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Mere

Casual (Looking) Magic

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Introduction

Well, it’s seems the most fitting thing for an introduction to be

is an introduction. So, to begin: I am a writer and a hobbyist. I began
practicing card magic as an attempt at meditation. I believed that the act
of continuously practicing the same movements in a monotonous
pursuit of perfection would help clear my head.

My goal was to learn a few moderate, yet complex sleights that

I could do over and over again while I wrote, to help keep my mind
relaxed and focused. Constantly churning, but calm and steady.
Unfortunately, the opposite happened. It did not clear my mind at all. It
consumed it. Before I knew it, I was practicing over ten hours a day and
absolutely no writing was taking place. If there was a single moment
where at least one hand was available, I was using it to manipulate cards.

However, throughout all this practicing, I had little to no

interest in performing. I wasn’t thinking of tricks or plots or anything
else. I just liked practicing. Then came one day, I was at a bar, my hands
low, under the bar, quietly burning through my newest move.

I put my deck down on the bar to do something and someone

saw it. They asked why I had cards and I explained my hobby. They
asked to see something. I agreed, but as I didn’t know any tricks, I had to
think on the fly. With no clue what was going to happen next, I asked
them to choose a card. They did. I slid it into the deck, DPS’d it out, and
handed them the deck to shuffle. While they did this, I chucked the card
at the bartender as covertly as I could. The bartender instantly read the
situation and put it in their pocket.

I was hoping they would take it and hide it somewhere, but he

just stood there, watching us… Change of plans, I guess. My participant
finished shuffling, and I asked for a number and told them to deal that
many cards. After they had, I took all the other cards besides that last
one, and turned them over. Spreading them on the bar, I asked them to
check if their card was among them. While they nosed around, poking,
and searching, me next to them, maintaining their attention, the
bartender swapped the set-aside card with the one from their pocket.
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Since then, every performance I’ve given has been in this same
vein. Someone asks me to show them something, and then I do. And
while there’s been a few times I’ve performed in a “professional” sense,
the overwhelming majority of my shows just happen to happen.

However, when you’re a regular at a bar with a bartender who

likes magic and encourages other patrons to ask you to perform, this can
add up to a large number of shows very quickly.

My style is simple: I am casual. Nothing fancy, no flourishes, no

big speeches, no tales from the mystical land of so and so. I don’t carry
around or use any gimmicks. All I use is pure sleight of hand. This is not
to say I am against such things. They’re just simply not interesting to me
personally. The only exception to this would be an index that I have with
me most of the time. As well as the fact that I keep my decks in a stack.

However, as anyone who carries an index, or uses a stack could

attest, it’s still improvisational and it’s still purely sleight of hand. But
those are virtually the only exceptions to my “pure sleight of hand from
a shuffled deck” methodology. And for those curious, my index of
choice is “The Advocate” by Daniel Madison.

Also, I commonly keep an extra face card in my back pocket

for a “torn and restored” bit. Also, often my cards are marked.

All in all, my general attitude can be summed up thusly:

“Doing something, while appearing to do nothing,

is way more fun than doing nothing, while
appearing to do something”
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Table of Contents

Part 1
(Sleights of my own creation)
Pg. 7 One Handed Swivel Shift (A center palm)
Pg. 20 Bottom Feeder (A force and bottom to top control)
Pg. 27 One Handed Turnover Pass (A one-handed turnover pass)
Pg. 37 Ring Clip Attachment (A method to attach a palmed card to
another to form a double)
Pg. 41 Toss Pass (A stupid pass for stupid people)
Pg. 47 Awa Switch (Steal a card while throwing it away)
Pg. 51 Faro Top Palm (Any number of cards palmed while shuffling)

Part 2
(Tricks of my own creation)
Pg. 56 Brute Force (An oil and water)
Pg. 61 Open Palm ACAAN (They shuffle and deal to their own card)
Pg. 68 Cards From Heaven (An impossible location that appears to be
the air over their head)
Pg. 71 True Transpo (A two card transpo)
Pg. 78 True Burn Transfer (Also a less true burn transfer)
Pg. 80 TDTIK (How good’s your audience control?)
Pg. 82 Half Transpo (A transpo that never happened)
Pg. 87 It was yours all along (A set aside card is theirs)
Pg. 91 Cloning Machine (Multiple copies of the same card appear in the
deck)
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Pg. 95 In Your Face (A card reversal)

Pg. 103 Evaporation ACAAN (Cull + reverse cull = ACAAN)
Pg. 105 Five to Four (Mis-find their card, but change it to the right one)
Pg. 107 Cards Across (Here’s 10 cards, no, wait, it’s 7… No, no, it’s 14)

Part 3
My variations on the known and maybe some more of my own
creations)
Pg. 110 Ambitious Card (ACR)
Pg. 113 Push Through False Shuffle (A classic)
Pg. 119 False deals (In general)
Pg. 123 Second Dealing
Pg. 126 False deals: Bottoms
Pg. 128 False deals: Centers
Pg. 133 The Reformation (A torn and restored card)
Pg. 138 Half Restored (A twist on TNR to mess with people)
Pg. 140 Tiny Cards (Why are they small)
Pg. 142 Double Lift (A simple method)
Pg. 146 Double Convincers (Clearly only one card)
Pg. 150 Herrmann Pass (Twice the shade, with half the shade)
Pg. 151 Palm Shifts (Transition between Tenkai and Ring Clip)
Pg. 154 Palm Shift Reverse (Reverse a card as you transition from Tenkai
to Ring Clip)
Pg. 157 Palm Generation (Top shot, but from your empty hand)
Pg. 159 Stack work (How’s your memory?)
Pg. 164 Marked Cards (Safety net brings comfort in pushing limits)
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Pg. 166 Wash Shuffle Control (I couldn’t possibly control a card like this,
could I?)
Pg. 168 Overhand Shuffle Control (A classic control, now better hidden)
Pg. 171 One Handed False Deal (a convincing control?)
Pg. 172 Gilbreath Poker (They cut and shuffle, you deal a perfect hand)
Pg. 174 The Swiss Army Stack (A stack for non-stack users)
Pg. 177 The Snap Deal (A Multiple card control / selection routine)

Part 4
(Theory)
Pg. 180 An overlong diatribe of my opinions (Now 10% more
opinionated)
Pg. 199 A Picture of a crow (It’s in a tree)
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Part 1:

(Sleights of my own invention)

One Handed Swivel Shift

This one is quite simple. To begin, there are two variations. I

developed the first one first, and then it evolved into the second.
However, it is easier to perform the second, if you can already do the
first, so I will be teaching both and in that order. Starting with the deck
held in standard dealer’s grip, take a selected card and insert in halfway
into the deck from the front. Your pointer finger extends out, under the
card, wrapping around the outer edge and pulling it into the deck.

For the insertion of the card, you should raise the deck up,
showing them the face of the card one last time. As you display it, your
middle finger moves around the corner to the short edge of the deck,
slightly angling the card toward the thumb. Then, pull the card into the
deck as you bring it back down. This is similar in timing to the insertion
for the bow to stern top control, by Ernest Earick.

During the insertion, the thumb takes the card by the corner
and helps push it into the deck. Doing this, should insert the card at an
angle, similar to a DPS. To make room for the card to exit the opposite
side, you will need to move your pinky out of the way.

The best way to do this is to simply move it slightly forward,

towards the front of the deck, and also, pull it away from the deck itself.
However, only the part near the middle of the deck needs to be away, so
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it’s good to keep the tip of your pinky in contact with the top of the deck,
to maintain appearances.

It is best to move your pinky into this position while displaying

the face of the card, moving it together with your middle finger. To re-
cap a bit: tilt the deck upwards to show the face of the card being
inserted. As you raise it up, slide your middle finger up to the corner to
angle the card a bit, and your pinky and ring finger both slide up the side
of the deck to create extra room for the card to protrude. Insert the card
as you lower your hand back down, allowing your fingers to return to
their natural positions during the larger movement.

The action of your fingers returning should re-align the card,

while leaving a small portion jogged out the back of the deck. In truth,
you could get to this position in other ways if you prefer. Or you could
use this technique as a way to injog a card and proceed from there down
a very different path.

Regardless, here is where the swivel shift truly begins. First,

raise the deck from standard to elevated dealer’s grip. You’ll notice that
the natural motion of this action has your pinkly wrap around the back
of the deck. This will catch the jogged card and shift it back towards
your thumb-side.

Be sure to move your thumb further forward than normal. On

a standard deck, it should be around the pip in the corner. You can now
freely hold the deck towards viewing eyes without concern, the card
locked between your picky and thumb, visible only on your side.

In practice, you’ll find the front right corner of the card will
often poke out through the front of the deck. Be sure to block the
protruding corner with the inside of your ring finger. With very little
practice, you’ll find it pokes out at the same place every time and it’s easy
to have your ring finger there in advance to hold it back.

From here, hold onto the deck with all your fingers, but let go
of it with your thumb. In one motion, lower the deck into your open
palm, while curling your middle and pinky fingers to shift the deck away
from the thumb side of your hand, placing the deck deep into your palm.
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Grab the jogged card between your pinky and the base of your
thumb. As you do this, turn your hand over, and squeeze the deck
upward through your fist, so the bottom corner transfers from resting on
your pinky to resting on your ring finger.

At this point, you should be able to feel the card between the
soft flesh of your ring finger and pinky, and the base of your thumb.
Simultaneously holding the deck itself with your thumb, base of your
pointer finger, and the ends of your pointer and middle finger.

Finally, extend your arm and offer the deck to be taken by a

participant, you’ll find that as it’s removed, the card will be cleanly left
behind, safely held between the flesh at the base of your thumb and your
ring and pinky fingers.

Alternately, you can pull the deck out with your other hand,
which I’ve done often. I like to grab it between my thumb and the
knuckle of my pointer finger, the rest of my hand in closed ball and wave
it around while I talk or hold it for them to take, or just chuck it onto a
table or whatnot with a messy “PLOP”.

With extra practice, you’ll find that you can turn face up and let
go of it while pulling your hand back. This will pull the card out of the
center while the rest of the deck drops onto the table. Without extra
practice, if you try this the deck will fall into two distinct piles. When you
can get it to drop as a single unit, you’ve got it.
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(Middle finger angles the card while the pinky and ring fingers slide
upwards to make room while keeping in contact with the deck. Be sure
to curl in your pointer finger, to not obstruct their view of the card)

(When ready to insert the card, extend your pointer finger out, curl in
around the front end, and draw it into the deck)
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(Thumb assist the pointer in inserting the card, which extends out the
back and side of the deck where the pinky hand formerly been)
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(Let your hand return to normal, which will slide the card into outjog)

(Viewed from above: Raise the deck to elevated dealers’ grip. This act,
automatically shifts the card all the way to the final position before
extraction begins. Be sure to move your thumb forward to make space,
and also have your ring finger in position to prevent leaking out the
front)
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(View from the side)

(Let go with the thumb, and lower the deck into your palm quickly. As
you do, also shift it downward, as low as possible, so that your pinky can
get the deepest hold on the card possible. If done well, the card will be
nearly extracted before you even begin extracting)
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(When you turn your hand and take the cards in a fist, curl your fingers
to set the deck as deep down into your hand as possible. Once done,
merely relaxing your hand will strip the card out further, making
everything else easier to accomplish)
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(Once grabbed, shift the deck upwards, getting your ring finger under it
as well. This plus your pinky get as a good a grip on the card which has
been pulled further out by this action)
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The second variation of this involves skipping the rise up to

elevated dealers’ grip. Visually, it looks as if you only turn your hand over,
switching from dealers’ grip, to holding the deck in a fist and extending it
outward.

Starting from dealers’ grip with the card out jogged at the back,
shift your pinky to contact the jogged card, while shifting your pointer
finger to near the corner at the long side of the deck.

From here, you do two things at once. You pull in with your
pointer finger, rotating the deck around the base of your thumb. You
also pull with your pinky, rotating the card around the base of your
thumb, but in the opposite direction.

Once the card and deck are separated enough, you shift your
ring finger around the corner of the deck, performing the act of
squeezing it up into your fist.

All of this is done while rotating your hand into the final
position, to give the cards to a participant.

Simply focus on minimizing finger movement, and you’ll

eventually have a fine method for extracting a card.

And finally, once confident, I recommend changing the final

position from holding the cards vertically, to a more relaxed “palm up”
angle.
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(The pointer and pinky move into position to begin rotating)

(The pinky and pointer pull the cards in opposite directions, both
pivoting around “crotch” of the thumb)
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(An example of a horizontal ending position, rather than the vertical.

Note the edge of the card, visible behind the thumb. This is around the
angle where it vanishes from view. The vertical hold is much easier to
conceal it, however, once confident, this handling is far more natural.
Just be sure truly know the angles before attempting this)
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As one final note, I want to mention that when they take the
deck from you, if they squeeze too hard, they can pinch the card in the
deck and now you’re playing tug of war with them. This is not a position
you want to find yourself in. Because of this, it is important to remember
to pull the card as far out the back as possible. It’s very easy to want to
take the easy way, and simply rotate the card and let them do the work of
extracting it. But if you rely on this, then you WILL end up playing tug
of war.

Because of this, it is important to make sure that the card is

below the part of the deck they grab. Pull the card out the back far
enough to give them room. I like to lay my thumb across the back of the
deck, forcing them to take it from above that line. So long as your thumb
is at or higher than the furthest tip of the card, it won’t get pinched when
they take the deck.
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Bottom Feeder

This is a force I thought of when I sat down to come up with

the perfect force. The main problem with most forces are that they feel,
well, forced. Either that, or they rely on hoping for the best. You have
things like the cross-cut force, where you simply pray no one notices
what you’ve done. Or the waterfall force, where you have to move fast
enough that they don’t notice the extra block of cads falling…. or the
use of a crimp to make them cut the deck where you want, hoping they
do…

Every force I’ve come across had a flaw of this kind, and the
few that didn’t had other issues that also turned me off of them.

To me, the perfect force should 1) be smooth and calm enough

that they truly feel they selected the card themselves. 2) allow them a real
chance to change their mind, and 3) show them the card instantly.

However, most forces rely on forcing the card directly. This

means that it’s just not possible to allow them a choice, or to move
slowly or freely, because you need to be in absolute control of every
moment. So, I started thinking, what if instead of forcing a card, I let
them freely pick any card, and then switch it for the one I want them to
have? But then you encounter the problem of, how do you switch it? If it
was truly a free choice, you would present it to them immediately,
without pause.

What I came up with is a variation of a waterfall force.

However, instead of keeping the card in the deck and dropping it when
called for, you store the card at the very bottom of the deck. It’s the first
one dribbled when you begin to waterfall the cards. Very, VERY slowly,
allow the cards to fall from one hand and catch them in the palm of the
other.

When they call stop, stop. Give them the choice to use that
card, or for you to keep dribbling. Once they’ve decided, push over the
top card of the pile with your thumb and, simultaneously use your
fingers under the deck to push over the bottom card.

With your other hand, bring the stack of cards that you’re still
holding in your dribbling hand, and use them to flip over the card. There
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are two ways to go about this, and both are essentially an odd take on the
bottom deal. First, simply retract the top card and extend the bottom.
Using the edge of the deck in your other hand, flip the card over onto
the top of the stack on your palm.

The second way is to flip over both cards, as a double, and have
them land on top of the packet on your hand. Either way, allow them to
see their card and then flip the card(s) back over the same way, with the
side of the deck, and carry on. Should you make use of the double lift
variation, then this allows you the opportunity to perform a convincing
control, if such a thing would be useful to you.

To get into this in more detail let’s start at the beginning. First,
the dribble. This should be very slow and deliberate. So controlled that
the moment they say stop, not one single other card falls. You don’t stop
near their card. You stop AT their card. For me, at my speed, dribbling
the entire deck from start to finish takes me about a complete ten
seconds. If that doesn’t seem slow, try it right now. And if it feels WAY
too slow, just remember that you don’t dribble the whole deck, just until
they call stop. You won’t have dead air to contend with.

When offering them the choice to pick a new card, be as open

about it as possible. Make sure they truly feel they could change their
mind if they want to, even if they say no.

When it comes to sliding out the bottom card, if you already

have a push over bottom that you feel comfortable with, you can most
likely use that. However, what I do is, after sliding over the top card,
place all four fingertips on the very edge of the deck and press straight
up. This slides the bottom card free and also moves it as far forward as it
can go, before you risk flashing.

From here, pull your pinky and ring fingers back while holding
the card in position with your middle and pointer. Then, let go with your
forward two fingers and shoot the card forward with your back two.

For flipping the card over, simply hold the top half of the deck
as you did to dribble them. The only adjustment is to pull your pointer
finger in, to make space, and then use the edge of the deck to lift the
extended card up. Some people, and most magicians, are aware that you
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may be dropping the bottom card from the stack you are using to turn
over the deck. To prove I’m not doing this, I will do two things.

First, while offering them the chance to change their mind, I

will turn my hand up, flashing the bottom card of the top packet, while I
point at the bottom packet with my extended pointer finger. Secondly,
while actually flipping over the card: do not keep the packet level.
Instead, flick the front end upwards while you flip the card. This changes
the angles of the two halves of the deck. You can drop a card from a
level deck onto a level deck, but a card in a deck held at a 70-degree
angle will not just invisibly drop onto a level deck. Even if the person
doesn’t think this directly, they will instinctually feel this fact to be true.

Finally, either retract the top card, flipping only the bottom one,
or flip them both, allowing the bottom card to become the face of a
double. Either way, afterwards, flip them back facedown the exact same
way.

One last thing I want to say about it is a subtly I use to make it

seem even more casual and invisible. However, this is not something
you’ll be able to do until you can already do the move well. If you’re still
learning, or have only gained general proficiency, I can’t recommend
trying this. But, once you’re smooth, you can abandon the use of the top
half of the deck and merely flick the card over with your thumb tip.

This give up your shade, but if you can pull it off, looks as
natural as human as can be. When using the force, or simply in a
situation where you’re holding the top half in your right hand, use it as
already described. However, when that’s not the case, and you’re fully
confident, I can only recommend that you do the following:

Not only do I flip the card over merely using my fingers, but I
don’t move my fingers to do so. To describe in detail, I hold my right
hand, palm down, and all fingers completely relaxed. My wrist is not limp,
however, and the back of my hand rests flat, not slanted. From this
position, your thumb sticks out slightly.

Simply push over the top card, while preparing the bottom card,
and instead of moving your right hand to your left, move your left hand
to your right. Pull back the top card and shoot out the bottom card as
you bring your left hand down and to the right, letting the edge of the
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bottom card land against the top of your thumb and flip over on its own
accord due to gravity.

Once you’ve learned to do this well, you can actually do this

with anything. You can flip over the card with a pen, or magic wand, or
the edge of a table, chair, laptop, brim of a hat, or even a finger of a
participant if you’ve truly nerves of steel. If you want to change the
visuals, instead of dribbling the cards, you can spread them from one
hand to the other. Whenever they call stop, simply break the spread
there, and use the edge of the cards sticking out of the right hand to
lever over the bottom fed card through this method.

Through this, you can use the same force multiple times but
with completely different handlings, or also force multiple cards back-to-
back with no pause between or breaks to hold. If I’m going to be doing
that, for only two or even three, I usually just dripple a couple of times.
But if I’m forcing a large group of cards, I will use the spread variation.
Just spread till they call stop, ask them which of the cards at that spot
they want, do the move, and then flip over the card the same way, outjog
it, and continue spreading for the next person to pick. If you get near the
end of the deck, just close the deck and begin again from the top, this
changes nothing.

Many magicians know that you can bottom deal with one hand.
But I think very few imagine that you can bottom deal with a random
object that literally can’t even grab a card.

Before we move on, this technique also allows you to do much

more than just force a card.

The first of the extra utility you can get out of it is what I call a
pseudo double. During an act, you can get their selection to the bottom
and reverse it. After this, flip the top card over, showing whatever is
there. After this, use the bottom feeder to flip the top card over, but also
move the bottom card onto the top of it. You know have invisibly
controlled the card to the top of the deck instantly after revealing the top
card of the deck. Or the opposite of this to leave their selection on the
top, while taking away a random card instead.

Another bit of utility is simply what I call the “no bottom,

bottom”. This is where you find yourself in a situation where you need
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to bottom deal and reveal. This can be as part of a gambling routine,

where you’re pretending to have shuffled a card to the top of the deck ad
want to “prove” it. Or can be a part of your Ambitious Card Routine,
where you show the card on bottom and then immediately flip over the
top card and they see it again.

How you use it is up to your own creativity, but a move that

controls a card from the bottom to the top with zero odd movements is
quite powerful indeed.

(Push the top card over, to separate it, and also shade the action under
the deck)
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(Buckle the bottom card, in preparation to shot it out)

(Once prepped, retract your pinky and ring finger to prepare to shoot the
card forward)
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(Flick the top half upwards as you turn the bottom card over, onto the
top of the deck. Once the card is in this position, the sleight it completed.
It is good to let the card fall over naturally, to really sell the visual.)

(The double method with an exaggerated gap” Flip over both cards
together)
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One Handed Turnover Pass

This is something I came up with in my search for a one-

handed pass that is doable without cover. The only misdirection is
something done constantly by those who talk with their hands already.

To start, hold the deck by the short ends from above. Your
pointer, middle, and ring fingers on the forward short end of the deck,
your thumb on the near short side, and your pinky resting against the
long side of the deck. Using your pointer finger, swivel the top half of
the deck (using your thumb as a fulcrum) to the side. Simultaneously, do
this in the opposite direction with your ringer finger with the lower half
of the deck. As you do, shift your middle finger around the corner of the
lower half, to where it can rest between both halves.

Having done this (as you get better, this will become part of the
same motion) adjust your grip the bottom packet so you’re holding it
with your ring finger and pinky. In truth, the packet is held only by the
pinky. It is held in two ways: First, it is clamped between the tip of the
pinky and the flesh of the hand, just at the base of the pinky itself. With
an empty hand, curl your fingers closed, but only bending the outer two
rows of knuckles. The third row, that connects your fingers to your palm,
should remain straight out, locked in place. While doing this, the place
the tip of your pinky touches, is where the packet should be clamped.

The second way the bottom packet it held is between the base
of the pinky and the middle finger. You should be able to hold the
bottom packet through either of these methods by themselves. When
actually executing the move, the amount of pressure between the two
ways of holding it will shift, so you must be able to use both of them
independently in isolation, despite the fact that you will never actually
have to use just one of them in isolation.

Now, where we left off on the move itself: The top packet has
swiveled to the side. It is held by the thumb, pointer, and middle finger.
The bottom packet is clamped in place, held by the pinky and ringer
fingers. Pressure between the pinky and middle finger holding it in this
corner.

From here, using your middle finger as a point of leverage, raise

the top packet upwards with your thumb, while simultaneously using
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your pointer finger to pull on it, causing rotation. While this takes place,
turn your entire hand, keeping the face of the top packet above the
bottom and aimed at the eyes of your audience. When ready, loosen your
grip on the bottom packet to let it fall against your palm, and then let go
of the top packet, letting it land on top of the other.

Catch them securely in the following position: Thumb at the

back, pointer finger and pinky at the two long sides, and your middle
finger and ring fingers at the far short end. Fingers should be firm, yet
loose. The cards should be able to wiggle freely in your palm, but always
stay together as an overall packet.

Instantly, give the cards a squeeze to square them up and then

loosen your grip, letting the cards slide around in your hand. The jigglier
the better, this hides any remnants of the two packets and causes
everything to appear extremely causal and without concern.

Be sure to aim the face of the top packet directly at any viewing
eyes until the two halves are together. When viewed head on, the one
packet is more than enough shade to cover the loose packet underneath
it.

Once you’ve got the movements down, you can improve it by

squaring the packets as they go into your palm, instead of after they land.
Eventually, you will be able to not even have to let the packets touch
your palm at all, performing the entire move at just your fingertips.
When doing it this way, you bring the bottom packet upwards towards
the cards at your fingertips, instead of the other way around.

If performing for a wide array of people, I will (holding the

cards in my right hand) point at a person to my left and perform the
separation in this action. Then I’ll turn and gesture towards a person on
my right, turning my hand and performing the pass at this time.

Also, while doing the large motion, gesturing at one person and
then to another, it’s good to not just move your hand in a straight line,
but instead raise and lower it in an arch.

If performing for only a single individual, this same action can

be done under the guise of talking with your hands instead of pointing.
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Sometimes, while I perform the separation, I choose to kill my

wrist, letting it fall forward. When doing it this way, do not squeeze the
lower packet. Instead, merely support it against gravity as lightly as
possible.

From here, instead of rotating along the horizontal axis to end

palm up, you rotate along the vertical axis to end palm out. (This is not
100% true, but merely an approximation. The lower packet will have to
move down, to let the top rotate, hence the looser grip. After the top has
cleared the bottom, use your pinky and ring finger to lift the packet up
until it clears the edge of the top packet.

At this point, the outer packet should be held vertically by the

middle finger at the bottom and thumb at the top, and the pointer finger
on the outside edge. The inner packet should be in the crutch between
your pinky and ring fingers.

From here touch your ringer finger to the bottom of the outer
packet and squeeze your pointer finger and pinky towards each other.
This brings both packets together as one while looking as if you are
showing the bottom card.

If you are acting like you’re talking with your hands, have your
other hand mimic the same motion, but rounder. As if making the
“come on, come on…” circular motion, but only one loop and ending
palm out/up.

One more interesting variation on this sleight (A variation I

found, but do not practice) is that you can also use it to imitate squaring
the deck by whacking it on the table. For this, everything is the same.
However, you angle your hand so the longside of the cards are
horizontal, your thumb on the short side closest to you and your other
fingers on the far short side. Raise the cards up and perform the
separation, then bring the deck down while switching packets and
striking the deck as a whole against the table. You will need to let go of
the deck with your pinky for the strike, but by then, it is no longer
needed, so this is simple enough to do.

You end with your thumb and middle and ring fingers in the
usual places, your pointer on the top longside, and your pinky resting on
the table in a natural position.
 30

(View from below of starting grip)

(View from below of the pointer finger swiveling the top half of the deck
away)
 31

(View from below, the middle finger moves around the corner to apply
pressure to both packets and the pinky and ring finger clamp down)

(Lift the top packet up, as if turning over the whole deck. The pointer
finger pulls inward, rotating the packet on the axis formed running from
the thumb to the middle finger)
 32

(Rotate your whole hand over, using the top packet to cover the bottom)

(Squeeze the cards before letting them slide around)

 33

(Just after the separation for the “wrist kill” variation)

(Begin lifting the separated top packet)

 34

(Let the lower packet hang loose, so the upper packet can rotate over it)

(Once cleared, push the lower packet upwards.)

 35

(Once the packet has cleared, move your ring finger to the bottom of the
front packet and squeeze your pointer and pinky towards each other,
aligning the packets together)
 36

Once last thing I want to add about this pass is that it can be
done with your hand on a table. This may not seem like a big deal until
you try one of the “normal passes” with your hands near a table. Unless
you raise them up, you’re going to be thudding your knuckles on the
surface.

With this pass, however, you can have your hand literally on the
table every step of the way. While there’s not much technical advantage
to rolling your hand on the table, the fact that you can is a lifesaver when
you’re wanting to execute a move and don’t have to readjust everything
to give yourself space. You simply do not need space.

You can just outright get the break, casually rest your hand on
the table, in a very normal and natural position while you talk. And then
roll your hand over to show them the bottom of the deck, or just as a
normal motion as you “talk with your hands”.

The shear fact that you are working in a space untouchable by

most passes, and even most sleights, creates a sense of normalcy. It just
feels very “un-magician”. It’s so plain and casual that it can’t possibly be
a tricky move. It just can’t be. Which is why I’m very happy that it is.
 37

The Ring Clip Attachment

This is a way to slide a second card under another to create a

double. It’s extremely simple in premise, but will require practice to
execute cleanly. To begin, you must have a card clipped with your ring
finger. The proper position for this is to have one corner of the card dug
into the pad of your ring finger, and the other corner dug into your palm,
right at the edge where it meets the base of your ring finger. The card is
held here by the short end, laying horizontally. It will quite literally be
sticking out from your hand and pointing towards yourself. For those
who know it, it’s virtually the lateral palm, but with your ring finger.

This may seem ridiculous to those of you who haven’t seen this,
but I can promise that it’s a real palm that has real use. So long as you
pay attention to your angles, it really looks like your hand is empty, and
you can even let people see between your fingers and your ring finger
will completely cover the horizontal card.

From this position, if you place your picky under the corner of
the card by your ring fingertip, and your thumb on top of the same spot,
you’ll find that pulling in with your ringer finger and pushing out with
your pinky will cause the card to rotate around the fulcrum of you thumb.
Although your fingers move less than a centimeter, the long end of the
card will swing outward completely.

Once your thumb and pinky are in place, you can pull the card
away from your palm. This gives more space for the card to spin. If you
don’t do this, you may find the inner corner catching against your palm.

This is the majority of the move. If you do exactly this, while

holding a card in your left hand, and simply reach out to touch the
corner of that card, then this card will slide out underneath it. If the
 38

cards are held facedown, then this new one will become the face of the
double. If they were held face up, then this will become the back. It can
be thought of as the reverse of the Miracle Change (Ed Marlo), which
steals a card by touching the corner of a double.

You can either lightly touch the corner of the card and then
come away, maintaining the double in your left hand, or you can pass the
card to your right. Either way, this is a maneuver that relies of smooth
technique and well mastered angles.

When it comes to actually extending the hidden card, there are

a few variations in timing to do so. You can rotate it out as you reach for
the card in the first place, spinning it around your fingers as described,
and sliding it under at the first moment the visible card shades the move.
You can also slide the visible card between the clipped card and your
thumb, and then rotate it like that.

This can be used as a reveal. For instance, you have the chosen
card clipped with your right hand, taking a counted to card with your left.
Holding it face down, you ask them to say out loud what their original
chosen card was and place the card at your right fingertips as you do,
performing the sleight. Then, turnover the card, showing theirs at the
face of the double.

It is mostly used for nothing more than making a double. There

are an uncountable number of uses for this, and the cleaner method you
can find, the better. I see this as one of the cleanest.

And as short as this explanation may be, there really isn’t much
else to say about it. It’s very easy to understand and very easy to do. But
very difficult to do cleanly. But if you get good enough to do it clean,
then it is invaluable.
 39

An above and side view of the Ring Finger Clip

 40

(The other fingers have been moved aside to show the placement of the
thumb, with the pinky directly below it, creating the fulcrum to rotate the
card)

Rotating with the card between thumb and card. On left: done early,
swinging out at lightest contact. On right: establishing contact before
swinging out
 41

Toss Pass

This pass is a stupid pass, but it is a fun pass and I like it. Feel
free to never attempt this. There is no reason to learn this move.

In this pass, quite literally, you toss the cards from one hand to
the other, while flipping them from face up to face down (or vice-versa).
My standard way of holding the deck is with my left hand on bottom and
my right hand on top. Because of this, I will be explaining from this
point of view of throwing from my right hand to my left. Should you be
the opposite, then merely do the opposite.

To start, the grip: hold the deck from above with your right
hand. Thumb on the left side, pointer finger curled up on top. Middle,
ring, and pinky fingers on the right side of the deck. You should be
holding the deck by the long-sides, with your thumb only resting on the
top half of the deck.

Now with your hands a normal distance apart from each other,
tilt your hand towards your left, as if winding up to throw the deck.
Allowing the bottom half of the deck to fall away from the top. Once it
has begun to separate, quickly turn your hand back and use your
fingertips to flick the falling packet up, causing it to flip in the air and
land face up in your left hand. Simultaneously, toss the top packet into
you left hand, where it also lands face up.

If done correctly, the bottom half will rotate counter-clockwise

and the top have will rotated clockwise, and while the top stays on top
and the bottom stays on bottom, the deck has turned over, and the two
halves have switched relative to each other: a pass has been completed.

While to goal is to truly hurl the packets from one hand to

another, you should not even try this until you can perform the “close”
version with ease. For this, simply let the outer edge of the falling packet
contact the tips of your left fingers and then flip it over into the palm.
 42

When doing this, take inspiration from the top change. Start
with your hands apart, bring them together as you toss, making use of
your left fingertips, and then separate them again as you catch. This
creates the appearance of having tossed the cards, despite somewhat
rolling them from one hand to the other.

Another note is that rapidly extending your pointer finger,

which was curled up on top, to kick the deck with extra force, helps to
push it through the air smoother. Also, the edge of the top deck strikes
the edge of the bottom deck and adds both speed and spin to it as well,
keeping the two flying in unison. Also, this is slightly easier with a worn-
in deck.

(The starting grip)

 43

(Average starting distance between my hands)

(Let the packet begin to fall away)

 44

(If you choose to bring your hands closer together, be sure to aim for
your fingertips, and not your palm)

(The top packet pushes the bottom one, keeping them moving at the
same speed)
 45

(Use your pointer finger to shoot the deck forward

(The two packets should move as one and appear to land at the same
time as a single unit)
 46

(After catching the deck, they do not coalesce naturally, so you must give
them a squeeze to bring them together)

As one final note, I know how it can appear obvious when seen
at this angle, however, when viewed from above, it can be surprisingly
unseen.

Also, remember the lessons from the top change: Start with
your hands apart, bring them together for the toss, and then separate
them again, creating the illusion that they never came near each other.
Once you become competent in this, you will be able to separate your
hands more and more until eventually, you actually are just tossing the
packets through the air.

One final, final word… For the tilt, you do not just tilt your
hands and wait for the cards to begin falling away before you flick them
up. The timing requires micro-second perfection. It is simply not
possible to watch and respond. Nor is it possible to feel the cards and
react. You must simply learn the rhythm and go with it. Speed is your
friend. It’s much less of a tilt and more of a twitch.

You will develop a knack for knowing how much to “wind-up”

and how fast to do it. If you’re still struggling to get this right, then just
start experimenting with different spends at different levels of force until
you hone in on a successful amount of both.

You should be able to do the close version relatively quickly.

The “full-toss” will take much time and many dropped cards, and
honestly isn’t worth it other than the fun of it.
 47

Awa Switch

This is a switch I came up with while playing around. One thing

I like to do it sit around with two cards and just toss them around, make
and break double, swap one for the other and just see what happens. As
what may or not be known by you at this point, is that my favorite palms
are the ring clip, and tenkai. Therefore, it was a pretty natural thing to
end up using both at the same time.

What this switch is, is merely doing two things at the same time.
First, the tenkai vanish. This is a classic card vanish that virtually
everyone knows to the point of cliché.

For those who don’t know it, simply hold a card between your
pointer and middle finger near the inner right corner. If that doesn’t
make sense, use those two fingers to make a finger gun, and then slide a
card in between the two fingers.

From this position, you can curl your fingers in and stick the
card directly into Tenkai palm position. Also, you can pull it from that
position with those same fingers as well. Practice and eventually you will
be able to do what everyone else does: Hold a card at your fingertips and
pretend to toss it away, but stick it in Tenkai and act like it vanished.

The second thing you do, is have a card palmed in ring clip.
From this position, it’s not difficult to whip your hand out and send the
card sailing through the air, spinning horizontally as it goes.

If you merely do both of these things at the same time, it will

appear that you held a card at your fingertips, and then tossed it.
However, the card you were holding gets stashed in Tenkai, while the
card that goes flying was the secretly palmed one.

This is not too complex, and anyone who spends even a few
minutes should be able to do it fairly decently.

The first of the two main things I use it for is probably what
you’ve all already thought: I toss the card away, but still retain it. I use
this in my ACR, as will be mentioned, but I’m sure you can find your
own places this would be worthwhile.
 48

The second thing is as a convincing control. What I do for this,

is, have any random card ready in ring clip in my right hand. I will take
the card in my right hand, ready to do the switch, and then, with my left
hand, will cut up half the deck. Using this move, toss the card into the
gap and drop the top half of the cards onto it.

They will now think that their card is in the middle of the deck
while you actually have it in your right hand. To cover this, you need to
make sure that the deck is pretty well to your left, so that the palmed
card is hidden by your hand when you toss it. If you miss, and you often
will, merely use it as a moment of comedy, as if you were trying to show
off and fell on your face. Then clean up by putting the cut-up cards on
top of the tossed card. Lift up the full thing, with the card now at the
face, and then plant this on top of the bottom half that had been left
behind when you cut the deck.

I barely even make an attempt to accurately lad the tossed card

onto the deck, opting for the joke that comes with missing. When you
place it down, whether is was accurate on not, do so a little unevenly.
Then, reach over with both hands and plant the palmed card on top as
you neaten everything up and coalesce it together.

An alternative way to do this is to drop the card down, instead

of tossing it. If you raise your hand up slightly, and then do the move as
you peak and begin moving your hand down, it will appear as if you are
simply flopping the card onto the table.

This method works well with packets of cards. I enjoy using it

for when I want to switch out four cards for another four. Right now,
the only trick I do that involves this is a “finding the Aces” routine,
where I have done this to pretend to drop the four cards into the deck
and pass it to them to be shuffled. It’s a nice way to hold out a packet if
you get comfortable with it.
 49

(From above: One card is held in ring clip, while the other is taken by
the fingers to be flung away)

(Bring the card in, as you pull back your hand, as if winding up to throw)
 50

(Tuck the card into Tenkai at the peak of the windup)

(Whip your wrist while extending your fingers to spin the card forward)
 51

Faro Top Palm

As the name implies, this is a way to palm off the top of the
deck while performing a faro shuffle. What is unique about this
particular method is that you can palm any number of cards you want.
You are not limited to only the actual top card. The way it works is to do
a standard faro shuffle. After you slide the cards together, cascade them.

The standard way of doing this cascade is to hold both packets

from below with your left hand, and to come over them from the top
with your right hand, placing your thumb at one short end, the ridge of
your palm at the center, and your middle and ring finger at the other
short end. From here, push down and in with your thumb and fingers,
creating the bridge, and then relax to let the cards spring forward,
cascading into your open left palm, where they are caught and coalesced
together.

To do the palm, when you put the cards together, have the
cards you want to palm on top of the pack that is touched by your
thumb. When you flex the deck, to prepare to cascade the cards, it is
actually extraordinarily easy to pinch the top card between your thumb
and the ridge of your palm.

Once you’ve done this, cascade the cards and you’ll find that
top card from the packet has been left behind is a sort of modified lateral
tenkai. The way to turn this into a multi-card palm is wildly simple. Any
and all cards from the top card of the thumb side packet, to every card
above to top card of the other packet will all get clipped together and left
behind as a single unit.

When you faro the cards together, just chose how many cards
you want and insert the top card of the other packet just below the last
 52

card you want. This will give you the break you need separate the palmed
packet from the rest of the cards.

If you want to palm five cards, then all you need to do is make
sure that the top card of the finger side packet is the sixth cards from the
top. Because of this, the top five cards of the thumb side packet will lift
off together. If you want three cards, then just ensure that the top card
from the finger side packet goes into position four.

Regardless of how many you want, the shuffle acts as

wonderful misdirection and shade. With all the cards seemingly in your
left hand and having been shot from your right hand, your right hand
will feel absolutely empty.

To explain a bit more about the misdirection (as it’s extra

important due to the odd nature of the palm) you need to turn your right
hand so it’s palm down, thumb towards yourself, with your left hand in
the opposite position. Once you’ve cascaded the cards, take them with
your left hand and bring them forward and onto the table, while letting
your right hand relax to your side where you can either ditch the cards or
re-adjust to classic palm

To be upfront, I haven’t found a use or need for this palm. But

it’s fun to practice and I put it here because maybe someone else will
find a place for it.
 53

(Have the target card(s) on top of the thumb side packet, and then wrap
your hand around it to cascade the cards into your bottom hand. If you
need help forming the arch, use your bottom hand middle finger to press
upwards giving pressure to bend around. Once properly arched, letting
go and pulling your hand away, will trigger the cascade. I like to put a
good amount of space between my hands, like I’m springing the cards, to
make the shuffle look pretty, and also sell the idea that with all those
cards flying out of it, there’s no way anything was left behind)
 54

(Once sprung, any cards held above the top card of the finger side
packet will be left behind in a lateral variation of the Tenkai palm)

(The palm alone, from a different angle. Note how it’s wedged between
the pad of the thumb, and the ridge of the palm)
 55

(A third angle of the palm)

(You’ll have to trust me, by I’m palming the card in this photo, from the
point of view of a spectator. Despite it’s oddness, it is as easy to hide as a
standard Tenkai palm)
 56

Part 2:

(Tricks of my own creation)

Brute Force

The magician takes four red cards in one hand, and four black
in the other. One by one, and face up, they lay the cards on top of each
other, alternating red and black as they do. They then rotate the packet
face down and the magician take it, holding it at their fingertips. They
show the bottom card, let’s assume it’s black. With a light shake of the
hand, the black card vanishes and is replaced with a red.

The magician informs everyone that this is because all the black
cards have floated up to the top, while all the red cards have sunk down
to the bottom. Slowly, the magician the deals the cards face up, one at a
time, revealing this fact to be true.

The core of this this trick is as simple as they come: False

dealing. For the explanation, I’m going to assume the top card is black.
First you deal the top card, placing a black down. This leaves a red on
top, and alternating colors below it.

You then perform a second deal, placing a black card down,

leaving two red cards on top, and alternating colors below them.

Next you perform a third deal, leaving three red cards on top and
alternating colors below them.

Finally, you perform a Greek deal (or a fourth deal, in this case)
putting the last black card down and leaving nothing but red cards in
your hand. From here, you simply deal the last four cards normally.

I want to mention that in further section of this book, I teach

my variation of false dealing, however, because this trick only involves
only eight cards and is a quick burn through of one of each kind of false
deal, I do not do it as I teach and if you already have your own method,
you also will most likely have to adjust it. For all of them, I simply push
all the cards plus the card to be deal over as one as if doing a push over
second deal. I also grab them with my middle finger instead of my ring
finger.
 57

Of course, if you have your own variation of false dealings that

you do, then you would know best how to do this through your method.
However, this is definitely something you will need to consider, as I am
highly suspicious that your standard method will have to be adjusted in
some way to account for this issue.

For this trick, the third deal is the most difficult aspect to
manage. And in if you want to eliminate it to try something easier…
there is another option. After alternating the cards, raise and spread them
towards the audience to show one last time.

When you do this, the fourth card from the bottom will be the
one you will have to third deal later. Simply cull this card to the bottom
of the packet as you close the spread and now, instead of the normal
pattern: execute a bottom deal, a normal deal, a second deal, and a Greek
deal. This obtains the same result, but without having to do the difficult
third deal.

However, this will also mean that you cannot do the part where
you “show” the cards floating up and down the deck, as they will see the
bottom card and recognize it from the middle and therefore know
something is wrong. However, since this is not an integral part of the
trick, it is fully possible skip it if you’d rather go easy on yourself.

For the act of displaying the bottom card and then then lightly
shaking the cards to cause them to shift up and down the pile, the
method is a slipshift. I believe I mentioned it earlier, but it was created
by Chris Ramsay and he, himself, teaches it twice. Once for free on
YouTube and a more in-depth lesson which you can purchase.

A very brief explanation, which I feel is acceptable to provide

as he offers a full (but simple) lesson for free on his channel, is that you
hold the card at opposite corners with your thumb and middle finger.
Your ring and pinky come down and pinch the cards, with your ring
finger on top and your pinky on bottom. Like this, you pull out the
bottom card, using your middle finger as a fulcrum, and then bring it
around the packet and slide it on top.

There is much more to this, so I suggest you look up the

original creator to learn it in full. It’s supposedly a fairly difficult sleight,
but if you want to do it, it’s only a matter of practice before it’s just
 58

muscle memory. It’s only truly difficult when being used as a color
change. When done with the backs up, you don’t need to be 100%
perfect.

For this particular trick, simply raise the cards up to show the
bottom card, then relax your wrist while talking, which hides the face
from them. Now, give the cards a gentle shake while performing the
slipshift. Show that the bottom card has changed. From here, proceed to
prove your claim that the cards have shifted by dealing them one at a
time, face up.

You can, if you choose, perform this bit as an actual color

change, but I prefer to not show the moment. I think hiding the moment
the change takes place makes it only more interesting. Sometimes a
straight up color change is amazing. But in this instance, I don’t believe it
so.

In my presentation, after I perform the slipshift, I will be

holding the cards by their corners with my right hand as I display the
bottom card. As I do, I will explain that the reason it has changed from
black to red (for example) is because all the black cards floated up to the
top. As I say this, I raise both hands upwards, imitating the act of
floating. Then as I start to say the next sentence, I lightly transfer the
packet onto my upturned left palm as I lower my hands back down,
while telling them that the red cards sank down to the bottom.

For the actual motion, imagine you are visually coaching

someone through the act of breathing. Hands go up to breathe in, and
down to breathe out. They also come together as they come up and
separate as they go back down. Both hands should move in unison with
each other and end palm up, ready to start dealing face up for the reveal.

A second presentation I have for this, and also the original

presentation, is to take four of each color and lay them down,
overlapping, in a row. With the bare minimum amount of touch, close
the spread into a single pile and then slowly turn it over and place it in
your hand. From here, deal the cards out in the method previously
mentioned, but in a single straight line, all facedown. Indicate how all the
cards in the line should be alternating, as you would with any other oil
 59

and water. And then, with your best magic gesture, turn the cards over,
revealing that they have separated.

For this method, one important thing I want to mention is the

overall hand movement. I’ve found that the entire ordeal looks much
smoother when moving my hands back and forth horizontally.

Specifically, I separate my hands with some sense of flair to

initiate before bringing them back together to begin dealing. After the
first card is dealt, I pull my left hand back to where I had pulled it during
my “flair” moment, in unison with my right hand placing the card, both
stopping in the same moment. Then, I bring my left hand back, and my
right hand move up, taking the second card directly above the first one
dealt. Here, I retract my left hand again, but not as much.

Over the course of the trick, I deal all cards the same distance
from each other, all spaced about one card width apart. If I had already
dealt a card before I had begun, my left hand would now be over that
card. In short, I move it about four card widths (short length) away,
while I simultaneously move my right hand the same distance to the right,
to place the second card.

From here, I repeat this pattern. For card 3, I take the card,
directly over card 2, then move my left hand back to being over card 1,
while placing card 3. Then, I bring them together over card 3, then place
card 4 while my left hand retreats to being over card 2. Then I take card
5 over card 4, and deal it while bringing my left hand over card 3.

To simplify: I always take the next card directly over the

previously dealt card. And I always pause slightly the moment a dealt
card touches the table. In that moment, my left hand is over the card two
behind what I am currently dealing.

In reality, my hands take the appearance of a conductor

controlling an orchestra. They move up while meeting in the middle,
then drop down and in opposite directions. Everything fluid, and circular.
No hard angles. And even though there are pauses, they are in a regular
rhythm and pattern, normalizing them to be less a controlled motion and
more just a fluid motion happening because of the natural sway of the
hands of someone who is enjoying the moment.
 60

One other thing worth pointing out, is that this may be a great
trick, but it’s not a routine. This, like many of the tricks you’ll find in this
book, is a modular moment than can easily be transplanted into one
phase in a larger oil and water routine. It’s not uncommon for my to
proceed this with a different oil and water and then use this as the final
moment. You can open with this and then proceed into your regular oil
and water, or use this as your finale, as I do. It is simple enough that you
can put it anywhere it will fit nicely.

Ultimately, all of these moves are ones that many consider to be

extraordinarily difficult. However, these people are talking about true
mastery. Should anyone manage to execute a truly invisible, perfect
second deal, or any false deal for that matter… they would be able to live
the rest of their life off the money they earn teaching and performing
that one move.

However, despite the near impossibility of a perfect false deal,

all, if not most, magicians are capable of one good enough to use in
performance. The pursuit of the perfect false deal has obsessed many a
cardician.

On top of this, all false deals are easier with fewer cards. Even
someone with a bad bottom deal, when only holding eight cards, would
instantly find much improvement in their abilities.

There are two main reasons why I choose to do my oil and

water in this manner. First, because no other method allows the audience
to truly see the mixed nature of the cards.

For my second reason… Well, I’d like to remind you of my

quote, which started this entire book. Namely, “Doing something, while
appearing to do nothing, is way more fun than doing nothing, while
appearing to do something” And this looks like you’ve done nothing.
The cards are clearly mixed, you pick up the packet, the cards appear to
rearrange themselves, and then you show that they have. That’s all.

But that being said, it’s a fine Oil and Water and I hope you
enjoy using it.
 61

Open Palm ACAAN

This, out of all the tricks written here, is the one I have been
using the longest. It is also my go to trick when asked to perform. If I
had to choose a signature trick, this would be it. It has many forms and
variations, but in the purest one, the magician hands off the deck to a
participant, who names a card and shuffles the deck before dealing onto
the magician’s open palm; stopping whenever they chose. The magician
offers them the chance to either take cards back or to continue adding
more. They do whichever they want, and then the magician gently places
the cards in the participants’ own hand and invites them to turn over the
top card revealing their named selection.

As said, I have multiple variations of this trick. The one just

described involves an index. However, in keeping with the “from a
shuffled deck in use” theme of this book (a loose theme it may be), I am
first going to teach a couple pure sleight of hand versions.

The Control Variation

To begin, have a selection made. Take the selection and replace

it in the deck. Here, you must control it to the top. I tend to just use an
overhand shuffle to give the cards a light mix while talking. Regardless,
what is important is that you end with their selection on top.

Next, tell them to deal cards into your open palm. While
explaining this, actually deal cards into your own open palm. I like to put
down the first two to four cards and then let them handle the rest. If
you’re confident in your audience management, you can just allow them
to deal themselves from the beginning.

At this point, their card is on your palm with a few cards on top
of it. While you can ask them to give you a number if you want, my
preference is to not involve numbers at all and just have them deal until
they feel satisfied.

However you wish to proceed, when they finish dealing, gesture

towards them with your open palm full of cards, asking if they’re sure
and offer a chance to take back any number from the pile or add more to
it. During this action, let the cards slide around and become messy.
 62

If they chose to either add or remove cards, allow them. Once

they are ready, use your right hand to neaten up the pile of cards in your
left palm. At this time, you lift up the cards with your right hand and
perform one of two sleights while gesturing to the audience with your
left hand, asking them to hold out their palm for you.

If there is a large pile of cards, execute a clip shift (Chad

Nelson). If there is a small stack, perform a slipshift (Chris Ramsay). For
the unaware, both of these are fantastic sleights that shift a single card
from the bottom of the deck to the top.

Should you not know either of these moves and want to avoid
learning them, then there are other ways to shift a card. In fact, you can
make use of the Bottom Feeder technique taught earlier in this book to
appear to turn over the top card while revealing theirs. However, a big
part of this trick is letting them do it themself and this takes that away.

You want to touch the deck as little as possible and most other
options require more touching. On top of this, it is important to not
simply bottom deal the card and then reveal. It is the act of them,
themselves, handling the cards which makes this so powerful. It is
absolutely necessary for them to believe that they were the only person
to have touched that card. And letting them turn it over themselves is an
indispensable part of this.

Once you have done whichever sleight you chose, you can put
the deck back in your own hand, or in the hand of your participant. I
prefer to place it in their hand, and use the act of asking them to present
their palm to me as the misdirection for my move. I simply hold my left
hand to demonstrate how I want them to hold theirs, and perform the
slip shift or clip shift while I do this. Then, place the deck gently in their
open palm and invite them to check the top card.

If you choose to place the deck back in your own hand instead,
it is important to make use of specific body language. While standing,
hold a very specific pose, with your hand out, cards on it. Then, after you
“neaten” the cards, and you’ve placed them back, you must retake this
exact pose, as you extend your hand forward for them to turn over the
top card on it.
 63

This is to make use of memory hacking. We want them to

forget that we touched the deck. We want them to hold the image of
dealing into our open palm and then turning over the card in that same
open palm. It is towards this goal, that moving the piles into your left
hand as soon as possible, as well as your specific body language and
posture are so important.

By emphasizing the moment before and the moment after the

sleight in identical ways, it creates the mental impression that they are
actually the same moment. And if they are the same moment, then
nothing can exist between them, because there’s nowhere for that
something to exist.

And through this, they forget that you touched the cards. They
remember dealing, you giving them a chance to change their mind, and
then turning over the top card.

Holdout Methods

Another way to perform the same trick, but with more of it

taking place in the spectator’s hands is simple. In the beginning, when
you first insert their selection back into the deck, steal it out. If I’m
standing, I will generally use the DPS, or my own one-handed swivel
shift, depending on my mood. If I am at a table, I will simply place the
deck on the table, cut up half the cards and then snap deal the card onto
the bottom half, while keeping the card in my right hand, I will pinch the
tips my pointer and thumb together on each hand and use them to cup
the corners of the deck and slide it along the table towards the
participant.

Because my right middle finger is holding their card, it will have

to remain extended too. To cover this, I will extend my left middle finger
in the same way, and then use the both of them to “assist” in sliding the
deck with the other fingers.

If I am too surrounded to properly shade this, then I will

merely bring my right hand away, while replacing the top half of the deck
and sliding the whole thing forward in one motion.
 64

My favorite alternative to this, is to control the card to the top

through any normal means, and then top palm it as I set the deck down
on the table infront of them.

Either way, after this, they take the deck and shuffle. Ask them
to set the deck down. It is here that you begin explaining that you want
them to give you cards one at a time. If you palmed the card in your left
hand, adjust it to gambler’s cop, and simply take cards off the deck with
your right hand and place them on top of the palmed card and then
continue with the original method.

If you are having them deal the entire time, then just present
your non-palming hand for them to deal onto, and then, simply transfer
the pile from one hand to the other, placing the pile on top of the
palmed card and continue from there as the original method. My excuse
for doing this is to stretch my fingers. To sell this, I’ll transfer the cards
from my right to left hand, and then immediately open, close, and flex
my right hand fingers as if my hand was unconfutable and nothing more.

If you had made use of the snap deal, then take the first card
off the deck with your non-palming hand, and then take the next with
your palming hand and simultaneously put this on the other, while
sliding the palmed card under the both of them, and then proceed with
the original method.

Finally, the other option is to simply drop the palmed card onto
the deck once they’ve set it down, and then from there, you are already
back onto the original method.

The Index Method

As an extra layer of impossibility, as already said, I perform this

with the use of an index. Once again, my index of choice is “The
Advocate”, by Daniel Madison. If you don’t know what an index is, it is
essentially something you keep in your pocket and, from it, any card they
name is obtainable. When no table is available, I hand the deck to the
participant and ask them to shuffle. While they do, I have them name
any card they want. Once they do, I tell them to think about it while they
shuffle. While they do this, I get a copy of it from my index and hold it
palmed in my left hand. From here, it’s only a matter of making use of
any of the holdout methods previously mentioned.
 65

When a table is available, and especially when doing this for

magicians, I ribbon spread the deck, face up, and tell them to choose any
card they want from it. Once they do, I tell them to place it back in the
deck and to collect it all and shuffle it up. While they do this, I get it
from the index and proceed as usual. The reason I like this is, having
them actually get the card and shuffle it back in themself, instead of just
naming a card, makes it feel like you must have somehow gotten their
card under control. Even people who know about indexes, will not think
of them under these circumstances.

We’re all so trained to recognize an index (or stack) when a

magician asks you to name a card. But when you honestly pick one, that
idea seems to just slip out the back of your mind.

Stack Method

As I’ve said, I often start off with my deck in a stack. I use

Mnemonica. For those who don’t know, a stack is when you have the
entire deck organized in a way that you know the full order of it. With
this, you can ask someone to simply name a card, and then by giving the
deck a cut at the proper place, bring their card to the top of it. From here,
you can place the deck down on the table and ask them to take cards off
the deck, one at a time and place them in your palm.

Once you’ve done this, merely carry on with the trick as normal.
You can mix this up with the other version to do whatever you want.
Sometimes I use the stack to get it to the top, and then shuffle retaining
top control. Other times, I top palm and give them the cards to shuffle.

Also, if you do it the way first described, you simply have to

reverse the order of the cards you’ve been dealt, and put them back on
top of the deck, and the order of the stack will be restored.

One of the main reasons I like this particular ACAAN so much

is that it simply defies all explanation. Their choice is too free, so it can’t
be a force. They deal the cards themselves, so it can’t be tricky dealing.
They name their number AFTER you relinquish control of the card, not
before… Or they don’t even name a number at all.

Every other method I know that allows them to deal to their

own card either requires getting the number and doing something before
 66

handing them the deck, or it required some kind of, “they deal to the
wrong card and then A leads to B leads to C leads to their card”. This is
neither of those. You have no control over where they stop, and they
land exactly on their card the first time. Straight forward, simple, clean,
and impossible according to the limitations of most ACAANs.

Also, as stated, you don’t actually need a number, it can

sometimes be fun to have them think of a number but never tell you
what it is. Or, to involve multiple people, have one deal while another
thinks of a number and calls stop when the dealer dealt the number they
were thinking of. Then, when it’s correct, it counts as a whole other trick
that you did, even though nothing was different. Helping it feel that
much more powerful.

A nearly final word on the subject is that I want to note the

similarity between this and the “HG Effect” by Shawn Farquhar. While I
didn’t learn about his variation until I had already been performing this
for years, it is the only other version of ACAAN I know that works
under most the parameters I have placed on this. However, it also
requires more “touching” of the deck, and also doesn’t allow them to
change their mind, so I still feel this is cleaner and more “hands off”
which is my goal.

Beyond that, the methods are fairly different, but I felt it was
worth noting. So, in the name of full transparency, my inspiration for
this trick stems 100% from my learning the clip shift. Upon stumbling
on that move, my first thought was essentially, “Wait, so you’re telling
me I can do literally anything with the top of the deck in any way, shape,
or form, and then put a card there and act like it’s been there the whole
time?” I immediately thought of a few things: 1, a force where they cut
the deck and then I use the clipshift to put a card there and then they
look to see what card they cut to.

And 2, this trick. And while the nuances of it came later, the
core idea of sticking a card at the bottom and then letting them do
whatever they want to the top of the deck only to find their card there
was a singular idea that entered my brain the very moment I encountered
the clipshift. And then the use of the slipshift obviously makes sense, so
once I learned that move, this was the first place I began using it.
 67

Find the Aces (or anything else) Presentation

Another way that I like to perform this for multiple people, is

to do one of two things. The first option is to hand them the deck to
shuffle. While they do, have them talk and agree upon a value of a card.
Then, place the cards on the table. Simultaneously, use your index to
take all four cards of that value. With them palmed, place your hand on
top of the deck and ribbon spread it across the table and tell them to
mentally place their thought of cards in the deck.

Now that you’ve deposited the four cards on top, go back to

the regular method, and just do it four times, once per person.

The other method is to just have them pick four cards and then
control them to the top and go from there. Either way, it’s a different
presentation of the same overall trick, and while some obvious tweaking
will be needed for the presentation, it can work great when wanting to
involve multiple people instead of just one.

One recommendation I have when doing this, is to vary the

reveals. What I do, is use my bottom feeder for the first reveal. Then I
tell the second person to begin giving me more cards, and tell the rest for
one of them to shout stop whenever they want. Once they do, one-
handed stud bottom deal to plop the card on the table. One by one,
holding the cards only at your fingertips, begin dealing cards onto the
pile in your hand yourself and stare into the eyes of the third person and
tell them to announce when they feel something. Once they do, clipshift
as you place the deck on the table and then lift up the top card. By now,
you probably have a large stack of cards. Instead of adding more to it,
pick it up with your right hand and place it in your left palm. Raise your
hand up slightly, bringing it to your face to examine and raise your right
hand over the deck. Close in your thumb, pinky, and ring fingers while
extending you pointer and middle. Begin “walking” your fingers on the
top of the deck, sliding cards off of it one by one until the last person
tells you to stop. Try to do this rapidly, so you end up with very few
cards by the time they call it. Once they do, slipshift as you place the
cards in their hand and let them turn over the final card themselves.
 68

Cards from Heaven

(A Real Head-Scratcher)

I tell people the name of this trick is “Cards from Heaven”. But,
in reality, its true name is “A Real Head-Scratcher” Unfortunately, this
name gives away the method.

A magician has a selection made and returned to the deck. They

hand out the deck to be shuffled, and then reveal that the card has
vanish. Gone from the deck, and nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the card
comes fluttering down from high above their heads, but the magicians’
hands are down, clearly visible… Where did that card possibly fall from?

This is all surprisingly simple. Stupidly simple. First, have a

selection made. Steal it out and then hand them deck to shuffle. While
they do, you are momentarily distracted by an itch at the top of your
head. Raise your hand, card palmed within it, and scratch the itch.

Place the card on top of your own head and leave it there as
you bring your hand back down, pausing to rub your face, maybe
another itch, maybe you’re just tired, maybe you’re trying to sell the idea
that you’re innocuously touching yourself while they shuffle to misdirect
from what would have been a singular itch at the top of your head but is
now just one of a number of natural human movements you’ve taken
part in.

Once they’re ready, take the cards back and turn them over.
Spread them face up in your hands and reveal that their selection has
vanished from the deck. This is where the real trick begins. Slowly pan
through the cards for them to examine, moving closer in as you do.
Lower the cards down, adjusting the angle of the bend in their neck
 69

through your distance and the height of the cards. Position them looking
down from nearly directly above the spread, scanning for their own card.

It is important here to fully capture their attention. This trick

lives and dies in your audience management. For me, I try to set the
mood as one of investigation, and curiosity, asking them if they see their
card, spread a little more and ask again.

I do this to create a very specific atmosphere via the rhythm

and repetition. I want them to fall into a lull, where their only thoughts
are, about how they can’t see their cards, while seeing all the card and my
hands. I want anything that’s not directly in front of their eyes to fade
away into nothingness.

My alternative method is to ask nothing, to say nothing, to

create a silence so profound that it takes over everything as they just
stare into my hands. Regardless of how you choose to capture their
attention, once they are fully investing in staring down at the cards, tilt
your head forward.

This will cause the card to slide down off of your head. In a
perfect world, it will land on the spread of cards. Often it will flutter
right past and land on the floor. Should this happen, don’t panic. It’s fine.
No fast movement. No physical reaction at all. Let them see it, let them
reach down for it, and let them take it themselves. And no matter what
you do, do not drop any cards by accident.

The only thing that truly matters here is that the top of your
head is above their field of view, and that the card fell straight forward,
passing through their field of view from above, while your hands were
plainly in their field of view the entire time. This will cause them to
throw their head upwards to see where the card fell from. When they do
this, do it with them. Search in the air above your heads for whatever
dropped the card.

Second to their field of view, what matters most is their

attention. You need to set a mood. Trying to get them fully absorbed in
the moment, eyes locked on the spread cards before them, the room
around them falling silent as time slows to a crawl. Everything still,
everything quite… So still that the simple motion of a card falling for a
fraction of a second is a shock to their senses. Failure to do this, and
 70

they may not notice it at all. And pointing at a card on the floor is far less
impressive of a trick.

And just as how, in the last trick, we need them to forget that
we touched the cards… Well here, we need them to remember that we
touched the cards. We want the fact that our hands are down and
completely in their view to be a big part of their memory.

This is my one of my favorite tricks to perform. It is simple

enough that it’s easy to do. Merely a steal, and a load. At the same time,
it’s very fun, in the pure sense of the word. The method, standing around
with a playing card balanced on your head, is inherently silly, and makes
me smile just thinking about performing it.

Also, it’s a very intimate trick. By its nature, it can only be

performed for a single person (also indoors… wind is not your friend).
Perhaps two people, standing side by side, but by design, it is meant for
one person, and for you to be close. In each other’s space, being quite
together.

Cultivate that atmosphere. You must get their attention so

fixated on the cards that there’s no chance they look up. Everything
must be so still, that there’s no chance they miss the gentle fluttering of
the card in the air. They must remember your hands so clearly, that that
can’t even fathom you used them to flick the card up above their heads.

This is a very fun and silly trick. But it’s also very intimate. All
in all, it can be quite mind-blowing when executed well.
 71

True Transpo

The magician has two cards freely selected. They take one, hold
it out for all to see. Then, they lay it down on the palm of a spectator.
The other selection is then taken, once again cleanly shown to all, before
being placed face down in the palm of another spectator. The pair touch
fingertips, and then the magician invites them to examine the cards,
revealing that they have switched places. The magician takes one card
back, showing it again, before placing it down on the table and inviting
the other spectator to do the same with their card. With a magic gesture,
the two cards are turned over to show they’ve switched again.

There are two ways to do this, and the first (and the authentic
method) will require an index. There is a method that can be done
without any duplicates or anything extra, however, I’m going to teach the
version that does, first.

To begin, have two different cards selected as freely as possible.

My preferred method is to ribbon spread the cards face up and ask one
person to slide out any card of their choosing. Once they do, I gather a
copy of that card from my index while asking a second person to choose
and slide out a second card.

Pick up the second card (that is not a match with the card from
your index) and make a double with the copy at the back. Depending on
angles, I will use either the face up version of my ring clip attachment or
I will palm the index card face up in gamblers and then pick up the card
with my other hand and gesture with it, and then place their card in my
left hand without looking at it, while I talk to them. Then, I square them
together under the guise of looking at it to remind myself what their
selection was. When doing this, it is easier to slide the top card down to
align with the palmed card, then the opposite.

Once you have created your double, show them the face one
last time. Then, turn the card face down and strip away the front card.
For this, I use the Miracle Change (Ed Marlo). A once over of this, is to
hold the card with your right hand, face towards the audience, your
thumb on the back at the top right corner, your middle finger at the
same place but on the face, and your pointer resting on the top edge of
the card. The rest of your fingers are relaxed in natural positions.
 72

By almost something similar to a snap change, pull in with your

middle finger, the face card of the double will slide off and into tenkai
position in your right hand. I need to say that you should not actually do
this with the face towards the audience, but setting you in that position
makes describing the finger placement easier. Instead, raise the card up
into that position to show them the face, and then, as your hand turns
the card down to place it facedown on the table, this is when you
perform the move. Hand the backing card to your left hand which places
it down on the palm of an audience member.

Just make sure you put the facedown card (the copy from your
index) on your left side. Gesture towards it with your right hand as you
do. This gesture help to make your right hand seem empty. Now, pick up
the other card. It should be on your right, so reach for it with your left
hand. Doing so, momentarily hides your right hand, allowing you to
perform the Palm Shift Reverse (a method I teach later in their book,
that readjusts the card from Tenkai to a modified Ring Clip and also
reverse it in the process), so it is now face up.

Now use the face up version of my Ring Clip Attachment to

create the double while displaying it for everyone. Raise the card up to
show it around in before you set it down on the palm of another
participant. Here, again, I use the miracle change just before I do so.

The only thing left to do ask them to turn over the cards in
their hands and see that they’ve switched. To begin the second phase,
take back the card that is the opposite of the copy and once again, make
a double with that card at the face. Do exactly what you think I’m going
to say now, and miracle change the card before setting the copy face
down on the table.

When you’re very comfortable with the move, you can do a

one-handed version of the miracle change, by stealing away the one card
as you drop the other directly onto the table. Now ask the other person
to do as you have and place their card down. Next, any muck or table
switch will finish the job. I use the Macmillan switch to turn over the
second card, swapping it for the palmed card in the process, but any
switch you like will work. And then just ask them to check the other card
themselves and you’re home free.
 73

The second way I perform this, is what I do when without my

index. Use any random X card. To start from the beginning, have them
make two selections, and then take the deck and set it aside. When you
do, palm a card off of it, however you like to do so. I tend to do one of
three things.

If I had them chose from a fan, I close the deck into my left
hand, face up and simply bottom palm into gamblers before setting the
deck aside and going from there. If I spread the card on a table then, as I
close the spread, I upjog a small packet of cards from the middle, by
nudging them slightly. As you close the spread, they will be left hanging
out the front, and the deck will look a little messy, but normal.

Simply shove these cards into the deck to neaten it up, and as
you do, DPS one of them and set the rest of the deck aside. I like this
method, because it looks much smoother than taking the deck into
standard dealers’ grip. When you’re already holding the cards like that,
it’s fine. But when closing a spread, the cards are at your fingertip only,
and changing from that is odd. By using this method, you maintain the
visuals of barely touching the cards, and merely trying to have a neat
deck.

The third option is to top palm instead while cleaning up the

deck. Which of these three I actually use changes often. Depending on
how I read the atmosphere and the arraignment of a given moment, I
will slide from one to the next without concern to use the one that best
suits me in those conditions.

However you chose to proceed, make the first double and use
the usual method to proceed with the trick as normal until it’s time to
place the first card down. Here is where this version differs. What you
do now, is perform the miracle change while setting that card aside,
under the claim that you don’t want it anywhere near the other card.

Now, lower the palmed card from Tenkai to Ring Clip, and
reverse it as you do. While you do this, use your other hand take the
second card and use the ring clip attachment to make a double, with the
palmed card at the back.
 74

Show them this card and then place it on their palm while
stealing the face away. Here is where you return to the previously set
aside card, the x card. Pick it up face down, and use the face down
version of the ring clip attachment to slide the selected card to its face.

From here, wave the card over the one in their hand, and as
you slowly wave it back and forth, begin to rotate its face up equally
slowly. Once they’ve noticed, allow them to turn over the card in their
hand.

A potential presentational change, is to ask them to wave the

card you gave them over the tabled card. Then, pick up the tabled card
and slide the palmed one onto its face and show them that they switched
it (or just muck it outright). Then, while they turn over the card in their
hand to check for themselves, you ditch the X card to clean up.

Also, it is possible to do this method with a signed card. With

the first, only one card can be signed. Because of this, while it can be a
wonderful touch… choosing two cards, but only signing one can look
suspicious. However, since this method allows it to literally be the same
card for both of them, it’s entirely possible.

The reason I use this as my backup method though, is because

I truly and seriously prefer to handle the cards as little as possible, and
also like to have them turn over the cards themselves. This is a much
more hands on trick and while my controlling everything isn’t the worst,
I prefer to try to minimize my noticeable actions. I tend to chose based
on what was done before. If I’m riding in on the back of a hands-off
trick, then doing more of it myself can balance that out. But if I’ve been
doing hands-on tricks, then this is a good time to get away from that.

One way I try to be a bit more “hands off” with this method, is
get to the point in the routine where both the X card and a real selection
have been placed down while I am palming the other selection. Instead
of going for the card as usual, I will back off a little, taking up a resting
posture. I then ask them which card they want to see first. If they pick
the real card, I tell them to turn it over while I muck the other. If they
chose the X card, I just muck it before they think to reach out
themselves and then invite them to check the other card on their own.
 75

For this, my muck of choice is either the Macmillan switch, or

the table switch by Guy Hollingworth. Both are similar, but the table
switch only works at the edge of a table, while the other doesn’t need to
be near the edge. The second difference, is that the table switch will
work on any table or card bend, while the Macmillan switch needs either
a card mat (or similar surface) or for the card to be bent slightly in a
certain way. Which is easy enough to do, but needs to be kept in mind.

I have occasionally used another method that works without an

index, that uses the original hands-off method by using two black Jacks
and a red Queen. While doing this, I refer to them by name and color
only, and often. I feel these two make the best choice due to their
opposition on everything. Different color, different gender, but also
different ranks. Kings and Queens go together well, but Queens and
Jacks do not. And while you may argue that a number card would be
even more different, I believe that having a face gives them something to
identify with. And if they do that, it’s easier to miss small details
unassociated with the qualities they identify with. I specifically use two
black Jacks, as the phrase “black jack” is so stuck in the minds of people,
that it only enhances this phenomenon.

Due to the nature of this, you cannot let them make a selection.
There are two options. First, you may simply force the two cards. Second,
and the method I prefer, is to merely take out “two” cards and begin.
When done this way, it’s quite a simple task to create the first double
while taking the cards from the deck.

While openly looking for card, I say I’m looking for a couple of
different colored face cards for this next trick, because faces are more
interesting, but when left to chance, luck always give us numbers.” Every
time I’ve said this, they just accept it without question. Just cull the first
red Queen you see, and then cull the first black Jack you see putting it
behind the Queen. Out jog the next black Jack you see. Then act like the
Queen was the last card and you’re ready to start, double in hand.

Depending on the order of the cards, you may have to cull the
black Jack first before the Queen, so you’re going to have to account for
this and switching them. Since it’s only two cards, you can adjust your
culling technique to place the cards in the right order as you cull them in
the first place.
 76

Something interesting about this trick, is that you end in the

same position that you started in. Because of this, not only can you can
switch them back for the second phase, but you can continuously switch
them back and forth in different ways. One way I have done this was to
change the presentation completely to make the participant as confused
as possible.

To explain, I would proceed through the trick as normal, giving

them the second card to hold. Then, I would remind them of which they
were holding, but say the wrong one. They would correct me, and I
would accuse them of forgetting and tell them to check and they’d see I
was right. I’d take the cards back and try the trick again, and do this
again, and again have them claim I said one card but gave them the other
and then have them check and see what I said was right and their
memory was wrong. I continue to play this up, employing every switch I
know to create as much confusion as possible, under the guise of
insisting they pay attention, because the trick is only good if they actually
remember which card I give them, and getting more and more frustrated
that they can’t keep track.

Regardless of whether you use an index or not, or a signed card

or not, or force a card or not, the key to this trick is smoothness. Do not
rush to make a double out of the palmed card, nor to ditch it afterwards.
Move calmly and with purpose. The whole thing falls apart if you mess
with anything once the cards have been placed, or if you put them out of
sight. Don’t hide them under something that blocks view of them, or
pick them up too roughly or quickly for the reveal. If I do cover the
cards, I love upside-down empty glasses and letting them remove and
turn the cards over themselves. If you do not have such an option, it is
better to put nothing on them at all than to cover them with something
that hides them from sight.

How you show off the cards matters intensely. This is precisely
why I use the switches that I do. They allow me to openly show a card,
at my fingertips. I can slowly pan them around to all the viewing eyes
and then, without hesitation or any suspicious movement, take the card
they were just looking at, seemingly place it right on the table.

This really is the most important part of the trick, the

cleanliness with how you set the cards down. The immediacy with which
 77

they are placed after having their faces seen. If too much time passes, or
too many extra movements are used, then things begin to fall apart.
Extra movements hint towards a switch. Too much time hints towards a
switch.

In fact, everything hints towards a switch, which is why the

timing to so important. The selection must be so clean, that someone
thinking you had an extra card prepared is impossible. The time between
seeing the face of the card and its placement on the table must be so
quick, that there can be no thought that it’s not the same card.

Now, I know that I’m saying seemingly contradictory things. Be

fast and immediate, but be slow and calm. The fact is, both of these are
correct. While choosing, creating doubles, showing, and revealing the
cards… You should be as smooth and controlled as possible. In the
moment between showing the card and placing it down, you should be
as immediate as possible, yet imitating the same air of casualness at the
same time.

Everything about this trick is very simple, straight forward, and

plain. Your actions should match. Be calm. Be casual. Be smooth. Allow
them to do as much on their own as you can. Rush nothing, but don’t
stop progressing. No pauses, no sprints.
 78

True Burn Transfer

The methodology for True Transpo can also be used for an

entirely separate effect. One that I call originally called, “Burn Transfer”,
but now call “True Burn Transfer. My original method was to have a
card freely selected via a dribble, and then cut their choice to the top of
the deck. I would double lift to show their card, and then burn the back
of it over a flame, before ditching the backing card onto the face of the
deck while setting the supposedly burnt card aside, face up. I’d then
force the burnt card in a way that hid the back and then pretend to
“transfer the burn” from one card to the other.

This True Transpo method is more straightforward. It is also

more open. First, have them freely select two cards and allow them to be
examined. As they do this, get a copy of one of them from your index.

Attach the card from the index to the back of the selection that
is not a match for it. For this, I always place the palmed card in left hand
gamblers’ and then pick up the selection card with my right hand, and
gesture with it towards the lighters I have on the table.

I then place the card on the palmed one in my left hand and
square them together while using my right hand to spark the lighter. I
use a zippo, but any self-standing lighter would work.

Take the double out of your left hand with your right. Take
from above with your thumb and middle finger on the short ends, and
your pointer curled up in center and holding it over the open flame,
burning it. Keep it a little above, and move it around a lot to get more
smoke and less real damage, as this looks better. However, it should be
low enough to actually be in the flame, and be somewhat damaged. But
don’t go so far as to have it burn through to the front of the card. With
only a few attempts, you will quickly learn how to do this constantly.

Once burnt, place back in your left hand at the fingertips to

free your right to close the lighter. Take back the card in the position for
 79

the miracle change before clearly displaying both sides before stealing the
backing card and setting the unburnt selection down, face up.

Take up the other card with your left hand as you palm shift
reverse and then attach the palmed card to the face via face down ring
clip attachment as you display the and show the unburnt back of the card.
Allow them to see both sides of the card, and then turn it face up and
steal the backing card. As before, I like to use the miracle change to steal
it into tenkai while passing the card from right to left hand.

To do the change, I like to lean back and gesture with the card
towards the lighter, saying something along the lines of “I could burn
this with the lighter, but that wouldn’t be magic.” Then I simultaneously
lean forward while passing the card to my left hand, performing the
change, wile using it to gesture towards the participants themselves
saying, “But what would be magic, would be if…” and then proceeed.

You may now use any magic gesture you want, but I prefer to
gently wave the card face up, over the other, and slowly rotate it face
down as I do and simultaneously ditch the palmed card.

They or you can now turn over and check the tabled card to see
it’s been “healed”.

As an alternative, you can do any color change you like, to

reveal the burn instead. I am a fan of not seeing the change directly, but
to many, a visual change is preferable.
 80

TDTIK

(The Dumbest Trick I Know)

This trick is an exercise in audience management. It is another

way to transfer a burn mark from one card to another. But this method
has no sleight of hand. No duplicates. No gimmicks. There is no trick to
this trick. But if you can manage your spectators, this is a miracle.

What happens is this: you have two cards chosen. You do not
want them to notice what the cards are. Don’t ask them for a card, don’t
even have them pick and look at their choice. Instead, merely state that
we need two cards and then spread the deck face up.

Immediately, and without thought, reach into the spread with

both hands and grab one card each. Pull them from the deck and flop
them down on the table, and then close the spread. While you do this, as
casually as possible, just explain that you need two cards, so let’s just use
these.

Throughout the trick, you will only ever refer to them as “these
cards”, “this card”, “that card”, or “the cards”.

Pass the right-hand card to the left, almost immediately, and

then use your right hand to spark the lighter. Take that card “this card”
and burn the back of it. Hold it in your right hand and let everyone see
the burnt back before passing it to your left hand to free yourself up to
kill the flame.

Once it’s off, reach back over with your right hand and take the
unburnt card from your left, still holding everything face up. You now
have the burnt card in your left hand and the unburnt in your right, and I
think you know where I’m going with this.
 81

Like this, speak a bit and then place the right-hand card “that
card” off to the side.

With the burnt card “this card” in your left hand, bring it
towards the lighter and say that you could burn “this card” too, but that
wouldn’t be magic. But what would be magic would be if you bring “this
card” over to “that card” and give it a gentle wave…

From here, do whatever magical gesture you like and then

reveal the burnt back of the card in your hand and the unburnt back of
the card on the table.

It sounds ridiculous, but if you get it to work, it’s hilarious.

Obviously, if you get caught, then you’re going to look like an absolute
fool. I’m not going to recommend you do this trick. But I do want to
make you away of it for when you’re feeling silly.
 82

Half Transpo

The magician hands someone a deck of cards and tells them to

shuffle. While they do, they let everyone know that everyone has a
favorite card. For you, it’s the four of clubs. They then ask the person
shuffling, to go through the deck and take out and show their own
favorite card. Once they do, tell them to return the card to the deck and
then cup their hands around it.

The magician approaches them and with a flick of their hand

against the participants, pulls out the card that had just been selected,
seemingly through the impassible wall of the card holder’s hands. They
then reinsert the card and pull out their own favorite card.

The audience searches the deck and finds the selection back
inside, but the new card missing, for there’s only one and it’s in the
magicians’ possession.

For this trick, we will need an index again. In advance, you

must steal any card out of the deck and put it anywhere it’s easy to get to.
Then, do the obvious parts: hand the deck to someone and ask them to
mix things up, choose a card, and show it around. Make sure you see it
too.

Have them return the card and shuffle everything. While they
do this, go to your index, take out a copy of their card, and palm it.
When they’re done shuffling, ask them to cup the deck in their hands,
sealing it off completely from the world.

At this point, put on whatever performance of “absorbing their

card out of the deck” that you like. I usually will take my left hand and
put it against their hand and then reach under that with my right hand
and “pull” the card out by popping it out from classic pam in the
standard manner for manipulation acts.

It is important here to stay in control. It is possible, even likely,

that they will instantly open the deck in their hands and search it. You
obviously can’t let them do this. Instead, instruct them to double down
on their protection of it.
 83

While I go through this patter, I get the x-card I had previously

stolen and claimed was my favorite card and palm it. Attach this to their
selection as a double and then, holding that double face up in my left
hand, I put the edge of my right hand against theirs (similar to how I had
already done with my left for the first reveal) and then perform a
Bertram Change.

This is a very common color change and easy to learn anywhere,

but a brief once over of it, adjusted as needed for this particular trick, is
this: Hold the double by each top corner (Held long ways) pinched
between your thumb and middle fingers, each hand on its respective
corner. The card should be face up.

From this position, tenkai steal the backing card with your right
hand, and pull the face card away with your left hand to show around
one last time. Then place the edge of the hand that’s palming the X card
against their hands. Under the cover of using your hand as a makeshift
“curtain” insert the selection into the space under your hand, pushing it
slightly downwards with your pinky, to keep it from poking directly into
their hand. Although the card rubbing against their skin can be a good
sensation to sell the switch if kept brief.

Overlap the edges of the two cards, with your x-card as the face
and then pull both out, using your right fingers to coalesce the two
together as a double. Show that their chosen card has been swapped for
your favorite one.

Finally allow them to check the deck that’s been in their hands
where they will find their selection back where it started, but the card
you swapped it for, missing.

Having a card in a deck, and then producing that card

somewhere else, might feel like it’s obvious you’re using a second card.
But I’ve found that the little touch of having a different card vanish from
the deck makes people never question this.

The fact that they never saw that card in the deck, as well as the
fact they never saw the deck without the selected card evaporates into
thin air. It’s almost as if the second trick blinds them to the method of
the first.
 84

I want to give another reminder to not give them too much

time to think after the initial reveal. It’s not too uncommon for them to
go into the deck and search for their card. It is important to interrupt
this. I’ve found the best way to do this is to give them a job: protect the
deck.

This is the only dangerous moment in this routine. And if your

audience control is up to par, then it should prove no issue at all.

The Bertram Change

(A brief visual explanation)

 85

(The top-down view until here)

 86

(Bottom View: The cards are face down in these last two photos, but
should be face up when performed)
 87

It Was Yours All Along

A magician spreads a deck of cards facedown and offers one to

be chosen, but not looked at it. Instead, it is set aside. The spread is then
turned faceup and a new card is chosen openly. The selection is signed,
replaced, and lost in the deck.

The magician then reaches for the card, previously chosen and
set aside, to flip it over and reveal… Their signed selection.

This trick can be done many ways. The core of it rests on a card
switch. But to get there, first we begin exactly as things appear. An
unknown card is chosen and set aside. A known card is selected and
marked in some fashion (although I rarely ever actually have the card
signed) and from here the different methods branch apart. And while
you may have preferred switches of your own, my favorite methods are
“the Mexican Turnover” (Expert Card Technique), the “Table switch”
from Drawing Room Deceptions by Guy Hollingworth, and “The
MacMillan Switch” whose originator I simply don’t know.

Whatever switch you enjoy the most, my overall movements go

as follows: I ribbon spread the deck facedown and ask them to drag one
card out, with a single finger. Once they do, I take a single finger of my
own, and slowly slide the card away from the ribbon and into the best
position possible for the switch I feel is most appropriate in the current
setting.

Then, I turn the spread face up and ask them to choose another
card, which will serve as their selection.

From here, either sign, or don’t sign the card, and then lose it in
the deck and proceed. My favorite method for this is, once again, the
 88

bow to stern top control of previous mention. The way I do it here, I

insert the card into the deck, lift it to show them one last time, and then
perform the sleight as I lower it back down. However, I do not slide the
convincing card back into the deck while it’s still in my hands. Instead, I
set the deck down, the convincing card pointing towards them, and then
slowly push it in with my fingertips, touching everything as little as
possible and moving as slow as I can, within reason.

The sleight, however, does not provide you with a single

convincing card. Instead, it’s a small packet that, from head on, appears
to be a single one. To clean this into a single card, for this usage, it is
simple enough to secretly pull these cards back into the deck, leaving
only the one card sticking out. Just touch the back of the top convincing
card with a finger from your right hand. I tend to use my middle finger.

While you do this, use your left pointer finger under the deck to
just reach up and pull the rest of the cards back into the deck. This
leaves you with their selection on top of the deck and a single card
sticking out of it, that they believe to be their selection. I shade this by
merely tilting the deck forward, so everything takes place under the cover
of the convincing card.

And then I like the Mexican turnover best. It’s just so simple,
clean, and visual that I feel it’s perfect for this. What you do, is simply
say that you don’t even want to touch the card, and instead of using your
hand to turn it over, you take the top card off the deck and use it to lever
the card over. In the act of doing this, you swap the selection for the x-
card via the Mexican Turnover.

In truth, this is perhaps the most open-ended trick there is.

Since the method is to switch the cards, there are as many methods as
there are card switches. Choose the one you enjoy and make use of it.
Perhaps one of the methods I mentioned is one you hadn’t known and
you’ll seek out the source and learn it yourself.

Either way, I’m not going to pretend that this trick is my own.
Many near identical tricks as this exist. As said, it’s just a card switch.
This is perhaps the first trick thought of by every single magician ever,
upon learning a card switch. I included it in this book more to talk about
switches than anything else.
 89

I have witnessed a large number of them, and too often the

switch is handled in a ham-fisted, blatant manner. The card is folded up
and something is tied around it, or clamped to it, and in a giant motion,
the magician grabs at the small folded card with their full hand,
completely hiding it from view and forcefully ripping it out of its
containing clamp or tie and the whole thing being played up to make the
switch as concealed as possible.

Unfortunately, when the method of a trick is a switch, then

proving there is no switch is the most important thing you can possibly
do. But all of these methods, do the opposite. They focus on the
impossibility of the set up and burn through the switch as quickly as
possible without concern. The last time I saw this, a magician placed a
wine glass in front of me. Inside the glass was a ball of string. He then
had me make a selection, vanished my selection, and then invited me to
take the string and pull it.

As I slowly unwound the very long ball, I slowly came to see

that the other end of the string was wrapped around a tightly folded
object, similar to the one that had been selected and vanished. Then just
as I saw this, the magician snatched the object out of the glass, took it
fully enclosed in their fist, brought their other closed fist to it, entangled
their fists together and then with great effort pulled them apart, snapping
the string and letting it fall to the side, and unfolded the card to show it
was mine…

And this is how it always goes. A grand set up. Inside of a ball
of string. Inside of a glass container. Someplace so truly impossible that
no doubt anything but true magic could have caused it to be there. But
then when it’s time to actually retrieve the object and reveal it, all that
impossibility is hurled out the window.

If I had unwound that string, pulled the card at the end of it

towards myself, and opened it up to find mine… I’d have been shocked.
Instead, I was bored. However, with a cleaner switch, the illusion could
have been made. Even if it was just, a matter of letting me unwind the
string for longer, instead of snatching it out of the glass at my first
glimpse of it. Or lifting it by the string, untying it slowly and cleanly, and
then switching it.
 90

This is why I employ the switches I do. They are slow, plain,
and easy to see. Nothing is ever out of sight or hidden. The card is not
folded up into a small, concealable ball and stashed away. It’s right there,
in front of them. Even the physical switch itself, takes place at normal
speeds and the card is never (seemingly) out of sight. By all rights, it
would appear to be the very same card that was there all along. And that
belief is everything. With it, this type of trick is astounding. Without it,
this trick it worthless.

You must leave no doubt that no switch took place, that there
was no time or place a switch could have taken place in. Do not focus on
the impossibility of the setup, nor the impossibility of where the item
was stored. It does not matter. Leave it sitting on the table. No place is
so secure as the one where their eyes can see it openly. Focus on the
impossibility of the switch. They should truly believe that they never
took their eyes off the card.

If you can achieve this, then this will be the most impossible
trick you ever perform. And if you already have a trick in this same vein,
then please put more, or at least as much, care into your switch as you do
your placement of the item.
 91

Cloning Machine

The magician says that the previous feat was achieved through
the use of duplicate cards. Because despite the signature on it, copies are
easy to make, since this deck is a cloning machine. Taking the card that
was previously used, and putting it back on top of the deck, the magician
turns the deck over and spreads to reveal that very same signed card in
the middle of the deck and announces that here is one of those extra
cards, made by the cloning machine. Turning the deck back over, the
magician shows again, the signed card still on top of the deck, unmoved.

Turning the deck over once more, they show that the copied
card is also still in the center of the deck, right where it was left. They
close the face up spread and then slide over the face card of the deck,
showing another copy of the signed card. And then they lower the deck
back down to show to the signed card, still on top, still unmoved.

They then turn the deck face up and pass through the cards
showing all of them. As they do, copy after copy of the same card
appears in the spread. The card is then shown back on top of the deck
where it’s been the whole time.

The magician then tells them that a limitation of this cloning

machine, is that the clones can only survive for a short time. And the
more clones you make, the shorter that time is. They then hand the deck
to the spectator who cannot find any trace of the cards which have
completely vanished from the deck. The card is then found in an
impossible location because, it’s always good to keep a spare clone for
safety.

As a quick side note, I often like to pair this trick with “Old
Faithful” from FASDIU. For those who don’t know, this is a three-card
trick where you make all three cards appear to be the same card.
Generally, I’ll either do that and then transition into this as part of the
same overall routine or, when their card is on top of the deck mid trick,
I’ll take it plus two other cards and jump into that routine before
returning to this one. However, you want to go about it, the two pair
well together and can be performed back-to-back, or interlaced into one
bit.
 92

On top of this, segments of this can be incorporated into an

Ambitious Card Routine or a “game” that I call “Full Deck Monty”. This
is where you have them guess where a card is: top, or bottom. And no
matter what they say, they’re wrong. If you’re creative, this can be a very
good presentation for this trick if you want to do it as part of a
“gambling expose” type of routine.

The method for this is fairly straight forward. It’s mostly a

series of passes. Beat by beat, it goes like this: Place the card on top and
perform a turnover pass to have the deck face up. Pan through the cards
until you come across the one you’re looking for. After showing it, close
the deck, keeping a pinky break below the card. From here, perform a
cover pass, to bring it to the bottom (which is currently the top, as you’re
holding the deck face up). I like to do this, as it allows me to show the
face of the deck, and therefore feels like an offbeat where nothing can
happen. Now, simply turn the deck over and show the card still on top
of the deck.

After this, do another pass. For variety of motion, I tend to use

my One-handed turnover pass here. Either way, spread through the
cards again to find and show the signed card back in the middle.

Once again, close the pack and get a break. Now execute
another cover pass, this time to the top, which is actually the face of the
deck. However, since it’s a cover pass, it will not actually go to the top,
but the card second from it.

As a note, I know I just said not to repeat moves, but by its

nature, the cover pass appears to have no movement, and therefore is
safer to do a few times close together.

Once you’ve done this, simply slide over the face card of the
deck showing their card again. In the act, this comes nearly instantly after
having shown the card in the center of the deck, all while everything is
face up, making it seem truly impossible.

From here, you have two options. You can either perform a
Clipshift to bring the card to the top, or execute the Bottom Feeder.

If you opt for the clipshift, rotate your hand when you turn the
deck to show off the bottom card, thumb at the top, other fingers at the
 93

bottom, and then turn it back, placing the deck in your other hand, and
performing the clip shift as you do.

Having your hand inverted looks very casual, and also provides
extra cover during the returning rotation to help you execute the clip
shift.

Now, you show the card at the top of the deck before flipping
it face up and spread it from one hand to the other, showing all the cards.
As you do, take the card from the back of the deck (the selection), and
ride it under the spread via a spread cull. Here, you will use the same
technique over and over again. While riding the card under the deck,
slide it into the spread and let the card pass along with the other cards,
visibly. Once it has, steal it again via a spread cull. Ride it a few cards
furth and re-insert it, show, and spread cull it again, and again.

It’s important to pass the cards from left to right, so that the
card can vanish into the clump in your right hand to be culled, otherwise
you have to pull it from the center of the spread.

I usually only do this three or four times before I finally cull the
card to the bottom of the deck to show it as the final card.

My preference now, is to flip the deck facedown in my left

hand before take the deck with my right, and top palm as I do. I then
place the deck down on the table, or hand it directly to them. If there’s
no table and handing it off isn’t an option, I’ll take the deck and palm the
card away, and then use my left hand to scratch my eye or some other
part of my face, and then put the deck back in my left hand, keeping the
palmed card in my right.

From here, it’s simply a matter of getting the card to a

worthwhile impossible location while giving your patter about how the
clones don’t last and letting offering the chance to see for themselves
that they’re gone.

There is a second plot that I use for this, if I feel like taking
further down a comedic path. The method is essentially the same, so I
won’t describe it in detail, but the plot goes as follows:
 94

The magician has someone make a selection and view it while

keeping it secret. The card is placed back in the deck and controlled to
the bottom and then shuffled, retaining bottom stock. The magician tells
them, “Now, I have no idea what or where your card is. It’s completely
lost somewhere in the deck. It’s not on bottom-” As the magician says
this, they tilt the deck, showing the face card. The magician tilts the deck
back down, and says, “It’s not on the top”, while executing a bottom
feeder to “flip over the top card”.

The magician then flips the card back face down and performs
a turnover pass, placing the card in the middle before spreading the cards
face up and stopping exactly at the selection while saying, “It’s right here
where you left it in the middle.”

The magician closes the spread, and passes the card to the
bottom. Holding the deck with one hand from above, the magician
waves it around while they speak, constantly flashing the selection, “So I
can’t possibly know where it is.” The magician steals the card out of the
deck, “But, I know where it’s not…” and hands it to the participant, “In
this deck”.

The participant searches the deck, but finds nothing and the
magician reveals the card in an impossible location.

There’s not too much to add about this trick. It’s a series of
controls, stitched together through a joke of a story. It is also another
one that is great to perform for fellow magicians. A good pass is one of
those moves that they’re always looking for and showing to each other,
and this trick functions wonderfully as an excuse to do just that.

For non-magicians, this is also a wonderful trick because, if

done well, truly looks like you have a number of the same card in a deck.
Which is obviously impossible. Yet, every time I do it, once the deck is
in their hands, they always burn through it searching for their card,
convinced that it must be in there.

As for advice, the only thing I can say is, practice your passes.
Learn your angles. Clipshift too. Learn it. It’s good.
 95

In your face

This trick is something that is essentially using a known sleight

in a different way. Unfortunately, it is a sleight I’m a bit wary of teaching.
However, it is also common enough and well known enough that you
can find many a tutorial on YouTube, and I so feel comfortable enough
talking about it in the way I use it for this move without crossing over
into “rude” territory.

Because of this, while I will not be teaching that sleight

specifically, I will however be explaining a modified version of it that
changes it from a top control to a half pass. However, it is my favorite
top control and it’s called the Bow to Stern. I believe I’ve already
mentioned it, but once again, it was created by Ernest Earick, but can be
learned in many places.

The trick itself is simple: The magician fans the cards and
allows the participant to make a selection. The magician upjogs this card
and turns the deck over to look at it. They then turn the deck back
towards the participant and reveals that every single card is facing them,
except their selection.

A “reversed card in a deck” is a very popular effect and striking

effect. It was in fact, the first full routine I ever did. And while it was a
wholly different method and presentation, it always got great reactions. A
“reversed card in a deck” where you can see the card the entire time is
more or less the Holy Grail of “reversed card in a deck” tricks.

The method is two half passes. If you have a half pass you like,
feel free to use it instead. However, I feel that the visuals of this method
are best out of all the one’s I know.

Starting at the beginning, spread the deck with both hands,

faces towards the spectator, held vertically. Shift the cards from one
 96

hand to towards the other while telling them to call stop whenever they
want. Be sure to keep them near the middle, by switching back and forth
between which way you move the cards. It is important that they get a
good look at the entire deck, and while you want them to call stop as
close to the middle as possible, in truth, anywhere in the deck is fine. It
just looks better and is easier when the card is near the middle.

When they call stop, grab the obvious card and upjog it. Close
the deck, leaving their card sticking halfway out the top and ask if they
want this one. If they say no, open the deck back up and begin panning
through the cards for them again and repeat. Every time you upjog a
card, close the deck around it and confirm with them. While you do
confirm, let go of the deck with your right hand and tap the back of their
card with your fingertips, while talking about it. This is to get them use
to seeing your hand behind the deck, in this position. Once confirmed,
the first half pass is performed from the vertical position, deck facing
them, their card sticking out the top.

To do this, while they are looking at the face of the deck, take
your right hand and placed your middle finger on the selection to pin it
in place, and used your pointer finger to push all the cards behind the
selection down, and used your thumb to pull the bottom edge of the
cards backwards and hold them up, so they don’t fall.

Once the front of the cards have lowered enough, raise the
back end all the way up, so that the deck becomes whole again, with your
half having been reversed. Before, during, and after this action, you
should be tapping and rubbing their card with your right fingertips. The
whole thing only takes a seconds, so it does not come off as odd as I can
imagine the reader thinking it would be. I generally talk directly about
their card in this moment, “Okay, so this is your card? *taps on card*
You don’t want to change your mind again *flicks card with middle
finger as I pull my hand to the right, having completed the sleight* Okay,
perfect.”

Honestly, two taps, or a scratch and a flick and you’re covered.

After this, turn the deck towards yourself to look at their choice. To do
this, rotate your left hand inward, turning your palm down and also
rotate your right hand outward, turning your palm up. Place the deck,
seemingly face up, into your right hand. The outjogged card should be
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readable from your point of view, while sticking out of the short edge of
the deck closest to your spectator.

The face up packet on top, their selection face up sticking out

under this, and the reversed half of the deck underneath it all.

Look down at their card to see what it is. This is a simple little
moment where there’s nothing to do but create a legitimate excuse as to
why you turned the deck over. Since it was to see their card, then there
should be a reason you wanted to see their card. So talk to them about it.
While you talk, take the deck in your left hand, in standard dealer’s grip.
For my banter, I say something along the lines of, “Oh, the five of hearts,
huh? That’s cool. That’s an interesting card. Actually, it’s kinda more
interesting than you realize, cause the five of hearts is the only card that’s
facing this way.”

You’re obviously free to make up your own banter, but I find it

fun to tell them what the reveal will be before I reveal, or have even
completed the trick. Having it happen at such an offbeat moment, and
especially since we’re only seconds into what they thought was a much
longer trick that was only just starting, seems to make it strike them
harder.

Either way, while you talk about their card, put your right hand
over the deck, practically in the position to perform the half pass and
poke and touch their card as you mention it. This serves to solidify in
their mind the way you handle the cards when talking about them and
fully normalizes your hand movements behind the deck while you
actually perform the sleights.

It is here, that that you begin your reveal. Simply tilt the cards
up to the vertical position once more, this time showing the other side,
which has been reversed. They are now looking at the face of the deck
and the back of their selection.

Perform the half pass once again in this same moment and, still
holding the cards vertically, immediately spread through all of them,
showing that theirs really is the only one facing away from them.

This trick, if rushed, is actually so fast that sometimes people

don’t even have time to realize a trick has taken place. Because of this, I
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suggest taking time to emphasize each aspect of it. Really display as many
of the card faces during the selection as possible, panning back and forth
quickly through the deck ensuring they’ve seen everything. When you tell
them just before the reveal, make sure you allow enough time for them
to process what you’re saying before you actually reveal.

Think of it as walking up to a person on the street and waving

your hand in their face and then saying, “look a bird” and then opening
and closing your hand and now a bird is in it. Even if it’s the most
stunning bird conjure to ever take place, it’s so sudden and out of left
field that most people would probably not react to it beyond “why is this
stranger holding a bird?”.

In order to actually get a reaction out of this very quick trick,

it’s important to slow down your presentation and allow them to absorb
each moment of it.

Alternatively, sometimes I will do this trick intentionally

underselling it. Quite literally, I’ll have them pick a card for a totally
unrelated trick, look at what it is, comment about how it’s interesting
they took the only card in the deck facing that direction, then reveal,
then hand them their card and immediately roll into the actual trick I was
going to be doing. While this doesn’t always get a great reaction for the
reasons just said, it is an extra moment of magic within a larger routine
and often leaves them quietly stunned, trying to work out what they just
saw. And if you know how to work with that, it can be a fun way to alter
the atmosphere for your next trick.

The other way to truly make use of this, is to use it as one more
aspect of a larger reversed card routine, or ambitious card routine. Where
the card continuously does a serious of quick, various things, such as
jump to different places in the deck, flip over, etc…
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(While talking about their card, touch it from behind with your fingertips
from both: up against it, and with your hand held further back)

(Pull half of the deck back and level it off while displaying their card)
 100

(Transfer the back of the deck from your thumb to your palm as you
raise it up and bring it back against the deck, reversed)

(Continue tapping and poking the deck, to normalize the actions)

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(Turn the deck over, keeping the reversed side face down and continue
poking and touching the card as you talk)

(Perform the half pass again to finish the trick)

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Behold, a reversed card in a deck

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Evaporation ACAAN

This is one of the cleanest ACAANs I’ve ever even heard of.
The one reason That it loses points in my book is that that you cannot
allow them to shuffle. And while they can deal, they can’t change their
mind or go by a feeling. They need to pick a number, and they need to
stick with it. Also, it requires having the deck in a full stack, so it can’t be
done from a shuffled deck.

However, if none of that is an issue for you, then it’s simply

amazing and also probably easier than whatever ACAAN you’re doing
now. However, it’s not FASDIU safe.

To begin, ask for them to name a card. Then, turn the deck
face up and pass through it from hand to hand, slowly. While you do this,
tell them that they won’t see their card, and the reason they don’t is that
because once they said its name, it evaporated out of the deck and is now
reduced to molecules floating around. To make this actually appear to
have happened, as you spread, push over cards a few at a time and ask if
they see their choice. Shift over a few more and repeat. Do this for the
entire deck and, while you do, use the fact that the deck is in a stack to
know when their card is coming before you see it.

When it does, simply hide their card by sliding it behind the

card in front of it when you push it over, and as you move on to the next
batch of cards, cull their card and let it ride below the deck.

There are a few different ways to organize your patter around

this, depending on your style. If you want, you can get a card and
number at the beginning, and then cull and re-insert in the one spread.

Often times, I’ll spread twice, once to cull, then I’ll close the
deck and ask for the number, give a magic gesture to make the card
rematerialize, and then spread through them again, and insert it at the
correct position just before I reveal.
 104

Also, I have used this to just bring it to the top and carried on
from there with my usual Open Palm ACAAN.

If you disregard the transition to Open Palm, it’s merely a

matter of inserting the card into the spread from below. You can easily
identify the correct position due to spreading face up through a stacked
deck. Since you are moving slowly and calmly through it at an even pace,
nothing could be simpler to do.

The only two things that could go wrong here, is that the
number they gave is higher than the card they said, in which case you
only need to go back and pass through the deck again to give them a
second chance to be sure. Move though it faster this time, to keep the
pace up, but it’s easy enough to stick it in there that this shouldn’t cause
an issue.

Wherever you put it, just say that the card is or has
rematerialized at the number they said and then allow them to count
down and it will be there.

If you count face up, or just slide over the cards one by one, it’s
extremely simple to maintain your stack through this trick, only
displacing the single card, which can be replaced with only the smallest
effort.
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Five to Four

One of the few tricks I do that requires a gimmick is this. In it,

the magician has a card selected and lost in the deck. They try to find it,
but locate the wrong one. It’s the right suit, but the wrong number. It’s
off by one. Instead of trying again, they transform the card into the
selection. First, they rub the numbers and they change from a five, into a
four. Then, they reach down and pluck off the center heart, fully
changing the five of hearts into a four.

The way it works is simple. First, make the gimmick. This is

done by cutting out a single heart from another card. I use a 10 of hearts,
so that I can cut out many hearts, but only ruin one card. From here,
make a small tape loop, and stick it to the back of the heart. If you place
it on top of the center heart of a five of heats, you can stick it perfectly in
place on a four by lining up the outside edges of the two cards and
pressing the four down onto the heart.

Now, put that four at the third from the face of the deck, with
the five of hearts as the second and a normal four at the face itself. I do
this because of how I force cards, but you can make use of any set up
you want. The important part is that you force the four on them and
then lose it in the deck.

What’s fun, is that because you will be giving them a different

four, you can honestly lose it in the deck in the most convincing way
possible.

From here, produce the five, which is would now be the face
card, according to the way I arraigned things. You can use any tech you
like for this, but I recommend doing something showy and flashy, to
balance out the perceived mistake you are about to make.

Show them the five of hearts as if you were successful. When

you learn that you failed, turn the deck faceup and drop the card on top
of it. This needs to be done as a reverse wrist kill, to get the card on
there before they see the face.

At this point, any color change will work to “transform” the

number. What I prefer to do, is to simply palm off the top card. Every
 106

time I have done this, even though the cards are face up, no one has ever
noticed.

To help, I will curl my pinky slightly over one corner number,

and let my thumb rest over the other. I don’t do this overtly, or try to
cover them completely. However, I do make them harder to get a good
look at. While talking, ditch the card anywhere you want.

When you’re ready, reach up and take the card by the corners.
If you hold the deck in your left hand, then your right thumb goes over
the bottom right number. Your left thumb presses down on the number
near it. Holding it like this, begin tugging the card gently between your
hands and rotate it horizontal to make it stand out more visibly.

It’s ending position, should place the number held by the left
hand over where the front right pip would be on the face card of the
deck, if they had pips in all four corners. Pull and rub the corners of the
card, and then let go with your right hand, showing the five became a
four. Take the card with your right hand, letting go with your left, which
reveals that number has changed as well.

As a final touch, reach into the center of the card, and pluck the
extra heart off the card and then immediately give the card to them.
They will begin to examine it, and while they do, either ditch the heart
and pretend to have vanished it. Or, instead, take the tape off of it, and
them let them have that too.

This is a very simple trick, but it gets great reactions, and

keeping the gimmick on you is extremely easy, as it’s only the size of a
playing card.

One last note, is that the extra heart can be used as a gap
creator. Just put the real four wherever you want to force it from, and
then put the gimmicked four above the five and leave those anywhere in
the deck you want. If you cut at the gap, it will bring the 4 to the face
and the 5 to the top, for your reveal, and then finally the switch.

Doing it like this, allows you to toy with the deck a bit while
you “lose the card” to make it more natural.
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Cards Across

My version of cards across is one I thought of after learning the

snap deal. The idea of dealing cards, but not having the cards that I dealt
be there gave me many ideas beyond just vanishing them. In fact, while I
love the snap deal, using it to vanish cards is pretty much the last thing I
use it for.

My first idea was a way to false count cards, which immediately

lead to this trick. Before I had ever even learned of whispers of such a
thing, I had come up with an idea for a trick where I give someone a
packet of cards, they count them, and then a number is chosen and the
packet changed by that number.

I eventually learned that “cards across” exists and learned the

classic version of it. However, after learning of the snap deal, a way to do
something far closer to my original idea popped into my head. I did it for
a year or so, and then came across Erik Tait’s “Snapped Across” and
lamented that he had even given it the same name as me.

That being said, other than that fact that they’re both snap deal
based cards across, they’re different in every other way, and so I feel
confident putting mine to print, here.

To begin for real, place a 7 as the seventh card in the deck, and
then a 3 as the ninth. There are two ways to perform this, and I consider
the method for one person / group to be the authentic version and will
teach that first.

What you want to do, after giving a few false shuffles, is to ask
your participant (who should be as far to your left as possible, if you deal
with your right. If not, put them on your right) to present you with their
hand as an open palm for you to place cards on.
 108

Deal the first four cards onto their hand as normal. This creates
a small bed that is just large enough that card to skin contact is unlikely,
and also is hard to keep track of exactly how many cards are there.

Next, snap deal the fifth card onto the pile in their hand. When
you bring your hand back to collect the sixth card, ditch this palmed card
on the bottom of the deck.

Deal the sixth card for real, and then snap deal on the seventh
card and ditch it under the deck. Repeat this by honestly dealing card
eight and snap dealing card nine, and then really dealing the final tenth
card.

At this moment, they believe they have 10 cards in their hand,

while they actually have seven. On top of this, the former seventh and
ninth cards are now at the face of the deck, ready to be forced.

Do exactly this, and force the three from the bottom of the
deck. I use my bottom feeder, citing the fact that since their hands are
occupied, just say stop when you want a card. After showing the three,
claim that three cards will vanish from the deck and invite them to count
the cards onto the table. As you explain this, actually count some cards
from the top of the deck and get a break under seven of them.

The way I do this, is by spreading over two cards, then two

more, then three. As I push over cards, I say, “one, two, three…” I don’t
try to make it look like I’m only pushing over a single card each time.
Instead, I causally act like my counting doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t
matter how many cards I shift, because I’m not really counting, only
explaining. Then, I slide all the cards back over, onto the deck, getting a
break as I do.

While they count their own cards, palm off these seven cards
into your hand and wait. The two ways I do this, are, if I’m in a situation
where using my right hand would be better, I use my left pinky to lever
over the block and then use my left middle and ring fingers to shove
these cards into my right palm.

If I want to take them in my left hand, due to the circumstances

of the moment, then I use the cephalopalm from “If an Octopus Could
Palm”. What isn’t listed in the book is that this also works as a block
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palm, and you can take any number of cards you want. If you are worried
about covering the move, then simply count off an extra card. This will
give you a break under eight cards, and if you know how to do a cover
pass, then you can leave that top card in place to hide the block of seven
cards shifting from the top of the deck into the palm of your left hand.

However you palm them off, simply slap the cards onto the pile
that the participant dealt, adding them to it in the standard way. When I
do this, I act like I am explaining what I want them to do, and tell them
to put their hand over the cards like this to protect them from me. To
help sell it, I do it twice. First, I add the cards while telling them to place
their hand on the pile like this. Then I lift my hand, fingers spread,
flashing my empty hand, while telling them that it’s important to protect
the cards so I can’t interfere and then I put my hand back on the deck, to
show what I want them to do.

From here, it’s simply a matter of forcing the bottom card,

which is a seven, and then revealing that you’ve added seven cards to the
pile.

I have a second way of doing this, that works well when you
need to take up more space, such as working on a stage. For this, the
beginning is the same. Deal ten cards into a persons’ hand, and snap deal
on cards 5, 7, and 9. You then walk over to the other person and do the
same. Except, for this person, on cards 5, 7, and 9 you double deal. The
classic double deal involves dealing to top and bottom card together as
one, but I prefer to simply deal the top two cards instead. It is my
preference in general, but since you need to keep the bottom card to
force, in this trick it is required.

Now do just this and force the three and magic gesture to show
three cards moving from one person to the other.

In this variation, there is only one phase. However, it’s also

highly modular, as most of what I offer in this book is. Therefore it
would be extraordinarily easy to insert it as a single aspect of a larger
routine that you already have, or wish to create.
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Part 3:

(My variations on the known)

Ambitious Card

As you most likely know, I did not invent the Ambitious card
Routine. Instead, I will simply talk about my variation of the ultimate
piece of public domain magic. To begin, I don’t actually have a hard
story I follow for it. When I do it, I always make it up on the fly.

Wild and free, the card does more than appear at the top of the
deck. We’ve given it a personality. It’s ambitious. We’re not making it
appear. It wants to appear. Sell this aspect to it. Let the card steal the
show.

What I will describe here, will not be instructions for a set

performance, but rather one sampling of how my ambitious card often
goes when I throw in all the bells and whistles. The opening to my ACR
is almost always the same. I say that I will perform a feat of mentalism. I
have a card picked, remembered, and then I put it in the deck, reverse it,
and then set the deck down and spread it out face up.

While I do this, I tell them that I will figure out which is their
card using my mental prowess, but we all quickly spot the one reversed
card in the deck. I look at it oddly and then take it out and we see it’s
their card.

I become confused and apologize. “I don’t know what

happened but I must have put the card back upside down, or something.
Let’s try it again” I put the card back in the deck, control it to the
bottom, reverse it, shuffle it to the middle, and then continue, “Okay, so
since I saw your card, we’ll do it face down this time. I’m gonna sense
which is yours without the use of sight. Much more difficult, but also
more impressive”

I spread the deck, leaving one single card facing up at us. “Oh,
what the fuck! I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on. This really is a
cool trick, I wanna show you. I’m sorry.” This starts phase two. I say
we’ll pick a new card and try again, and force the card on them. I have
 111

them pick a new card again, but again it’s the same card. This damn
card… It won’t let me perform my tick, but it won’t let me pick a new
card either!!

This starts phase three. I put the card in the center, it’s on the
top. I put it back in the center, it’s on the top again. I grab it and toss the
card across the room. I check the top and it’s not there. Thinking it’s
over, I relax, but flash the bottom card and they react, causing me to
look and there it is, THE CARD. I take it and put it in the middle, it’s
back on the bottom. I take it and put it in my pocket, it’s back on the
bottom. I toss the whole deck into their hands back away, trying to rid
myself of this damn card, but somehow it followed me, it’s sticking out
of my shirt pocket!! I take it out and put it in left pocket, but find it in
my right. I grab it and put it in my jacket pocket, but there it is in my
jeans pocket. (This part is essentially the “One Card Routine” from
Drawing Room Deceptions)

This is too much!! Calm down. It’s not evil, it’s just a card.
Maybe it just likes to be picked? It’s playing a game. Let’s experiment.
Let’s find out.

This starts phase four. I’ll put it on top, deal seconds, flip over
the card and see it’s still there. I’ll start doing ACCANs, forces designed
to look like ACAANs, I’ll do whole standalone tricks, so long as they’re
fast and frantic.

I’ll do whatever feels good in the moment. Just rapid fire back-
to-back, it’s gone, here it is, now it’s gone, here it is, you think it’s this
card, but it’s that card. But eventually, I move onto stage 5: the final
stage. I’ll take the card and place it face up onto of the deck.

Turning to the others, I’ll tell them, “That card is out of control.
The whole deck is tainted. If we’re gonna manage to actually do a magic
trick, we need to start again, from scratch. From nothing. Then, I’ll
pretend to give them a non-existent deck and ask them to shuffle it.
While they do, I’ll tell them to name a card, any card except that one.
Then, with help from my index, I’ll cause that card to appear seemingly
out of thin air, in front of their face in a manner and method that I don’t
feel I have the right to explain, but would be known to anyone who gets
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my index (The Advocate by Daniel Madison) and reads the notes that
comes with it.

I included it in here to honestly explain how my ACR generally

goes. This would be an all-out over the top performance, but it’s not too
far from how I do it. The usual performance will pick and choose
different moments within this; however, the opening and closing are
always the same. How we get from A to E varies greatly, but if I have the
energy, the time, and the atmosphere, this is how it goes. And is at the
very least a reasonable approximation of the atmosphere and energy I try
to achieve in my smaller, more constrained performances.

But my point is the same. Out of all the card tricks there are,
none are so primed to go off the wall, improvise, or play with, as The
Ambitious Card Routine. It is simply the best bit you could find to play
jazz.

Also, as a side note, with the classic ending to ACR, with the
bent card popping up to the top of the deck, I’ve found that a nice way
to do the reveal is not to let the card pop up all at once, but instead to
stagger it.

What I mean by this is, while holding down the card by the
center of either side of it, instead of letting go with both fingers and
letting it pop up, let go with the finger further from their eyes (most
likely the thumb) slightly before the finger closer to them.

This creates an effect where the card seems to “bubble up”

through the top of the deck as opposed to merely popping up. It’s
should be a fraction of a second difference, not discernable by any
means.

However, despite not being discernable, it “feels” different.

Record yourself doing it both ways and you’ll see what I mean. It’s a very
small touch, but one I like a lot.
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Push Through False Shuffle

This is one that I’ve heard referred to many times as “The Gold
Standard of false Shuffles”. On one hand, there is good reason for this.
On the other, nothing is truly perfect and there’s some flaws that I see
many people have in their execution. The most glaring one of this is
simple: The moment the cut is made.

While I am not going to say that I am the first to think of the

solution I have for this, I am going to say that I’m the first person I’m
aware of. It is extraordinarily simple, and there is no reason anyone who
can already do this shuffle would have any problem applying it. Yet I
have not seen anyone else do it (Although I did not look very hard).

During the cut, instead of stripping the top packet out to the
side and placing it back on top, I strip the bottom packet up and
forwards, creating the illusion on cutting the top half of the deck
forwards. I then pick up the top packet, which was left behind, and place
it on top. To be exact, if the table was a clock, I’d be cutting it towards
10/11, while pulling the top packet backwards slightly towards 4/5.

I feel that stripping the cards sideways provide a very clear view
of the action and is easily identifiable by any who know of it. Instead of
pretending to pull out the bottom and placing it on top, pretend to cut
off the top and set it down before picking up the bottom, and placing it
on top. This one small change solves all of this completely.

Because the cards are being slid forwards, you cannot see the
“stripping”. Since the top card is really the top card of the bottom half,
when you cut the packet off, it will really look like you’re taking the top
of the deck off. Because you raise it up as you do, there will be a clear,
visible gap between the bottom of this “top” packet and the table. This
 114

sells that there was a clean separation between the “top” and “bottom”
packets. However, this gap is not big enough to actually see the packet
through it, so they won’t see anything you don’t want them too.

Next, using the same hand you took the bottom packet forward
with, reach back and collect the top packet and place it on top of the
bottom half, bringing the deck back to starting order. I like to use my
right hand, since it’s already holding the top packet, and raise the packet
up a little bit making it easier to quickly grab with my left hand. When
you do this, everything comes together to look extremely natural and
smooth.

This one change of stripping the bottom packet forward as if

you’re cutting the top of the deck off, instead of stripping the top packet
sideways as if you’re pulling the bottom packet out changes everything.

A few other touches are that, in the beginning, I riffle a few

cards off of the top packet first, to create a small bedding, and I also
ensure that the top cards come from the bottom packet. This both
serves to make grabbing the bottom packet for the strip easier (as it’s
lifted up slightly off the table), and also helps sell the idea that you’re
taking the top half of the deck.

When you do this, the main goal is to appear to riffle off of

both packets equally. To do this, riffle quickly. Even a full second is slow
for this. Both packets should actually take the same amount of time to
riffle, but you begin a fraction of a moment earlier with the top, than
with the bottom. It’s so close, that when observed, it appears as if both
packets began and started at the same time, but you’ll end up with about
five cards falling from the top first, which is enough to make grabbing
the bottom packet very easy to do. This will also give you a few cards on
top, from the bottom packet with help to sell the effect later.

For the push-through itself, I slide the whole deck forward

about an inch as I push the cards in, and then I pull it back as I align the
two packets back into one. I’ve found that this serves to disguise the ever
difficult to disguise action. It looks extremely normal, despite sounding
like it wouldn’t, appearing only to be you pushing the two halves of the
deck together.
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What many people seem to forget when putting together a false

shuffle, is that when you do a legitimate table riffle shuffle, pushing the
two packets together isn’t easy. The two halves have to be force together
while they refuse to cooperate. Imitate this, a bit. Struggle with the cards.

Actually do some real shuffles and pay attention to it the same

way you analyze a false one. The real one’s aren’t smooth and buttery.
The cards don’t just glide into place.

The other note I have on the subject, is that I actually shuffle

the cards three times in full, but only use the cut I described at the end.
This is because shuffling and cutting three times is a pretty weird thing to
do, but only shuffling them once feels like they’re not quite shuffled.

For these mid-shuffle cuts, what I do is make what I will refer

to as a lopsided double arch. Consider the starting position of the deck
to be the center post. Simply lift off the deck and strip each packet left
and right as you do. As you strip them, you raise them up and away from
each other and then back down to the table.

It’s important that the left arch is larger than the right. Or more
accurately, that the right arch is smaller than the left. Both should have
arches, but one is supposedly you taking the top packet off the bottom,
while the other is you lifting the bottom packet off the table. Place them
down were you want them to riffle them together again and begin the
next loop of the shuffle.

For the final strip out / cut, I will pull the “top” packet forward
and a little left, while pulling the “bottom” packet a little to the right. I
know I already stated this in the instructions, but I wanted to double
down on the importance of this and why I do it.

With these few, easy to adjust, I’ve found my push through

instantly became far more invisible.

In full, step by step, it appears as such:

1. Cut the top half to the left. Begin riffling the cards together, starting
with a small bed from the left packet and ending with a small bed from
the right packet.
 116

2. Push the packets together and through each other, sliding the deck
forwards and backwards as you do.

3. Perform the arching strip out, bringing the bottom packet up and to
the left and the top up and to the right.

4. Repeat this two more time, so in full, the top packet is cut to the left,
shuffled, stripped to the right, shuffled, stripped to the left, and then
shuffled again into the final arraignment before the final cut.

3. Strip out the bottom packet, raising it both upwards and forwards,
while leaving the top packet behind on the table.

4. Place the bottom packet on the table, a bit ahead of where it started
and then just pick up the top packet and place it on top of the bottom
packet.

As a general note, for this cut, your hands do not move in a

perfect line. Your fingers are in the way, so the packets have to be
slightly turned to get past them. This is normal and if you perform this
same cut, for real, you will find this also happens. So be sure to note how
the packets maneuver and try to imitate this action.

Also, when gabbing the protruding ends of the halves of the

deck, I take them between my ring fingers and thumbs, not my middle or
pointers. To describe my grip in full, each of my pinkies are against their
short end of the deck. My ring and middle fingers rest on the far ends of
the front long edge. My pointers are curled up on top of the deck. And
finally, my thumbs are against the corners of the back long end.
 117

(They layout of the shuffle viewed form the spectators’ point of view.
When described from the magician’s perspective, the top packet is cut to
the left. A small bed of cards is riffled down, then the rest shuffled
evenly, and finally a bed on top, from the right-hand packet. For the
second and third shuffle, this bedding is laid down the same way, from
the same sides, although which packet is the top rotates from left to right,
and back again)

(My handling of the cards throughout the shuffle. Pinkies maintain the
sides, while middle and ring fingers hold the front at the corners.
Thumbs at the back corners, and pointer fingers curled up on top. When
stripping, I grab between my ring fingers and thumbs)
 118

(For the mid-shuffle strip outs, lift the cards off the table, stripping both
to the left and right equally, arching the cards from the center, up and
out to the sides. The deck is gripped by my middle fingers only for
exposure for the cameras, and would normally be taken by the ring
fingers as seen in the photo describing my handling)

(For the final strip out, the original bottom packet ends on “top” and is
stripped forward and up, while the original top packet ends on “bottom”
and is pulled back and to the side. Once the “top” packet has been
placed on the table, the right hand picks up the remaining packet and
hands it to the left, which set it onto of the previously cut half, restoring
the deck to order. As with the previous photo, the cards would be held
between the ring fingers, but is shown with the middle fingers for
exposure for the camera

)
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False Deals

On false dealing, I have my own method that I have developed

very deliberately. The reason for this was simple. The way I naturally deal
cards does not line up with the how every false deal I came across was
dealt. This meant that, either I would have to change how I always dealt,
or find a way to deal falsely using my normal grip.

I searched through many different variations of false deals and

ways of holding cards, choosing which one I would permanently change
myself to. But all of them seemed to have certain flaws to me. These
flaws were not ones of skill, but flaws inherent to the technique
themselves.

With VERY little exception, I was incapable of finding a single

push-off bottom that didn’t contain finger flash. Again, not due to the
lack of skill of the user, but because of the physical reality that we are all
bound to.

Another flaw I saw commonly was that they were so perfect

that the top card never even appeared to move. Some magicians have
become so obsessed with getting their brief to be as small as possible,
with having perfect finger placement, and as little movement of the top
card as possible. However, if the top card never moves, then the card
that is dealt, is obviously not that card.

I’ve seen magician after magician gawk in awe at “perfect”

second or bottoms deals completely forgetting that the entire point is to
create the illusion that the card was dealt off the top of the deck. I don’t
want to call anyone out by name, but I remember being pointed towards
a specific person. I watched their “intro to my lesson on false dealing”
video that was supposed to make me want to buy the real thing.

And they had a bit where they were showing a close up of the
second deal. And they were dealing card after card all while the top card
 120

clearly wasn’t moving at all. It was so completely still that it was wildly
impressive. However, it also didn’t look like the top card was being dealt.

It was actually so good that they could legitimately do an entire

routine based around the idea of having turned cards invisible, but only
when they’re on the deck. And then you second deal, and the cards “turn
visible” as you remove them. And I promise you, if they did this, the
spectator would have been shocked at how they seemingly dealt a card
that didn’t exist. How the top card didn’t move at all, yet a card was dealt
off the deck. Where could that card have come from? Clearly, it’s magic.

Their false deal was that perfectly clean. It was an absolute

work of mastery. However, it did not look like that top card was being
dealt, which is the entire point of this move. So, these methods are right
out.

On the topic of finger flash, and the like, while performing in a

“magic” setting, these issues can be compensated for though
misdirection. However, in a gambling setting, this is impossible. And
while I wouldn’t recommend actually cheating in cards games, the more
perfect a technique is, then the less misdirection is required to hide it.
The more you may invite the audience to burn your hands. And even if
you don’t do that, which you probably shouldn’t, the more invisible a
sleight, the more openly you can use it. And the more openly you can use
it, well… Then the more versatile and useful it is.

Because of this, I didn’t want to settle for a sleight that I knew I

was going to have to hide. Obviously, this must be done for most.
Afterall, my favorite move is the clipshift, and that’s far from being
naturally invisible.

However, when it comes to gambling moves, my willingness to

use misdirection plummets. It severely distresses me to think that I could
practice cheating, but not be able to cheat. Only “pretend” to cheat.

I very quickly found that, for bottoms, there was no pushover

that truly did not contain finger flash. So, the decision was to use a strike.
With seconds, the reverse is true. However, every pushover I came
across, pushed from a place that was unnatural for a thumb to be placed.
At least with how I hold the card, and well… I’ve already spoken on
how I wanted to maintain that grip.
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So, I set to work trying to come up with something that works

for me. Something that is truly burnable. Something that is held in a
manner not used by card cheats, magicians, or mechanics. Something
that works fluidly and looks exactly the same as when I deal fairly
without thought.

Now while a truly burnable false deal cannot possibly exist, I

am happy to say, I believe I have achieved my goal. And while I would
never call myself an expert, I feel confident that the difference between
me and the closest possible approximation of a perfect false deal is not a
matter of technique, but of practice. So, for those who feel as I do, or
even just deal as I do and want an option as I did, here it is. And anyone
who simply wants another variation, this is here for you as well.

All of my false deals use the same overall visual. The thumb
lays horizontally across the center of the deck. My middle and ring
fingers rest along the opposite side, fingertips raised a bit above the deck,
coming over the edge where my thumb could touch them, should it
choose to. My pinky and pointer finger are on opposite short ends.

The deck itself is tucked between the base of the thumb and
the middle flanges of the fingers, the top flanges hanging over the deck,
resting on the top of it, as already stated.

When resting, the deck is tilted slightly backward, towards

myself, the pinky supporting the deck as it’s pulled down by gravity. The
pinky itself held naturally, without concern or effort, at the closest short
edge of the deck.

I deal by pushing cards horizontally with my thumb, over the

tips of my fingers and taking them with the thumb and ring and middle
finger of my right hand. Simultaneously, I place my right pointer finger
on the forward right corner of the card, on the short side.
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(My standard dealers grip)

(My standard way of pushing over a card)

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The Second Deal

As for my actual false dealing, for my second deal, I use the

back half of the first flange of my thumb to push over a second card.
Using the ring finger of my right hand, it’s simple enough to touch the
underside of the bottom card and deal it while simultaneously pulling the
top card back onto the deck with my left thumb, and also pushing it back
with my right thumb.

The reason I use my ring finger instead of middle is simple.

Despite the middle finger being longer, this in only when both are fully
outstretched. When you allow your hand to curl up on a natural position,
you’ll find that they are suddenly the same length, or even possibly, the
ringer finger is the one that extends further.

And one such hand position that creates this, is when your
hand is reaching towards the cards to grab and deal one. On top of this,
because the ring is behind the middle, it has extra shade when it extends
to take the card. Also, this allows the middle finger to not extend further
than it normally would, allowing you to maintain the innocent visual that
you want all to see.

The way my right thumb pushes it back, is simple. The entire

first flange of my thumb ends up on the card. However, instead of being
placed directly there, it comes into contact with the very edge of the card
and then slides into place across the back. On a normal deal, this is
exactly what happens, however on a second deal, instead of sliding
across the back of the top card, it pushes the top card back, while sliding
across the back of the second card, which is held in place from below by
the ringer finger (and once separated, by the middle finger as well),
which drags the second card further along, to speed up with switch. It’s
very similar to the way you strip out the face card on the Miracle Change
(Ed Marlo) or the majority of face stripping moves.

Also, I touch my pointer finger against the edge of the top right
corner of the card. Originally, I place it on the corner of the actual top
card, but as I grab and deal the other card, I transfer the pad of my
pointer finger to the corner of the card that will be dealt. On top of this,
my middle finger takes the card at the corner as well. This time, the pad
of my middle finger contacts the face of the card near the corner
 124

This all serves to kick start the process of re-aligning the top
card with the deck, as well as adds smoothness to the sleight as a whole.
The multiple points of contact aid in the illusion that the top card and
the dealt card are the same card, and the pointer finger even helps to
cover the gap.

Second, while dealing, my left-hand fingers move: Extending

and contracting. For the pinky, it more or less waves back in forth in
place, like the tail of a dog. For the rest of my fingers, they simply extend
outwards, flattening themselves so a card my pass over them. And then
they close back up to hold the deck together. When dealing normally,
this happens under the card, as it’s dealt, so that by the time the card is
removed, the fingers are 90% back where they started, and only the last
little bit of movement is visible.

As for my left thumb, it rotates as it moves. It starts curled up,

with its side against the cards. Then, as it extends, it turns so that the pad
touches the card. As I remove the card to be dealt, I retract the top card.
During this, I rotate my thumb, the same way, but in reverse.

When I first began dealing this way, I didn’t notice originally.

So, during my false deals, my pinky did not wave back and forth, nor did
my fingers close back up, or my thumb rotate, as they do for my true
deals. This created a glaring difference between my standard and false
deals. However, upon realizing this, with a bit of practice, these
movements can be mimicked. So be sure to mimic them.

Of course, if your pinky doesn’t naturally do this, there is no

reason to fake it. But if it does, be sure to copy it.

One last word on the removal of the card is that I pull my left
hand away from my right, more than I pull my right from my left. It’s a
small detail, and in truth, I pull both from each other, but the left hand
moves more. All in all, I’d say my right hand moves about an inch to the
right while my left hand moves about two to the left. So I have about a
2:1 ration.

The main issue with this method of false dealing is the

looseness of the card. Unlike normal second deals, where you anchor the
corner of the card against the flesh of your hand, helping you to “rock”
the card back and forth in place… In this method, there is nothing to
 125

help you. With practice, you can push the card straight, and pull it back
as well, but it will take practice.

The pinky can act as a guide when pushing the card out, but
not when pulling it back. Attempting that will cause the card to lock and
rotate around the picky, destroying the illusion.

As for a tip on actually sliding over two cards in the first place,
it’s important to make use of your bottom hand fingers. For me, that is
my left hand. Your fingers usually (subconsciously) act as a barrier to
prevent extra cards from sliding over. It’s why you can deal a single card
perfectly every time, without thought. The way this happens, is not that
your thumb somehow moves only one card, but that your other fingers
hang exactly one card’s width below the top of the deck, and so the
second card gets caught while the top one slides over without effort.

With a little practice, you can lower your fingertips a fraction of

an inch, and perfectly allow two cards to slide over, while catching and
preventing a third.

(Pushing two cards over for a second deal)

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The Bottom Deal

On the bottom deal, for the left hand, the action is identical
between an honest deal and the false variation. For the actual move itself,
push over the top card, while reaching for it with your right hand. Your
right thumb touches the back of the top card and applies downward
pressure. This should happen just slightly before the edge of the deck,
the pressure pushing both down and inwards.

It does not require a lot of pressure, merely a light touch in the

right spot. This force transfers through the edge of the deck from top to
bottom and locks the cards in place, preventing extras from following
along as the tip of your ring finger touches the bottom card, draws it out,
and allows it to be taken between your right ring finger and thumb and
ultimately grabbed by your middle and pointer fingers as well.

If you want, you can also apply some pressure with your left
thumb instead, so that your right hand has to focus on nothing other
than extracting the bottom card.

Another way to help maintain the deck and keep extra cards
from sliding out it to gently squeeze the deck between your left pinky
and pointer finger. This pressure literally grabs the cards by their edges
and holds them in place. So long as you apply the right level of pressure,
the one card you pull will slide out easily, but no others will.

In more detail on the right hand, starting on the first finger,

your pointer overextends slightly, as it reaches for the card. It brushes
lightly against the tip of your left pointer finger and then comes back to
settle on the edge near the corner of the short side of the card.

Your middle finger reaches out and takes the bottom card from
the underside on the corner. If you were holding it facedown, the pad of
your finger would be on (or at least near) the index.

Your ring finger does the actual work of pulling the card off the
bottom. The other fingers simply grab it once it’s free. To do this, your
ring finger shoots in between the middle and ring finger of your left
hand. Once contact is made, the pad of your finger will give slight
pressure and pull away. Due to friction, the bottom card will follow and
then be grabbed in full by the rest of your fingers.
 127

This variation has all the same positives as the second deal. But
it also has two more positives here specific to the bottom deal: No finger
flash. The fingers under the deck do nothing. They do not shoot the card
out towards your incoming hand. They do not separate it, or give a break.
There is no “get ready”. There is no finger flash to worry about or hide,
because the fingers do nothing. Literally. This is 100% performed by the
dealing hand.

(Unnaturally displayed for exposure: The ring finger reaches between the
middle and ring finger of the deck hand)

(The bottom deal, using the pointer fingers to cover the action)
 128

The Center Deal

Amazingly enough, the center deal is not the mystery that

people think it is. In fact, anyone who can execute a strike bottom deal,
can execute a center deal as well. All you need to do, is get a pinky break
below the cards you wish to deal. After that, use your pinky to side jog
the upper half of the deck slightly to the right (or to the left if your left-
handed).

The way I usually actually get into this, is simply to cut the deck
from the table, into my hand. I take the top half off and place it in my
palm for dealing. Then, I take the bottom half and place it on top of the
half in my hand, and simply get my break as I place it down.

From this position, it is equally as easy to strike your finger

against the bottom card of the top packet as it would be to strike it
against the bottom card of the entire deck.

When you side jog the top half, be sure that the forward left
corners of the two halves stay together. Think of them as the fulcrum
that the cards rotate around. You actually hold the bottom packet in
place with your pinky.

For both packets, the pinky will be at the back right corner
(when holding the deck in your left hand). However, for the top packet,
it will be on the short end side of the corner, and for the bottom packet,
it will be at the long end side of the corner.

As your fingers open and close, imitating the normal act, your
pinky fakes this the most. When opening up, you allow it to treat the top
half of the deck as normal, while keeping the bottom half locked in place.
When closing, it is your ring finger that pull the top packet in the most.
If you struggle to maintain stability, this is where you should focus your
attention to improve. Even when dealing honestly off the top while
holding the break for the center deal, you need to pay attention to your
ring finger.
 129

The brief will be more pronounced near the back. Obviously,

strike bottoms that connect at the forward corner will be ineffective. But
strike bottoms like mine, that use the ring finger, or simply connect
further back for other reasons will work just fine. Honestly, if you can
strike bottom, you can center deal.

That being said, the more cards you deal from the center, the
more unstable it becomes. To counter this, I do not do back-to-back
centers. Instead, I will do a series of honest deals with a center tossed in.
This is fairly natural though and won’t cause any issues. If you are doing
a poker demonstration, then doing four honest deals followed by a
center deal and then repeating that loop five times is standard fair.

Also, just to add it in here, if you want to be able to put on a

performance of doing a center deal, without actually doing a center deal,
I will tell you my favorite way to fake it. What I do, is get a good poker
hand, four of a kind, a royal flush, whatever…. and then use the snap
deal to pretend to put them in the center of the deck but actually control
them to the top. This is a standard thing for anyone who uses the snap
deal, but any top control will work.

What I do next is simple: turn the deck face up and tell them
that you are doing this so that they can see exactly when the center deal
takes place. Then deal however you want. I will deal out a hand of poker,
either a few hands of five cards each, or a full game of Texas Hold’em. If
I do the five cards, then I will just bottom deal all four cards into
whichever hand I want, and if I do the Texas Hold’em variation, then I
will bottom deal two of the cards to one hand, then one of the cards of
the flop, and then bottom deal the last one as the river card.

Finally, because outside of the break, the technique is the same

as the bottom deal, practicing this is a great way to improve your
bottoms. Because if you can do them like this, you’re good to go.
 130

(The break for the center deal, viewed from the front. Your pointer
finger hides the corner, while also holding the two halves together.

(The break, exposed. Currently held closed. It opens up as you deal a

card, and is closed back up by your ring finger)
 131

(The break, fully displayed. Note how it’s wider near the back, and the
front left corner of both packets are aligned)

(Strike with your ring finger against the bottom card of the top half. For
the most part, this is the same as the normal strike bottom, )
 132

False Dealings Practice

When practicing, it is important to practice properly. Some

general advice about how to improve your false deals in the best way you
can is to simply take it in stages. For second deals, just practice them
back-to-back, over and over again. Once you are able, turn the deck
upside-down and pick a suit. Deal normally off the top of the deck, but
every time your chosen suit appears, second deal three times before
dealing the top card and continuing to honestly deal until you see the
next suit of choice. Both of these methods should be practiced, but with
the majority of your practice just being back-to-back deals.

Another way I like to practice all forms of top false deals is to

give the deck a shuffle, then turn it face up and try to deal the cards
alternatingly into two piles of red and black, using only false deals to get
the cards you want.

I’ve never been able to get through it well enough that it could
be done for performance. However, if you’d like to do this as a trick,
then I recommend looking up the “Color Deal” by Lennart Green,
which does this, but through reasonable methods.

For the bottom, you should also begin practicing back-to-back

deals. This is phase one and should only be used until you are able to
properly perform the move. Once you have learned how to do it, you
switch from learning to honing: The second phase. In this phase, you
should perform a number of normal deals, and then execute a bottom
deal.

Eventually, you can combine these. For example, shuffle and

turn the deck face up. Begin dealing, and every time a spade comes up,
bottom deal. Every time a Heart comes up, second deal. Every time a
Diamond comes up, Greek deal…

Outside of this, the only suggestion left is to practice sailing the

cards. For those who don’t know this term, it means to spin the cards
and flick them, so they whirl across the table to their destination.
Normally this would be done, so you can deal cards facedown to
someone on the far end of a table. It is a very important skill to have for
anyone who will be dealing cards, and sailing a falsely dealt card can be a
little knacky.
 133

The Reformation

This method, hailed by many as the pinnacle of torn and

restored cards is my favorite. I will not be teaching it in any way, shape,
or form. Even the photos that accompany this will not give anything
away. It can be found in the book “Drawing Room Deceptions” by Guy
Hollingworth and allows you to tear and restore a signed card, one piece
at a time, in front of their face.

What I want to talk about here will be my own personal

handling of some of the moves. I will explain them well enough that if
you already know the trick, you will perfectly understand, but if you
don’t, it won’t help you learn. But I do recommend you learn it though.

Before we even begin, I do not put the pieces in my mouth.

Instead, I simply continue to hold them in my hands throughout the
trick. You start with two pieces in each hand, then put both left hand
pieces into your right hand, holding them with your pinky and ring
fingers, while taking one of the two pieces held in the right hand and
restoring them.

Then, you dump both loose pieces held in your right hand, into
your left, pick the one you will restore next, and then take the other one
back in your right fingers. I’ll leave the rest for when it becomes relevant
when describing the trick itself.

To start with the actual moves, when folding down the first
corner of the card, all you need to do is: after you fold back the first half
tear in preparation to fully tear it, rotate the card 90 degrees counter
clockwise. This will position it vertically, and also bring it slightly closer
to your left fingertips.

From this position, pinch the crease, to assist in tearing, and

then turn the card back to its original orientation. While you do this, the
folded down edge will naturally align into position as you move your
hand over to fold down and crease the other side.

Second, my variation on the moment between the third and

fourth restoration is as follows: After restoring the third corner, you’ll
simultaneously perform two actions. One, with your right hand, take the
three restored corners and tilt it backwards towards yourself, as if
 134

examining your work and wanting to see the face of it. This draws all
their eyes to your face, to follow your gaze. Meanwhile, with your left
hand, you have the fourth piece ready for the final restoration. Also, in
your right hand, beside the three part restored card, you also have the
final torn up bit of card because you were holding it in your right hand
up until this moment.

Because you are looking at the face of their card, they cannot
see the face themselves. Upon inspecting it and finding satisfaction, place
the three reconnected corners into your left hand in the required position.

Now, wiggle the final piece from your right pinky and ring
fingers, to the tips of your pointer, middle, and thumb. The motion of
this draws their eyes to this hand, allowing you to make any micro
adjustment needed to the rest of the card in your left hand before
proceeding.

As you go to restore the card, you discover you’ve made a

mistake. The final piece goes in on the left, but you’re holding it on the
right. So just tuck the final square into your left fingertips against the
card to free your right hand to take it. And with this, you find yourself
exactly where you need to be, but without doing all the “magicianly”
moves that so many do.

The way I finish after the final restoration, is to simply raise up

the fixed card in my left hand, displaying its face. At this same time, I
gesture towards it with my entire right hand, held palm up, in a classic
“look at this” sort of gesture. I then give the card a gentle toss and flip,
letting it rotate onto the table towards the participant who signed it, for
them to easily take as a souvenir. Doing this, openly displaying your right
hand, and letting the card fall from your left, creates the impression that
both your hands are completely empty.

If no table is available, do this same thing, but letting it fall into

your right palm, which then holds out the card to be taken by the
spectator while your left hand just drops to your side, naturally.

Either way, you essentially do a one-handed French drop, while

causally creating the impression that’s you’re long finished and already
clean.
 135

(Rotating the card to help you pinch the crease more tightly)

(Rotating the card back into its normal orientation. Finish this section by
reaching across to fold down and crease the other half of the card)
 136

(After reconnecting the third corner, tilt it towards yourself to examine,

before placing it in your left hand to use your right for the final corner.
This shows them the back, proving you’re not hiding anything, while also
preventing them from seeing the face of the card. It also allows you to
position it to allow you to transition into the final restoration)

(Put the three restored corners into your left hand, use your free hand to
handle the final piece only to realize you’re on the wrong side)
 137

(After realizing your “mistake” give the card to your right hand, leaving
your left free and everything as it should be to finish as normal)
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The Reformation (Half Restored)

One final touch on The Reformation is this: Do it again, kind

of… When I’ve performed this for someone and they want me to do it
again, but I’m not in a position to actually do it again, and circumstances
allow, I’ll do this.

In this, you do the reformation a second time, but you only

restore two pieces together, leaving yourself with half of a card and two
pieces waiting to be attached next.

Keeping my actions visibly identical to the real trick, I rip the

card in half. Then, I rip each half in half the manner you actually use to
perform the trick.

This leaves you in a situation where you can use the normal
method to restore two pieces together. To leave yourself with half a card
and two quarters of a card.

However, after this, “something” happens and you have to not

complete the trick. Whatever “pulls you away” is up to you, but
something needs to happen that forces you to stop mid trick and not
finish it. Sometimes I just simply notice the time, and realize I need to
leave. Sometimes, something happens that I deem a situation I have to
engage in. Sometimes, if they were being a bad spectator, I just “get fed
up with them” and refuse to continue the trick for them.

Either way, you give them the fully restored half card and the
two quarters of card that are left and leave them alone.

The reason I like this so much, is because everyone knows,

even if they don’t know how, that you MUST be using a second copy of
their card. Even if they have no clue how you got their signature on it or
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anything else… They KNOW you can’t literally tear up and restore a
card.

However, if you only restore it halfway and then stop, leaving

them with everything, then that ruins any idea of how you did it. They
have all the pieces, and you were clearly planning on using these same
pieces to do the trick. And they just saw you do it, so they know how it
was supposed to go.

Doing this breaks their minds. Simply apologize that you can’t
finish the trick, give them everything and leave. After doing this,
whatever idea they had in their head for how you did it the first time…
They will no longer think that. This removes all doubt and leaves them
with nothing.
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Tiny Cards

This is not about using tiny cards, but rather a long running gag,
where you pretend the size of your cards are changing. The original
method involves using fans of different sizes to act as if your cards are
growing or shrinking. My method uses a spread.

It’s quite simple and quick, but is very visual and strangely fun.
It can be used as part of the already known and used
“shrinking/growing” cards routine, however, I never do this. Instead, I
call upon it while first removing my cards from the deck as a quick laugh.

Essentially, I’ll pull my cards out of the box, and ribbon spread
them on the table. However, when you do this, hold them not by the
short ends, spreading them with the long ends creating lines across the
spread. Instead, hold them by the long ends, and spread them, so it’s the
short ends that make the lines from one card to the next.

I generally hold the cards with my thumb on the long end

towards myself, and my pinky and ring finger on the opposite long end.
Meanwhile, my pointer and middle finger rest on the short end.

Ribbon spread them, keeping your hand over the top card the
entire time. When you finish, realize the problem with the cards and then
use your other hard to close the spread, from where it started. It really
does look like a spread of tiny cards. But, should they see the horizontal
top card, or if the spread is too loose and too much of a card in the
middle is seen, it all falls apart.

I generally, leave it open only for a second or two. I’ll spread

them, stare at it wide eyed and exclaim, “Oh! Sorry! I forgot; these are
my tiny cards!” Then close the spread. I’ll then either pretend to switch
the deck for a new one or pull on the edges of it to “stretch” them out,
before spreading them again, normally this time.

It’s a very fast joke, which can easily get a laugh on its own or
be incorporated into a larger bit, as I’ve already stated. It’s simply that,
while I’ve seen the gag done before, it’s always been with fans, or prop
sized cards. I’ve never seen someone else use the spread. But to me,
that’s the funniest variation.
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(A spread of “tiny” cards, with one “normal” card for scale)

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Double lift

On the topic of doubles, I have a few ways of gathering them.

My first method is to take my left thumb and lever two cards up, as if I
was lifting the cover of a book. The opposite side of the card stays in
contact with the deck, as if on a hinge. To be a bit more specific, when I
lever the two cards up: first, I use my middle finger to lightly push the
top of the deck towards the thumb side of the deck. This slants the cards,
allowing you to easily run your thumb up the side of the deck and get a
hold in exactly the number of cards you want.

Once you have lifted the cards with your thumb, lightly push
the edge of them into the tip of your middle finger. This will create the
“hinge” that allows you to raise the thumb side of the cards upwards.
While raising it, you can tilt it forward into your pointer finger as well to
help square the corner, if you need to.

Raise it up as much as your thumb will allow and then reach

over with your right hand and just plain take the card. About taking the
card, I have two ways I go about that. The first one is to take the double
with my middle finger at the far short edge and my thumb at the near
one. My pointer either on the long side where the thumb had been or
curled up on the back.

Once taken in this manner, simply rotating the hand palm up

allows you to easily and cleanly display the card to whoever you want.
While this works very well to display the card, it very much looks like
you are displaying the card. When I am not interested in “displaying” and
instead want to take a more causal handling, I have an alternate way of
grabbing the card. The left-hand part is identical. The only change it in
the actual grabbing of the card off of the deck.

This alternative grip is to simply take the double between my

thumb and pointer knuckle with my hand in a loose fist. To better
describe that, quite literally make a loose fist with the pad of your thumb
laying gently on the side of your pointer finger. It should fall somewhere
between the first and second knuckle (counting from the fingertip), but
probably closer to the first. For me, my thumb is practically on my
second knuckle, directly.
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With your hand in this position, take the long edge of the card
between your thumb and pointer finger. Held like this, the far edges of
the cards may possibly separate slightly. This can be prevented by lightly
squeezing the cards to cause them to bend. This is because the tip of
your thumb is much narrower than the length of your finger. The cards
will bow upwards, around your thumb. Even the slightest bend will
remove the gap and put the cards perfectly flush together.

My next method is what I call the “Toss Double”. To do this,

begin as you would for the first version of the double lift I mentioned,
where you lever two cards up with your thumb. What you do next, is to
quickly rotate your hand inward while also raising your hand up. If you
do this correctly, the two cards you’ve levered up will flip out of your
hand, spin 180 degrees to turn face up (or face down from a face up
deck) and land in your right hand where you catch them as one.

The act of catching the cards like this may seem scary, but I
promise you that, with only a little practice, you’ll find it much easier
than you think to be able to consistently do this.

Once you get good enough, you can do this with a full 360-
degree rotation as well, which I like to do when taking a double off of a
face up deck.

For both of these toss doubles, it is easier to do when the cards

have a slight bend to them. Something as simple as a card sprig can put it
in there. You want to have the center bowed upwards, otherwise the
edge of the card will catch against your fingertips instead of rolling over
them.
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(Use your middle finger to bevel the deck to towards the thumb)
 145

(Lever up two cards with your thumb)

(The two ways to take the card off the deck with our right hand. The
third is to simply flip the card up and onto your waiting palm where it’s
caught by the fingers)
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Double Convincers

This is my favorite convincer to use when handling a double.

Throw it up into the air. Either spin it or flip it.

There are two variations for spinning the card. The two handed
and one handed. For the two-handed variation, hold the double between
the thumb of one hand and the pointer finger of the other. This will be
described as held by the left thumb and right pointer. If you use the
opposite, do the opposite.

Rotate the card slightly counterclockwise while flexing the

center of the card downwards. This loads the cards, like a spring. In one
motion, undo this smoothly. Rotate clockwise while raising the double
up, letting it fly into the air above your hands.

This is very simple to do. In fact, you’ll quickly find that so long
as the two cards were flush when you started, they will stay perfectly
together all on their own while they spin. It’s shockingly easy. The
difficult part is catching it. You must open up one hand and allow it to
fall right towards the center of your palm. Right as it is near your palm,
try to catch it on all sides at once with the base of your fingers and your
thumb.

Try to prevent it from landing directly on your palm, but it

should be caught near enough to your palm that it appears to have
landed in your palm, and your fingers are just preventing it from sliding
off. Contact is when it will split, so you must get it by the edges at the
exact moment it connects with your hand.

For the one-handed variation, begin by pinching the double

between your thumb and middle finger at the center of the short side.
On a 10 of Spades, your thumb should fit in the empty space, not
touching any of the pips at the top of the card. Your pointer finger
resting against the edge of the longside, near the corner. The tip of your
finger could be as close to the corner as you like, but not further away
than the bottom of the small pip under the number.

This will have the same problem as before, about the gap
between the two cards. Just as before, it is solved the same way. Simply
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pull upwards lightly with your pointer finger on the corner of the card.
This will put a small bend in the cards sealing the gap shut.

From this position, lift the card into the air, keeping it level the
whole time. As you let go of it, your pointer finger retracts, flicking
inward, causing spin.

This variation is caught in the same manner as the first.

In order to flip the card instead of spinning it, start by holding

it with your thumb in the center of the short end of the cards, at the
same location as the one-handed spin variation.

Underneath, you use not the tip of your pointer finger, but the
middle knuckle of it. You thumb should be on top of everything, not
held sideways.

Without the cards, you should look as if you are pointing at

someone with your thumb, while holding your hand in a loose fist. Just
as in the manner described for one of the double lift variations.

The actual toss into the air is simple enough. Use your whole
hand to flip the cards into the air, towards yourself slightly. Merely let go
of it with your thumb, it does not help in the toss. The double should
rotate half a turn towards you, going from face up to face down (or the
reverse).

When you catch it, you want all your fingers to close around the
edge of the double, squeezing it lightly against the flesh at the base of the
thumb, the thumb itself laying across the card. It should almost resemble
dealer’s grip in a loose way.

From this position it’s possible to flip the card over as well. For
this second method of flipping, your fingers do nothing to help toss the
card. They simply let go of it, providing no barrier to letting it fly
through the air. For both, the actual tossing and flipping come from your
hand itself, moving as a single unmoving unit, from action started at the
wrist, like flipping a pancake in a frying pan. You do not flip the card
with your fingers, instead they merely loosen, letting the card jump up
past them from the residual motion from the wrist. Again, think of
 148

flipping a pancake in a frying pan. The pan does not toss the pancake.
You toss it through the pan indirectly.

With both flipping the card, and spinning it, you must take care
to ensure it only rotates on one axis at a time. It either spins but stays
level. Or it flips but doesn’t spin.

Spinning the card is the most fun, but flipping the card is the most
functionally useful for showing someone the face card and then turning
it over, or vice versa, and then continuing on with the trick.

(Prepare to spin by holding at the corners between the thumb and

pointer finger)
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(Pinch between thumb and middle finger)

(When catching it, grasp it by the edges with your fingers, thumb, and
the heel of your palm. If you let it actually land on your palm, the double
will split)
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Herrmann Pass (turnover pass)

For my turnover pass, unless I am literally turning the deck

over for a reason, I prefer to do a half turnover. Essentially, I rotate the
deck from resting face down on my palm, to laying face up on my
extended fingers, and then, after a beat, I roll them backwards, flipping
them face down into my palm again.

I feel that this method matches well with my “talking with my

hands” ascetic.

In full, it looks like this: I get my break and perform the first
half of the sleight. Then, in one motion, I use my thumb to rotate the
top packet onto the other, them both landing on my outstretched fingers,
while also turning my other hand palm up and moving both hands
forward, towards whoever I am talking to.

After I’ve said a thing or two, I bring my hands back to my

“normal” position and roll my finger inward to flip the deck back onto
my palm.

I have a few variations of this, such as half rotating it onto the

outstretched fingers of my other hand, but the part that matters is all the
same. Half a rotation, onto my extended fingers while both hands move
in unison to gesture one way or another.

(Performing only a half rotation, letting the cards land on your fingers, or
on the fingers of the opposite hand)
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Palm Shifts

What I mean by palm shifts, is quite literally shifting from one

palm to another. Or more specifically, shifting from Tenkai to Ring
Finger Clip and back. For those who don’t know, tenkai palm is when
you hold the card between your thumb and palm. Your thumb goes at
the forward corner of the long edge, while the opposite long end digs
into the center of the butt of the palm of your hand.

You should be able to reach down with your pointer and

middle fingers and grab the card by the corner, and pull it out and put it
back.

The ring clip, or at least my variation on it, simply has the

forward two corners of the short end of the card wedged into the pad of
your ring finger and your palm at the base of your ring finger. The card is
held horizontally, and can be propped up a little by the pinky if needed.

Both of these palms can feel very exposed, but are extremely
hidden from the correct angles. What’s more, the weak angles of one, are
the strong angles of the other. Because of this, by shifting the card back
and forth between the two, you can remain surprisingly hidden, while
appearing surprisingly exposed.

It is easier to go from Tenkai to Ring Clip, and so I will explain

that first. Generally, with a Tenkai, you would have your hand fairly open.
Simply close your fingers a bit and allow you ring finger to come under
the forward corner

Simultaneously, slide your pinky underneath the center of the

short edge of the cards in order to provide stability. At the same time,
you will slide your thumb inward until it is over your pinkly. Your ring
finger slides outward until it comes out from under the card and
connects with the edge, holding the card in place.

Once here, you can remove you thumb and pinky, and the card
will be held in place as it is. You are now in the ring finger clip.
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To go from the ring finger clip into Tenkai, it is a similar

process, but not merely the same thing in reverse. As before, we will be
putting out pinky under the center of the small edge of the card for
stability. Now, pull in with your ringer finger, compressing the card
slightly, while you bring your thumb over to its position. With the card
buckling upward, it’s easy to wrap your thumb around it. Once you have,
just let go with your ring finger and the card will expend, pressing itself
into place between your palm and thumb.

In truth, you don’t actually need your pinky here to do this, but
it does help. Consider it training wheels. Do it at first, and once you’re
competent, you can ignore it unless you need to fix a problem on the fly.

It is quite simple to go back and forth between the two palms

with little effort. I often do this when talking with my hands, or trying to
subtly show my hands as empty. Each palm allows half of your hand to
be fully free and open, and by switching back and forth, you can allow
your entire hand to be free and open. At least appear to be so.
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From Tenkai, touch your ring and pinky finger to the underside of the
card, and then slide them out towards the edge, while sliding your thumb
inward. Your ring finger will take hold of the corner while your thumb
and pinky provide balance and support until you are steady

From Ring Clip to Tenkai, curl in your ring finger to buckle to card
upwards. Slide your thumb over the edge until it can take hold and then
relax allowing the card to expand to its normal tenkai state. The pinky
adds support and stability from below.
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Palm Shift Reverse

Aside from going back and forth between the two palms, it is
also possible to reverse the card as you do so. At least when going from
Tenkai to Ring Finger Clip. First, with the card in Tenkai, imagine the
card resting on the top of a horizontal tube.

What we do is rotate the card around this tube until it lands in

the Ring Clip. First, ignoring everything we actually intend to do, bring
your thumb in, and curl it in as much as you can. While you do this,
allow the edge of the card that had been against your palm to relax and
slide down. This will end with the card in a completely useless palm,
where it is held flat against your palm, clamped there with your thumb,
as if saluting.

To do the actual move, do exactly what you just did, except this
time curl your pinky in and connect near the forward corner of the long
edge of the card. Now, the card should be held between the thumb and
pinky by the long edges, near the forward corner. Hold it close to your
palm for increased invisibility.

Now, extend your pinky out, while lowering your thumb. This
will complete the rotation and flatten the card out horizontally. It will
also bring the corner of the card towards your ring finger. Merely allow
the card to release from your pinky and catch it with the pad of your ring
finger.

In order to help with stability, and maintaining the horizontal

nature of the card, don’t just pull your pinky away from the card as it
transfers. Instead, slide it along the underside of the card, applying light
upwards pressure. Meet this with light downward pressure from your
thumb, and between the two find a balance that lets the card settle
correctly into the clip.

This last part is something you’ll just have to get the feel of
through practice. However, it’s not difficult at all, and anyone who can
do both of these palms individually should have very little issue shifting
between the two.
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Pull in your thumb while letting the card slide down your palm. Curl in
your pinky to catch the bottom corner. You are now holding the card
between these two fingertips and have a good range of mobility with it.
However, hold it close, to remain hidden

Once taken by your pinky, extend outwards, pulling the bottom of the
card out, towards the ring finger, while lowering the other side of the
card gently down with your thumb.
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Once it has reached your ring finger, slide your thumb and pinky back
towards the middle, in order to help stabilize the card as it settles into its
new position. Once it is comfortable, you can simply let these finger
relax however you want and maintain the clip as normal
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Palm Generation

AKA: A weird top shot display

The magician shows a clearly empty hand, and then tightens it

up, generating energy, and working magic through their arm. When ready,
they shoot their hand forward and from their clearly empty hand, a card
emerges, flying forward away from them.

The key to this maneuver is a Top Shot, the famous move

created by Lennart Green. I’m not going to teach it here, but a quick
once over is that you pull the top card off the deck with your pinky,
sending it spinning through the air.

Someone who is truly good as this, can make the card fly so fast,
its near imperceptible, and so accurately, they can shoot the card into a
palm.

For this, you don’t need to be nearly that good. The wild
motion from your other hand will cover anything and everything you do.

What it is you do, is pull you right hand back, palm held
vertically, facing your audience. Having “generated you ball of energy”,
simultaneously shot your arm forward and perform the top shot.

The card will fly off the deck, and go horizontally towards your
other hand. Your other hand strikes the card, changing its trajectory by
90 degrees and shooting it forward towards the people, instead of
sideway, away from everything.

The key to doing this is just getting down the timing. You will
need to strike forward with your right palm as fast as you can, and hit the
card that had been top shot right out of the air. If you are off by even
the smallest degree, you will either strike early, and have the card hit the
side of your arm, and look foolish. Or you will strike late, and the card
will sail past you and off to the side, and you’ll look foolish.
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However, if done right, it will truly look the card exploded out
of your palm. My general presentation for this is hold my right hand
about a foot over the deck, and tense up, as if I am “pulling energy out
of the cards”. Then, I slowly pull my arm back, curling my fingers and
tensing to the point where my whole arm is vibrating. I pause in that
stance, with my palm aimed towards the audience, my elbow bent fully,
so my forearm rests horizontally.

When ready perform the top shot with my left hand, shooting
the card to the right, and launch my right hand forward, striking the card,
sending it forward towards the audience at higher speeds than you’d
imagine. It requires extreme precision, but is surprisingly simple. Once
you’ve done it a number of times, it becomes pure muscle memory and
can be done on a whim at any moment.

And I promise, while it seems ridiculous, it will actually appear

that that the card came out of your very obviously empty hand.
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Stack Work

Stacks, for those of you who don’t know, is a term for when
you have a deck organized in some fashion. This could mean many
things, but when someone says “stack”, and nothing else, they’re talking
about a fully organized deck from top to bottom. There are a few kinds
of stacks that do this, but I will be talking about what’s known as a fully
memorized deck.

This is when you, quite literally, memorize the entire deck, so

that by seeing any card, you know what is above and below it, as well as
other useful things, such as being able to cut any card to the top of the
deck by simply knowing how far down into the deck it is.

I use Mnemonica, which is the most popular organization. It is

for this reason that I recommend it, as knowing the same stack as others
can lead to very useful and interesting cooperation as well as give more
sources to learn from.

The biggest hurdle people face when getting into a memorized

deck is simply the act of memorizing it. It can be very daunting to give it
a shot, but it is actually far easier than most people think. It is not a
matter of difficulty. It is a matter of time. If you put in the time, you will
manage to do it. And once you’ve done it, you’ll have it forever.

You don’t even need to put in a lot of time. You can spend
only a few minutes a day, and eventually you will get it all. The more you
put in per day, the faster you’ll get it, but that’s the only difference. It’s
not whether or not you can do it, it’s when you’ll do it.

The method I used, and the one I recommend is this: take a

deck of cards and write in marker on the back of each card, indicating
the number of it in the chosen order. Now, as I said, I use Mnemonica.
But this is when you’re going to have to actually chose which stack you
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want. There are a few popular ones, and you can even invent your own.
For most tricks, the order doesn’t matter, but for some it does. As well
as the fact that you will only be able to communicate with people who
also use your stack.

Regardless, make your decision and write down the

corresponding number of each card on the back of it. From here, take
the first card and say out loud its name and number followed by its
number and name. Then test yourself to see if you remembered it. If you
did, take the next card, and do the same. When you test yourself now,
test yourself for both cards you’ve taken. When simulating dialog, I’ll be
using the cards in my stack, but it should sound like this:

Number one, the four of clubs.

The four of clubs, number one

Now you test yourself. If you’re correct, grab the next card and
say:

Number two, the two of hearts.

The two of hearts, number two

Now, test yourself on both cards, and if you’re correct, grab the
third and repeat. If you’re wrong, review all the cards you’ve done so far
with this same repeating speech.

This is it. This is all there is to do. On my first day, I got the
first seven cards down. Day two, I only got three more. There were some
days I took a break and merely reviewed the cards I already had and
some days I took on five to ten new cards.

All in all, within a single month, I had the stack fully

memorized. Maybe you’ll get through it faster, maybe it’ll take you longer.
 161

But none of that matters. Even if it takes you a whole year, it is

something you will get amazing use out of for decades.

What I want to talk about now is not how to learn, but how to
review. In the beginning, once you’ve learned it will still take time to fully
become permanently cemented in your mind. It will be important to
review it to keep it clean and have fast recall of both card to number and
number to card.

Some people do this by literally reviewing it. They’ll say the

cards in order backwards and forward, or other things like that. And
while this is useful, what I recommend is to combine reviewing your
stack with practicing other things.

For instance, when I practice my cull, I shuffle the deck and

then pass through it, culling every card in the thirties. Then I’ll reshuffle,
and do it again for every card in the twenties. When I practice my
clipshift, I’ll do it with the deck face up and predict what card I expect to
see after I perform the move. You can practice second deals by holding
the deck face up, shuffled, and then deal normally off the top. Any time
you see a card in the teens, do three second deals before actually dealing
the top card and continuing.

The stack can be incorporated into nearly any kind of practice

for anything else you could be doing. And that is how I recommend
practicing. If you sit around repeating numbers and cards, your mind can
fall into a fog. But when you mix it into the rest of your regular practice,
then it gets reviewed and rehashed constantly and at nearly a
subconscious level.

And nothing cements something in your mind like working it in

there subconsciously.

On top of this, practice dead cutting to cards. Just pick a card,

and try to cut to it. As a side effect of this, this works even when not in a
stack. I’m not perfect, but I can cut very close to any number of cards I
want off the deck. This can be good for a straight demonstration of skill.
But also, as a method and tool to use in actual tricks.

Also, it is useful to know how to get into a stack from a

shuffled deck. I’ve heard of a few methods that take a shuffled deck of
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cards and, by performing a certain trick or routine, you end with it in

stack order. I’ve yet to learn one of these myself, however I do have a
way to go from shuffled deck into a half stack that I like.

To do it, simply pass through the cards and cull all of those
from the top half of the deck. It doesn’t matter their order, just so long
as you get all the numbers from one to twenty-six.

Once this has been done, cut the deck perfectly in half and turn
one of the halves upside-down. Shuffle the two halves together while
explaining that you want to turn the deck into chaos, and transition into
“Control in Chaos”. This is a trick that I do not feel I can teach but
should be easy enough to learn for those who search for it. I got if from
the “Mnemonica” book itself, by Juan Tamariz but it is also available
elsewhere.

Although you will obviously have to alter the presentation to

allow yourself to make the first cut and shuffle. From there you can
perform the routine as normal.

In it, for those who don’t know, the deck is cut into various
number of packets by the audience, and those packets are either chosen
to be reversed or not and then shuffled back together, with all of the
decisions being made by the audience.

When all is done, without looking at the deck, you tell them
how many cards are face up, how many are red and/or black, same with
suits, and eventually you outright name all the faceup cards… again,
without ever looking at the cards after the audience controlled everything.

When done for this purpose, I do not name how many cards
are faceup, because having it be cut by me, and also being a perfect 26
feels suspicious to me. So instead, I skip that bit. In fact, I also think that
bringing up the suits, invites naming the cards by suit, which we won’t be
doing, so I skip that too.

In fact, I skip all of it and go right into naming the cards. When
I do, I hold out my hand and tell someone to take any card I name and
give it to me. Now, just call out the cards in stack order and by the time
you finish, you will have the entire half stack in your hand ready to go.
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One thing I like to do after this, (and if you do it, call for the
cards in reverse order) is to faro shuffle this and the other cards together
and then go into “Neither Blind, Nor Stupid”, which is one of the best
effects that uses a half stack.

Alternatively, you can also just slap the organized half of the
cards onto the other and go directly into what I call “Monica 101”,
which is just where someone picks a card and you tell them what it is.

Even with just a half stack is it easy to do this. All you need to
do is ensure they pick from somewhere within the organized bank.

First, have them chose from the center of the top half. When
you cut, to glimpse the face card, this will split the bank. So, for the next
card, have them choose from the top or bottom quarter. After that cut,
toy with the deck to make it all of the bottom half. You can repeat this as
will, shifting the bank from the center, to top, to bottom, to the far edges,
until you have gotten all you can out of it and want to move on.
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Marked Cards

I also want to mention here other ways you can use a marked
deck beyond the classic “pick a card tell you what it is” type trick so
many do. The fact is, that trick is more or less the worst thing you can
use marked cards for, as it invites everyone to examine the cards to see if
that’s how you do it. Anyone whose used a stack to perform this trick
will know just how often people will begin staring at the cards trying to
check to see if they’re marked.

There are many other resources that go far deeper into the uses
of a marked decks, so what I want to do here is merely give you a few
examples of what I like to use a marked deck for.

First and foremost, I like to use them as a safety net. If you

know what someone’s card is, and something goes wrong, it gives you a
way back. For instance, if you know they took the eight of spades, and
you mean to control it to the top with an overhand shuffle, but
accidently drop the block early, and it actually gets mixed in… It’s very
simple to spread the cards on the table and tell them to check to make
sure their card is still in the deck, and not at the very top or bottom, to
prove you haven’t done anything.

While you do this, spot where the eight of spades is, and then
use this knowledge to get it back under your control. This can be as
simple as counting how many from the top or bottom it is and then
closing the spread and passing just a few less or more than that,
depending on if it was near the top of bottom, or even do so as a straight
cut, which I mentioned is an ancillary skill gained when using a stack.

Now, because the deck is marked, it will be easy to fan the

cards while you talk and check how far from the top or bottom it ended
up being, and from there you’re nearly back where you wanted to be
originally.
 165

In fact, this is something I’ve used as a setup for my Open

Palm ACAAN. In full, what I do for that is have them pick a card and
spot it from the marking. I turn away and tell them to look at it and
show everyone else. Then, I hand them the deck and tell them to shuffle
their card into it.

Once they have, I do exactly what I just said a moment ago. I

give them a light mix myself and then spread them face up and ask them
to check that I haven’t done anything. That it’s still in the deck and not
right at the top or bottom and ask if they feel good or if they want to
shuffle again.

If they say they are good, I take the edge of the spread and
close it. As I approach their card, I place my thumb down on the face of
the card infront of it. This creates a small barrier, so that the first half
and the second half both coalesces, but there’s a slight break between the
two, and the top half will be jogged a bit to the side.

Through this, you can get a break directly below your target
card and then perform a pass to bring it to the top of the deck as you set
it down on the table. It can be difficult to get the break exactly perfect,
so it’s good to air on the side of safety, and aiming a couple cards earlier.
That way, while you card won’t end up at the top, it will end up very near
the top. And any competent magician should be able to get the card
under their control from there.

From here, go into the standard Open Palm ACAAN, or do

anything else you want.

Honestly, this is more or less the only thing I use marked cards
for. Either as a safety net, or a way to give up control of a card knowing
I can get it back later. It makes freestyling much easier, and so much
more. Either way, the point of this was to show you a use for a marked
deck beyond what you normally see.
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Wash Shuffle Control

I have seen ways to make use of the wash shuffle before. There
are false shuffles that imitate it. But the way I use it, really lets another
person join you in washing the cards.

It’s pretty simple to do, in truth. I mostly use it as a force, or at

least a set up for one. For that, put the force card at the very top or
bottom of the deck. Then, dripple the cards around in a mess, but keep
track of the force card as you do.

From here, literally just wash the cards, but put one finger on
the back of the force card and drag it with you everywhere your hands go.
To make this convincing, pass the card back and forth between your
hands, and fingers.

Go from left hand thumb, to right hand pointer, to left hand

ring finger, and so on. Once you’re comfortable doing this, you can let
another person join you and as long as they don’t get that card, you’re
fine.

With all the other cards around it, even watching closely, it can
be extremely difficult to follow a single card.

When you’re done, there a a few ways to clean up. The easiest,
is to take the target card and use it as a shovel to scoop up the rest of the
cards and coalesce them together. You can do this face up, or face down,
and it will end up being to top or bottom card, respectively. And once
it’s there, you can proceed to put it anywhere you want, and carry on
from there. I usually leave it at the bottom, and then do my bottom
feeder force. But you can also control a selection to the top and then do
this to simulate losing the card before bringing it to the bottom through
the clean-up process.

I know the idea of doing this face up seems daunting, but it will
instantly have other cards on top of it, covering it up, so it’s much safer
in reality that it seems in your head.
 167

The other way, is to gather all the cards into the center,
bringing them into a pile which you neaten into a proper organized deck.
It’s not too difficult to start by sliding a couple cards under the target
card, and then continuing to do this, sliding cards into each other and
always being sure to ride the target card to the top.

Another thing this is good for, is relocating a lost card. So long

as they don’t know you know their card, if you actually lose it, you can
give the deck a face up wash to locate it, while displaying how openly
you are shuffling the cards and how they can see that it’s still in there,
getting mixed around, but they shouldn’t watch too close, or you’ll
follow their gaze and discover what their card is.

Because it’s face up, you won’t be able to drag their card
around openly. However, once you spot it, you can begin turning cards
face down in clumps. So long as you keep track of which card was theirs,
once you’ve done this, you can give it another quick wash, and then
proceed through the normal method.

From here, you’ve regained control of a lost card under the

guise of showing how you have no control over anything.

To be honest, I have even forced a card by doing this, and then

merely plucking the top card off the deck after the wash shuffle, and
flopping it infront of them and asking them to sign it. This sounds
ridiculous, but if done with the right attitude, and handling, it flows
naturally and feels completely normal.
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Overhand Shuffle Control

One of my favorite ways to control a card is the overhand

shuffle control. It’s a super easy beginner move… but it’s angle proof,
passes close examination by people trying to burn you, and can be
counted to work even when your hands are cold.

About this move, I have a slightly different variation on it I like.

To be honest, it’s less of a variation, and more of a subtlety. However,
I’ve already written the first sentence, I there’s no way to undo that, so
it’ll have to stand.

It’s pretty simple, but I feel it’s worth noting. It’s common to
insert a card into the center of the deck and get a break, then undercut to
the break and shuffle off. This leaves you with the selection at the
bottom of the deck (or the top if you did it face up)

What I like to do, is combine this with the standard technique

for maintaining the bottom card through an overhand shuffle. By
applying light pressure with your fingertips to the card, when you raise
the rest of the deck up, it will remain behind, allowing you to shuffle the
deck onto it, letting it stay at the bottom.

When going to the top, from the center, it’s simply a matter of
getting a break above the card, and then rotating the deck vertical
towards your top hand. This is the standard action to do a normal, face
up, overhand shuffle. When you do this, not only maintain the break, but
stick the pad of your pinky against the back of the card and drag it
downward. Once it’s been separated enough from the rest of the cards
that you can get a good grip on it, use your top hand to take all the cards
in the deck leaving only a very small packet from the front and begin to
perform a fully normal overhand shuffle.

When you pull the deck up, allow the target card to be stripped
out of the deck and become the back card of the packet left behind.

For the face down version of the shuffle, do the same thing,
but injog the card slightly, and then touch your pinky to that, and then
slide inward to get your break and do the same as said from there.
 169

Inserting a card into the middle of the deck, and then

undercutting half the deck always felt inherently suspicious to me.
However, when you insert a card halfway into the deck, and then
undercut 90% of it… that feels very fair. So fair, that I have actually
done this openly, saying things like, “watch how we put your card in the
center of the deck, but cut all of that and more, so we know your card
has to be somewhere in this section…”

And while I don’t normally like to narrate what I’m doing,

sometimes it is good to do.

(Fully exposed, the target card is stripped out of the deck as you pull
down the front few cards to begin the shuffle)
 170

(View from the front: The front few cards are shuffled off, while the
target card is stripped from the center of the deck, placing it at the
bottom, or top if held face out)
 171

One handed False Deal Control

The one-handed bottom deal is many things, but a control, or a

switch is not one I’ve seen it used for by most people. What I do, only
works if you deal stud. While you can obviously do other things, the
extra movement creates suspicion to me.

For example, you show a card, turn it face down, and then
second deal a different card and then do something with that. While that
sort of thing could work, and many magicians do similar things all the
time, especially when talking about doubles, it never sat right for me.

This however, feels very natural and normal. What you do, hold
the deck face up. My usual way is to just present them with a face up
spread of the cards to allow them to make a choice. Once they have, cut
their choice to the face of the deck, and ask if them to confirm. If they
do, execute a one-handed stud bottom or second deal.

Either one works. The important part is that you both have the
card land face down, and also wrist kill as you do it, turning the entire
deck face down. From here, simply plop the deck onto the table, which
fits very naturally with the motions you’ve already used, and then insert
the random card you’ve dealt into the deck, or take it and proceed to do
whatever aim you have.

The way I like to insert the x-card, is to not put the whole deck
on the table, but instead, let the bottom half fall onto the surface, while
you continue to hold the top half in your hand. With your free hand, just
pick up the dealt card, and place it on the bottom half, and then put the
top half on top and carry on from there.

This four-part action of deal, drop, place, drop flows incredibly

smoothly and super casually. It feels like nothing has happened and
you’ve done nothing.

One way or the other, they will think that is their card, while it’s
really at the face of the deck. The one handed, stud, false deal is one of
the most casual, natural looking actions a card handler can make.
 172

Gilbreath Poker

There’s a concept in math that relates to cards. It’s referred to

as the “Gilbreath Principal” In short, this is the fact that if you shuffle
the inverse of a pattern into itself, the elements of the pattern will remain
intact after the shuffle. I won’t be explaining this in detail, but to test it
out, organize a deck into alternating red and black order. Then cut the
deck anywhere you want, so long at the two cards at the face of each
packet are opposite.

Now shuffle the two together via a riffle shuffle. It will only
work with a riffle shuffle, but it will always work. Now, take the top two
cards off the deck, they will be one red and one black. Check the next
two, they will also be a pair of one red and one black. Do this again, with
the suits arraigned Clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds. Then cut the deck
and reverse the order of one of the halves. To simplify this, just count
face down into a single pile, as many as you want. This will reverse the
order of the dealt cards and “cut them” in one action instead of two.

Riffle shuffle the two together and check. Every single group of
four cards will contain one heart, one club, one spade, and one diamond.
They won’t always be in the same order, but there will only be one of
each in each group of four. This also only works when counting groups
from the top. If you spread and pluck a packet of four cards from the
center, it won’t work unless you get lucky.

You can use your imagination on how to use this information,

and do some research to learn more. But what I am going to tell you
now is a way to use it to do something seemingly impossible.

First, set up the deck in advance. What you need to do is create

two banks of cards. One in the order of A, K, Q, J, 10… and the other
being 10, J, Q, K, A. They don’t need to be in this order, just as long as
the two orders are mirror opposites of each other.
 173

Next cut the rest of the deck in half and place each half on top
of each of these banks. Now combine these two halves back together, so
that the bottom of the deck is one bank, and halfway down the deck is
the other bank. All you need to do now is cut the cards exactly under the
central bank, and then after a riffle shuffle, the bottom five cards are
guaranteed to be a straight to the Ace.

You can do this yourself, and openly show an honest cut and
honest shuffle, and then bottom deal as needed. Or make use of one, or
even two, breather crimps, and have a participant cut and shuffle the
cards.

If you don’t want to deal with breather crimps, you can instead
make both banks identical, instead of being mirrors of each other. Then,
put one bank on top and the other at the face. From here, simply tell a
participant to deal cards into a pile under the guise of wanting them to
cut the deck, but making sure they cut exactly where they want with no
way for you to have forced them to cut somewhere that you want them
to. This reverses the order and end with two piles with a bank at the
bottom of each, just like how you’d be if you’d used the crimp method.

All that’s left to do now, is take back the deck and bottom deal
the cards in any presentation you wish.
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The Swiss Army Stack

This is something that I’ve only recently started making use of,
and it will most definitely evolve over time. However, I wanted to share
it with you anyway. It all started when I thought about how many tricks I
do, and like, that require setting up the deck in advance. I use
Mnemonica, and keep a deck ready for Call to Colors as part of my EDC,
but there’s a handful of things I really like, that can’t be done from a
shuffled deck, but also can’t be done from a normal stack.

Then I realized that a lot of the preparation is small, only

putting a few cards in few places, and often those places are different
from each other. I began to wonder, how many of these effects can I put
into the deck at the same time without them breaking each other. This is
the result. To begin:

1 – JC / 2 – AH / 3 – QS / 4 – KD / 5 – 10C / 7 – 7S / 9 – 3C
/ 10 – 5H / 13 – 6C / 14 – 7H / 15 – 5S / 16 – 9D / 17 – 8C /
25 – AC / 27 – AS / 38 – 8H / 39 – 9S / 40 – 5D / 41 -7C / 42
– 6H / 44 – QD / 45 – 4C / 46 – 4H / 47 – 4S / 48 – 4D / 49 –
QC / 52 - AD
All unnamed cards are random, but in CHaSD order. Also, the
hearts specifically are not random, but instead are in their standard order
for Call to Colors, which I don’t feel I can explain. I will say that, from
this set up, you are able to do the entire Call to Colors routine, only
without the final kicker of everything ending up in NDO. However,
because the hearts are properly arraigned, after performing this trick, you
will end up with a bank of hearts, running from King to Ace.

The purpose behind all of this is simple. Obviously, there are

many tricks that begin by putting all of a suit, in order somewhere.
Whether it’s at the top, bottom, or somewhere else is up to you, but by
performing Call to Colors, you can follow up with any of those routines
or tricks you want.

For the 7 and 3 at position seven and nine, you are ready for
my version of cards across.
 175

Obviously, the Straight to the Ace at the top is there for a

poker demonstration. On top of this, if you cut the deck exactly in half,
for the top packet: you will have an Ace at the second from the top, as
well as second from the face. And for the bottom packet: you will have
an ace at the face, and at the top. Great for a “finding the aces” routine.

Also, the entire deck is already in red / black alternation and a

cycling of all four suits, which is the starting point to a great number of
tricks, including many various Gilbreath ideas. And with all the ways to
jump from CHasD to a full red / black separated deck, you have easy
access to all those tricks too.

You’ll also notice two different banks of straights that

run from 5 to 9. They are out of order, but the two orders are mirrors of
each other. This is obviously for the Gilbreath Poker I mentioned earlier.

Some of you may notice the four fours and the Queens in the
40’s. Those are there for a four of a kind effect as well as another effect I
leaned from an Erik Tait video, but I don’t think I can explain it, but I
also don’t think that’s important.

What is important, is that if you want to make use of this

particular stack, you’re more than welcome to. However, I based it
around me, and what I want to have access to. I’d sooner recommend
that you do what I did, and take as many tricks as you can, that require
preparation, and pack them into a single deck. Who knows what you’ll
come up with… Plus, if you ever actually memorize it, then you’ll have
access to the main reason why the majority of people who do stack work,
do it.

I do recommend you make your own though, so it suits you

perfectly. Even this stack that I’ve told you is already different then the
one I use now, but it’s not worth updating, as that one will be changed
again soon enough. The point is, a set stack that is designed not to do
stack work, but instead as a starting point for dozens of different tricks
that require pre-arraignment is very useful.

I know that it sounds like you would have to live in fear of a

spectator seeing the faces of the cards, but if you spread the cards from
hand to hand, it’s amazing how easy it is to clump some cards together
 176

and spread others apart to create an illusion that will pass any inspection
by a normal person.

On top of this, at no point in my entire life, have I ever actually

spread the cards to have a person examine them for no reason other
than to let them see how random they are. This hasn’t come up for me
once, and I don’t think it will. And since this entire stack would get
ruined the second I do more or less anything with it, it won’t matter for
more than the first or second trick, and once you’re past that, it’s just a
normal deck again.
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The Snap Deal / A Multiple Location Routine

I won’t be getting too into the details of my routine. This is one

of those that you make your own with what you like. What I will be
explaining is a small number of my reveals, as well as the actual way I
control the cards in the first place: the snap deal.

This is my go-to multiple control and for those who don’t

know, it’s a way to vanish a card in the act of dealing it. I won’t be
teaching the move itself, but if you want to learn it, look to Lennart
Green, Takumi Takahashi, and Erik Tait.

Using the snap deal to control cards to the top of a deck is

nothing new. The usual way to do this, is simply to ditch the card at the
bottom of the deck instead of lapping it or keeping it hidden in your
hand.

If you deal down cards, snap dealing target cards onto the pile,
and ditch them at the bottom of the deck and continue dealing cards
down, the last cards you deal will be the target cards, and you will be
placing them onto the top of the pile of cards you have dealt.

This is the standard way of using the snap deal to control

multiple cards. However, it is also nearly exclusively used for four cards.
Any more, and you may lose them for real by dealing them down as part
of the second to last packet.

The way I remedy this is to merely injog the bottom card

before I begin. If you do this, the line of separation between the former
bottom card and the ones you want to keep track of becomes easy to see.
Just deal down clumps of cards, snap dealing in between the clumps, and
ditching card after card under the deck. When you get to the injogged
card, merely deal it down as the bottom card of the second to last clump,
and then all the target cards together as the final clump.

The only problem with this is the very first card. Because the
bottom card is injogged, it is possible for you to accidently stick the first
snap dealt card against the second to last card and have it slide above the
bottom card due to the opening. Because of this, for this card, you will
need to curl in your middle finger and press upwards with your knuckle,
 178

pressing the card flush against the deck, eliminating this gap. Once the
first target card has been placed down, this gap will no longer be an issue.

Like this, you can use the snap deal to control any number of
cards without issue. If you are only controlling a few cards, five or six or
so, then it is easy to deal clumps and snap deal cards onto the pile as
usual. However instead of having to deal to the bitter end of the deck to
put down the cards as the final clump… you can simply go into a
running cut, ending by cutting at the injog.

This looks far more natural then dealing all the way through the
cards even though you’ve already supposedly placed the last of their
cards into the mess on the table before you.

Also, if you are only controlling a single card, the popular

method is to cut half the cards onto the table, snap deal onto that half,
and then place down the top half onto that, before capping the deck in
the act of squaring it up.

Instead, what I do is hold the deck in my left hand. With my

right, I reach up and cut half the cards to the table. I then snap deal the
target card onto this. I then reach back up with the card palmed in my
hand and drop the card on top of the deck while taking all the cards out
of my left hand from above with my right. Place this half on top of the
formerly cut half and you’ll be ready to go with no any extra movements.

To actually plant the card on the deck, curl in your pointer

finger, and extend your thumb. Reach for the deck by placing your
thumb along the back short edge, your pointer finger curled up on top,
and the rest of your fingers along the front short end.

If you do this, you will find that the palmed card will line up
perfectly with the top of the deck. In fact, you do not cap the deck, so
much as allow the palmed card to rejoin the others on its own accord.

One little subtly I like to do, to enhance the visuals, is that

when I first cut the top half to the table, I let my left wrist relax, causing
the packet to rotate. The short ends pointing vertically, and the long ends
staying horizontal. Your thumb resting along the upper long edge. When
you come back with the palmed card, undo this rotation, bringing the
deck back to a level orientation. The deck will rise up to both your hand
 179

and the card in it, and is also a natural action that many do without
thought, when cutting a deck to a table from their hand.

As for my multiple location routine, in general, I do not

generally do color changes or “pick a card, here it is” type of tricks.
Because of this, everything I know that is used for that goes exclusively
into this one routine where I use all of them at once. That includes my
“palm generation” and “Five to four” as well as others that I did not
come up with.

There is only one sequence I want to mention here, and I’ll

only do so loosely. First, I reveal one of their cards by pulling it from my
pocket. While talking, I place this face up on the facedown deck before
recollecting it as a double. From here, any color change you want will
produce the next card. After this, place the double back down, putting
the newly revealed card face up, and the previously revealed one face
down. Take the new card and set it aside with the other revealed cards
and then do a double lift, revealing the next card in the order.

Here I say, “The next one’s right here, but that’s too easy” and
I turn the double back down, grab the top card, and stick it into the
middle of the deck. I then immediately turn over the top card, showing it
again and say “So I’ll do it twice”. I try to do this very quickly, saying the
patter as a single unbroken, but calmly spoken, sentence: the first reveal
taking place at the word “here”, sticking the card into the deck at “easy”
and revealing it again at “twice”.

This little sequence isn’t anything truly special, however I want

to mention it because it brings up something I don’t see enough people
doing. Often times, the reveals are disconnected from each other. I think
having interplay between them can be good. Instead of having one reveal
followed by another, you should have one reveal setting up for another.

They don’t all need to be linked together. In fact, that would be

a bad idea, since every time you do this will be with a different number
of cards, and therefore you need to be able to cut from or add to your
routine at will. However, having a few free-floating reveals that you can
pull out when needed, mixed in with short sequences of connected
reveals can elevate this type of routine to something more than the sum
of its parts.
 180

Part 4:

(Theory)

While I know a few things, it would be a lie for me to claim to

be a wealth of knowledge. Having said this, I do feel that what I know is
worthwhile.

To begin, I have found that many magicians will look at magic

as a path to walk. They find the beginning, start there. And then work to
master the first move they find. Once absolutely perfect, they move onto
the second move and put all their effort into mastering that. Then the
third, then the fourth.

This sounds good. However, I’ve found that many will end up
spending hours upon hours mastering sleights and tricks that they’ll
never use. Simply because they believe they need to perfect them before
they’re allowed to continue.

Instead, I would highly suggest to these people, to think about

what they would like to learn, research the various ways to do this, and
then pick the best one and learn it.

For example, I knew I wanted a false shuffle. But which one? I

wanted something that happens in my hands, not on a table. Something
that looks like a normal shuffle, not a series of fancy cuts or flourishes. I
looked around and came across one I liked, and learned that.

This is the one and only false shuffle I did until I decided I
wanted one that works on a table as well. I did some research and chose
the push through.

Where others put in hundreds of hours on one shuffle, just to

abandon it and move to a more advance one. Spend hundreds of hours
on that, and then jump to the next one, at the cost of another set of a
hundred hours or so… I only truly learned two. So, I practiced a fraction
of the time they did, yet am able to perform equal to them.

And when you consider that many magicians learn dozens of

false shuffles, this can add up to multiple thousands of hours worth of
practice, and since they’re abandoning each one the moment they see a
better one, all that time becomes wasted.
 181

And this is just time wasted on sleights you abandon once you
find a better one. This doesn’t even begin to touch on the time spent
learning sleights that you never even use a single time. And it’s one thing
if they simply like learning and practicing and don’t care for the
functionality. Or even if they want the versatility that comes with
knowing a wide range of different methods.

But there’s many people who actually seem to think that they
have to learn everything in a specific order. Even if they don’t like it or
want to. They think part of being a good magician is learning sleight
number one to perfection before they’re allowed to learn sleight number
two, and so on down the line until they actually are finally allowed to
learn something they want.

It’s good to read the starter books, but don’t worry about
having to master the first page before you can move on to the second.
You don’t need to perfect a sleight you will never use in order to be
given permission to learn a second one. And you don’t have to master a
second one in order to gain permission to learn a third.

It is far more efficient, useful, and (to me) fulfilling to only

learn that which you will continue to use. Even multiple methods to
achieve the same goal are perfectly fine. Personally, I have over half a
dozen different passes that I use. However, each one offers something
useful that the others do not. Some are supremely clean to one person,
but easily exposed to a group. Some are better for one atmosphere or
another, and some just simply work better with one form of misdirection
than another and you choose which based on that.

Each one has something about it that makes it useful to know.

It’s not just a more advance version that I learned to have a better pass.
It’s a different tool I wanted access to in order to expand the number of
situations I am equipped to respond in.

This same thought should be applied to all that you learn. It

should be sufficiently useful that you will continue to employ it as you
improve, and not leave it behind as a “beginner move that you no longer
need”.

Everything you learn should either allow you to do something

new that you couldn’t previously. Or, do something that you already can,
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but in an alternative way that allows you more flexibility of choice. Not a
“new and improved” way to achieve the goal, but an alternate way to
achieve the goal. And when the circumstances are one way, you use one
method, but under different circumstances you have a different method.

So before learning something, take a moment to find out more

about it and what else is available. You may find three different
variations and so happens that the third is much better. If so, learn that
version first.

Though this, you streamline your skills. Where others spend

1000 hours on 10 sleights only to abandon seven, you spend those 1000
hours on 3. And through that extra practice, become more skilled in the
same amount of time.

Obviously, in order to make these determinations, you need to

have some basis of knowledge to pull from. So, if you actually are at the
start of your magic journey, then start at page one and go from there.
The main point of this is simply that it’s okay to not master everything
you touch. It’s okay to just read or only lightly practice, just to help
understand the principle, and then move on without having perfected it.

Secondly, you should have some concept of what you want to

do. I mean this in terms of style. For me, I knew from the beginning that
my style would be casual. No flourishes, nothing fancy, no showing off.
Therefore, every step along the way, if I came across something that
didn’t suit that, then I didn’t waste time learning it. I would read about
them for the knowledge, and then move on.

Think about your style, your persona… Focus on learning

things that work with it and don’t bother with things that don’t. There is
far too much out there to learn everything. It’s simply not possible. And
every second you spend practicing one move is a second you spend not
practicing another.

Your time is valuable. Spend it wisely on things that would

improve yourself, and don’t be afraid to leap right into the difficult stuff.

The first move I ever learned was the DPS. There’s no place
you HAVE to start from. Just so long as you’re not stumbling around,
learning and abandoning sleights at random. Everything you learn should
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be something that you’re at least fairly confident you’ll use for a long
time.

My next piece of advice is simple:

Relax

I’ve come to learn that the majority of the time that someone is
failing to execute one sleight or another, the problem is that they need to
relax. And not emotionally, although that is good too, but literally,
physically relax.

Whether you’re trying to do a strip out false shuffle, but the

cards just won’t slide out of the deck, or you’re trying to second deal, but
you constantly push over far more than just the one extra card. Your
doubles split, your spreads and fans are clumpy, your palms are glaringly
obvious, or the cards simply seem to argue with you while you try to
control them…

Simply relaxing your grip, lightening your touch, easing up on

the pressure… Nothing more than this can massively improve all aspects
of your card handling.

The biggest breakthrough I ever had on improving my pass was

when I attempted to do it with as little pressure as possible. The fact of
the matter is, your fingers are controlled by muscles. To extend your
fingers, you flex your muscles one way. To contract them, you use your
muscles in the other.

Because of this, when you flex and apply pressure to the deck,
your muscles have to fight against that pressure to perform the move.
But if you relax, applying no pressure, just loosely holding the cards.
Then when you execute the move, there is nothing to fight against.
Because of this, 100% of your power goes into it. Nothing is lost fighting
to counter the pressure of your preparation to do the move.

Despite this, I see beginner magician after beginner magician,

tense up, squeezing the deck in preparation for their pass. Almost if
they’re trying to “charge up” their power to fling the packet.
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From pass, to clip shift, to false deals and shuffles, to anything

else… relax… use a light touch. You’ll find that your speed increases, the
cards respond better, and everything just flows smoother.

If you are struggling with something, try to do it with as little

force as possible and see what happens.

On the subject of relaxing, I now want to shift to other form of

relaxation. Calmness, smoothness, deliberateness. To put it frankly, I’ve
been busted a thousand times more for poor timing than poor skill. And
that’s not because I’m so highly skilled.

One time, I was palming card in my hand. I felt overly exposed

and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. In a moment of poor
judgment, I tried to ditch it when I thought they were distracted.
Immediately, I was caught. They didn’t catch me palming. I didn’t flash
or fail, or anything else. I misjudged the timing of when to ditch. If I had
just held onto the card longer, it would have gone perfectly.

And this is one of the main things I’ve come to learn. Don’t
rush, don’t panic. If you’re ever worried about being caught, just
remember… that means you haven’t been caught yet, and therefore are
still safe.

Nothing ensures being caught like rushing to not get caught.

Hence the famous phrase, “Don’t run if you’re not being chased” This
might be fairly standard advice, but still, it bears repeating often.

Next, I want to talk a little about getting out and performing

for people, even if you don’t feel you’re ready. There are many people
who are highly skilled, but still feel they are unready to go out before an
audience and use their skills.

Whether it’s a fear of performing at all, or related to just a

single trick that they feel they’re not ready to do yet… the fact of the
matter is, you will never be good enough to fool yourself. You need to
see your tricks through the eyes of the audience. And to do that, you
need to perform for an audience and look them in the eyes while you do.

Not only am I willing to do things I haven’t mastered, I will

actually learn something in the morning and perform it that night. Now,
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I didn’t do that with this, but the first time I ever used the Roadrunner
Cull (Kostya Kimlat) on someone, I opened with “Here’s something I’m
practicing now. I can’t do it yet, but it’s a really cool move that will be
awesome once I get it down.” And then I proceeded to use the cull to
perform his famous Triumph.

And the spectator was shocked. They had no clue what I did. I
was just showing someone the new thing I was trying to learn. I didn’t
suspect for a second that they wouldn’t see what I was doing, but it
completely worked.

Even now, I feel far from confident in my Roadrunner Cull. I

don’t think it’s very good, and I feel it’s obvious what I’m doing.
However, I have used it in performance who knows how many times
now, and each time, it went perfectly.

I’ll be in my head, thinking “Oh God, this is horrible. I’m

flashing so bad, it’s clear what I’m doing” but it’s not.

If I was practicing the move in private, waiting to be good

enough, I would never think I was ready. But after doing it under the
noses of others, I know I am. You are not going to fool yourself. Ever.
It’s important to get out and perform what you’re learning.

Obviously, you should never do this for a paying audience, or

in an important situation, but it’s necessary to develop an understanding
of how things look, not through your own eyes, but those of the people
watching you. Even if it’s just a single trick for a single person… There is
much to be gained.

So, if you’re out and about and have a chance to perform…

maybe try that thing you’re working on but don’t think is ready.

Beyond this, other vital skills can be learned as well: crowd

control, misdirection, patter, learning how to make people do what you
want, and risk taking.

For example, one time, at a bar, I did a card to impossible

location. What I actually did was stand with my back up against the bar,
facing the participant.
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They picked a card; I palmed it out of the deck as I gave it to

them to shuffle. As they did, I simply placed the card on the bar behind
me.

By just standing there, I was blocking their view of it. Then, I

took the cards back from them in a way that made them look down. At
the same time, I moved to their side, and they turned to follow me. Now
they are not looking towards the card. I proceeded to give the cards a
light shuffle and “feel” them, all while slowly rotating around the person,
causing them to turn their back fully to the bar, now standing between it
and me.

When they finally turned and saw their card on the bar, it was
miraculous. In their mind, I had always been far from the bar, unable to
get to it because they were between me and it. Truly this was an
impossible location.

This may seem simple, and it is, but just knowing how to
control a person like this, make them look were you want them to look,
stand where you want them to stand, and do what you want them to do,
and forget what you want them to forget… These are skills that need to
be learned. And they can only be learned by doing it.

Even if you don’t feel you’re ready, go out and perform for
people. Simply me, sitting at a bar, with a deck of cards besides my drink,
has often led to “Why do you have a deck of cards?” “I like to mess
around with them as a hobby.” “What, like a magician or something?”
“Sort of yeah. But it’s just a hobby, I’m not a magician.” “Can you show
me something?” “Yeah, sure.”

I’ve had nearly that same conversation many times over. You
don’t need to run up to strangers in the street shouting, “Hey, you wanna
see a card trick?!” Just existing in the world, with your cards in plain sight
will be enough to occasionally perform. And when you’re called upon,
you can do just do one trick and call it a day. Or you can bang out one
after another.

The point is this, putting in work in front of others isn’t what

you’re practicing to do. It’s part of the practice itself. On all fronts,
nothing will increase the speed at which you learn and improve as well as
performing your skills for others.
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And honestly, the worst thing that can happen is you mess up,
or get caught, or heckled. And believe me, handling those things are
things you need to practice too.

And for all three of these, the main solution is, once again, relax.
Stay calm. My first time messing up, I was attempting a turnover pass
and I just straight up dropped the deck.

My response was to laugh, and exclaim, “Welp, let’s try that

again!” And then I quickly gathered the cards, had them pick a new
selection, and then did the exact same trick again, and this time, I did it
right.

And they all responded well. My fumbling the cards didn’t drive
them away or get me insulted or anything else. And this is how it’s been
every time I’ve messed up. I laugh it off and keep going.

About being heckled… again, just relax. The fact is, magic is
supposed to be fun. So have fun with it. It doesn’t happen often, and
when it does, 99% of the time, it’s less out of an attempt to ruin you, and
more just them not understanding how magic works.

On time, I was performing for a group who were friends with

each other. I had one select a card and look at it. I asked him to give it to
me so I could put it back in the deck, but he refused and instead told me
to give him the deck so he can put it in himself.

Obviously, this would make my trick impossible, so I gave him

the deck. He put it in, shuffled, and then handed it back to me. But I
didn’t take it. Instead, I just look at the deck in his outstretched hand and
asked what he wanted me to do with it. He responded, “Do the trick.
Find my card.” “How?” “What do you mean, how? I don’t know, you’re
the magician.” I just looked at him… “You know magic isn’t real, right?”

The rest of his friends burst out laughing and I could see that
the situation was dawning on him. I took the deck back and began to do
a blatantly different trick from the beginning (to drill in “you ruined that,
so now you don’t get to see it, but it’s not the end of everything) and he
didn’t try that kind of thing again.
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Many magicians forget this, but the fact is: when you don’t
know what IS possible, then you also don’t know what ISN’T possible.
He had no idea he was ruining my trick. He thought he was adding a
challenge, making it better. More impressive. It would have absolutely
blown his mind if I had found his card and that’s exactly what he wanted
to happen. He just didn’t know it wasn’t realistically possible.

His lack of understanding of sleight of hand, lead him to this.

When you think someone can do anything, then you don’t know what
they can’t do. He wasn’t trying to ruin me. He was trying to add to the
show.

And this is precisely why you should learn to play jazz. What I
mean by this is, learn to think and move on the fly. Don’t just memorize
a series of actions. Learn moves and work with them in a freestyle series,
making things up as you go.

For instance, instead of calling him out like I did, I could have
asked him what his card was, to guarantee he can’t lie to everyone when
I found it. Then, I could have just made use of my index and carried on
from there. However, this also could have backfired, as it would
encourage his behavior.

I chose to shut him down. But, because I play jazz, I could have
kept on performing without a hitch, and it would have been even wilder
because of it.

I’m in no way suggesting you don’t learn set tricks with plots
and a series of required moves to accomplish them. But I also think it’s
important to be able to go off the rails and work in the moment. Spend
time just controlling cards around. Creating and separating doubles,
palming, sneaking cards into places they shouldn’t be, misdirection.
Because I was in a position where I could choose to shut him down, I
did. But you may not always be in such a position.

Also, perform like this occasionally. Just have someone pick a

card, with no clue what you’re gonna do with it once they do… Force
yourself to think on your feet and use the tools at your disposal. This is
an indispensable skill. And while sitting around and improvising for an
imaginary audience in your room by yourself may help you organize your
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thoughts; it pales in comparison to what you learn from putting on a real

show and making it up as you find a groove and flow through it.

I’ll include here, that truly the greatest thing you can learn are
switches. Whether it’s a muck, or a way to form a double and then
another way to strip the original card away… Learn as many methods for
this as you can. There is very little that can’t be replaced or recreated by
enough switches in the right places. They can be used for controls,
transportations, ACAANs, forces, getting one step ahead, etc… If you
have enough variety of switches at your disposal, there is very little that
you can’t do on the fly.

I also want to follow this with a quick story about my favorite

“jazz magic” moment that I’ve ever had. I think it serves as good
example. It took place just after I had done some kind of “reversed card
in a deck” trick. I don’t remember which one, it may have been a
triumph, it could have been anything. But that is irrelevant. What’s
important is that there were two selected cards from two chosen people.
I revealed the two and the first person declared one of them as their card.
The other looked at it and said, “That’s not my card. I picked the 9 of
clubs, but that’s the 10. It’s not my card.”

Now, instantly, I was fully confident that I had not made a

mistake. I didn’t know if he was intentionally lying, or just
misremembered, but I knew I hadn’t messed up. This was his card.
However, I didn’t argue. I made a joke about how I was close, and then
handed him the deck and asked him to give them a shuffle while
thinking about his card.

As he did, I went to my index and got the 9 of clubs. I stuck it

to the bottom of the deck as I took it back from him, passed it to the
middle as I turned it over and revealed.

He looked directly at it and said, “I had the 9 of spades, not

clubs. That’s not my card.” It was at this point I turned to the rest of the
audience and said to them, not him, “You had the nine of spades, huh?”
and he responded, “Yeah, I had the nine of spades.”

This is where I decided to go off a little bit. I gave him the deck
again and told him to shuffle and think about his card again, because I
really want do this trick for him. As he did, I went back to my index and
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got the 7, 8, and 10 of spades and, just like before, slapped them on the
bottom, passed them into the middle and then gave the deck a shuffle to
break them up.

I spread and revealed, and lamented how hard it is to find the 9

of spades, but dammit, I’m getting so close. I put the deck down and
acted exasperated and while doing so, went back to my index and got the
9 of spades. I planted in on top of the deck as I picked it back up, and
then began a version of “Cloning Machine”. I commented about how
strange it was that I couldn’t find the 9 of spades because this deck
actually has way too many 9 of spades in it. I turned over the top card
and told them how there’s one here, then I found one in the middle,
then the bottom, then back on top, then I turned the deck face up and
spread through it, culling and re-inserting it as often as I could, saying I
have one here, here, another one here, here’s two! (I had found the one
already in the deck at that point and began making use of both of them
to exacerbate the situation).

I continued running through and around the deck finding and

showing 9 of spades after 9 of spades all while talking about how wild it
was that I just couldn’t find a 9 of spades when it mattered: during the
trick.

When all of it was combined together, taking a regular trick that

I’m comfortable with, presenting it spontaneously with off the cuff
patter, that combines the act of failing to find a card followed by finding
way too many of them…

This was a perfect jazz magic scenario. I was never out of my

comfort zone, I was flying off the cuff, I took a problem and not only
solved it, but turned it into a full routine, all while calling out and
mocking someone who had tried to ruin my show, but doing so in a way
that was comedic and not directly aggressive towards them, aggravating
them further.

The next thing I want to say is, “Don’t abandon old tricks just
because they’re basic. I used to be able to kill for half an hour straight by
improvising with nothing but key cards, double lifts, DPS, and a pass.
Once I started learning “better” sleights and more complex tricks, in my
want to give the best show I could, I would only want to use my newest
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and best stuff. I would feel like if I did my older material, I was being
lazy, or not caring. But the fact is, while it may be simpler or less
complex or technically less difficult, it still got great reactions. Not
performing both a new ACAAN and an old ACAAN is a good idea. But
not performing a keycard-based mentalism routine because you know
Mnemonica is insane. Especially if your stack has been ruined already.

There’s a ton of cool stuff that people love that could be done
with them. But once you get past the basics, it’s very easy to look at
keycards or any early technique and think… “Really? That basic beginner
shit? I’m trying to put on a real show here…” But the fact of the matter
is, if you’re performing for the same people again and again, then yes,
you probably shouldn’t show them the same tricks over and over again.
But if you’re performing for a new person, who’s never seen your old
material, they will react to it with the same energy that the first people
you ever showed it to did.

I know for sure that I had this problem. In fact, as I sit here,
rewriting and editing this section again, I realize I still do. The moment I
learned more complex stuff, I felt compelled to use it. I would look at
my other material and disregard it to the point of thinking I was out of
material despite never using it. It was very easy for me to forget that that
original stuff really got strong reactions. Once I had better techniques
and better tricks, I stopped using my other stuff. However, it’s important
that, when you’re building a library, to not just perform your newest
thing.

And a lot of my tricks weren’t even similar. I actually stopped

doing my “reversed card in a deck” because I had an ACAAN and I
considered that to be a better trick.

A library is just that: a library. A collection of stuff to be shown.

A catalog of stuff to be pulled from at will. It’s not the newest things. It’s
all the things. And if you’re building a library, well, everything in it will
age, and it will age quickly. But that’s not a problem. That’s a natural part
of building a library.

I realized that I need to not purely rely on my newest or most

technically advanced things, but on what gets the best reactions. And if it
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gets a good reaction, it good. So, you have to remember not to dismiss
things just because they might appear basic.

You may know that it’s “basic”, but that doesn’t detract from
how THEY feel about it. And the fact of the matter is that I went from
being able to perform for half an hour with three sleights and a good
attitude, to only managing five minutes with twenty. I would show them
my best stuff, and then think, “Well, I’m out of stuff, I guess.” When I
had mounds of material that I just didn’t even consider because… well, it
wasn’t as advanced as what I had already done. And I didn’t want to let
them down with “lesser” material. But the truth is, it still gets great
reactions. And if it gets a great reaction, then it gets a great reaction.
Don’t just let it fall to the wayside. Build a library, not a display case.

And to say it outright, if Shin Lim can go out on national

television and perform a self-working card trick, then the rest of us can
maybe not do only our most intense stuff.

Another thing I think is good to say is that, if your misdirection

is good enough, you don’t even need sleight of hand. Just yesterday, I did
my “Open Palm ACAAN” for someone, but instead of doing a clipshift,
I just straight up took the card off the bottom with my other hand and
placed it on top of the deck. And it fully worked, because while I did that,
my participant was fully misdirected. In her head, she felt like I never did
a thing. She saw the cards in my open palm, glanced up to look my in the
eyes while we spoke, and then looked back down and saw the final reveal.

The fact of the matter is, the difference between the world’s
greatest sleight of hand artist and me, to someone who didn’t see what I
did… is nothing. If they didn’t see it, they didn’t see it. Whether that’s
because your techniques are so perfect or because they yawned and
didn’t notice that you moved while they did.

Many people spend hour after hour perfecting their sleight of

hand, but when it comes to their misdirection, they don’t put in the same
level of study or thought.

Misdirection is not some additional extra that you sprinkle onto

your trick to cover up the dirty bits. It IS part of the trick. Misdirection,
audience control, participant management, stage presence, performance
style… It’s all different aspects of the same thing.
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It should be interwoven into the trick itself and simultaneously,

you should be able to go with the flow in the moment to use what’s
happening around you. And at the very least, it should be something you
that internationally practice and work on. Because, again, the difference
between a perfectly executed palm and ditch, and just blatantly taking the
card out and jamming it in your pocket, to someone who didn’t see what
you did… is nothing.

And while I’m not suggesting that you try to do something that
extreme, I am saying that you should consider actually spending time
practicing misdirection as its own skillset that needs to be grown.

I also want to take a moment to talk about audience

participation. We all know that that audience participation can be a great
way to increase engagement. However, people often treat “participation”
as “You shuffle the cards” or “Hold this”, but participation can be far
more involved than that. As an example, one thing I like to do when
performing for a group of friends, is that I will do key card trick. A
simple one. The simplest one. I will peak for my key, have them cut to a
card and then I’ll spread the deck face up and “read their mind” to
discern their card. I’ll explain it as “the cards speak to me”.

I will flash the bottom card at one of the audience members

while I say this, then I’ll do the trick again and again explain that it works
because the cards speak to me. While I do this, I will flash the new
bottom card at the same person and say that “anyone could do this. All
you need to do is listen to the cards.” Then, I will look directly to my
chosen person and ask them, still while flashing the bottom card at them,
“Can you hear what the cards are telling you?”.

Generally, you can tell if they picked up on your message. Then,

once they do, you do most of the rest. You place the cards down, have
their friend cut, choose a card, and then you spread the deck face up and
let your audience member “divine” it.

More often than not, not only will they do the trick, but they
will ham it up and really “put on a show”. I’ve had people grab their
foreheads and become faint as the spirit of the cards invades their mind,
or other equally wacky things. They truly enjoy getting to be the magician.
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Especially because their friends know with certainty that they don’t know
any magic, which leaves them completely shocked.

You, a magician, doing a trick is expected. But their friend…

they can’t possibly do magic. They really have no clue what just
happened and their friend loves it. Sometimes they admit how they did it,
sometimes they don’t. But either way, they always have a lot of fun. Even
when they give it away, on more than one occasion, I’ve had groups of
friends literally just do this trick to each other back-to-back, all while all
of them know how it works, but still all wanting a turn to “be the
magician”.

Letting them have a turn at being center stage and giving

friends a chance to just mess around with their friends seriously
enhances the atmosphere and doing this has been some of the most fun
I’ve had performing for people.

And I already know that some people are going to

instantaneously shut down this idea for “giving away magic secretes”, but
I sincerely feel that this is so basic that it doesn’t matter. The fact of the
matter is, because they don’t think like magicians, even exposing it means
nothing. They don’t see it a “tool” that could be used in a variety of
applications. They see it as the specific method for that specific trick.
I’ve exposed it and then immediately used it for my next trick and they
had no clue what I did.

Obviously, this is something you should only do when

performing for a group of friends who know each other. With individual
strangers, it could still work, however, the main punch of it is that it’s
one friend messing with another. It’s their familiarity with each other
that makes it so impactful. Without that, it’s just “another magician”.
Even if it’s not, it is. But when it’s their friend… Well, that’s their friend.

Another example of exposing, but correctly, is a story I like to

tell. One time, at a bar again, I did cloning machine for a group of people,
and then I finished, I was left with the deck sitting face down on the bar,
and their selection face up next to it, havening been placed there after
pulling it from an impossible location.
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One of the guys reached over and took the top card off the
deck and put in on the table next to the selection and jokingly asked if
“If I turned this over, would this be that card too?”

As a response, I held up one finger to tell them to wait, and

then took their selection and openly placed into classic palm and then
reached over and MacMillan switched it for the card they had set down.

I then took the deck with my other hand and passed it to my

right, adding the palmed x-card to it, and then set that aside while they
stared at the card I had seemingly turned over to reveal their own
selection.

They looked from the card to my empty hands and then back at
the card, absolutely shaken. Even though I blatantly and openly palmed
their card, letting them see me place it in my hand… the sheer act of
watching my switch the card and not knowing what happed to the card
they’d actually placed down or how I did that… their jaws dropped and
their reaction was stronger than it had been for the trick itself.

I had fully exposed that I switched the cards. But that didn’t
matter. They knew magic wasn’t real, and that I had been using sleight of
hand. When you see magic and know it’s sleight of hand, you can still
enjoy it. But when you show someone sleight of hand, and make it
appear as magic… you can destroy people.

On the topic of micro-tricks, I think they are seriously

underused. By micro-trick, what I mean is: small little tricks within or
around larger tricks. Very small, quick tricks that are absolutely ancillary
to the actual trick itself. The go to example of this that you see often is
when a magician appears a pen and offering it to be used to sign a card.
But there is so much more that can be done. Even the act of picking a
card itself can be a micro-trick. My “In Your Face” works well here. But
also, instead of asking them to pick a card, you ask them to name one.
Then you casually search through the deck to find it. While doing this,
just cull it out and palm it and then exclaim that your deck seems to be
missing that card, but it’s okay because you always keep a backup in your
pocket and then just pull their chosen card from your pocket and then
continue on with the trick as you would have had then just taken the
card like normal.
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Whatever it is you chose to do, the point is, there’s far more
room in your tricks than you may think. It’s not just one thing you’re
doing. Even a single trick can have extra moments snuck into it. And
while a quick trick that flies by in a few second may feel inconsequential,
they add up to create the atmosphere in which you work. And often, it’s
the atmosphere they’ll remember more than any individual trick.

There’s also something I’m going to call “independent practice”

that I want to talk about. What I mean by this, often, magicians will
advise others to not just practice sleights, but to practice the entire
routine, including dialog and ancillary actions. This is definitely
important, but it can also have a downside. When you practice that
tightly, everything becomes linked together.

In the world of actors, there is a known phenomenon. What

happens is that the actor will memorize and practice the scene a specific
way, the words coming out of their mouth, the actions they take, the
emotions they express, all of it connected together. However, they are so
connected, that when the director tells them to adjust some aspect of
their performance, they suddenly can’t remember their lines. Their whole
mind just goes completely blank.

The reason is the very fact that they are all linked. And when
one thing goes away, they all go away with it. The downside of it all
being one, is that it’s all one.

This same effect takes place when you have everything down
perfect but, something happens that causes you to have to adjust, either
mid-routine, or just before. This small change can unravel into you
completely blanking out on what to do, what comes next, or even where
in the routine or performance you are.

The way that actors counter this problem is by memorizing

their dialog separately from their actions and emotions. They detach it
completely. They can say it without emotion. They can say it quick or
slow. Sadly, or happily. They can say it while sitting, standing, walking,
laying down. And because of this, no matter what the director tells them
to do, it won’t cause a break in their flow during the performance
because all the different elements are not one and the same.
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A magical performance is identical. It’s extremely important to

practice the whole routine and become accustomed to it in full. But you
should also separate it into its different elements and practice each
individually. You should practice without the dialog at all. You should
practice only the dialog. You should practice it while walking, while
sitting, while standing, in your hands, and on a table. You should practice
it without the sleights, merely moving as you would if you actually were
magical and going through the performance that way.

By disconnecting each individual aspect of it, you prevent a

small change in any one thing from affecting the other aspects of it. And
through this, you become better equipped to handle any situation that
may arise during your performance.

I also want to say: practice while reading. What I mean by that

is not, “read the instructions for the trick as you practice it” I literally
mean, read. Read a story. Read a poem. Read anything you want. Just
read while you practice. Not when you are actively trying to learn a new
sleight, but once you get to the point where you are no longer learning
how to do something, but are instead simply working to hone your skill
at it. Even now, as I re-write this section, I am performing push-through
shuffle after push-through shuffle. Doing something as mentally intense
as reading while you perform and re-perform deeply sets it into your
subconscious. If you focus too much on the moves, you’ll stop being
able to read. Cold and simple.

You’ll find yourself having to stop and go back, re-reading the

same couple paragraphs again and again. It’s not possible to read, while
focusing too much on something else. It steals your senses, forcing you
to perform your sleights with the same brain power that you use to
breathe.

This is the best way I know force something to become second

nature. You want to be able to perform while you speak. While you tell
jokes and engage with other people. While you scan your surroundings,
read body language, plan your next move, discern and solve problems
before they steamroll into large issues, just remember facts: like what the
key card was, or some other important detail you need to keep in
mind…
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You need to have your technical abilities so well polished that

they take place without thought. Reading steals your thoughts from your
hands. Either the moves happen as second nature, or you stop reading.

Prop up a book, set your computer to auto-scroll, whatever you

want. But if you pick something, sit down, and read while you burn
through it again and again, you’ll find yourself truly absorbing the move
into your being.

And while I may not have a lot to say on the subject of magic, I
hope that this short book gives at least a few ideas to a few people.

Thank you for taking the time to read it.

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