New to Svengali decks, and magic in general. I have a 4x4 Svengali deck (cut both long and short), and for some goofy reason at least half the time I wind up cutting to the "force" card. If I loosen up my fingertips just a touch *after* cutting, the "force" card falls. But obviously that's not something you can do during a trick.

And online, I'm seeing that you can let a *spectator* cut these decks. I can't imagine how I would trust a spectator to do this if *I* can't do it reliably.

Is there something I'm goofing up with the handling? Any tips/tricks? Any advice is appreciated.

Try lightly tapping the cards on one end prior to use. It helps them settle and makes the cuts ends a little more apparent.

You can do this casually just working the cards back and forth during your patter. Or, just have them tapped before the performance all together.

Not sure, maybe you just need a different Svengali deck. All Bicycle Svengali decks from magic webshops should work. My Svengali decks have all been treated on only one short side, so that's usually enough. Don't know how the additional treatment on the long sides will affect it. With my Svengali deck, I can have the spectator cut the deck on the short sides while I am holding the deck on the long sides so the spectator hast to cut on the short sides. This works 99 or 100% of the time. If it goes wrong, you can let the spectator cut again. The card decks from Martini Magic have a very good reputation, the Svengali deck costs 9 US dollars:

http://www.martinismagic.com/Products.html

Good luck! ;-)

Two great pieces of wisdom here. It’s definitely the case that not all Svengali decks are created equally. Tapping for alignment is definitely essential. I find that this looks perfectly ordinary as preparation for a riffle shuffle on the table. And a riffle seems to dispel suspicion. The fact that it works [i.e. maintains the pairing] still feels like magic to me.
I’ve found a few interesting decks at that ‘big online auction site’, including a guy in Scotland who makes his own from innocuous everyday cards [i.e. not bikes].
Good luck in your quest for a deck you have confidence in!

Webwalrus ...
with over 20 years experience of using this deck, I always start by holding the pack face UP; to show a different card every time I cut the deck.
I do this by "slightly" bending the whole deck backwards, then every time you cut, it will always show a different card and not the "force".

You are therefore establishing that "every card in the deck is different".

Now when you turn the deck face down ... the force is invisible ...

Hope this helps ...
WulfieSmith