left side of the upper left corner, covers the jog on this side.
Figure 27
6. The upper half of the pack is now moved back to its original position.
During this backward movement the side of the right thumb presses down on the top card of the lower half. The pressure of the right thumb, plus the downward action of the right hand, will cause the peeked card to pivot, against the base of the left thumb, to the right as in Figure 28 where the right hand has been omitted for clarity. The left second and third fingers curl slightly around the upper right corner of the pivoted card.
7. The deck is now removed from the left hand and placed on the table in the following manner: Right forefinger bends on top of the deck until its nail is pressing against the top of the deck while the right three fingers curl around the bottom or face of the deck.
In this way the pack is pinched between the right forefinger on top and right three fingers underneath at the outer end.
8. With the pack pinched as above the right hand moves upwards and forward with the complete pack as left fingers hold onto the selected card. The right thumb rides over the palmed card and stays at the back end of deck. This action is pictured in Figure 29.
Figure 29
9. Continuing the movement started in Step 8, the pack is placed on the table in the standard manner with the fore-finger curled on three fingers at outer end and thumb at the back. The left hand with its palmed card has in the meantime dropped to the side.
Exaggerating the motion of placing the pack on the table will cover the drop-ping of the left hand to the side.
Remember to move the pack upward as it clears the palmed card so as to give the appearance of having lifted the deck rather than having slid it off.
Although the Left Hand Steal has been dissected into several Steps and draw-ings the whole process becomes as a unit in actual operation.
Color Steal
In no other type of Side Steal is there as much visible movement to the left fingers as in the Standard Color
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COLOR STEAL Change wherein the bottom card is
pushed into the right palm.
Any desiring to learn a Color Change in which there isn't any move-ment to the left fingers will find the answer in the Color Steal.
1. Hold the pack face up in the left hand. The sides of pack are beveled to the right. The left forefinger should lie in a slightly diagonal line beneath the pack, its tip is at the outer right corner of the beveled pack. The remaining left finger are extended below the deck and curled very slightly around right side of the cards. Figure 30 shows the position of the left hand as seen from the bot-tom.
swing the bottom card into the right palm, as in Figure 32, with the right first finger as the fulcrum point.
Figure 30
2. The right hand grasps the deck by the ends from above with all four fin-gers on the front end and thumb at the back.
3. The right hand moves the pack for-ward at the same time the tip of the left forefinger presses on the upper right corner of the bottom card. This will cause the bottom card to swing to the right, at its upper end only, until the upper left corner comes directly under the right forefinger as in Figure
Move the right hand, back to its original position, at the same time the left forefinger exerts pressure, this time on the right side of the card. The com-bined movement of the right hand, plus pressure of the left forefinger, will
Figure
Figure 32
5. Once the bottom card is below the right palm the base of the right thumb is moved down in order to let the lower right corner of the deck slip upwards and past the thumb crotch. At this stage the card will be securely in the right palm.
6. Move the pack forwards and back once more before actually coming away with the card. Once the card is in the right hand, a color change of the face card follows.
Speaking of color changes, we have found from experience that the most effective color changes are those in which the hand seems to merely brush over the face card. It should never be seen to actually cover the card nor should it rest on the face card for any length of time.
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THE SIDE STEAL
The two forward and backward move-ments of the pack should appear as if the sides of the pack are merely being squared.
Note: The Color Steal can be made with the right forefinger curled on the face of the deck and using the right second fingertip as the pivot point during the actions shown in Figs. 31 and 32.
Almost Standard
This Color Steal is almost standard except for one bit of technique that insures only one card will move off the bottom of the deck as it is pushed into the right palm.
1. Hold the deck in an identical posi-tion to that of the Color Steal, Figure 30, Step
2. The right hand comes above deck so that all four fingers are at the front end and thumb at the back end.
3. Immediately the left forefinger tip presses up on the outer right corner of the bottom card. At the same time the left forefinger moves to the right caus-ing the bottom card to swcaus-ing to the right at its upper end in a manner sim-ilar to Figure except in this case the deck is not moved only the left forefin-ger moves.
4. The above preliminary brings the upper left corner of the card directly under the right forefinger tip, again as in Figure 31, which presses on the card to keep it in place between the right forefinger and right thumb.
5. Steps 3 and 4 have insured that on the next move you will get only the one card. With bottom card in the angled position held between the right forefin-ger and right thumb it leaves the left third finger free to move to the center of the bottom card placing the tip of the left third finger against the card. At this point the left third fingertip straightens out pushing the bottom
card into the right palm in a manner similar to Figure 32 except in this case there is movement of the left third fin-ger plus the others as the bottom card is forced further into the palm.
6. With the card almost in the palm but still partly under the deck the right forefinger curls on top of the deck. The right hand then moves the pack back and forth as the left thumb runs along the left side of the pack in a squaring gesture.
7. The deck is then replaced in the left hand so that the upper left corner of the deck can be pinched between the left thumb and the base of the left fore-finger thus giving the right hand a chance to move away with the bottom card. As the right hand is ready to go away with its palmed card remember to casually straighten out the right fore-finger which has been curled on top of the deck so far.
The Finger Flutter
During the course of stealing the bot-tom card for a color change, one of the big faults is the flutter of the left four fingers on the side of the deck as the hand with the palmed card moves away. This is due to the fact that the left fingers push the bottom card out but have no chance to get back along-side of the deck until the bottom card is carried away and by this time the side of the deck is exposed and the fin-gers can be seen to move in alongside of the deck thus causing a noticeable flutter. Here then are several ways to avoid such a action.
Method One:
Anytime the right hand with a palmed card moves away any great dis-tance from the pack be sure that the left fingers remain extended as shown from the right side in Figure 33. A remark such as, "Watch closely" will cover the gesture of the right hand.
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FINGER FLUTTER Figure 33
2, Two alternatives are open now. The right hand can come over and do the Color Change immediately while at the same time the left fingers move along-side of the deck. The result is that not only has the card been changed but the left fingers are in place along the deck and the movement has not been seen.
3. The other alternative is to get the right hand to take the deck from above, right forefinger curled on the face, and lift it into the Two Hand Square Up position.
4. Do the Square-Up, then replace the deck into the left hand where of course, the left four fingers now occupy the proper position at the right side of the deck. The right hand moves away, card still palmed, to rest at the waist.
5, The right hand now comes over the deck to do the Color Change.
Apparently no left finger flutter was evi-dent at any time.
Two:
In this case the mere attention to not moving the right hand away from the deck, other than just enough to clear the bottom card, will afford ample cover for the left fingers to move back alongside of the deck once the card is in right
Method Three:
This makes use of a Wrist Turn with the left hand. This is used either as a preliminary motion to the color change or, apparently as the means by which the change is accomplished when in reality such is not the case. The method of getting the card into the right palm can be standard or any other type. In any case the right hand does not move away from the deck.
Instead, the left hand turns at the wrist bringing the back of the left hand upwards momentarily as viewed from the right side in Figure 34.
Naturally the Wrist Turn not only clears the pack of the card palmed in the right hand but also gives excellent cover for the left fingers to move in alongside the deck. When the left hand turns upward to show the face of the deck, the four left fingers are motion-less against the side of the deck. The right hand can now brush over face of deck, leaving the palmed card to show a color change.
Figure 34
Method Four:
Sometimes when it doesn't make any difference as to what card is used for a color the following technique effectively covers the finger flutter.
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