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I saw volume 2 of Wesley James DVD because I was interested what he said about bottom deal. And he says that no one understands the proper technique for the bottom deal. I was wondering is this really true, am I practicing bottom for nothing? Or this guy doesn't know what he is talking about (didn't mean to insult but everything he does is sloppy, not covered enough and he keeps making so much noise with every sleight he was trying to teach)
Those who have this DVD set will know what I am talking about...
I don't want to tell what he is saying in DVD because of exposure but if you really want to know send me a PM
Thanks

I haven't seen the set myself, but many, many people have reviewed it as absolutely terrible. I've seen videos of some of
the demos he does and they are laughable.

Are you needing the bottom deal for something in particular? Can you achieve the same with second dealing? Its alot easier I feel

I don't know anything about him. I bet he is old though. Is he? If this is the case it can explain things a trifle. He may have been superb in his younger days at what he is teaching. That can mean that what he teaches is still valid and should not necessarily be ignored. This is one reason I far prefer books to DVDs. When you see someone on a DVD the performer can put you off even if the teaching is valid. I try hard to put aside my bias towards the presenter when watching a DVD and extract the teaching instead. It is difficult but can be done.

Vernon is an example. As he got older he started to fumble because of age. His hands got dryer and things were more difficult for him. He admitted this quite frankly. But that didn't invalidate the invaluable advice he gave on his tapes.

I don't know anything about Wesley James and haven't seen his work. However, perhaps the same criteria applies to him the same way it does for Vernon. Mind you, I don't see a lot of use for the bottom deal except for gambling demonstrations. Mind you, I used to think the same about second deals but since that time I have discovered many, many tricks that can use a second deal. In fact Roy Walton's work has quite a bit of this kind of thing.

Yes I know they are laughable but I think that this is a good point...

It's possible that you can achieve it with second deal but I want to master bottom deal.

He says that the middle finger shouldn't be curled underneath the deck and then he points that it should be curled from the upper side of the deck and then placed on the corner, is this right?Sorry but I can't explain it better.

Yes I know, but Vernon is Vernon. And Wesley is not as old as Vernon was when he was doing the revelations DVD set. And every move he does is not good. I think there are few videos on youtube which show his lack of skill and practice. My friend that this the worst purchase for him.

I have searched You Tube for Wesley James but couldn't really come up with much. He does seem to be elderly though. You have to make allowances for that. Perhaps if you follow his teaching rather than his execution you will get the result you desire. Or even better study the book itself. It seems to give a good description of the move and I think it is far easier to learn from a book than it is from a DVD. All that winding back can drive you up the wall. You can refer back to a book description far faster. And DVDs can turn you off the move because of the performer. I bet it is an even chance if you had seen Erdnase himself on DVD you might think the same about him too.

I learned the bottom deal from Bill Turner's book on card tricks. I think it was the very clear illustrations rather than the description itself which helped me. I do have to say that I never pursued it though simply because I found no use for it so my perfomance of it nowadays would probably be worse than Wesley James. But I could do it quite well at one time.

My left middle finger was at the upper right corner and I exerted a fair bit of pressure on that corner. The base of my thumb pushed against the lower left corner of the deck. It was like a diagonal straight line of pressure with the base of my thumb pressing one way and my left middle finger pushing the other way. My left third finger would buckle the bottom card and my left thumb would deal the top card over to hide the action. Then my third finger would push the card out and I would remove it with my right hand.

Practice it well and amuse yourself with it while you can. When you get older you won't be able to do it any more either and you will know how Wesley James feels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHw57ulYR4E
This is Denis Behr doing a parody on him first shows how Denis learned it before and then after watching this DVD set, but trust me that is the performance like Wesley James does...
More videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmpWBjmVrVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXhCF_RYEbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMS2Ghk3-dU
Look at the charlier cut in third video

Yes. I have already seen those but they are not enough for me to judge fairly. Oddly enough I shall see Denis Behr in a few days. I shall ask him about it.