The Elmsley Count/Elmsley Pass

This is a sleight-of-hand manuever that can be done ambidexterously. It is not as hard as a 'parallel pull', but it takes much more grace and skill than a Hindu Shuffle, if that puts this sleights difficulty into perspective.

Try doing this sleight by using the fingers of the same hand you're holding the card with. This puts more ambiguity on your actions, and the audience is less likely to think that you're doing anything because a) the audience thinks "what can you possibly do with one hand?" (alot, actually!) and b) you can be animated and distract people with the other hand. But that's extremely hard to do. But it's possible.

Take four cards from a deck and put them in your left hand. The cards will be all facing down, except for the card second to the bottom (the one right before the bottom card), which is face up. However, you want to give the illusion that all the cards are face down.

	Hold the stack of four cards in a way that four of your fingers are on the bottom card, while your thumb is sitting on top of the stack.
Using your right hand, bring in your index and middle fingers below and your thumb above the top card (in your left hand), and slide it over into your right hand. Place your right hand's fingers on the top right corner of the card when taking it.
Next. you want to take the second card and get it to the other hand. You're going to want to put it above the first card. The trick is to use your thumb to push the face down and face up cards (which are the next two on the pile) into your right hand. Simultaniously, the first card moved gets pushed underneath the face down card still in your left hand. Again, the first card moved is going BACK under the last card in your left hand.
	Now, you have two face down cards in your left hand and one face up and one face down in your right hand. Put the top card in your left hand on top of the two in your right. Now, put the last remaining card in your left hand and the pile in the right hand. You have the face up card on the bottom, and the original top card is still on top.

Remember, the key to perfection is practice. At first it's very hard to keep the two cards together, but eventually you'll figure out your own personal way to grip the cards and push them over. This sleight, as you will see, is the basis for several advanced card tricks.

This can be done with more than just four cards, however, the more cards in your hands, the harder it becomes. If you keep the face up card third from the bottom, the trick remains the same, no matter how many cards you have. The only thing that is different is that you have to count more legitimate cards after the sleight has been done. If you choose to rearrange where you put the face up card, you must remember, that the further down in the deck it is, the more cards you have to push off into your right hand when counting. The greater number of cards that you are pushing might make is harder to perform is flawlessly, without losing control.

Alternate Description

This is an extremely brief description. There are many starting positions for this sleight; Dia Vernon used it as a display from the fingertips. I use it more as a count so I prefer the mechanics grip because it looks the more natural. Hold the cards in mechanics grip. With the right hand grasp the cards in the center of the right hand edge. Pull off the first card with the left hand as you separate your hands. While your hands are separating the right hand pushes off two cards the left. As you bring your hands together to take the second card, take the double and at the same time you take the double steal back the original first card in your left hand to the bottom of the cards in your right hand. So as you count two, you actually have two cards in each hand. Then pull off the third card then the forth. This sleight should look exactly the same if you perform the sleight of if you count the cards straight in the same manner. It's one that does take a little practice, but it w! ill be one of the most valuable sleights in your arsenal. So learn it well