Royal Road to Card Magic The

pack, with the little finger holding the break above the card to be forced. Unlike the usual method of holding a break, the tip of the left little finger in this case rests against the face of the card above the break.
    3. Push cards off the top of the pack with the left thumb, taking them with the right hand and request someone to take a card. Press the left little finger firmly against the side of the lower packet, preventing these cards from spreading to the right.
    4. Time the spreading of the cards so that, at the moment the spectator's hand reaches the pack, all the cards above the break have been pushed into the right hand and you are beginning to push the cards
under
it; the first of these cards, you will remember, is the card to be forced.
    At the very moment that you begin to push off this lower portion, the spectator's hand arrives at the deck to make a choice. Advance both hands 50-75 mm (2-3 in) towards his hand and literally place the force card under his fingers. That must be done with finesse, and this is where experience enters into the picture. After you have done a good deal of forcing, you will find that there is a knack to spreading the cards so that the force card is under the spectator's fingers at precisely the right moment.
    If, when you first begin to force cards, you find that you have exposed the force card too soon, spread a few more cards with the left thumb and stop. Hold the pack as in figure 114. A little more of the force is exposed than of any other card. Now, as the spectator's hand approaches, turn both hands and the cards a little to the left or right a matter of less than 25 mm (1 in), to make the force card the most convenient to his hand. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he will take the card.

    We have mentioned that the tip of the left little finger presses up into the break against the face of the lowermost card of the upper packet. This is a great help in forcing, for when the left thumb pushes this card to the right you can feel it glide over the fingertip and thus you know that the next card is the force card. With experience you can force a card without looking at the pack, relying solely on your left little finger's sense of touch to tell you when you have come to the force card.
    The force is certainly simple, but to do it with dead certainty takes practice and for the timing that comes only with experience. There are also psychological factors which must be kept in mind.
    (a) You should shuffle the cards before the force so that you cannot seem to know the position of any card. If the spectator believes this to be the case, he will remove any card without suspicion, since it does not seem to matter which card he takes.
    (b) You must not, by your manner or by anything you say, lead anyone to believe that you have a reason for forcing a card. Your manner must be easy and relaxed. If you are tense, this will be noticed, and although the spectator may not know what you have in mind he will be difficult to control.
    You may think: Very well. But, while I am gaining experience, what shall I do if the force fails?
    Let us say that the force has failed and that a card has been drawn two or three beyond the force card. Have the card returned at the place from which it was taken and count the number of cards intervening between it and the force card. The force card, the name of which you know, thus becomes a key card, and to locate the chosen card you need only count the number of cards above or below it that you noted previously.
    If the card has been removed from a point too distant from the force card to enable you to count the intervening cards, have the card withdrawn from the pack and, as its name is being noted, remove all the cards to the right of the force card with the right hand. This is easy, because the tip of the left little finger still presses up against the face of the card just above it. Hold these a small distance away from those spread in the left hand and have the selected card replaced on the left-hand portion. Dropping the cards held by the right hand on top of all completes the action. To find the chosen card, look for the card just above your force card, which acts as a key card.
    But what if the force fails and you cannot use the force card as a key card? In such a predicament, you should do another trick that does not require a card to be forced. You have not stated what you would do with the drawn card and no one will know that you have changed