GORDON BEAN'S
TALES
FROMTHE
LABORATORY
oodopeningeffectsarehardto find - evenmoresowhen
they'reself-working
and leavean examinable deck.llrr,
dcviousmethod of Gordon's
Joker,.lokerwillbringa smieto yourlip,,,
agaspfromyouraud0n((,.
effectwillproduce
anditsd rect,inexplicable
Youstartyourperformance bysaying youmustfirstremove thelok('r,,
lrornthedeck.Aftertakingoutthefirstone,youdecide to leta spo(l,rl(x
lindthenextone-withthecards facedown.Despite having nlrllrlrl,
( h.lnces
to stoporrnoveon,andwithouta singlefalsemoveonyorrr1r,rrt,
llx]spectatorstopsona card.ltsturned over,
andisrevealed lo lx,llrr,
sccond joker.Nootherjokersarein thedeck,whichmaybeimrrrtilr, rlr,ly
oxdrnrned.
Aisoincluded is Gordon! TheLosAngeles Open,perhaps tl)('no,l
balfling
version of theOpenPredictron Aftera r,rrrllr,r,,
everreleased.
bccnannounced asa predction, ,r
andwiththedeckin herown1r,rrrrl,,,
slx'(tator
dealscards to stop.(AsinJo(c{/o(rr,
faceupuntilshewishes
slt'rnayalwayschange hermindatthelastmoment andkeep goin(l)Al
llralnointshedealsa cardfacedown.thendeals therestofthecarrls l
1,ri
up Iheopeny predicted carddoesnotshowandthespectator hor\{'ll
rprr,,xls
thedeckto checkthatthe cardsheleftfacedownis llrr,
edone.Theperformer
,urrrxrnc nevertouchesthecardsfromfirstto lasl
AlfanSfaight,authorol Ihe JamuFile,saidthiswas:"Wondertd!
As cleanasit canget."
JOKER,
JOKER JOK E RJOK
. ER
EFFECI:Themagrcian takesout the first Keepingits undersde hidden.stickthe and put them backface up on top of lf shewantsto keepgoing,continuethrs
joker from a deck by openly looking double-joker a coupleof inchesinto the the deck(Fig.4). procedureuntil stopped.(Alwaysgrve
throughthe facesof ihe cards.Batches front of the deck,aboutfivecardsfrom the spectalorampleI ne ro chdngel'er
of cardsare removedas manytlmesas the bottom (Fiq.2). mind.5ince the double-backer wrl
desired unt I a spectatorsensesthe alwaysbe on top, the strengthof this
nrc<e.reof -he secondioker which method is the absolutefreedom of
will alwaysappearr ght on cue. where and when she can stop you.
An evenrnoreflexlbleprocedureis to
Method: Youaresuppliedwlth a card
spreadthe cardsand askthe spectator
with backson both sidesand a card
ro toucl^the barI o'one of lher, a'le
with jokerson both sides.lf the double
wh ch the cards above the touched
backedcard is placed,wrthout being
one are f ipped over and spreadand
perfectlysquared,under the double-
jokercard,andthe handis turnedover tabledas before.This s verycasualand
deceptive, but you mustmakesurethat
and the two cardsfurther spread,the
the spectatorunderstandsshe is to
illusionis createdof two lokersloosey
toucha card,not withdrawone.)
held back-to-back.
Oncestopped.pushthe doublebacker
Srdl wrh lhe double-bacl er on rop
or tl'e decl so rhat its not obscu'ing
of the deckandthe double-joker n the
Spreadoff and tablethe face-upcards the double-joker (Fig.6).
middle with the "Guarantee"side
(Fiss),
facingthe sarneway as the restof the "BeforeI reachit, stop me any time
faces.Runthroughthe cardsuntil you you think the atherjoker is on tap of
cometo the Guarantee loker (Fig.1). the deck."
Take it out and turn the rest of the
cardsfacedown. Rlffle down w th your thumb, untrl
you'restoppedby the spectator.At that
point,turn overallthe cardsaboveyour
thumb(Fig.3)
givingthe spectatoran opportunityto
stopyou at the cardnow on top of
the deck.
"Th i< ; < t ha G t n r a n t a c ' inLer
It guaranteesthat yau'll be able to
find the otherjoker"
JOKER,.JOKER TH ELOSA N GE LEOP
S E I\.
Graspboth cardswith your right hand simultaneously slidingthe double-loker
(F]9.7).andstripthemout of the deck, to the right and the double-backer to
keepingthenspread. the left (Fig.9) to apparentlyshowthat
the face-downcardthe spectatorhas
stoppedon is the secondjoker.
Stewartlamesexploredmanydifferent STARTWITH the doube-backedcard
'ne hods lor Daul Cu y. Open on top of the deck,and the double-
Prediction
effect.Among h s bestwas facedcard about three cardsfrom the
hisMethadSixteen which usesa logical bottom.Makesureyour deckdoesnot
dealingprocedureto postion a double contan the two cardsthat matchthe
+--^^ . ^""! . l ^l r I
u ruv ul --"^ --^ double-facer.
down by a spectator.When taking
backthe deck,the perforrner spreadsrt Announce the upper s de ot the
face down, using a simplesleightto as your Open Predction.
double-facer
l.eeplhe originalrelettior oul o's ghr Forexample:
as the reversesideoI the do,blefater
"l don't know how, but somehowI
With your eft hand,turnthe remainder "And with the lakersout of the de(k, (the cardopenlypredicted) comes nto
know that the cardyou're about ta
n f t LF dp . l fr.p f l n l { a < h n r r , 1 [6 1 we're now readyta do some magic." view as the apparentselection.In
stop on is Ihe Sevenof Diamonds.
ll'e'esro lrd(eo- ll-eol herjoter. Roughand Smoothe4Ed l\,4arlo added
After givinganotherquickflashof both
Onceyou'vedoneihis,turn yourhand apparentjokers,placethe two cardsin a rougheddeckto this dea,so that the Rememberthe lower side of the
over(Fig.8), your pocketand commenceyour next orig nal seection is kept out of sight ,l^ ,t
^
+ --^ "
o-.) o^ , ^N. ,e y ro
--", 4 u .
routine. with no sleightof hand requrred. The
presentversiondropsthe rougheddeck Spreadout tl'e ,a ds ard have rhe
( he forte of the double-backer is an
and adds lhe Joket loker lorce of spectatortouchthe backof one.
ddaptationof a PaulCLrry deato p aco
a double-backer as a key card.Since the double-backed card-potentialy
Turn over a I the cards above it as
ts used as a force here, it becomes a] owing the entireeffectto take place
possiblehavethe spectatorchangeher n +ho h:nd< +ha <na .i :i ^r
before,lher .p'eadlheseoff in barcl'er,
^+
mindmanytimes. droppingthem onto the table as you
show that they don't containthe Seven
The use of a doublebacker and a
doube-facerto makepossible
a predction of Diamonds.Say that the spectator
maystopnow or maychangehermrnd
r nm a< { r nm C t tw '< T at
'r h
\
I and touchanothercard.
T H EL O SA N G E L EOSPEN TH ELOSA N GE LEOP
S EN.
lf shewantsto touchanothercard,turn Youwill be metwith skeptrcism. Spread (Don'rlorget to emphdszethe 'face once one card hasbeen eft facedown
overthe cardsabovethe new selection, the face-downdeckto show the card down" part, or she might turn the and the rest have been dealtface up,
and, spreading and droppingthem as left reversed is the Sevenof D amonds. double-backer over) I appearto go throughsome mental
before,comment on the absenceof gymnastlcsbefore announclngthe
To clean up, turn over all the cards lmmediatelyfollow this by instructing color,the surt,and fina ly the valueof
the Sevenof Diamonds:
abovethe double-facer, then turn over her to tur'l lhe rest of the cardsshe the cardleft face down.
"lt's a good thing for me that you all the cardsunderit. holdsfaceup, dealingthesesinglyonto
kept going." the rest. (Make sure you instructthe Supposedly to make this mentalfeat
The deck will now be face up. and if spectatorto dealthe cardsinto a pile, more difficult,I ask that the deck be
lf enough cards remain,this option you wish to repeatthe effect,cut the not an overlappingrow lf the back squaredand turnedfacedown.
may be repeateda third time, but you cdrdsso the doubleJacer is onre again of the double-backer stays in sight,
want to guard aganst the spectator nearthe faceof the deck,and usethe someonemight be tempted to reach This puts the deck in positionfor the
tryinglo lri(k you by poirtingat a card other side of that card as your new out and turn rt over.) spectatorto spreadit out and show
verynearthe bottom. OpenPrediction. werecorrect.
that my calculations
Observethat the Open Predictionstill
Oncethe spectatorhas stoppedon a lf you're moderately adventurous, hasn'tshownup. The nicepart aboutthis presentationis
card for good, drop it st ll face down its possibleto have the entire effect that attentionnow turns{rom the cards
onto the face-upcardson the table. iake placein the handsof the spectator. Havethe spectatorturn overthe cards to the slip of paper.(Magiciansmay
on the tableand spreadthem.TheOpen even jump to the conclusionthat it
lmmediately turn overthe cardsin your In thiscase,the double-facer
shouldbe Predictionwill appearreversedin the bearsthe notationof a stackeddeck.)
hand and pushoff a group of face-up secondfrom the bottom.(lf it were on deck.Withdrawit beforeanyoneelse
cardsthat endswith the double-faced the very bottom, it might corne into hasa chanceto, and hold it up so all At this point, I appearto relentto the
card (the lower face of which you've view inadvertently.) maysee. audiencebcuriosity,taking back the
remembered to makethiseasy). deck and handingthe spectatorthe
After making your Open Prediction, A presentationl've been having fun "<a..ot r^rr-, l.a " \A/hpr cha ^nens iI
Dropthisgroupon the double-backedhavethe spectatorcut and turn over a with recently does not involve a up, shefindsa verysimpleformula
cardyou'vejust put down. small batch of top of the deck, then prediction.Inst€ad,ltake out a folded indeed:the nameof the stopped-on
instructher to dealtheseface-upcards slrp of paper lh"t lclarr contairsa card.
Dropadditionalbatchesof face-upcards onto the tableone at a time. "secret formula" Ior being able to
until you have no more. The Open
rememberwhat cardshavebeendealt
Prediction in this casethe Sevenof The Open Predictionwill not show.
from a deck
Diamonds-willnot show.As you pick and you now give the spectatorthe
up the deck,squareit, and turning it opportunityto stop or to keep going. As the speclatorturns over batchesof
over,say: Whenshedecides to stop,instructherto cardsand dealsthem onto the table,I
dealthe double-backerfacedown onto consultthe paper.
"l haveno idea how that works, th p f:r a - r r n n lo tho +:hl a
^n
but it alwaysdoes."
