p35 DL es Dt al be Ce SOE NC ee Cre teh Oe So a ea coll od CN or Oot FEATURING DECK SWITCHING TECHNIQUES. INCLUDING: SLAIN: A NEW Pyle otic oo Ca LOAD A ‘COLD DECK’ INTO Rol SEO nested ene GOING TO ANY POCKETS + DECK SWITCHING Atel ty PATCH. VEIL. GRIT. a) Ome As Ge COMPREHENSIVE METHODS FOR MARKING YOUR OWN DECK INCLUDING THE SYSTEMS... THE SCORE + BLOOD NTO oe ota Sha STUDY OF THE APPLICATION AND USE A MARKED DECK NRA T Sa Diels TON JOURNAL ENTRIES Cr ese 008: PERSONAL DEMON 009: A MESSAGE TO YOUDEDICATED TO JAKE GREEN FOR SAVING MY LIFE DECEPTION |DI-SEP SH-N| THE ACTION OF DECEIVING SOMEONE ATHING THAT DECEIVES A RANGE OF ELABORATE DECEPTIONS DECEPTION NOUN | - DECEPTION DECEIT, DECEITFULNESS, DUPLICITY, DOUBLE-DEALING, FRAUD, CHEATING, TRICKERY, CHICANERY, DEVIOUSNESS, SLYNE WILINESS, GUILE, BLUFF, LYING, PRETENSE, TREACHERY, INFORMAL, CROOKEDNESS, MONKEY BUSINESS, MONKEYSHINES. 2- TRICK, DECEIT, SHAM, FRAUD, PRETENSE, HOAX, FAKE, BLIND, ARTIFICE; STRATAGEM, DEVICE, RUSE, SCHEME, DODGE, MACHINATION, SUBTERFUGE; CHEAT, SWINDLE; INFORMAL CON, SETUP, SCAM, FLIMFLAM, BUNCO, DECEPTION (ALSO CALLED BEGUILEMENT, DECEIT, BLUFE, OR SUBTER FUGE) ISTHE ACT OF CONVINCING ANOTHER TO BELIEVE INFORMATION THAT IS NOTTRUE, OR NOTTHE WHOLE TRUTH AS IN (CERTAINTYPES OF HALF-TRUTHS, DECEPTION INVOLVES CONCEPTS LIKE PROPAGANDA, DISTRACTION AND/OR CONCEALMENT. FICTION, WHILE SOMETIMES MANIPULATIVE, IS NOT A DECEPTION UNLESS IT IS PORTRAYED AS PARTIALLY TRUTHFUL, OR ASTHE WHOLE TRUTH, IN MANY CASES IT IS DIFFICULT TO. DISTINGUISH DECEPTION FROM PROVIDING UNINTENTIONALLY WRONG INFORMATION, ONE OFTHE REASONS FOR THIS ISTHAT A PERSON OR AN ENTIRE ORGANIZATION MAY BE SELF-DECEIVED, DECEPTION IN PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTATION ‘THE USE OF DECEPTION IN PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTATION IS A METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURE WHERE THE RESEARCHERS PURPOSELY MISLEAD OR MISINFORM THE PARTICIPANTS ABOUT THE TRUE NATURE OF THE EXPERIMENT, THE PROCESS OF CONCEALING INFORMATION FROMTHE PARTICIPANTS IS OMISSION AND THE PURPOSELY MISLEADING OFTHE PARTICIPANTS ABOUT WHAT IS BEING STUDIED IS COMMISSION. THE USE OF DECEPTION IS RESERVED ONLY FOR WHEN IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO PRESERVE THE NATURAL. NESS OF THE PARTICIPANTS’ BEHAVIOR, COPY OFDECEPTIONS: JOURNALS OF SLEIGHT or HAND Ano DECEPTION WITH PLAYING CARDS ay DANIEL MADISON VOLUME THREE : THE COLD DECK MARCH 2011 “When you dance with the Devil, you wait for the music to stop” Deceptions is a series of journals dedicated to the art and psychology of sleight-of- hand and deception with playing cards. Direct from Daniel Madison's studies, each volume will explore and exercise ideas and concepts of artifice, subterfuge, deception and devilry. Each volume will focus on a different area of the art and teach techniques, mechanics, trickery and demonstrations of playing card deceptions. Each volume will be packed with professional insight, thoughts and guidance and will ultimately offer the reader a new resource for the art and psychology of deception. Deceptions began its life in 2009 as ‘THE UNDERGROUND JOURNALS oF MAGIC ey DANIEL MADISON’ ..a series of studies and excerpts from Daniel's journals mixed with new material and additional input from other industry professionals. Along with all other studies ‘on magic at that time, Deceptions ended as Daniel said goodbye to the magic industry, but as one door closes, another opens and Deceptions is now back with a new direction and focus on the psychology and art of sleight-of-hand and deception. WELCOME TO DECEPTIONS, VOLUME THREE.RECEP TIONS, LS OF SLEIGHT of HAND ano DECEPTION WITH PLAYING THE COLD DECK js. intropuction to THE cot DECK JOURNAL ENTRY 007 an riser PATCH SLAINE VEN. CLEANING UP A LAPPED DECK GRIT OTT HEAT JOURNAL ENTRY 008 rersonat oevon BLOOD maakine system THE SCORE marxine system JOURNAL. ENTRY 009 a rersonat messace THOUGHTS CREDITSICGEY TiIqQ.: NALS OF SLEIGHT of HAND ano DECEPTION WITH PLAYING CARDS “your Welcome to Deceptions Volume Three; The Cold Deck. This issue is dedicated to the idea of switching a deck of cards - openly yet secretly - leaving the victim none-the-wiser. An idea daunting for most and often shunned with thanks to the magic industry -specifically the magicians who prefer the shide ‘Ill just get this piece of toilet paper from my pocket’ methods. Such pleb-worthy moves have made rugged deck-switching quite redundant and absent from would-be deserving publications; and the vicious circle of self-destructing art continues... It work's for them, and turning up for work a few hours late works for my mate Dave, but he gets there early because he respect’s his position In thought, the idea alone doesn’t invite comfort. The Cold Deck must arrive at the situa- tion unnoticed, in return, the Play Deck must leave in a similar fashion, and by denominational logic one can gather that this exchange is brought about by hand. Any rummaging in and out of pockets is an open invite for the victim to practice his hammering skills on your little pigs. There is an art to the switch, which deserves discipline and time. you will not be rewarded for the move, as none must ever be aware that it took place, but you will be awarded by the means for which it was used. In this issue | will describe with generous and ample detail the mechanical techniques and psychological subtleties that I've been successful with at the card table and in performance. One should note that techniques explained for card-table deception are written from the dealers perspective. | will also touch on thoughts of stacking the deck and also include my marking systems Blood and The Score, if not just to offer you reasons to switch the deck. | take no credit for any move, technique, sleight or effect published in this book. Everything | explore and write about has been discovered in practice and play without influence from other books or resources (unless stated and duly credited.) Any similarities to existing sleights/techniques are unintentional, and purely coincidental. Due credit will always be given and | offer thanks to those who take the time to let me know of such similarities. Please note that this book is written in a consecutive order and designed to be read from page to page, and not sectional as suited: Vital information needed for later ideas is written throughout earlier techniques, therefore skipping a section may leave such a reader confused about earlier missing information. Please note that although techniques and sleights are explained in detail, | assume that this book has met its target audience who will already have a grasp on basic sleight-of-hand tech- niques, which | have subsequently refrained from explaining. And finally, this is not a book of tricks, it is a series of deceptions - for which you will need a deck of playing cards. Welcome to Deceptions Three03 mareh 2011 journal entry 007: & am himself i was never himself, or the i who i tried on; i was peter parxer in a superman costume. There's adapting, and there's conforming, and i was the latter, forever fixshtiny to force that square pes throuzh the round hole... aiding my deceptions behind masic tricxs. ao forcing them to appeal to mavicians, foreyér unsomfortable with the horrible industry and the shit eatin people within it. There are no friends here, only doxs making you smile in hope to be carried or siven approval. i did not belons and i knew it. Money can chanze a man, but lack of it will do lot worse. me and i will bleed deception, it's in my angs and infects my mind. [Eiwon't cheat you because i can, i'11 do ituve can't You don't see me i i love tais: hand ap Mona Lisa! you're dead because i xilled you, it was a death match and you were outplayedvtryane to play snaxes-and-ladders with a man who plays chess, This is my third identity. “4 have others. I destroy Daniel Madison a piece At a time, and let the “aps fill with what nature-allows. So.far I'm further into the recess of deception thah I've ever been before. And it feels likeie ee UO To achieve the desired result of a Deck Switch, one must first analyze the procedure, actions and dangers. The action describes the process. The deck in play is switched for another deck - typically a stacked or marked deck - and all other players are none the wiser. They call it the Cold Deck as it has yet to gain any body heat from the using hands of the dealer and players alike... The more skeptical and knowledgeable gambler will keep a subconscious check on the temperature of the cards, and in the midst of a cheat can bring a hex to his attempts or even use them against him In most all cases, the player must retrieve the Cold Deck by hand and lose the Play Deck the same without notice. There are few ways around this and this is something he must come to terms with before confronting the idea. This is the obstacle of the switch. Hands in pockets draw attention and a deck unnaturally covered for any longer than a split-second will invite questions. The Patch Deck Switch not only involves muddling, but takes advantage of it. The deck never leaves the sight of the players and it never leaves the same hand of the player. The idea works, in concept and method, however, the act requires imperative tailored distraction. To avoid annoyance from the start, | will expose the mechanics first, so as not to distract you with the crappy act of distraction - which can be tailored to your suitability. | shall first ap- proach the situation as if one were to apply this technique at a card table. The Cold Deck, which is stacked, is in the left jacket pocket, with the faces facing away from the body. THE MECHANICS: |. The deck is cut and collected by the player - right hand above the deck, lifting and placing it into left hand lower mechanics-grip. The right hand retains the same grip offering shade throughout. 2. As the deck is placed into the left hand it is set free and the top card shifted forward by no more than an inch. The right hand, maintaining the same grip, now only holds the top card of the deck yet appearing to hold the entire deck. 3. The lower 51 cards are gripped into the hand with finger4. 4. The left hand tilts almost face down to the floor whilst at the same time retreating to the trouser pocket. Done correctly and with steady speed and motion, the hand will appear empty and the deck will appear to be still held in the right hand over the table. 5. The deck is dumped in the trouser pocket. After ‘The Act’ the left hand returns to the jacket pocket to collect the cold deck in the same palming grip 6. The cold deck is now returned to play and secretly loaded under the single shade card in the right hand. The right hand instantly releases the top card offering the illusion that the deck was passed from the right to the left hand.This deck switch, aside from ‘The Act’ is faced with a problem. Although you have brought a full cold deck into play, you are left with a stranger card on top of the deck, which will duplicate one of the cards in the new deck. The player can combat this before he begins. Lets’s say the top of his stack is the 2 of Clubs. He can remove this card from the deck. During play, he can locate, or await the 2 of Clubs being dealt to him, which he will then Crimp. Upon his deal he can control the 2 to the top and palm it away from the deck for the cut. Once cut, in retrieving the deck, the palmed card is added to the top of the deck and the deck switch proceeds. By completion of the switch, the 2C is at the top of the stack - where it belongs - and there are no strangers in the deck. Assuming that these precautions weren't followed, the player must employ a series of sleights to eliminate the excess card from the game... Faced with an extra card on top of the deck, following the switch, the player must second deal until his first card, then deal himself the stranger card. He must then deal himself a double on his final card. This will leave him with one more card than he needs: the stranger card at the bottom of his pile, which can be removed by bug / lap /palm /other. To fully understand the mechanics, one must first be confident with ‘The Act’ The Play Deck has been palmed to the trouser pocket. The Cold Deck awaits in the jacket pocket. The player must be seen going to his trouser pocket, and then going to his jacket pocket, right in that awkward moment between the cut and the deal. In fast company, no excuse for an act would not play, so one should always be intelligent with the devices he uses to foil his victims. THE ACT // ONE: Hold on, | need more money... With money in the right jacket pocket, the player takes to his rouse in the guise of needing to fetch more money from his pocket. But which pocket is the money in? |. The Play Deck is palmed and dumped in the left trouser pocket. 2. Upon finding no dough in his trouser pocket, he tries his left jacket pocket. This is where he loads the Cold Deck into palm. 3. Finding no bacon in his left jacket pocket, he returns his secretly loaded left hand where the right hand connects and drops the shade card on top. This appears as though the deck has merely been passed from the right hand to the left. 4. The right hand then finds its way to the right jacket pocket, where he finds his cheddar. Amongst drunkards one can find an easy ride with this act. Players generally frown at money finding its way to the table mid-play so one must be wise in the act construction by having a low stack (of chips/change) at the table and also hope that no other player mentions this before the act. One will find ease with this ‘excuse’ in a friendly or lazy game and should never risk without confidence. One will feel the urge to speed up the process, as the time he must hold the single card as if holding a full deck may induce panic, but this only causes unnatural actions within the pockets. Here are some other ideas for playing out ‘The Act.’THE ACT // TWO: Mum, | told you not to call me at the office... With his portable telephone in his left trouser pocket, he is able to hide the switch in the warming mist of humiliation... |. The Play Deck is palmed. The player reacts to a vibrating phone in his pocket and so, appar- ently keeping the deck in his right hand, he dumps the Play Deck in his left trouser pocket and takes out his vibrating phone. 2. “Mum, | told you not to call me at the office, I'll call you back tomorrow.” 3. He returns the phone to his left jacket pocket where the Cold Deck awaits. 4. The Cold Deck is palmed back into play and the game continues. ‘One may wonder how to plan the phone-call so accurately, but the play is simple as the phone never rings nor vibrates. The player does not make a big deal about the call, he simple becomes aware of the vibrating phone and answers it. He is careful to hold the phone in a way that shades the blank screen from the other players and of course has already set the phone to silent (in case it rings when he is pretending to talk on it.) It's a quick call, loaded with humor and will hopefully create a little conveniently distracting banter at the table. IN PERFORMANCE: Learning the card table methods for this deck switch will have already set you a few paces beyond the needs of the performer, as a duplicate card in the deck (for most) is not a disadvan- tage but a rather welcoming advantage. Even if the duplicate has no use to you, it causes no risks that cannot be easily solved. Because of the relaxed nature of performance, one needs very little excuse nor need to ex- plain his mid-performance pocket-visits... Were the spectator to sign a selection, the performer would have the opportunity to remove/replace the pen from/to his pocket, he would also have the opportunity to turn away as the card is signed - to prevent any goose-necking. An‘act’ quite unnecessary yet worth a mention would see that the performer placed a joker atop his stack. Following the switch and into patter he would double lift to show the joker and state that he does not need this card in the deck, which he then places in his pocket (with the stranger card hidden behind it) and the stack would then be pure. Most - in the right mind - will not be of the pocket-visiting sort. To which I offer you some- thing rather intriguing... Slaine...As stated, one takes a risk searching his pockets with one hand whilst the deck is in the other. When sat at the table, one as the opportunity to load the Cold Deck on his lap, which would sit in the shade of the table, he would then only need to ditch the Play Deck from his lap between the completion of the switch and his exit from the chair, offering suffi- cient time for the sleight. Slaine is a device which eliminates the pocket. The Play Deck however is lapped and ditched after the switch (which will be covered.) Slaine, is a ‘Deck Dropping Device’ which will attach to the inside of your jacket. Ideally you'll be wearing a suit jacket or one of simi- lar length. The device will place a full deck of cards in your hand whenever you need it with no inconspicuous moves or any visits to your pocket... To construct the device, you will need a card box /// an elastic band of a size comfort- able enough to wrap around the deck once without too much pressure ///_ sticky tape Il anda safety pin. DEVICE CONSTRUCTION: |. Cut approximately one inch from the top/bottom of the box. 2. Wrap the elastic band around the box with the deck in it. 3. Feed the enclosed safety pin under the band and tape both to the box.With your jacket on, the device should be in a perfect position to reach naturally and se- cretly without the need for any questionable motions... Pin the box to the bottom inside left of your jacket so that it can be easily reached by your left hand. Practice knocking the elastic away from the box and allowing the cards to slide out into your awaiting hand. Be- cause of the comfortable location, actions will go unnoticed; it should appear as though you are simply holding your hand at your side. One may wish to make further effort in sewing a patch of material to the inside of the jacket so that it is hidden when the jacket is open. | took the time to unstitch the seam of my jacket so that the device hides inside an open ‘upside-down’ pocket, however, this is quite unnecessary for the performer. THE MECHANICS: Specifically clever for card-table artifice, this technique is designed for one sat down, a little further away from the table as he should be... |. As the deck is surfaced for the cut, drop both your hands to your sides to adjust your seat, ideally puling your chair closer to the table. It will appear that both hands are used for the grip on the chair, however, only the right hand will move the chair. 2. The left hand connects to the device and releases the deck into a finger-palm grip, which is instantly adjusted into a gamblers cop possition. The hands are brought back to wait at the players laps, or instantly to the table for the deck switch. My intentions to refrain from offering a deck switch method at this point will make more sense when you continue with the next method (Veil) as this section is dedicated to the device alone. IN PERFORMANCE: As with most performance devices, one need not stress about his moments, as they can be ma- nipulated and controlled without question. However, this device allows you to load a full deck into your hand right in front of your spectators. With practice in front of a mirror (and with the device in the correct possition) you will notice that you can load the deck with no unnatural movements or stature whatsoever. Once you have the deck loaded, your choice of deck switch is your peril, however, | have always found the OTT Deck Switch is the easiest for stand-up performances - which will be covered in a few pages.15 Introducing deck-switchnig methods with Patch was a consious step to prepare you for the suggested mechanics for deck-switching at the card table: by the means of using the top card as a shade card as the deck is switched beneath it. | suggest this as a strong and proven method and using the idea with the Slaile device will offer a much easier procedure. In this case, however, | offer a technique far more accessible and far less risky - with a little help from the Slaine device... THE MECHANICS: |. As the deck is surfaced for the cut, drop both your hands to your sides to adjust your seat, ideally puling your chair closer to the table. It will appear that both hands are used for the grip on the chair, however, only the right hand will move the chair. The left hand connects to the Slaine dtevice and releases the deck into a finger-palm grip, which is instantly adjusted into a gamblers cop position. 2. The right hand then aproaches the deck as the left hand hovers at the table level, tilted, hiding the Cold Deck. 3. Finger | of the right hand is curled in to contact the top of the deck. The thumb at the back of the deck. Finger2 connects with the top card at the inside left corner causing it to breach the end of the deck by a few millimeters; the thumb stopps it from pivoting from the deck. Fingers3 and 4 curl over the front of the deck and the deck is lifted. 4. As the top card is slightly seperated from the deck it is gripped between finger2 and the thumb and kept in place by finger one on top. The deck is taken back and over the edge of the table as it makes it's way to the left hand. As the deck reaches the end of the table, the deck is released keeping only the top card in hand, in the same action, the left hand brings the Cold Deck under the single shade card for the complete move. This entire action will appear simple. As the deck is cut, the dealer pulls his chair in, then takes the deck from the surface and passes it to his left hand and begins the deal. The grip on the top card will take a good practice run for a comfortable sleight and one must ensure he drops the Play Deck on his central lap, so that it lands complete between the legs. Once again you face the issue of having a stranger in the deck, and for this situation | would reccomend that the ‘sec- cond-dealing until the players deal’ idea would best suffice. CLEANING UP A LAPPED DECK: There is no such sleight devised for vanishing a lapped deck that one would care to apply at the card table. One may employ the use of a Toppit, however this would require the player to launch the deck into his open jacket in hope that it goes unnoticed - something | have not at- tempted for obvious reasons, however, | have been tempted.With the deck on your lap, you won't have an opportunity to clean up whilst dealing, so the soonest one could take action is following a fold or during another players shuffle and deal. It is important that the player sit close to the table, and lean in even closer following the drop as he needs as much shade as he can forge over his lap. In resting moments, when there is nothing to hold on the deck, the player can sit back and drop his hands to his lap without the worry of suspicion, as this is a common behavior of one who is out of play. The player can use this to his advantage for the clean. There is no technique surpassing the obvious. One must simply gather the deck in the shade of the table and get it to his pocket. Nonetheless, here is my method... |. With the deck in left hand finger-palm, the player makes his excuses to drop out for a bath- room visit. 2. He swivels to his left bringing his left hand to the left side of the chair. His right arm swings over to the left as his entire body turns. He now has enough cover to dump the deck in his pocket as he stands to leave. 3. During his bathroom visit, the deck is dumped in the toilet cistern. Alternatively, the player has the opportunity - once the deck is loaded in left-hand finger-palm = to retrieve and check his phone for messages etc. In which case the deck is simply taken to the pocket at an appropriate moment for the act. One should avoid attempts to ‘sleeve’ the Play Deck. not only is this an awkward process but it carries way too many risks. One may be fortunate enough to be seated at a table that has a double-structure providing a small platform under the table suitable for the Play Deck ditch. | have practiced the idea of itching the left ankle and secretly forcing the deck into the sock at the same time. This is very tricky and can consume more time than one would expect to take ona simple leg-scratch. ‘One may be of the sort to have invested in the wear of / and be incline to wearing combat jeans / trousers to his game, in which case he has a natural reach to a pocket situated near the knees, making for a very appropriate deck-dump. However, I'm yet to meet a serious player sporting such an outfit. Following, are some direct deck switches, which take advantage of the Slaine device, most of which also incorporate one of the mentioned clean-up methods.GRIT Named apropriately for the balls needed to apply this to a game, Grit is Veil with a death-wish This technique eliminates the cover card and is a direct deck switch - one-for-one. It is a bold move and has a discrepant moment where the hand will appear to be holding a deck, when really holding nothing at all. Providing you have your Cold Deck loaded from the Slaine device, prepare to lap the deck from the table... |. Following the cut, take the deck from the table with the right hand and bring it over the the awaiting (and loaded) left hand. 2. As the right hand breaches the table, drop the entire deck to the lap. 3. The right hand, keeping it’s shape (as if holding the deck still) meets the left hand, which has since turned face up to produce the loaded Cold Deck. To put this move into perspective, the Cold Deck makes its show before the Play Deck touch- es the lap, of course, they are not seen at the same time, but this should explain how quick the move is. The deck isn’t dropped until both hands appear to meet at the table edge. As the deck is dropped in motion it will travel down at an angle, therefore the body turns slightly over to the right, which incidentally offers more shade over the lap. One should not attempt to speed though this technique, although the actual switch takes a split-second, it is not done at top speed. The shade is offered from the movements made by the arms and hands meeting. You will find through practice that the hands play a great part in shad- ing the deck. In the mirror, you may even at times fool yourself. Seeing the deck leave the right hand is not always a bad thing, as the appearance of the Cold Deck will offer the image that the Play Deck was simply dropped into the left hand for the deal. This switch takes practice that cannot be fully translated on paper. The Play Deck is dropped with perfect timing as the hands meet. Nothing is done without natural motion. The deck is not thrown and there is no room for error. Without a term of practice, one should avoid this switch. Perfecting Veil, will offer the best training needed for Grit.This is the first deck switch I mastered and the only one | used in my early days. It inspired the OTT Deck Switch (following) and makes the most of the Play Deck, which remains in the game right up to the point of the first deal. Providing you have a loaded Cold Deck in palm, prepare to lap the Play Deck |. Maneuver the palmed Cold Deck into a lower Gamblers Cop: gripped between finger2 and mid-palm. Finger! curls over covering the end of the deck. 2. Following the cut, collect the deck from the table with the right hand and bring it over to the left. 3. Raise the left hand loading the Cold Deck under the Play Deck. The Play Deck sits on top of the Cold Deck slightly forward, Finger! now curls over the front of the play deck. 4. The top card of the Play Deck is pushed over for the deal. At the same time, the dealing motion of the deck hand begins by tilting up at the front and down at the back, almost as if to flash the bottom card but seen to simply be passing the dealing card to the taking right hand. 5. In the rocking motion of the deck, as it tilts back, a moment of shade is offered over the deck. In this motion, the Play Deck is released allowing it to be thrownislide off of the Cold Deck and into the lap. The top card of the cold deck is then the first card to be dealt: The motion of dealing covers the move. The Play Deck, sits on the Cold Deck, and is then simply thrown out of play to the lap in the motion of the first deal. This carries as many dangers as any deck switch, but uses a natural motion to cover that sliding ditch/lap. One may wish to attempt sliding the Play deck over to the lap the instant it touches the hand (before the deal) but one will find no cover wiser than the actual deal. As with all techniques, practice is key. The arms need to be in contact with the table or as close as they can be to hide the fall and one should put as much practice in the landing of the lap as the actual technique itself. For those in performance, either stood or sat, The OTT Deck switch follows the same initia- tion as Slide, but has a safer clean up than lapping the deck...Following Slide, one can assure a safer performance technique in OTT (Over The Top.) Al- though | displayed this change toward the end of the Subterfuge One demonstration video, it's not a move that can be applied at the table unless the player is in cahoots with the dealer (something | am strongly against.) | designed this technique for display and performance only. Itis quick and direct and the Play Deck will be long-gone before anybody know’s what's hit them. It can be done in extremely close surroundings without danger and hides itself in a simple cut of the deck |. The spectator is invited to shuffle the deck. In this act, load the Cold Deck from the Slaine device and prepare for the switch. Adjust the Cold Deck so that it is in a Gamblers Cop. 2. Take back the Play Deck with the right hand and load the Cold Deck under it. The Play Deck will be overlapping the Cold Deck slightly. 4. Without hesitation, with the right hand, grab the Cold Deck at the very back ends and strip it from under the Play Deck. Draw the entire deck back to the body tilted downward and circle it up and over, slapping it on top of the Play Deck. This should appear to be a simple end-strip cut, cutting the bottom half to the top from the back. 5. As the Cold Deck makes its way to the top, finger pushes the Play Deck further back into the hand. The Deck’s will end in the same position as they were after the load. 6. The right hand now takes the Cold Deck from above as the left hand tilts palming the Play Deck away in a Gamblers Cop for the ditch: Ihave ended explanation at this point, as how you continue from here depends on your choice of effect. The deck is taken back from the spectator after their shuffle, all that is seen is the player cutting the deck. You may have a pen in your left pocket, which you will need for the next part of your effect. This gives you a valid excuse to make way to your pocket for the ditch. If you have switched in a memorized stack, once you have palmed the Play Deck away, tilt your body and reach over the surface with your right hand, as the deck touches the surface you will turn it face up and spread the deck face up across the surface. In this motion your twisted body will provide it's own shade for the Play Deck in the left hand to be dumped in the left back pocket. Executed at a table, you can reach back with your left hand to pull your chair closer to the table. The Cold Deck will remain in sight and the Play Deck can be dumped on your chair during your move, which you will then sit on.Unlike other previous entries, Heat allows the player to show an open left hand as the Cold Deck is hidden in the collecting right hand in a rather difficult full-deck flat-palm... |. Once the deck is loaded in the left hand, the player transfers it to a right-hand flat-deck-palm (below) :The deck is bevelled into the hand and gripped between the thumb and the inside of finger4. All fingers are completely straight and the hand is held flat. 2. Following the cut, the player takes the deck from the table with his right hand, the Cold Deck is dropped on top of the Play Deck. Both decks are lifted and taken to the left hand. 3. As the left hand tilts upward and over to feed the top card to the right hand for the deal, the Play Deck is set free and dropped over the edge of the table to the lap. It’s not the players intention to wave at his opponents to prove his empty left hand. It is a psychologically subtlety. Practice and precision with the flat-palm is the drive behind this switch. No unknowing player will imagine that two decks could ever be held in one hand unnoticed, so the act naturally avoids suspicion. The grip on both decks in the right hand lasts for no longer than a seconds, and the same when held in the left. The act should be understood and practiced as one solid move and not a series of sleights; there are no breaks in motion. On an ending table (without an edge or bumper) one can complete the switch without lifting the deck. Once the Cold Deck lands on top of the Play Deck, both decks can be slid off of the edge of the table. The Play Deck of course, falls to the lap as the Cold Deck takes over. Hopefully by now you have enough material to work on to aid your deck-switching. Following, I have included two previously published books that cover interesting marking systems for play- ing cards. | hope that these offer you further reasons to practice deck-switching and offer you a further insight in the art of deception with playing cards...22 December 2010 journal entry 008: personal demon destroy yourself, whatever is left standing when rocx-bottom arrives is your foundation. All ] foand waiting for me was a deck of cards. so F built on it. The only giant's shoulders } stand on are those built in my head. Don't elass me, When you maze yourself a part of \ something you are no lonser unique. The poment I fit in is the moment — bow out. I'm not doing this for anything, ] do what builds me, } know nothings more. They say imitation is flattery, but it just re- minds me that orisinal thought is dead. are people so lost that they pretend to be what they are not? I don't asree that the art. he is an artist would have it no other suppress your demons. you sive them — time to plan their attack"51m O10] 8) BLOOD is a model for marking the following playing cards... BICYCLE RIDER BACK | BICYCLE LEAGUE BACK | TALLY-HO CIRCLE | TALLY-HO FAN | SPLIT SPADES (BOTH DESIGNS) The Bloood system employs a common method for marking a deck of cards known as FILLING, in which selected white areas of the design are filled in with an ink the same colour as the deck design — thus altering the image & translating a unique value to the reader. Blood keeps its small markings within the same area of each design in a location close to the edges; usually to the top left, this is the most visible part of the card without having to remove cards from a fanned or spread deck, offering more opportunity to read the cards without having to see the entire card In most cases, a permanent ink is used for the markings that’s either identical to the card colour or pitch white, but some systems have taken to the manufacturer where the marked decks are actually printed making them more failsafe, however, as covered earlier, these decks tend to be too expensive for the modern performer. In some cases, the same ink used by the card manufactures can be obtained offering the safest marking material pos- sible. Blood uses an ink so simple that it has gone under the radar... The Sharpie... The Sharpie has become a magic wand to the magician, a utility that can advance an effect from good to outstanding, and it’s about to gain far more value to you than ever. The scep- tical of you will assume this a cheap and tardy method for a marking system, cheap it may be, but it is far from trash. I have tried, tested and been 100% successful with each deck covered in this document in the colours RED, BLACK & BLUE; conveniently the most commonly available coloured Sharpies. Should you be performing with a Green deck, Green Sharpies are also easy to obtain. Obviously you will need a sharpie that matches the same colour as the deck you wish to mark. By a matter of concept, each of the three common inks are perfect matches for the inks used by the USPCC decks covered by Blood allowing for a near-flawless marking system. | do advise that you do not rely on any other form of permanent marker, many have been trailed and most do leave a tan on the faces of other cards. The Sharpie will leave a shine to the final mark that may catch under strong light but this isn’t something to worry about as it is not strong enough to reflect. The shine only adds as an advantage to help locating the markings. This shine can be avoided by using a Matt finish Sharpie.The pen must have a sharp end The pen must be new, recent or ideally unused Do not rush when marking your cards... Keep your patience Mark your cards under a good strong light As long as you fill the required area of the card, use as little ink as possible Allow each card to dry for a minimum of 30 seconds Always practice on the advertisement cards first Here’s how to mark your deck... BLOOD BICYCLE RIDER BACK MARKING SYSTEM ONE This marking system is the only reason I'll ever use Rider Back Bikes, in my opinion, it is the most easily accessible to read from a spread deck & marked very subtly. It will take a little longer to get used to the grid, but it will be worth it. SUIT INDICATOR SPADE DIAMOND VALUE GRID , — ey ayRTY s 2 f ‘The white arch The white arch is The white arch is The lower half of The upper half of The dots inside above is used asa unmarked to indi- missing which indi- the arch is marked the arch indicates the arch are used suit indicator. cate a Spade, cates a Heart. to indicate a Club. a Diamond. as value indicators. The dot marked — Thenext white © Thewhitedotas The last dot is The Ist 2dots are The 2 dots above above indicates an dot indicates a2. marked above in- marked to indicate marked to indicate are marked to in- Ace. dicates a 3. a4, as. dicate a 6. JACK The 2 dots The 2 dots The 2 dots The 2 dots The 3 dots The 3 dots marked above in- marked above in- marked above in- marked above in- marked above in-__ marked above in- dicate a 7. dicate a 8. dicate a9. dicate a 10 dicate a Jack dicate a Queen.BLOOD BICYCLE RIDER BACK MARKING SYSTEM TWO. This version of the system isn’t ideal for some of the effects suggested in the covering chap- ter but is by far the easiest to read... SUIT INDICATOR SPADE DIAMOND. VALUE GRID Both birds are ‘The lowerbird is The upper bird is The four birds The two birds above are used as marked to indicate marked to indicate marked to indicate marked to indicate above are used to suit indicators. a Spade. a Heart a Club. a Diamond, indicate the value. ? “ot Bird | is marked Bird 2is marked Bird 3 is marked Bird 4 is marked Birds | and2are Birds 2 and 3 are to indicate an Ace. to indicatea2. to indicate a 3, to indicate a 4, marked to indicate marked to indicate a5, a6, NINE TEN is : 7 V7 Bird 3 and 4 are Bird 2and4are Birds | and4are Birds 2,3and4 Birds 1, 2and 3 marked to indicate marked to indicate marked to indicate marked to indicate are marked to in- are marked to in- a Seven. an Eight. a Nine, aTen. dicate a Jack. dicate a Queen.BLOOD BICYCLE LEAGUE BACK MARKING SYSTEM The Bike League design was without a doubt the hardest deck to find a suitable marking system for, initially | developed markings on the bike wheels but eventually decided that this was too much of an obvious place for one to look should one fall suspicious. Eventually | discovered a natural grid printed within the design of the card... VALUE GRID BS 8 / fa) la) RFA Raa) Aya The 2 white lines The 2 white lines Both white lines The lower white The upper white above are used as are unmarked to are markeded to line is marked to line is filed to in- above are used as suit indicators. indicate a Spade. indicate a Heart. indicate a Club. dicate a Diamond. _a value grid oo Line 2 is marked in the middle to indi- cate a Six. var ayia yar oO Line lismarked Line 2is marked Line 3 is marked Line 4 is marked ‘on the left to indi- on the left to indi- on the left to indi- on the left to indi- cate an Ace. cate aTwo. cate a Three, cate a Four. yr favars y ‘ Line 3 is marked in Line 4 is marked in Line | is marked Line 2is marked Line 3 is marked the middle to indi- the middle to indi- on the right to in- on the right to in- on the right to in- on the right to in- cate a Seven. cate an Eight. dicate a Nine. dicate aTen. dicate a Jack dicate a Queen.BLOOD TALLY-HO CIRCLE BACK MARKING SYSTEM The Tally-Ho Circle deck offers quite a few possibilities when creating a marking system, & as with all others covered in this chapter, I've steered clear of the obvious & first thoughts & avoided the clock-face idea... SUIT INDICATOR SPADE HEART cLuB D ZN SAN! Been! 7 The two points The twolines are Both white lines Line 2is marked Line | is marked The 2 white lines above are used as. unmarked to indi- are markeded to to indicate a Club. to indicate Dia- above are used as suit indicators. cate a Spade. indicate a Heart. monds. a value grid. ACE Two FIVE FAN! BEN! Line | ismarked Line | is marked Line 2is marked Line 2is marked Line | is fully Line 2 is fully ‘on the left to indi- on the right to in- on the left to indi- on the right to in- marked to indicate marked to indicate cate an Ace. dicate a2 catea3. dicate a 4 a5. a6 Both lines are Both lines are Line Vismarked Line | is marked Line | is comple- Line | is fully marked on the left marked onthe onthe left,line 2 on the right,line 2 telly marked and marked and line 2 to indicate a7. right to indicate anon the right to in- on the left to indi- line 2.on the right on the left to indi- dicate a9 cate a 10. to indicate a Jack. cate a Queen,BLOOD TALLY-HO FAN BACK MARKING SYSTEM The Tally-Ho Fan deck has to be the most hidden & devious marking system, & as with all others covered in this chapter, I've steered clear of the obvious & first thoughts & avoided the corners ... SUIT INDICATOR SPADE DIAMOND. VALUE GRID The lower dot is marked to indicate a Club. The middle dot is. marked to indi- cate a Heart. The top-middle dot is marked to indicate a Spade. The flowers above are used as the suit indicator. ACE THREE Dot 3 indicates a” Three. Dot 2 indicates a Two. Ace. EIGHT NINE Dots | and2 indi; Dots 2and 3 indi Dots 3 and4 indi: Dots 4 and 5 in- cate a Seven. cate an Eight. cate a Nine. dictae aTen No markings indi- The flower above | cate a Diamonds. are used as clock- like value grid. FIVE six 1 Dot 5 indicates a Five, 6 ‘The middle dot in- dicates a Six QUEEN Dots | and 3 indi- cate a Jack. Dots 2 and 4 indi- cate a Queen,LEARNING THE BLOOD MARKINGS: Once you have made your Blood Deck you will need a little practice to get used to the markings, with a little time and patience you'll only need a glimpse to read and translate the card. The best practice is to shuffle the deck, hold it face down in your hand and read the markings before turning the card over to reveal if you were correct, time yourself as you do this and continue until you have read the full deck. Keep going through this routine until you get faster and more fluid with the cards, eventually you won't need to translate the cards, the markings will become a second language to you. When a card is selected from the deck, you don’t want people to see you focusing on the back of the card, this instantly invites speculation. It will feel quite natural at first to look at the card two or three times, once to get the value, again to get the suit and once more just to check. This isn’t at all ideal as again it invites suspicion that's not needed. Anything more than a single glimpse is too much of a risk so you need to get confident with the cards before you use them. There are a few routines further in the document that allows you to take your time with reading the cards without any suspicion; also offering good practice for reading the marks. It’s wise to get used to reading the cards from a spread deck, as it is possible to read the markings as your spectator chooses their card, although this will come with experience and sheer practice and depends on your deck and marking preferences. CHECKING FOR A MARKED DECK: If you know what to look for in a marked deck, you'll better know how to handle one. Commonly, when somebody falls suspicious of an illegitimate deck, two cards will be held up next to each other and the designs will be compared at an attempt to distinguish a differ- ence between the two seemingly identical designs. Only a seriously redundant system would fail this as such a system would defy it’s own purpose. The most common method for checking a deck for markings is often referred to as the Movie Test, or more commonly known as the Riffle Test. The suspicious would riffle the cards with his thumb (as if it were a cartoon flip-book) whilst keeping focus on the back design of the cards. As each card in a marked deck has a different marking, a change in the patterns consistency will occur and the riffled deck will become animated. Knowing where your markings are you can try this with your deck; the markings will almost jump out at you. Although there are marked decks designed to combat this, there are only a few who would know of this testing method and should you follow the system rules correctly, nobody will ever think that anything other than skill (or magic) is in play.EFFECTS WITH A MARKED DECK: Ultimately, a marked deck only has one use and therefore any effect list would be short and sweet simply consisting of none-force card-revelation effects, however, a good marking system will advance such effects to their highest degree. Performance magic isn’t about the quantity of the effects in your repertoire but the quality of them, & a fool is he who merely relies on a gimmick to uphold his reputation... without showmanship, the deck is just an- other gimmick. It is said that without magic there could have never been mentalism, in most cases, men- talists all began as magicians who simply developed their effect to a point of something so far beyond trickery that it needed it's own label beyond magic, just as running is an ad- vanced version of jogging, and a jogger next to a runner just looks lazy. However, lets focus on the line that divides the two, who decides where jogging stops & running begins? There's no form of distinction other than he was going really fast so he was running or he was run- ning, but just running slowly so he was jogging. Mentalism was wise when it arrived, it’s name alone categorises it apart from magic thus leaving behind all the shitty stigmas of magic, yet essentially mentalism & magic are two dif- ferent types of magic. Any mentalist who claims he is no magician is no mentalist either. Try to find a mentalist shop that doesn’t also sell magic tricks, in fact, try find a mentalist shop at all, they are few & far between simply because all mentalists shop at magic stores. If | had the time and could be arsed, I'd claim to the world that | was the worlds fastest jogger, I'd also be the worlds smallest giant & the worlds tallest hobbit at the same time, I'm the most intelligent stupid person ever, who decides? The main idea of Blood is to make the impossible even more impossible without becoming a mentalist. The concept was born from my self-analytical style of developing magic effects; to ask one if | were to meet myself, how would | amaze me? To achieve the impossible in magic only leads to developments in magic that ultimately become effects of mentalism. When | took mentalism by the psychological balls it only meant that | had to leave behind magic, for the effects | was performing were far greater than magic and could have never been dressed down by the perception of magic, the very essence of magic is that it is trickery, it’s not real, & | wanted to perform real magic, and mentalism was the closest thing. But my magic would keep getting in the way, reactions were different and my repertoire was missing the sheer dirty sleights and deceptive ways of magic that | just love... | couldn't be a mentalist who also did magic, that was for Derren wannabes, and | didn’t want to be a magician who also did mentalism, for it’s these perform- ers who draw attention to the fact that mentalism is just trickery; shame on you. Blood borrows the physical art of magic and is essentially a system for magic; it also bor- rows the thought process of mentalism. A mentalism effect that borrows attributes of the magician is only a mentalism effect, yet a magic trick that employs the ideas of mentalism is magic truly beyond belief.The most common summary of magic, as most recently described by Christopher Nolan as... The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige. It is these three stages that most magicians do not follow but expect to be a natural system, which is quite a common and big mistake. You can make a coin appear, or you can show an empty hand, then the coin appears in it, and then it vanishes... it served a process rather than simply appearing to be put back in a pocket... The basic terms of a card trick require multiple stages A card is selected and unseen by the magician The card is returned to the deck The deck is shuffled thus losing the card The card is revealed in a magical way colle pia In this process the introduction of the cards is the Pledge, the Turn is the card being re- turned and shuffled, the Prestige is the revelation. This is the most basic of card effects that follows the rules; it’s very poor for a magic trick and by no means reputation making. How- ever, with the appliance of Blood and due attention to the rules of magic, this same effect can be tweaked to the kind of trick that changes a spectators’ life forever. BASIC CARD SELECTION: Following the same rules as the basic card effect, we can make a simple effect an ingenious one |. A card is selected and unseen by the magician The basic card selection requires the magician to present his cards and invite somebody to select a card. If we challenge the way this is done we can heighten the atmosphere of the effect from the word go. The very presence of playing cards calls for attention; people see somebody remove a deck of cards and want to see what's going on, simply because it’s not of the norm for a man to go everywhere with playing cards. The cards alone suggest that he’s a magician, and who doesn’t want to see magic? Even if it were crap it'd be something to witness. Whenever I’m shown a card trick by a magician and invited to remove a card, unless the selection is fair and not done in the obscure style of most forces Ill be rather bemused and left in hope that the sake of the force was worth the effect, and even with the most fairest of selections | always assume a classic force. However, this is not a process that requires a force, we will deal with forcing later. The idea of this simple effect is that a card removed by a spectator must become know to the magician before its point of revelation, and the level of intriguing ignited by the trick is based on the spectator wondering at which point the magician became aware of the iden- tity of the selected card, & therefore if there never appeared to have been a point at whichthe magician could have seen the card, the trick will seem more believable, and more to the point, more impossible. At the end of the trick a spectator will backtrack... Did he know the position of the card in the deck? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Did he know which card was next to mine? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Did he peek the card before shuffling? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Did he see the card somehow when | was looking at it? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Did he know which card | was going to pick? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Could the deck have been in order? Yes = Bad No = Next Question Could the deck be marked? Yes = Bad No = Baffled The idea of diminishing any speculation will go a long way in any performance, and so we begin with the most acceptable card selection possible... Give the deck to the selected spectator Here, | want you to check that this is an average deck of cards, that there's nothing strange or different about it... Once you're satisfied I'd like you to mix the cards up as much as you like, & to make this fair — because | don’t want you to think that I'm cheating in any way — I'm going to look away so | can’t even see the shuffle. It is here that you begin to diminish the questions that could later arise: the deck cannot be in order nor can it be a trick deck. Looking away offers the suggestion that the deck could have had no order nor could the magician have somehow followed the cards as they were shuffled. When you're done I'd like you to spread the card across the table facedown so | can't see them, so that nobody can see them. Now, when you're ready | want you to just place your finger on the back of any playing card, once you've done that | want you to pull it toward yourself away from the other cards. I'll cover my eyes so | can't see where you're taking the card from... The fact that the spectator is doing all the work will have already got the spectator/s at a positive level of intrigue. As you cover your eyes with your hand, you need to leave an open gap below your hand so that you can still see down over the cards, the hand over the face merely suggests that your eyes are closed. Be careful not to leave a gap too big as this will suggest deception, practice a few times to get an acceptable cover glimpse. The time that it will take from the spectator landing on a card to moving it away from the deck should give more than enough opportunity to read the marked card. However, you will still need to ask the spectator to gather up the remaining cards; a little extra time in which you can catch a further glimpse of the card without the possible obstruction of their finger. It is vital that you glimpse the card at this point. Once glimpsed, you can compleatly cover your eyes and eyen slowly edge away to offer further conviction to your blindness...vOkay, before I open my eyes | want you to take a look at the card... It’s very important that nobody sees it other than you... At this point you have quite a few ways to take the effect. The spectator could keep hold of the card, put it in their pocket, keep their hand held over it, which would be more benefi- cial to the trick as once the card is named the evidence is right there in their hand. But the development of this effect calls for the card to be returned to the deck. 2. The card is returned to the deck 3. The deck is shuffled thus losing the card And so, once the card is known by the spectator, ask them to return it to the deck and shuffle the cards. Once the shuffling begins you are free to open your eyes. In overview, we have seen a spectator shuffle, then freely take out a card that only they saw, then shuffle it back into the deck, all whilst the magician never touched the cards and kept his eyes closed throughout. The stage has been set for the impossible. Although no physical revelation will take place, part four will be achieved, as the card will be named. 4. The card is revealed In reflection | remind you of that line between the mentalist and the magician. By all means, read your spectators mind and reveal the card however you choose, but allow me to offer you this... Explaining to somebody how you are reading their mind i.e. mannerisms, body language, psychic powers (shut the F up) or direct mind reading only poses you as a mentalist with a deck of cards. The offer of a process, although entertaining only denies the spectator their given right to fulfil their own belief in what's just happened. As much as | want to tell them that their left eye twitched, that means it’s a club etc. | know that merely staring into their eyes for a few moments with half closed eyes before simply naming their card will take the effect many miles further than any explanation. Clearly we're not all always going to be in a position to offer such a class card-selection & even if we were we wouldn't want to offer speculation as to why the process of selecting a card is always the same. An open card selection is a selection that | resort to should | not be in a position to spread the deck anywhere nor need to force a card. The cards are shuf- fled & spread quite untidily from one hand to another then held out as a platform for the spectator to chose from as the performer looks away. This offers a similar reflection as the selection above. Ihave decided to end the Blood section at this point, as when initially written, it offered more of a guide to trickery for magicians with a marked deck. The appearance of Blood in Deceptions Three is no more than an aid or reason to switch the deck. However, if you feel as though you want to keep reading Blood, it is available as a free download at my website. DANIELmadison.co.ukTHE CARD CHEAT JOURNALS My granddad once said “if you're going to fuck up, make sure you fuck up properly.” Magic was the result of a fuck-up for me, and it’s made me bitter about my art. | swore I'd never go back but here | am. Magic became my methadone, and it worked for a while but no matter how faded the temptations became they would not disappear. It caused a madness | never thought would get the better of me. | was ina prison of my own choice fooling myself into thinking that magic would suffice. It did not. | could not adapt to the image of a magician, it simply was not me nor something | could bring myself to, yet the obsession with 52's kept me there. | was a stranger in a place that not only accepted my disposition but became drawn to it. The followers and opportunities became anchors and ties to the inadequacies of an industry, and the money made it glitter. | pulled the trigger on the magician in me, and all that was left was me holding a deck of cards. And I'm back where | began deceiving the world a card table at a time, walking a line between the life that chewed me up and another that | was spat out into. Maybe I'm here for revenge, or maybe to prove to myself that | do have control. Maybe I’m just a sucker for self destruction... like the man wrote; “There is but one pleasure in life greater than winning, that is, in making the hazard” S.W.Erdnase - Expert at the Card TableBefore my rediscovered love for Bee playing cards, my favored poison was always the Red Fan-Back Tally-Ho, and occasionally the same deck in Black. | always felt that the image of these cards fit the underground magician and flourisher hands perfectly. My marking system for them (Blood) became my most favored and offered a further reason to always use them, and this quickly became something | missed about my new choice of cards. In BLOOD2 (unreleased) | offered a further extended marking system from the same vein for more decks; Guardians, Centurions, Propaganda, Arcane, Sentinels and Bee. The problems were that | didn't want to produce more material aimed toward magicians, and | felt that all of these decks were magician-specific, all apart from the Bee deck. The system offered the same application as Blood and as one can imagine, it didn’t work too well with the Bee design. | had to find another system. Of the influences behind The Score, an earlier idea followed a very old marking system known as The Swollen Diamond system, whereas specific diamonds on the back of a Bee card would be made slightly bigger (top left diamond in image0|.) However this system re- quires the use of ink - an avenue already exhausted. A similar concept calls for the dia- monds to be made smaller, this technique uses a cut-out method whereas a blade would be used to gently scratch away the ink. The technique can take a very long time to complete a deck and requires a very steady hand. Upon applying both systems to a Blue Back Bee deck, | resigned the idea, not only did it take too long but it was very difficult to make the lines distinguishable enough to be convincing without being completely invisible and often a single tiny scratch out of place would ruin the card. Neither system was good enough to risk using. Every marking system relies on a certain level of trust from it's victims, some more than others, the more trust the less risk, but | think that one with the intention to cheat at cards should aim for no more than 10% risk and be wise enough to judge that percentage on their chosen system. You can never fully understand the trust level of an opponent nor an accom- plice or friend, in fact, a facade of trust is the best cover for skepticism Trust the players but always cut the cardsThis system uses the white boarder on the back of the playing card. Only 36 cards in the deck will have 4 markings on them; one small mark on the top and bottom border to indi cate the suit and another 2 on the side boarders to indicate the value. Diamonds and Kings are the only cards identified by having no markings, which means that I5 cards in the deck will only have 2 marking on them and | card (the King of Diamonds) will have no markings on whatsoever. The top white boarder is used as a canvas for marking the suit. Circle A shows where the markings are applied to indicate the suit. The left white border on the back of the card is used as a canvas for marking the value of the card. This boarder is split into three sections; top, middle and bottom. Each of the sections on the left border - as marked by Circles B, C and D are used to first indicate the group value. If a marking is seen in Circle D, the value of the card will be an Ace, 2,3 or 4. Any markings seen in Circle C will be a Surr INpicaTor 5, 6,7 or 8. And any markings seen in Circle B will be a 9, 10, Jack or Queen. 9, 10, Jack Kings are identified as the only card to or Queen be unmarked by value. Each marker may find better locations for these marking points but | have denn ede personally found these to be the most RRR effective. RR 5, 6,7 0R8 POR oa RR RR PRR Suu he Sahih sas BRD 8 Sy Li Saha sas POR RR 8% aha Mi Sak Sa kas PO MS ky La Sanka as L Ace, 2,30r4The Score Marking system uses a single directional line on the top white border of the card to indicate the suit (inside Circle A) and another single directional line on the left border to indicate the value (inside Circles B, C + D) The three lines below each indicate a suit, these lines are marked inside Circle A SPADES HEARTS CLUBS —\ | The four lines below each indicate values ACE, 2, 3 and 4 These lines are marked inside Circle D on the bottom section of the card... ACE TWO THREE FOUR —N | 27 The four lines below each indicate values 5, 6, 7 and 8 These lines are marked inside Circle C on the middle section of the card. FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT —N\ | 7 The four lines below each indicate values 9, 10, JACK and QUEEN. These lines are marked inside Circle B on the top section of the card. NINE TEN JACK QUEEN aK KK aK OF =D os RU. RR RRS MMi Sn iSkin Sas Ry RR iat ighias insist Masa Ma Suse Sas RD a RRR %, K SS SsYou will have noticed that the clock-like pattern is repeated on different locations on the card. This not only offers a very easy to remember code but one that is almost undetect- able to both the unknown victim and skeptical player. The actual markings on the card are applied by a concentration of pressure causing a dented line to appear on the card, this is intended to appear as an ‘imperfection’ or result of‘use.” Of the many tests | ran before settling on the final instrument, my personal choice has become the head of a steel nail. The nail that | use is 2 inches long and the flat head measures about 5mm across. The thickness of the actual nail-head is sharp and measures less than Imm. As you learn the concept you may find a better or easier substitution. For marking this system during play you can use your fingernail but for now I shall explain the marking method with the use of the nail-head for a prepared deck... Held at the body of the nail, hold the side of the nail-head in position on the card, adding pressure you will feel and see the head slowly dent the card, as it does so, roll the nail head back and forth and be careful not to break the top lair of paper. This will create a ‘rounded ditch’ dent in the card... the start and end of the line will blend with the card yet the centre will be punched in. The line should be small but long enough to recognize the direction. The line SHOULD NOT reach the edge of the card or the edge of the pattern as this will cause the dent to stand out. The image above shows the marking of a Queen in action. You should mark each card on a flat and hard surface so that the dent does not show through on the face of the card. This also depends on the pressure you apply to the card and is something you will learn how to prevent after a few trial runs. The goal is to create a system faint enough to blend in with- out being too invisible to cause a strain when reading. Remember, the markings must be in- visible to the unknown victim. If some of the dents appear too deep or noticeable, you may need to squeeze the card between your fingers at the dent making sure it doesn’t leave a bump in the card. —_—=— ‘Below are six examples of cards marked with the Score system. These have been created digitally to purposelly expose the markings, which appear darker on these images than they should do on a finished deck. EIGHT of SPADES JACK of HEARTS TEN of CLUBS Cr RR x OR IORI RRO OR ee Pe , f, Sinha Si Sadr KS at ighighisisig| RO Ki LR A Me a ae rasa os Ve ge ae eas OO ‘ Rs Mi ha Si sigdings Re RO RS ROR OR OM OOO LS Signsig CARR RRA Mh age Gh Suns OR es i Saging Fe Ma ea ig as RS RO SN LR OR RR MR Ki hs 6 COONS CIS BaD aR RD yeahh OO FIVE of DIAMONDS KING of SPADES RN om ORO RRC RRR RROD OOOO FOr rr , ‘ RR 8, MMe Sa Sink h, RR RR as aah ghiioisig PTR PA RS Pe a ROR ROR Say SRR A 4 RRR RS ROKR PG SG Sy Sy Sue, RO %, 84 Sy SS OR sigs SS “Sinn Si Sn SM) RRO Re RF RS Lae eS NOR Oe a A RS PE Pay %, %, ROR OR RRA ROR RR RRA POON FS a aS a a8) Pa Pn 8 MaMa ly RO p aeThe Score markings may at first appear obvious to the reader, but this is simply due to awareness, as with all deceptive practices, an iron nerve is needed to employ and conduct the actual act. You will find that light hitting the cards from any direction will leave a shadow of sort in the ditches - something one may consider a great advantage of the system but also something that the wise should be weary of. Depending on your choice of deck you will find your own unique applications. Upon marking a deck of Bee Stingers you will find that you can move each marking close - if not into - the fading design, and to add to this you will find that the directional stroke of your marking will line up perfectly with the Bee pattern, this offers a remarkable camouflage for the system. Upon marking a card with a solid boarder such as Bee Erdnase you will find a few marking techniques that allow for more subtleties... marking Spades you will be able to mark the horizontal line very close to the actual boarder so that it appears more hidden, you can also do the same with the values 3, 7 and Jack. A development that | have grown to is to use a simple ‘dot’ indentation to replace all of the horizontal markings (Spades, Ace, 5 and 9.) However | would only recommend this to the well practiced readers of The Score as a dot is easy to question as a poorly marked other. As this is a self applied system you may find your own variations which may depend on your game. In most games the suit is not always of great importance and so to make the markings more subtle you may choose to apply the values only. The Blackjack cheat may chose to only mark the Aces, Court cards and Tens with the same single marking, this would offer a serious advantage were the dealer to be in on the action. In other games you may benefit from simply knowing if the card is high or low, for which you could simply use Cir- cles B, C and D as single line markers for High, Medium or Low... High being 10 to Ace, Medium being 5 to 9 and Low being 2 to 4. And there are other lesser known (less popular) games for which the suit is of high importance and therefore the deck could be marked by suit alone. One may also decide that knowing only the color would help and therefore only choose to mark all of the Black cards with the same marking and leave the Red’s untouched. To apply this system to a deck during play may seem quite daunting and difficult at first and admittedly this will take some practice and nerve (and a sharp nail on your middle finger.) You must be fluent with the markings to make this workable as you will need to learn them in a mirrored image. Practice by using an old deck and taking a random card at a time, hold the card in your right hand as you would at a poker table and pinch the card be- tween your middle finger and thumb at the relevant marking point for the value, this will be to your right of the card. As you are now marking in a mirror image you will need to men- tally map out those Circles on the back. When marking cards in hand the hard surface is not too important, you'll find that your fingernail can cause a suitable marking when the card is pinched against the pad of your thumb. You need not worry about being seen marking the cards, there is no procedure for holding your dealt cards as long as the faces are hidden from the other players so aligning the cards for marking between your finger and thumb will go openly unnoticed, as will subtly turning the card 180 degrees to mark the other side, however, depending on your finger length you may be able to reach across the face of the card to mark the other side.It is also not uncommon to ‘fidget’ with your cards as they lay face down on the table, this offers a very convenient opportunity to mark your cards without the need to think too much about the mirror image, although | would only suggest this during a game of Texas Hold Em’ as marking any more than 2 cards in this way may draw attention. Admittedly marking an entire deck during play could take all night, in fact, to mark the entire deck would rely on a serious stroke of luck as statistically you'll never see every card in the deck in your dealt hands during one sitting, but this should be no deterrent as event ten marked cards in a deck could offer a serious advantage. A perk of marking a deck during play is that any suspicion is likely to be pointed in the owners direction, and as ever, the preferred response to suspicion is simple stupidity, eg. ‘What's a marked deck?” To become fluent with your newly ‘Scored’ deck, shuffle the deck and deal the cards as fast as you can into a face up pile, reading the backs and calling them before they turn face up, you will eventually grow faster and faster at this process. During play all deceptive ac- tions should blend in with the standard procedure of the game, your only desire is to be able to read the card as quickly as possible, dealing too fast or too slow may attract unde- sired attention. You should never be seen purposely looking at the back of a card so you will need to practice glimpses to see how quickly you can identify single cards, again this is something that requires time and practice. Following are some basic lessons and suggestions to get you started with the deck. It is at this point that | must reiterate my intentions for publishing this work. As with all decep- tive lessons, this is an expose on how one ‘would’ cheat at cards, not how one ‘should’ cheat at cards. | would never condone cheating at cards but do offer such lessons as point of in- terest and for those who study or offer demonstrations of deceptions as a form of enter- tainment.THE SCORE THREE STEPS When using the Score system in play, upon your turn to deal, you will; be able to read three cards ahead by simply pushing over the top three cards as you go to take a standard deal;as the values are marked on side boarders you will be able to glimpse and peek the value markings. Al- though you may struggle to read the suits you will still have a remarkable advantage of reading three values in a single glimpse. You may have to move your dealing thumb to see some of the markings but you can simply align it between the top and middle marking points (Circles C and D) THE SCORE SECOND FIRST For the dealing reader, one has the advantage of knowing which cards to retain for himself or an accomplice by the application of a Second Deal. On sight or control of a desired card the dealer would retain the top card in position whilst secretly dealing the second card until he is ready to deal the held-back known card. THE SCORE Bottoms uP With the deck in dealing position, the dealer will find that he can easily move the cards in a casual way that allows the deck to spread slightly from the bottom, this will expose the board- ers of at least two of the bottom cards. Should these cards be of a useful value he may choose to Bottom Deal them to himself or an accomplice, should those cards be undesired he can either retain them or deal them to his opponents. This is a reading technique that can also be used in conjunction with Three Steps and Second First. THE SCORE SHUFFLE DOWN AND DEAL When executing a standard overhand shuffle you will be able to read the backs of the top cards through the cycle. As desired cards show up you can control these by shuffling them to the bottom one by one and retaining there in stacking preparation for a series of Bottom Deals. of course knowing the bottom cards leaves the cheat in a powerful position to palm them away for switching during the following deals. tHE SCORE DISTANCE READING As cards are dealt to all players you clearly don’t want to be seen looking at the backs of other players cards. Through experience I've found that the best technique is to pick your hand up quickly, either all at once or a card at a time - as dealt. As you hold your cards up to inspect your hand, do not look at your cards but look over the top and at the back of other players as they do the same. Aligning your hand so that you do not apear to change focus or tilt your head will hide your glare and you should not attempt to spy any players hands who aren't in front of you. At most you will aim to read the hands of the direct opposite players only. You may strug- gle to read from a distance and may only be able to get the very back card. | highly recommend that you read the value first, as this offers far more important information than the suit.| appreciate that some readers may have found interest in this book for the use of trickery only. Once again | suggest first mastering the Blood System and taking lessons and sugges- tions from there, The Score may then act as an ‘alternative’ that can be adapted to the tricks taught in the book. Not to leave your powder dry | offer some suggestions for the com- bined use of trickery and close up deception with The Score marking system. THE SCORE BASIC CARD SELECTION Most skilled magicians will have a stacked deck committed to memory. With such a tool one can invite his participant to select a card from the spread deck. Simply looking at the card above the selection will offer instant knowledge of the selection, however this is some- thing that must be ‘peeked’ in secrecy. The marked deck offers a solution to this, as once the card is selected the performer can glimpse the back of the card above and below it and instantly know the selection without any secret peeking. Without a stack one can take a more careful and controlled selection. Spread the deck on the surface and invite your participant to place their finger on the back of any card. As you push away the cards either side you have a very quick opportunity to glimpse and read the card, You may simply choose to control a selection to the top where you can directly read the back of it THE SCORE FORCING AND KNOWING Invite your spectator to shuffle the deck before surfacing it face down. Glimpse the mark- ings on the top card and write this down as a prediction. Spread the deck on the surface and invite the spectator to remove any card, place it on top and close the spread. Take the deck and perform a double lift or second deal before revealing the prediction This same concept can be used for any force that calls for a force of the top card and easily adapted to a bottom card force by another simple glimpse. You will also find that you can perform a free selection dribble... dribbling the cards from one hand to the other awaiting your participants ‘stop’ at the stopping point you can glimpse the back of the stopped card. THE SCORE TELL Invite your spectator to shuffle the deck before visually choosing any card. Invite them to surface this card face down before choosing another card from the deck which will sit on top of the first selection face up, you will then state that you will be able to figure out the first card by the participants second card - as if by psychological calculation or some such nonsense. Of course you will simply be using the time between the two selections to read the back of the first card, the second card will then be placed on top of the first to remove any suspicion of marked cards.The Score was written with help from two people, Randall Freeman, who often acts as my accomplice when test driving new ideas and another who wishes to remain anonymous. I do not consider myself a ghost writer or industry man, the things | do and write about are written from first hand experience. | feel that writing - or even talking - about the ap- plication and action of such deceptions without the experience is only worthy of being seen as ‘speculative opinion, whether based on logical perspective and ‘Chinese Whispers’ or rightly educated, lessons, thoughts and opinions on deception hold far more value and in- tegrity when coming from a real experience. The greatest lesson | could teach and the most earnest advice | could offer is that no en- thusiast should ever take their deceptions to a real environment, the punishments overrun the risks by miles. When researching marked playing cards, along with my said colleagues | studied many re- sources and explored many different ideas. | do not claim to own or be the originator of The Score System, | have simply exercised concepts that have existed for many years and found a system that I find great comfort in that does not rely on ink or solely on tools. All of the concepts mentioned can be found in many crooked gambling related books, of which I'd like to mention the most inspirational to us during our trials. Sharps and Flats (1894) John Nevil Maskelyne Expert at the Card Table (1902) S.W.Erdnase The Secret Blue Book (1914) K.C.Card Co. + H.C.Evans + Co. How to Cheat at Everything (1996) Simon Lovell If you would like to find out more about marked playing cards | would be happy to offer you further information and links to our resources. | would also like to thank the following for inspiration, leads and general help... Steve Forte. Jason England. Simon Lovell. the Conjuring Arts Research Centre. CardShark.us1l february 2011 journal entry 009: a message to youInstincts will beguile the beginner with false priorities... Hide the deck. Hurry the switch. Distract the players. These are all misplaced thoughts. The best cover for any sleight is con- fidence and a natural disposition; anything that betrays nature or appears to force attention away, will only attract unwanted eyes and suspicious minds. Practice will mould your ini- tial-stumbles into a second-nature and is imperative. The same is said for all sleights. The deck switch is not needed by all, but demonstrates an ability to deceive ina way unlike no other; it is a true test a bravery and skill. The content of this volume has been written from the dealers perspective. There are many opportunities to switch the deck when in- vited to cut for the dealer, allowing them to unknowingly deal out your stacked deck; as such a procedure requires lesser work i have decided to leave it right here, as no more than a suggestion. Often in exposing demonstrations, spectators need a nudge to realize that the deck has changed, even after a direct and open color-for-color switch... | leave you now with a few more performance ideas... For those with a glass deck... Crimp the selection and allow the spectator a shuffle. Load the glass under the deck and manipulate the selection to the bottom of the deck. Clip the selection to the top of the glass and perform the OTT switch. After dumping the deck, you will still appear to have the deck in hand; soon to be revealed as the glass deck with the se- lection on top. The revelation can happen in the spectators unknowing hands or one can drop the deck flat the floor causing it to shatter over the appearing selection. Switching to a different color deck - as a display of ability - one may find pleasure in using Veil to keep the appearance of the same deck. The performer can then change/vanish the top card followed by a spread of the deck for the reveal. In deeper thoughts, one may have the signed card atop the deck, offering quite a powerful brainwave child. And finally, switching a shuffled deck for a deck in new-order offers the performer a plat form of a tremendous display of control that would par with the phantom himself. I wish you my best with your deceptive endeavors and invite you to dig deeper into your urges to indulge in the art. Keep your eyes open, your mind on the game, and do your best to avoid falling for the biggest deception of all.THANKS AKNOWLEDGEMENTS CREDITS i]t anol ROR RL Deceptions Volume Three was a leap of faith from the magic | left behind to my journey” back to a purer deception. Although contributions were made, this was a step that | wanted to take (symbolically) alone. My selected journal entries share the same theme. Deception is a lonely game which can often be hindered by the intentions of others, good or bad All due thanks and credit has been given personally. Updated or additional credit can be found at DANIELmadison.co.uk/Credit Thank you Jeff Lianza for your amazing artwork. (page 03) Methods for deck-switching in the ‘industry’ are a rare find outside of the Deck Shell. Slaine shares a concept with an idea many years old. Trevor Duffy created the Deck Dropper, which is a fantastic device, however, through my interest and research, | found that it is designed to only drop a deck that is boxed. For further thoughts on deck switching at the card table, | would highly recommend Steve Forte’s Gambling Protection Series... Although deck-switching is not taught, it is ex- posed and performed beautifully. For further ideas on deck switching for performance, | offer the following suggestions... Hugards Magic Monthly Volume 15 (1957) Magic Circular Volume 56 (1961) Many beautifully executed methods for deck switching can be found online, and like similar sleights, are instinctive and logical, as opposed to created methods. As always, | take no credit for any technique or effect published in this book. Everything | explore and. write about is discovered without influence unless stated and duly credited. Any similarities to existing techniques are unintentional, and purely coincidental. Due credit will always be given and | offer thanks to those who take the time to let me know of such similarities. SCsIck? "I CINTS, UME FOUR ; COMING SOONA pawien 4 maison ¥ www.DANIELMADISON.co.ux