orcing a card is the act of making a spectator remove from the pack a card which you wish him to take, although he believes that he has a free choice.
Of all the methods evolved for accomplishing this, the classic force is the oldest and still the best. In this method you spread the deck and invite someone to draw a card. You place the card you want him to take under his fingers at the moment they touch the pack. He removes this card, confident that he has had an uninfluenced choice.
The mechanics of this force are as follows:
1. Let us say that you wish to force the ace of hearts, and this is at the top of the pack. Give the cards an overhand shuffle taking the card to the bottom and back to the top.
2. Next take the force card to the middle of the pack in the following way: Give the pack another overhand shuffle by undercutting the lower half, injogging the first card, and shuffling off. Turn the left hand so that the pack is horizontal, with the backs of the cards uppermost. Place the right hand over the pack, with fingers at the outer end and the thumb at the inner end. Place the tip of the thumb under the inner edge of the injogged card, pressing it upwards and inwards, so that when it is pushed flush with the pack there will be a small break under it and above the card to be forced. Hold this break with the right thumb, then shift the left hand so that it holds the pack, with the little finger holding the break above the card to be forced.
Unlike the usual method of holding a break, the tip of the left little finger in this case rests against the face of the card above the break.
Вы читаете укороченную версию книги.