Royal Road to Card Magic The

smoothly. Nearly always the cards are bent far too much and then pushed together clumsily. The proper way to execute the shuffle should be acquired at the outset, not for appearances' sake alone, but also because it will enable you to shuffle with ease and certainty. Here is the proper procedure.
    1. Place the deck on the table in front of you, its sides parallel to the edge of the table. With your right hand cut off half the cards and place the packet end to end with the other packet (figure 14).

    2. Put your hands on the packets, your thumbs against the adjacent inner corners, your index fingers resting on the backs near these ends and your middle, ring and little fingers against the outer sides. Your hands thus assume identical positions on their respective packets.
    3. Seize the packets between the thumbs and the middle and ring fingers. Raise the inner corners with the thumbs, bending the cards very slightly against the downward pressure of the index fingers (figure 15).

    4. Begin to release or riffle the ends of the cards of each packet so that they interweave. Regulate this release of the corners so that cards fall from each packet alternately, either singly or several at a time.
    5. When this action has been completed and all the ends of the cards are interlaced, seize the outer ends of the packets between the thumbs and the index and middle fingers and push the packets inwards, telescoping them until they are almost, but not quite, flush.
    6. To square the deck neatly and gracefully, place the thumbs at the middle of the inner side of the deck, their tips touching one another, and the index fingers against the ends near the outer corners. Now move the thumbs outwards along the side of the deck and the index fingers inwards along the ends, and by their pressure squeeze the cards flush (figure 16). When the tips of the thumbs and index fingers meet at their respective inner corners, the deck will be squared perfectly.

    The riffle shuffle has its greatest use when the performer is seated at a table. It can effectively be alternated with the overhand shuffle.
    RIFFLE SHUFFLE CONTROL
    To retain a card or cards on the top or bottom of the deck by means of this shuffle is a simple matter.
    Retaining a Card at the Top of the Deck
    When the cut is made for the riffle shuffle, the card to be retained becomes the top card of the cut packet. Therefore you have merely to see that all the cards of the left-hand packet have fallen before you release the last few cards of the right-hand packet. When the packets are telescoped the required card will again be the top card of the deck.
    A packet of six or eight cards can be retained on the top in the same way by holding them back until all the cards of the left-hand packet have fallen. It is not advisable, however, to use the manoeuvre with more than that number of cards.
    Retaining the Bottom Card or Cards
    In this case the cards to be controlled are on the bottom of the left-hand packet. In grasping that packet with the left thumb and fingers, do not seize all the cards; allow a small packet to remain on the table and raise only the corners of those above it. The first cards to fall from the right-hand packet will fall on top of these cards; therefore, when the deck is squared, the card or cards being controlled will again be on the bottom of the deck.
    Sometimes it becomes necessary to add one card to the top of the deck. This can easily be done by the riffle shuffle. In lifting the corners of the left-hand packet, press the index finger on the top card of that packet and draw it a little over the left thumb. It is an easy matter then to hold it back until the last card of the right-hand packet has been released.
    Riffle Shuffle in the Air
    It is surprising that while many people know how to make a neat riffle shuffle at the table few know how to make the same shuffle away from a table. To be able to riffle shuffle in the air is a particularly useful weapon for the card conjuror who has to perform under varying conditions. This form of the riffle shuffle is not difficult, but it does require some practice to perform it neatly.
    1. Take the pack face downwards in the right hand with the thumb at one end, the middle, ring and little fingers at the other, and the index finger bent so that its nail rests against the middle of the back of the top card. Turn the pack to a vertical position with the thumb at the top and the faces towards the left.
    2. Place the left hand, palm