How to Do Fancy Cuts With Cards

Cut cards in special ways for magic tricks or trick dealing.

Whether you're a budding magician, a casino dealer in training or just want to impress your friends, fancy card cuts come in handy. Almost everyone knows simple cuts, like the overhand shuffle or the table riffle. However, some cuts are more complicated and require a certain amount of dexterity to perform. Magicians and casino dealers often use fancy cuts to confuse the eye and distract their audiences.

Things You'll Need

• Card deck

Instructions

Spring Shuffle

1. Grip the deck of cards in your dominant hand, pressing your thumb against one of the short ends of the deck and placing your four fingers along the other short end. Your hand should look like an arch over the cards.

2. Hold your nondominant hand about 4 inches away from the bottom of the deck. Curl your fingers slightly to lessen the chance of any of the cards dropping.

3. Squeeze the short ends of the cards, bending them into an arch. Continue to squeeze until the cards begin dropping out of your dominant hand and into your nondominant hand.

4. Bend the cards backward with both hands to straighten them out and shuffle them again. This time, simply squeeze as hard as you can, applying even pressure. This should make the cards "spring" from one hand to the other.

Cutting Shuffle

1. Hold a deck of cards in your dominant hand by the short ends. Pull your index finger backward across one end of the card deck, separating the cards neatly into two cuts. Press the tips of your other fingers against the bottom cut to keep it in place and help release the pressure on the top cut.

2. Press your index finger firmly against the top cut, and move your finger to the left. This tilts the top cut at a diagonal to the bottom cut. Slide your nondominant hand under the top cut and lift it smoothly away from the bottom cut.

3. Hold one stack of cards in each hand. Cut them with your index fingers, and slide the cuts into each other, like locking the teeth of a zipper. Push the cards together, and line them back up.

4. Continue to cut and rearrange the cards until you're satisfied. With some practice, you can also leave the cards exactly where they were to begin with, allowing you to perform magic tricks and predict where cards are while looking as if you're shuffling them.

References

• 21 Ace: How to Shuffle Cards

Resources

• Learning Magic Tricks: A Fancy Card Cut
• You Tube: Card Spring Tutorial