Is a buffed deck gaffed?

[DavidL11229]

If I buff my decks does that mean it's a gaffed deck? If it means I can do things better than with an unbuffed, therefore 'regular', deck?

Maybe since I'm just improving it's standard characteristics and not adding new ones it's not gaffed.

I've come to like smooth decks, but I'm currently in a gaffless phase.

 

[RealityOne]

I define a gaff as a secret feature that causes a magic effect. I really don't know what a buffed deck is, but it seems to imply doing something to make the cards slide easier. I'm not sure how that works to cause a magic effect. Rather, it seems that it just makes the handling easier.

As for begin "gaffless", just remember that the spectator doesn't know the method so a gaff is just as convincing (if no more so) than sleight of hand.

 

[DavidL11229]

A buffed deck is simply when you take a nail buffer with 4 levels of 'grit' and smooth off and polish the sides of the deck. Some decks need it more than others. It is said they last longer and they certainly feel better. It can also improve how well they will do a faro, which I suppose is as close as it comes to being a gaff. As for gaffs, I am not opposed to them, I'm just trying to see what I can do unaided for the moment. This led to what is largely a philosophical question, but one on which I would like opinions.

 

[Josh Burch]

I put "work" into most decks I perform with. I crimp certain cards, and mark others. I wouldn't call any of these decks "gaffed" or "trick decks".

I'd examine why you aren't using gaffed cards and it should sort itself out. Do you want someone to be able to hand you any random deck and perform great magic with it?

Do you want them to hand you any bicycle deck and be able to perform good magic with it?

Do you want to perform the majority of your magic with just one deck that can be handled by the spectator?

The question isn't "What is a gaffed deck?" it is "What type of cards do I want to perform my magic with?"

 

[DavidL11229]

While generally you just perform an effect and let it speak for itself, things are different when performing for knowledgeable card workers. Many of my friends are poker dealers and also rather knowledgeable about card handling (yes, I know many many dealers know very little about card handling, but of course some do). I was simply pondering what would be the answer if I was asked by them if it was 'regular' or 'gaffed' or 'trick deck'. I was planning on saying of course it's a regulation deck, but then I started wondering. This is not an area I would go into with lay spectators, but again these are friends who are skilled with cards and at least somewhat familiar with card sleights. Which I guess is the answer to why I'm working on non-gaffed things. I don't have much interest is simply fooling these particular people with a gimmick. In this narrowly defined situation I want to demonstrate the kinds of things I can do with a deck of cards, though not necessarily reveal the method. And then see what they have to show me. Not quite magic for magicians, but somewhere in between that and regular situations.

This is how I arrived at the question, but I agree it's not really a practical question that one really needs an answer to. I just get to thinking sometimes....

 

[JasonEngland]

No.

Buffing a deck doesn't allow you to do anything with the cards that can't be done without buffing. The process might aid in some moves and sleights (like the faro), but it doesn't accomplish them for you.

The way I typically think of the gaff/no gaff question is like this: could you still play a normal game of cards (poker, blackjack, gin rummy, etc) with them without anyone being able to gain an unfair advantage?

Jason

 

[DavidL11229]

No.

Buffing a deck doesn't allow you to do anything with the cards that can't be done without buffing. The process might aid in some moves and sleights (like the faro), but it doesn't accomplish them for you.

The way I typically think of the gaff/no gaff question is like this: could you still play a normal game of cards (poker, blackjack, gin rummy, etc) with them without anyone being able to gain an unfair advantage?

Jason

Thanks for your reply. It makes sense. I think of a crimp as a gaff and that would fit what you say. By the way, loved your video on the tabled faro. That is really what started this. I can do things with a buffed deck I could generally never do with an unbuffed one (47 ins in a row! sort of, was allowing myself to fix cuts). I was using the same criteria you give when considering the question and in an extreme case, if a buffed deck allowed one to do tabled faros while acting as dealer in a poker game there would be an unfair advantage. I had never thought of buffing as a gaff, but came upon this one extreme case and thought it would be interesting to get opinions.

Still, the benefits of buffing are indirect and the benefits of a crimp are direct and this should play a large part in the assessment. I have no intention of trying to pull off tabled faros in a poker game and if I pull off a bunch of in a row for my friends, they would probably agree the deck was ungaffed. I just thought it made for an interesting theoretical question.

 

[JasonEngland]

If something that made a move easier was considered a gaff, then a new deck would be "gaffed" because it made second deals smoother and easier than an old deck. This is clearly a ridiculous proposition - so merely buffing a deck doesn't make it gaffed.

There is something crooked going on when you table faro a deck to control cards - it's the tabled faro itself! Shuffles are supposed to be non-deterministic. Faro "shuffles" aren't really shuffles - the cards aren't moving to random positions; they're moving to mathematically pre-determined positions.

So while there is something fishy about faro shuffling - it isn't the tiny bit of deck preparation that made the move a bit easier - it's the move!

Jason

 

[DavidL11229]

Thanks, I will continue to buff my decks and consider myself gaffless guilt free. And then get some gaffed cards to play with too. Sometimes I overthink these things....

Dave

 

[ScottH5]

A buffed deck is not a gaffed deck. And you can buff a deck without using a nail buffer with "four levels of grit". Youell advises buffing a deck with a nail buffer with four levels of grit, but let's not pretend that that's the only way to buff a deck. (Only three levels of grit? So not buffed? That's absurd.) A crimped card is not gaffed either, though Jason's initial suggestion of how to think of a gaffed deck would tend to suggest that it is.

It is tempting to try to define a gaffed deck as one with work what can't be put in on the fly. But that won't work, since complicated work can be put in on the fly (with special devices). Perhaps we can do a bit better by saying that the deck is gaffed iff the work can't be put in on the fly without using something other than one's fingers/hands. This seems to me to approach a pretty solid definition of a gaffed deck, though some counterexamples will still exist.

 

[JasonEngland]

I absolutely think a crimped card is a gaff. It fundamentally alters the way that card (and therefore the rest of the deck) works. It allows for things that you can't do without the gaff (or without replacing it with something else).

Gaffs can be simple (like a crimp), they can be complex (like a Rough/Smooth Svengali deck) or they can be somewhere in-between those two extremes (like a simple wedge Stripper deck). But they ALL allow for things that non-gaffed (read: normal) cards cannot do.

Jason

 

[ScottH5]

This is starting to get interesting. Thanks for your response, Jason! I'll have to think more about this before I respond again. I like some of the points you're making, though I'm still not on board with all of them.

 

[mclintock]

This is starting to get interesting. Thanks for your response, Jason! I'll have to think more about this before I respond again. I like some of the points you're making, though I'm still not on board with all of them.

Yeah, Jason England tells you something it is for sure something to consider.