’d go through the motions anyway.  Usually the trick was long over before the spectator would yell, “Hey!  You don’
t even have a shirt pocket!”  This has been one of my favorite ‘quick tricks’ for the last twenty-five years.  Try it on for size and
see if it doesn’t become one of yours.



IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, E-MAIL:  mick@cardworker.com