📗 Exploring Erdnase Book Club: Second Dealing

Update #13: The Erdnase Second Deal

Hello, fellow Erdnase enthusiasts! Today, we’re closely examining the section of The Expert at the Card Table on second dealing (page 58). This technique, much like the bottom deal, is considered extremely difficult to master. However, it is also one of the most versatile and powerful moves in a magician’s arsenal. S.W. Erdnase also mentions that it is one of the most challenging undertakings when learning sleight of hand with cards:

To become an adept at second dealing is as difficult a task as can be given in card handling, but once acquired, like many other arts, it is as easy as habit.

Before discussing the details from the book, I thought it would be fun to share a brief history of the second deal.

History of the Second Deal

The second deal is an ancient move. One of the earliest known references to it appears in a four-page pamphlet from the early 16th century (circa 1520) called Opera Nuoua Done Facilmente Poirai Imparare Piu Giuochi di Memo el Allri Giuochi Piacenolissimi & Genlili Come si Polra Leggendo Uedere el Facilmente Imparare, written by G.S. di Carlo da Pavia of Florence, Italy.¹

The second deal was then mentioned in several books during the early modern period, including A Manifest Detection of the Most Vile and Detestable Use of Diceplay, and Other Practices Like the Same (1522), A Notable Discovery of Cozenage by Robert Greene (1591), and The Art of Juggling or Ledgerdemain by Samuel Rid (1612). Readers of my other Substack publication, Marty’s Magic Ruseletter, might recognise the book by Robert Greene because I mentioned this in my article Corrupting the Classics: The Four Burglars.

Later, in 1822, the sleight was briefly mentioned, but not explained in The Life and Adventures of Robert Bailey (the emphasis is mine):

With these banks I was swindled out of twelve thousand dollars, they knew the cards as well by the back as they did by the face, and if you were going to lose they would turn them off fair, but if not they would take the second card, draw it before the most expert eye, without detection; some would stick bristles in the cards, one, two, or three, as they would know the figures on different cards by feeling, would slip the card and look you in the face at the same time: others would first see how gentlemen would bet, and have a pack ready put up to destroy his bets, so that he could not win a paralee, having different cards on the table or in a box: for instance, he sees how the better bets; some gentlemen will take the pot, as it is called, three cards, six, seven, and eight; the dealer has his eye upon him, he has a pack ready to make them three cards lose four times a piece, twelve times: the gentleman gets hot the next deal; thinks it can't lose the thirteenth or fourteenth time; he asks the dealer to let him go a hundred or two, sometimes five hundred; the dealer will say, sir twenty is my limit, but as you have been unlucky, to accommodate yon for a flier, I will let you this time; at the same time he knows as well as when he sees it come up, that it will lose.

The second deal is also briefly mentioned in How Gamblers Win, or the Secrets of Advantage Playing by Gerritt M. Evans (1865). However, the first comprehensive description in English is the one found in S.W. Erdnase’s book The Expert at the Card Table, published in 1902.

Two Basic Types

Magicians and card sharps use two primary second dealing techniques, the “Push-off” and the “Strike”. The push-off, as described by Erdnase in The Expert at the Card Table, involves pushing off two cards from the deck with the dealing thumb and pulling the top card back into place. This enables the taking hand to smoothly secure the second card and deal it to the table.

In contrast, the strike second deal involves moving the top card slightly out of the way, allowing the dealing hand to “strike” the second card with its thumb for a rapid and graceful deal from the deck. Erdnase doesn’t cover the strike second deal in his book. The earliest known description comes from Dr. James Elliot, who published his method in Mahatma in 1898.

Which is better? I guess it depends. If you’re after speed, then a strike second is always going to be faster than a push-off. This might be important if you want to perform a realistic gambling demonstration. However, from my point of view, a push-off works well for most card tricks. Therefore, I’m satified with the technique as described in the pages of The Expert at the Card Table. At least for now!

The Erdnase Second Deal

Erdnase mentions that the second deal is pretty useless to the advantage player unless he is using marked cards:

As the term indicates, second dealing is the process of dealing the second card from the top, and it is employed almost exclusively in connection with marked cards.

While this may be true if your primary objective is to cheat at cards, the second deal has lots of applications in the world of card magic, despite what some magicians will tell you.

Erdnase describes two techniques for executing a second deal. The first technique is more controlled and precise:

The deck is held by the left hand much the same as described for bottom dealing, the tip of the thumb being a little over the end of the top card. This position enables the thumb to come in contact with the second card by pushing the top card a trifle downwards. To deal, the left thumb pushes the two cards over the side nearly together, the top card perhaps a little in advance and the second card showing a little above it at the end. The right hand seizes the second card by the exposed corner, the right thumb barely touching the edge, but the right second finger is well under the second card and helps to get it out by an upward pressure as the left thumb draws back the top card.

Then the left thumb again comes in contact with the second card at the upper edge. The third finger tip prevents more than two cards from being pushed over the side. The top card continues to move forward and back as the seconds are dealt, but the rapidity of the backward movement prevents the detection of the action. Properly executed, the appearance of the deal is perfectly regular. An expert can run the whole deck with the utmost rapidity, and still retain the top card.

The second is more relaxed and casual:

Another method of second dealing is to hold the cards loosely in the left hand, the left thumb pushing forward several at a time, each a little in advance of the other. As the right hand comes forward, the top card is drawn back and the second dealt. The left thumb uses some pressure in pushing the cards forward, but draws back the top card very lightly so as to have the second card protruding.

Erdnase indicates a clear prefrence for the first method:

The first method is decidedly the better, as it gives greater control of the cards, and there is less liability of the right hand seizing more than one.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always wanted to learn the second deal since seeing it demonstrated in the Hollywood film The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford (John Scarne was Newman’s hand double for the picture). But like the bottom deal, I never spent much time trying to learn the move with any commitment. I’ve got the hang of the basic mechanics, but like the Erdnase Bottom Deal, I need to practise more to make it reliable and deceptive. I’m planning to have a much better second deal by the end of the year.

You can read the full description of the second deal by clicking the button below:

Up Next

Next week, we’ll take a look at the section of the book titled Ordinary Methods of Stocking, Locating and Securing.

1. Jason England, “Jason England | Strike Second Deal”, theory11 Forums, November 12, 2008, https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/jason-england-strike-second-deal.11564/page-2#!#post-158044