📗 Exploring Erdnase Book Club: Ordinary Methods of Stocking, Locating and Securing
Update #15: Stacking the Deck Erdnase Style!
Hey there Erdnase explorers! This week, we’ll be taking about Erdnase’s ordinary methods of stocking, locating and securing (pages 60 to 64 of the original text). Before that, I wanted to highligh another early reference to the second deal that I was made aware of after publishing Update #13: The Erdnase Second Deal (thanks, Andru).
In The Book of Card Tricks (1888) by Prof. R. Kunard, a strike second deal is described in “To Cause a Chosen Card to Appear at Any Number in the Pack the Company may Name”, Third Method, on page 77:
Third Method: To arrive at the same result by this method requires considerable practice, but when once mastered it is about the best one to adopt. In the first place, the cards are shuffled, the card selected replaced in the pack, and brought to the top. Holding the cards in the left hand, upon the palm, the fingers being underneath, and the thumb upon top, you push forward with the thumb the top cards, so that the pack leans over, so to speak (Fig. 36); this, to all appearances, facilitates the taking off the top card for dealing purposes, instead of which you draw the top card slightly back with the left thumb, and take the one next below it, until you come to the number you want, when you release the top card from the left thumb, and deal it face upwards. You may think this move would be readily discovered by the audience; but with a rapid count it is not perceived. An audience does not look for anything of the kind, and if you told them you did not take the top card, would probably consider you a perverter of the truth.
The Book of Card Tricks, published fourteen years before The Expert at the Card Table, reveals that the concept of the second deal and the Card at Any Number plot were already well-established in the world of conjuring. This early knowledge of the second deal predates Erdnase’s push-off second deal and the precursor to the ACAAN plot included in the book (see “Power of Concentrated Thought”). Kunard’s book, possibly the first in English dedicated to card magic, is particularly intriguing and is well worth a read (it is available at Lybrary.com). The absence of a strike second deal in S.W. Erdnase’s book suggests he may not have read The Book of Card Tricks, although it is evident he was well-versed in the contents of many other conjuring books published in England during the same period.
This week’s topic is Ordinary Methods of Stocking, Locating and Securing. This section of The Expert at the Card Table concerns ways to discreetly arrange known cards in a particular order and shift them to the top or bottom of the deck.
The first method disclosed is not a secret action. It’s performed in the open as you “toy with the deck”. Erdnase suggests that this method of stocking is very effective when “dalliance with the deck” is permitted:
If dalliance with the deck is allowed—and it is amazing how much of that sort of thing is permitted in some games—a practiced operator can run up one or two hands with incredible rapidity, and his actions will appear as mere trifling.
In short, the method involves a cull with the deck held with its long edge parallel to the floor. The left thumb rapidly riffles the cards, allowing you to see the indices. When you spot a card you desire, a break is opened up at the lower side of the deck, and your left second, third, and little fingers execute what is, in essence, a side steal, slipping the card to the top of the deck (see fig. 28 and 29 below).
Here’s the full description from the book:
This is done by holding the deck in the left hand, back to palm, with thumb against one side, second, third and little fingers on the other side, and first finger curled up against the back. The right hand now covers the face, fingers at one end, thumb at the other. The left thumb then springs the cards so that the index can be seen. (See Fig. 28.)
As a desired card is located, the lower side of the deck is opened at that point, and the left second, third and little fingers inserted, and the card is drawn or slipped out to the top of deck. (See Fig. 29.)
Then indifferent cards to the requisite number are slipped from the bottom in the same manner on top of the first selected card. Then the next desired card is located and brought to the top, and so on till the stock; is complete.
S.W. Erdnase finishes his explanation by mentioning that “little or no skill is required” to perform this ordinary method of stocking. He mentions that, with practise, it is possible to bring the cards to the top of the deck without making a lot of noise.
After some experimentation, I've found that mastering the stocking action to look relaxed and natural will require a lot of practice time. However, the payoff is worth it, as it significantly speeds up the stocking process and makes it less noticeable. Introducing an overhand false shuffle in between the stocking actions can further enhance the casual appearance of the sequence. The major advantage of this method is that it can be executed entirely in the hands, making it a practical and convenient technique when you’re not performing at a table.
The author also shares a second, more artistic method of stocking. This technique, which involves jogging the required cards and bringing them to the bottom by stripping them out during a running cut, is not only effective but also adds a touch of elegance to your card handling. If a table is available, this method is much better and far more deceptive than the previous one (because there is less overt finger motion).
Here’s the full description of the sequence:
Hold the deck in the left hand, back to palm, between thumb and fingers, as described for the last process, but in covering the face with the right hand bring the first three fingers straight across the outer end of the deck, the little finger against the lower side at corner and the thumb on top side at corner close to right first finger. Then spring the cards with the left thumb against right thumb. When a desired card is located tilt the packet, then held between the right thumb and little finger, about half an inch outward, so that the right thumb will pass the corner of the packet held by the left hand. (See Fig. 30.)
Then release the desired card with the left thumb, press down on its corner with the right thumb and bring the right-hand packet back to its original position, closing up the space entirely. In doing so it will force the desired card down and out against the left- hand fingers. Release these fingers slightly as the packets are being closed, and then press the desired card up again with the left little finger. This will cause it to protrude about half an inch at the end, but it is entirely concealed by the positions of the hands. The deck can now be again sprung rapidly with the left thumb in search of the next card without disturbing the one already jogged, and the procedure be repeated until the required number are jogged in the position of the first. (See last Figure.) When toying with the deck is tolerated, no more innocent-appearing action can be taken. The movements to jog the cards are imperceptible if cleverly executed, and it is quite apparent to an onlooker that the relative positions of the cards are not changed. The fact that the springing is continued after the cards are jogged, and the visible end and the sides of the deck are squared up perfectly before the riffle begins, make it appear to even a suspicious observer that any knowledge of location would be again lost.
If you read the entire section of the book on stocking, locating and securing, you’ll come across a couple of example scenarios that you can use to practise these two stocking techniques.
Final Thoughts
Both stocking methods are particularly useful for card conjurers who want to secretly stack four-of-a-kind on top of the deck after the cards have been shuffled. This can be done before you announce you’re going to perform a trick, ensuring your spectators are not focused on your hands or closely observing what you’re doing with the deck, thus maintaining the secrecy of your actions.
However, I’m not convinced that card cheats regularly used these methods, even when Erdnase was alive. It seems more likely that they would employ marked cards or switch in a rigged deck. The key to successfully executing these stocking methods lies in the art of misdirection, which can be effectively used in a private backroom game or one happening in a railway carriage, for example. However, when playing with seasoned gamblers, the practicality of these two methods is questionable. I doubt you’d be given enough opportunity to openly manipulate the deck to the extent required for these techniques to work.
Up Next
Next week, we’ll take a look at the Erdnase Stock Shuffle.