Royal Road to Card Magic The

the top is now next to the bottom card.
Again lift the pack, retaining the top and bottom cards in the left hand. Shuffle off the cards in the right hand upon the two in the left, allowing the bottom card to fall last, thus returning the top card to its original position.
    Later you will find that this sleight is useful for showing that a chosen card that you are controlling is neither at the top nor at the bottom of the pack.
    The Run
    In magical parlance, this term means the pulling off of cards one by one from the right-hand packet with the aid of the left thumb in the course of the shuffle. To make the run, press the left thumb lightly on the back of the top card of the right-hand packet while holding this latter packet just tightly enough to allow one card only to escape. It is very important that the single cards be drawn off at the same tempo as the rest of the shuffle, so that there will be no hesitation at the start of the shuffle or its end.
    A few minutes' practice with cards that are in good condition will prove how easy the sleight is, yet it is one of the most useful in the card magician's arsenal.
    The Injog
    This term is applied to the subterfuge of causing a card to project about 6 mm (¼ in) from the inner end of the deck. It is one of the oldest stratagems in magic, having been in use for over four centuries. It was first mentioned in Scott's
Discouverie of Witchcraft
, published in 1584.
    The action of jogging a card is a simple one. In the course of the shuffle, when a card is to be jogged, move the right hand slightly towards the body, draw off one card with the left thumb, then move the hand back to its former position and continue the shuffle in the usual way. The card thus jogged should rest on the little fingertip, which enables you to know, by sense of touch alone, that the card is in the proper position (figure 3).

    It is advisable at the start to make the card protrude about 12 mm (½ in) and, in shuffling off the remaining cards from the right hand, to make them lie irregularly so that the protruding card is covered and concealed. With practice the jogging of the card can be reduced to approximately 6 mm (¼ in). Here again it is most important that there shall be no alteration in the tempo. The card must be jogged and the shuffle continued without the least hesitation.
    The Undercut
    This sleight is used to bring the cards directly under a jogged card to the top of the pack.
    A card having been jogged and the shuffle completed, bring the right hand upwards from a position a little below the left hand so that the point of the thumb will strike against the face of the jogged card, lifting it and the cards above it slightly; then move the right hand outwards with the lower packet, the thumbnail scraping against the face of the jogged card while the middle and ring fingers close on the outer end of the packet. Lift the packet clear and throw it on the top of the deck. This action brings the jogged card to the bottom and the card that is directly below it to the top of the pack.
    To undercut to a jogged card is a very simple action if the right thumb strikes
upwards
, not inwards (figure 4).

    OVERHAND SHUFFLE CONTROL
    A large proportion of card tricks consist of having a card selected, noted and returned to the middle of the deck, which is then shuffled. The chosen card is revealed by the magician in some startling way. To do this the chosen card must be controlled, and one of easiest, best and most natural methods is by using the overhand shuffle.
Let us suppose that a card has been freely chosen by a spectator. While he notes what it is, you begin an overhand shuffle and, when you have shuffled about half the cards into your left hand, move that hand towards the spectator, tacitly inviting him to replace his card. He puts it on the top of those in your left hand and you immediately resume your shuffle by
running
three cards flush on top of the chosen card, jogging the next card and shuffling off the remainder freely.
Undercut below the jogged card, as explained in the preceding section, and throw the packet on top. The chosen card will then be the fourth card from the top of the pack and you can deal with it as you please.
    For example, possibly in the course of the shuffle the chosen card may have arrived at the top or bottom of the pack; therefore you take off three cards from the top and spread them face outwards, asking the spectator if his card is among them.
Never
say, 'You see,