Wronglsley's count / almost beaten

[Jonathan Townsend]

There's gotta be a better way. Bob Farmer's gonna read this and laugh at me... but here goes:

This is a card packet moment for when you have three legit display items and whatever underneath - and you're gonna show the legit items twice... front and back display.

Overhand grip. Consistent handling. You are not expecting anything odd about the cards. There's a discrepancy covered by a pause after the count of three.

Count one taking the top card with your other hand's thumb onto the palm - then turn it face up, back face down. Count off two, pull off the top card onto that first one - STOP. Thumb push over that card using your other hand. Then bring your hand with the remainder over and use that hand's thumb to flip over the card. That's two of two shown faces and backs. Now for what may simply be wrong... here goes: Swap two for two as a count of three. Again stop. Bring over the last card, really a double, and backtrack as if you forgot to display the third card. Drop all but that top card onto the packet in your other hand. That thumb slides over the top card as per second card. Flip over using your hand's thumb or the edge of the remaining card in overhand grip... So you're showing the two legit items twice and using the back of a third card to cover a packet switch...

Okay over to Bob - since I've been frustrated by this kind of count since... about '74.

help?

[Bill Mullins]

here goes: Swap two for two as a count of three.

At this point in time you have a face down and face up card in the left hand, and two face down cards in the right hand. Are you saying to exchange those two pairs, so that you end up with a FD/FU pair in the right hand, and 2 FD cards in the left?

[erdnasephile]

I just did the procedure with cards in hand and I think I'm confused: what is this supposed to look like for the audience--do they think you have 3 cards or 4?

Edit: OK, I got it--I was confused because the face of the 4th card isn't displayed in the description above.

Given that all small packet counts are inherently unnatural (as M. Close likes to point out), I try only do counts that look like the Elmsley/Jordan variety (for consistent unnaturalness ). Therefore, would doing Daryl's 2 for 4 count face up followed by a straight count face down work?

[Jonathan Townsend]

As Erdnasephile points out that description ends when you're left with a single card in overhand grip in your starting hand. You might want to snap that card over and put it under the others - so you can table the packet ... or whatever serves.

The motivation is displaying the cards in hand - without doing two counts. With any luck the routine context has something better than "here in my hands I have four cards, with red backs and all... four aces"..

I've seen those display/turnover/display sequences since the 1970s and ... well I'm not a fan. That's why I figured out the count which seems to bear my name in print.

[Pete McCabe]

The Spring 96 issue of The Looking Glass has a piece called "Rolling Elmsley" that shows both sides of all cards, with no discrepancies, and hides the bottom surface of the third card. Handy for "printing" a business card from a stack of blanks.

JT and other interested parties should definitely check it out.

[Jonathan Townsend]

... JT and other interested parties should definitely check it out.

Does it conceal everything about whatever you have in third position (block of cards face and back) ? if not - how does it move us forward in the quest?

[Brad Henderson]

are you concerned about them seeing either the faces or backs of the same non-hidden card(s) more than once?

[Jonathan Townsend]

If I had my druthers about it - not more than the same discrepancy threshold as the Ghost Count.

The the objective is to seemingly display four cards one at a time shown front and back. The underlying objective is to have a consistent grip and display style in my card magic. One of four duplicated displays is not so bad. The Gemini Count equivalent procedure seems to get two duplicates. The "Townsend" item - has three good displays of four but does start with the unusual palm down grip and you're flipping the cards around more than most might do ordinarily. Heck of a "two"

The procedure as posted earlier seems okay for casual display to folks that are a few feet back. Stopping the display after the count of three to backtrack... less than desirable. Also it's perhaps not optimal for folks very close where the grip/shuffle usual display works or the face out standup/distance display (bottom deal handling with the thumb based backsteal) that folks may know (first publication Robert Neal using cards with tombstones?)

Help?

[erdnasephile]

Clarification please: in the Townsend count, you are still only displaying 2 of the 4 faces in the packet, right?

[Jonathan Townsend]

Clarification please: in the Townsend count, you are still only displaying 2 of the 4 faces in the packet...

If you start with the packet face down you show three of the faces. If you start with the packet face up you show two of the faces twice. On the count of two you do the multiple pushoff and turn your hand palm up ... then proceed with the Ghost count procedure/sleight after for clean displays of three and four.

[erdnasephile]

By "Townsend Count" I meant the procedure you described in the first post of this thread.

In that procedure, even if you start face down, you are showing the faces of 2 cards, 2 times each, right?

i.e.:
Count 1: Card 1 flips face up and face down
Count 2: Card 2 flips face up and face down
(2 for 2 packet switch--drop the bottom card of the double (Card 1)
Count 3: Card 1 flips face up and face down
Count 4: Card 2 flips up and face down

Or am I missing something?

[Jonathan Townsend]

Your description of the count in the first post is accurate.

[Harry Lorayne]

You might want to look up my Bluff Count.

[Jonathan Townsend]

You might want to look up my Bluff Count.

Harry, you are much better than the snooty terse-post thing.

Does your count hide the face and backs of the extra cards? I've been stumbling around the how-to for a both sides display for a while and would like to work from overhand (Biddle/Hamman/Veeser style) grip.

Thanks,

JonT