Secret Palm by PigCake

Effect

The Secret Palm is a card palm technique that allows a magician to secretly retain a selected card in their hand while appearing to simply square up the deck. The move is derived from the spread pass, making it look like a natural card-handling action. To the audience, it appears as if the magician is merely adjusting the spread of cards, but in reality, they are cleanly palming the chosen card away.

Full Details

The Secret Palm builds upon the mechanics of the spread pass, using a pinky break to isolate the selected card. Key steps include:

• Creating a pinky break below the chosen card while squaring the deck.
• Using the thumb crotch to guide the cards as the left forefinger subtly maneuvers the pile toward the right hand.
• The right hand comes in flat, squeezing the card into a palm position with the help of the pinky levering action.
• The magician can then either continue spreading the cards or immediately drop the hand to conceal the palmed card.

PigCake notes that the move originated as an accidental discovery—a single-card variation of the spread pass—before being refined into a full palm technique.

Who Should Consider the Trick

This technique is best suited for intermediate to advanced card magicians who are already comfortable with fundamental sleights like the spread pass. Those who enjoy refining subtle hand movements and integrating deceptive palms into their routines will find this method particularly useful. PigCake recommends learning the foundational spread pass first, which he teaches in his PigCake Card Academy.

Information on How Difficult It Is to Perform

The Secret Palm involves multiple coordinated hand movements, making it a moderately difficult technique. The key challenges include:

• Maintaining a natural-looking spread pass motion while executing the palm.
• Properly timing the pinky break and thumb crotch adjustments.
• Ensuring the palm remains undetectable when bringing the hand down.

PigCake demonstrates the move at varying speeds, emphasizing that practice is necessary to perform it smoothly and consistently.

What Magicians Say

PigCake describes the Secret Palm as a "potentially enjoyable addition to a magician's repertoire," despite its unconventional origins. He highlights its deceptive nature, stating that the seamless integration of the spread pass action and the palm makes it highly effective.

In his tutorial, PigCake humorously acknowledges the complexity of the move, saying, "There are a lot of moving parts to this particular move... but hopefully in this tutorial, I'll show you exactly how you could perform it each and every single time consistently."

He also encourages experimentation with follow-through actions, suggesting that magicians can adapt the move to suit their performance style.

Overall, the Secret Palm is presented as a clever and deceptive palm technique for magicians looking to expand their card-handling skills.