A LAUGHING STACK

I am rather proud of this effect. I have created many effects over the years, but they
always end up being published or given to other magicians. This one makes me proud
because it demonstrates what I can achieve when I reach the peak of my creativity. It is
an effect I use regularly and never fails to impress magicians and laymen alike.

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

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

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

The second key is to bring their selected four of a kind to the top of the deck. There are
two ways to achieve this. Trust me, this is easier than you think. If the Aces are selected,
you’re golden, since they are already on top. If the 2s, 3s, or 4s are selected, let’s say
they select the 3s, with the deck face-down in the left hand dealing grip, you spread over
the first eight cards (the Aces and the 2s) as you explain that you are going to attempt to
find their four of a kind without looking at the cards. Close up the spread, and get a
break between the 2s and the 3s. Take over the break with your right thumb from behind
and double cut the 3s to the top of the deck.

If a higher number is picked (5s to Kings), your actions and patter will change. Let’s say
they call out the 7s. First of all, because of the sequential order of the stack in the deck, if
they call out the 7s, you will instantly know they are approximately near the middle of
the deck. If they pick the 10s or Jacks, you know they are near the bottom of the deck.
This knowledge is important, and will greatly facilitate the following actions.
So, they have called out the 7s. I say, “I am going to attempt to find your four of a kind
using magic.” As I begin this sentence, I turn the deck so only I can see the faces. The
point is to locate their four of a kind and get a break under it. This is where the
sequential stack of the deck comes in handy. If they call out the 7s and you know they
are near the centre of the deck, then you can turn the deck, faces towards you and just
spread immediately to near the centre of the deck to locate their four a kind and get a
break below it. This should only take you three seconds, four, tops! The reason for this
is, even if they credit you with supernatural skill, there is no way, no matter how good
you are, that you can simply spread the cards and close the spread and instantly control
their four of kind. I perform this sequence with a devilish grin. This never fails to get a
laugh. As far as they’re concerned, this is just a joke. As you close up the spread, smile
and say “I knew you guys wouldn’t fall for that. I’m gonna do it without cheating.” You
can think of something really clever to say here. They have picked the 7s. The deck
should still be face-up and squared in the left hand dealing grip with a left pinky finger
break between the 6s and the 7s. Simply double cut the deck, turn it face-down and the
7s will now be on top. Don’t worry about them seeing the cards on the face of the deck
as you cut, because they will be different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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