How to do a one-handed cut

The simplest one-handed cut is the Charlier cut. Hold the deck in one hand, let the bottom half drop into your palm, push it up with your forefinger until it clears the top half, then let the top half fall and close the packets together. It needs nothing but practice. If your hands are small, try smaller bridge-size cards.

What is a one-handed cut?

A one-handed cut swaps the top and bottom halves of the deck using one hand only. wikiHow’s guide calls the Charlier cut “the simplest one-handed cut,” and Wikipedia’s cardistry article calls it “the classic one-handed cut.” Wikipedia names it, with the riffle shuffle and the thumb fan, among the simple flourishes magicians performed to show their sleight of hand.

It is a real cut, so the order of the deck changes just as it would with an ordinary two-handed cut. That makes it a nice way to cut the cards during a trick while keeping your other hand free.

How do you hold the deck?

Guides describe the grip in slightly different ways, but they agree on the basics:

• The deck rests on your finger pads. wikiHow says the cards rest “against your finger pads, not gripped in the very tips.”
• Thumb on one long side, fingers on the other. wikiHow starts from dealer’s grip, with the length of your thumb along one long side and your fingers along the other. Brit + Co’s guide angles the deck slightly towards your palm.
• Forefinger and little finger do the balancing. Rebel Magic’s guide says the pressure should be “concentrated on the index finger and the pinky finger,” with the middle and ring fingers “there for support.”

If you’re left-handed, simply swap hands.

How do you do the Charlier cut?

1. Drop the bottom half. Ease the pressure from your thumb slightly, and the lower half of the deck falls into your palm. Brit + Co puts it simply: “Allow the bottom half of the deck to fall onto your palm.” The top half stays pinched between your thumb and fingers.
2. Push it up with your forefinger. Curl your forefinger under the far long edge of the lower half and push it up. Brit + Co: “Push the cards on your palm up with your index finger.”
3. Let the top half go. As the lower half rises past the edge of the upper half, release the upper half from your thumb. Brit + Co says: “Once the lower half is supporting the upper half. Let go with your thumb.”
4. Finish the swap. Keep pushing until the edge of the old lower half passes the edge of the old upper half. The old top half drops into your palm, and the old bottom half falls on top of it. wikiHow: “Let the bottom cards slide on top of the top cards.”
5. Square up. Close your hand and square the deck. The cut is done.

Rebel Magic’s guide describes the same moves in slightly different words, and Wikipedia’s version uses the ring finger to push the packet through. Try each and keep the one that suits your hand.

What if it keeps going wrong?

• The cards spill out of your palm. Brit + Co warns that “if your hand isn’t level the cards can fall off your palm.” Keep your hand flat and level.
• The halves won’t separate cleanly. wikiHow suggests releasing “a little pressure from your pinkie and index finger.”
• Your hands feel too small. wikiHow says that if your hands are too small, you can move your thumb off the cards partway through, or “try buying bridge cards, which are slightly smaller than poker cards.”
• You keep dropping the deck. Practise over a table so a slip costs you nothing. Brit + Co advises practising over a tabletop for its second method.

The good news is that it needs repetition more than talent. Brit + Co suggests: “Practice for a while as you watch tv and you’ll have them down in no time.” For more on building a habit, see our guide on how to practise magic.

Where does the name come from?

The cut takes its name from Charlier, the name Conjuring Archive, an online index of magic literature, gives as the credit in many book entries for it, including Jean Hugard and Fred Braue’s Expert Card Technique (1940) and their The Royal Road to Card Magic (1948). Based on our research, the earliest entry we’ve found in that index is Eric F. Impey’s Try This One, 1931, listed with a “center reversal during charlier cut.” We haven’t found a source that tells us more about Charlier himself, so we won’t guess.

What should you learn next?

Once the Charlier cut is smooth, pair it with other flourishes. Learn how to fan a deck of cards and how to do a table spread, and you’ll have a short sequence that shows you’re comfortable with a deck before the first trick.

What helps you take it further?

• Royal Road To Card Magic with R. Paul Wilson. A download course built on Hugard and Braue’s book. Its contents list a Charlier Cut lesson in Volume 4, along with flourishes such as the spread and turnover, springing the cards and one-hand fans in Volume 1.
• Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue. A 448-page softbound, illustrated book that teaches basic manipulations and more advanced flourishes before moving on to tricks, including one-handed tricks.

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