The Expert at the Card Table: Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation (Dover Magic Books)

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. —from the Foreword by Martin Gardner.For almost a century | this book has been considered indispensable to attaining the highest level of card mastery. In it | S. W. Erdnase | a supreme master of card manipulation | teaches card enthusiasts how to perform the dazzling tricks and sleights — many of them his own creations — that made him famous.The first section of the book deals with card table artifice | or | to put it more bluntly | cheating at cards. Step by step | Mr. Erdnase demonstrates his own systems of false shuffling | false riffling and cutting | dealing from the bottom | and such slick moves as palming cards | skinning the hand — even three-card monte.The second section covers legerdemain: the art of forcing a card | one- and two-hand transformations | the devious slide and more. Card handlers will love Erdnase's selection of dazzling card tricks | including The Acrobatic Jacks | The Exclusive Coterie | The Divining Rod | The Invisible Flights | A Mind Reading Trick | and many others.In an informative Foreword to this edition | Martin Gardner relates the unhappy details of the author's personal life | and recounts the history of this famous book | whose methods | Mr. Gardner asserts | are as useful today by magicians and card hustlers as they were in 1902. This book is still the bible of card 'mechanics |' and as much a delight to read as it was in the early years of this century.