The "cut above" is a very simple and clever trick, and it is astonishing, when one knows it, to think how easily people are deceived, and that it should not be discovered. However, I candidly confess, the first time I saw it done, I was taken in, as others are.
In this trick, the Greek, instead of placing packet No. 2 on packet No. 1, passes the former over without stopping into the left hand, which he holds a little in advance, and places packet No. 1 on the top.
This trick, as well as the preceding one, is more especially practised in public-houses and places of low resort.
The heading of this division sufficiently indicates the nature of the trick I am about to describe.
It is to have one card larger than all the rest. When introduced into a pack this card, by its projection, almost forces the pack to divide, wherever the person who places it wishes.
If the Greek has previously arranged the cards as he wishes them to be, their being cut, in no way disarranges his plans, as the card alluded to remains where it was placed at the commencement of the deal.
The large card is also used by the swindler as a sort of mark, to alter the cut to wherever he thinks it would be most beneficial to him.
The bridge is one of the oldest tricks in use amongst sharpers, and it is almost impossible to be on one's guard against its use, when well done.
As in the preceding examples, it is used to make a false cut, and thus to retain the cards as they have been arranged by the sharper to enable him to win.
The pack of cards must be held in the right hand, and bent, by pressing them against the first finger of the left. The upper part of the pack must then be bent in an opposite direction, so as to form an arch, as in figure 8.
This being accomplished, the upper portion of the pack is laid on the top of the other, as if to mix the cards.
The two bent cards are thus brought in contact, and it is the gap produced by these two arcs, which forces the cut to be made oftener at that spot than at any other, as represented in figure 9.
The smallest space between any two cards is sufficient for this purpose. The "carte tuilée," or card bent lengthways, is also used for this purpose.
The two portions of the pack, being bent lengthways, and laid face to face, are sure to make the cut at that particular spot, by causing a division in the pack; but this trick is not so good as the last-mentioned, and is, consequently, seldom employed.