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
3. Two-handed cut shift: Magicians, who call this "the pass," have
3. Two-handed cut shift: Magicians, who call this "the pass," have used this shift for many years; it is still used by some sharpers. After the cards have been cut by another player, the cheat replaces the lower block on the upper one, but not squarely; it projects slightly at the inner end, leaving what is called a step. He scoops up the cards and inserts his little finger into the deck at the step. In the act of apparently squaring the deck and under cover of the hand above the deck, the lower half of the deck is pivoted upward. It pushes against the upper half, which swings aside as though hinged, and is deposited again on top, where it was before the cut was made. This is accomplished in a split second.
There is a foolproof defense against shifting the cut, and that is the
There is a foolproof defense against shifting the cut, and that is the Scarne Cut (see page 257).