Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
But the special advantage in this respect is that the
But the special advantage in this respect is that the really clever card-handler can dispense with the endless devices and preparations that encumber the performer in other branches. He is ever prepared for the most unexpected demands upon his ability to amuse or mystify, and he can sustain his reputation with nothing but the family deck and his nimble fingers, making his exhibition all the more startling because of its known impromptu nature and simple accessories. To the student who wishes to make the most rapid progress towards the actual performance of tricks, we suggest that he first take up the study and practice of our System of Blind Shuffles as taught in the first part of this site, acquiring thorough proficiency in forming and using the Jog and break, which make this style of shuffle possible.
We are aware that all conjurers advise the shift or
We are aware that all conjurers advise the shift or pass, as the first accomplishment, and while we do not belittle the merits of the shift when perfectly performed, we insist that all or any of the various methods of executing it, are among the most difficult feats the student will be called upon to acquire, and imposing such a task at the outset has a most discouraging effect. But so far as we can learn from the exhibitions and literature of conjurers, not one of them knows of, or at least employs or writes of, a satisfactory substitute hence their entire dependence upon that artifice to produce certain results. When the blind shuffles with the coincident jog and break are thoroughly understood, the student should take up our System of Palming, also treated in the first part, paying particular attention to the bottom palm, and with even a moderate degree of skill in these accomplishments he will be enabled to perform many of the best tricks that conjurers make entirely dependent on the shift. For example, the common process for obtaining possession of a selected card when it is replaced in the deck, is to insert the little finger over it, make a shift bringing the lower packet with the selected card to the top, palm it off in the right hand, and give the deck to the spectator to shuffle.