= Oe oe OO enWelcome to the Coat Shuffle.
Paying tribute to the Zarrow Shuflle by Herb Zarrow,
the Coat Shuffle is a completely false table shuffle that
retains the full order of the deck whilst imitating the
action of a fair table riffle shuffle.
After the initial publication of the Coat Shuffle in my
book HOW TO CHEAT AT CARDS, | performed this
shuffle on the video DEAL, and following the interest in
this move | decided to offer a filmed explanation.
The best kept secrets of deception hide in books. Such
a move that one reads of cannot be truly appreciated
until seen and cannot truly be understood until
performed correctly.
Use this PDF book to understand the technical
positioning of fingers, timing and motion. Use the video
as a visual accomplice.
| hope that the Coat Shuffle finds it’s way into your
table collection and serves you as well as it has served
me for the past fifteen years.
| am Daniel Madison.
This is The Coat Shuffle.
THECOQOATSHUFEL FETo fully understand the Coat Shuffle, you must be able to
competently execute a standard table riffle shuffle. You will
then work to find a perfect marriage between the visuals of a
real table shuffle and the false table shuffle as the goal is to
make them look as alike as possible.
Seize the deck at either end as in image one. The thumb is at
the back corner, finger two is at the opposite front corner.
Finger one is curled on top of the deck at the front corner.
Finger three is at the side of the deck near the front corner
and all of the fingers are closed.
The right hand grips the bottom half of the deck and the left
grips the top. The hands separate to pull the two packets
apart as in image two.
The back corners of each packet, at the opposite end to the
thumb are slightly tilted toward each other as the thumbs lift
each packet no more than one centimeter from the table.
Each packet is gripped firmly and finger one applies downward
pressure to the top of the packet. The thumb than allows the
cards in the packet to riffle off rapidly one at a time. This is
executed with each packet in unison allowing the cards from
each packet to interweave as in image three.
The same grip os then applied on each packet and finger three
of each hand forces the packets together until they are
completely flushed together as in image one thus completing
the table riffle shuffle.
You must become competent at executing this shuffle before
attempting to master the Coat Shuffle, as the Coat Shuffle
must appear to be nothing more than a standard table riffle
shuffle such as this.felis
TWO
aaaThe deck is seized as to prepare for the standard table riffle
shuffle as in image one. As two halves are separated, left finger
one applies pressure to the top card. As the top half is pulled
to the right, the top card is retained with the left packet which
falls to the top of the lower half as shown in image four.
Although this simple action is executed at a fair speed, one
must resist the temptation to pull the right packet away with
unnatural speed in attempt to hide the deception. Practice will
reveal that standard and natural speed and motion will suffice.
The two packets are slightly twisted so that the back corners -
opposite the thumbs - point toward each other in preparation
for the interweaving riffle. At this point, the illusion is offered
that both packets are being raised at the back ready to be
riffled together, however, only the right packet is raised in the
standard and typical way, whereas only the top card of the left
packet (the coat card) is raised to mimic the same.
Left finger one adds pressure on the back of the top card of
the left packet to prevent the card from lifting from the deck
at the front end.
The right packet is now riffled from the thumb into the gap
above the left packet and below the coat card, the coat card
(5 of Clubs in image five) is carefully moved up and down
moving no more than 2mm each way to create a matching
‘flutter’ as naturally made by a riffling packet as if cards are
falling away from the thumb.
The coat card is then released so that it lands below the top
card of the right packet as in image six. Without a pausing
moment, as the packets come to rest, they are pushed
together and squared. The coat card interlaced under the top
card of the right packet will offer a further visual deception
supporting the illusion that both packets were fully interlaced.mOleLThis sequence, however, will merely switch the top card for
the second card down and the rest of the deck will remain
undisturbed. To return the positions of the top two cards, this
false shuffle is executed once more, this will reposition the top
card back on top and the full order of the deck will be
returned.
Once the packets have been deceptively interlaced, one must
take care in pushing them together to square the deck. One
can help add shade by pushing the right packet slightly forward
as the packets are pushed together. The packets can be
pushed together creating quite a mess, both the unbalance and
the squaring will shade any would-be obvious tells. The
accompanying video will offer a great visual for the squaring
moment.
You shouldn’t need warning about the dangers of this shuffle.
The angles are unfair and the discrepancy will feel as though it
is open for much longer than it actually is, however, in spite of
how dirty this false shuffle is, it is highly deceptive and relies in
part on the sucker’s psychological understanding of a standard
table shuffle. No opponent will scrutinize that which appears
fair and more than they would be skeptical of any other fair
move at the table. As soon as the shuffle looks unnatural, heat
will be brought to the deck along with speculation and
interruption to the deception.
Your deceptions must resemble that which is fair and
therefore your execution of this move must not breach any
natural actions in any way.The Coat Shuffle shares similarities with a few other published
false shuffles. The Zarrow Shuffle by Herb Zarrow as said to
be the only false shuffle (at that time) to have gone from the
magic industry to the card table. Zarrow’s shuffle offers are
far more deceptive technique which allows the packets to be
interlaced and then secretly and invisibly separated as they are
pushed together. You can learn this move from Herb on his
DVD or from Jason England at Theory! |.com. It is a fantastic
move that will benefit your understanding and execution of
the Coat Shuffle.
Thank you for taking the time to learn this false shuffle. As
always, | take no credit for the move. There is nothing new
under the sun. | have simply discovered this shuffle within my
own private practices away from the industry, without
influence.
I leave you with a thought. You can deceive the most skeptical
player with a simple move, but it is easier to deceive yourself
into believing that you are good enough to get away with it.
Until you have executed such moves at the card table, you are
not ready to do so. He who learns how to cheat but does not
has wasted his time.
| am Daniel Madison.
Thank you.
www.DANIELMADISON.co.uk