📗 Exploring Erdnase Book Club: One-Handed Bottom Deal
Update #12: One-Handed Bottoms!
Hello there, Erdnase enthusiasts! This week, we’ll finish exploring the pages dedicated to bottom dealing. But first, I thought you might be interested in an interview with Canadian magician David Ben on The Expert at the Card Table:
In the article, originally published in MAGIC magazine in 2015, Ben discusses his significant reimagining of Erdnase titled Experts at the Card Table. Vanishing Inc. Magic now holds the distribution rights to this book. The article was recently featured on the Vanishing Inc. Magic Blog, although half of it is missing. I recommend reading the PDF available on the Magicana website, which I have also attached to this update.
One of the most exciting points David Ben makes during the interview is that he views Erdnase as a system, a perspective shared by his mentor, Ross Bertram. Each move described in the book is not just a standalone technique, but a part of a complex web of interconnected moves, with one depending on another. He also relates the bottom deal to this concept:
They [Erdnase pundits] are fond of citing that it was Erdnase who suggested that the bottom deal is the most important move. Erdnase says this, but then immediately qualifies the notion by stating that without being able to locate, cull, and stock the cards to the bottom, execute false shuffles and cuts, and circumnavigate the cut, the bottom deal would be useless. That is why every move is more or less dependent on the other. And this is not from just a technical point of view, but also from a conceptual one. The importance of the bottom deal is just one of what I consider to be many misconceptions about the book.
I bought Ben’s book when Magicana first released it, and it is well worth the modest investment. This book focuses solely on the “Card Table Artifice” section, which covers advanced card manipulation techniques while excluding the “Legerdemain” section (related to sleight of hand and other forms of magical trickery).
This book was intended to be the first in a trilogy. The second volume will include annotations based on Ben’s studies with Ross Bertram, his insights into Vernon’s interpretations of Erdnase, and his experiences with Herb Zarrow. The third volume will address gaps in The Expert at the Card Table, drawing from the work of Dad Stevens and Vernon, among others.
Nearly ten years after the initial release of the first volume, it remains uncertain whether these two subsequent books will ever come out. I hope David Ben finds the time to complete this important trilogy.
Before moving on to this week’s topic, I’ll conclude with one more quote from the article which highlights the benefit of studying The Expert at the Card Table:
Of course, I would never encourage anyone to cheat at cards. It’s illegal and, for most people, immoral. Studying Erdnase, however — particularly the system — is like learning an instrument. Having the ability to play a piece straight through — or in card parlance, the ability to locate, cull and stock, false shuffle, false cut, circumnavigate the cut, and deal — and to improvise “on the fly” instead of playing individual bars, is like sitting down at a musical instrument and being able to improvise, take flight in one’s imagination, and travel to another world. No audience is required — just you and, in this case, a deck of cards.
The Bottom Dealing section of The Expert at the Card Table is quite short. After sharing the details of the two-handed bottom deal, Erdnase provides a brief description of how to deal tops and bottoms with only one hand:
The single-handed top deal is made by pushing over the top card with the thumb in the usual manner, and then with a swing of the hand towards the player, the card is released by the thumb and slides off the deck over the table in the direction indicated.
The single-handed bottom deal uses the same grip as the two-handed one. However, the main difference is that the card is pulled back more, then allowed to spring forward as you swing your hand forward:
The single-handed bottom deal is made by first pushing over the top card as usual, then instead of pushing out the bottom card, as in the two-handed deal, it is sprung back a little by the third finger tip, and then suddenly sprung forward and out as the hand is swung in the direction of the player.
This sounds like S.W. Erdnase is telling you to put a strong buckle in the bottom card and load it up with enough kinetic energy to make the move work one-handed.
The author mentions that the single-handed bottom deal is more deceptive than its two-handed counterpart because it appears so free and open:
This bottom deal is really more deceptive than where the two hands are employed, as it appears so open, and the action is completely hidden by the natural swing of the hand necessarily made towards the player, to cause the card to slide in the proper direction.
Erdnase also mentions that you can combine single and double-handed top and bottom dealing:
Single and double handed top and bottom card dealing can be nicely combined, and has an advantage over the exclusive use of the one or the other.
This short article finishes with some guidance on performing a bottom deal when playing Stud Poker:
When dealing Stud Poker, or turning a trump, the average player takes off the cards that are to be faced, by inverting the right hand, and seizing them with the fingers on top and thumb under, thereby turning the cards before they completely leave the left hand. This must not be attempted if the bottom card is to be dealt or turned trump. The inverted position of the hand makes it more difficult to get the bottom card out noiselessly. The cards should be taken in the usual manner by the right hand, and turned the instant they are quite free of the deck.
I don’t have much to add to this section of the book. Reading between the lines, it is essential to become competent at the two-handed bottom deal before attempting to learn the one-handed version of the move.
Click the button below to learn more about the Erdnase One-Handed Bottom Deal:
Up Next
Next week, we’ll be taking a look at the section of the book dedicated to second dealing. Until then, keep bucking that tiger! 🐯