Amongst the card sleights are the glide, double lift, forcing and palming cards but the one I think is one underestimated most in its value is that of “peeking”.

Developing the ability to sneak a peek at a card or cards whilst performing a card trick is quite an art and Here is a page that explains some of what is involved:
http://www.card-trick.com/sleights/peeking.htm

In the last card trick blog post I talked about the interesting history of card tricks and card games.  Well today, history remains the theme.

Playing cards as such are thought to have been brought to Europe from the Orient by Arab travellers around 700 years ago with the art of the card cheat using sleight of hand skills first recorded in 1408 in Paris. It’s not known of course which sleight of hand tricks this medieval card cheat actually used … but it could have been the card sleight ‘the Glide‘ or perhaps a few false shuffles were involved. He might have even been involved in a shady card game with a few drunken knights in a medieval castle - who knows!

To put this medieval card sharp’s life into focus, it is interesting to see what else was happening in the world at the time. Follow the link to read about notable events in 1408. From the Battle of Bramham Moor (in Northumberland) to the Battle of Othee (in Belgium), once you have read about these events it puts the medieval era and the time in which our medieval card cheat lived into real perspective.