Any card sharks here?

Factual Questions
1

I want to get a leg up on my weekly poker game - we always talk about the cool stuff we see card players do on television and in the movies, but none of us ever figure any of it out and no one has ever taken the time to try and learn. Man, it would blow their minds if I just showed up one night and started doing this stuff.

Specifically, I want to learn how to do these tricks:

[ul][li]Deal cards with one hand in such a way that I can fling the cards across the table and cause them to land face up or face down as need be. One of the Marx brothers (Harpo?) does this in Animal Crackers but I can’t figure out how he does it.[/li][li]“Shoot” the deck from one hand to the other. Bugs Bunny does this often whenever the script causes him to have a deck of cards in his hands. I’ve also seen this done in live action television and movies, but it happens so fast I can’t see what’s being done - I think it’s kind of like normal shuffling. Whenever I ever try it though, or anyone I’ve ever seen tries it, either the cards don’t come out evenly or they shoot all the way across the room at different angles. Either way it doesn’t work right.[/ul][/li]
If you know how to do this, will you teach me and the other dopers? Do you know any other tricks that are just as cool? (And I don’t mean tricks that end with “is this your card?”)

Can anyone recommend a web site or a book that will demonstrate these tricks?

2

Regarding Harpo, if you mean all 52 cards flipped face-up accordion style, so to say, it’s probably rigged. The cards can be “purse strung” (or “stringged”? It sounds better anyway!) or “baste stitched” together to help with the gag effect.

“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV

3

Let me clarify:

It’s Harpo’s turn to deal in whatever game they’re playing, so he shuffles the cards as normal and then picks up the deck in his left hand. He holds his right hand near the deck, but then, instead of using his right hand to throw the cards across the table as in a normal deal, he just sort of flicks his left wrist and the cards fly off the deck like they’re being dealt with his right hand. But his right hand never moves. It’s a cool sight gag.

I’ve read different books about poker that reference that scene and, claiming it to be real, say that it’s a really neat trick if you can learn to do it. But then they don’t teach it and move on to other topics.

I’ve also seen done it a couple of other times on television, too, but I guess Harpo is probably the best example to give.

4

These are moves you should never use in a real poker game.

If you want to be a real ‘card shark’, how about learning to play the game well? Then you can impress your friends by taking all their money.

Dan (occasional professional poker player)

5

Actually, those moves are probably the worst thing to do if you want to win. I mean, if I’m playing poker with someone who suddenly does a miraculous set of shuffles, I’m going to wonder if he can deal all aces, etc.

When you shuffle, drop cards and restart often, ask people the order of the royalty cards, if 8s are crazy, and other things. Appear very incompotent. When you win, pretend to be very suprised.

6

Well, can’t help on the first one, but shooting the cards from one hand to the other is not a difficult task. You need a fairly crisp slick deck of cards. Hold the deck in your dominant hand with a thumb at the bottom of the deck and three or four fingers together across the top. Its important that you don’t touch the sides of the deck. You’ll want to sqeeeze the deck so that all the cards bend into the palm of your hand, as you squeeze the top edge of the bottom card will begin to loose contact with the three fingers at the top of your hand. As you hold your left hand slightly away from the right hand the flexing cards will project from one hand into the other, as each card loses contact with the fingers. It may not seem simple when read, but it really is. You’ll want to begin with your hands fairly close together, and after some experimenting you’ll get a feel for how hard and fast to squeeze the deck to keep it from spraying all over the room. It helps to have big hands, and after time you’ll be able to do it across a solid distance. It’s a useless skill, but it can keep you distracted for hours trying to practice it.

7

I used to say “card sharks” but was told by an erudite colleague that it was “card sharps”…I confess I never researched the origin of the phrase.
renee

8

I don’t think that Harpo phonied it up in ANIMAL CRACKERS. He and Chico were heavy-duty cardplayers, and they probably had a deck in their hands when they were still in diapers. Also, all that time on the Vaudeville circuit, I’m sure they sat around thinking “Hey, what can I do with these cards that would be clever and amusing? Besides win Groucho’s pay envelope, I mean?”

Buster Keaton was another big card-sharp, but I don’t remember his doing any on-screen tricks with them. Unless you include the scene in THE NAVIGATOR where he attempts to shuffle and deal a waterlogged deck, which slowly falls to pieces in his hands.

Uke

9

Yeah, Brooklyn, it is ‘card sharp’. However, I’m pretty sure it is pool shark.

Then we’ll turn our tommy guns
on the screaming ravaged nuns
and the peoples voice will be the only sound.
-P. Sky

10

In a past life, I was into magic in a big way. Card tricks are my favorite, because they don’t require special props, and when they’re done with a spectators deck they’re all the more convincing. I have a great book of card tricks called “The Royal Road to Card Magic” by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue. It’s from 1949, and I don’t know if it’s still in print.

The thrust of the book is magic, but there is a chapter of Flourishes that goes into such things as Springing the Cards, Spreading a deck on the table and Flipping it (There are special decks available as Jinx points out, but to the artist that’s blasphemy). It also has different ways to fan the deck, throw cards, etc. The book doesn’t describe (and I don’t know) how to do the dealing tricks in the original question.

Omniscient’s description of Springing Cards is accurate. One addition: assuming you’re shooting from the right hand to the left, you can accompany the flourish with a swing of the body towards the left, so that the hands describe an arc of a circle. The right hand should follow the last card and be brought against the cards in the left hand with a loud smack.

I’m looking at the book now, and I realized that a couple of my favorites aren’t in it: cutting and shuffling with one hand. Cutting is pretty straight-forward, but shuffling takes some practice. If anyone’s interested, I can post a rough description.

Also, another trick that’s pretty cool (this is getting more towards magic, but still falls in the cool, clever, dextrous category) is making a card appear and disappear in your hand. You hold the card at the end between your thumb on one face and your four fingers on the back. Curl your fingers in so that the nails are on the back of the card. Simultaneously move your index and little fingers outside to the front of the card. You’re now in good shape to grab one edge of the card between your index and middle finger, and the other between your ring and pinky. Do so, release your thumb, and open your palm quickly. The card is now on the back of your hand and your palm is towards your audience. Accompany this by a wave, like you’re throwing the card into the air, and it seems to disappear. Reverse the process, to pluck it back from the air (or someone’s ear, or whatever. You can also do this with business cards.

11

billehunt -

That’s exactly what I’m looking for. I did a quick check on Amazon and it’s still in print. In fact, a lot of other similar books came up too, but I never could find those titles beforehand. :confused:

Nevermind - I just ordered a copy and a couple of others too.

Card shark, card sharp. Whatever. It’s not like I’m trying to intimidate anybody, I just want to show up my friends. Everyone in my regular game is a close friend, we already know how good everyone else is.

Thanks for the help everyone.

12

Some other “Flourishes” as they are known in Magic, that you may want to consider learning are card fans, and one handed cuts. A great resource for that would be a book called “Now you see it, now you don’t”, by Bill Tarr.

-Dragwyr
“If God had meant for man to eat waffles,
he would have given him lips like snowshoes”
-Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

13

The newsgroup, alt.magic.secrets should have tons of the best ones.

14

ROFLMAO! And when you pull a queen say “Oh, no! The OLD MAID!”

“I get the meat and the cheese, but why the bun?”
“Yeah, a bun is neither meat nor cheese.”
“Word!”