Stripper decks: narrowed cards

A stripper deck, also called a tapered, wizard or biseauté deck, is a deck in which every card is a hair narrower at one end than the other. Turn one card end for end and its wide end sticks out from the narrow ends of the rest, so you can feel it, cut to it or pull it out, even after a shuffle. It began as a cheat’s tool at the card table and has been a magician’s standby since at least the 1800s.

Why does the stripper deck matter?

In our guide to trick decks and which to buy first, the tapered deck sits next to the Svengali as a deck that supports lots of tricks. If you’ve read our post on Svengali decks, this is its quieter cousin. A Svengali can’t be handled by the audience; a stripper deck can stand up to casual handling and shuffling by spectators, which opens up a different kind of trick.

It also has a real history. Long before magicians used it to find a chosen card, card cheats used it to win money, and the old books that exposed them are some of the best reading on the subject.

What is a stripper deck?

Every card in the deck is trimmed so it tapers very slightly from one end to the other. Professor Hoffmann, in Modern Magic (1876), describes the cards as “a shade wider (say the thickness of a shilling) at one end than the other”. When all the cards point the same way, the deck looks and feels completely normal.

The names come from different places. Biseauté is the French term Hoffmann used. “Stripper” comes from the gambling table: John Nevil Maskelyne explains in Sharps and Flats (1894) that the name came from “stripping”, drawing certain cards out of the pack. There are two styles. Side strippers taper along the long edges. End strippers, Maskelyne notes, are trimmed at the ends instead.

The cheating history is well documented. Robert-Houdin, in Card-Sharpers (1863), describes a cheat cutting each side with scissors, starting at about one-eighth of an inch and tapering to nothing at the other end, and calls cut cards one of the principal tricks of the previous century. By 1894 Maskelyne thought tapered cards too well known for serious cheats, and in 1902 S. W. Erdnase still noted, in The Expert at the Card Table, that strippers “are much used by certain players.”

How does it work?

This is the widely published principle of the whole category. If every card points the same way, nothing sticks out. Reverse one card, end for end, and its wide end now sits among the narrow ends of the others, so it projects a tiny amount. Your fingers can find it, cut to it, or strip it out of the pack.

Hoffmann gives the classic handling: offer the pack for a card to be drawn, turn the pack round before the card comes back, and the chosen card is now the odd one out however much the pack is shuffled. He also describes setting the red cards one way and the black cards the other, then gripping the ends and drawing the hands apart to separate the colours in one stroke.

When would you use one?

• Finding a chosen card. A card is selected, returned and shuffled in, and you still produce it.
• Bringing a card to the top. The spectator’s card is cut or shuffled into the deck, then appears on top.
• Producing the four aces. Set the aces the other way and they can be pulled out at will.
• Separating colours. Reds one way, blacks the other, and the deck splits into two piles.
• Restoring order. August Roterberg, in New Era Card Tricks (1897), turns half the pack round before a riffle shuffle so the halves can be pulled apart again afterwards.

Because the deck can be shuffled by spectators, it suits tricks where you want them to feel the cards were truly mixed.

How do you learn it?

Start by feeling the taper. With the deck squared, reverse one card and run your fingertips along the sides until you can find it without looking. Then practise the strip: hold the deck by its ends and draw the reversed cards out in one easy motion, without looking down at your hands.

Next, practise turning the deck round naturally while a card is out, so the reversal doesn’t look like a move. Hoffmann was honest about the trade-off: the tapered pack needs no knowledge of forcing, but “it is treacherous.” Cards can drift into the wrong orientation as you handle the deck, so check and reset it before every performance. Learning the basic grips in our card magic basics guide will make all of this feel more natural.

Which products help?

• Stripper Deck Bicycle: a stripper deck in Bicycle cards with thorough, illustrated instructions by Daryl. The listed effects include control over selected cards shuffled into the deck, making them appear on top and producing the four aces.
• Stripper Deck (Gimmicks and Instructions) from Apprentice Magic: comes with online video instructions, performance tips and a story to tell, and teaches the chosen card that returns to the top even after spectators shuffle and cut.
• Sharps and Flats: Maskelyne’s 1894 exposé of the card sharp, free to download. Its chapter on prepared cards covers wedges, strippers and the tools cheats used to cut them.

What are the common mistakes?

• Losing track of orientation. If the deck isn’t all one way before you start, the wrong cards will strip out. Reset it every time.
• Stripping with a big gesture. Pull the cards out as part of a casual shuffle, not as a separate move.
• Letting someone turn the pack. Spectators can shuffle it, but a careless end-for-end turn by them can scramble your setup.
• Assuming it’s a secret. Tapered decks turn up in many beginner magic kits, so some people know the principle. Even in 1894, Maskelyne wrote that a beginner asked to examine a pack would cut it and turn the halves round to check for wedges.
• Repeating the same trick. Vary the effect so nobody starts watching your hands.

Frequently asked questions