Second Deal Exercise
"...describes among other things his incredibly natural second deal which is really different." ..."dangerously deceptive."- Jean Jacques Sanvert
Four or five years ago while playing around dealing cards (push-off seconds), something happened that was unexpected. Normally when dealing the second card, my left thumb would simultaneously draw the top card back in line with the deck. But for no particular reason as I dealt a card to the table I lifted my left thumb and as I did I noticed the top card aligning itself with the deck, seemingly automatically, and without any contact from the left thumb. I’d fooled myself and at first I had no idea how I’d done it. I quickly backtracked to repeat my actions and for the next few hours I experimented to uncover what must have happened, and so began the development of an exercise that I subsequently published about what seems to be a new technique.
I’ve tried in my writing about this to explain that this is not exactly a new second deal, but what I've come up with here is an exercise, which, with enough practice, can help develop a feel for lifting the thumb during a second deal, and could be adapted to many different deals.
For those less familiar with the mechanics of second dealing, it might be important to mention a few things that generally happen during a second deal. If you were to look at the movements of your hands when dealing cards normally, you’ll probably observe that each time you push across a card with your left thumb, at the moment you deal the card with your right hand, your left thumb lifts slightly away from the top of the deck, then drops back onto the top of the deck to begin pushing across the next card. When dealing a push-off second, you'll find that if you try to lift your left thumb as you take the second card, the top card will not align by itself with the deck, and it may even be dragged by friction of the second card, away from the deck. For this reason, when dealing seconds you’ll find it easier (even necessary) to keep your left thumb in contact with the top card as the second is dealt, in order to prevent to top card from falling off the deck, or at the very least to pull the top card back aligned with the deck before dealing your next second. Keeping the thumb on the top card as your deal seconds is thought, by some, to be a "tell" (tipping to possibility of false dealing), and is sometimes described as having a dead thumb. Typically the dead thumb is associated with strike second dealing, but it is no less relevant to a push-off technique. The desire to solve the dead thumb issue, stems from the well-known and advocated concept of uniformity of action; make your false deals look the same as your regular deals, or vice versa, but they should look the same. Thumbs off, or thumbs down, that is the question. It’s true that lots of folks keep their thumb resting on the deck while dealing legitimately, and it is neither "dead", nor up in the air. So you might not have a problem to solve. But if you lift your thumb on a regular deal, and leave it in contact during your seconds, there is a problem.
The problem can be solved in many ways, so the thumb lifting exercise is certainly not the only solution. It’s also true that many accomplished in the art of false dealing see no need to bother with lifting the thumb, but instead cover the move in a variety of other ways including moving the hands apart slightly during the deal. With or without the thumb lift, the illusion can be equally deceptive.
A good reason for considering adding this detail to your deal I think is best described by the word “disarming”. That is, it’s really just another small throw off, that if executed well, is very disarming, and might be the difference between not being detected and not being suspected. Whether it is worth the effort involved to learn it, will be different depending on who plans to use it and how. Indeed using it at all depends on what it is used for, and perhaps most importantly the company it is used against. In a game situation there are other more important factors such as timing and conditioning other players to accepting your actions and your personality. But beyond those things, which are a given, there are the small details, and I'm first to admit I enjoy playing with them.
Anyway, if you’re the type of person interested in experimenting with different techniques, you might like to read and practice the exercise, which is written up in Details of Deception. Even if you have no interest in the book, I’d be happy to talk more about the technique with you, so feel free to email me about it. I also have some videos which I’ll make available to anyone who has read the exercise but wants to see it in action.
May all your seconds go un-noticed.
"...the chapters on the second deal, peeks and the shiner are unequalled.”- Sal Piacente
"Terrific explanation of how to do a two card push-off second deal."
- Steve Ehlers
"Great section on the second deal. Stacked to Win & The Hold’em Demo will put your second deal chops to the test. Highly recommended.”
- Paul Gertner
