2 of a Kind
Effect: The magician picks out two cards. He has a spectator cut the deck. He flips over the cards that he picked, and then he flips over two cards of the deck that was cut. The cards match.
Method: Shuffle the deck so the spectator doesn't think you've rigged it. Tell them you will pick two cards. Go through the deck making sure you look at the bottom and the top cards of the deck. Pick out a card that matches the bottom card. (If the bottom card is a Four of Hearts, you would pick out the Four of Diamonds to match it.) Then pick out a card that is the same as the top card. Ask the spectator to cut the deck. Take the first card, the one on top of the original top of the deck, and flip it over. Flip the bottom half of the deck over completely. Flip over the cards you picked. They all match!
4 Friendly Kings
Do the first 3 steps away from your audience or pre-prepared.
1: Take the four Kings out of the deck, and also two other cards.
2: Fan the four Kings out, and place the two other cards you selected behind the second King. Line them up so your audience cannot see the two other cards.
3: Show the Kings to the spectators.
4: Place the Kings (and the two secret cards) face down on the top of the deck.
5: Tell the audience that the four kings are good friends, and they don't let anything get between them.
6: Place the top King on the bottom of the deck. You may show the audience this card.
7: Place the next card (not a King) into the centre of the deck. 8: Repeat step 7.
9: Leave the fourth card on the top. You may show the audience that it is a King.
10: Explain that the Kings are real good friends and will soon be back together.
11: Cut the deck in the middle, and put the bottom half on the top.
12: Search the deck for the four Kings. They have been magically moved next to each other.
49er Fools Gold
Effect: Spectator selects a card from among 49 lying on the table, and the magician is able to find it, and even bet some fools gold on it.
Card Trick: No preparation necessary. From an ordinary deck of cards (without the jokers) have a spectator select any three cards. Throw these aside while explaining "Those three cards we aren't going to use." Then deal the remaining 49 cards face up in seven rows of seven cards. Overlap the cards in each column so that they're all visible and can be slid together without disarranging their order. Deal quickly so the audience knows you can't memorize them. Have the spectator mentally select one of the cards and show you the column it's in. Scoop up the column it up, taking care not to disturb the order of the cards. Then scoop up the other columns, keeping the mystery column in the middle of the group (column, column, column, mystery-card column, column, column, column). Again do this quickly so that there is no time for memorization. Deal the cards again in seven rows of seven cards and again ask which column the mystery card is in.
No matter which column is selected, you will know that the mystery card is the middle (4th) card in that column. You can glance at the middle card of the picked column as you scoop it up, again being careful not to disturb the order of the cards and picking up the mystery-card column so that it is the middle column.
Fools Gold ending: Start dealing the cards face up, scattering them on the table. The 25th card will be the mystery card, but continue past it for about four more cards. I make it look as though I've completely screwed up the trick. I then challenge the spectator: "I'll bet you 500 pounds of fools gold that the next card I turn over is the one you chose." Since the mystery card is already lying face up on the table, most people will jump at the bet and may even bet real money. Then reach into the mess on the table and turn the mystery card face down. A guaranteed jaw dropper.
Ending variations:
1: Just turn over 24 cards, then issue the fools gold challenge. The 25th card will be the mystery one.
2: After the second deal, the mystery column can be picked up first (mystery column, column, column, column, column, column, column), second or third. If the mystery column is first, count three cards off deck and the fourth card will be the mystery card. If it's second, show the 11th card; if it's third, show the ISth card.
3: After the second deal, pick up the mystery-card column first (so that it's is on top of the deck). Put the deck behind your back and take the first three cards off the top of the deck and place them on the bottom. Take the mystery card and flip it over, face up, and insert into middle of the deck. Then bring out the deck, place it on the table, and tap your finger on deck, saying, "Roll over, roll over, red-rover, roll over." Then pass the deck to the spectator and tell him (or her) that his card should be easy to find. The mystery-card has flipped over in the middle of the deck, to his astonishment.
A Poker Player's Picnic
You shuffle a deck of regular cards and hand them to the spectator. The spectator cuts the deck into 4 piles. He picks up the first pile and fools with the order of the cards, then repeats this action for the other 3 piles. When you turn over the top cards of each pile, the spectator sees that they are all aces.
First say this or something like it to the spectator: "You know that cheating at poker is really very easy, don't you? You look like a good poker player. I'm sure you are able to cheat pretty good, right? Well, let's see if we can uncover your hidden talent."
1: Before you begin, place all 4 aces on top of the deck.
2: Shuffle the deck a few times, using a fake overhand shuffle or any other fake shuffle that will protect the top 4 cards.
3: Give the cards to the spectator and have him cut the deck into 4 piles (one of which contains all 4 aces).
4: Label the 4 packets A, B, C, and D (D containing the 4 aces).
5: Tell the spectator to pick up packet A, take 3 cards from the top and place them on the bottom, then deal a card from the packet he is holding onto each of the other three packets (B, C, D).
6: Repeat step S for the other 3 packets.
7: Remark that you have in no way manipulated the cards and the spectator cut the deck himself into 4 piles.
8: Finally, turn over the top card of each pile and to his astonishment, each card is an ace.
Tell him that you knew he was a good poker cheater all along and leave him in awe
Ace Party
Effect: With the spectator's help, you make four piles of cards. When this is done you flip over all the piles and all four Aces are there.
Preparation: Arrange the deck like so: three Aces on the bottom and one on the top.
Presentation: Ask the spectator to tell you when to stop putting down cards. Begin dealing cards face down on the table. Continue until they have you stop. After the first pile is down, stick the card deck, still in your hand, under the table and put the bottom card on top. This gives you an Ace on the top. Repeat the above steps until you have four piles. Then flip over all the piles to show an Ace on the bottom of each!
After Drinks
EFFECT: The audience is given two random cards. They look at them, but the magician doesn't see them. The audience inserts the cards into the deck, and without shuffling; the magician throws the deck into a chair, but somehow manages to pick up the two cards, holding them up in front of the gaping audience members.
HOW IT'S DONE: This is a trick of the mind. You prepare the deck this way: pick two cards of different suits, but the same colour, such as the Eight of Spades, and the Three of Clubs. These are the cards you are going to give to the audience. Next, pick the "opposites" of the cards: the Eight of Clubs, and the Three of Spades. These are the cards you will fool your audience with. Put the opposite cards at the top and bottom of the deck - Eight of Clubs on top, Three of Spades on bottom. And the "real" cards both go on top.
Without too much explanation, deal the two top cards out, face down, and let the audience look at them. Next, let them insert the cards back into the deck.
Make sure they can see that you're not doing ANYTHING to the deck. Hold the deck between your thumb on top, and your fingers on the bottom. Swing the deck back and forth a few times (make SURE they can't see the bottom card, though!) Perhaps you count 1, 2, 3, and then throw the deck into a chair (or couch, or something, where it'll be easy to pick up.) As you throw the deck, hold onto the top and bottom card with your thumb and middle finger. IMMEDIATELY hold the cards up for all to see.
It helps if you position yourself so that the audience doesn't turn their heads around to watch where you threw the cards. You should be close to the chair you throw the deck into, so you can draw their attention back to the two cards you held onto.
They picked the Eight of Spades, Three of Clubs - but you are holding the Eight of Clubs, Three of Spades. It's VERY rare that anybody notices. And if the audience is drunk, you get a lot of "Ohrnygaaawd, how'd he DO that?" and gaping mouths... Great trick!
All The Aces
Effect: The spectator cuts the deck into four piles. From each pile three
random cards are dealt onto each of the other piles. The top card of each pile is turned over to reveal all four Aces.
Preparation: Put all four aces onto the top of the deck.
Procedure:
1: Tell the spectator to cut the deck into two piles. Once he has done that, have them divide the two piles into four.
2: We will call the piles numbers one to four; four being the top pile with the Aces. (Don't tell the spectator these numbers. They are just for us to keep track of things.)
3: Have the spectator pick up pile one, put the top three cards onto the bottom, and deal the (now) top three cards onto the other piles (two, three, and four. One card to each pile.)
4: The spectator continues, in order, to do the same with the other piles. (You just point to each pile, when you want them to use it.)
5: There IS no S, you're done! Just turn over the top cards to reveal the Aces!
Amazing Ace stopper: Ultimate Card Trick
Effect: The magician riffles down through a borrowed deck and tells a spectator to say stop at any point. The magician cuts off the cards above that point, turns them face up, and replaces them on the deck. Then he spreads the deck from the top until he reaches the first face down card. The magician puts this card face down on the table. He repeats this process three times. When the four card are flipped over, they are found to be all four aces!!!!!
Before the trick starts, remove the four aces and any two other cards. Make two face-up piles of two aces each. Lay one odd card on each pile. Pick up one pile of three cards, turn it face down, and lay it on the other pile. Pick up all six cards and lay them on top of the face-down deck. You're ready to present the trick.
Starting below the top 6 cards, riffle your finger down the edge of the deck and ask the spectator to say stop. Keep the deck squared up so he (or she) won't see the 3 face-up cards. At the point where he says stop, remove all the cards above it carefully, turn them upside down, and replace them on the deck. Then look through the deck from the top down. When you get to the first face-down card, put it face down on the table. (It will be an ace.) Turn the face-up cards face down and put them on the bottom of the deck. Repeat this 3 times, being careful not to reveal the secret face-up cards and the spectator will always stop on the 4 aces. Don't repeat it to the same crowd!
Editor's suggestions: It's hard to keep the audience from glimpsing one of the secret face-up cards when you're fanning down through the deck. I've found that you needn't give the audience a full view of the fan until you've found the first face-down card. You can hold the fan horizontally and look down at it so that it's edgewise to the audience. When you find the first face-down card, you can make sure that no secret cards are showing before you tip down the fan and show it to the spectators. You can also increase your safety margin by putting two odd cards on each stack of aces rather than one. This gives you more leeway when you're fanning down through the cards. Note that if you do this, the first face-up card will appear S cards above the point where you cut the deck.
Any Way You Count 'Em
Shuffle the cards well. Holding them face down, turn over the top card and place it face up on the table. Think of it as a stack. Starting with its face value, deal face up on top of it as many more cards as needed to reach 10. For instance if it's a 3, deal seven cards on top of it; if it's a S, deal five cards. Face cards count as 10, so no more cards are needed. An ace counts as 1 and needs nine more cards. Continue making stacks as above, keeping them separate, until the deck is exhausted. If there are not enough cards to complete a final stack, keep that incomplete stack in your hand. Now choose at random any three stacks that contain at least four cards each, and turn these stacks face down. Gather all the remaining cards in any order and add them to the cards (if any) in your hand. Pick any two of the three face-down stacks on the table, and turn up the top card on each of those two piles. Add their values together. Discard that many cards from those in your hand, and then discard 19 additional cards. Count the remaining cards in your hand. Now turn up the top card of the third stack. Its value will equal the number of cards in your hand.
Appearing Card
Effect: A spectator picks a card out of a shuffled deck. You put it with three random cards, place the cards at the bottom of the deck, and shuffle. You take three cards from the bottom of the deck and ask the spectator if any of those are his. None are. These are laid on the table, one of the cards is flipped over, and the selection appears on the table.
How It's Done:
Ask a person to shuffle the cards and then choose one card. Have them give you the deck. Take three cards from the bottom. Tell the spectator to put their card on top of those three, then to place the four cards at the bottom of the deck.
Shuffle the deck, but be sure to keep the four bottom cards in the same spot. Shuffle the cards a couple of times. Now take the first bottom card and place it face down on the table. Take the new bottom card and put it at the top of the deck. Place the other two bottom cards face down on the table. The last card you put down is the spectator's card. Be sure you have that card at the top of the tabled pile. Set the rest of the deck aside.
Pick up the tabled cards. Square them up, and hold them so the spectator can see the face of just the bottom card. Ask if this is their card. They will say no. Lower the cards so they are in dealing position and quickly deal the top card (actually their card) onto the table. If you do this naturally, without comment, they will think you dealt the card you just showed them.
Show them the top card from those in your hand, and ask if it is theirs. Again they will say no. Lay this card on the table. Finally, show them the last card in your hand and ask if it's the selection. When they say no, put this card onto the other two. Ask them what their card was. When they tell you, use the other two cards (like a spatula) to flip their card face up on the table. You have made their card appear!
Assistance Needed
Effect: You lay out a bunch of cards on the table and have a member of your audience pick one. Your assistant goes out of the room while this is done. The assistant is called back in and knows the person's card! This is repeated.
Card Trick:
1: Have an assistant with you who knows exactly how the trick works.
2: Lay out ten cards in the same layout as the spots on a 10 card (four on each side and two in the middle). The card in the upper left-hand corner must be a 10. (Editor's suggestion: After the audience has shuffled the deck, look through it--perhaps pretending to find and remove any jokers-- find a 10, and casually cut the deck so that the 10 is on top. Turn the deck face down and deal the top ten cards into the layout, starting in the upper left-hand corner.)
3: Have your assistant leave the room. Ask an audience member to help you with the trick. Have the person point to one of the cards.
4: Call your assistant back into the room and start pointing to cards one by one, saying "Is it this card?" until the assistant stops you. (Or the assistant might stop you and identify the card any time after you've pointed to the first few cards.) The secret is that when you point to the first card, which must be the 10 in the upper left-hand corner, you point to the symbol (diamond, heart, etc.) whose position on the 10 card corresponds to the position of the selected card among the cards on the table. Therefore, your assistant knows the person's card as soon as you've pointed to the first card, the 10.
5: If you want an even more amazed response from your audience, tell the audience member to try to trick your assistant at one point by not picking a card. When you start pointing to the cards again with your assistant, point to the empty space in between the two middle symbols on the 10 card! This will have your audience thinking for hours on hand!
Editor's suggestion: You should probably point to the cards in the same sequence every time: start in the upper left corner and proceed through the layout from left to right and from top to bottom. Otherwise the audience can easily invent other ways the trick might work such as pointing to the selected card after pointing to any three others.
Back Flip
EFFECT: Audience member picks a card, which the magician does not see. The audience member inserts the card back into the deck. Next the magician drops the card onto a table-top, and the card jumps out of the deck, face up!
HOW IT'S DONE:
Shuffle the deck so that everyone can see you are not preparing the deck in any way. (Don't comment on this, just do it.)
Fan out the cards in your hand, and have someone pick a card. While they look at the card, you do two quick, easy maneuvers:
1: Quickly move the top card to the bottom, while flipping it face up. You're left with a deck with the bottom card upside down.
2: Turn the whole deck over. You're left with an upside down deck, but because the (now) top card is reversed, it looks like a regular deck.
Now hold the deck out (make sure you don't fan the cards at all - you don't want to reveal that you're really holding onto an upside down deck.) Have them insert their card.
Turn around (yeah, this part is kind a cheesy, but it works fine, especially on kids.) Turn the top card back over so it faces the same as the rest of the deck. Scan through the deck to find the upside down card that the audience member just inserted.
Here's the BIG FINALE that really makes this trick worth it: put the card on top of the deck, and hold onto the deck from above. You are about to drop it, flatly, onto a table top. BUT slide the top card back off the deck by a quarter-inch (this will be covered by your hand). Then, drop the deck from about two feet up. The deck will hit the table, and the top card (the selected card) will flip over. This is a real crowd-pleaser.
Best Friends
Effect: Two cards are randomly picked from the deck, and inserted face up in the deck in two different places. The magician runs through the deck and drops the face-up cards on the table, and the top two cards are the mates of the two selected cards.
Set-up: Put deck in Best Friends order. See below.
Performance: Spread the deck and have a card selected. Cut all cards above selected card to the bottom. Have card removed and replaced on top of the deck, face up. Undercut half the deck and peek bottom card. If it is a mate to the selected card, remember that the selected card is a before card. If it is not a mate, the selected card is an after card. Repeat this 2 or 3 times; if you do it more times than that, it can be hard to remember what cards are what. After each choice, you can give the effect of mixing the cards by giving the deck several complete cuts.
Now run through the deck. When you get to the first face-up card, cut the deck and drop the card on the table. If it's an after card, put your right-hand packet on the bottom of the deck. If it's a before card, slip the bottom card of your right-hand packet to the top of your left-hand packet, and put the rest of your right-hand packet on the bottom of the deck.
Then find the next face-up card. Again cut the deck with your right hand and drop the card on the table. Here comes the tricky part. If the face-up card is an after card, slip the top card of the left-hand packet to the top of your right-hand packet. Then put the right-hand packet on top of the deck.
If the card is a before card, you must transfer the bottom card in your right-hand packet to the top of the same packet. Slip it with your right fingers to the top of the left-hand packet and then with your left thumb to the top of your right-hand packet in one quick motion. Then put your right-hand packet on top of the deck. With a little practice these moves can be done smoothly, and with some quick talking your audience will never figure it out.
Bottoms Up
Ask a spectator to shuffle cards. When he/she hands them back to you note the bottom card. That is "their card." Start by fanning the cards out. Run your finger across them and ask the spectator when to stop. When he/she says to stop, put your thumb on that point.
The Trick: While your thumb is on that point, use your other fingers to slowly work the bottom card under your thumb. As you pull the cards off the top of the deck with your thumb, slide the bottom card under the other cards and pull them off the deck and show the spectator his/ her card. This is where you take over. Since you already know the card you can have the spectator cut, shuffle, ect.
My favourite ending: Start flipping the cards from the top of the deck over onto the table. When you flip their card say, "I'll bet you a million bucks that the next card I flip over will be yours!" They'll think you messed up because their card is already flipped over on the table. If they know about card tricks they will think that you used their card as a key card. When they say, "Make it two million and you're on!" flip their card, which is already on the table, face down. They'll be dumbfounded.
Build The Houses
Deal 3 cards face up in a row, and continue dealing until you have 3 columns of 7 cards each. Ask the spectator to remember any one of the visible cards and to point out its column. Close up each column and combine them into a packet of 21 cards, putting the selected column between the other two. Again deal the 3 columns and have the spectator point to the one with his (or her) card. Again collect the 3 columns with the selected column between the others, and deal them out again. But this time, when the spectator points out the column, pick up that column first and put the other two on top of it.
Now it is time to build the houses. To build a house, deal one card face down at your left and another card about an inch to its right. Then deal a card horizontally at the top of the first two, and another horizontally about an inch below it. You have created a square with a little square open space in the middle.
In exactly the same way, build another house to the right of the first one, another one to its right, and so on. There will be enough cards to build S houses with one card left over. Put that card in the deck. (The spectator's card is the card at the right in the 5th house.)
Now here is how you make the trick seem unbelievable. But don't do it more than a couple times because the spectator might catch on. There are S houses. To find the spectator's card you have to eliminate all the other houses and cards. Tell the spectator to pick three houses. If his (or her) three choices include the house with the selected card, take away the other two houses. If the spectator's three choices do not include the card, take those three houses away. Then ask him to pick 2 houses (if there are 3 left), or 1 house (if there are only 2 left). Do this till there is only one house, the house with the selected card. Ask the spectator to pick 2 cards. If he picks the top and bottom, take them away. If he picks left and right, keep them. You know the drill now. Ask him to pick one more card. If he picks the card, keep it, if not, throw it away, and boom, there is his card. Wow, we're all finished. =)
Calling the Shots
Card Trick: Glimpse the bottom card and shuffle the deck, retaining the bottom card in place, while you tell your friend or guest that you are going to make him (or her) pick cards out of the deck without looking at them. (False shuffles: If you riffle shuffle, remember which half was the bottom of the deck and drop the bottom card of this half first. If you overhand shuffle, when you lift the cards with your right hand, hold back the bottom card with your left fingers.)
Let's assume that the bottom card is the 3 of diamonds.
Set the deck on a table. Tell the guest that you want him to pick some cards out of the deck but not to look at them.
Tell him to draw the top card of the deck and put it face down on the table. Act like you're concentrating and say, "It is the 3 of diamonds." Pick it up, look at it and say, "I am right."
Don't let your guest see the card. At this point he probably thinks you are faking it. Before you put the card face down on the table, memorize it. We'll assume that it's the 2 of spades.
Now tell your friend to pick any card in the middle of the deck. This one really gets them. Your guest flips eagerly through the deck and pulls out any card and lays it face down on the table.
Concentrate again and say that this is the 2 of spades. Look at it and say, "I am right again. 2 out of 2." Don't let him see the card. Let's say that it is really a queen of hearts. Put the card face down on the table.
Tell your friend to draw the bottom card off the deck and lay it face down. Once he has done this, concentrate and say that it is the queen of hearts. Once again check your result and say, "I am right."
At this point your guest is very skeptical. You ask, "What cards did I ask you to pick out of the deck?" Grab the three cards and through a little sleight of hand rearrange them so they are in the same order as you called them. (Editor's suggestion: If you lay the second card on top of the first, you can just scoop the third card under the other two to put them in the right order.)
As he names each of the cards, drop it in front of him. Say you were able to hypnotize them or something to make them draw those cards. For added effect as they draw tell them the card. Have them draw three or four times from the middle of the deck and tell them each time they drew the same card. In the end it will look like they had.
Card Transposition
Effect: You put a card in your pocket, and one in the spectator's hand. Then the cards change places.
Card Trick: Pick up two cards from the top of the deck and make them look as if they were one. Show it to the audience, say the name of the card (we'll assume that it's the Queen of Spades) and put it back on the deck. Take the card that is really on top and put it in your pocket. Do another double lift, show this card and name it, and put it back on the deck. Take off the top card (which is actually the one that you supposedly put in your pocket), lay it on the spectator's hand, and tell him (or her) to put his other hand over it like a sandwich. Palm the top card and say, "I am going to take out the Queen of Spades." Put your hand in your pocket, take out the card you just palmed and show it as you say, "Turn your card over." When they do it looks as if your card and their card changed places.
Chased
Effect: To guess someone's card by memorizing order of deck.
Preparation: Before the performance, set the cards in this order: 8, K, 3, 10, 2, 7, 9, 5, Q, 4, A, 6, J. Also in suit order: Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. To remember numeric orders simply memorize this: "8 kings threatened to save 95 queens 4 1 sick knave*." To remember the suit order, use CHaSeD (Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds.)
Card Trick: When someone picks a card, sneak a peek at the card above it. Now you should know what their card is. You can also let them return their card, and look for a card out of place.
Count Down
Trick Description: You shuffle the deck several times and then ask a person to tell you when to STOP when they think you drop ten cards. You then count the correct amount of cards actually dropped. You then tell them to memorize the top card and put it back into the deck shuffling anyway they want to. You then fan all the cards out in a spiral towards the middle and pick their card out for them.
How Its Done:
1: Shuffle the card deck a lot, memorizing the bottom card. Depending on the war you shuffle, you should be able to keep a certain card always on the bottom. I usually lead with the right hand first so that is always the bottom card no matter how many times you shuffle. If you lose the card, keep shuffling until you memorize the bottom card.
2: Since you now know what the bottom card really is, it is a simple job getting the other person to pick the card. When you drop cards, no matter how many you drop, you should count the DROPPED cards back to them and eventually the bottom card will be on top.
3: After they shuffle and give the cards back to you, throw the cards out in a pattern to confuse them, and then show them their card.
Criss Cross
1: First, shuffle or let the spectator shuffle.
2: Go through the deck and memorize the top card (Let's say it is the ace of clubs). As an excuse for fanning through the deck, you can say that you need to remove your "unlucky card" (which can be any one except the top card).
3: Have the spectator cut the deck and place the top pile on the table. You then pick up the bottom pile and lay it on the other pile in a cnss cross manner.
4: Say something to the spectator to take his mind off what you just did, such as "You had the freedom to cut a big pile or a little pile." Make eye contact.
5: Say "O.K. Now look at your card." Point to the top card of the lower pile. You now know that the spectator's card is the ace of clubs.
6: Now you can have him shuffle or cut and then use any way of presenting his card to him.
This is an easy trick, but you'll get a great response!
Cut To It
Effect: The spectator picks a card, puts it on the top of the deck, cuts the deck, and the magician finds the card.
How it's done:
All you have to do is have a glimpse at the bottom card of the deck. Ask the spectator to take any card. After he does, ask him to put it on top of the deck, and to do a complete cut of the deck, putting the bottom part of the deck onto the top. You count off the cards from the top, flipping them face up until you reach what used to be the bottom card. The next one is the chosen card.
Cutting the Aces
Effect: Magician cuts a deck into four piles, turns over the top card on each pile, which turns out to be the four aces.
Card Trick: Start off with the four aces on the top of the deck, under the top two aces with your right hand. With the deck face down on the table, use your right hand to cut about half of the deck and place that half about two inches in front of the bottom half. As you bring your hand back, bring the cards above the break with you directly to the top of the first half. Using both hands now, immediately cut both halves and place them to the left and right of the first halves, forming a diamond shape. Turn the top card on both the left and right piles over and place the on the top and bottom piles, then turn the second card of the left and right piles over and place them on the left and right piles. Although you aren't actually cutting to the aces, the illusion that you are is a very strong one.
Deck Predictor
Effect: After mixing the deck of cards, the performer asks a spectator to cut the deck that is in his left hand. The spectator then places the top portion of the cards on the performer's right hand. The spectator is asked to take the top card off the portion in the performer's left hand. The spectator looks at the card without showing the performer. The performer uses his mind reading capability to tell what card has been chosen.
Card Trick:
Rigging the deck before hand: Place the cards in four piles starting with Spades then Hearts, Clubs, and finally Diamonds. Each of these piles should then be arranged, face up, in order from King on the bottom to Ace on top.
Now starting with the Spades count back until the King is showing (bottom card is now Queen then Jack, Ten etc) Next take the Hearts and count back in the same manner until the Ten of Hearts is on top. For the Clubs you need the Seven on top, and the Diamonds will have the Four on top.
One more step to complete. Take the King of Spades from its pile, turn it face down, and start a new pile. Onto this put the face down Ten of Hearts, then the Seven of Spades, and finally the Four of Diamonds. Continue to place the top cards in the same order of suits on the new pile until all the cards are placed into one pile. This completes the rigging of the deck.
Action:
Now practice your mind reading skills. Have someone cut the deck (as above) and take the top card off the left pile. You place the right half of the deck under the left half. While doing so, take a glance at the bottom card without making it obvious. Mentally count three cards up from the card you see on the bottom of the deck, and this is the value of card that was chosen. As for the suit, if a Spade is showing on the bottom then the card chosen is a Diamond. (Example: Six of Hearts is the bottom card, then the Nine of Spades is the chosen card; Ten of Clubs is on the bottom, then the King of Hearts is the chosen card.
Tips - Always tell the spectator to place the chosen card back on top of the deck after the trick is completed. Mix the cards each time you perform the trick, by cutting the deck in half, so as to appear to shuffle but not to actually change the order. If the audience asks to see the cards, flip them over and quickly run through them, as they appear to be in random order. Don't let the audience shuffle the deck. Once you have completed the trick a couple of times, really shuffle the deck well and hand it to them. While doing this trick, you might first make a "mistaken" guess to throw the audience off, after all, it's S0% your game, 20% your trick.
Do It Yourself Discovery
Effect: The spectator discovers his own card in a mysterious manner.
Card Trick: Have the spectator shuffle the cards, take half the deck and give the rest to you. "Now," you say, "while I turn my back, pick out a card, look at it, show it to everybody, and put it back on top of your pile."
Turn away and secretly turn the bottom card and the second card from the top face up.
When the spectator is done turn back. Tell the spectator to hold out his cards and place your pile on top of his. Even up the cards, and then direct him to place his arm behind his back saying, "Now I want to perform a little experiment with the cards behind your back."
Make sure that no one can see what happens behind the spectator's back and that he does not bring the cards forward. Say this to the spectator: "Take the top card ... no, put that onto the bottom, so that you know I'm not trying to fool you.
"Have you done that? All right take the next card, turn it over, and stick it in the middle. Even up the cards."
Have the spectator bring the cards forward. Take the deck and run through the cards until you come to the face up card. Ask the spectator to name his card. Turn over the next card. "As you can see you located your card yourself."
Tips: once in a great while the spectator will stick the card between the face up card and the chosen card. When you turn up the wrong card simply say: "You missed it by one," and turn up the next card.
Double Turnover
Shuffle the deck. Glimpse and remember the bottom card and lay the pack on the table. Tell the spectator to remove the top half of the deck and hold it, while you do the same with the bottom half. Tell the spectator to put his (or her) half behind his back, remove any card from the pack, and bring the card to the front.
You supposedly do the same, but actually you (1) turn your half face up, (2) turn the card you glimpsed face down on top of the face-up pack, (3) remove any other card, (4) turn it face down and (5) bring it out from behind your back. The spectator thinks this is your selected card. Tell him to look at and remember his card while you do the same. Actually, look at your card but don't remember it. Bring the pack from behind your back, holding it face up except for the card you glimpsed. Exchange the supposedly selected cards. Each of you slides the other person's card into your pack face down without looking at the card. Reach over to take the spectator's pack while turning your pack over without anyone's noticing it. Put the spectator's pack on top of yours and cut the deck (Editor's note: a little below the middle is good). Each of you names your selected card--but you actually name the card you glimpsed, not the card you took from the pack. Spread the cards. Both selected cards are face up in the deck!!
Easy Eights
You will need someone to be an accomplice in this trick. Arrange eight cards in the pattern of the symbols on the face of an eight. One of the eight cards must be an eight. While you look away, have a spectator choose a card. When you look back, have your accomplice point to a few cards, saying "was it this one?". Make sure they point to the eight, and to the symbol marking the position of the card the spectator chose. You will get it right every time.
This trick is much more effective after perplexing the spectator by doing the trick several times. The average person will think it is something the accomplice is SAVING, so they probably won't figure out the trick for a while.
Easy Pick
Use any full deck and its case. Allow a friend to shuffle the cards. Tell him/her to keep one of the cards, look at it, and give the rest back to you. Then you place the rest of the cards in the case, but leave the flap open. Ask the friend to put the card back inside of the deck. The secret to this trick is holding the case. You prevent the card from going in all the way: tighten your grip on the case, while the friend is trying to put the card in the deck. (Don't grip it too hard or the card will not be able to go in at all.) Turn your back and pull out the card that is different from the rest. It should be sticking out very slightly. Take it out and reveal the card. If you pull the deck halfway out of the case it will be easier for you to know which card is theirs.
Eight Threatening Kings
Effect: Person chooses card from deck, and magician tells person the suit and number.
Set-up: The deck is stacked. To remember its sequence of values, memorize the rhyme "Eight Kings Threatened To Save Ninety-Five Queens For One Sick Knave." The words stand for the card values 8, K, 3, 10, 2, 7, 9, 5, Q, 4, A, 6, J. ("Threatened" = 3 & 10.) To remember the sequence of suits, memorize the word "CHaSeD." Its consonants C, H, S and D stand for Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. Arrange the deck so that its values and suits follow these sequences over and over. For example, the top five cards are 8-Clubs, K-Hearts, 3-Spades, 10-Diarnonds, 2-Clubs, and so on.
Performance: Hold the deck and have someone select and remove any card. As he (or she) is looking at the card, cut the deck at the point where he removed it and put the top cards on the bottom. Glimpse the new bottom card. Find the word that corresponds to its value in the memorized rhyme. If the bottom card is, say, the 4 of Hearts, the word that corresponds to 4 is "for." The word following "for" in the rhyme is "one," which stands for the Ace. Next, find the bottom card's suit in the word "CHaSeD." It's H. The consonant after H in the word is S, for Spades. So the person's card is the Ace of spades.
ESP
You will need someone to act as your assistant for this. Have your assistant leave the room during the first part. Nine cards are laid out, face down, in three rows of three. Once a card has been selected, have someone call your assistant back in. When the assistant returns, you are holding the rest of the deck in your left hand. Your thumb will represent which card was chosen. Example: if the spectator chooses the card in the middle, when the assistant returned, your thumb would be directly in the middle of the deck. You will have to do this once for the row the card is in, and again for the column. The trick is to be VERY DISCRETE when holding the deck. Shuffle the deck a little so as not to draw attention to yourself. Keep a serious look on your face, and stare at the assistant, as if you actually had ESP. Let your assistant reveal the chosen card.
Find The Card The Easy Way
In these trick 16 cards are placed face up on a table, in four rows of four cards. Ask a spectator to pick a card in his mind, and to tell you only the vertical column in which the card is located. Gather up the cards, making sure to pick the fourth vertical column first. (Take the top card in your hand, face up. Pick up the second card and put it onto the first card. The third card goes on these, and then the fourth.) Place those four cards face down in a pile. Next pick up the third vertical column and place it on ton of the pile. Repeat this for the second and first columns.
Next deal out the cards in four rows of four, only this time make sure that the first four cards go into the top row, the second four cards go into the second row and so on. You must remember which column (1, 2, 3 or 4) contained the card. By remembering this you now know which horizontal row contains the chosen card. Ask the spectator to again state which vertical column (1, 2, 3 or 4) contains his card. The intersection of this column with the original row is the spectator's card. You can pick out the card immediately. In this case the spectator's answers provide us the final row and column of the card.
Most people will see through the magic in this trick in a hurry, though it might remain a mystery to first graders for a long time.
Find The Card The Hard Way
To perform this trick, you need the help of four spectators. All five of you should be seated around a table. Deal five hands of five cards each, starting with the person to your left and dealing clockwise. Ask each of the spectators to look at the hand in front of him (or her), mentally pick a card and then place the hand back on the table. He should remember the card he picked but not show it to you.
You gather up the hands. Start with the hand on your left and pick up the hands in a clockwise fashion, so that you pick up your hand last. As you pick up each hand, place it on top of your pile. Deal the cards again in the same way so that each person has five cards in front of him. You pick up each pile, one at a time, and fan it so that all four spectators can see its face. Each time, ask if anyone sees their card. If they do, place the fan on the table (without looking at the cards), pull their card from the pile and place it face down in front of them. In some hands there may be two or more participants' card, in others there may not be anyone who sees his card in that pile. Once you have picked out the cards for each spectator, go around the table turning over the four chosen cards and asking them if that is their card. Everyone will be amazed when you get all four right!
How did you do it? Simple. Because of the way you gathered up and dealt the cards, the first spectator's card is in the first position of its fan (that is, his original pile of five cards was dealt so that each one of his five cards became the top card of one of the final five piles), the second spectator's card is in the second position of its fan, etc. So if you pick up and fan a pile and spectator number four says she sees her card, then her card will be the fourth card in the fan (or the fourth card from the top of the pile).
Fool-Proof Reversed Card
Effect: A spectator chooses a card, replaces it, turn the deck over three times in their hands, snaps it, riffles it, shuffles it, whatever then they look through the deck to find it reversed.
The Method: All you need for this are two exactly alike cards in the same deck. Place one of the cards face down in a face down deck as the ninth card from the top. Place the other either 21st or towards the extreme bottom of the deck REVERSED!! Be sure never to touch the cards yourself during this trick and don't allow anyone to look through the cards for two of the same cards later, either. I find it works better if you use this deck for awhile because and extra card has unlimited uses and is hardly noticeable. Now set the deck on the table well squared and face down. Tell the spectator to choose a number between 10 and 20.(20 will not work) Tell them to count that many cards off the top of the deck, one at a time,(reversing the order) face down onto the table. Then have them add the digits together and count that many cards back off the top of the pile onto the deck. Have them flip over the next card. This is the preplaced card. Make sure everyone (including yourself) sees it. If you messed up and this isn't the right card, they will discover the secret when they come to the wrong turned up card. Have them put this on the top of the deck and then put the others back on, too. Have them cut it however many times they want, and their card probably won't turn up, but only cut it two or three times because if it turns up too early they get suspicious.
The key move is to have them turn the deck over in their hands 3 times the make them think they turned it over afterwards. Make this movement seem very important, stare at their hands intently and make sure it's three. This all adds to the effect. Now have them search through and find it. This trick is amazing to the spectator because you never touch it, and, like the name implies, is practically foolproof. I use this almost every time I do a series of tricks.
Effect: A card escapes from a string.
