The Perfect Bottom Deal

People are constantly asking me about my bottom deal and where I learned it. So for this blog, I’d like to share my resources and give a few tips on the process of learning the perfect bottom. First let’s have a look at it:

Let’s talk about a few factors when learning the bottom. There is no one magical resource. My bottom deal is made up of mainly ideas from Erdnase. But every book I’ve read and every DVD or YouTube link I’ve ever seen related to a bottom deal has probably added something to my mine. The major influences specifically come from various Marlo books, Card College, the Fred Robinson book, the Gene Maze book, and Darwin Ortiz’s Annotated Erdnase. I’ve taken bits and pieces from watching Forte and random clips of people demonstrating it on YouTube. What works for one person may not work for another. We all learn differently and at different rates. So, there’s not one specific source that will help you. So, research everything you can find on the topic and find out what works for you. Let’s look at some other things that you’ll need to consider.

Hand size. I have small hands. I mean, not like Donald Trump small. But they’re still relatively small. This means that when I’m looking at the deck in someone else’s hands, the deck is often in a completely different position. If this applies to you, you’ll have to solve these issues yourself with trail and error. You’ll need to reengineer the grip in someway. Everyone’s hands are different. Which means everyone’s bottom deal will be different. Think about a golf swing. The fundamentals are always the same, but no two swings are identical.

Lower your expectations. My bottom deal took at least 3-4 years before I could use it in front of an audience confidently. When you start to learn the deal, be aware that this is a process. Just put your 20 minutes in daily and know that someday you’ll be good. If you want to learn the perfect bottom deal in a month, you need to know that that’s not going to happen. Think about going to the gym and eating clean. That’s the correct thing to do, but it’s still going to take time. So many people quit because they don’t see results fast enough.

Knowing a good bottom from a bad bottom. A good bottom deal is one that can be done slowly and with people staring right at the deck. A good bottom actually looks like you’re taking the top card. Don’t waste your time learning a bottom that has to be done quickly to hide the false deal.

I’ve heard magicians say that all bottom deals sound louder than tops that you’ll always have a knuckle flash. False. With practice, you can completely remove any knuckle flash and they can be 100% completely silent. Again, when studying all your resources, be sure that the author isn’t saying things like, “deal quickly to avoid a flash” or “deal your tops super loud to cover up the sound of the bottom.”

Deck choice. When you feel you’re ready to demonstrate a bottom deal, at least give yourself one more line of defense and use a borderless deck like a Bee deck. Once you get the technique down and the confidence up, you can move on to white borders.

Find as many resources you can on a bottom deal and begin to craft your own version. That’s exactly what I did. My goal in this blog is to show you that there’s no one resource. I have about twenty students right now currently working on the bottom deal and I constantly find myself changing and alter what works for me so it’ll work for them. Send me an email if you’re interested in learning the perfect bottom deal.