January 2007 Newsletter

Editorial

We have many reasons to be thankful as we start the New Year!

This is an exciting time in the forums as we pass the 50,000 posts mark. We recently found a way to keep many of the spam bots out and this has really made things easier for the moderators. The battle with spam is a game of cat and mouse so if the spam bots find a new way in then we'll work hard to find a new way to keep them out.

Our 9th card trick contest ended on Dec 10 and we received some amazing entries. Congratulations to DeadPeopleAllOver for winning the contest.

Our 9th chip trick contest is coming up...entries are due Jan 10.

If you have not already seen our chip tricks in Poker Pro Magazine then be sure to check them out. The details are in our http://www.21ace.com/Media.html section.

Happy New Year!

Eric

Eric Yow Forums

Three years ago 21ace started covering coin tricks, poker chip tricks and card tricks. We are now expanding to another form of flourishes...pool trick shots. As many of you know we are now hosting the forums for the http://www.ericyow.com/ site. Eric Yow is the WPA MASSE WORLD CHAMPION so we can all learn a thing or two from him when it comes to trick shots in pool. Yow's Masse Insanity video shows how the cue ball is controlled with his magic wand. Please join me in welcoming all the Eric Yow fans in the http://www.21ace.com/phpBB2/index.php?c=16 forums.

These forums are a great addition to our community for a number of reasons. They go well with the http://www.21ace.com/Pool-Trick-Shots.html section that we started building some time ago. For example, when we put up the http://www.21ace.com/Pool-Trick-Shot-Champ-Stefano-Pelinga.php page in April 2006 we didn't yet have much to go with it in the forums. Now we have plenty of pool forums when folks come and look at the pool html pages.

As many of you know I purchased a pool table in order to learn more trick shots. Now that we have Eric Yow and other trick shot pros in our community it will be a lot easier for folks like me to ask the experts key questions in order to expedite the learning process.

Please join me in welcoming Eric Yow and his fans to our community.

Eric

A year of newsletters

Over the past 12 months 21ace has collaborated with some of magic, flourishing and pokers biggest stars to bring you interviews, tips and tutorials. Names such as Lee Asher, Jerry Cestkowski, Jay Sankey, Jennifer Barretta, Bob Byrne, Anders Lundkvist and Ian Kendall have all given us material that was used in the 21ace newsletter and we are very thankful for that. With the help of our many regular writes – Pokerfanatic, Drey, DeadPeopleAllOver and many more, the year has been a success.

Throughout the many issues of the newsletter, there have been many insightful messages made to our community, here are just a few:

“As far as magic in general goes, respect the art. We are privy to information that is not access able to most people, and at the moment, the information is very easy to disseminate. If you buy a DVD or a book, as soon as you copy it and send it to 50 people you have lessened your investment. Similarly, if someone is given a copy of a DVD or video, they have no financial interest or investment in it, and they are less likely to treat it with respect”
Ian Kendall – January issue

“If I had to offer general advice, it would be, do the stuff because you like to do it, not because someone else likes it.  It sounds selfish, but those who love doing what they do more for themselves than others end up pleasing others even more.  XCM is very special in that it has the potential of being appreciated like a spectator sport, something that is impossible for magic.  Athletes are entertaining to watch, but ultimately they play for themselves, not for you.  If they weren't concentrating on their game, their art, they would not perform at the level necessary for them to be where they are so you could watch them at all!  If you want to perform magic, you are going to learn to be an entertainer, which is also an art, but a different art.  XCM offers the opportunity to pursue art for art's sake, and entertain at the same time.  Try it and see!”
Jerry Cestkowski – June issue

Of course, there have been many great tutorials:

In March, Drey provided us with a simple little bottom deal which was easy to follow, and helpful to use.
http://www.21ace.com/March-2006-Newsletter.html

Our very first newsletter provided us with a creative little magic trick from Baz called ‘the magician vs. the gambler’.
http://www.21ace.com/January-2006-Newsletter.html

The above highlights are only a select few of the many things the newsletter has to offer and we are looking forward to 2007 as it will bring bigger and better things.

Fattyonadiet

Simple Seconds

The following description is not the technique for the world’s best second deal, I don’t think it’s the method for the world’s easiest second deal either…though it is easy.  I’m offering you this method because the handling fits with the basic bottom dealing description I included in the March newsletter.  In other words, you can switch effortlessly between tops, seconds and bottoms, all using the same grip and the same consistent handling using this method.  You’ll notice that angles are important, this isn’t a demo second deal where you sit there showing people how you deal off the second card, have them watch your tiny brief, those are fun, but impractical.  This is a second deal that doesn’t look good when viewed from over the shoulder, but viewed from the front or sides it can look excellent.

I’d suggest you begin by refreshing your recollection of the bottom deal, the basic handling here is the same, the timing and coordination is the same and it’s valuable to understand those subtleties prior to learning this deal.

You begin with the deck in a master’s grip, the starting position is identical to the bottom deal so I’ll refer you to that description in order to preserve a little of my sanity, if any of it is actually left.  As in the bottom deal, you’ll push the top card to the right parallel with the ends of the deck (the ends of the card should remain flush/square with the ends of the deck).  You’ll also open the fingers slightly as you push the card over as though you need to move the fingertips out of the way in order to push the card over.  This establishes consistency with the bottom deals.

When the top card is most of the way over (perhaps a third of its width), you’ll dig into the second card of the deck with your left thumb around the joint.  (See figure 1).

 
Figure 1.

This allows you to push over the second card slightly.  In a continuing action, so the whole action of pushing the top card over is smooth, you push the second card over slightly, by perhaps half an inch to an inch.  (See figure 2).

 
Figure 2.

There are several important points here.  First, you are pushing off a single card initially, which is fantastic, when possible you want to emphasize that singularity, since some second deals involve pushing over a block or two or three cards, or a spread of cards, the later is terribly lacking in elegance.  Second, you are pushing over the second card in a manner that is quite visible from the back so you want to avoid showing the top of the deck.  Third, there is a possibility that someone from the front will see a flash below the top card, if for example you tilt the deck too far back.  (See figure 3 for a view of the deck tilted too far back).

 
Figure 3.

To avoid this problem, there are a couple important things to remember.  First, you don’t want to push the second card over too far, the less you push it over, the less its jogged condition becomes obvious so I recommend you keep it to an inch at most.  Second, by opening your left hand fingers you have achieved two things.  You have created some instability and lack of control in the deck, thus justifying in a subtle psychological manner how the second card moved to the right for any who might have seen it.  Additionally, those partially open fingers help to add some concealment to the second card and avoid exposing it to the front as in figure three.

You’re now in a situation where the timing is important. You push beginning with the deck relatively flat flat and push the top card over, you tilt your left wrist back just slightly at the very moment when you begin pushing the second card to the right so that you receive the greatest possible retention of vision, but also conceal the top of the deck at the critical moment.  Now, the right hand comes in to perform the take.  While the slightly open left fingers offer some cover the deck is still slightly exposed and so you want the hand to move in far enough that, as per the bottom deal, your right middle finger can move under the deck, again, recall that the actions are identical.  At this point of full extension, the right forefinger extends so its tip contacts the tip of the left forefinger and conceals the front edge of the top card.  In this manner, the cover is perfect.

If you recall from the bottom deal, we drew the bottom card out via a wrist turn action, the exact same procedure occurs here, except that you don’t take the bottom card as you twist the wrist, your right middle finger slides up off the bottom of the deck to contact the face of the exposed second card.  In a continuing action just like the bottom deal, it draws that card out.  When the right edge of the second card is flush with the right edge of the top card, your left thumb pulls back the top card and you deal the second card off.

Naturally, in order to be consistent with the bottom deal, a slight wrist turn on the part of the left hand accompanies this action, though I tend to minimize it as much as possible.  Also, ensure that the right hand wrist turn causes the right hand to rise slightly, which offers better concealment from the right.  (See figure 4 for an example of poor procedure and figure 5 for an example of proper procedure.)

 
Figure 4.

 
Figure 5.

Finally, watch that you pull the second card off in as level a manner as possible (with this in mind, a rapid pullback of the top card is expedient and pushing off the top card as far as possible, or close to it, initially is helpful).  The concern here is that the second card may apply an upward pressure on the right side of the top card and expose it.  (See figure 6 for an example).

 
Figure 6.

It is likewise important that you time the actions so the top card is square with the top of the deck prior to having the second card clear the deck so the edge of the card is not exposed being pulled back.  (See figure 7 for an example of the flash).

 
Figure 7.

Overall, the process is fairly simple and when you execute it relatively quickly and smoothly it actually looks much better than you might expect, flawless in fact.  The added benefit of being able to shift between tops, bottoms and seconds is likewise hugely beneficial.

Obviously, you don’t have to open the fingers if you’re just interested in dealing seconds, it’s easier not to, just as it’s easier not to reach under the deck and you don’t have to do that either.  On the other hand, you might find opening the fingers slightly more deceptive, as I mentioned it offers cover as well as a psychological ruse, but as always use what works the best.

Drey

Member welcome

New members are the spice of every forum. They bring new ideas and fun to the community. We would like to welcome members who have made 2 or more posts this month.

- trickshottim Posts:4
- King Joe Posts:4
- larrymurk Posts:2
- Dan Posts:2
- yow Posts:25
- Luke Posts:2
- billardartistique Posts:2
- chipper Posts:12
- emuskova Posts:25
- tmacandcheese Posts:11
- vash Posts:4

Credits

The people that contributed to the making of this newsletter include:
Eric and Shadow – Technical Support.
Fattyonadiet – Editor.
Drey, Eric and fattyonadiet – Authors