"Cut Thing"

[JHostler]

Looking for intel on the badly angled / mangled move shown in this video. I had a camera positioned right over my hands, so even if properly executed it wouldn't have looked great. In any case, visual retention plays a role - and front cover is typically provided by the right hand, with the fingers splayed and the retained card(s) clipped diagonally between the little finger and thumb.

If you know what the heck this is and where it's documented, I'd greatly appreciate a PM. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YYqGEpsjo

[For viewers confused by the sheer lack of deceptiveness: it is intended to appear as a straight cut!]

John

[NicholasD52]

You might be thinking of Harry Lorayne’s Invisible Pass.

[Philippe Billot]

Thanks to our Big Chief, you can find it in Genii, Vol. 64, no. 11, november 2001, page 44.

[JHostler]

Thank you both - that's it (sort of)! My source is likely the one Harry modified by integrating the left hand's forward movement. The one thing I don't like about his version is - at least as I've now seen it on video - how hard the first packet is smacked to the table... but this certainly scratched my itch.

Thanks again!

[MagicbyAlfred]

John,

I've gotta say, you are hard on yourself. Your execution of the move did not appear mangled to me at all. Far to the contrary, I had to watch it about a half dozen times, with my eyes burning your hands like laser beams, to realize that you fooled me with a move that I know and have used. I had to chuckle upon the dawning realization. I learned the move years ago from a Harry Lorayne DVD, "Magical Classics." As you may already know, it is also on Harry's "Best Ever" DVD Collection (Vol. 4) and "Lorayne: The Classic Collection" (Vol. 3). I can't remember for sure, but I don't believe that Harry took credit for the move, which he refers to as "the Hop." I do seem to remember him saying he didn't know who created it.

I believe the move is also taught in Quantum Leaps, by Harry Lorayne. There was a "Card Hop" written up in Apocalypse, but I don't think it's the same move/cut.

Again, as you probably already know, the move is not called the "invisible Pass." Rather, the "Invisible Pass" is a multi-phase routine Harry devised to show off the move, primarily (if not exclusively) to magicians, selling the move as a pass that is undetectable. Of course, while quite clever and very deceptive when done smoothly, it is not a pass at all.

Now this is hearsay, twice removed, but the provenance of the move or its predecessor may be found in Marlo’s Tabled Palm, the Card Transfer and/or Greater Magic, the Pick Up Location. Hope this provides a lead, anyway.

[Jonathan Townsend]

In method, this is similar to the one hand top palm writeup which includes the ‘corker’ replacement as the cut is completed.

[MagicbyAlfred]

CLARIFICATION: When I wrote in my post above, "Rather, the Invisible Pass is a multi-phase routine Harry devised to show off the move, primarily (if not exclusively) to magicians, selling the move as a pass that is undetectable," what I meant to say was that it is the rifflling of the cards Harry does after he has executed the move that he is selling as an invisible pass.

BTW, here is the one and only performing his Invisible Pass routine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZkTUDP2tqI

[Jack Shalom]

It's amazing how that move is so easily busted on repeat video viewing, but is perfect in person or even *once* on video.

[JHostler]

I think Harry’s strategy of bringing the left hand forward to the right (for the second packet) does enhance the illusion - as would executing the transfer closer to eye level! A fun move to toy with, and yes - I believe a variation of “the hop.”

[Tarotist]

I agree with Alfred. I have never heard of this move but it looked pretty deceptive to me. I don't see anything wrong with it.

[NicholasD52]

This can also be done as a softer cut. As the top half is placed on the table by the right hand , the left hand does a wrist turn. The right hand comes back to meet the left hand as the wrist is turning back up.

[Leo Garet]

I agree with Alfred. I have never heard of this move but it looked pretty deceptive to me. I don't see anything wrong with it.

Sam here. I think it looks okay. The actual cut-to-the-table is perhaps a bit rushed, but it still passes muster.

[Richard Kaufman]

This always looked great when Harry did it.
You may be surprised to discover that the basic move is in Greater Magic.

[Tarotist]

I like the way it is done in the first video. Not too violently which I think spoils it.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Harry offers an important finesse that aids tremendously in making the cut deceptive. When you break down the cut, it entails 3 separate components or moves: (!) The initial cutting off of about half the cards, with the top (target) card sitting on top of the cut portion; (2) the placing of the cut portion on the table, but simultaneously stealing the top card (or top few cards) away and bringing it/them back to the bottom portion of the deck that's still in the left hand, and depositing the stolen card(s) on top of that portion; and (3) completing the cut by placing the portion in the left hand on top of the portion on the table.

Harry's finesse is that, instead of doing the foregoing (essentially 3-part) sequence in a 3-count rhythm, do it in a 2-count, as if you are doing nothing more than placing the cut off cards down on the table and coming back with the right hand to get the portion remaining in your left hand and depositing that portion onto the portion that's on the table. If you experiment with this with cards in hand, and focus on keeping a 2-count rhythm (actually counting "1, 2") you may be quite surprised at the positive results you will get before long.

[Denis Behr]

This always looked great when Harry did it.
You may be surprised to discover that the basic move is in Greater Magic.

It's easily found in the Archive category listing of that transfer: https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/category/736

[JHostler]

This always looked great when Harry did it.
You may be surprised to discover that the basic move is in Greater Magic.

It's easily found in the Archive category listing of that transfer: https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/category/736

I have at least four of those books in my library. Oof!