Book Review (in English) of "Secrets of the Hindu Shuffle by Lance Caffrey"

The book “Secrets of the Hindu Shuffle”, which has been released for pre-order in October 2013, is now available to the public. By representing the missing piece that fill out the mystery gap between the Eastern and Western hustling history, what makes it so admirable for everyone to pay attention? Is it seriously a tool that can expand your own library, or is it only a hypo? Today, I am going to provide an –in-depth review of this publication.

 

Book Design

The book is made in hardcover, therefore there is a guarantee of maintaining the book’s quality. The design of the book’s cover really contains the mysterious style, and the golden words really show up for this limited publication.

The book is actually easy to be carried around and it is not heavy at all. The height of the book is 21.7cm (around 8.54 inches); the width is 15.5cm (around 6.1 inches); the thickness is 1.3 cm (around 0.51 inches). Comparing with the popular items like iPad mini, iPad and iPad 2, it is smaller than iPad and iPad 2 while it is a little bit thicker than iPad and larger than iPad mini. Based on the facts, it is definitely not a problem whenever you want to carry it with you.

Index and Content 

There are 108 pages, and all of the significant pictures are in full colour; since it is the first book in his life, Lance does consider carefully supervising the whole process of printing the book. Among the 108 pages, there are actually 4 blank pages; they are great areas for readers to make their notes without having a separate notebook (location: pg 33, 51, 63, 101). Although I believe that it is better for Lance to input some photos of himself practicing the hindu shuffles/stacking in these pages, providing some places do give some advantages for those people who really study this book seriously by making their own notes.

If you pay attention of the pictures in the book, it is not difficult to observe how these pictures are tend to be favor in Eastern Culture.

Since it is a limited production, readers are able to find what # their copies are around the index page; I am lucky enough to get #250/250 while I was making my order through Lance. The reason why I choose the #250/250 because I am a big fan of Pokemon, and I am in love with complete set of numbers (if you love Pokemon, you should feel me for real)

One of the most significant facts of this book is that the forward is written by Steve Forte, who is the best and the most knowledgeable hustler and gambling protection expert in the world. For those of you who study cards seriously, either in hustling or in card magic, nobody will not unfamiliar with Steve’s fame; no matter how well “someone” is being package as an gambling expert, none of them can compare with Steve. In the forward, Steve did actually mention that Lance is now one of the rising Asian Hustling Expert; if Steve says so, then there is no doubt of Lance’s knowledge and skills.

The book is mainly divided into 11 parts:

• History
• The grip
• The shuffle
• Practice drills and common problems
• Peeks and Flashes
• Breaks and Jogs
• Controls
• False Shuffle
• Stacking
• Culling
• Palming

History: Total 1 page, the content is simple yet hit the main points; it includes some reference to help people for further studies. This part contains how asian community made up the names of hindu shuffle in the past, and this is actually good for beginners to improve their knowledge.

The grip: Total 10 pages, this section provide 5 different ways to start the hindu shuffle; I personally find that some of them I never saw or heard before. The last page even provides how the receiving hand should position itself.

The shuffle: Total 5 pages, this part includes some of the most common ways to shuffle. Furthermore, I find that it includes some philosophy and psychology that you need to actually involve in the real games to earn these theories. Personally, I believe these pages are good enough for the price of the book. (If I were the author, I would just take away this part and sell it separately in my future lectures/workshops)

Practice drills and common problems: Total 4 pages, the drills have 3 different sets for readers to practice at home. There are 3 common problems listed here, and Lance has provided the solutions for each of them. Very practical.

Peeks and Flashes: Total 9 pages, and there are 5 types; if you do practice correctly, people should not notice your peeks at all.

Breaks and Jobs: Total 9 pages, and there are 6 types; this section seriously needs to practice in order to develop the flow and smoothness.

Controls: Total 4 pages, and it divides into 2 big sections; this is one of the most important part of the book.

False shuffle: Total 6 pages, including 4 ways to achieve. Practical materials for card magic and hustling.

Stacking: Total 16 pages, and there are 9 ways to do the stacking. The “core” of the whole book.

Culling: Total 1 page, and this is not provided by any hustler at all.

Palming: Total 2 pages, and there are 4 methods. Both magicians and cardicians should love this part very much.

Areas to improve

• -          Due to the structure of how the book is designed, it cannot 100% maintain flat on table to read UNLESS you put some stuff on it (e.g. lots of decks)
• -          Too much empty space, Lance should input more pictures to make the book looks more interesting.

Conclusion

Like what Mr. Steve Forte wrote in the forward, this book is seriously “an important and long-overdue contribution to the body of knowledge we call [[gambling sleight of hand]]”. Making a limited production of this book is a smart decision, and the reason why I say this is because there are too many published materials that are not “practical” at all; among the 108 pages, I can totally feel how much efforts Lance has input into this book. Up upon this moment, I cannot wait for the next publication from Lance.

For those of you who still have not purchased your copy, I hope that my review will be able to help you understand this book a little bit more. I wish to share all I have learned from the book, however this will not fair to those people who have purchased this book as well.