SWAMP

SECRETS

By:
TRINI MONTES
 COURT ORDER
Nick Trost-Jon Racherbaumer-Trini Montes

Effect:
The twelve court cards are randomly mixed and shown to not be in any particular order. The
performer shakes the cards, and with that, they all come together to match in value and color.

Setup:
Remove the twelve court cards and place them in the following order from top to bottom: JH, QS,
QC, KD, KH, JS, JC, QD, QH, KS, KC, and JD. The jack of diamonds should be at the face.

The Work:
Hold the packet face up and casually and rapidly spread the cards between your hands as you tell the
spectator that you have the court cards. Square the packet and it face down in the left hand.

Thumb off the top two cards into the right hand, without reversing their order, and table them face
down. Repeat this with the next two cards, and so on until you have dealt off all 12 cards into one pile on the
table. Count them out loud as you do this.

Repeat the same counting procedure but, this time, flash the faces of each pair. The spectator will see
that the cards are not in any order. Make sure you emphasize this as you flash each of the pairs. When you
get to the last pair, take the top card with the right hand and the bottom card with the left hand and flash the
faces of these cards. Place the card in the left hand on top of the dealt pile, and use the card in the right hand
to scoop up the entire packet. Square the cards and hold them in the left hand in dealing grip.

Snap your right fingers over the packet for effect. Thumb over the top two cards face up, you will see
the QS and the QC together. Table them face up. Turn the next top two cards face up. They are the two red
Kings. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the packet to end.

End Notes:
Nick Trost originally published this effect in his book The Card Magic of Nick Trost under the title
“Matching Picture Cards.” Nick’s version used only eleven court cards and required you to go back to the
deck to add the twelfth court card. Jon Racherbaumer came up with a handling in which all twelve court
cards are used and there was no need to go back to the deck. All I added to Racherbaumer’s handling was the
timing of the scoop. Although a minor addition, I felt that this was crucial to the success of the effect. The
scoop happens at an off-beat moment, therefore, there is no heat on the packet. The rest of the handling
belongs to Racherbaumer. It is written here with his permission.
 LOOK MOM NO HANDS
Trini Montes
Effect:
A spectator cuts the deck in half, taking this half behind his back. Before a card is noted, a second
spectator selects a card from the remaining half and inserts it into the half, but in the opposite direction. This
card, not yet seen by anyone, is a prediction. The first spectator removes the top card of his half, this is the
card he cut too, notes it, and then loses it into his half. He then inserts the cards into the card box to isolate
them from everyone. This is all done behind his back.

The magician, without touching the card box, magically reverses a card inside the card box. The first
spectator then removes the cards from the box, spreads them and indeed a card is reversed. When the
reversed card is turned over, it is the selected card.

The second spectator, who is now holding the half with the prediction reversed, is asked to spread his
cards. He removes the reversed card, which he chose to be the prediction, and when it is turned over, it is the
mate of the selected card.

Please notice that after the first spectator makes the cut, and this is a free cut, the halves never come
together again. Not only that, the spectators handle the cards from here on out. This is a nice semi-automatic
trick. It is also a good effect to perform for fast company if you are ever in a session.

Now that I have your attention, let me give you a brief history, which includes credits, for this effect.
The idea for this effect came to me after reading Jon Racherbaumer’s “Cased-In Vision” from his lecture
notes Recycle (1995). He uses a reverse that was published in Hierophant magazine by Hideo Kato called
the “Hands-Off Reverse.” After reading “Cased-In Vision,” I liked the fact that the spectator does all the
work, but I wanted to add a little something. That something was to have a spectator choose the prediction.
Not only that, they hold this prediction the entire time. The approach I used is to make the second spectator,
the one who chooses the prediction, feel as if they had the “power” to predict the future for this short
moment. It makes them feel good about themselves, and also, allows them to have fun.

Audience participation is golden in magic. This allows you to bring them in to your world of illusion
and impossibilities. In addition, my approach gets away from the magician making the prediction, which
could possibly be arrogant. In other words, this gets away from the “Ha, I knew what card you were going to
take before you took it” approach that many magicians take when they do a prediction type effect. It also
gets away from the spectator thinking that you may have used a trick deck. The spectators’ handling of the
cards cancels out the “trick deck” or “trick cards” theory.

Finally, this effect has been audience and magician tested. I have fooled magicians that are familiar
with the original effect. You throw them for a loop when you include the prediction in there. I have had
many audience members comment about this effect. They make statements such as, “Man, that was cool that
Billy picked the card that matched mine before I picked my card,” and, “Wow, I held the cards the entire
time. There is no way you could have turned my card upside down in the box. That was awesome!” These
are the comments that we should all strive to receive when performing magic of any kind. So, without further
ado, I now give you the MO (Modus Operandi).

Setup:
To begin, you need to set up two cards. No, not gimmick them, just set them up in strategic locations
within the deck. This is very simple to achieve between tricks, or you can do it prior to performance. Note
the bottom card of the deck. For explanation purposes, we will use the ace of spades. Run through the deck
and place the mate of this card, (ace of clubs) to the back. As you close the spread, turn the ace of spades
face down. Turn the deck face down and you are now ready for performance.

Note:
There are numerous ways of getting into your setup. You can use a cull to get the mate card to the
back, turn the deck face down and half pass the bottom card to reverse it. I don’t like to go through all that
trouble to get into my setup. I just spread the cards with them facing me and openly remove the mate and
place it on the back. To reverse the face card, (ace of spades), I turn it face down as I square the deck. This is
all done in front of the spectators. I then turn the deck face down and then proceed. I have not been caught
yet. The deck should now be face down and have the ace of clubs on top and the ace of spades reversed on
the bottom.

The Work:
Invite a spectator (Spectator A) to cut about half of the cards to the right. Use your right index finger
to mime this action. Pick up the lower half of the deck and place it behind your back. Turn this half over in
your hand so that it is now with the reversed ace of spades on top and face down, and the rest of the half is
face up underneath it. Your excuse here is that you are miming the actions of what you want the spectator to
do. Instruct the spectator to take the cards and place them behind his back. Bring the deck back in front of
you and hand it to Spectator A. He will immediately place the half behind his back as you demonstrated for
him.

Pick up the remaining half from the table and turn it face up in your left hand in dealing position. The
ace of spades is the top card of this half. Turn to Spectator B and explain to them that you will deal cards
onto the table, and when they get the urge, for them to say, “Stop.” State that the card they stop you on will
be used as a prediction. Emphasize the fact that they can stop you anytime they want. Start dealing cards one
at a time to the table in a small pile. When the spectator stops you, table the half face down to your left, at the
same time, pick up the face up dealt pile and place it into the left hand.

Spread the cards in the hands and name the card on the face. Tell them that they stopped you on this
card, and also state that you have seen this card, and a prediction is a card not seen by anyone, therefore, you
will use the next card. As this is said, square the cards in the left hand. Turn your left hand palm down and
hold the packet about two inches above the tabled cards. Remove the top card of tabled cards (ace of spades)
with your right thumb and first finger as you drop the cards in the left hand on top and flush with the tabled
half. You have forced the ace of spades as the prediction card.

The force used above is called the Big Easy Force (Big Easy Card Cunning-1994). This is a great
force because it gives the impression that the prediction card is coming from the place that the spectator
stopped you at. It is important that you emphasize that a “prediction card” is a card that is not known to
anyone. This gives you the proper delay necessary for the force to be effective.

Pick up the tabled half in the left hand and hold it face up in dealing position. Insert the “prediction
card” face down into the center of this half. You are showing that the “prediction card” is the ONLY card
that is reversed in the center of the half. Spread the cards in the hands to once more show that there are no
other cards reversed. Square the half and hand it to Spectator B to hold.

Pick up the card box, making sure its empty and start the actions of handing the box to Spectator A.
Before you actually hand them the box, ask them if they looked at the card they cut too. They will respond in
the negative. Tell them to remove the top card, the card they cut too, and bring it in front of them and
remember it. Turn your head and have them show it around.
 After the card had been shown to everyone, have the spectator replace the card in the half that is still
behind their back, but to place it into the center somewhere. Hand them the card box and tell them to place
the cards inside the card box and to close it. They can now bring the card box out in front of them.
The dirty work is done. You have now forced the ace of clubs on Spectator B as the prediction, and
you have also forced the ace of spades on Spectator A to be the selection noted.

Mime the actions of invisibly removing a card from the card box, turning it over, and then replacing
it into the card box. Do not touch the box at all.

Now, have Spectator A shake the box above the packet in Spectator B’s hands. Have Spectator A
remove the cards from the card box. Tell them to turn the packet face up and to spread it to show one card
reversed in the center. This is the first effect. Tell Spectator A to name his mentally noted card. After they
do, have them turn the reversed card face up. This is the second effect.

Turn to Spectator B and have them spread the cards face up to show their prediction that is face
down in the center of their half. State that they had a free choice on where to stop you during the deal. Tell
them to turn the card over to show the mate of the selected card to end.

End Notes:
As you can see, this trick has three effects. It’s not just a “pick a card” effect. The thought of having
another spectator select a prediction and then for it to turn out to match is very strong.

HEIGHTENING THE HOARY

Don May
Effect:
The spectator shuffles the deck. The cards are then cut into several piles. The spectator eliminates
piles until they are left with one pile. The performer runs through the deck and removes a few cards that he
feels will tell him what the top card of the chosen pile is. Reading the cards the performer removed, he is
able to name the top card of the chosen pile. The performer then shows what cards he has removed. They are
the three mates of the named card.

The Work:
Hand the deck to a spectator for shuffling. Afterwards, take the deck back. You need to divide the
deck into eight piles with a king or queen on top of each pile. This is done by just running through the face of
the deck and separating it into eight piles with a king or queen on top. There are four queens and four kings;
this is the reason for the eight piles. The piles do not need to contain the same amount of cards. Some can
contain as many as ten, or as few as three cards. If you have any cards leftover, place them aside.

Tell the spectator to point to three piles. Ask them if they want to discard these piles, or keep them.
Discard whatever piles they choose by assembling them on top of the deck proper. Do this until they are left
with only one pile.

Pick up the assembled deck and shuffle it. Lift the deck with the faces towards you and look for the
four kings. If you only see three, you know that the top card of the chosen pile is the fourth king. If you see
four kings, then you know that the top card of the chosen pile is a queen. Remove the three mates of
whatever card is on top of the chosen pile. Table the deck off to one side.
 Look over the three cards in your hand and note the missing suit. Milk the effect by saying that one
of those cards tells you that the top card of their pile is a high card. Then do the same for color, and finally,
name the card. Have the spectator turn the top card of their pile face up to show the named card. To end, ask
them if they know how you knew what card it was. When they say “no” turn the three cards over and say
“they told me” to end.

End Notes:
This is probably one of the easiest semi-automatic effects to perform. No moves are used. Do not
overlook this effect because of its simplicity. I did the same thing, and when I performed it, I received some
good reactions. I have also fooled many knowledgeable magicians with it as well. This is a very strong effect
to do with a borrowed, shuffled deck.

CAJUN OPENER
Trini Montes
Effect:
A spectator chooses a card from a red deck (say the ace of hearts) and then returns it where it is
hopelessly lost. The performer makes a magical wave and then spreads the deck. A card is seen in the middle
with a blue back. When turned over it is shown to be the ace of hearts. This card is placed aside.

Offering to repeat the effect, the performer has another card chosen (seven of spades) and then lost.
Again the performer makes a magical wave over the deck. The deck is spread, but there is no blue backed
card in the spread. The performer states that although there is no blue backed card in the deck, there is still a
blue backed card on the table, but it was the ace of hearts. He asks the spectator to turn the ace of hearts face
up. When this is done, it turns out to have changed from the ace of hearts to a message card. The message
read, “Look inside the box.” The spectator looks inside the card box and finds the blue backed seven of
spades.

Requirements:
What you need is a blank face card with a red back if you are using a blue deck, or a blue back if you
are using a red deck. For explanation, I will use a red back deck with a blue back blank face card. You will
also need a blue back seven of spades. Lastly, you will need a sharpie marker.

Setup:
On the face of the blank card write the message, “Look Inside The Box” with the sharpie. (Photo 1) I
will refer to this card as the “message” card.

To setup the deck place these cards in the following order from face to back: blue back message card,
red back seven of spades, and the remainder of the deck. (Photo 2) Place the blue back seven of spades
inside the card box.
 (Photo 1) (Photo 2)

The Work:
Place the card box off to the side, but in plain view of the spectators. Do not put any attention on the
box. Just go directly into the effect.

Spread the deck face down and invite a spectator to remove a card. (To follow the effect as described
above, we will say that this is the ace of hearts.) Be careful not to spread too far so that you do not expose the
blue back card on the bottom. After the spectator notes the card, have them place the selection on top of the
deck. Give the deck a straight cut to centralize and bury the selection (ace of hearts).

What you have really done is cut the message card above the ace of hearts. Table the deck and wave
your hands over it for effect. Spread the cards to show a blue back card in the center. You have apparently
changed the back of one card to blue.

Scoop up the spread and then re-spread the deck in the hands until you reach the blue back card. Cut
all the cards above the blue back card to the bottom. Ask the spectator to name their card. Perform a double
lift to reveal the ace of hearts. Perform another double lift to turn the card(s) face down and then deal the top
blue back card to the table.

Your situation should be as follows: the blue back message card is face down on the table, and the
red back seven of spades is on the bottom, or face, of the deck.

Perform a Hindu Shuffle Force to force the bottom seven of spades on the spectator. Tell the
spectator to remember this card. Drop the cards in the right hand onto the cards in the left hand.

Wave your hands over the deck, again for effect, and then spread. This time there will not be a blue
back card in the deck. Say that although there is no blue back card in the deck, there is a blue back card on
the table, but it is the ace of hearts.

Snap your finger over the blue back card, and have the spectator turn it over. They will see that it has
a message on it. Tell them to read it out loud so that everyone can hear what it says. Point to the card box and
have them open it and remove the blue back seven of spades to end.

SURFER SANDWICH
Jon Racherbaumer
This effect was first in print in Apocalypse [Vol. 8 No. 10 (Oct. 1985)]. Jon showed it to me back in
1998. It is a very nice, visual way to reveal a selected card between two pseudo mates (sandwich cards). It
catches your audience by surprise.
Effect:
A card is selected and lost in the deck. The deck is then spread face up on the table. The two red
kings are placed on top of the spread about center. The cards are turned over from left to right using the
ribbon-spread turnover and the kings fly into the air and are caught by the right hand. A card appears
between the red kings. It is the selection.

The Work:
Remove the two red kings and table them face down to one side. Have a card selected and controlled
to the top of the deck by your favorite method. Hold the deck in the left hand in dealing grip and get a left
fourth fingertip break under the top card of the deck (selection). Pick up the red kings and place them face up
on top of the deck. Pick up all three cards above the break with the right hand from above and by the ends.
Table the deck face up to your left.

Peel the top king with the left thumb and duck it underneath the right-hand two cards. You have now
sandwiched the selected card between the two red kings. Spread the deck on the table face up. Make sure it’s
a tight left to right spread. Holding the sandwich in the right hand from above and by the ends, use your left
fingers to slide the lowermost king to the left for about half its width to show a spread of two red kings. Place
the sandwich onto the spread but off-center to the right as in Photo 1.

(Photo 1)

Place your right hand at the right side of the spread. Perform the ribbon-spread turnover with the left
hand as follows: place the left hand on the left side of the spread. Turn the leftmost card over to the right.
This will cause the cards to the right it to turn over as well (Photo 2). With the right amount of force, the
sandwich cards will fly into the right hand. Catch the sandwich with the right hand, thumb on top and fingers
below. As soon as you catch the cards with the right hand, immediately spread them by pulling the top king
to the right with the right thumb (Photo 3). A face down card appears between the red kings. Remove and
turn the face down card to end.

(Photo 2) (Photo 3)

End Notes:
The ribbon-spread turnover will require a little practice to get the timing down. Once you master this,
you will have an effect that will have a whiplash effect on laymen and magicians. Thank you Jon for giving
me permission to put this in these notes.
 TRINI-VERSE
Trini Montes

This idea is a nice reverse and switch of a card. It is done in a face up spread. The reasoning for the
face up spread is to show the spectator that they truly have a free choice. They can actually see the cards, and
can see what card they are selecting. With a little practice, this move can be done looking away so that you
cannot see the selection. I am sure you can find many applications for this move. I have provided one for you
in the next effect.

The Work:
Spread the deck face up between your hands and have the spectator point to a card. Break the deck at
this point, leaving the selection on the face of the left-hand spread. Keeping the right-hand cards in their
spread condition, square the left-hand cards with the right fingers. As you do this, get a left pinky break
beneath the top 2 cards of the left-hand portion (the selection, at the face, and an X card.) (Photo 1) Turn
these 2 cards over as 1 and flush onto the left-hand portion. (Photo 2)

(Photo 1) (Photo 2)

With the right fingers, perform a hit technique to add the face down X card under the right-hand
spread (sidejogged to the left). Move the right-hand cards, including the face down X card forward;
simultaneously, duck your left thumb underneath the left-hand cards, and flip the entire portion face down as
you place the X card into an outjogged position on top of the left-hand cards. (Photo 3) This action conceals
the reversed selection.

(Photo 3)

Now, turn the right-hand palm down, and place these cards onto the left-hand cards, and align it with the left-
hand portion. Square up the cards, and push in the supposed selection. What you have accomplished is that
you had a spectator point to a card from a face up deck, apparently turned the selection face down, and lost it
in the center of the deck. What you really have done is switched the selection for an X card, and in the
process of losing it in the center, you have reversed the selection. The selection is now reversed on the
bottom of the face down deck. (Photo 4 shows the situation.)
 (Photo 4)

Triumphant Again!!!!!
Trini Montes

Effect:
The spectator selects a card from a face up spread. The selection is then lost in the center of the deck
by the magician. To make things a little more challenging, the magician separates the deck in half, and turns
one of the halves face up. He proceeds to shuffle the deck, face up into face down, then shows the mixture of
the cards. He then waves his hand over the deck; this is the magic moment. The magician spreads the deck,
and now all of the cards have magically turned face down, except for one card. The only card face up in the
middle of the deck is the spectators selected card.

The Work:
There are no hard moves in this effect. It uses the Triniverse as explained above. Have a spectator
shuffle the deck. Spread the deck face up between your hands and have the spectator point to a card. (Your
reasoning for spreading the cards face up is to show the spectator that they shuffled the deck, and that they
truly have a “free” choice.) After they point to their selection, perform the Triniverse.

You now have a face down deck with the selection face up on the bottom. You have also apparently
lost the selected card in the center of the deck.

Now for the face up, face down shuffle. You will perform the Tenkai Optical Move to apparently turn
half of the deck face up, and the other half is face down. To wit: holding the deck in left-hand dealing grip
cut off about half of the deck with the right hand. As you do this, turn your right hand palm up and your left-
hand palm down. Immediately place the left-hand cards on top, but stepped to the left of the right- hand
portion for half its length (Photo 1). You have 2 options here. You can either do a tabled riffle shuffle, or an
in-the-hands Faro Shuffle. If you do the Faro, you can do the effect in the hands. I will explain both.

(Photo 1)
Table Method:
Table both halves and perform a riffle shuffle. Let the top card of the left-hand half fall last. (This is
the selection.) Square up and perform a straight cut. With the right hand, lift about two thirds of the deck and
show a face up card. Replace this half back on top and then lift at the natural back to back break, but do not
show the bottom card of the right hand portion. Here you are showing some cards face down. Now, replace
the cards back on top and lift about one third off the top and again show some cards face up. Replace these
cards back on top and then lift again at the natural back to back break. This time you can show the bottom
card of the right hand portion as you state that you have some cards back to back. The spectator will see two
backs. Replace the right hand half back on top, and turn the deck face down. Wave you hand over the deck
for the “magic” and then spread it to finish the effect. This is inspired by the Triumph display-righting move
that Dai Vernon used.

In The Hands Method:

Holding both portions in the hands, perform an In Faro Shuffle. This does not have to be a perfect
weave, but make sure that the card on top of the left-hand cards is shuffled on top of the right-hand portion.
Square the cards, and then perform a Swing Cut to centralize the selection, but keep a left pinky break
between the two halves. (Photo 2) With the right hand lift at the break showing some cards face down. Do
not show the bottom of the right-hand half. Replace the half back on top, but keep a left pinky break between
them. Lift one third of the deck (above the break) to show some cards face up. Replace these cards back on
top and lift all the cards above the break, and turn the right hand palm up to show cards back to back. You
have basically done the same display of the cards being mixed as in the tabled method. Even though you
show the cards at the break twice, it flies by the spectator because you are showing two different conditions.
One is that some cards are face down, and the other is that some cards are back to back.

(Photo 2)

All you have to do now is turn the deck face down in the hands, wave your hand above it, and spread.
Alternatively, have the spectator hold the cards after you show them the face up/face down mixture.
Have them wave their hand over the deck, and then let them spread the cards. All of the cards have now
turned face down except for one card, which is their selection.

OVERCAST
Jon Racherbaumer-Trini Montes
Effect:
The spectator cuts a shuffled deck into two piles. The performer removes a card from one pile and
places it on the table. The spectator does the same with the other pile. The performer takes the spectator’s
card and loses it in his packet. The spectator takes the performer’s card and loses it in his packet. The packets
are now shuffled and assembled face up and face down. Using a little magic, the cards are spread to reveal
only two cards face up. These are the performer’s card and the spectator’s card.
Setup:
All you need is to note and reverse the bottom card of the deck. There are many ways to do this. You
can use a half pass or Christ Twist. I like to use a subtle reverse as follows: spread the deck face up between
your hands, stop at a card that is easy to remember (say the ace of spades) and turn all the face up cards face
down on top of it. At the same time, get a left pinky break underneath the ace of spades. Undercut all the
cards up to the break and turn them face down and place them on top of all. You should now have the deck
face down and the ace of spades face up on the bottom.

The Work:
Table the deck and perform a few riffle shuffles above the face up ace of spades. Be sure not to
expose it. Invite a spectator to cut about half the deck to the right.

Pick up the remaining half, turn it with the faces towards you, and spread it. You will see the back of
the ace of spades, followed by the faces of the rest of the cards. When you spread the cards, push over a
block of about three or four cards with the left thumb to keep from exposing the reversed card. Up-jog a
card, any card, square the packet, remove the up-jogged card and place it face down on the table.
Simultaneously, lower your left hand into a dealing position. This is a subtle reversal of the packet. (The card
you removed is not important. You will miscall it as the noted ace of spades later.) The packet in the left
hand should be face up with the exception of the top card, which is the ace of spades. This card is face down.
Place your packet on the table.

Instruct the spectator to do the same with the half they cut off and to place their chosen card next to
yours and face down. Tell them to remember their card.

Pick up your packet and hold it in the left hand. Pick up the spectator’s selection, and insert it face
down into the center of your packet, and hold a break above it. This is easy to do by inserting the card from
the back, and as you push it flush, push down on it with the right thumb and get a break with the left pinky.

Instruct the spectator to take your selection and insert it into the center of their packet and shuffle.
Then have them turn their packet face up.

Cut all the cards above the break and place them onto the table. Have the spectator cut off half of
their cards and place them face up on top of your tabled half. Place the remaining cards in your hands on top
of their face up half that was placed on top of your first packet. Have the spectator place their remaining
cards on top of all to assemble the deck.

What you have apparently done is assembled the deck with your cards apparently going face down,
and their cards face up. In reality, all the cards are face up except the spectator’s card and the ace of spades.

Name your card, the ace of spades, and then ask the spectator to name their card. When they do, snap
your fingers over the deck, turn it face down, and spread it to show that all the cards have turned the same
way except for their card and your card to end.

End Notes:
The original effect is Francis Carlyle’s “The Upside Down Deck” (Scarne On Card Tricks -1950).
The handling above is a fix of Jon Racherbaumer’s “Made In The Shade” (Big Easy Card Cunning-1994). I
was not pleased having to take my half deck out of view to reverse the face card of my half, and also to
secretly reverse the half deck as well. In the effect above, we have added a subtle way to reverse the half in
front of the spectator. Eugene Burger used this idea in his variation of the same effect. Also, the cutting at the
break to apparently show two face down halves was an idea used in Marlo’s “Is This Elevator Going Up or
Down, Somersaulting, and Where is it Going to Stop” (Unexpected Card Book-1974).