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Bob Wallace / Magic
← The Expert at the Card Table
S. W. ErdnaseContents

The Three Aces

In Effect. The Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Clubs and Ace of Spades are shown to the company and laid face down on the table. Then one is picked up and inserted in the middle of the deck, another is placed on the bottom, and the third is placed on the top. A single true cut is now made and the three Aces are found together.

Sleight. Prearrangement.

Figure 101 from The Three Aces, The Expert at the Card Table.
Figure 101 · Select to view full size.
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Execution. Secretly place the Ace of Diamonds on top of the deck. Arrange the other three Aces in the left hand, fanwise, face up, the Ace of Hearts below the other two, and showing in the middle. The figure of the heart is inverted and shows at the angle made by the other cards, so that the part seen is diamond- shaped. The corner of the Ace on the left of the fan just covers the small heart figure of the index, but fully exposes the small letter A.” (See Fig. 101.) This arrangement can be made in a moment. The appearance is most innocent and surprisingly deceptive.

Turn the faces to the company, and then lay the three cards face down on the table, still in the same fan position, and with the same hand. Now take up the deck, and, if desired, execute a blind shuffle, retaining top Ace. Hold deck in left hand, pick up the top card of the fan, which is the Ace of Hearts, and insert it in middle of deck. Pick up next Ace, carelessly showing it, and place it on bottom. Show third card as it is placed on top. Lay the deck on the table and request spectator to cut; and as the three Aces, i. e., the two black Aces and Ace of Diamonds, were on top and bottom of deck, all will be found together.

Book contents

Front matter

  1. Title Page
  2. Preface and Introduction
  3. Table of Contents

Card-table artifice

  1. Professional Secrets
  2. Technical Terms
  3. Position For Shuffle
  4. Blind Shuffles
  5. Blind Riffles
  6. Blind Cuts
  7. Fancy Blind Cuts
  8. One-Handed Fancy True Cut
  9. To Indicate the Location for the Cut
  10. Bottom Dealing
  11. Top And Bottom Dealing With One Hand
  12. Second Dealing
  13. Ordinary Methods Of Stocking, Locating And Securing
  14. Stock Shuffle
  15. Erdnase System of Stock Shuffling
  16. The Erdnase System of Cull Shuffling
  17. The Erdnase System of Palming
  18. To Maintain the Bottom Palm While Dealing
  19. To Hold the Location of Cut While Dealing
  20. Shifts — Card-Table Artifice
  21. To Ascertain the Top Cards While Riffling and Reserve Them at Bottom
  22. Mode of Holding the Hand
  23. Skinning the Hand
  24. The Player Without an Ally
  25. Three Card Monte
  26. Mexican Three Card Monte

Legerdemain

  1. Legerdemain
  2. Shifts — Legerdemain
  3. The Blind Shuffle for Securing Selected Card
  4. Forcing
  5. Palming
  6. The Back Palm
  7. Changes
  8. Transformations-Two Hands
  9. Transformations-One Hand
  10. Blind Shuffles, Retaining Entire Order
  11. Methods for Determining a Card Thought of
  12. To Get Sight of Selected Card
  13. The Slide
  14. Favorite Sleights for Terminating Tricks

Card tricks

  1. Card Tricks
  2. The Exclusive Coterie
  3. The Divining Rod
  4. The Invisible Flight
  5. Tricks With the Prearranged Deck
  6. The Traveling Cards
  7. The Row of Ten Cards
  8. The Acrobatic Jacks
  9. A Mind-Reading Trick
  10. Power of Concentrated Thought
  11. The Acme of Control
  12. The Card and Handkerchief
  13. The Top and Bottom Production
  14. The Three Aces
  15. The Card and Hat

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