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The Expert at the Card Table
Originally published in 1902 by S.W. Erdnase, The Expert at the Card Table is a classic treatise on the science and art of manipulating cards. Over the years, this book has been considered a MUST by most card workers. It has also been considered the most studied book in all of card magic.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1902
327 people are currently reading
850 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
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November 10, 2025Some one has remarked that there is but one pleasure in life greater than winning, that is, in making the hazard.
While "Erdnase" remains a classic conjuring text, I am glad I spent years in the craft before attempting to decode this Rosetta Stone of card magic.
Erdnase's offerings are less a wholistic class on card work and more an offering of the author's own repertoire.
While a significant amount of the technique taught in this book has been improved or replaced in the time since its publication, there are still principles in the cracks of the text worth learning and internalizing.
Taking the time to read this as a book and not a guide, to attempt understanding before practice, is something I would recommend to the future reader.
A lot of the language used is hard to practically put into use, at times being flat out hostile to the nascent magician.
While "Erdnase" remains a classic conjuring text, I am glad I spent years in the craft before attempting to decode this Rosetta Stone of card magic.
Erdnase's offerings are less a wholistic class on card work and more an offering of the author's own repertoire.
While a significant amount of the technique taught in this book has been improved or replaced in the time since its publication, there are still principles in the cracks of the text worth learning and internalizing.
Taking the time to read this as a book and not a guide, to attempt understanding before practice, is something I would recommend to the future reader.
A lot of the language used is hard to practically put into use, at times being flat out hostile to the nascent magician.
February 7, 2009
Awesome little book on card magic and slights. Amazingly, this book has been in continuous publication since 1902 and has a small but diehard following in the card magic community. Although most consider a lot of the moves contrived and archaic the magicians who form the core following are immensely loyal to the book and spend many hours studying it with great care and attention. I am probably somewhere in the middle. The book is very nice but there are goofs and limitations that keep me from being one of the utterly devout.
The mysterious author's identity was never really discovered. The credited author, S.W. Erdnase, is believed by many to be East coast gambler James Andrews (just lop off the 'Jam' and spell his name backwards). Andrews, who admits in the beginning of the book that he wrote it purely for financial gain, adopted the Erdnase pseudonym to avoid being associated with a book that no doubt pissed off many professional gamblers of the day as it spelled out so many of their coveted secret moves.
In any case, Erdnase starts the slim volume with a treatise on gambling cons to be performed at the gambler's table (the Artifice section), moves on to some fantastic magician slights (the Legerdemain section), then wraps the volume up with a short card routine that uses some of the techniques just described.
This Bible Edition of the book is really cool. It's called this because of its similarity with many pocket-sized Christian Bibles. The pages are gold edged, it has a ribbon bookmark, and the thin paper rings similar as well. The version is a compact little number that can easily be stored in a shirt pocket if you're so inclined. It's a little larger than a deck of cards and only about a half inch thick. Not that it really matters but, despite the photo and description, the book is black (not blue) and the cover is not leather but some synthetic -- and hardcover-like -- facsimile. Word of warning though: the print is pretty minuscule so if you have a hard time reading the print on a bottle of Tylenol you might consider another edition of the book.
The mysterious author's identity was never really discovered. The credited author, S.W. Erdnase, is believed by many to be East coast gambler James Andrews (just lop off the 'Jam' and spell his name backwards). Andrews, who admits in the beginning of the book that he wrote it purely for financial gain, adopted the Erdnase pseudonym to avoid being associated with a book that no doubt pissed off many professional gamblers of the day as it spelled out so many of their coveted secret moves.
In any case, Erdnase starts the slim volume with a treatise on gambling cons to be performed at the gambler's table (the Artifice section), moves on to some fantastic magician slights (the Legerdemain section), then wraps the volume up with a short card routine that uses some of the techniques just described.
This Bible Edition of the book is really cool. It's called this because of its similarity with many pocket-sized Christian Bibles. The pages are gold edged, it has a ribbon bookmark, and the thin paper rings similar as well. The version is a compact little number that can easily be stored in a shirt pocket if you're so inclined. It's a little larger than a deck of cards and only about a half inch thick. Not that it really matters but, despite the photo and description, the book is black (not blue) and the cover is not leather but some synthetic -- and hardcover-like -- facsimile. Word of warning though: the print is pretty minuscule so if you have a hard time reading the print on a bottle of Tylenol you might consider another edition of the book.
August 11, 2018
Read this, and you'll never think of card games the same way again.
This book is amazing, whether you want to cheat at Poker or perform the most astonishing card magic.
Now, don't cheat at Poker. Instead, study this book and learn to cheat at cards, because it will help you become a better magician.
The first two thirds of the book is all about how to shuffle, cut, and deal cards to your advantage in any card game. The last third covers the use of these slights, and more, when performing card magic, and explains a number of excellent tricks.
It's tough to learn the moves from the book alone. While Erdnase explains them in detail, they're the sort of moves that are much easier to learn if you can see someone performing them. Because of this, I recommend getting one of the various DVD instructional sets for "The Expert at the Card Table."
I still need to watch my DVD set, but I wanted to read the book first. It's easy to get through if you don't worry too much about visualizing the moves exactly. Get a general idea of what he's describing, and what each move does, and remind yourself that you'll be able to see them in action when you watch video instruction.
Just having that basic understanding of what was possible, of what the various slights could produce, keep me interested. I mean, I know how Three Card Monte works now, and why it's so tough to beat!
If you want to learn card magic, at some point, you will need to study Erdnase.
This book is amazing, whether you want to cheat at Poker or perform the most astonishing card magic.
Now, don't cheat at Poker. Instead, study this book and learn to cheat at cards, because it will help you become a better magician.
The first two thirds of the book is all about how to shuffle, cut, and deal cards to your advantage in any card game. The last third covers the use of these slights, and more, when performing card magic, and explains a number of excellent tricks.
It's tough to learn the moves from the book alone. While Erdnase explains them in detail, they're the sort of moves that are much easier to learn if you can see someone performing them. Because of this, I recommend getting one of the various DVD instructional sets for "The Expert at the Card Table."
I still need to watch my DVD set, but I wanted to read the book first. It's easy to get through if you don't worry too much about visualizing the moves exactly. Get a general idea of what he's describing, and what each move does, and remind yourself that you'll be able to see them in action when you watch video instruction.
Just having that basic understanding of what was possible, of what the various slights could produce, keep me interested. I mean, I know how Three Card Monte works now, and why it's so tough to beat!
If you want to learn card magic, at some point, you will need to study Erdnase.
May 7, 2012
The classic on advantage card playing for 110 years. Though there have been heated discussions about the "true" identity of Erdnase (see Ernase Unmasked for the latest inputs. I think David Ben has it right.) But the book is itself a marvelous look into the world of the traveling gambler. The Erdnase discussion of gambling strategies, even if you never pick up a deck of cards, is worth the price of the book. The annotated versions by Vernon and Ortiz are worth studying, but not before you have done Ernase himself.
May 11, 2020
If you want to be a card shark or a magician, this is mandatory reading. There’s a reason it’s been around for so long and that the author had to write under a nom de plume, because what the author was teaching was illegal! It’s heavy to get through, but well worth it. So much so that I bought the updated version with larger illustrations that have also been updated in their clarity, but it’s the same text and u illustrations, it just makes it a bit easier to see everything since printing has improved since the turn of the century (the turn of the 20th to the 21st century, just to be clear.) Well worth your money to get the other updated hardback copy if you’re a serious collector and aspiring magician...you’ll still need to watch YouTube tutorials to really get the moves down, but let’s be honest, we all need more books and less of a dependence upon YouTube.
November 14, 2025
Another real treat to read. This is the bible of card handling — written in 1902, it still holds up (and is fascinating) because the mechanics are so sound/digestible, and the writing feels timeless. Amazing how much modern sleight-of-hand traces back to this one book. Only part that is a bit tricker to follow are the illustrations, since they’re hand drawn and more minimal given the era when the book was written.
May 19, 2019
There's a lot of detailed text in this book but a picture is worth a 1000 words.
The are enough pictures to help you understand what needs to be done. But just feel a few more pictures would have really helped.
The text really help you understand the finer parts of the moves and goodness there are a lot of things to learn!
Looks like I better get to practising!
Enjoy.
The are enough pictures to help you understand what needs to be done. But just feel a few more pictures would have really helped.
The text really help you understand the finer parts of the moves and goodness there are a lot of things to learn!
Looks like I better get to practising!
Enjoy.
January 5, 2024
Aloitin kirjan jo kuukausia sitten, mutta jäi kesken. Erittäin kiinnostava opus, mutta on käytännössä oppikirja korttitemppujen tekoon. Ei kannata lukea sellaisenaan, vaan korttipakka kädessä ja temppu kerrallaan.
January 29, 2019
Imperative
July 5, 2019
Expert at the Card Table
This is a must have book in every musician's book collection and it must be read many times over. It is worth the time.
This is a must have book in every musician's book collection and it must be read many times over. It is worth the time.
May 14, 2020
What an enlightening description of an iconic personality of tv!
October 14, 2020
Do you like slight of hand then this is the way to start hard to understand the lingo at first but once you get the hang of it it’s awesome.
March 29, 2021
My favorite
My favorite book on cards. Also known as the card players bible. I've studied this book long time and it's done me a lot of good.
My favorite book on cards. Also known as the card players bible. I've studied this book long time and it's done me a lot of good.
May 24, 2022
Mungkin karena ini buku kuno jadi bahasa inggrisnya agak susah dimengerti.
November 6, 2022
He's got all these great euphemisms for "cheating at cards." Thinks like "professional player," or "advantage." It's great.
February 11, 2024
No one wants to play poker with me
July 30, 2008
This book is the ultimate if you want to develop a sound card foundation. Its not an easy read, but the information is invaluable. This book has never been out of print, so it has to be able to convey something important.
A definite must for any studious practitioner of sleight of hand, prestidigitation and legerdemain.
A definite must for any studious practitioner of sleight of hand, prestidigitation and legerdemain.
September 17, 2017
Moved this book to the "read" category because it is more of a reference book than a book to read from front to back. Many of the skills described take a lot of practice, and the instructions on how to acquire these skills are inadequate. However, the book contains many interesting observations about poker and poker players.
August 21, 2015
I have been fascinated by and watching a lot of magic lately (mainly Penn & Teller) I decided to try to understand a bit better how card tricks are done. This is a brief book (~130 pages), but is an excellent book for learning how to manipulate cards.
May 11, 2020
A must read for magicians and card sharks alike. Everything is the same as the original just with larger and clearer illustrations of the classic S.W. Erdnase Classic we all know and love. So a must have for all fans of the original.
June 18, 2011
The mystique surrounding this book is phenomenal, and it contains so much that you learn more with every reading.
April 22, 2012
Explains some card tricks that could be easily executed and will easily impress. Also reveals a lot about how magic and the psychology of magic work.
January 28, 2013
Absolutely outstanding work. Anyone who is interested in doing card magic has to be familiar with this book.
May 22, 2015
Such a great book! Not easy to follow all the time... but that's the fun of it, right? **Magicians only
January 10, 2015
i want to read
Read
December 10, 2015Bought this from catalog house Douglas Magicland around 1968.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews