Lessons in Cold Decking
I wrote in a previous post about John "Fast Jack" Farrell's lecture which you can find online. Read my previous post HERE for the low down on John's lecture. In fact just stop reading and go watch it.
Still here?
Well I wanted to talk a little about one of the many areas covered in the lecture, where you'll learn some incredible techniques from someone who knows.
In the lecture you can learn the real work on cold decking from a guy who has used it successfully on many occasions to get the money over the course of his lifetime in gambling.
COLD DECK/COOLER - a stacked deck secretly switched into play to gain advantage. Called a cold deck because it is thought to be cooler than the deck already in play because it has not yet been held in the hands enough to become warm.
In my last book I published and explained a deck switch which combines aspects of two old cold decks in a new handling. If you're subscribed to ABOUT CARDS I'll be sending out a clip shortly explaining an unpublished switch. If you want to see the clip go SUBSCRIBE now.
In his lecture, John "Fast Jack" Farrell teaches 3 cold decks. Each of them a thing of beauty to behold. The cold decking segment begins at around 00:54:00 (54 minutes into the lecture).
After giving a little background to explain how he learned the cold deck, the first technique shows how to cold deck into another player, having been offered the cards to cut before another player deals.
Watch from around 1:01:00
Jack is preparing his cold deck and is just finished saying "I put a crimp in my cold decks so I have a place to cut."
Next the host Dan finishes shuffling and hands the deck to Jack, Jack cuts the deck, and it's done.
The stuff you can learn from watching this goes far beyond the mechanical details that both Tom and Dan ask Jack to explain. If you've ever switched a deck, and Jack has switched plenty, you know that far more important than those things are context, timing and using your own actions and attitudes to control attention in the right places during the switch. Jack does all of this masterfully.
So masterfully in fact, that even though there has been a lengthy introduction to the cold deck, and everyone knows what's coming, and Jack has just finished talking about how to prepare the cold deck, and even though Dan knows what is about to happen... he COMPLETELY misses it.
Watch again now from 1:01:15 Dan finishes shuffling and hands the deck to Fast Jack, who cuts the cards.... and it's done. Dan, completely misses everything, then begins laughing and about 20 seconds goes by before he says "Yeah, let's do it again, that's fun!" He wants another chance to see the move, which hit him so hard the first time he literally doesn't know what it looked like.
When you know its coming and you miss it, imagine how it plays in a real situation.
In his haste to see the move again, Dan doesn't stop to ask why he missed the move in the first place. A far more important question. It's is a shame this is overlooked during the lecture, and that Jack isn't given the chance to explain more to do with his timing, the importance of his posture and outward attitude, and movements leading into the moment of the switch. In other parts of the lecture he does mention the blocking and misdirection created by within a situation including by other crew.
Jack goes on to expertly demonstrate and explain two more cold decks.
In discussions about hustling you'll hear differing opinions and all kinds of stories. Some will present that the majority of hustlers use mostly crude techniques and rely very little on technical skill. Others maintain there is a world of difference between not only the techniques but also the level of technical skill in gambling compared to that in sleight of hand for magic and demonstration. Both are correct but I want to briefly talk about the latter. Because Jack's lecture reminds me of the first time I saw a hustler in action.
On the first occasion I witnessed the work of a real hustler in action, a new world opened up, and I was astounded by the difference between what I what I thought I knew about sleight of hand and its place in gambling, and what I thought I knew about what good sleight of hand looked like. The first hustler I ever witnessed executed the moves better than any sleight of hand I had seen in 20 years practising sleight of hand with cards. It was the best execution I had ever seen. One thing struck me in particular: consistent and absolute precision.
Combine that with the ability to blend into a setting, read and control the moment, and the people, and you have some idea of why someone like Fast Jack will always win.
John Farrell's abilities at nearly 80 years old provide a glimpse of a level of skill seldom seen.
Watch closely, or like Dan, you might miss the real lessons this lecture has to offer.
