Aaron Shields - Dribble Block Pass

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In the time since its original publication, the pass contained in these pages has gained the praise of some of the best card workers in the world.

The Dribble Block Pass was the first move that started me experimenting with what I have termed "automatic thinking." This type of thinking has taken two forms. First, making a difficult move happen by virtue of the outward action (ie, the outward action causes the move to occur, rather than just covering it). Second, devising ways to think about complicated sleights that reconfigure complex actions into one, simple action. I have gone on to apply this type of thinking to moves such as the Side Steal, the Top Palm, and, most recently, the Bottom Deal.

This type of thinking started with observing other people execute forms of the Dribble Pass. The majority of these versions attempt to blend two actions into one (ie, the dribbling of one packet and the maneuvering / passing of the other). Many practitioners of this move adhere to the old dictum that a larger action covers a smaller action, and incorporate a body swing, or some other comparable action. The truth is that the application of this idea usually results in the larger action betraying the fact that something else is happening .

If one were to look at the dribble pass, isolated from any body swings or similar maneuvers, the problem of the "missing frame" occurs. By "missing frame, I mean a break in the fluid image of dribbling the cards. It is comparable to taking footage from a movie and cutting out a few frames. There will be a skip that would not be present if the deck were to be dribbled without passing the top packet. This is a result of the fact that the top packet (ie, the packet being passed) is not dribbled with the bottom packet, but rather is pulled down, and then the other cards are dribbled on top. In addition to the above issue, if you are going to exert enough energy to dribble a deck of cards , it makes sense to use that energy to have the move occur, rather than just attempting to cover it.

It is with these ideas in mind that I created the Dribble Block Pass.

This pass automatically retains the bottom, few cards of the deck. As a result, the bottom card can be shown before and after the pass, enhancing the illusion that nothing has happened. Alternatively, You can retain a stock on the bottom of the deck , while controlling additional cards.