How to do the glide

The glide lets you show the bottom card of the deck, then apparently pull that same card out while you really take the one above it. Your fingertips secretly slide the bottom card back a little so the next card is exposed. The basic action is simple to learn, and it has been printed in conjuring books for centuries.

What does the glide actually do?

The glide is a card exchange. You show the audience the bottom card of the deck, turn the deck face down, and deal that card onto the table. Except you don’t. The card on the table is the one that was second from the bottom, and the card they saw is still on the bottom of the deck.

That small lie is surprisingly useful. It lets a card “change” on the table, lets a chosen card turn up at any number, and lets you put down cards the audience thinks they know. Erdnase sums it up in The Expert at the Card Table (1902) as “a form of exchange that may be occasionally employed.”

What else is the glide called?

Old books describe the same move under several names, which is handy to know when you go looking for it:

Book	Name used
Professor Hoffmann, Modern Magic (1876)	To draw back a card
S. W. Erdnase, The Expert at the Card Table (1902)	The slide
T. Nelson Downs, The Art of Magic (1909)	The “slide” or “glide”

The idea is far older than any of these. Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) already uses it, in a trick where four aces are laid on the table and turn out to be four knaves. It was known to card cheats even earlier.

How do you do the glide?

Here is the standard beginner outline, as Hoffmann and Erdnase teach it. Their details differ a little, so we’ve kept to what they share.

1. The grip. Hold the deck in your left hand with the backs toward your palm, thumb on one long side and fingers on the other, about the middle. Your third finger (Erdnase uses the tips of the third and little fingers) rests lightly on the face of the bottom card.
2. Show the bottom card. Tilt the deck up so the audience sees its face. Name the card if you like.
3. Turn the deck face down. Hoffmann stresses this point: turn the deck down before you move the card, never while they can see the face.
4. Draw the bottom card back. Your fingertips pull the bottom card toward your wrist. Hoffmann says about an inch, Erdnase half an inch or so. This exposes the front end of the card above it.
5. Take the next card. Your right fingers come underneath and draw out the exposed card from the front end. To the audience, you’ve simply taken off the card they just saw.

Hoffmann’s verdict on all this: “This is the whole mechanism of the operation.” He also tells you to moisten the third finger first. Erdnase’s version says nothing about that, and a clean, fresh deck usually gives enough grip without it.

One thing the outline leaves out: the glided card is now sticking back from the rest of the deck. Before anyone handles the deck, push it flush again, or shuffle it away as Hoffmann does in his tricks.

How should you practise the glide?

The basic action is not hard. Making it look exactly like taking the bottom card fairly takes longer. A sensible order:

1. Do it honestly first. Show the bottom card, turn the deck down and really take it, many times. That relaxed motion is what your glide has to copy.
2. Glide slowly while looking. Watch the bottom card slide back and check that only one card moves.
3. Glide without looking. Feel the movement in your fingertips, not your eyes.
4. Match the timing. Alternate honest takes and glides until they look and sound the same.
5. Film yourself from the front. Your phone shows the angles your own eyes forgive.
6. Add a trick. Once it is smooth, learn one of the classics below.

Which classic tricks use the glide?

The card at any number. In Modern Magic, Hoffmann gets a chosen card to second from the bottom, then asks the audience to name a number. He deals cards off the bottom one at a time, counting aloud, but glides the chosen card back each time and takes the one above it instead. At the right moment he stops gliding, so the chosen card arrives exactly at the named number. Getting the card into position is a job for a card control.

Aces into knaves. Scot’s version has aces and knaves set alternately at the bottom of the deck. Each time, you show an ace on the bottom and lay it on the table, but the glide means a knave goes down instead. After four, the audience believes four aces lie on the table. Then they turn out to be four knaves. Hoffmann describes a later version of the same principle, with queens instead of knaves.

Which products help you learn the glide?

• Monarch Playing Cards by theory11. A regular deck made in the USA on FSC-certified paper, printed on Q1 quality stock with theory11’s Premium 909 Finish. Any deck you can show clearly will do for the glide.
• Modern Magic by Professor Hoffmann (free ebook). His 1876 book, covering cards, coins, watches and much more step by step, includes “To Draw Back a Card” and the tricks above.
• The Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase (free ebook). Shifts, blind shuffles, palms and bottom deals, then the conjuring tricks built on them, including his version of the slide.

Want the 1584 original? The Discoverie of Witchcraft is free too, with its conjuring tricks in Book XIII. More moves like this live in our sleight-based magic collection.

What are the common glide mistakes?

• Gliding while the face is visible. If they can see the bottom card move, the trick is over. Turn the deck down first.
• Moving more than one card. Too much pressure drags several cards back. Use a light touch on the bottom card only.
• A different take. If your glided take is slower or stiffer than an honest one, people sense it.
• Forgetting the glided card. A card sticking out of the back of the deck gives everything away. Square it before the deck changes hands.
• Staring at the deck. Look at your audience while your fingers do the work.

Frequently asked questions