Breaking in a deck of Playing Cards

Breaking In Bicycle Playing Cards A

M E R C H A N T O F G U I D E

M A G I C

By Paul Knight

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WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO PREPARE YOUR CARDS BEFORE YOU PERFORM. Performing is an art. Music, juggling, drawing, painting, and magic. These all fall into the category of performing arts. However, a good musician will always tune his instrument(s) before playing. A juggler will always powder his hands before juggling. An artist will always sharpen his pencil before drawing. Yet, so many times, beginners take a fresh deck of cards out the card case and immediately start performing, and very often pass blame onto the cards for not functioning correctly. We as performers should look after our tools and give them the correct care and attention they deserve, and in turn they will serve us better both in handling and performance and, therefore, provide a better performance for the spectators, which essentially is our main goal. So, what should we be doing as a regular course of action every time we open a brand new sealed deck of cards?

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Firstly, wash your hands. It's important to wash your hands before you handle your cards. Dirty hands can carry oils, dust and dirt. Just in the action of removing the cards from the card case you are immediately aging the cards.

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Removing the cards.

Some people take great care breaking open the seal of the card case. This is all good practice. The best route for opening the case is as follows. Take a sharp knife and slowly carefully slice in a straight line around the cellophane, just where the pull tab line is. Remove the cellophane from the top of the sealed deck. Using the tip of the knife, carefully slit the seal, following the half moon. Using the half moon (that's what it's there for after all), using thumb and tip of forefinger slide the deck out in one entire block about a third of its length. Now lightly grasp the edges of the deck and retaining the case in your left hand remove the deck. Removing the deck in this manner reduces the amount of contact with the cards keeping the cards free of excess oils and dirt. PLEASE NOTE: BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING ANY SHARP TOOL LIKE A KNIFE.

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Breaking in the deck. What follows is a sequence of seven simple steps to go through that will ensure the deck is thoroughly broken in and ready to use. The sequence is in a particular order for good reason.

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Overhand shuffling Perform one over hand shuffle with the cards face down. Instead of pulling off clumps as is usual with an overhand shuffle, peel off one card at a time. Essentially, you want each card to wipe against the one below, therefore, polishing the face of each card. Then, turn the deck face up and repeat the process, so this time the backs of the cards are the ones being polished. Remember, one card at a time.

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Aerating the deck. Now we need to get a balanced amount of air between each card in the deck. Hold the deck face up in your dealing hand, now squeeze the cards by their short ends in the same action that you would use if you were to spring the cards. Do not actually spring the cards though. Then repeat the same process with cards face down. This will separate the cards, and any oils that may have been picked up during the shuffling sequence.

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Faro Shuffling and cascade face down We will now Faro shuffle the deck. Cut the deck into two equal packets. Due to the fact that during the shuffling process the deck has been restored to its original order, finding the dead center of the deck is easy. Split the deck at the point where the King of Clubs and the King of Diamonds meet. Take one half of the deck in each hand. Now align each short edge. What we want to achieve is that each card becomes interwoven, or like a zip. The method to achieve this is by gently teasing one packet into the other. Imagine one half is made of butter, and the other is a knife. It need not be a perfect Faro (every card perfectly interwoven), but the closest you can manage obviously leaves a better result.

With the cards in this interwoven condition, now grasp both ends with both hands, and bow the deck, still interwoven, upwards creating a bridge. The main secret to this is to apply pressure on both ends, the thumbs gently rest on the top. The thumbs do not push. Now, gradually release the tension on the cards. This will cause the cards to cascade. The knack to this is playing with the amount of tension you release. Release too much and the cards will just fall, too little and they will remain in an interwoven bridge condition. The sweet spot is just between the two. A little trial and error and you will soon find that sweet spot.

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Fanning. Next, give the deck a nice wide face down fan. Then square the deck, and then perform a second wide face up the fan and square again. The reason for doing this twice is when you fan the cards once and then square them the orientation of the cards is changed, plus by fanning twice each card is getting air spread between it in both directions.

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Overhand shuffle. Now perform another overhand shuffle with the faces down. Make sure the cards wipe against each other.

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Faro shuffling and Cascade face up Next perform the Faro shuffle and cascade again, this time face up.

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Overhand shuffle. Now perform another overhand shuffle but with the deck held face up. The reason we are repeating the process is because we need to ensure that each card has the same amount of air around it; also the ‘wiping’ of the cards against each other during an overhand shuffle ensures that any oils are evenly spread across the cards face and backs. Finally, go through the deck and remove the two advertising cards. Because the deck has been removed from the card case, shuffled and riffled and fanned, air has been allowed to spread between the cards. Therefore, removing the advertising cards now will ensure a perfect fit of the deck when replaced into the card case. And that's it! Your deck is now perfectly conditioned and ready for performance. The entire sequence takes no longer than at most a couple of minutes. It prepares the deck, and it prepares you at the same time. You will have a better understanding of how the deck will handle for you.

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Final Thoughts. One final tip: I always use a ‘quality’ card clip. I emphasize the quality. A cheap one may damage your cards and the case rather than protect them. The reason for this is that it keeps the cards flat, maintaining the case in pristine condition, protects the cards from humidity and also, looks much more professional than pulling out your cards in a mildly dog eared card case. It silently signals ‘I care for my tools, and I care for my art’.

This brings us back to the importance of breaking in your deck. It shows that you know how to handle a deck of cards it also will enhance your performance many times you in yourself will be more comfortable with the handling of the cards, and your audiences will subliminally pick up on this. It's a win win situation, so breaking in your new deck should become a regimented part of you, your act, and your love for the pasteboards.

What Next?

Special Thanks and Credit to Lee Asher If you enjoyed this ebook we highly recommend that you check out lee’s further advice on how to care for your playing cards, including his excellent 605 range of cards. You can find out more here

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