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How to do an Elmsley count

by thesparine on May 5, 2007

Table of Contents
License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intro: How to do an Elmsley count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

step 1: Set up your packet to count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

step 2: Count the first card, the Ace of Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

step 3: Dirty work time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

step 4: Fairly count the last two cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

step 5: This is not a step, only a few comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro: How to do an Elmsley count
This is going to be a quick instructable on how to do an elmsley count for use with my "Awesomest" card trick!
See this video for a quick demo, as well as a quick explanation. If you want further reading, check out the rest of this instructable.

Image Notes
1. With an Elmsley Count, these two cards are never shown. Also, besides counting without showing these cards, an Elmsley count allows you to count these five
cards as only four cards.

step 1: Set up your packet to count

In this case, we are going to pretend you are doing the first Elmsley count in the World's Awesomest Card Trick. At this point in the trick, the first two aces (clubs and
hearts) have been ditched back onto the deck and now you are going to show that the "Ace of Clubs has turned face down."
It goes without saying, but I am going to say it anyways, the spread cards are an "exposed" view, and the spectators never see them like this. You will use the Elmsley
count to count the five cards as four, and also to hide the 3rd and 4th cards from view.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/

Image Notes
1. With an Elmsley Count, these two cards are never shown. Also, besides counting without showing these cards, an Elmsley count allows you to count these five
cards as only four cards.

step 2: Count the first card, the Ace of Diamonds.

This is straight-forward. You pull off the ace with your left hand and start to return to pull off the next card.

Image Notes
1. Ace of Diamonds is slid off fairly.
2. my sister bought me this in Paris!
3. this is an awesome SD (and many other format) card reader/writer that was on
sale at Radioshack last week. Works perfectly, and it is how I upload my photos to
my computer now. I used to hook my digital cam up directly to my computer, but
the auto-off function doesn't kick in if it is in "view" mode, so my batteries kept
dying because I would forget to turn off my camera.
4. This 20 Q game is the old-style kind, where if you think of pussy it will read you
mind and ask you if you are thinking of "pussy willow."
5. Boulevard Wheat is my favorite summer beer.
6. This is the last week with my mac mini. I just bought a dual G5 that will arrive
next week so I can make better videos!
7. Acer displays are cheap, and they are great! I love mine, and it is on all the
time. 19" for $170 at TigerDirect.com

Image Notes
1. This is the precise moment when things get a little crazy in this count.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/

step 3: Dirty work time

It's real simple:
The ace of diamonds goes under the whole packet, and gets re-gripped by the right fingers.
SIMULTANEOUSLY, (or maybe a nano-second BEFORE) the right fingers push off all the cards of the packet except for the bottom one (soon to be second from bottom,
after you add the A. of D.)
The left hand then carries away this whole packet of pushed-off cards, after having ditched the A. of D. under the now face-up A of Spades.

Image Notes
1. Thumb pushes off all the cards but the bottom one. Alternatively, think of it as
the bottom card gets peeled off from all the others by the first finger of the right
hand.

Image Notes
1. Exposed view showing the Ace of Diamonds getting wedged under the
bottom card in the packet, and gripped by the right hand.

Image Notes
1. All the pushed off cards are taken over as if you just counted a second card,
in this case the supposed "Ace of Clubs."

Image Notes
1. You are left holding two aces. These you count one at a time onto the other
cards, which means you actually show the Ace of Diamonds twice.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/

step 4: Fairly count the last two cards.

Thumb off the A. of spades, then diamonds, as if you were normal.

step 5: This is not a step, only a few comments.

The video tutorial on the first page shows two different ways of holding the cards for the elmsley count.
To many magicians, especially this new younger generation weaned on MTV-style MagicPorn with blazing music and card juggling, the best way to hold the cards in the
elmsley count is a topic of great debate.
I know of no reason why, though. To me, I have done the elmsley with both grips, and both work fine. Try them both and use whichever one you like best. And please,
don't flame me with hate mail hating on my technique. It may not be perfect, but it has been fooling people since Christ was a corporal, so keep your comments to
yourself. I am just showing the way I do it. I know there are other ways to do it, and if yours works better, use it. Just don't email it to me asking me to try it. I like these
two methods just fine and I haven't seen any better ones.
Oh, also, this is called the Elmsley Count because a very fine English magician named "Alex Elmsley" invented it. Props to you good sir, wherever you are!

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/

Image Notes
1. With an Elmsley Count, these two cards are never shown. Also, besides counting without showing these cards, an Elmsley count allows you to count these five
cards as only four cards.

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Magic Trick How to do it DIY - MagicSir
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how to count
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Comments
5 comments

Add Comment

Muzza says:

Dec 9, 2007. 6:22 PM REPLY

hi my name is bloodman

guribe94 says:

Jul 25, 2008. 1:01 PM REPLY

thanks for sharing

Jezza Bear says:

May 6, 2007. 4:26 PM REPLY

Thanks for your Instructable. It was great you added a video to it as it really showed how the count was done. I really appreciate you magic instructables as I
like to dabble with card tricks as they really irritate my daughters when they can't work out how "that card" got where it did....great keep it up

erfonz says:

May 5, 2007. 11:04 PM REPLY

I thinks it's OK to put the sleight-of-handless tricks you put up, but this is a fairly difficult move and magicians aren't the biggest demographic on instructables
(I could be wrong). But that just leads to a bunch of people butchering a good move and even more people knowing how it's done.

thesparine says:

May 5, 2007. 11:59 PM REPLY

I think this is a great tutorial on the elmsley count, and I hope people appreciate it. As for non-magicians learning this move, if someone is interested in
learning it they can find it on the web on millions of other websites. I am just hoping to clarify it to people interested in it. Thank you for your comment
though, I appreciate it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-an-Elmsley-count/