I switched back to raw cards and my happiness increased 1000%

[Volod]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

My best advice here would be don't overthink it. I once at least halved the value of an EX '56 Clemente because I cracked the SGC slab with a tool instead of just prying it apart at the sides - which they will do easily. Just put a flathead screwdriver in the seal, pop it and work your way around - and some SGC slabs get to the point where you can just pull them apart with your hands.

PSA for me works best by taking a pair of pliers and snipping off one corner, then working from that around the edges with a flathead to break the seal. I have not tried this yet on some of the newer "L1" or whatever PSA slabs - where the plastic is supposedly a lot more dense / pliable and less prone to brittle cracking - but I supposed it's still possible.

Right, that is the method I used a few years ago after reading about it here. I carefully placed the pliers on one corner of the slab and pressed, but quickly realized that the plastic just was not giving. Don't recall what brand of slab it was, though. I dug out a larger pair of pliers and really bore down on the corner until it finally broke, but at that point a large jagged crack had run across the slab and dug into the face of the card. I was then pretty exasperated and thought I had been misled about the "simplicity" of the whole thing.