Original Publication Date: January 1998
Slydini used to make mountains into molehills when necessary. By that I mean he would take an obvious negative and turn it into a positive. Hopefully, I'll mention many, many of these in the coming segments of The Slydini Legacy, but this gem is perfect for this month to start off the new year.
Check out The Amateur Magician's Handbook, and notice the "Hindu Shuffle", section 5-C of the Hand Magic with Cards segment.
The Hindu Shuffle is a fantastic technique and many variations are available. The one I'm mentioning here is using it as a force. Slydini had several forces (one in particular which has never been in print) but the one he used more than any other was the simple Hindu Shuffle force.
He did it like anyone else except for one MAJOR difference. He delayed the viewing of the card. The bottom card will be the force card. He kept removing small packets off the top, as normal. When the person said STOP, he would put the remaining stock on top of the LH cards in an end-jogged position, about 1 inch or a slight bit more.
Then he would ask the person if they would like to take a few more cards or stop where they were now. That little delay would add just enough misdirection to mask the fact that the cards were coming off the top and the card that was shown was on the bottom.
I realize that many magicians will say that this is not necessary since the sleight is effective enough in it's simplicity alone. I agree with that totally.
However, anyone who uses or has used this force can attest to the fact that occasionally someone will notice the discrepancy...not very often, but it happens. Well, with the Slydini delay it NEVER happens!
I use the force myself for one specific effect that must be convincing and, believe me, this is the shuffle that's perfect in that case.
To recap, normally after taking small groups of cards off the top, and the person says STOP, you normally come right up and show the bottom card and ask that it be remembered. With the Slydini delay, the group of cards are end-jogged about one inch and you ask them if they're satisfied or want more. If they do, you continue and just repeat the endjog as before. Only after they say it's OK... at that point you show the bottom card and ask them to remember it. Then continue on with the effect from that point.
Try this and delight in it as quite a number of students I've shown this to over the years have. It's a perfect example of "working smarter...not harder".