The Expert at the Card Table

The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation

Cover of the 1995 edition.
Author S. W. Erdnase
Illustrator Smith, M. D.
Cover artist Ed Smith Design
Country USA
Language English
Subject Sleight of hand
Genre Non-Fiction
Publisher Original Unknown
Publication date
 1902 (first edition)
ISBN 978-0-486-28597-9
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Penguin magic[1]
Genii[2]
Houdini's Magic Shop[2]

The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation, often referred to simply as Erdnase (or even The Bible), is an extensive book on the art of sleight of hand published in 1902 by S. W. Erdnase, a pseudonymous author whose identity has remained a mystery for over a century.[3] As a detailed manual of card sharps, the book is considered to be one of the most influential works on magic or conjuring with cards.

The Expert at the Card Table is the most famous, the most carefully studied book ever published on the art of manipulating cards at gaming tables."
— the Foreword by Martin Gardner, p. vii.[4]

Description of the book

Despite his widespread influence on the magician community, the author's identity remains an unsolved mystery. Many believe his real name was E.S. Andrews (S.W. Erdnase spelled backwards). (See Gardner's Foreword, pp. vii-ix.)[4]

Originally the author started selling the book for $2.00 in 1902 and the next year it dropped to $1.00 and he sold the rights. Although the author did not renew the copyright, the book has remained in print since 1902, albeit small private printings on occasion.[5] The influence of this book is such that it has been issued in annotated form;[6] translated into Japanese, German, Spanish, French, and Italian;[5] and issued as a series of DVDs by a professional magician, demonstrating and explaining Erdnase's techniques and methods. Among numerous demonstrations of techniques described in the book, the most comprehensive reviews of the sleight of hands are the same-titled DVDs published by Allan Ackerman, Wesley James, R. Paul Wilson, Revelations series of Dai Vernon, and, most recently, Jason England's one-on-one talks. A featured show of the story of Expert of the Card Table is also performed regularly by UK magician Guy Hollingworth.[7]

"The Professor" (Dai Vernon) is credited with popularizing this influential text in the community of professional magicians. Well past ninety years of age, Vernon was fond of quoting from it, with page numbers, when discussing card techniques with his colleagues at the Magic Castle.[8]

In Expert Card Technique, Jean Hugard said of it, "... perhaps no other book in all the list of conjuring books has been so avidly read, so affectionately regarded."[9] Erdnase's glossary of terms was in itself extremely influential, and has been reproduced more or less directly by numerous authors, including Hugard,[9] and Henry Hay.

The book is divided into sections. Each section describes individual card manipulation techniques. This article will describe the sections in précis form.

Foreword, Preface, and Introduction

Martin Gardner wrote the foreword to the 1995 edition. S. W. Erdnase's preface and introduction from the 1902 edition follow.

Card Table Artifice

Professional Secrets begins Erdnase's general discussion of card play with emphasis on card manipulation for the advantage of the reader, magician or card sharp.

Technical Terms

Erdnase defines important specialty words and topics to be used throughout the remainder of the text.

Erdnase System of Blind Shuffles

Sixteen shuffles and card cutting techniques are explained. Those are divided among eight subsections on different types of shuffles and cuts, with illustrations.

Bottom Dealing

The technique of bottom dealing is explained, with illustrations.

Top and Bottom Dealing with One Hand

The technique of bottom dealing is explained. Illustrations omitted.

Second Dealing

The technique of second dealing is explained, with illustrations.

Ordinary Methods of Stocking, Locating, and Securing

Techniques of arranging the order of the cards in the deck are explained, with illustrations. This is referred to as "stacking the deck" in modern terms. As Erdnase uses the terms, the "stock" is the portion of the full deck that has been "stacked" with "culled" cards.

Stock Shuffle

Techniques of arranging the order of the cards in the deck, while shuffling, are explained, with illustrations.

Erdnase System of Stock Shuffling

Seven individual techniques are discussed in detail, with illustrations. Each technique applies to a different number of cards to be stocked, from two cards to twelve and two methods of Euchre stocking.

Erdnase System of Cull Shuffling

Four individual culling techniques are discussed in detail, with illustrations. Each technique applies to a different number of cards to be culled. Erdnase defines culling as "the act of selecting one or more cards." The culled cards may be stocked, as described earlier in the text.

Erdnase System of Palming

Five card palming methods are discussed, with illustrations.

To Maintain the Bottom Palm While Dealing

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

To Hold the Location of Cut While Dealing Shifts

Three techniques are discussed, with illustrations.

To Ascertain the Top Cards While Riffling and Reserve Them at the Bottom

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

Mode of Holding the Hand

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

Mode of Skinning the Hand

The technique is discussed, with illustrations.

The Player Without an Ally

The general strategies are discussed. Eight techniques for implementing the strategies are discussed in detail, with illustrations.

Three Card Monte

Techniques for both European-style and Mexican-style three-card Monte are discussed, both honest and manipulated, from the viewpoint of the dealer, with illustrations.

Legerdemain

Twelve sections define and discuss over thirty techniques of performance magic, with illustrations. Erdnase defines legerdemain as sleight of hand with cards, as opposed to his definition of card tricks.

The techniques Erdnase presents, with illustrations, in this section are as follows:

Legerdemain (a general discussion of sleight of hand card illusions)

Card Tricks

Fifteen card tricks are discussed. Erdnase defines card tricks as including either or both sleight of hand and self-working illusion effects. The latter do not always require legerdemain for their performance.

The techniques Erdnase presents, with illustrations, in this section are as follows:

Card Tricks: Explanatory (a general discussion of card tricks)

References

  1. ↑ "Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase (Book)". Penguin Magic. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 Field, Matthew."The Expert at the Card Table DVD". Houdini's Magic Shop. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Silverman, Rachel Emma. "Fresh Clues Could Reveal Magic-Trick Writer Who Pulled a Disappearing Act a Century Ago", The Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2000. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Erdnase, S. W (1995) [1902]. The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation (1st Ed. reprint ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-28597-9.
  5. 1 2 England, Jason (2007). "The Expert at the Card Table Editions".
  6. ↑ Ortiz, Darwin (1991). The annotated Erdnase. Magical Publications. pp. 270 pages. ISBN 978-0-915181-21-6.
  7. ↑ James, Wesley (2007). "Expert at the Card Table by Wesley James" (7 volume DVD). Retrieved January 8, 2008.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Karl (2005). The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist (Adapted ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Co. pp. 368 pages. ISBN 978-0-8050-7406-2.
  9. 1 2 Hugard, Jean (1940). Expert Card Technique: Close-Up Table Magic (Second ed.). New York: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 448 pages. ISBN 0-486-21755-8.
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