Now begin moving your thumb in a counterclockwise manner, pivoting the card around your left

pinky. The next photo, without the deck, tries to show how my thumb is beginning the
counterclockwise motion that will line up the card and the deck.

As the left thumb starts moving, begin an all-around squaring action by moving the top of the
deck with your right fingers in a clockwise direction. As you continue with the counter-
clockwise motion of the palmed card, and the clockwise motion of the deck, you will be able to
press the card nearly flush against the bottom of the deck. As you lift the deck and palmed card
out of your left hand, and rotate it to complete your all-around square, the card should be
perfectly flush.

I wish I could do a better job of this, but it’s the best I can do. So now that you have a selected
card on the bottom of the deck, what are you going to do with it? Let me present:

The Sorcerer’s Spell

Effect: After selecting and noting a card, the spectator thoroughly shuffles the deck, and gives it
back to the magician. Telling the spectator he will need a “lucky card” to help him find the
selection, the magician holds out the deck, and asks that the top half be cut off, and placed face-
up on the table. The face card of this half will be the “lucky card,”

Seeing the face of the “lucky card,” the magician uses it to “cast a spell” by dealing cards from
those remaining in his hand to the table, calling out one letter of the “lucky card’s” name for
each card dealt. The last card dealt is, of course, the selection.

Method: The card is selected and returned to the deck using a Diagonal Palm Shift to get it into
a left-hand palm prior to giving it to a spectator for shuffling. You do a bottom palm
replacement when you get the deck back. Of course, any method that eventually gets the card to
the bottom of the deck will work here, but it’s important that the spectator shuffles the deck
prior to the revelation of his selection.

If you go back to the Daryl issue of “Inside Ed’s Head” (Oct. 2012), you’ll see how a
Convincing Control and a Gambler’s Cop can accomplish the same thing. Just load the copped
card under the deck as you retrieve it from the spectator. Any method of holding out the
selection and getting it to the bottom is OK. If you don’t like the idea of holding out and
replacing a card, you could always do any card control to the bottom, but you’d be missing a big
piece of the mystery if you do so.

When you get the deck back, point out how difficult your task is. Finding a card in a well-
shuffled deck is beyond the scope of even the most skilled magicians. Tell the spectator that
he’ll have to help you find his card by cutting to a “lucky card.” Holding the deck in your left
hand, reach out to the spectator and ask him to cut of about half, or a little more than half of the
deck, and place those cards face-up in front of you, to reveal the “Lucky Card.”

Let’s say that he turns up the Four of Spades. Tell the spectator that you’ll use the Four of
Spades to cast a spell over the cards. Ask the spectator if he knows what you mean by “casting a
spell.” Whatever he replies, tell him that you cast a spell by spelling the name of the card that he
cut to. Dealing face down, to the left of the face-up cards, spell F-O-U-R, dealing one card per
letter. Now, without a pause, deal cards for O-F above the packet. Now move to the right side
of the packet as you deal the cards for S-P-A-D-E.

Now you will deal the final card the “S” below the packet, using a bottom deal to deal the
selection on the last letter of the spell. (Yeah, that’s why the title of the article is “Dealing From
the Bottom.)

Now recap the trick. Your spectator picked any card. He shuffled the deck himself. He cut to
any card, and that card’s name helped you arrive at one and only one card. Turn over the last
card dealt, and wait for the thunderous applause!

What!! A bottom Deal?? You made me read all of this, and now you tell me to do a Bottom
Deal????

Keep reading. Magicians don’t need the same technique as gamblers to do a deceptive bottom
deal. We have a lot going for us in that we have misdirection before and during the deal, and we
don’t have to use a method that allows us to loosen the bottom card immediately before the deal.
Finger flash is not an issue with a magician’s bottom deal.
I’ve done this trick many times for magicians and laymen alike. I get a get a great reaction in all
cases. I’ve never been caught doing this bottom. So now:

Bottom Deal
(Simplified Version)

The title is from The Card Magic of LePaul, by Jerry McDermott. I have the softcover third
Edition (1959). The photos are pretty bad, but still good enough to transmit some valuable
information. (The first edition of this book was published in 1949.)

The secret of this move is preparation in advance. After the spectator cuts off half the deck and
turns it face up, you use the misdirection involved in the revelation of the “lucky card,” to bevel
the deck to the right, and push the bottom card to the right also, so the right end of the card is
even with the top of the deck, hidden by the bevel. The photos below show three views of the
beveled deck with the bottom card side-jogged slightly.

You’ll then press the right side of the bottom card up against the side of the bevel.

Now the right edge of the bottom card is almost even with that of the top card. It will be very
easy to deal a bottom from this position.

To deal regularly, push off the top card with your left thumb about a quarter inch or so, taking it
with the right thumb on top, middle finger below. Your right index finger is over the front of the
deck. Your left middle fingertip will touch the beveled card briefly as the pad of the middle
finger withdraws the top card.
When it comes time to deal the bottom card, it’s almost the exact same push-off and take. As the
right hand approaches the deck, the left middle finger goes under it a fraction of an inch further
than with a normal take. The middle finger pulls out the bottom card as the right thumb comes
onto its top corner. The right index finger at the front of the deck masks all this.

The left thumb withdraws the top card flush with the top of the deck as the right hand moves to
the table with the bottom card. You don’t want the spectators looking down at the top of the
deck. Holding it so the spectators have an end view is sufficient. This is easy to achieve sitting
at a table, and the normal state of affairs if you are standing in front of a seated audience.

This move is very effective in its own right, but with the added misdirection of the repetitive
dealing and spelling of cards, coupled with the motion around the tabled half of the deck, you
have a virtually foolproof bottom deal.

So there you have it, one very effective trick using two very effective moves you might not have
considered before. Please consider them now!

Next month: I have no idea whatsoever!

Inside Ed’s Head, July 2013, Copyright 2013 by Edward Hass.