Both of these cuts present interesting problems for the card worker. The issue I see most is that those attempting to learn the move disregard the text and instead imitate what they beleive is happening in the photograph. The photo representing the action is not the case with regards to the bold and bare faced blind cut as well as the slip cut people do today.
The error, the BBB cut description has one short passage that is the key to both of these cuts. It reads,
"It is the movement towards the dealer that makes the blind possible"
How do we interpret the above text? Is one packet moving? Both packets moving? Then there is this swinging action.
The action is accomplished as the left hand lifts and moves with the whole deck. The cut happening in mid movement towards the dealer. Although Erdnase mentions the movement of the left hand packet first followed by the right hand packet he does not mention the moments simultaneously or not. Here is where the last setence comes into play.
The action is done with the intent of moving towards the dealer. A note magician's fail to appreciate. You can not quite do this move away from yourself (this applies to both blinds). Rather you must do it towards the side of the left hand (or whichever have you choose to lead the cut with).
These two cuts must be read and appreciated together as they are both attempting to accomplish a similar thing, a cut in which deception is lining the cards. Read Blind Cut II then return to Blind Cut I. Let me know how you make out with it.
I hope this post will help rid the world of those blasted atrocious slip cuts away from the body in a straight line with no possibility for deception.
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3 comments:
I have mastered neither of the those blind cuts but I'm closer to II which I'm convinced is not a perfect deception but is useful when paired with distracting patter because its a cut that wont bring attention to itself unlike say III which involves run cuts which always adds extra attention.
If you're doing the blind cut correctly, you should be able to do it even without "distracting patter". Remember that Erdnase, in the Artifice section, is describing the techniques used by a professional card cheat, namely himself. When he did these moves he did them at the table and they had to be perfect. That's why he makes it clear before describing Blind Cut II that "if cleverly executed it appears natural". There should be no need to distract if done correctly. If it didn't appear natural, or at least natural enough to fool others at the card table, he would likely not have lived long enough to teach us these methods. Or, perhaps he would have been teaching them with broken fingers.
In fact, Erdnase seems to discourage attempts to distract. Read page 11, line 77 onward in the CARC "Bible" version. Erdnase writes (italics added by me for emphasis):
"The slightest action that appears irregular, the least effort to distract attention, or the first unnatural movement, will create suspicion; and mere suspicion will deplete the company, as no one but a simon-pure fool will knowingly play against more than ordinary chances."
The point of all of this is that patter is fine as long as it is natural, but it shouldn't be necessary for Blind Cut II to be successful. However, if you must use it, stay away from distracting patter like, "Look over there! A moose wearing a hat!" That's a dead giveaway.
Our anonymous friend covered the bases.
I suppose one other thought or tip I have come across is the deck should be tilted up enough for the just the edge to be seen for that moment the cut is made. If you can see the top of the deck the deception is lost because you need to be covering either with speed or cover. If the deck is tilted in such a way that you can not see the top of the deck then you are forcing information to be drawn strictly from the edge.
The edge will show the packets divided and one placed down. This happens as the cards are moved towards the dealer.
All these things combined produce a perfect illusion. This can also be done quite slowly. Like just about everything in Erdnase!
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