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Hi,

I know, nooby question upcoming but i need some advice.

When using the overhand shuffle, and retaining the top card (using the thumb), is it possible to make it less obvious, or it all about being casual to avoid the audience noticing?

Thanks.

If you are just looking to control the one card casually, a shuffle I came up with (although no doubt completely unoriginal) is to turn the deck the other way so that the faces are facing the audience, and then casually pull a clump of cards out from the middle and shuffle genuinely. They see the cards change a lot, and it looks completely natural.

Thanks for the tip, i didn't really consider a different way to use a control, which was a bit narrow minded of me..

I'll try that too, then i'll see what i feel more comfortable with.

Less obvious?

Sounds like you simply need more practice to get the movement down properly.

Yeah it's all about being casual. Do it without looking at your hands, and try to converse with the spectators as you shuffle. That will come with practise. I can assure you that spectators do not notice the pulling off of the top card only by the thumb; I've used it a few times and people haven't questioned the shuffle. If you don't like that method for whatever reason, you can always do the same thing by injogging and undercutting (also explained in The Royal Road to Card Magic). It's a good idea to use a few different methods of retaining the top card (eg. riffle shuffle, overhand lift shuffle, etc.) so the spectators don't figure out the method. Good luck.

phillipnorthfield wrote:If you are just looking to control the one card casually, a shuffle I came up with (although no doubt completely unoriginal) is to turn the deck the other way so that the faces are facing the audience, and then casually pull a clump of cards out from the middle and shuffle genuinely. They see the cards change a lot, and it looks completely natural.

Yeah, I use this a lot. It's easy to do, and the changing face cards make it look even more...shuffley.

just practice my man, the more comfortable you are with cards the better. by not looking at your hands during the shuffle, your not drawing attention to it. also try to keep the pace of the shuffle the same throughout.