Staking the Raise

by Steve Murray

Effect: A conversation ensues about the art of betting and raising the stakes in
poker, as several of your friends have thought about venturing into the world of
online poker. Having suffered as guinea pigs for you diabolical card skills (and
read that any way you wish), they naturally turn to you for advice. Reeling from
actually being asked to get your cards out, you give a simple but earnest
explanation:

“You see, you have to lure out a bet. If you have a strong hand, then simply
going all out will signal to your opposites that they have very little chance. Better
to raise a modest stake, and hopefully someone with a ‘good’ hand will rise to
the challenge. Pretend to stumble and doubt yourself, then raise again; don’t
look to certain, even if you’re holding an unbeatable hand.

“It’s easier to show you with an example – let’s play a game with a single card
each. Aces are high, and hearts, beat spades, which beat diamonds, which beat
clubs, got it?”

Three friends are dealt a card each; each friend sees only their own card, just
before it is dealt, and then the card is placed onto the table and an object –
glass, bottle, ashtray, etc – is put over it so there can be no cheating.

A round of betting ensues (not for real money!!); all parties try to appear
cautious, but the stakes keep being raised. Soon it becomes apparent that if
this were a real game, they’d be a hefty sum in the pot. Strangely, all 3 friends
appear quietly confident of their success.

The 1st player turns his card and looks shocked, as the other 2 smile smugly –
the guy was obviously bluffing. Then the 2nd, and then 3rd – in each case the
smile drops and confusion sets in. As you casually flip over your card, the Ace
of Hearts, you say:

“Of course, many believe gambling is a mug’s game, and that eventually,
everyone loses.”

Method: Each player thinks they have the ace of hearts, but it is switched out
for an indifferent card in each case. There. Nothing complex. However, the way
this works, it takes all the heat off your moves, as the players believe they are
genuinely experimenting with the psychology of betting & bluffing. After playing
around with several methods, I’ve found this way works best for me (i.e. I
require maximum impact for little in the way of true skill!):

Set up: The Ace of hearts is on the bottom of the deck. The ideal number of
players should 3 plus yourself, and you should ideally sit round a table at 12, 3,
6 and 9 o’ clock; for the explanation, we will say you occupy the 6 o’clock
position.
Explanation: False shuffle the deck a few times, or indeed really riffle shuffle,
and just maintain the bottom card in place. Drop the deck below the table and
get a break under the bottom two cards; double lift this, but not all the way off,
so that your double is outjogged off the side of the deck. Now, hold this out to
your left and show the outjogged ace of hearts to player 1, at 9 o clock. The
deck should be below the table level, so the others can’t see it. Re-enforce the
fact that no-one should try and cheat by peaking at the cards. Player 1 will
obviously know that you’re setting him up to win; you may even wish to give him
a slight wink. Then in one smooth movement, turn the deck face down, holding
the double out-jogged, and slide in the ace of hearts with your left thumb, back
onto the bottom of the deck. At the same time press down on the indifferent
card against the table and use left index, middle & ring fingers to slide the
indifferent card forward. Table the deck and quickly suggest something is
placed on top of the card – a bottle or glass, etc – to prevent any cheating.

(I’m afraid I don’t know the true origin of this move, but I personally learned it
from one of Brad Christian’s excellent beginners tapes).

Now player 1 thinks he’s in on the joke, and should have no reason to re-check
the card. Indeed, this is not one of your card tricks now, is it? The object will just
stop him lifting the card from habit or nervousness during the betting.

Shuffle the deck, and bring the Ace of hearts to the top. Turn briefly to player 1
and 3 and ask them not to peak for sake of the experiment, as you get a break
below the Ace and an indifferent.

For player 2 (at 12 o’ clock) you’re going to be doing a kind of 2-handed miracle
change; Hold the double quite deep with the right hand, so that your middle
finger sits at least into the middle of the card; this hides the face of the card
from player 3 (at 3 o’ clock), but still allows player 2 to see it. The left hand
shields the card from player 1, and so has a reason to be held up next to the
card. Now, ask player 2 “Got it?” and as he answers, do the change whilst
pivoting the right hand palm up. The left hand takes the switched out indifferent
card and passes it forwards onto the table in front of player 2 (but too close so
he can reach it!) The left arm obscures the view player 1, whilst the right hand
drops the Ace on top of the tabled deck, before swiftly and smoothly grabbing
an object to put on top of the card.

This move sounds very complex, but it is very easy and well covered, especially
when you remember this is not a card trick. This exact move is used by Derren
Brown for the final switch on his ‘Card under box’ routine, which appears on his
“Devil’s Picturebook” video. It is extremely deceptive and yet so fair-looking.

Finally, you turn you entire body to the left to look at player 3, false shuffling to
keep the top card in position; again as the others not to peak and simply lift of
the Ace of hearts and show it to player 3 at such an angle that only he c an see
it. As you ask him “Got it?”, get a break under the top card of the deck in the left
hand in preparation for a top change. As soon as he says yes, top change
whilst gesturing to player 1, saying “And you weren’t peeking, were you?” for
the mis-direction (I would suggest any one of the methods on Kaufman’s ‘Basic
Card Control’ tape). All the time hold out the indifferent, just an inch or so above
the table, and then turn back to player 3 and ask him to reach for an object to
place on top of the card.

As an afterthought, deal yourself a card and just leave it there in front of you,
not even looking at it.

So now you encourage the players to start a round of betting; now don’t rush
this. The players themselves will actually really enjoy this – after all they all
believe they are holding unbeatable hands, and it is genuinely interesting and
fun to see how they conduct the betting. You can either say nothing, or offer
coaching.

As well as allowing this for fun, the betting phase also gives some important
time misdirection from the dealing process. You can subtly re-enforce the idea
that they each hold the ace of hearts by suggesting a small raise, in a
deliberately understated way to each one in turn.

Whatever the case, you will find that the virtual pot will be very full, and it is
worth pointing this out before the dénouement.

The rest plays out as you like.

Notes: I developed this pretty much out of a request for advice on poker just like
the plot as given above - based purely on the grounds that I can ‘handle’ cards
(I’m utterly crap at poker, since you ask, although I’m a good cheat, if it’s for fun
or the strip variety!). It seems a genuine exercise in card playing, and the
ending doesn’t feel as cruel as it could – after all, no-one gets ‘picked on’, and
real money should never be used! With this setting, you will find it really delights
people, especially those (like my family) who groan or cringe when you normally
pull out a deck. So please try it, and perhaps develop it.

Cheers!
 Quiz for Dummies
by Werner Miller

Version 1

For this packet trick you need only seven cards: a Jack, a Queen, a King (all of
the same suit), and four Jokers. Arrange the cards alternately: Joker - Jack -
Joker - Queen - Joker - King - Joker.

Show the cards as seven Jokers by means of the Olram Subtlety (Ed Marlo),
placing the real Jokers face down on the right and the pretended Jokers face
down on the left.

Put the right packet on top of the left packet.

Do a Klondike Shuffle.

Ask the spectator for the name of the top card. Turn it face up - right, a Joker!
Remove it.

Do another Klondike Shuffle, and repeat your question.

What card may be on top now? Right, a Joker!

The top card is turned face up and removed.

Repeat this procedure (Klondike Shuffle, question, turning face up, removing)
until there are four Jokers face up on the table.

Act surprised that the spectator guessed correctly four times. Announce that the
next question will be a very hard one. Point to the three cards remaining in your
hand. Can the spectator guess even three cards at once?

No, he cannot. How should he know that you are going to turn over the "royal
family"?

Version 2

This time you need eight cards: the four Aces, and four identical Jokers. Make
two 4-card-packets, each with two Aces at the bottom and two Jokers on the
top.
When performing, show each packet as four Jokers by means of the Spirit
Count (Gene Castillon).

Then deal the top cards of both packets alternately into a new packet until all
eight cards are assembled. Now for the quiz. As in version 1, each turned face
up
card is removed, but there are no shuffles between the questions.
What is the card on top? Right, a Joker.

What is the next card? Right, a Joker.

And the next one? Right again, a Joker.

Followed by...? Right, a Joker, of course.

It seems that my questions are too easy for you, so let things become harder. I
am left with four cards. Can you guess four cards at once? Four Jokers?

No, four Aces!

Note: If you are not familiar with the Olram Subtlety and/or the Spirit Count, see
e.g. Jerry Mentzer: Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety, 1977 (pp. 31-35, pp.
S.56-60).
 Aqua et Oleo Redivivus
by Daniel de Urquiza

There are two kinds of oil and water routines, perhaps three. The first kind,
using only four-and-four or three-and-three cards. Those are normally the
technical ones, the kind of routine that uses false dealing typically. A brilliant
example is the routine "It Can't Be Done Any Slower" by my fellow countryman,
Rene Lavand.

The second kind of oil and water routines uses an extra card, an extra black
card, an extra red card, maybe more than one. The ones who care about
routines with more than one extra card, may be interested in checking "Oil and
Water Rides Again" by Michael Skinner, published at Classic Sampler.

Finally, you have oil and water routines using gaffed cards. Scott Guin, at the
"In The Hands" section of this site, has a very complete oil and water routine,
using a gaffed card. Also Juan Tamariz, has very good ideas, published at
Truckycartomagia and The Magic Way. By the way, the rumour is that Mr.
Tamariz is going to release soon a new book on magic theory, where he
changes everything he said before. Remember, you knew about it first from me!

Well, going back to the oil and water routines, I will now give you only a phas e.
Not a full routine, but a mere phase. This phase alone has led me to many
ideas, so I hope the same will happen to you.

You need: 5 black cards and four red cards. From top to bottom, face down: b,
r, r, r, r, b, b, b, b.

The spectators don't know how many cards you are taking from the deck
(assuming an impromptu presentation here) or the identities of the cards.

When done and arranged, show the faces to spectators, keeping the 2 bottom
cards as one. The "Sincere Display" ("Enseñada Sincera") from Arturo de
Ascanio would be a great help here.

Anyway, you show only four blacks and four reds. Square the packet, turn it
face down, deal four cards at the table, face down, calling them red. Flash the
faces of the 3 last cards, very casually.

Take the packet of 5 cards in your hand, extend again, showing all blacks,
again, not making a point of it.

This is what Mr. Ortiz calls and "incidental point of conviction", meaning that if
you perform bad magic, you'll end up as a convict. For your own safety.

Square the 5 card packet, turn face down.

Now mix, first from the tabled reds, then from the blacks in the hands. You may
flash the appropriates faces of the cards.

Using only your two index fingers (if you have more index fingers, by all means
use them all) square the cards.

Pause.

Let spectator take the top four cards. Let spectator turn those cards face up. 4
blacks.

If you have done things well, the other packet doesn't need to be checked. If so,
show five as four again, lap the extra card, or use the gambler's cop and steal it.

This idea of the extra card is as old as Marlo, at least. Similar ideas have been
published by Ben Harris ("Slick Oil and Water"), Tamariz (The Magic Way), Aldo
Colombini (you know, Italian Dressing, A Nice Salad, from What's Up Deck),
Alex Elmsley ("Shall Fellows well met", "A rebours", from the Complete Works,
T. 1).

So, as I told you, this is an "starting point". See how you can go "higher" from
here. Mixig face up all the cards? Let the spectator mix the cards? Who knows?
Toy a little with the cards, you'll get some very nice ides, I promise you.
 Happy Birthday, Martin!
by Werner Miller

When you are invited to a birthday party and you are known as a magician,
everybody probably expects you to perform some magic especially for the
person celebrating his/her birthday. If you know the complete birthday date and
this date is meeting a few requirements (see later), I can offer the following
routine. It is an adaption of a card trick as old as the hills. In his Book
"Mathematics, Magic and Mystery" (New York, 1956), Martin Gardner described
it under the title "A Baffling Prediction" (page 7).

Requirements
Each number of the date - month, day, year (last two digits only) - must be
greater than 9. The sum of these three numbers must be smaller than 50.
Because Martin Gardner's birthday (10-21-1914) fulfills these requirements, it is
used as an example. All the best, Martin!

Preparation
You need an ordinary deck of 52 cards (it may be borrowed, but make sure it's
complete). Subtract from 50 the three numbers of the date, and remember the
result. This result lays down the number of cards dealt at the beginning. (In our
example: 50 - 10 - 21 - 14 = 5.)

Presentation
The celebrating person is asked to shuffle the deck. Then he/she is requested
to deal any five cards (according to your calculation) face down onto the table,
side by side. Now he/she decides on any of these five cards that will become
the "birthday card". This one is noted and remembered. Gather up the
remaining four cards, square it, have the "birthday card" placed on top, and
drop the balance of the deck on top of all.

False shuffle the deck keeping the order of the bottom five cards intact.

Turn the top card over and place it face up on the table. Call attention to its
value (count a court card as 10), and deal off the top so many face down cards,
that the sum of the value of the face up card and the number of cards dealt on
top of it is exactly 10 (the first number of the date), i.e. if it is a 7, deal three
cards on the 7, counting aloud "8, 9, 10." Turn the next card over and place it on
the table, too. Point to its value, and again start dealing cards face down on top
of it, enough to bring the total up to 21 (the second number of the date), i.e. if it
is a 9, deal twelve cards counting "10, 11, 12, ..., 21."

Repeat this procedure with another face up card, this time counting up to 14
(third number of the date). Once again, call attention to the values of the three
face up cards. Add them up, thus getting a "grand total". Openly deal that many
cards singly from the top of the remainder of the deck to the bottom. The last
card is given to the spectator, it is automatically the "birthday card".
Postscript
You may (let) assign any value to the court cards, this has no effect whatever
on the working of the trick. The value is only limited by the numbers of the date.
If you want to know the reason for using 50 in the calculation here's the answer:
52 (number of cards in a full pack) minus 3 (number of piles) plus 1.

Post- Postscript
You're not strictly limited to years this trick works for. For a wide range of dates,
you have two options: increasing the number of cards (in other words, using two
full decks) or dropping the year and using two piles instead of three.

Assume a bithdate of 12-13-1948.

Using two full decks (104 cards), the spectator has to select his card from 29
cards (104-3+1=102, 102-12-13-48=29). The selected card goes on top of the
29 remaining cards, the balance of the two decks (75 cards) goes on top of all.
Continue as described above.

When omitting the year, the calculation for a full deck is 52-2+1=51, 51-12-
13=26, that is, the number of cards offered to the spectator has to be 26, and
the order has to be from the bottom up the 25 "non-selected" cards, the
selected one, and then the balance of the deck (26 cards).
 Unexpected
by Daniel de Urquiza

Today, I’ll be sharing with you a finale. A Climax. An ending.

It's an effect on its own right, but I use it as the climax of a multi-phased routine.
You know me.

Well, first of all,

Effect: There are on the table four of a kind and two selections. They transpose
in a killer way.

Method: So, you've been making audience heads explode several times. You
have 2 selections on the table, recently revealed in a magical way, where any
four of kind, let's say the Jacks, have interacted to help the magician in the
revelation.

In my routine, specially one of the jacks has been named before, and used to
find the 2 selections.

But you don't need to, if you don't want to. That's a line I recall saying to my wife
very often.

So, discard the deck. Let's say the JS was selected.

Arrange the Jacks in this order, face up, bottom to face: JS, a red J, a red J, a
black J, 2 selections.

Openly extend between your hands the 6 cards, saying this time you are going
to use no deck, only the selections and the four jacks. Close the spread, taking
a pinky break below the 4 top cards. Square the packet, lift the top four cards as
two, turn face down in your hand using the four cards to help you (supposedly
the four Kings, actually 2), peel a selection and turn it face down on top of the 2
Kings, a la Braue addition, then place the 3 cards as one face down on top of
the kings. Immediately place the top 2 cards face down on the table. Let
spectators see clearly that there are 2 cards and 2 cards only, then square
those 2 cards.

Now, my handling of "Dr. Jacob Daly's last trick". Elmsley count showing 4
cards as 4. You are not hiding nothing, or false displaying nothing. Nope, you
are using it for another purpose: displacing cards while apparently only
reversing their order. Soooo...

Double lift the top two cards, show a King, leaving the selection on table. Do the
last part of the Gemini Count (known also as Ascanio's bottom double), showing
a King. Leave the selection on table, show a King, show another King by
imitating the previous handling. If you did things right, you ended up with the
previously named King on top, face down.

Now explain to spectators: "I'm going to cause the JS to travel from between the
Jacks to between the selections".

Take the four card packet in your hand, patter about the supposed selections,
have spectator touch the card and instruct her to spread them a little, not
peeking at the faces, only seeing that there are only 2 cards. While this
happens, you simple turn the top king face up with a peeling motion of you
thumb, and send it second from the bottom. This a classical reversal of a card,
from Expert Card Technique, depending on strong misdirection, and the fact
that if it's done smoothly, the face up card is visible less than half a second. It's
like the pass, the top change, etc.

While squaring your packet, palm the top card, and change the grip of the
packet to Biddle, holding it in the hand that has the card palmed.

Wave the packet above the supposed 2 selections, but one packet far from the
other. It's a magical gesture, justifying the palm, the biddle grip and the following
move...not a transfer, or a load. Make that clear in your body language. You are
just doing nothing.

Take the "Kings" packet again into your other hand in dealing position. Place
the other hand on top of the 2 cards, and rub fast, as if you were "making heat".
The rubbing is more than just a silly thing: a) It flattens the palmed card b) It's a
magical gesture c) It makes the impression that a card appears IN THE
MIDDLE of the 2 selection, not on top. Trust me: when I say rub, you should
rub.

Before the climax, recap: "I placed the 2 selections in here, the kings in this
hand. I said I will not use the deck. I said I was going to make the JS travel to
between the selections...And a card appeared between those 2 cards (point to
tabled packet). Wich card do you think it is?". They answer JS. You nod, while
leaving the other packet on the opposite side of the table, and reach to turn face
up the recently produced card. It's another Jack. The other 2 jacks remain face
down, audience suppose they are the 2 selections. Act as if you have made a
mistake for a second. Let the "mistake" sink...

Then smile. Say: "I promised the JS between the selection. But I never said in
WICH packet". Turn to the other packet, show the face up JS, show selections.
"Of course, to make the miracle complete, the other Js all travelled...in here".
Turn the Js face up.

Credits: this is AMDG, which, besides "Ad Maiorem Dei Gloria", means "All Mr.
Duffie's Genius". I read "Packet Switch" from his "Virtual Miracles". The plot it's
the same. The method, specially the swicht, is completely mine, and I most say
like mine better, for it's much more direct. Ok, It's me who's saying it, but hey, if
I don't love myself, then I can't pretend others to do it. The presentation is also
mine. This is very important, because the transposition it's only comprehensible
and meaningful after the reestructuration on the narrative development of the
trick that I have made. Again, it's only my opinion. Producing the selected JS
face up it's also my idea, as it is making spectator to check there are only 2
cards before the transposition. Finally, my starting point it's much more clearer
than the original, and let's you use it as I sugested, as a climax for other effects.
I most say that Mr. Duffie it's very keen to this type of plot. He has several
routines where not only the identity of the cards transpose, but the cuantity also,
like "Elvis has left the building". My everlasting gratitud to Mr. Duffie for his work
on card magic, of wich I'm an old fan.
 Psychic Fingerprints
by Weseley Hanna

About Weseley Hanna, from Weseley: "I was first bitten by the little magic bug
when I was only five or six. It began with a trick found in Rice Crispies,
expanded over the years with the "Magic Works" sets that appeared for a while,
and now I find myself here at Visions. I'm an amatuer magician residing in
southwest Idaho, eagerly awaiting the day I make my presence known to the
community. And what a day that will be!"

Effect: The deck is spread and a card is freely chosen by a spectator then
returned face down to the center of the deck. The deck is spread again and a
second spectator is challenged to try and pick the same card that the previous
spectator did. They make their selection and it is found to be an indifferent card.
The magician, a little embarrassed that his experiment went wrong, asks for a
second chance. And to make sure that the same indifferent card isn't picked
again, he has it inserted face up into the facedown deck. After a brief moment of
thought, the magician decides something doesn't quite feel right. Perhaps the
spectators are trying to trip him up. So he confirms with the first spectator one
more time that the card selected by the second spectator wasn't his. The deck
is spread and the only face up card is the one chosen by the first spectator.

Preparation: Turn the bottom card of the face down deck so that it is face up.

Presentation: Spread the cards face down on the table or in your hands, being
careful not to expose the face up card on the bottom of the deck. Have the first
spectator freely choose any card, remove it, memorize it (sign it if they want to),
and return it to the deck. But before they return their card to the deck, grab the
deck, square it, and secretly turn it over in your hand so that the bottom card,
which is reversed from the others in the deck, causes the deck to appear
facedown while in reality it is face up. Have the card returned facedown, which
causes it to be in actuality face up.

Once the chosen card is returned, again secretly turn the deck over and get the
bottom card (face up) card reversed so that it is facedown like the rest of the
deck. One method of doing this is to use the card reversal method described in
the instructions for "Topsy-turvy Cards" which is the first trick described in The
Royal Road to Card Magic.

After that, cut the deck, finding the break at the chosen card (which is face up in
the deck) caused by the natural bend of the cards. Cut it so that the chosen
card becomes the bottom card of the deck. Do this and the task described in the
previous paragraph while describing to a second spectator the experiment you
would like to conduct, which is to see if they can pick the exact same card as
the first spectator. Explain that when a person touches a card, they leave
behind a psychic residue, which can be detected by a well focused mind.
Have the second spectator clear their thoughts, then when they are ready,
spread the deck for them (being careful again not to expose the reversed
bottom card) and have them choose any card they desire. Remove the card
they chose for them, keeping it face down to build suspense, then set it on the
table or lay it in their hand. After a brief pause, have them turn the card over.
Ask the first spectator if the card is the same one that they had chosen prior.
They will answer no.

Act a little bit puzzled at how the experiment could've failed, then ask for a
second chance to attempt it. To make things easier, return the indifferent card
that was chosen by the second spectator to the deck, face up, so that it will not
be chosen again. Before actually returning the indifferent card, however, again
secretly turn over the deck in your hand so that the bottom card (which is both
the chosen card and reversed from the rest of the deck) is on top, making the
deck appear to be facedown. By having the indifferent card returned face up,
you are in fact making it match the facing direction of the rest of the cards in the
deck.

Again cut the deck and complete the cut, bringing the face up selected card to
the middle.

Before continuing, suddenly become a little suspicious of the spectators. Maybe

they have been teaming up and trying to trick you.... maybe the card selected
by the second spectator really did match the one picked by the first. You decide
to confirm with them that the indifferent card returned to the deck face up truly
isn't the correct card. Before they answer, say, "Before you say no, I want you
to see it one more time in case you forgot which one it was." Spread the deck,
showing all of the cards facedown, except for one -- the first spectator's card.

Afterthoughts: This is really nothing more than a drawn out "pick-a-card-any-

card" trick.
 Double Klondyke Speller
by Werner Miller

Only the 13 club cards are used. Openly sort them out and discard the balance
of the deck.

Remove the King of Clubs and hand the remaining 12 cards to a spectator. Ask
the spectator to shuffle the cards and to deal them into three face-down piles of
four.

Invite two people to assist. The first freely chooses one of the three piles, looks
at the bottom (face) card, remembers it, turns the selected packet face down
again and places it on top of either of the remaining two.

The second spectator now freely selects either the four-card or the eight-card
pile, looks at the bottom card, remembering it. This packet is then dropped face
down on top of the other one. The result is a single pile of twelve cards, with the
two noted cards 4th and 8th from top.

Pick up the King of Clubs, show it and place it face down on top of the pile. This
will bring the total number of cards to 13 and the positions of the noted ones to
5th and 9th from top.

Give the cards two Klondyke (Milk) Shuffles -- one shuffle for each noted card.
Then spell "K-I-N-G", dealing a card for each letter from the top and forming a
new pile. Spell "O-F", dealing two cards singly into another pile. Spell "C-L-U-B-
S", dealing five cards singly into a third pile.

You are left with two card. Place them aside.

Turn the top card of the last pile face up ... it is the King of Clubs!

Turn the top cards of the other piles face up ... they are the noted ones! (The
card that was originally 8th resp. 9th from top is now on top of the first pile, the
card that was originally 4th resp. 5th from top is now on top of the second pile.)

To prove that Queens are equally talented for locating cards you can offer a
repetition.

Turn the King of Clubs and the two located cards face down, assemble the
three piles in any order, and place the two cards set aside after the spelling on
top.

Take the balance of the deck and openly sort out the three remaining queens
(Queen of Hearts, Queen of Spades, Queen of Diamonds). Have one queen
designated by a spectator. If the Queen of Hearts or the Queen of Spades is
named, call this card the spectator's choice. If the Queen of Diamonds is
named, eliminate it, and let the spectator eliminate another queen, too. The
remaining one will become the spectator's choice. (It is vital that the suit of the
selected queen is spelled with six letters.)

Add the two non-selected queens to the pile of 13.

Have this packet (15 cards) shuffled by a spectator and dealt into three equal
piles.

Proceed as described, but with one difference: After spelling the suit of the
selected queen drop the remaining cards as a block on top.

Have fun!
 Bubble Sort
by Werner Miller

This is, in fact, a variation of Peter Duffie's "Anti-Gravity Shuffle". Peter's routine
-- a sort of mathematically induced multiple sandwich -- was originally published
in "Cards Insight", and a few months ago posted as a freebie at Peter's web
site. In the original routine, the spectators have very limited choices on
selecting a card and placing it back. I wanted to offer the spectators more
options, and so I decided to start with three equal piles. I worked out two
versions:

Version 1 (Down/Under Shuffle with 16 cards)

Openly remove a jack, a queen and a king, all three of the same suit. Place
them in a face up spread on the table. Insert two random face down cards
between them (J - X - Q - X - K).

Hand the remaining cards to a spectator for shuffling. Then ask the spectator to
deal off the top three equal piles, three face down cards each. From the balance
of the deck, the spectator freely selects a card, notes and remembers it, places
it on top of any pile, and drops one of the remaining piles on top (Result: a 7-
card pile with the spectator's card in the middle, and a 3-card pile).

Another spectator is requested to select likewise a card, to place it on top of

either pile, and to drop the last one on top. (Result: an 11-card packet with the
spectators' cards 4th and 8th from the top.) Pick up the JQK sandwich, square
it, and place the spectators' packet on top of it. (The combined packet consists
now of 16 cards.) Carry out a Down/Under Shuffle, announcing that this mixing
procedure will cause any face up cards at the bottom to rise to the top. After the
shuffle, the sandwich is indeed on top. Remove the two face down cards from
between the court cards and turn them over -- they are the spectators'
selections.

Version 2 (Under/Down Shuffle with 15 cards)

As before, openly remove the three court cards of any suit. A spectator shuffles
the rest of the deck, and deals the top twelve cards into three equal piles. The
remaining cards are discarded. Then the spectator decides on any pile, notes
and remembers its bottom (face) card, and places that pile on top of one of the
remaining piles. (Result: an 8-card pile with the spectator's card near the
middle, and a 4-card pile.)

Another spectator notes and remembers the bottom (face) card of either pile,
and drops that pile on top of the other one. (Result: a 12-card packet with the
spectator's cards 4th and 8th from the top.) Take the combined packet, and
remove the top card and the bottom card, interlacing them openly with the face
up court cards to a 5-card sandwich. (The packet consists now of 10 cards, and
the two selections are 3rd and 7th from the top.)
Square the sandwich, and place the spectators' packet on top.

Mix the combined packet (15 cards) by doing an Under/Down Shuffle. The
result is the same as in version 1 -- the sandwich has risen to the top, and the
two random cards between the court cards have surprisingly changed places
with the spectators' selections.
 Laughing Stock
by Peter Michael

I am rather proud of this effect. I have created many effects over the years, but
they always end up being published or given to other magicians. This one
makes me proud because it demonstrates what I can achieve when I reach the
peak of my creativity. It is an effect I use regularly and never fails to impress
magicians and laymen alike. It reads kind of long, so feel free to skip it and go
on to something a little less time-consuming. Just don't kick yourself when
someone else fools you badly with it later on. ;-)

Harry Lorayne published a terrific effect in his book My Favorite Card Tricks
called 'Any Four of a Kind'. A spectator is asked to call out a four of a kind, and
the magician proceeds to produce it instantly. I liked the concept, however, the
effect relies on a stack of three sets of four of a kind, one of which must be
forced on the spectator. I wanted it to be much more direct. If I approach
someone and ask them to pick a four of a kind, I want to be able to produce it
immediately, using their first choice; no force and no knuckle-busting sleights.
Mr. Lorayne provides several outs in case the spectator does not select one of
the forced four of a kind involving asking again, or rephrasing the request. What
worried me was that, even though they may not be able to reconstruct the effect
later on, there is a good chance your spectators will remember that, yes, you
did cut to their four a kind quite skillfully, but it was not their first choice. To me,
this lessened the magical impact of the effect. This is my solution to the
problem.

First of all, surprise of surprises, the deck is stacked. However, the stack is s o
logical, simple and clever that it made me laugh. This method of stacking the
deck is not original to me. I laughed at this principle of stacking the deck, even
though it was not original to me, that I called it the Laughing Stack. With the
deck face-down, the four Aces are on top with the 2s under them, then the 3s,
the 4s, and so on until the four Kings at the bottom of the deck. You will see
why this logical set-up will come in handy shortly.

The first key is to NEVER comment on the deck. Don't say "a regular deck" or
"a shuffled deck". Don't even talk about the deck. Just perform the effect.

The second key is to bring their selected four of a kind to the top of the deck.
There are two ways to achieve this. Trust me, this is easier than you think. If the
Aces are selected, you're golden, since they are already on top. If the 2s, 3s, or
4s are selected, let's say they select the 3s, with the deck face-down in the left
hand dealing grip, you spread over the first eight cards (the Aces and the 2s) as
you explain that you are going to attempt to find their four of a kind without
looking at the cards. Close up the spread, and get a break between the 2s and
the 3s. Take over the break with your right thumb from behind and double cut
the 3s to the top of the deck.
If a higher number is picked (5s to Kings), your actions and patter will change.
Let's say they call out the 7s. First of all, because of the sequential order of the
stack in the deck, if they call out the 7s, you will instantly know they are
approximately near the middle of the deck. If they pick the 10s or Jacks, you
know they are near the bottom of the deck. This knowledge is important, and
will greatly facilitate the following actions.

So, they have called out the 7s. I say, "I am going to attempt to find your four of
a kind using magic." As I begin this sentence, I turn the deck so only I can see
the faces. The point is to locate their four of a kind and get a break under it. This
is where the sequential stack of the deck comes in handy. If they call out the 7s
and you know they are near the centre of the deck, then you can turn the deck,
faces towards you and just spread immediately to near the centre of the deck to
locate their four a kind and get a break below it. This should only take you three
seconds, four, tops! The reason for this is, even if they credit you with
supernatural skill, there is no way, no matter how good you are, that you can
simply spread the cards and close the spread and instantly control their four of
kind. I perform this sequence with a devilish grin. This never fails to get a laugh.
As far as they're concerned, this is just a joke. As you close up the spread,
smile and say "I knew you guys wouldn't fall for that. I'm gonna do it without
cheating." You can think of something really clever to say here. They have
picked the 7s. The deck should still be face-up and squared in the left hand
dealing grip with a left pinky finger break between the 6s and the 7s. Simply
double cut the deck, turn it face-down and the 7s will now be on top. Don't worry
about them seeing the cards on the face of the deck as you cut, because they
will be different.

At this point, all the dirty work is done. However, even if it was just for a few
seconds, you still looked at the cards. It does not matter if the possibility that
you could have controlled their four of a kind in such a short time does not exist.
If your spectator wants to believe that this is what you did, they will. So, with the
deck face-down, I give it a riffle shuffle retaining the four of a kind on top of the
deck, but I do not mention what I am doing or why. This serves two purposes.
First of all, it subliminally tells them that, even if you did manage to peek at their
cards, now the deck is completely shuffled. Secondly, it destroys your set-up of
the rest of the deck should they wish to examine the deck at the conclusion of
the effect.

From here, you can proceed with any four of a kind revelation that calls for said
four of a kind to be stacked on top of the deck. Bob King's "If At First" from the
first volume of his 'Magician Foolers' lecture notes is very strong. I close this
effect with Larry Jennings' "The Spectator Cuts the Aces". The version I use is
the one taught in Roberto Giobbi's 'Card College, Volume 1' (pp. 51- 53)

If you are familiar with 'The Spectator Cuts the Aces', you know that three of
your four of a kind must be controlled to the bottom of the deck, while the fourth
card is retained on top. To achieve this, you use an overhand shuffle control,
running three cards from the top of the deck into your left hand, and dropping
the rest of the deck on top. Fair enough, but how many people do you know that
overhand shuffle a deck by running it only three times? Not very many. When
you overhand shuffle a deck, you shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle until
the cards are good and mixed. Laymen may not be wise to the overhand shuffle
control, but why even give them a hint that it could exist? You only need to run
three cards, and you don't want to keep shuffling and then have to start
worrying about using an injogged card, cutting at the break, shuffling to the
break, etc. What I do is shuffle the three cards into my left hand, let my right
hand holding the rest of the deck go up as if it is going to come back down,
except I freeze in mid-air then look at the audience as if to say, "Wait a minute."
I patter to the effect that "This is too easy." At THAT precise moment, I drop the
rest of the deck on the three cards in my left hand. "Everyone knows the
magician can find the card. I'm going to let you have a go at it." From this point
on, I go into the Jennings "The Spectator Cuts the Aces" routine as described in
Roberto Giobbi's book.

To conclude, ask your spectator to cut the deck into four piles, and doing what
you do best, turn over the top card of each of the piles they cut to at random to
show that they have cut to their own four of a kind.

One word on the cutting of the deck. First, I ask the spectator to pick up the
entire deck, drop a pile of cards on the table, move their hand over and drop
another pile of cards next to it, and so on until they have create four piles. They
will either do this from their left to right, or right to left.

On the picking up of the cards, I start by picking up the first pile of cards they
cut from the bottom of the deck (with the three cards of the four of a kind on the
bottom) and call the top card of this pile as a random cut. I do this for the top
card of the second pile they cut. However, in picking up the third and fourth top
cards of the piles they cut, I don't say a thing. I just say, "In fact, I did not force
you to cut to any of these cards." The reason for this is, often, when you pick up
the original top card of the deck, no matter how well shuffled it is, or how fair
everything looks, a magician can always control the top card of the deck. Don't
even call attention to it, and neither will they.

I hope you appreciate the subtlety and cleverness of the construction of this
routine. The fact that the misdirection is built into the presentation virtually
eliminates the sweat that usually comes with performing these effects using
forces or awkward stacks or culls and controls. The effect is direct and packs a
high impact glossy finish. I hope you use it.
 The Lost And Found Prince
by Ryon S. Cupidore

Effect: A deck of cards in "new-deck" order is shown to the spectators. A

volunteer is asked to name a particular suit, and The Jack and Queen of that
suit are removed and placed on top of the deck.

The magician shows the Jack on top of the deck, replaces it, and explains that it
represents a prince, who loved to wander in the forest, which is represented by
the deck. At first, he only went to the edge of that forest, but as time passed, he
ventured further into the forest and got himself lost.

The Jack is removed from the top and placed somewhere in the middle of the
deck, effectively losing it. The magician now shows the Queen on top of the
deck and replaces it, explaining that his mother, the Queen, was very worried
but could only go to the edge of the forest to look for him. So she got her
bravest knight to search for him.

The magician picks up the deck and pulls out the King on the bottom. This is the
knight, the magician explains. This knight was very brave, and went into all
corners of the forest to search for him.

As he is speaking, he sticks the King halfway into the deck at various points,
then put it on top. The magician then says that the knight was not able to find
the prince by searching through the forest. However, he was also educated in
magic to a certain degree, and he used his knowledge to turn the forest over -
literally.

The magician then turns over several parts of the deck, then takes out three
face down cards, and rests them on the table. He turns them over as he says
that the brave knight was able to find the prince and reunite him with his mother.
The three facedown cards show the Jack between the King and Queen. The
magician concludes by saying that the kinght became the Queen's most trusted
after that day.

Method: When the Jack and Queen are removed, the Ten is also discreetly
removed as well. These three cards are quickly placed on top of the deck. As
the magician begins the story, he performs a double lift to flash the Jack at the
spectators. Therefore, it is the Ten that is removed and hidden in the deck.
Another double lift is done when the Queen comes into the story.There will
always be a King on the bottom once the deck is in what I call "new-deck order"
(A through K in Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts), so it is the easiest place to
get one without fumbling. For the last part, what I call the Turnover Force is
used. I first saw it in a Mark Wilson magic book and he used that name for it,
but I believe that it is known by other names as well.

Turnover Force: With the deck facedown, lift off about the first 13 cards, turn
them faceup and replace them on top. Do the same thing twice again, except
that you lift about 26 cards the third time and 39 the third. Finally, turn the entire
deck over. Run through it in your hands and stop at the first facedown card you
come to.

When you arrive at that card, remove it as well as the two immediately below it.
They will be the King, the missing Jack, and the Queen. Simply turn them over
and complete the story.

Comments: The important thing here is to ensure that your spectators are
nterested in the story and will not suspect you of doing anything fishy with the
deck. Don't call excess attention to the cards in your hand. Make it seem as just
a prop, rather than the key to the entire trick.

The best place to put the Ten is somewhere in the bottom third of the deck.
That way, you don't ever risk exposing it during the Turnover Force. If the
spectators see it out of place at any time, they will suspect that something is
wrong.
 Special Attraction
by Daniel de Urquiza

Effect: As the initial opening of a series of mental card magic, the performer
asks spectator to select any card of the deck. The selection consists in a very
brief stroke with the tip of the index finger on one card of the fanned deck. This
card is extracted from the deck very fairly. Any other 3 cards, of different suits
and values, are placed besides the selection. All face up. Spectator takes and
shuffles the deck, divided in 2 packets. She selects any packet. Shuffles again,
if wished. Deals cards face up on the table. If the card dealt is from the same
suit as the selection, then the selection moves one place ahead. If it's another
suit, the matching card moves one place ahead. All cards are dealt. The
selection always reaches first the spectator, because of the eerie attraction
existing between the selection and the spectator. This attraction it's what
caused spectator to select it, in the firs place. Spectator shuffles again the
packet, if wished. It happens again. Then the OTHER packet is shuffled by
spectator, and the cards are dealt. It happens again.

Idea of presentation:

There is a very special relation between human beings and cards. This relation
is the foundation of fortunetelling with tarot cards, and this relation can be
explored with regular poker cards. Actually, the poker cards are the base of one
of the most famous types of tarot card, the French Tarot from Marseille.

Please, let me show you in a very special way the relationship existing between
you and cards.

When a person picks a card, it's not at random. Esoteric forces of a very
strange kind are there at work, and the selection it's always related to the one
who is making the selection.

For instance, "pick a card, any card". Let's place it face up on the table. Ah, the
Jack of Spades! Now, to prove the strong relation between you and this card,
let's place near to it 3 other different cards. Very different…let's see…ok, Ace of
hearts, Q of clubs and….King of diamonds. Different in value, different in suit.

Please, take this half of the deck, and shuffle it.

Now take this one, and shuffle it.

Please, point to one half. Ok, take it, and shuffle it one more time.

Concentrate on your card.

Deal cards face up, slowly, on a pile, on the table. Let's see…a club. Let's move
then, towards you, the club card…the Q of clubs. (this continues until all cards
are dealt)

See! The Jack of Spades it's with you, it's the nearest card…It's almost touching
your heart.

Method: This is a simplification, reorganization, change of presentation and

amplification of an aspect, besides of being an exhumation, of an old effect
recompiled by Nick Trost at "Gambling Tricks with Cards". The original routine
it's from Tony Koininy, and he called it "Derby". The routine by Mr. Trost it's
called "Horse race".

The original routine involved matches, coins, and a presentation around a horse
race. With all due respect, adoration and veneration to Mr. Trost, that was a
rather naïve presentation, if you now what I mean.

And using matches, coins, etc, while maybe visually appealing and out of the
ordinary, it also took some spontaneity away.

Also, my method allows spectator to choose a card, making it a lot more

personal and interesting…I think.

This routine it's an opener, so you are supposed to have previously arranged
the setup.

But the setup it's not so complicated, so feel free to try it impromptu. Any decent
culler should be able to do it reasonable fast and hidden. Mostly, because there
is Setup.

Cull the treys to the top.

Cull to the top any 5 spot card of each suit, in any order. The only thing you
must be sure of is that you have on top 5 cards of each suit.

You'll have a 20 cards on top, 5 of each suit; the treys, and a bottom section of
the deck composed by all court cards and the aces.

Proceedings: Fan the deck, in the way me and you know so well (we are
sooooo clever) that causes spectator to choose from the lower halve of the
deck. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go read Mr. Bobo's work, or
feed your doves, instead of loosing your time here.

Spectator will select, forced by your cunning and the eternal laws of logic, either
an ace or a court card.

Place that one face up, in the middle.

By the way, the ideal audience disposition is as follows: a rectangular table. At
one end of it, your spectator. You are seated, next to him, on one of the sides of
the table. Rest of audience is around the table, but not behind you.

When you place the card, place it with at the top short end point to spectator,
face up, in the middle of the table. You have to calculate approximately 6 cards
in distance from spectator's chest, which should be above the edge of the table.
Kinda silly describing all this, I know, being so simple in actual performance. All
is for the sake of correct understanding, and a certain level of freakiness of me.
What can I say, I'm an artist.

So, you place that card face up in there, and look quickly at the faces of the
deck, doing this:

a) Take 3 other cards of different suit an value.

b) Cut the deck in a way that the 3 that matches the suit of the selection gets
added to the top 20 cards. Say, you are looking at the faces of the cards. You
see the 3 of club third from the first 3. Think: it's very easy what I want you to
do. I want you to add one more card of the suit of selected card. In this way,
when placing cards at the table, you'll always have one more card of the suit
you want.

The selected card always reaches spectator first than the others.

Soooo, simply slide with your thumb the needed three next to the bottom card of
the 20 cards top packets. It's very similar to a cull, only done "in front" instead of
"behind the spread".

Of course, you don't have to slide anything if the needed 3 is already there.

Now, watch me being a genius: lift all 21 card packet and give it to spectator
who selected the card, asking her to shuffle the cards. Ask her to concentrate in
her selection while doing this.

Then give her the lower packet, and ask her again to shuffle. Magician force her
the top packet, afterwards.

While you do all that I've told you to do with great faith in me (long to describe in
print, very short in actual performance) explain that you are going to show them
an eerie attraction between the selection and the selector.

To show that this only happens with the selection, and with no other card, you'll
place 3 other cards around next to it. Very different cards, in value and in suit.
Spectator is going to deal the cards from her packet face up, in a pile, in the
table.

From the packet SHE shuffled, remember.

She deals say, a club. Move forward then the club card on the table, toward
spectator.

As you may probably guessed by now, the selection always reach first to the
spectator.

Coincidence?

Make her shuffle again her packet.

Repeat.

It happens again.

Wow.

Take the packet from her, place it on top of the other packet, while performing a
pass, keeping the break.

Do this in a sort of "packet switch alla Marlo" fashion (indeed it's a packet
swicht. Use any other you know). Meaning: take the packet from spectator as if
the trick is over. Place it for a moment in top of the other packet, which you've
absently picked from the table. Perform the pass, and separate the packets, as
if they have never been in contact one with the other. The rhythm it's quite
similar of that of the top change. You can think of the switch as a top change of
packets.

Offer her to shuffle again the "bottom" packet, and to do it one more time.
 Fives or Sevens?
by Werner Miller

Werner Miller is a retired teacher of mathematics, whose hobbies are

recreational mathematics and magic. A magical inventor and writer, Werner has
produced a prolific volume of work, mostly semi-automatic card tricks and other
self-working miracles. He is the author of "E-Z Square 1 & 2", the "Enigmaths"
series and several other books and ebooks on mathematical magic, besides
more than 300 contributions to various magazines and web sites. You can find
his tricks regulary in, e.g., the German magazine "Magische Welt" and the
British "Mystery Magazine", as well as here at Visions.

A little count-off trick (or spelling trick, respectively), using the five-spots and the
seven-spots of a deck.

Show the four Sevens in a face-up fan, square the cards and place them face
down on the table. In a similar way display the four Fives, turn them face down
and place them on top of the Sevens.

Mix the combined packet by giving the cards either a Monge Shuffle or (better)
a series of three Klondyke Shuffles; the resulting order is the same: (top) 5 - 5 -
7 - 7 - 7 - 7 - 5 - 5 (bottom).

Ask the spectator, "Fives or Sevens?"

If the spectator decides on Fives, count aloud from 1 to 5, with each number
transferring one card from top to bottom. Remove the next (sixth) card and
place it before you without showing its face. Repeat this procedure until four
cards have been sorted out. Hand the four remaining cards to the spectator:
They are the Fives, as requested. (The cards sorted out are the Sevens, of
course.) If the spectator opts for the Sevens, spell aloud "S-E-V-E-N", with each
letter transferring one card from top to bottom. Remove the next (sixth) card,
turn it over and give it to the spectator: It's a Seven. Repeat this procedure until
the three remaining Sevens also have been sorted out and handed to the
spectator. (You are automatically left with the four Fives.)
 The Power of Lying
by Oli Foster

Oli Foster leads an exciting double life as an underwriter by day and magic
enthusiast the rest of the time. Ahem. When he's not pretending card stacks are
work-related, he enjoys collecting old magic books and working out superfluous
mental card routines, like the one you're about to read...

One effect that captures the imagination is having a spectator correctly guess
the identity of a face down card. The procedure allows little room for manoeuvre
and one method that seems to have cropped up over the last couple of hundred
years or so is a psychological force, followed by a switch if this ploy proves
unsuccessful. I wanted to create a similar effect, without recourse to either and
was amused to consider an approach that uses no more special ability than that
of being able to keep a straight face whilst lying your pants off.

Effect: The magician invites the spectator to help him shuffle and cut the cards.
While this is completed, he comments that this is normally done to randomise
the order of the deck but, sometimes, by pure random chance, matching cards
will end up shuffled together, so one might end up with, say, four of a kind,
attracting the resultant comments that ‘the deck hasn’t been shuffled very well’..

In this case, it has, but the spectator is invited to imagine that she has indeed
cut to four of a kind and to further guess at which four cards she might have cut
to. The spectator names the four sixes. The four randomly cut cards are tabled
face down without showing whether the spectator has guessed correctly. The
magician removes two of the four cards and again has the spectator guess
whether he’s removed the red cards or black cards. She guesses black. Finally,
the magician removes one further card and has the spectator guess the suit of
the one remaining card. She guesses clubs.

The magician recaps that the spectator cut to four cards from a shuffled deck
and, herself, guessed the value (six) and suit (clubs) of the one card that’s been
in sight throughout. Without any fuss or moves, this card is turned over and
found to be the six of clubs.

Set-up: Remove the two to nine inclusive in a random mixture of suits and
arrange these in numerical order. Place the first four cards of this stack (the two
to five) on the face of the deck and the second four cards (the six to nine) on the
top. You’re ready to begin.

Performance: Table the deck face down and ask a spectator to cut off about
half the cards and place this half to one side. Riffle shuffle these two halves
together, maintaining stock of the top and bottom four stacked cards. Ask the
spectator to square the two interwoven halves and to again cut off about half
the deck and place it to one side. By involving her in a shuffle that duplicates
the subsequent cut, the whole process becomes less distinct and helps disguise
what follows.

You’re about to complete a crossing the cut force, without drawing attention to
it.. Pick up the bottom half, as you start to patter about shuffling being used to
randomise the order of the deck. As you say this, place the bottom half on top of
the packet the spectator has just cut off but, instead of placing it square on top,
rest it slightly diagonally on the spectator’s packet, so that the two halves aren’t
flush.

Continue that sometimes, by pure chance, matching cards can end up shuffled
together, such as four of a kind and that this would be particularly useful if you
could control these things in a card game and shuffle up aces and kings, but in
reality, these matching cards tend to be more random. Ask the spectator to
imagine that she has indeed cut to four matching cards and to name any
random four of a kind of any number without being obvious.

This should eliminate the named aces and kings, as well as court cards from
her selection, along with the tens which, for some reason, seem similarly
obvious. The result will be that she will name one of the eight values that rest on
either side of the marked cut. Above the cut are values two to five, followed by
values six to nine beneath the cut, all in order.

If she names a value between two and five, pick up the top half and remove the
four cards from its face. If she names a value between six and nine, pick up the
top half and remove the four cards from the top of the tabled packet. Either will
seem to be the four cards ‘randomly cut to’. Square up the rest of the deck,
leaving the other four in the centre.

You’ve now removed what appear to be four random cards, one of which
matches her named value, whereas she’s wondering how all of them could
possibly be a match, given that she cut before guessing. You’re now going to
force the suit of the card that matches her named value using equivoque, but,
unlike the usual tell-tale pattern of “so you chose x, which leaves us with y”, you
will seem to have her guess which cards you have removed, after you have
removed them and will consistently confirm that you have indeed removed what
she chose rather than what she didn’t.

You know the order of the four cards and whether the spectator’s value is in the
left two cards or the right two. Pick up the two that contain the value and table
the other two. Tell the spectator that, if she is right and she did indeed cut to the
four sixes, two of them would be red and two of them would be black. When you
say this, gesture to one of the two piles as you say ‘red’ and the other one as
you say ‘black’, to semi-consiously establish which pile is which. In reality, both
piles are of mixed colours but, on gesturing, indicate that the two you’re holding
are both the colour of the spectator’s value. For example, if her chosen six is
black, you’d subtly gesture to the cards your holding when you say ‘black’.
You now say that you’ll take two cards away and the spectator should guess
whether these are the black cards or the red cards. This is worded carefully,
rather than saying you’ll remove or get rid of two cards as, depending on what
the spectator says, you will either say that the cards you’ve taken away are the
two you’re now holding or the two you’ve left on the table. Because you’ve
indicated the matching colour of the cards you’re holding, she’s likely to name
this colour, black, to which you respond, ‘so we’ll take the black cards away, the
clubs and spades.’ [gesturing to the cards you’re holding.] If she doesn’t, say
‘so, if this was real, taking the red cards away, [gesturing to the tabled cards]
would leave us with the black cards, [gesturing to the cards you’re holding] the
clubs and spades.’

‘Finally, I’m going to remove one of these two remaining cards, either the club
or the spade.’ As you say this, remove the card that matches the spectator’s
value, again, subtly indicating its suit. ‘Which card do you think I’m removing,
the club or the spade?’ Repetition would normally make equivoque look
transparent for its inconsistency but, here, it strengthens the illusion as, on both
occasions, the spectator is being asked to guess which card/s you have already
removed. Whatever she says, place the card of her named value face down in
front of her and the other card on top of the other two, before placing all three
on the deck and casually cutting them to the middle.

Now recap by saying that she imagined that the random cards she cut to were
four sixes and that the last one remaining was a club, not just any club but the
six of clubs. Of all 52 cards [ribbon spread the deck face up] she guessed just
one [gesture to the tabled card] Ask her to turn over the card in front of her.
Sometimes, imagination defies the constraints of probability.
 Lucky Git!
by Oli Foster

Oli Foster leads an exciting double life as an underwriter by day and magic
enthusiast the rest of the time. Ahem. When he's not pretending card stacks are
work-related, he enjoys collecting old magic books and working out superfluous
mental card routines, like the one you're about to read...

Effect: Jack and Sarah are invited to participate in a bit of nonsense. Both
shuffle a deck of cards, select one and cut it back into the deck.

The magician turns to Sarah and asks her to spell her name out loud. As Sarah
calls out each letter, the magician deals a card from the top of the deck. The
card dealt on the last letter of Sarah’s name is found to be Sarah’s card!

Jack cuts the cards some more and names a number. Jack deals this number
of cards from the face of the deck and, sure enough, the last card he deals is
his card!

No stacks, maths or sleight of hand (to speak of), easy!

Method: This is practically nothing but the part I think you’ll like is that both
revelations are set up openly, under cover of natural actions, without
extraneous handling. The only setup is to ensure the deck contains an
indifferent card that you can instantly cut to. This could be crimped, thick, short
etc. I use a breather crimped card. You may also want to subtly mark this card,
(either with a sharpie that matches the back colour or a pencil dot) so that you
can see when it’s been cut to. This card starts out at the face of the deck so,
because you can cut to it, you can perform this after other effects with the same
deck and have the cards shuffled.

When you introduce yourself at the start of your set, you’ll naturally ask the
names of the people who are taking part in your routine. Remember these
names for when you come to this trick and ensure that the first revelation is
performed for somebody whose name you can spell, preferably a lady for the
first effect and a gentleman for the second.

After both spectators have shuffled, receive the deck and cut your key card to
the face as you turn to Sarah. Start to spread the cards from the top of the deck
with their faces outward and parallel to your chest, asking Sarah to have a good
look and take out any card she likes. As you thumb the cards from left to right,
mentally spell a letter of Sarah’s name for each card you spread. When you’re
two letters away from the end of her name [in this case, you’ll have mentally
spelt “S-A-R”, slightly injog these three cards and continue to spread the rest of
the deck.
When she’s taken one, square up the deck and insert a break beneath the jog.
Ask her to show everyone else her card and, while she does, cut all of the cards
above the break to the face of the deck.

Place the deck on the table in front of Sarah and ask her to cut off about half the
cards and place them to the side. Now indicate for her to place her selection on
top of the cut off packet and replace the rest of the cards on top. Have her give
the reassembled deck another couple of cuts before returning it to you.

On receiving the cards, cut the key card back to the face of the deck as you turn
to Jack. Spread the deck and ask him to select a card and replace it in the
same way as Sarah [by cutting some cards off the top of the deck, replacing his
selection on this cut off packet and finally replacing the balance of the deck on
top, before giving the reassembled deck a few more cuts. This is conveyed in
gesture rather than words and is basically the same action as replacing his card
on top of deck and giving it a complete cut but, as this is performed at a table,
the action of cutting a packet off the top of the deck gives more of a visual
image of the card being “lost in the middle of the deck”.]

When you receive the cards from Jack, look him in the eye and ask him if he
has a lucky number. As you ask this, cut the key card to the top (rather than the
face) of the deck. If he says yes, ask what it is. If he says no, tell him he must
choose one and ask him to name a number. As per David Britland’s notes on
the Berglas Effect, a “number” without parameters suggests a single digit but, if
Jack’s chosen number is two digits, ask him to select one of these digits as a
‘super lucky number’ and to remember it for something you’ll save for last.

But first, you’re going to find Sarah’s card. Despite the free replacement and
cutting, Sarah’s card now rests on the last letter of her name with the key card
on top of the deck and Jack’s card second from the top. Here’s where it gets
cheeky though.

Ask Sarah to spell her name out loud and say that you’ll deal a card onto the
table as she calls out each letter. However, this revelation will secretly set you
up for the final phase. While Sarah is spelling and you’re dealing a card for each
letter, mentally count each card you deal. When you’ve dealt the number of
cards Jack has named as his ‘lucky number’, deal the next card slightly askew
so that it sticks out of the pile diagonally and continue dealing the cards as
Sarah spells.

Let’s imagine Jack has named the number two, meaning that three cards will
need to be dealt from the top of the deck. Sarah spells “S-A…” and you inwardly
ignore her whilst you deal a card for each letter and mentally count, “1, 2...”,
dealing the cards in time with her spelling. Without stopping, the third card is
dealt slightly askew while she spells the next letter, after which, you stop your
mental count and continue to deal the cards while she continues to spell her
name. The rhythm is maintained throughout without pausing and the last card
dealt is Sarah’s selection, which is placed face down in front of her.
Before you reveal her selection though, you casually return the dealt cards to
the top of the deck and here comes the tiny, ridiculously simple bit of chicanery
on which the final revelation depends. Carelessly scoop up all of the cards
above the sticking out ‘skewed’ card and replace them on top of the deck, as
though your fingers missed the couple of other cards that remain on the table.
Your other hand seems to correct this by scooping up the remaining three cards
and placing them ontop. As the order of the cards has been reversed by dealing
them face down, this simple action has placed Jack’s selection at his named
number before ‘his trick’ has begun.

The only variable is a possible requirement to deal more letters than there are in
your first spectator’s name, as you could potentially have to deal up to ten cards
and many people have names which spell with about five. There are two
solutions to this. If you’re performing for a couple, you could spell both of their
names! Or there is a pretext to deal a few more cards as required:

Let’s imagine Jack has named the number seven, so you know you will need to
deal eight cards. On spelling Sarah’s name, you’ve counted five cards so you
know you still need to deal a further three. Table the card that fell on the last
letter, as described, and say to Sarah, “It was fate for me to meet you here
tonight because, if you had been anybody else, this trick wouldn’t work. If you’d
had a different name, for example, with just one more letter in it, we would have
landed on a different card.” As you say this, turn over the top card to display the
face before tossing it onto the tabled pile. “Or you could have had a really long
name and I’d still be dealing cards right now, each one completely different.”
With this deal off the required balance, turning each card to display the face
before dealing it face down. You’re only likely to be out by one or two cards and,
if anything, this little display should strengthen the subsequent revelation.

“But fate was smiling on me because you were good enough to allow me to
show you this one trick – this one trick that will only work for you. Sarah, you
have before you the card that fell on the last letter of your name. Tell me, what
was the name of the card you cut into the deck?” As she tells you, turn over the
tabled card with a flourish and pause for applause.

Turn to Jack and ask him to do you the favour of cutting the deck a couple more
times. This is simply to dispel any idea of anything being preset, as though it
doesn’t matter what order the cards are in. When you receive the deck, ask
Jack what his lucky number was. This is again a moment of misdirection as you
simultaneously cut the key card to the face of the deck. This action places
Jack’s card at his named number from the face.

When he’s named his number, say “that’s interesting because, yet again this
wouldn’t have worked with anyone else because other people might not have
had that lucky number. Let’s see how lucky it is. Actually, if you’d like to hold
onto the cards…” Hand him the deck face down. He’s ahead of you at this point,
as you ask, “and tell me Jack, what was the name of the card you cut into the
deck?” When he responds, say that you’ll be impossibly fair and ask him to deal
that number of cards from the face of the deck so that everyone can see. Here,
he responds before the audience on discovering his selection at his named
position.

A reasonable mileage from a single crimped card. Enjoy!

 The No-Peek Box
by Oli Foster

Oli Foster leads an exciting double life as an underwriter by day and magic
enthusiast the rest of the time. Ahem. When he's not pretending card stacks are
work-related, he enjoys collecting old magic books and working out superfluous
mental card routines, like the one you're about to read...

Imagine this: The magician hands the spectator a boxed deck and asks her to
remove the cards from the box and shuffle them while he turns around. With his
back to the spectator, he asks the spectator to spread the cards toward herself
to check the random order of the shuffled deck and to cut the deck to bring any
card she likes to the face.

The spectator stares at her chosen card to burn its image in her mind before
removing the selection and placing it in her pocket. She replaces the rest of the
cards in the box before the magician turns around again. The boxed deck is
placed in the magician's pocket so that no cards are in sight and there is no
visible clue to the spectator's selection.

Reiterating that he has not seen or touched the deck and the spec tator could
have pocketed any one of the 52 cards, the magician attempts to divine the
card. Staring into the spectator's eyes and without a single question, he nods
smugly, appearing to have read her mind.

The magician quickly scribbles something on the back of his business card and
asks the spectator to remove her selection from her pocket for the first time.
The spectator turns the business card over and finds the name of her selection
inscribed across it.

She keeps the business card and recalls the story to a friend when she
rediscovers it a later date….

Method

I've always liked the idea of the peek box as it allows the cards to be isolated
and invisible in a way that suggests they can't help you in any way. It provides a
strong signpost to the idea of the magician divining a selection without seeing or
touching the cards. Combined with a stacked deck, this seems like a powerful
tool. However, it is not without its own compromises.

For instance, you've got to be careful that the spectator does not discover the
secret holes in the box and also that she replaces the deck in the right way
(although this latter problem has been solved in a couple of designs - the one
that springs to mind is Barrie Richardson's Double Sided Peek Box on page 52
of Act Two.

There's also the handling. The classic handling of holding the box to your head
looks silly and also points to the truth - that the box is of some assistance. I
wanted to improve both the handling and the box to the point where it didn't
matter how the spectator replaced the deck - it was just put away for all
concerned. Furthermore, the magician doesn't hold the box to his head or look
down at it or in fact look at it all. He simply puts it straight in his pocket as
though it's finished with. And it is finished with. And it doesn't matter how the
cards are replaced. And it will withstand examination (although I think it would
be a particularly low point if somebody asked to examine your box). The reason
for all of this is that it is exactly what it seems - a completely ordinary box.

Having eliminated the idea that the box can help us in any way, let's do the
same with the cards and have them shuffled. Why not? We are then left with a
trick which can't be explained - but will be anyway…

The deck is stacked in an order which will enable you to instantly identify the
card immediately before or after any card sighted. This sounds intimidating if
you don't use stacks (I don't perform so I'm in exactly that position) but it's
actually easy.

For our purposes, the old Eight Kings mnemonic will suffice nicely for the
values. That is

Eight kings threatened to save ninety five queens for one sick knave.
[8 king 3-10 2 7 9 5 queen 4 1 6 jack]

It's easy because it's phonetic and if it's not already stuck in your head, it will be
after saying it a couple of times to the point where asking for the salt turns into
incoherent babbling about the wrecking of queens on sick knaves. That could
just be me…

For the suits, we'll use our old pal Chased. That is

C H a S e D Clubs Hearts Spades Diamonds

Start with the first eight of clubs, followed by king of clubs, three of spades, ten
of diamonds, two of clubs…continuing to cycle through the suits and repeating
the run of thirteen values starting with the eight of hearts, then starting the run
again with the eight of spades, and finally a run starting with the eight of
diamonds and ending with the jack of diamonds.

You won't instantly know exactly which card is where but, critically, if you're
presented with a random card - let's say the six of diamonds, you'll know the
two cards either side of it. In this example

One sick knave Ace 6 jack

CHSD CHSD

Therefore Ace of Spades, Six of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs.

That's all you need to remember and, if you didn't already know these
menemonics, I'll bet you could remember this already.

Now we're going to take the risky step of asking the spectator to shuffle the
cards. If you happen to be performing for anyone likely to meet this request with
six perfect faro shuffles, omit this step or ask them for one more.

Choose somebody who doesn't appear to be a card sharper, clever clogs

magician or ****, and mime the actions of an overhand shuffle as you ask her to
quickly shuffle the cards for you.

Hopefully, she'll take your mimed lead and give the deck four or five overhand
running cuts. I think the emphasis here lies on the idea that the deck can be
shuffled so nobody's really bothered about a particularly thorough job. The
beauty of this tiny but significant step is that, whilst it corrupts any idea that the
order of the cards matters in any way, there is actually very little chance that a
run of three cards could be disrupted. If you think of it as four cuts - that's the
stack being disrupted in four positions out of fifty two. You'd have to be
particularly unlucky…

When you've seen the spectator shuffle the cards in this way, turn around to
face away from her. Ask her to run through the cards to check she's happy
they're in a completely random order and to cut the deck to bring any card she
likes to the face.

Ask her to stare at this face card for a couple of seconds so that she can
remember exactly what it looks like to retain a good visual image of it. When
she's done this, have her remove her selection and place it in her pocket before
replacing the rest of the deck in its box.

Turn around and put the box in your pocket. Reiterate that nobody has seen the
cards. She's shuffled them and removed any card he liked while you've been
facing away from her and there is therefore no natural way you could divine the
card now in her pocket.

Look her in the eyes, squint in concentration before relaxing as though you had
divined her card.

While you do this, let your hand slip into your pocket and find the crescent
thumb notch your thumb, which you use to open the flap of the card box as
illustrated in the pictures on the left.

Your thumb now returns to the thumb notch which now exposes a small portion
of the top card. Pushing down on this top card forces it out of the box and into
your awaiting fingers.
The whole action literally takes a second but you've just secretly removed the
key card from the top of the deck.

If this card is face down in your hand as per the illustration, the spectator has
replaced the deck face down in the box. This means that the card now resting
on your hand inside your pocket would have fallen immediately after the
spectator's selection, as you'll remember the selection was cut to the face of the
deck before being removed.

If, however, the card falls face up in your hand, the spectator has replaced the
deck face up in the box. This means that the card in your hand fell immediately
before the selection, as the selection has been removed from in front of it.

If only we could see the card in our pocket and we'd know….

At this point, we create a pretext to secretly remove this removed keycard from
your pocket and glimpse it. There are a number of dodges you could use,
depending on what you carry on you. In this example, we're going to glimpse
the card on removing a business card upon which to write the name of the
selection, having apparently already divined it.

The decoy item, the wallet in this example, needs to be in the same pocket as
the cards. Having worked the top card out of the box, the card is held behind
the wallet as the wallet is openly removed from the pocket.

The wallet is opened to remove a business card and, in the process, you loosen
your grip on the card so that either the face or the back is diagonally exposed
as you look down on the wallet.

If the back is revealed, the fingers press the card against the wallet and you can
glimpse the card by turning the wallet slightly as you replace it in your pocket.

Having established the orientation and identity of the card (leaving it feeling
better-adjusted than the rest of the cards), you are now in a position to quickly
work out what the selection was using the mnemonics mentioned earlier.

Scribble the selection across the back of your business card and hand your
card, writing side down to the spectator. Reiterate the impossible conditions and
have her remove the playing card from her pocket before turning over the
business card. All done.
 Jellis
by Scott Guinn

The Jardine Ellis Ring seems to be one of the most underused props in close
up magic. This is a shame, because it has potential to be a very powerful and
entertaining piece of magic. My routine, inspired by J.G. Thompson’s in Top
Secrets of Magic, combines ring on string and ring on stick sequences with a
cups and balls style effect. Basically, this is a little close up “act” unto itself!

Requirements and preparation: You’ll have to gather a few items and do a

little prep work, but I feel this routine merits it. Start by getting the following
items.

• Two Jardine Ellis Rings. Johnson Products of Arcadia, California make the
best I have seen. They have a nice weight and are extremely well machined.
• A toilet paper tube (without the paper!).
• A purse frame, such as is used for sponge ball routines.
• A long chopstick.
• An Eisenhower dollar-sized Chinese coin.
• A round shoelace, between three and four feet in length.
• Two balls, 1.5 inches in diameter. I use one rubber ball and one steel ball
bearing due to my patter lines, but you could use two rubber or cork balls.

Cut the toilet paper tube down to three inches. Color the inside of the tube flat
black with paint or a permanent marker. Decorate the outside however you see
fit. I wrapped mine with black electrical tape, and put one strip of white tape
around each end, such that it looks like a short, stout magic wand.

Take the shell off both of the Ellis rings. Put one ring in your right front pants
pocket. Put the other ring away—it isn’t used in this routine. Place one shell on
top of the other. In other words, you have two shells nested. Put the coin on top
of all and cover this stack with the tube. You will find that by squeezing the
bottom of the tube against the stack, you can lift the tube, secretly carrying
along the stack. Place the loaded tube in your case or right side coat pocket
(where you can use a deck of cards, silk or other item to keep it in an upright
position).

Place the shoelace in your left front pants pocket and the purse frame in your
right front pant pocket. The rubber ball goes in the right side coat pocket, next to
the loaded tube, and the ball bearing goes in the left side coat pocket. Finally,
keep the chopstick in your inner breast coat pocket.

You will need a close up pad or similar soft surface upon which to perform this
routine.
Method and performance: “Magic is an art that is performed all over the world. I
met a wonderful Chinese magician once, by the name of Fu Ling. He used this
as his magic wand.” Remove the chopstick and set it on the table.

“He had heard that western magicians used thicker wands, black, with white
tips, so he made himself one. But, never having seen a western wand, he didn’t
get it quite right.” Reach into your right side pocket or your case for the loaded
tube. Squeeze the bottom to hold the stack in place and bring out the “wand.”

“When he visited America he saw that we do, indeed, have black wands with
white tips, but their size is much closer to his chopstick! He had a good laugh
over that.” Pick up the chopstick with your left hand and insert it into the bottom
end of the tube, through the hole in the coin, and move it up until it protrudes for
several inches from the top of the tube. Tilt the stick so it touches the top edge
of the tube on the far side. (To the spectators, it will appear that the chopstick
also touches the bottom edge of the tube on the side nearest you, completely
convincing them that the tube is empty without your “proving” it to be so.)
Withdraw the stick, handing it to Sally as you set the tube on the table near the
edge at the center of your performing area.

Reach into both pants pockets. Take the string in the left hand and bring it out
while the right hand takes the ring in curl palm and then grips the purse frame at
the fingertips, coming out of the pocket a second after the left hand does. Hand
the string to Linus, asking him to verify its solidity. Take the string back with
your left hand as your right gives Linus the “purse.” Ask him to open it and to
make sure it is empty. This will be a source of interest and amusement to the
rest of the audience, and as Linus opens the purse, thread one of the string up
through the curl palmed ring until the tip of the string extends an inch or so past
the top of the hand. Once threaded, allow the ring to fall into right finger palm.

After Linus verifies that the “purse” is empty, take the other end of the string in
your left hand and pull the string taut as you say, “Did you really expect to find
anything in that? For crying out loud, the bag has been removed! Fu Ling didn’t
want anyone to steal his money.” Place the left end of the string alongside the
right end. Take the purse frame back with your right hand, pinching the clasps
between thumb and forefinger and placing it into “production position” between
the left forefinger tip and the fork of the left thumb. Open the purse frame.

You will magically produce the ring on the center of the string using a move Dan
Fleshman taught me. Raise the right hand so that you can lower the dangling
loop of the string into the purse frame. Continue lowering the right hand until the
right pinky touches the left index finger. Maintaining a firm grip on the ends of
the string let the ring drop from the right hand into left finger palm. Immediately
pull the string back up about three inches and drape the ends over the back of
the left hand. Gesture with your empty right hand toward sally, asking her to
wave the stick over your left hand. As she does, say, “Money wasn’t the only
thing Fu Ling kept in his purse.” Grip the ends of the string with your right hand
and pull the string up until it clears the purse, revealing the ring hanging on the
center of the string. Close the purse and take it at the right fingertips. Take the
ends of the string in the left hand and return the purse frame to the right pants
pocket. Take the ends of the string back into the right hand.

“This was his good luck charm, given to him by his uncle, China’s premiere
television producer.
He was known as the Aaron Spelling of China, most famous for his prime-time
soap opera about the ultra rich and powerful. Perhaps you’ve heard of it—the
Ling ‘Dynasty?’”

During the groan that this stupid joke invariably produces, you perform the first
half of Dan Garrett’s “Faustus Ring.” With your left hand, grasp the left side of
the string just above the ring, pinning the string between your thumb and the
base of the forefinger. Close this hand into a fist around the ring and both sides
of the string. The right hand releases the ends of the string. A small loop forms
above the ring. The ring is at the base of the ring finger. Keeping the back of the
left hand toward the audience, raise the hand to chest level. Bring the right
hand, back facing the spectators, up to the left, grasp both sides of the string
and stroke downward. Bring the right hand up again to repeat this motion. As
soon as the right hand touches the left and starts to move down, release the
ring. Time the drop of your right hand such that it falls at the same speed as the
ring. Stop when the right hand is about four inches below the left.

The spectators believe the ring is in the left hand, but it is actually in the right.
Keeping the string taut, raise the right hand up until it is even with the left and
the string is stretched horizontally between the closed hands (left hand palm up,
right hand palm down). “This ring had some very magical properties.”

Ask Sally to wave the stick over your left hand. Slowly tug the string to the right,
allowing it to come free of the left hand. The ring is no longer on the center of
the string! It has apparently penetrated through the string, and everyone thinks
it is in the closed left hand. Slowly and ramatically open the left hand. The ring
has vanished!

“Even though his concept of the western wand was not to scale, it, too, had
magical properties.” Lift the tube, leaving one shell on the table while holding
the rest of the stack inside. There is a bit of a knack to this, but you’ll acquire it
after a few tries. Replace the tube to the left of the shell and pick up the shell at
the fingertips of the palm down left hand. Display the “ring” (shell) for a moment
and then make a tossing motion toward the string in the right hand. During this
motion, the left thumb draws the shell into finger palm. Simultaneously, the right
hand releases the ring, which drops down to the looped center of the string. The
ring has seemingly penetrated back onto the string.

The left hand takes the left side of the string where it protrudes from the right
hand. The fingerpalmed ring is hidden via Ramsay Subtlety. Separate the
hands, such that you now hold the string horizontally. The hands are about a 8-
10 inches apart, with the threaded ring between them.

Say, “Fu often tied his ring on the string, to keep from losing it.” Tie a slipknot
onto the ring. Then pass the right end in front of the knot, through the left side of
the ring and pull it back to the right. Grab the ring in the right fist. Ask Sally and
Linus to each hold an end of the string, pulling the string taut.

“It would stay firmly in place, unless he didn’t want it to.” Slide your hand back
and forth on the string. The knot will secretly untie, freeing the ring from the
string. In a plucking motion, pull the ring away from the string. This is a very
strong effect! During the reaction, set the ring in the left hand, quietly nesting it
in the shell. Take the stick from Sally with your right hand as your left thumb
pushes the nested ring up to the fingertips.

Tap the ring with the stick a couple of times. “Strong ring!” Table the stick and
ring and take the string, giving it a few firm tugs. “Strong string!” Drop the string
on the table. As you pick up the ring in your left hand and the stick in your right,
say, “Strong magic!”

You will now do Sam Horowitz’ (Muhammad Bey) ring and stick effect. Hold the
ring in left-hand French Drop position, but with the ring parallel to the floor and
your knuckles facing the audience (left fingers pointing to your right). Obviously,
the nested shell is on top of the ring. Hold the stick near the center between the
right thumb and forefinger. The knuckles of the right hand are toward the
audience and the top of the stick is tilted away from you at a 45-degree angle.
Ask if they would like to see the stick go through the ring. Pass the stick down
through the ring. When the right hand reaches the ring, the three free fingers
grip the stick below the ring and the thumb and forefinger release the stick as
you continue to smoothly move the stick entirely through the ring. Repeat this.

Repeat again, but this time let the ring drop free of the shell onto the right
fingers as the right hand moves the stick entirely through the ring and off to the
right. Thus, the ring is secretly threaded on the center of the stick, but nothing
seems amiss, as the shell is still in view at the left fingertips. The steal must be
done smoothly and without pause, duplicating the first two passes if it is to be
deceptive. This whole sequence (the first two passes and the steal) is done as a
gag—they thought you were going to penetrate the stick through the ring.

Say, “I can see that you are not impressed by that, so let me show you
something else Fu Ling showed me.” The right fist is holding the stick at center.
It is also secretly holding the ring, which is threaded at center. Turn the fist palm
down so the stick is parallel with the floor and have Sally hold both ends of the
stick firmly. The left hand places the shell into the right fist where it is humb-
palmed. Wait a beat, then slide the right hand back and down off the stick,
causing the ring to spin on the stick, and carrying the shell away in thumb palm.
As everyone reacts to the penetration, pick up the string with right hand and put
it in the right coat pocket, secretly dropping the ring along with the string.

Take the stick back with your left hand and dump the ring into your right hand.
Comment, “Let me just get that purse again.” Set the stick down and reach into
your left pants pocket. Act confused and look over toward your right pants
pocket as your left hand comes out of its pocket. Pretend to place the ring into
the left hand, retaining it in the right hand, which then goes into the right pants
pocket, drops the ring and comes out with the purse frame. (This sequence is
Juan Tamariz’ “Crossing the Gaze” concept.)

Open the purse and pretend to dump the non-existent ring into it. Close the
purse at the fingertips, showing both hands clearly empty. Remark, “It
happened again!” The left hand lifts the tube, taking the coin but leaving the
second shell behind, and tables the tube to the right of the shell. Meanwhile, the
right hand has placed the purse frame in the right side coat pocket, taken the
ball into finger palm and come back out of the pocket.

Here begins the final load sequence, accompanied by a series of the worst
puns of all time!

Pick up the shell at your left fingertips as you say, “That wand had a familiar
ring!” The right hand picks up the tube, revealing the coin, and loads the ball as
the tube is tabled. Exclaim, “This thing is a real money maker!” In the meantime,
the left hand has been far from idle. It has placed the shell in your left side coat
pocket, taken the ball bearing in low finger palm, removed the hand from the
pocket and picked up the stick.

Pick up the coin at the right fingertips and say, “That’s a real Chinese coin.” Tap
the coin near the hole with the tip of the stick. “It has a hole, for Peek-ing!” Set
the coin back on the table.

Address Sally. “You look like you’re having a ball!” Using the end of the stick, tip
the tube back to reveal the ball. In a continuing motion, lift the tube with the stick
and let it slide down to your left hand. Take the stick with your right hand and
use it to push the ball forward as you say, “Having a ball—get it?” At the same
time, the left hand tables the tube, loading the ball bearing in it.

Look at Linus and remark, “This trick has had no bearing on you —until now!”
use the stick to tip the tube back, revealing the ball bearing as the final load. To
conclude, state, “Of course, none of this story is actually true—I’ve just been Fu
Ling!”