The Pass

[Donatas.S]

Ok. So heres the thing. About 4 days ago a class mate gave me a deck of cards and said o show something cool. So i thougt, i will just do a pass and work it out as an effect. I do the pass and then he says: "Hey! I just saw you put the card on the bottom." I got busted but at least he didnt figured out the slight itself. When i got back home i watched my pass in the mirror and i never realized that my fingers go dancing when i do it. The biggest problem in it was that my pointing finger was in front of the packed, rather than on the side. I went on youtube and watched some of the cleanest passes:

Alex Pandrea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCG-yw2837U&feature=related

Akira Fujii: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1MDCy2VShQ&feature=related

Jason England: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEXlGUuqsvo

I noticed that all of them didnt move their front fingers and the bottom hand pointing finger was not on the front.
I will have to forget the pass that i allways did and re-learn the pass by watching the mechanics of these guys. Its going to be a tuff one! Did you ever had to re-learn something you had for a while?

 

[howdidudothat]

holy s***t I just notice that I do the same mistake!

 

[howdidudothat]

holy s***t I just noticed that I do the same mistake!

 

[jok3r]

That was a really bad idea, the pass is a move that should only be used when necessary.

For me it was the old double lift, something ive been working on for 2 years.
I didn't realize how bad it was until i really sat down and looked at it.

 

[TheatreHead]

This is why books should be read. Or, should at least supplement the DVDs.

Every book on card magic that teaches the pass makes note of every finger's position.

 

[TeeDee]

One point to note is that in Dai Vernon's opinion, the two best explanations of the pass were Erdnase's (of course), and Ross Bertram's. Erdnase teaches that the first finger should be at the side of the deck, but Bertram teaches it with the first finger at the front. It's possible to achieve a deceptive shift in both positions.

 

[AlexanderB]

The pass can look very good from your point of view when you execute it, but when I do it in front of a mirror, there's a little bit of dissapointment. But, nevertheless, when Jason England explains the Pass, he says that position of the index finger can be on the front, just like you do, or curled underneath. If I'm not mistaken, he said "The position doesn't matter". So.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Yeah, curling the finger under the deck did a lot to eliminate the finger flutter for me. Now all I really have to keep track of is my left thumb and right pinky.

 

[howdidudothat]

I was doing this mistake, but I now think that the pointer finger doesnt really matter,I keep it in front. What matters is that all other left hand fingers ( im left handed) should not move. I've been doing pass for least than a year and in this position and when shown to someone - never been caught. So I wont re-learn it, I will just try to make less movement with my fingers, because it's highly uncomfortable for me to do it with front finger in front and anyways, I do it almost invisibly without it so why torture yourself?

 

[praetoritevong]

Did you ever had to re-learn something you had for a while?

Sure, unfortunately it does happen, but it's not a bad experience imo. I recall doing a displacement technique using an entirely wrong grip - I learned it in Biddle instead of Dealer's for a reason I cannot in retrospect fathom...

 

[Jonathan O]

This is why books should be read. Or, should at least supplement the DVDs.

Every book on card magic that teaches the pass makes note of every finger's position.

True said. It's good to read books, and of course also good to watch dvd's.

I highly recommend checking out Ken Krenzel's method of the Pass. It can be found in Card Classic Of Ken Krenzel.