repertoire

repertoire

written by
asi wind
with
john lovick

artwork by
asi wind

layout by
stina henslee
Copyright© 2018 by Asi Wind. All rights reserved. No portion of the book
or any of its contents may be reproduced by any means now known or to be
invented without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9892317-4-9

654321
 contents

foreword vii

preface ix

time is money 1
a.w.a.c.a.a.n. 17
out of the blue 31
true colors 37
somebody stop me 45
s.a.c.a.a.n. 51
a coin trick 57
double exposure 63
catch 23 73
the trick that never ends 81
torn, marked,
stabbed, crumpled,
burned & restored page 87
make no mistake 97
crossing over 103
reverse engineer 109
supervision 113
folded under pressure 121
lazy seconds force 125
not-so-straight triumph 129
s.c.a.a.n. 137
lucky 13 143
echo 149
afterword 155
 foreword

y favorite magician is Asi Wind. Every night during my first live tour I

M introduced Asi to the audience with those words. And I stand by that as I
introduce this amazing collection of ideas to you.
When we first met, Asi showed me his take on ''Any Card at Any Number". In this
one trick alone, I could see that he was someone who thinks and cares deeply about
every aspect and detail of his magic. There were no moves or unnecessary procedures. I
named a card and a number, and when I counted down, my card was right there. It was
real magic. That trick instantly became a favorite of mine. Over the years Asi became a
mentor, a confidant, and a dear friend.
There's a part of me that wishes this book wouldn't be released, because I use several of
these routines myself. However, I genuinely believe that anything that elevates the art of
magic benefits us all. Now, with the publication of this book, you will be able to bring
this magic, in your own way, to your audiences as well.
Asi's love of magic fuels his belief that this art form should never be sold short. His
knowledge and appreciation of magic has led him to a repertoire that is certain to have
any crowd screaming, sometimes crying, and always inspired. I know that this book will
change us and make us better in every way that we could wish for.

David Blaine
April4, 2018

repertoire v11
 preface

he first time I made someone say, "Wow!" was not with a card trick, but rather

T with something I drew. My mom was so proud of her nine-year-old son's

drawing that she hung it on our fridge. My interest in creating art came to
- end shortly after that first exhibition in our kitchen. Yet for some reason, art again
::-· .ued my curiosity in my late twenties, and I wanted to try watercolors, so I turned to
--e world's most unreliable source of information and watched hundreds of YouTube
~ps of housewives giving tutorials in their kitchens. I learned every possible trick with
ercolors, from creating texture by pouring salt onto wet paint to using Mr. Clean to
.emove pigment from paper.
Oecame obsessed with art. Besides watching hours of tutorials online, I read artists'
4Umbiographies, how-to books, and attended courses at the School of Visual Arts. As
i:J.uch as I loved painting, I sucked at it. I found watercolor to be a disobedient medium.
couldn't get the pigments to do what I wanted and got frustrated with every attempt.
To save myself embarrassment, I painted when nobody else was at home, because my
::r.umings revealed the fact that I was an amateur artist. I realized that I didn't want to
;,e an amateur, I wanted to be a pro; terms like novice, hobbyist, beginner, and amateur
aave an undeserved shameful connotation.
a magician I was never a beginner. I became a pro as soon as I was able to make a
.irrle red hanky disappear-it took me a few minutes to learn, and I was able to fool my

repertoire 1x
 dad that same day. I knew he was genuinely fooled and wasn't just playing the role of
supportive father. He asked me to do it again and again and even prompted me to show
it to his friends. I became my dad's hero.
It wasn't until many years later that I realized I had been a stupid, pompous kid; I
thought I was a hot shot, but in reality, I was just a beginner. I was simply a kid who had
purchased a clever gimmick invented by a great magician, and I was taking for myself
all the credit that he deserved. I didn't bother with scripting, building my character, or
routining my tricks. I thought ifi could make a little hanky disappear and fool my dad,
I was a magician. Looking back, my dad wasn't the only one being fooled- ! was the
real sucker.
It doesn't take much to fool people and appear as if you are a pro when you use devious
gimmicks and self-working tricks. Maybe because it's quite easy to pull off a trick, we
sometimes skip the critical step of embracing the fact that we start as beginners.
When people ask me if I am a painter I usually respond, "I paint." I feel like I haven't
earned the title "painter" and that I have many more years to explore painting until I
can consider myself a painter. With magic, I printed my first business card a few weeks
into it. My struggles with painting remind me that allowing myself to be a beginner, a
student, keeps the door open to learning more, because the moment you think you've
mastered something is the same moment you prevent yourself from learning more.
One of my favorite artists, Lucian Freud, said in an interview that he thinks of each
painting that he works on as the only one that he's working on; in fact, he thinks of it as
the only painting that he has ever worked on; further, he thinks of it as the only painting
that anyone has ever done.
By putting all of his preconceived notions behind him, he allows himself to approach
the canvas with the attitude of a student rather than that of a master. Painting as if for
the first time, without relying on the success and acclaim of his body of work, keeps his
work fresh and allows him to grow as an artist.
Here is perhaps the best advice I got from one of my early art teachers: Don't strive to be
a good artist, strive to be a better artist. Becoming a good artist has a final destination;
becoming a better artist is an ongoing journey. I have performed shows where I felt like
I killed. And now, years later when I watch the recordings of those shows, I cringe at
how bad they were. I want to believe that my performances today are much better, but
probably years from now I will be just as critical of them. I might even read these words
and deny that I wrote them.
One of my biggest influences is Tommy Wonder. It's very clear that he was the kind
of magician who would never stop reworking his magic, always finding better ways
to achieve the effects he was after. Tommy published three versions ofNest of Boxes,
and every one of these versions would have been satisfying to most of us, bur not
to him, because Tommy Wonder was not a good magician. Tommy Wonder was a
better magician.

x preface
 opt the attitude that we can always get better and the things we do are all works
¥=• then once in a blue moon we might look at something we have done and
"d that? That's not bad." I try to create pieces that will stand the test of time-
Lllat I wo n't regret having my name attached to many years later. And if I don't
that, I will settle for just getting better.
months I get an upgrade on my cell phone's operating system; it fixes bugs,
-.,.....,.... performance, and sometimes gives the graphics a facelift. Like many people,
~ ::ny current phone, and am amazed that it can do things that my fir~t computer
- ·-. such as take high-res pictures, send emails, store a library of books, allow me
--~ my thoughts on magic, and even help me find dates. Still, there are geniuses
,.___......,-~-.,:.:; onstantly to improve this amazing device. They will never be satisfied. We will
=- a no tification that says, "That's it, we nailed it. This is the last update. There's
'"---'-·"""-'-" .: else we can add or do to improve your stupid phone. Enjoy it."
- : recognize a few of the routines in this book from previous publications, but
t

--.: ~ book made me rethink every one of them, and I've tweaked their methods,
;:-es. and presentations. So consider these "software updates". While you study
·- - , please bear in mind that they are still not finished-they are works in
'=:;:::;:SS.. and you have a lot of work to do. Put your knowledge, experience, and flavor
-=-and take them to the next level.

AsiWind
February 27, 2018

repertoire x1
 •
time lS money

got my first book of magic when I was a teenager. It was a Hebrew translation

I of Will Dexter's 131 Magic Tricks for Amateurs, and indeed I was an amateur.
I studied every page and was able to perform every trick in the book. Sort of. One
of the effects in that book inspired me to eventually create one of my signature pieces
that serves me well to this day. The trick was called "Two for the Price of0ne". 1 In fact,
it wasn't quite a trick, but more a simple origami stunt-a way to fold one bill so that
it looks like two. I am not sure why, but I felt that this little stunt had the potential to
become magic. Although Will Dexter planted the seed in my teenage mind, it wasn't
until I was in my twenties that I started exploring the many possibilities of that special
fold. It took a few years, but I eventually had something I was proud of, and this is the
routine that introduced me to the magic community. The effect is that a borrowed,
signed bill vanishes and reappears under a spectator's wristwatch. 2

1 Published in 131 Magic Tricks for Amateurs (1958) by Will Dexter, page 121. This special fold is related to the
fold described in Jack Vosburgh's "Double Dollar", which appeared in The jinx in December 1940.
2 TI1e earliest published routine where an item is loaded under a spectator's watch is "Quart(er)z Watch" by
Mark Sicher and Steve Cohen. It was in the Ap ril 1990 issue of Harry Lorayne's Apocalypse and was based on an
unpublished trick Sicher and Cohen learned from Gary "Gazzo" Osbourne.

repertoire 1
 PREPARATION: You will need to prefold a bill in a certain way. The first part of
the folding sequence is identical to what Will Dexter described in his book, but I
find Dexter's description of this complex fold a bit too brief. Here is a more detailed
explanation that I hope will be easier to follow.

I will describe this with a one-dollar bill, but any denomination will work. Use a bill
that's relatively crisp. Fold the bill lengthwise, with the portrait ofWashington on the
inside (pic. 1). All the creases need to be crisp; use the backs of your nails and press the
folds down against a hard surface. Unfold the bill and fold it in half widthwise, again
with Washington on the inside (pic. 2).
Unfold the bill and place it face down on a table. Fold the bill as in picture 3. A couple
things to keep in mind: The diagonal fold intersects the very center of the bill (right

2 time Is money
 - ~ :v;·o previous creases intersect), and the angle created on top of the bill is 115
n·t rush to buy a protractor-'-you know that this fold is correct when the
o rhe bill that create the 115-degree V are the same length. Another way is
---~""'- a vertical line bisecting the V and running straight down the middle of the
g this axis, you were to fold one half of the bill over onto the other half, the
d match up perfectly. With practice, you'll be able to eyeball the 115-degree
-· g rhe right and left halves of the bill symmetrical.
- "' ill face up. The bill has three creases as indicated in picture 4. Fold the bill
.: - rhwise again, with Washington on the inside. With one hand on each side,
- -ides of the bill about half an inch away from the fold, and push your fingers
other (pies. 5 & 6). Once the tips of your fingers contact, let go with your

repertoire 3
 right forefinger and your left thumb and continue pressing the right thumb against the
left forefinger through the layers of the bill (pic. 7). Allow the prefolds to guide you. At
this point, if you press the bill flat it will collapse into place as in picture 8.
Place the bill flat onto the table. Fold the upper right corner from right to left at a sharper
angle, such that the fold is slightly inward from the edge of the bill (pic. 9). This little detail
will be helpful later, so that no extra layers will be seen.
Fold the left flap from left to right, again at a sharper angle than the edge of the layer
beneath it, so that the fold is slightly inward from the edge of the bill (pic. 10). Fold that

8 9

10 11

4 time 1s money
 ~ ap again from right to left, so that it lines up with the left edge of the folded bill
11 . If this flap is just a fraction shy of the edge it won't look thicker than it should
-iewed from the side. Press the folded bill firmly, flattening it. Sandwiching it
· the pages of a book could be helpful.
-~ ~ e bill is firmly pressed, you have two options: You can start with the bill already
-- . but it is highly preferable to start with the bill unfolded and use the prefolded
to assist you in getting into position again. Place the unfolded bill into your
--- Have bills of various denominations prefolded in your wallet, so you can match
- ill ro whichever denomination you get from your spectator. Finally, have a red
--~-in a convenient pocket. I will describe this as if you are performing on stage.

-- Rl\1ANCE: Find a spectator who is wearing a watch on his left wrist. Obviously,
-ithout being overt or asking about wristwatches; you don't want to telegraph
- · g of the trick. Also, you should find a watch that is not so tight that you won't
~ o load the bill, or so loose that the bill will fall out after you've loaded it. Ask
- __ craror to remove the largest bill he has in his wallet (or specify a denomination if
. - have one prefolded bill). The higher the denomination, the more emotionally
_ . . the spectator is in the trick, and so making an effort to fetch a large bill is worth
- uhle. Remove a matching prefolded bill from your wallet. Ask your participant to
- e tace of his bill with the marker.
- ·on the spectator to your right. 3 With your left hand, hold your bill vertically with
rrrair facing the audience, and the top of the bill to your left-the half with more
r----tn'llric;: will be at the bottom (pic. 12). When he is done signing the. bill, instruct him:

:he bill /ike mine, with your signature facing the audience. "

·alk-around situations, the spectator can be on your right or directly opposite you. You will learn with
rience the bad angles and how to handle your blocking in close-up conditions.

repertoire 5
6 time 1s money
Fold the top half of your bill away from you and down, with the portrait on the inside
(pic. 13). Instruct him to fold his bill in half just as you have done-make sure that his
bill is oriented the same way as yours.
Hold your bill with both hands. The left fingers cover the upper left half of the bill and
are almost parallel with the floor (this position will be very important in a moment).
The right fingers cover the upper right half of the bill, mirroring the left fingers. Push
your hands toward each other, so that your fingers touch (pies. 14 & 15). This will force
the bill to collapse into the V-fold, thanks to the prefolds. The flap that is now to the
left is hidden behind your left fingers. That's why the position of your left hand is so
critical; you don't want to flash. With your right thumb, fold the small right flap to the
left. It should appear as if you are folding the bill once more, into quarters (pic. 16).
Continue by running your right fingers down along the right side as if you are creasing
the bill (pic. 17).
While you do that, ask the spectator to fold his bill in half again, 7ust like I did. "With
the left thumb, push the left flap to the right, and the prefolds should force it into the
Z-fold it was in previously (pies. 18 & 19).

repertoire 7
 20

21

8 time 1s money
Turn the bill over end for end, and hold it horizontally between your left thumb and
fingers, the Z-fold side hidden underneath. The bill should be oriented with the white
border on the outer and left edges. With your right hand, take the spectator's bill and
hold it so its orientation mirrors that of your bill (pic. 20, from above).
"Your bill goes on top of mine. " Place his signed bill on top of yours and angle it to the
left, aligning its inner left corner with your bill's inner right corner. The configuration
of the two bills should mimic the single bill when it is folded to look like two (pic. 21).
With your right fingers from below, unfold your bill's small flap to the right, so it lines
up with the spectator's bill above it (pic. 22). This alignment will help you with the
next step. With your left middle and ring fingers, unfold the big flap underneath. The
left forefinger, which is not engaged in this action, will help you conceal the movement
of the unfolding (pic. 23). It is also useful to do this as you bring the bills upward, so
that the undersides are now facing the audience; the big action of the bills going from
horizontal to vertical will hide the small action of the unfolding.
To the audience, it should look like you are holding two bills folded into quarters, one
on top of the other. The next step is to trifold the spectator's bill behind your specially
folded bill as follows. While holding the bills with your right hand, use your left fingers
to pinch the outer ends of both bills on the left. (The following actions take place
under the guise of flexing the bill in an in-and-out snapping action.) With your left
fingers, push both of the bills toward your right thumb and the bills will buckle in an S
shape. When the middle of the top bill (the spectator's bill) contacts your right thumb,
partially lift the thumb, lay it over the middle of this buckled top bill, and use the right
thumb to flatten the bill into a Z shape (pies. 24 & 25).

repertoire 9
 Immediately pull the left half of your bill to the left, back up to its original position,
leaving behind the spectator's bill, folded into a small packet (pic. 26). This entire action
should take a quick second or two, and is covered by saying, ((Now remember, this is the
bill you signed. " Rotate your right hand a bit counterclockwise, and then repeat the same
in-and-out snapping actions with the right half of your bill, while saying, ((And this is
my bill."
Extend your left hand palm up and say, ((Hold out your left hand like this." Take the
specially folded bill into your left hand as you secretly slide the spectator's bill into
right-hand finger palm (pic. 27) . You are now ready to load the spectator's bill under his
watch. If his sleeve is covering his watch, ask him to extend his hand, which will cause
his sleeve to retract, uncovering the watch.
Ask the spectator to extend his right forefinger. By getting him ready, you can perform the
load under his watch as quickly as possible. To make the load smooth and undetectable,
both of your hands need to move in unison as you approach his left hand. Note that as
you approach the spectator's wrist with the finger-palmed bill, the back of your right
hand remains upward until you are very close to his wrist, and only then do you start
to rotate your hand palm up under his arm. With your left hand, place the specially
folded bill onto his left palm as you ask him to place his right forefinger on top of the
bill(s) , pinning "them" to the palm of his hand (pic. 28). Simultaneously, your right
hand grips his wrist from underneath, holding the spectator's bill against his arm. Slide
his bill toward his wristwatch and tuck the bill under the watch (pic. 29, from below).
Sometimes the watch might be too tight and you may need to press the bill more firmly
against his forearm to allow it to slip under the watch. Placing the specially folded bill

10 time 1s money
 27

onto his hand happens at the same time as-and helps cover-the action of secretly
sliding his signed bill under the watch. You want the spectator to think that the reason
your right hand is grabbing his wrist is because you are trying to guide his hand into
the correct position.
You're going to take back the specially folded bill from your spectator in a moment, so
after placing the bill(s) onto his hand (and secretly loading the signed bill), I recommend
you roll up your sleeves. This acts as justification for placing the bill(s) onto his palm
and freeing your hands-otherwise, there's no real reason why you had the spectator
hold the bill(s). Also, it creates some time misdirection that will allow their memories

repertoire 11
12 time 1s money
 35

of you touching him to fade. Show your empty hands and say, "Can I get the bills? Both,
please. " Although the special fold is convincing enough that the audience thinks there
are still two bills in play, I like including a verbal deception to reinforce the visual. Add,
"I don't want to touch you." With your left hand, take the "bills" from him, and then
step away. Creating some physical distance will strengthen the later reappearance of the
bill under his watch.
As you transfer the specially folded bill to your right hand, with your right fingers, fold
ilie small flap while gripping the bottom of the bill (pic. 30). "By placing your bill on top
of mine, it looks 'as if I now have only one bill. "At the lower left side of the bill, there is
a "channel" between what appears to be the two bills. Insert your left index finger into
this channel between the "two bills". Use your left fingers to pivot the left "bill" to the
right (pic. 31) so that its top edges line up with the top edges of the "bill" on the right.
These actions should look as if you are merely aligning one bill with the other.
Pivot the bill ninety degrees counterclockwise (pic. 32). "It looks so convincing that you
would swear I only have one bill." With your right hand, grab the two inner layers and
slowly unfold the bill to the right; the inner folded flaps will pop down and unfold (pies.
33 & 34). The bill is now folded in half. Undo the last fold, opening the bill completely
to show it is indeed one bill (pic. 35) .

.Yfagicians often neglect to emphasize this moment, which is unfortunate because it is

quite amazing-you have just made a bill disappear. So sell this effect with that in mind.

repertoire 13
 When you perform the vanish, unfold the bill slowly to create suspense and maintain
their belief that you have two bills-up until the last moment, and then one bill is gone.
Display the bill to the spectator and ask him, "Do you see your signature?" When he replies,
"No," say, "Then yours is gone." This moment never fails to get a laugh. (Audiences love
other people's misfortunes.) Take your time as you place your bill into your pocket. The
time between the two climaxes enables the first climax to fully register and also creates a
time displacement between the load of the bill under the watch and its revelation.
The next phase is certainly stronger than the first one, and you want to get as much
impact from it as possible. If you were to simply say, ''Look under your watch," and have
the spectator find the bill tucked under his watch, indeed, it would be a big surprise
and would get a reaction. But you should build suspense before you let them see the
bill under his watch. Say, "Your bill is now folded very small. And it is under your watch. "
However, when you reveal the climax like this, you do not want the spectator to rush
to remove the bill from under his watch; you want him to display the bill properly to
the audience before he removes it. Therefore I recommend you handle the moment like
this: Stand to his right and rest the palm of your hand on his right arm as you say that
his bill is under his watch. His impulse, of course, will be to look at his watch, which he
will do. But since you are (gently) holding his other arm he won't be able to reach for
and remove the bill prematurely. At this point, he might not display the bill to the au-
dience, but that's okay because his reaction confirms that the bill is indeed there-and
his reaction can be seen much better by a big audience than the folded bill under his
watch. After you have given him enough time to react, you can proceed by saying, ''Let
everybody see it,~' and demonstrate with your right wrist how you expect him to display
the bill. Then let go of his arm and allow him to remove the bill as you ask, "Is that the
same bill you signed just a few minutes ago?" He will confirm that it is.

ENDNOTES: Here is an idea I got from Nimrod Harel. After you have loaded the bill
under his watch and he still has the "bills" in his hands, rather than retrieving the "bills"
from him, instead ask him to crumple the "two bills" into a ball. (Even though there is
only one bill you should refer to it as two bills.) Ask him, ''Do you prefer mine or yours?"
If he chooses "his", say, "Okay, then yours will disappear. " If he chooses "yours", say,
"Okay, then mine will remain, and yours will disappear." It's also good to ask him, "Do
you feel how the bills are shrinking in size?" He will likely agree, because he has only one
bill and, once crumpled, it won't feel like two bills. So the magic happens in real time
in his hands while he crumples the "two bills". The crumpling actions will destroy all
the special folds in the bill- this is especially true if you use a slightly worn bill-and
once you ask him to uncrumple the bill it will seem like one of the bills (his) has just
disappeared and he is left with your bill. Carry on from this point as described above.

14 time IS money
repertoire 15
 a .w. a . c . a . a . n .

A
ny Card at Any Number (ACAAN) is a classic plot. It is one of the strongest card
effects a magician can perform. There are many versions of this controversial
plot- and I say controversial because there is much debate about it among
magicians. It's a problematic plot because sometimes you need to count many cards to
reach the climax, which can be hard to make entertaining. Also, some argue that the
one in fifty-two odds are not very impressive. 4 But ACAAN, when presented correctly,
creates the illusion that the odds are much less probable. The effect of ACAAN (at least
the way I present it) is that you not only know which card will be named (a one in
fifty-two proposition), but that you also know the location that will be named (another
one in fifty-two proposition)-therefore the odds are one in fifty-two squared, or one
in 2,704. Think of it this way: Imagine performing the trick with a written prediction
instead of a deck of cards. A person names a playing card (say, the Ace of Spades) and a
number from one to fifty-two (say, thirteen). You open your prediction, and it says, "I
predict you will name the Ace of Spades and the number thirteen." Now imagine your
method involves an index with every possibility. How many billets would you need?

4 If you have someone name a number and a playing card, and then yo u coun t down to that number, the odds
are one in fifty-two that it will be the named card. Here's why. There are 2,704 (fifty-two squared) combinations
of the two variables in ACAAN, and each of the fifty-two cards in a deck represents, via its position, one of those
2,704 combinations. When you add all of the cards' chances together, the odds of the trick succeeding are fifty-
two in 2,704, which is the same as one in fifty-two .

repertoire 17
 That is why ACAAN is such a strong effect; if you can convey (even implicitly) that you
could have used a written prediction, instead of placing a particular card at a particular
location, then spectators will intuit that the odds are very impressive-much more
impressive than one in fifty-two. If you are still confused about the probability of this
trick, know that there's nothing wrong with you-it's just a great illusion. 5
I am not sure what first generated my devotion to this plot, but I do remember sitting
in my basement apartment on 88th Street and 1st Avenue-my least-liked apartment,
where I was frequently visited by cockroaches and mice-and deciding that I wanted to
achieve the effect with a regular deck of cards, a requirement that I stick to as much as
I can. (I only resort to the use of gimmicks and secret devices when I have exhausted all
the non-gimmicked methods I can find. Obviously, gimmicks can produce results that
are not achievable by sleight of hand and psychology alone. But my philosophy is that
the consideration of gimmicks at the early stages of developing a new trick can prevent
you from discovering innovative non-gimmicked methods.)
As I was playing with the cards, I realized that to perform ACAAN I needed to find a
way to execute a pass to shift a bank of cards from the top to the bottom of the deck (or
vice versa). 6 Executing secret moves under cover of another justified procedure can make
them invisible, so I figured that performing the shift during the action of taking the
cards out of the box would be ideal. At the time I didn't realize that many great minds
had already come to the same conclusion, notably Ken Krenzel and Allan Ackerman. 7
So although the concept is not new, my treatment is different. In 2007 I published this
routine in my first set of lecture notes, Chapter One, and I later released it as an instant
download.
This requires a memorized deck. Using a memorized deck is like acquiring a superpower
that will enable you to perform many miracles. The particular stack is unimportant,
as the trick is stack independent, and any memorized deck (Aronson, Mnemonica,
etc.) will work. Keep in mind that systems like Si Stebbins and "Eight Kings" are not
memorized decks but merely stacked decks, which means you know the order of the
cards in relationship to each other, but you don't independently know the location of
each particular card in the deck. What matters here is that you immediately know the
position of any named card in your stack.

5 It's confusing because the power you are apparently demonstrating-that you have the ability to know which
card and which number will be named-has a one in 2,704 chance of success. But, as explained in the previous
footnote, the proof you provide-a deck of cards-contains fifty-two predictions (i.e., can correctly prove fifty-
two different combinations), and fifty-two out of2,704 is ... one in fifty-two.
6 1be roots ,of this plot go back to at least the 1700s, but the first version using a memorized deck and a secret
cut was Charles Shepherd's "The 'ACME' Card Trick" in The Sphinx, March 1908. Shepherd used an indexed
deck (a marketed item) to facilitate the location of the required key card, but the same idea with an ungaffed
stacked deck was published by Ellis Stanyon in his magazine Magic in May 1913 as "To Place any Card Named
at any Number".
7 I'm referring to "Open and Shut Case" in Ken Krenzel's Close-up Impact (1990) by Stephen Minch, page 71
and ''Anyone -Anywhere" in Allan Ackerman's lecture notes Al Cardpone (1996), page 24.

18 a.w.a.c.a.a.n.
PREPARATION: You will need to modify the card box slightly. Remove and discard
the cellophane wrapping. Also tear off and discard the two side tabs. The top right
edge of the flap side of the case must be cut or torn about an inch down along the side
(pic. 1). You'll see why momentarily. Place the memorized deck into the case with the
faces toward the thumb notch, and close the case.

PERFORMANCE: Take the cards out of the box and give them a casual false shuffie.
This is important because you want the audience to remember that the cards were
shuffied before the trick started, even if it is only in the backs of their minds. However,
don't say anything like, "Look, I am shuffling the cards. " (There are many great false
shuffies in existence. Among my favorites are Karl Hein's Heinstein shuffie and Derek
DelGaudio's truffie shuffie, but even a simple Charlier shuffie could be effective.) 8
This trick can be presented in a multitude of ways. I encourage you to come up with
something of your own that suits your persona. I would, however, recommend that
your actions and choices match the premise of your presentation. For example, if you
want to demonstrate your ability to predict your spectator's choices, you might want to
act as if you are positioning one card in a specific location. That could be achieved by
looking through the deck and cutting the cards a few times, as if you are trying to cut

8 The Heinstein shuffle was first published in the April 2001 Genii magazine. The DelGaudio shuffle was
published in Genii in October 2008. DelGaudio subsequently renamed it the truffle shuffle. A good description
of the Charlier shuffle (a false haymow shuffle) can be found in Card College, volume 5 (2003) by Roberto
Giobbi, page 1110.

repertoire 19
 a certain card to a certain location, and ending by cutting the fifty-second card back
to the face. 9 Or, for example, you could present this as if a spectator could somehow
subconsciously memorize a thoroughly shuffled deck. In which case, you might spread
the "shuffled" deck on the table and ask her to stare at the cards for several seconds. No
matter the presentation, once you are done setting up the premise, place the cards into
the box. If you would like, have a spectator guard the cards in his hands or pocket while
you proceed.
Ask a spectator to name a card. Once he does, mentally translate it into its position in
the deck. If he names, say, the Five of Diamonds, you automatically know that its stack
number is twenty-five (if you use Juan Tamariz's Mnemonica stack, as I do). Now, ask
him (or another spectator) to name any number from one to fifty-two. Occasionally, a
spectator will name the chosen card's stack number. As happy as this makes you, don't
let it affect your showmanship. Build up the impossibility with the same intensity that
you would normally.
If he names a number that is less than the selection's position- seventeen, for example-
subtract that number from the card's position. In this case, seventeen from twenty-five
will give us eight.
However, if the named number is greater than the position number of the named card-
say, thirty-seven-there is an extra step to the arithmetic. Subtract twenty-five (the chosen
card's stack number) from thirty-seven to get twelve. Then subtract twelve from fifty-
two to get forty. How you remove the deck from the case will depend on whether the
number you just calculated is greater than or less than twenty-six.
Let's assume it's a small number (eight). Recall which card lies at that stack number
(Five of Hearts in Mnemonica). Pick up the cased deck. You will appear to merely
remove the cards from the case. In fact, in the process of doing so, you will shift eight
cards from the top to the bottom, in order to position the Five of Diamonds at the
seventeenth position. This is accomplished as follows.
Open the box's flap all the way, so that it's folded flat on the back of the box, and hold
the cased deck on your right palm, in a sort of straddle grip; your middle and ring
fingers around the bottom edge, the index and little fingers straddling the box at the
sides, and your thumb at the open end of the box, at the corner. With your thumb,
secretly riffle through the cards so you can see their indexes flying by. (The slit in the
case greatly facilitates this action.) If you hold the cards at the correct angle-almost
horizontal, but with the mouth of the case tilted slightly up toward yourself-you will
be the only one who can see the indexes as you riffle through them. N ote that you grip
the box firmly enough that you can riffle through the cards, but not so fi rmly that it
looks like you are "doing something". In other words, there shouldn't be too much
tension in your hand. Also, it's better to riffle through the cards without looking until
you can tell by feel that you are in the vicinity of the card you are after. Since, in this

9 This presentational idea, which helps reinforce the premise, is something I adopted from Juan Tamariz's
"Mnemonicosis", which can be found in h is bookMnemonica (2004), page 97 .

20 a.w.a.c.a.a.n.
example, you are looking for a card with a low stack number, instead of riffiing from
r.he face, start riffiing in the bottom quarter of the deck (close to the top of your stack).
Riffle until you feel that you are close to the top ten cards, and only then look at the
eck. You want to keep the amount of time you look at the deck to a minimum. Keep
riffiing until you see the Five of Hearts (at stack number eight) and hold a break there
pic. 2) . Also when you look at the cards, say something like, ((You could have named any
ard. " It's entirely natural to look at the cards as you are referring to them.
_ laintain the break and turn your hand palm down, keeping the box's opening toward
;-ou (pic. 3) . With your left fingers, remove the bottom portion- the cards under the
reak- three-quarters out of the case (pies. 4 & 5). The thumb notch gives the access

repertoire 21
 6

required to do this. With your left middle and ring fingers, push the bottom card (the
last card in your stack, Nine of Diamonds in Mnemonica) approximately halfway back
into the case (pic. 6). Now lever the outer portion of cards downward slightly, such that
the bottom card is slightly bent (pic. 7, bottom card blue for clarity). Finally, tilt the
case down and drop .the top portion of cards that you held back inside the case so that
they slide down on the bent card and underneath the original bottom portion, which by
now is c,o mpletely out of the case (pic. 8, bottom card blue for clarity).
Allow the top portion of cards, along with the bottom "slide card", to coalesce under the
original bottom portion until all cards are squared on your left hand (pic. 9). In essence,
you have managed to cut the deck at a desired location. (You have also displaced the
bottom card, however, this card can easily be repositioned afterward.) You can actually
do this move without the "slide card", but the slide card makes the move smoother and

22 a.w.a.c.a.a.n.
prevents fidgeting of your left fingers as you remove the cards. From a technical point
of view, your job is now done.
However, if as in our second example above, you were to calculate a large number
(forty) and then remove only the small portion of cards below the fortieth card, it
would look weird. So in cases like this, the shift is handled slightly differently. Hold the
cased deck in your right hand as described above. Riffle to the Four of Spades (forty in
Mnemonica), and obtain a thumb break. With your left hand, take the deck fro~ above
and transfer the break to your left thumb (pic. 10). To justify the transfer of the cards,
use your now-free right hand to gesture toward the spectators as you say, ((Remember,
you could have chosen any card and any number." With your right fingers, remove the

repertoire 23
 portion of cards below the break (pic. 11) until the cards rest on the palm of your right
hand. Tilt the upper end of the packet up, and drop the cards remaining inside the box
underneath the larger, removed portion, shielding this with your right fingers as you
do so (pi~. 12).
Note that the mechanics of the shift are exactly the same as described above, except for
two things. First, it is a mirror image of the other handling-the actions of the left and
right hands are switched. Also, the slide card is not used with this handling because the
secret actions are hidden by the flap, as well as your fingers.

24 a.w.a.c.a.a.n.
Whichever version of the secret shift you do, as you begin the shift say, "Please remove
the cards. "As you are doing the shift, reach out to hand the deck to a spectator, a gesture
which reinforces that he is to remove the cards himself. As you are finishing the shift,
hand him the cards and the box, saying, "Take them out of the box. " Although you've
already removed them, it should seem that you are giving the task to him.
Ask him to count down to the spectator's number. In close-up situations, if you have
an appropriate surface, such as a table, instruct the spectator to execute a ribbo.p spread
(you might need to guide him through this). Say, ''Please, slide one card at a time out to
the right, and count with me out loud. " This will make the counting feel a bit fairer and
easier to follow. If you do not have a table (or if you are performing this onstage) have
him deal the cards into a pile on your hand. If you ask him to deal each card face up as
he counts, the order of the deck will remain intact, and it will also show the audience
that the cards are all different and apparently in no particular order.
Have the audience members count with you so that you can dictate the rhythm
of the counting. Make sure to vary the count, so it's not monotonous. When the
target number is small, say up to twenty, it's quite suspenseful and the audience is
intrigued and anxious to find out if the named card indeed lies at the randomly named
number. It's important to stop right before the last card and give a short recap. "So
you could have named any card, and you could have named any number. One last time,
remind us, what card did you choose?" This creates a great suspenseful moment just
before you let your spectator turn over the final card to reveal that the named card lies
at the named number.
Of course, dealing a large number of cards can take long enough to put someone to
sleep. When the number is large, say forty-four, it is preferable to count backward from
the last card, which means, in this example, you only have to count nine cards. However,
you don't want to count from a face-up deck because when they get to the chosen card
there's no suspense. If you need to count from the bottom it's better to spread the cards
face down on the table and count up from the bottom. Make it clear to your audience
which end of the spread is the bottom of the deck and that you are counting backward
from there. "Fifty-two, fifty-one, fifty, forty-nine ... "(This is in contrast with the examples
in the endnotes, where the top and bottom of the deck are purposely ambiguous.)
With mid-sized numbers, say mid-twenties to mid-thirties, it's a long journey from
either end. With these numbers, showmanship and pacing are your saviors. Here are
a few tips to make the counting process tolerable and, dare I say, suspenseful. First, as
I mentioned above, avoid counting in a monotonous voice; this means don't leave the
counting to the spectator, because he is very likely to do exactly that. Also, break up _the
count. For example, if counting to thirty-five, pause after ten cards and say, "Twenty-jive
more cards. "Count another ten and say, "Fifteen away, "and finally count the last fifteen.
Also, think of the counting as a drum roll that gives you a chance to build up the drama
and the impossibility of this miracle. Yes, you read that right, a miracle.

repertoire 25
 ENDNOTES: When a card is named that is among the top ten in my stack, I will
sometimes ask someone else to name a number from one to ten. Then I'll execute the
secret shift to position the named card at the appropriate number (usually fewer than five
cards will have to be shifted). In instances like this when transferring just a few cards from
the top to the bottom-or when, for example, the named card is number twenty-three in
your stack and the target number is twenty-instead of transferring the cards, you can just
retain them inside the box as you remove the rest of the deck from the case. I know that
by limiting the choice of numbers, I am not being 100% faithful to the plot of ACAAN,
but sometimes I take the same approach as Dai Vernon's "The Trick That Cannot Be
Explained". 10 That is, I consider the procedure to be flexible, based on conditions that
occur during the trick. I keep an open mind and finish the trick with what seems like
the best outcome based on the circumstances. For example, if the named card is right on
the top or bottom of the deck, I won't ask for a number. I will simply have the spectator
remove the cards from the box and look at the top or bottom card. If the card is among the
bottom ten, I will have a number from one to ten named, make the appropriate secret shift,
spread the cards, and count forward from the bottom. If the chosen card is among the top or
bottom five cards, I will have a number between one and five named. The important part
is to make it seem like the ending of the trick wasn't improvised and that no matter what
card he had named I would always have proceeded as I did.
It can be useful to know your stack forward and backward. But you don't need to have it
memorized backward, you just need to remember that a card's stack number subtracted
from fifty-three is its position from the bottom. This way you can quickly calculate
any card's position from the bottom. For example, the Seven of Hearts is forty-one in
Mnemonica, which means it is twelfth from the bottom. Here are a couple examples of
how this knowledge can be useful. Let's say the named card and number are the Nine
of Clubs and eleven. The Nine of Clubs is number forty-four (ninth from the bottom).
To position it to eleventh, you have to shift thirty-three cards from top to bottom.
However, you would only need to shift two cards to position it eleventh fro m the bottom.
So, in addition to handling the trick normally, you have two other options:

1. Shift two cards to the bottom, and count from the bottom. (See below
about the best way to handle this.)
2. After the second spectator has called out the number eleven, before
making your adjustment, ask, "And would you like to count down from the
top of the deck, or up from the bottom?" (Giving this choice adds another
layer of impossibility.) Then shift the cards according to their wishes.

Here's another example. If someone were to name the Ten of Diamonds (forty-nine in
Mnemonica), you know it is fourth from the bottom. You could ask someone to name
a number from one to five, then position the card to that number from the bottom, and
count forward from there. In addition, here is a clever way to disguise the fact that you are

10 "The Trick That Cannot Be Explained" was published in Dai Vernons More Inner Secrets ofCard Magic (1960)
by Lewis Ganson, page 76.

26 a.w.a.c.a.a . n.
counting from the bottom. Execute a wide ribbon spread from your right to left. It is
actually not as clear as you would think which end of the spread should be considered
the starting point. So you can establish the bottom card as number one and count
forward from there. It doesn't seem like you could get away with this, but since you are
counting from the audience's left to right, and since that is the direction people read, it
actually seems quite natural and isn't questioned. (Of course, if you are performing in
Israel, I might suggest you spread the cards in the opposite direction.)
Here is a scenario you need to be aware of. If the card's stack position is low (say, under
twelve) and the number that is named is high (say, greater than forty) it changes the
arithmetic just slightly. For instance, if the card is the Seven of Diamonds (three in
:\inemonica) and the number is forty-one, start as described by subtracting three from
forty-one to get thirty-eight. Normally, you would now subtract thirty-eight from fifty-
two to get fourteen. However, you need to account for the fact that the slide card will
be repositioned and subtract thirty-eight from fifty-one (not fifty-two) to get thirteen.
ou do not make this adjustment every time you use the slide card, just every time
the card's stack number is low and the named number is high. Alternatively, in these
instances you can choose not to make this change, but instead eliminate the slide card,
sacrificing a subtlety to prevent a headache.)
I know that many people fear the idea of doing arithmetic in their head while
performing. 11 So, here are a few tips that will help you handle the calculations. It is
easier to subtract numbers if at least one of them is a round number. For example,
-orty-five minus twenty-seven is hard to do , particularly when you are under the
pressure of doing a show. So if you add three to each of the numbers , you end up with
a rty-eight minus thirty, which is eighteen. As long as you add the same amount to
oth n umbers, you will get the correct result.
H ere is another technique. If you need to subtract, say, thirty-five from fifty-two, you
ould just ignore the two in fifty-two and treat it as if it were fifty. Subtract thirty-five
!Tom fifty, and you easily get fifteen; now add the two that you previously ignored and
,.·ou get seventeen. Here's a similar example. Say you need to subtract twenty-six from
:Orry-one. Ignore the six in twenty-six, and think of it as twenty. Subtract twenty from
:orty-one to easily get twenty-one; now subtract the six that you previously ignored
and you get fifteen.
_ fake sure you do all the calculations before you even think about retrieving the boxed
eck fro m the spectator who is guarding it. Once you are certain about which card you
are looking for, what its position is, and approximately where you are going to start
:iffiing, only then do you take the box, so that you are not trying to calculate while you
execute the secret moves. As you are retrieving the boxed cards ask, ((You 've been guarding
:hese cards all this time?'' This interaction with the spectator should provide enough time

ll Allan Ackerman published an interesting idea on page 25 of Al Cardpone (1996). If you put yo ur deck in
~ -erse stack order, it makes the arithmetic much easier. You merely need to add the chosen number to the
ed card's stack number to calculate what card to riffle to before the secret shift. If you find the arithmetic in
· trick daunting, you may want to look up Ackerman's explanation for further details.

repertoire 27
 for you to open the box and get it into the necessary grip. You then riffle through the
cards until you see the card at the position you've calculated, get a break, and execute
the secret shift.
If you still fear the arithmetic involved with this trick, here is an idea that could be
helpful- it could also be used as a backup in case you panic. Once your spectators have
chosen the card and position, remove your smartphone and say, '1 have an app that
controls the cards remotely. " Open your calculator and do all the calculations necessary.
You now know precisely at which point in the deck you need to execute the shift. ((Okay,
I have programmed your card to go to the number you requested. "While a few members
of your audience might believe you have an app that can perform card miracles, most
of them will know that it's not possible for an app to do such a thing and will find it
absurd and entertaining.
Finally, in addition to the fear some people have of doing arithmetic onstage, many also
dread the idea of having to memorize a deck of cards. The following brief analogy might
eliminate some of that fear. What other words do you know for the word "car"? You are
likely to come up with: automobile, auto, vehicle, ride, wheels, whip, or other slang; and
if you speak another language, you probably have twice as many ways to say car. This
is true with many objects. The thesaurus is filled with synonyms for most words. You
probably know synonyms for any object you can name. So how hard can it be to learn a
synonym for each card? For example, the Ace of Spades could also be called "seven" and
the Queen of Hearts could sometimes be known as "eleven". If you remember these two
examples, you only have fifty more synonyms to memorize. So let's assume Mnemonica
is a language, consisting of fifty-two words-a language with no grammar rules or weird
tenses or exceptions. All you have to do is remember those fifty-two words, and voila!
You can speak Mnemonica fluently (or any other stack you wish to speak-you might
even want to be trilingual).

28 a.w.a.c.a.a.n.
repertoire 29
 out of the blue

ometimes when you work on a trick, you discover that you can take the method

S you devised for it and apply it to other effects. That happened to me after I came
up with ''A.W.A.C.A.A.N." (see page 17). The move that enables you to secretly
cut the deck at a desired location as you remove the cards from the box is very useful for
the ACMN plot, but it can also be utilized in other tricks , such as this one. I hope you
too can find further applications with which to achieve additional effects.
This is my solution for a (mostly) non-gimmicked version of "Brainwave". 12 A cased
deck of cards lies on the table. A spectator names a card. The magician removes the deck
from the box and spreads the face-down cards across the table. One card is seen to have
a different-colored back, and it is the named card. The deck can be examined.
Not surprisingly, this requires the use of a memorized deck. The particular stack is
unimportant, as the trick is stack independent; all that matters is that you immediately
know the position of any named card.

12 Dai Vernon's "Brain Wave Deck'' was originally published in The j inx in October 1938. Vernon's original
effect consisted only of a named card being shown reversed in the deck. Vernon credited Paul Fox with the idea
of the card also having an odd-colored back.

repertoire 31
 PREPARATION: You will require an odd-backed card. Let's assume that the deck is
red-backed and that the odd card is, therefore, blue-backed. The odd card can be any
card you like, but I suggest you use either the Ace of Spades or Queen of Hearts, due to
how often they are named by spectators.
You must rub some magician's wax on the face of this card. 13 I prefer a hard wax, as it
won't smear onto the other cards quite as easily, and thus lasts longer. Use a piece of wax
about the size of two sesame seeds and spread it evenly in the center of the face of the
card. The wax will be better hidden on a busy background, which is another reason to
use the Ace of Spades or Queen of Hearts. Finally, you will need to modify the card box
as described on page 19 of''A.WA.C.A.A.N."

With the cards in memorized order, place the blue-backed card on the bottom. You can
remove the red-backed duplicate of the blue card, or leave it in the deck, depending on
what tricks you will be doing after this one. Case the deck such that the faces are toward
the side with the thumb notch. Close the flap and you're ready to begin.

PERFORMANCE: Ask a spectator to name any card. Alternatively, you can have a
card freely selected from another deck, and discover the identity of the card via secret
markings or a glimpse. This way, the audience believes that you have no idea what the
selected card is up until the final revelation. This is a matter of choice; you may, of
course, just directly ask the spectator to name a card.
I'll describe later what to do if he names the odd-backed card. However, if he names any
other card, pick up the cased deck. You will appear to merely remove the cards from

13 Probably the earliest routine in which a sticky card is used to show a named card as the only odd-backed
card in a deck is Ted Annemann's "Remote Control", which was marketed in 1931. It can be found in 7he
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (1937), edited by Jean Hugard, page 121.

32 out of the blue

the deck, and in the process of doing so, you will bring the named card to the top of
the deck, while maintaining the blue-backed card on the bottom. As you talk to the
spectator, emphasizing the fairness of his naming a random card, open the flap and
hold the cased deck such that you can riffle through the cards with your right thumb
and see their indexes flying by as described in "A.WA.C.A.A.N."
Once you've spotted the named card, while holding a break above it, turn your right
hand palm down, and let the named card riffle off your thumb, so that the named card
lies on top of the bottom portion. With the opening of the card box toward your body,
reach into the case and with your left thumb and index finger begin to remove the
bottom portion of the deck until it is about three-quarters out (pies. 1 & 2).

repertoire 33
34 out of the blue
Then, with the aid of your left middle and ring fingers, push the bottom card (the waxed
blue-backer) back into the case, so that about half of it remains jogged outside (pic. 3).
Remove the bottom packet entirely, and lever the cards downward slightly, so that the
blue-backer bends (pic. 4). Finally, drop the top portion of cards- inside the case-below
the removed packet and onto the blue card, and tilt the case down. Allow this top portion
to slide on top of the "slide card" (the blue-backer) and underneath the removed packet,
which was the bottom portion (pies. 5 & 6). Remove the entire deck and toss the c~se aside.
The result is that the deck is in your left hand, with the named card on top of the deck
and the blue-backer on the bottom. As you move forward to spread the cards onto the
table, execute a pass, and then apply some pressure to adhere the odd-backed card to
the named card. (You may, of course, simply cut the deck and apply a little pressure,
with the same result.) Spread through the cards, remove the odd-backed card (which is
actually a double), and reveal it to be the named selection.
If the named card lies deep in the stack you will first remove only a small portion from
the box and then drop out the majority of the cards to complete the secret shift from
the box. In those cases make sure that the opening of the box is facing you so that the
spectators won't have a chance to see the mechanics of the removal.
If the spectator does initially name the odd-backed card, the most straightforward
option is to remove the cards from the box and reveal that the named card is now at
the face of the deck. As a kicker, turn that card over and comment, "This card has a blue
back, but to be honest, it's the only card in the whole deck with a blue back." Turn the rest
of the cards over and spread them to show that all of them have red backs·.
Although that handling is efficient and quite effective, my preferred way is to shift the blue-
backed card to the middle of the deck (as described below) and then spread the cards face
down to expose the one odd-colored back in the middle of the spread. This display should
create suspense. Here are two ways to get the odd-backed card to the middle of the deck:

1. Remove the face-down cards from the box, without exposing the bottom
card, and give the cards a casual cut.
2. Use the shift described in ''A.W.A.C.A.A.N." to secretly cut the odd-
backed card to somewhere near the middle of the deck as you remove
the cards from the box. That is, riffie through the cards with your right
thumb to approximately the middle of the deck. Maintain the break and
tilt the deck down, so the box's opening is toward you. With your left
· fingers remove the bottom portion-the cards under the break. Allow
the top portion of cards to slide under the bottom portion until all cards
are squared on your left hand.

Once the deck is removed from the box, in order to prevent the odd-backed card from
sticking to the card below it, be sure not to apply pressure to the deck as you execute
a face-down ribbon spread. Point out, «There's only one card in here with a blue back.
Remind us, which card did you prefer?" Once the spectator replies, remove the blue card
from the spread, turn it over, and hope it gets the response it deserves.

repertoire 35
 true colors

M
any tricks evolve over a long period of time; you start with some vague ideas,
play with them for a while, and then forget about them until you feel like
they might be worth a revisit. That cycle can repeat itself for years. "True
Colors" was one of those tricks. It started with a fascination with the phenomenal
Gilbreath principle. 14 While I cannot take credit for the application of this principle to
the Color Sense plot-many others have done so, as well-this effect does contain certain
aspects of handling and management that I think are of interest.
M ost methods for Color Sense, in which the magician is able to divine the colors of the
cards without looking at them, have involved memorization, physical preparation of the
cards, or mathematical formulae. I have always found mathematical principles, such as
the Gilbreath principle, to be especially deceptive tools, but only to the extent that the
performer is able to disguise the "mathematical feel" that occurs with some methods.
This handling, I think you'll find, does not suffer from such a problem.

14 This principle was, of course, discovered by Norman Gilbreath, who first explained it in the July 1958 issue
of The Linking Ring, in the context of his trick "Magnetic Colors".

repertoire 37
 PREPARATI 0 N: Arrange a complete deck of fifty-two cards so that the colors alternate,
i.e., black, red, black, red, black, etc.

PERFORMANCE: Give the deck a casual false shuffle. Place the cards onto the
table and ask a spectator to give the deck a few cuts. Place the deck face down in
front of a different spectator and ask him to riffle shuffle the cards, but caution him
not to push them completely flush. I suggest you mime this for him, as you deliver
your instructions. Once the cards are interlaced, spread them out on the table to
demonstrate the authenticity and randomness of the shuffle. As the audience agrees
that the shuffle is indeed legitimate, ask your spectator to push the cards together and
square the deck. 15
I am sure some of you might find this process unnecessary and perhaps even boring.
You can, of course, shorten the procedure by simply having the spectator shuffle and
square the deck without spreading out the half-interlaced cards. The fact is, however,
that due to the Gilbreath principle, the spectator can only shuffle the deck once; any
more will ruin the method. And so, in order to get as much mileage as possible from
this single shuffle, and also to prevent the spectator from questioning why the cards are
only shuffled once, devote some time to its execution. In terms of building suspense
for the climax, this process is crucial. Additionally, after the shuffle, ask the spectator
to give the cards a few cuts. This will give the impression that the cards were handled
quite a bit by the spectator, and are well mixed.
Turn the deck face up and spread it in your hands as you comment on how fairly the
cards have been shuffled. As you talk, check if the top and bottom cards of the deck are
of the same color. If they are, you don't need to do anything. If they are not, then scan
the deck for two cards of the same color that are together in the spread. Cut between
these two cards with one half of the deck in each hand. Gesture with the cards as you
make a statement about how well mixed the cards are. Put the halves back together,
completing the cut, which gets buried within the gesture. Now the cards on the top
and bottom are of the same color.
From the audience's point of view, the effect has not even begun. From a method
standpoint, however, most of your work is done. Two piles now have to be dealt. You
can do the dealing, but I prefer to let a spectator handle it. I also give him several
choices that don't affect the outcome, but they seem to randomize the actions and they
really contribute to the impact of the effect. "Deal the cards back and forth to you and
me, like in a poker game. You can start by dealing the first card to me or to you, whichever
you prefer. " After a few cards have been dealt, tell the spectator he can stop at any
point he wants. It doesn't matter when he stops, as long as each pile contains the same
number of cards- ask him if he would like to trade piles. Once he decides on a pile,
ask him to take it in his hands, under the table.

15 Scaging a riffie shuffie in chis way is generally credited co Juan Tamariz.

38 true colors
Thanks to the Gilbreath principle, the colors of the cards in one pile will be the opposites
of the colors in the other, i.e., if the top card of the spectator's pile is red, the top card of
the remaining (unchosen) pile will be black, and so on with each successive card. So .. .
As the spectator takes his cards under the table, glimpse the bottom card of the deck.
This will be your key card. Casually drop the deck on top of the unwanted pile and, in
a continuing action, turn the combined packet face up and spread it across the table
as you again comment on how thoroughly the cards have been shuffied. As you do so,
scan for your key card. The first card after your key card-which was the top card of the
unchosen pile- will be the opposite color of the top card of the packet the spectator is
holding underneath the table, and the second card will cue you as to his second card,
and the third card will cue you as to his third card, and so on. Reveal the colors of the
spectator's cards one at a time, as dramatically as you can. With every color you name,
the spectator brings up the next card, confirming your divination.
Since there's no real climax to this trick, you must create a grand finale by selling the
revelation of the final few cards with extra enthusiasm and attitude. Asking the spectator to
fan the final three cards under the table, and calling all three colors at once is very effective.

ENDNOTES: This can be presented in many ways: as a demonstration of heightened

sensory perception (you can sense the colors through the table), as a memory
demonstration (you can memorize the sequence of colors in a shuffied deck), or as a
demonstration of telepathy (you can read the spectator's mind as he looks at his cards).
The choice, of course, is yours to make.
This trick is so deceptive that even if you told your audience that it's a mathematical
trick, it would take quite a while to explain the mathematical principle and why it
works. However, if you would like to add yet another layer of deception, you could use
marked cards, which will enable you to spread the cards face down so that your open
index is not so open. Once the two piles have been dealt by the spectator, retrieve the
remainder of the deck from him and note the bottom card, which will serve as your
key card later. Ask him, ((Which pile would you like to use?" Once he chooses a pile, drop
the cards in your hands on top of the pile he didn't select. Pick up the combined cards,
and as you spread them face down, state, ((Remember, you shuffled these cards thoroughly. "
Tilt your head down and cover your eyes with your hand, and ask him to take the
chosen pile underneath the table or behind his back, depending on the circumstances.
Although your hand is covering your eyes, you can easily look down and see the ribbon
spread of cards. This may sound like an unconvincing blindfold, but it works because
the trick would still be effective even if you weren't "blindfolded". Since the cards on the
table are marked, you can spot the key card that you committed to memory. The color
of every card after the key card will be the opposite color of the cards the spectator is
holding. Proceed as described above.

repertoire 39
 There are a lot of ways to make this routine dramatically interesting. Ask the spectator,
((Would you like me to guess the color of the card on the top or the bottom?" Since the face-
up spread is right in front of you, you can call out the colors from either end; therefore
multiple times you can allow him to choose which card from his packet he would like
you to guess. Your spread not only tells you the colors of the cards, but how many cards
there are in total, and accordingly, when you get toward the end, you know how many
are left. Therefore, you can often produce a situation where the spectator ends up with
four cards, three red and one black (or vice versa). Ask him to shuffle his last few cards,
and place your hand on the table over the spot where the cards are under the table, and
say, '1 think you have four cards left. "This plays as an effect because people don't expect
you to know that. If three of the cards are red and one is black, you have a 75% chance
to be correct when you tell him that you think the first card is red; if you hit it, enjoy the
ovation, and you have a 67% chance of being correct that the next card is red. If correct
again, you have a 50/50 chance the third card is red. If on any guess, you are wrong, it
will be your only mistake and you can be 100% correct with the remaining cards. If you
survive the first three rounds, then the last one is a guarantee-it's the only black card.
Another idea: If you survive the first two rounds, ask him to hold one card in each hand.
Say, ((I think one is black and the other is red. "Have him bring up and reveal both cards
at the same time. Another possible scenario is to control the situation-by alternating
strategically between the top and the bottom-so that you end up with an entire packet
of the same color. Ask him to mix them. Once he is done, ask him to get rid of half of
them, without showing their faces, and lose them in the deck. Say, '1 think you kept three
cards [or however many] and they are all red [or black]. "
In a conversation with Juan Tamariz, he suggested I could combine this routine with
a presentational idea of his. 16 Introduce the cards as rudimentary Tarot cards and say,
''Each card's color, suit, and value mean something, but we are going to keep it simple and
just pay attention to the colors-red and black. A black card means no and red means yes. "
Ask a spectator to secretly write down the name of a famous person and retrieve this
info via an impression pad, a center tear, or a peek. (Let's assume Charlie Chaplin was
chosen.) Continue with the trick as described and once you get to the point where
the spectator has a pile of cards under the table, say, ((We will ask the cards 'yes or no'
questions. Is the person you thought ofalive? Bring out the top card. " The person removes a
black card which means no, and indeed that is the correct answer. Of course, since you
know which color is going to show up every time, you ask questions that will generate
the correct answers. It's nice if the last card is red so the last question could be, './lre you
thinking of Charlie Chaplin?" and the last card "answers" yes. If the last card is black,
then ask him to pull a card from the bottom during the early questions: ''Pull one from
the bottom, for a change, to see if the cards really can tell the truth. "I'll do this as many
times as necessary (equal to the number of black cards at the bottom of the packet) to
guarantee that the last question will be answered with a "yes" card.

16 This idea is fro m ''Answering Computer" in Mnemonica (2004) by Juan Tamariz, page 220.

40 true colors
You can eliminate the contrived procedure of dealing the cards into two piles if you
are one of the four people in the world who has mastered the very difficult anti-faro
technique by Christian Engblom. 17 After the spectator shuffles the cards, run through
the face-up deck as you comment, "All the cards are well mixed." Cut the deck anywhere
between two cards of the same color and complete the cut- unless the top and bottom
cards of the deck are already of the same color, in which case you don't need to cut
the deck. Hold the deck face down and execute the anti-faro move; you only need
the get the top twenty or so cards to unweave perfectly. (It should appear as if you
are just toying with the deck.) Of the outjogged cards, you only need the top ten or
so. Therefore, with your left index finger, push in and square all the outjogged cards,
underneath these top ten (or so) cards. Your left middle, ring, and little fingers rest on
the right side of the deck, with the little finger at the very inner end. As you take the
deck in right-hand end grip, with your right ring finger, push the outer right corners of
the remaining outjogged cards to the left, angling them slightly.
The following actions 18 all take place continuously, with no pausing at any point. With
your right index finger at the outer left corners of those outjogged cards, push the cards
inward, into the larger packet; the cards will shift even farther to the left, until they are
at about a forty-five-degree angle. The left thumb takes over, and continues to push the
jogged cards straight back toward the inner end. Your right fingers shift from being in
contact with the outer ends of the outjogged cards to the outer end of the larger packet.
The angled cards have been pushed about halfway through the deck, and are sticking
out almost halfway at the inner right corner of the deck. The right hand provides cover
for the angled cards. Your left thumb lies along the left side of the deck, and the left
middle and ring fingers are along the right side of the angled cards. The little finger is at
the inner end of the anglejogged packet, and in a moment the left index finger will be at
the outer end of this packet (as soon as the deck is out of the way during the upcoming
strip-out action), so that the packet will be held in a straddle grip.
By simultaneously rotating your right hand counterclockwise with the deck and rotating
the left hand clockwise with the angle-jogged cards, you can pull the angled cards out
from the right-hand cards. Briefly turn the right-hand packet face up while saying, "You
shuffled and cut the cards several times." Turn the right hand palm down and complete
the "cut" by placing the right-hand packet on top, obtaining a left little-finger break
between the packets. From most angles, this action will be perceived as a cut, but for
those watching the false cut from a bad angle, the comment, along with the gesture, will
make it seem as if you are just recapping their actions.
Take the deck into right-hand end grip and transfer the break to your right thumb.
You are now in position to perform a dribble force. 19 Here's a brief description. (It

17 Engblom's anti-faro was first published in Genii, May 2001.

18 This push through, in the context of a false shuffle, is also described on page 132, with illustrations.
19 The dribble force can be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 4 (2000), page 804.

repertoire 41
 will be easier to dribble the cards if the tips of your right fingers don't extend beyond
the bottom card of the deck.) Say, ((We only need a few cards, so as I drop some, stop me
whenever you'd like." Dribble cards from the bottom of the deck onto the table (or the
palm of your left hand) at a steady pace, and as soon you see that the spectator's lips
start to move slightly, indicating he's about to speak, pick up the speed and drop the
remainder of the cards beneath the break. The last cards should fall just as he is saying,
"Stop." Ask the spectator to pick up the dropped cards and to place them under the
table out of your sight. If you spread the rest of the deck face up on the table from left
to right, every card, starting at the left end of the spread, will be the opposite color of
its corresponding card in his packet. Proceed as described above.
Normally everything in my repertoire takes years of work and refinement, and only
when I feel that they are worthy of the ink do I publish them. I'm breaking that rule by
including this next idea. It's an impulsive, last-minute decision to include it, so bear in
mind that this idea is something I'll probably be tweaking for years to come.
Executing the setup for "True Colors" is more complicated than performing the trick.
It requires a full-deck stack, therefore you either need to use it as an opener, perform
tricks that won't disturb the order, or do a deck switch. As I've said elsewhere, one of my
goals is to be able to perform every trick impromptu with a shuffied, borrowed deck.
With this trick, that would mean finding a way to set up right in front of the audience.
An obvious solution would be to separate the colors via a cull as you look for Jokers or
Aces, etc. You then execute a faro shuffie. However, I don't like this solution very much
because I think it takes longer than is desirable due to the two procedures required-
culling twenty-six cards and a perfect faro shuffie. Here is a solution I like better.
Start by having the cards shuffied by a few members of the audience. This gives you an
opportunity to determine which spectator does the best riffie shuffie. After the cards
have been shuffied, turn the deck face up and spread through the cards. ((You must agree
with me, these cards are thoroughly shuffled. "
Find a run of at least four cards that alternate red, black, red, black. Cut those cards
to the face of the pack. Spread through the cards again and cull each card that you
come to that disturbs the red-black-red-black pattern established by the cards you
cut to the face . For example, let's say you've just thumbed over a red card; if the next
card is black, thumb it to the right as well. However, if that black card is followed by
one or more black cards, cull them under the spread 20 until you come to another red
card, which you thumb to the right. Continue this process until you have reached the
last card in the deck. You will end up with two more-or-less equal halves; the cards
in the upper half are perfectly alternating red and black, and the cards in the lower
half are randomly mixed. Determining the separation between the two halves is easy,
because the 'bottom half will be relatively squared under the spread, and the top half
will be spread somewhat to the left. Cut the upper, stacked half to the bottom, and

20 Any Hofzinser-sryle spread cull you're familiar with will work. A good description of a spread cull can be
fo und in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 1 (1995), page 187.

42 true colors
estimate how many cards are in this portion (it's okay if you are a few cards off with
your estimation). Turn the deck face down.
If, for example, you estimate there are about thirty cards in the (now) upper half, hold
the deck in left-hand dealing position, and with your right hand, strip out about half
the deck from the middle, starting fifteen cards from the top (your starting point is half
your estimate of the upper, alternating portion) . This will leave about fifteen cards above
and eleven cards below the stripped-out portion, which you let coalesce into one packet.
To the audience, this should look like you are merely cutting the deck in half.
You now have two halves with the top fifteen or so cards of each alternating red and
black. Ask a spectator to riffle shuffle the two packets. The shuffle needs to be somewhat
even and not too clumpy. That's why finding the right person for this ~ask is crucial. After
the shuffle, turn the deck face up and compliment your spectator on shuffling the cards
so well. Spot the pair of the same color that is nearest the rear of the face-up deck. Cut
between the pair, and transfer those few cards to the face of the deck. (If you memorize
the two cards that remain at the rear of the deck, you can use this knowledge to reveal the
identity of the last card as the final climax of the trick, because one of these cards will be
the last one in your spread, and the other will be the last card in the spectator's packet.)
Turn the deck face down, and ask your spectator to deal the cards back and forth into
two piles. After he has dealt about eight cards to each pile, say, '11 few more would be
fine. " Make sure he deals two even piles. Since you estimated the stacked half to be
about thirty cards, it's best that he deals no more than twelve cards to each pile; this way,
you ensure that he doesn't exceed the estimated number. From this point on, proceed
as described.

repertoire 43
 somebody stop me

he performer turns his back while a spectator cuts to a card and loses his

T selection among the other cards. The spectator then deals the cards face down
onto the table, one at a time, until the performer calls for him to stop. The
stopped-at card is found to be the selected card.
I have always been fascinated with Stop Tricks. I have performed the following effect for
quite some time and, over the years, have made several improvements to the handling.
In its current form, it has the following valuable features: Once you place the deck onto
the table, you never touch the cards again and even more amazingly, you appear to never
look at the cards during the performance.

PREPARATION: You will need to mark the back of one card. There are dozens of
ways to do this, and you likely have a preferred method. The only crucial detail is that
the mark must be visual enough to be spotted quickly, with no hesitation. The back
designs of most decks have good options for marking them in such a way that's easy
for you to spot, while remaining unnoticeable to the audience. For example, you can
use a permanent marker of the same color as the back design to fill in particular dots,
flower petals, or curlicues, etc. Whichever marking system you use, I'll assume you've
marked the back of the Ace of Spades. Place this card twenty-sixth from the top. In the
endnotes, I'll explain a way to get the marked card into position in performance from
a shuffied deck. Finally, have a marker handy. Having the card signed really helps to
amplify the climax.

repertoire 45
 PERFORMANCE: Give the deck a casual false shuffle as you invite an audience
member to assist you. Place the deck face down onto the table and introduce the effect.
Your choice of words will depend on your style, persona, and presentational approach
to the effect. Perhaps you want to demonstrate your heightened sense of intuition or
show your close connection with this particular deck of cards, or perhaps you're going
to demonstrate an entirely random, miraculous coincidence. It is extremely important
to give your audience some sort of context to help justify the upcoming procedure.
Ask your volunteer to face the audience. Walk away, far enough to make it clear that
you couldn't possibly manipulate the cards, but near enough to comfortably give the
spectator instructions and to be able to glimpse the mark on the back of the Ace of Spades
later on. Turn and face the audience, with your back partially toward the participant.
«Please cut offa packet ofcards. We'll need more cards later on, so please cut less than halfthe
deck. And hold those cards in your hands." (It's important, for the method to work, that
he doesn't cut off more than half.) To convey the instructions as clearly as possible, you
must not only choose your words with precision but also mime the necessary actions
as you instruct him. (A side note: Sometimes when you need to demonstrate what a
spectator should do with a deck of cards and you don't have another deck to demonstrate
with, you can use the box to simulate a deck and indicate how he should hold it, turn
it around, and so forth. If the box has a back design on one side and you hold the box
with the design side up, it very much resembles a deck of cards.)
Ask him to look through the cards he cut off and to make sure that they're all different.
((Good, now shuffle these cards as much as you would like and then turn over the top card
and look at it, but don't let me see it." Ask him if he's satisfied with this card. If he isn't,
tell him he can shuffle the cards again and turn over the new top card. Stressing that he
has a choice here contributes to the strength of this trick.
Once he's satisfied with his choice, ask him to sign the face of the card with the marker,
and then turn the card face down on top of his packet. Say, ((To make sure that the card
is completely lost, lift offabout half of the tabled portion, and place that packet on top ofthe
cards in your hands." (This packet, of course, goes right on top of his selection.) Finally,
ask him, or another person, to hide the remaining tabled cards in his pocket.
Remind him that, so far, you have been looking away. Mention also the fairness of
the procedure- every decision, every choice, every action was made by him. As you
recap, turn toward him. Tell him that you want him to deal cards onto the table, face
down, one at a time, into a pile, and that you will attempt to stop him at his card.
Mime the required actions as you instruct him. Keep speaking, and time it such that
it seems perfectly natural for you to be talking-and facing him- as he starts to deal.
Your appanmt motivation for briefly turning toward him is to recap the fairness of the
proceedings and also to give him instructions. Secretly count the cards as he deals. The
marked card will typically be among the first five to fifteen cards dealt. You must note
the position of this card. Let's say the marked card is the seventh card dealt; mentally
deduct seven from twenty-six-nineteen is the result. Remember the number nineteen.

46 somebody stop me
Once you've spotted the marked card, you can shift your attention back to the audience,
as you no longer need to watch the spectator. Address the audience as you continue to
sell the premise that you will stop him at his card. However, continue talking, such that
the spectator deals through the entire packet. He will eventually tell you that this has
happened. Pause, smile, and say, "Wow, you're fast. "This is an amusing moment, and even
though it must happen for the method to work, this little "flaw" not only gets a laugh, it
also builds some suspense by creating the impression that the card is hopelessly lost.
Have him pick up the pile of cards. There appears to be no way for you to know the
position of his card, but thanks to the calculation you did earlier, you now know
that his card is nineteenth from the top. Ask him to deal the cards again, but slightly
slower. Concentrate and listen to every card that he deals , thus enabling you to
know when he's dealt eighteen cards. Shout for him to stop the instant he takes the
nineteenth card into his hand. If he deals too silently for you to hear, and you'd rather
not take the risk, you may turn around and look into his eyes while he deals-use
your peripheral vision to keep track of the number of cards dealt. Either way, stop
him just as he's taking the selected card into his dealing hand. Have him confirm the
name of his selection. Ask him to turn it over- the signature will make the audience
immediately recognize the card.
I assure you that while the process of this trick may seem somewhat elaborate in
print, it not only moves quite swiftly in performance, it also serves to underscore the
impossibility of the final moment.

ENDNOTES: You must be able to give instructions in a way that is clear and precise,
but also casual; too loose and the spectator might be confused, too heavy-handed and
the audience may think the procedure seems contrived. You may, if you wish, have a
friend or a magician in the audience signal you if something goes wrong. I often do.
Here is deceptive touch that I like to add, though there is a slight chance of it going
wrong if you are not careful. Instead of letting him deal through the entire packet, wait
until you are certain he has fewer cards left than the number you calculated when you
saw the marked card (nineteen in our example). Stop him and say, 'Tm sorry, I lost focus
for a minute. Shuffle those cards in your hands, and let's start over." Although this shuffie
does not affect the position of the chosen card, it greatly adds to the illusion of impos-
sibility and randomness of the trick. After he shuffies the undealt cards, instruct him
to put those cards on top of the dealt pile, and to pick up the entire packet and deal
the cards onto the table again. The chosen card will still be the nineteenth card down.
I highly encourage you to have a strong Plan B in the event of a troublesome or clumsy
spectator. He may, for example, drop and scatter the deck, in which case the effect is
beyond recovery. For these reasons, I use edge-marked cards for this trick and I carry
a Card-to-Wallet wallet. If there's a problem, I can easily spot the card via the marks,
palm it, and produce it from the wallet with the explanation that it couldn't possibly be
stopped at because it wasn't in the deck to begin with.

repertoire 47
 In general, I like to let spectators handle the cards as much as possible, even when it's
not necessary for the trick. If they handle the cards more than I do, they will remember
that. Therefore, I usually begin this routine by having the spectator shuffle the deck.
Of course, you then need to get the Ace of Spades into the twenty-sixth position from
a shuffled deck. There are several ways to do this. Here is my preferred method, which
involves a faro check. 21
Start by controlling the marked card to the bottom of the deck as follows. Spread
through the face-up deck while stating, 'As you can see, these cards are thoroughly shuffled. "
Spot the Ace of Spades, cut it to the face of the deck, and turn the deck face down. (If
the Ace of Spades is crimped, or if it has its two non-index corners shortened, you don't
have to look through the cards to get it into position; you can just cut it to the bottom
of the face-down deck.) Try to lift off precisely twenty-six cards, and then execute an
out-faro (i.e., the original top card remains on top and the original bottom card remains
on bottom). If you succeeded at cutting off exactly half the deck, the faro shuffle will
confirm it- after the cards are interlaced, there won't be any extra cards in either half.
If the weave indicates the cut is not even, unweave the cards, adjust the cut, and do
another faro check. Once the faro confirms two perfect halves, you have two options:
1) You can unweave the cards and place the top half on the bottom. The marked card
is now precisely twenty-sixth from the top. This should look like you started a shuffle,
but changed your mind midway. 2) You can seem to complete the shuffle by using any
number of false shuffles, for example, the push-through shuffle described on page 132.

21 The faro check was first published by Alex Elmsley in the November 1956 issue of Pentagram. Elmsley
published two other practical ways to position a key card to the twenty-sixth position in The Collected WOrks of
Alex Elmsley, volume II ( 1994) by Stephen Minch, page 301. A good description of the faro shuffie can be found
in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 3 (1998) , page 686.

48 somebody stop me
repertoire 49
 s.a.c.a.a.n.

y now you may have guessed that I am obsessed with the ACAAN plot. Most

B often, I perform the first version of ACAAN described earlier in this book. So
why am I bothering you with another version? Well, the first version relies on a
memorized deck, one of the most diabolical tools in card magic. But as beneficial as the
memorized deck can be, it comes at a price. First, you need to have the cards stacked
in advance. Second, the cards can't be shuffied by your audience. Shuffiing the cards at
the beginning of this plot makes it much more impressive. With this version, you can
perform ACAAN with a (seemingly) completely shuffied deck. It came about because
I got a copy of Denis Behr's Handcrafted Card Magic, volume 2 on the same day I had
to fly from New York to Los Angeles. The book was great company during the six-hour
flight, and one of the tricks that caught my attention was "Shuffied ACAAN", which
was the inspiration for this version.
Although this is not a regular item in my show, I highly value the lessons I learned while
structuring this trick. Indeed, this variation became a steppingstone to the third version
(on page 137), which is now a staple in my walk-around set.

repertoire 51
 PREPARATION: The card case needs to be modified as described on page 19 of
''A.W.A.C.A.A.N.", and you also need to learn a memorized stack. Technically, you
don't need to memorize a full deck for this trick; you only need to know the thirteen
cards that fall at multiples of four in the stack (the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th cards, etc.). 22
Here is a chart showing the necessary cards in both the Mnemonica and Aronson stacks.

I I MNEMONICA ARONSON

4 3. 2.
8 5• 6.
12 3+ 5•
16 5+ 8.
MOMO"''""""""""- ·····-·-·-·····-
20
···-···-·-·-·--···-·-····-- ··---·--
J• 5+
24 10. 3+
28 3• 7.
32 J
J J
40 4+ 3.
44 9. 6+
48 Q+ Q+
52 9+ 9+
PERFORMANCE: Although the impression is that the deck is shuffled, in reality only
thirty-nine cards get shuffled; you must hold out the bank of thirteen memorized cards
arranged in order. There are a few ways you could get into this trick. If you start with the
entire deck in a stack, you could spread the cards face down, and cull every fourth card
to the bottom. At the end of the cull, the bottom thirteen cards would need to remain
in order while the rest of the cards are freely shuffled. Any false shuffle that maintains
the bottom bank will work. You could also give several people portions of the deck to
shuffle, keeping the last thirteen cards in your hands. (You can obtain a break above the
top card of that group right after the cull, or you could mark or crimp the first card
in your stock- number four in your memorized stack- so that you know where your
bank of cards starts.) With your packet, demonstrate how you want the spectators to

22 This marvelous concept is derived from the prediction phase of "Marlo's Miracle Routine" in Marlo in Spades
(1947) by Ed Marlo, page 13.

52 s.a.c.a.a.n.
shuffle their packets. Obviously, you either need to use false shuffles or shuffles that
surreptitiously return your packet to the order it started in. Then collect the cards from
everybody and reassemble the deck, with your stack on top.
If you choose to start with your thirteen-card stack on the top of the deck, spread
the cards face up until you see the last card of your stack (number fifty-two in your
memorized stack), and obtain a break above it as you square the deck. Lower the deck
beneath the table while you adjust your chair and, with your left hand, steal the cards
below the break and insert the packet into the crook of your knee and clench the cards
between your thigh and calf (pic. 1). 23 The remainder of the pack can now be freely
shuffled, but if you were to let a spectator handle the cards he might be able to tell that
it's not a complete deck. The solution to this problem is to mix the cards in a casino-
style "wash", where all the cards are spread face up on the table. Ask several spectators
to slide them around with the palms of their hands, mixing them with one another. A
wash shuffle makes it very hard to detect that the deck is thinner than it should be. It is
also very suitable for the following deceptive add-on.
While your spectators are washing the cards on the table, with your left hand, grab the
packet that is clenched in your knee and bring it face up underneath the edge of the
table. Simultaneously, put your right hand down on a bunch of cards on top of the table
and slide those toward the edge of the table in a sweeping motion. Sweep them off the
edge of the table directly onto the cards in your left hand (pic. 2).

23 This knee holdout technique was firs t described in print by Arthur Buckley in his book Card Control (1946),
page 112. Buckley doesn't explicitly claim the move, and it was most likely invented by gamblers.

repertoire 53
 Place this combined packet onto the table and keep picking up and adding groups
of cards on top of that pile until you have reassembled the entire deck. Right now
you should have thirty-nine randomly mixed cards on top of your thirteen-card bank.
Square the cards, pick up the deck, and turn it face down.
Cut about half the deck to the bottom and obtain a little-finger break between the
halves (your bank will be below the break). Run through the cards from top to bottom,
and display the faces of the cards to a spectator at eye level as you say, '.lis I go through
the deck, think ofone of these cards." Time it so that you get to the break as you are com-
pleting that sentence. As you continue to spread through the deck, the goal is to restrict
your spectator to think of a card from your bank of thirteen cards. After you have spread
through the bank, pause, and confirm that he made a mental selection. Square the deck,
turn it face up, and spread through the faces again, saying, "So, you are thinking of one
of these cards. "
Spread to the last card in your bank (which is actually card number four in your full
memorized stack) . Cut all the cards beneath that card and bring them to the face , so you
end up with the thirteen-card bank on the bottom of the face-up deck. Turn the deck
face down and perform two in-faro shuffies to place every card of your bank into its
correct stack position, i.e. , the first card in the bank ends up fourth, and the second card
ends up eighth, the third ends up twelfth, and so forth. Because the deck has already
been mixed by spectators, shuffiing at this point might seem like overkill. Therefore,
before executing the in-faros ask the person who thought of a card to choose anyone in
the crowd, and then ask that person to think of a number between one and fifty-two.
This procedure helps shift the focus away from these two in-faros.

54 s.a.c . a.a.n.
If you find the idea of doing faros in performance daunting, here are two tips to make
them easier. The first faro doesn't require cutting the deck exactly in half, because you
only need to interweave the top thirteen cards of each portion. After the first faro, the
last card in your thirteen-card stack (Nine of Diamonds in Aronson and Mnemonica)
is now positioned twenty-sixth, which is exactly half the deck; so with a casual spread
you can locate that card and split the deck exactly into two halves and go straight into
the second in-faro. Once the two faros are done, place the deck into the card case, the
faces toward the thumb notch.
I like that at this point I can make the following statements, which are utterly true:
"You all have to agree with me that these cards have been thoroughly shuffled. Also, you are
thinking ofa card. And you are thinking ofa number. And these are only known to you two. "
Once the first spectator declares his chosen card (one of your thirteen-card bank),
translate that card into the number associated with it in your memorized deck; for
example, the Ten of Clubs is twenty-four in Mnemonica. Ask the other spectator to
share the number he is thinking of. Let's say he says twenty. The mathematical gears
in your head should start spinning. If you subtract twenty from twenty-four, you will
come to the conclusion that all you have to do is transfer four cards from the top of the
deck to the bottom, by riffiing the top of the deck until you see the fourth card in your
stack (Three of Clubs in Mnemonica) , and performing the secret shift at this position
as you remove the deck from the box.
But what if the chosen number is not a multiple of four? Well, we rely on the thirteen
memorized cards positioned throughout the deck as anchors to get to every location in
the deck. Let's say, for example, that the chosen card was the Jack of Diamonds (thirty-
two in Mnemonica), and the other spectator chooses the number fifteen. The first step
is similar to the example above; thirty-two minus fifteen is seventeen. Accordingly, you
will need to shift seventeen cards from the top of the deck to the bottom. However,
seventeen is not a multiple of four, so you need to think what number is the closest
multiple of four above seventeen-in this case, twenty. (Obviously, sixteen is closer to
seventeen, but it's easier to locate the twentieth card and riffie backward to seventeen.)
Riffie until you see the twentieth card in your stack; then keep riffiing and count
nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, and hold a break there (the seventeenth card will be a
random card) to execute the secret shift.
Obviously, sometimes the chosen number is higher than the location of the card; for
example, let's say the thought-of card is the Three of Diamonds (twelve in Mnemonica)
and the number is thirty-four. There is just one more set of mental gymnastics you will
need to perform. Because the number is larger than the card's stack number you need
to execute two subtractions: First subtract twelve from thirty-four to get twenty-two
and then subtract the result from fifty-two; in our example, it would be thirty. Proceed
in the same fashion as with the former cases, i.e., ask yourself, is this number (thirty)
a multiple of four? (No.) What is the closest multiple of four that is greater than it?
(Thirty-two.) Riffie until you see the thirty-second card in your stack, and then riffie off
two more cards, and hold a break. Once you have executed the secret shift from the box,
conclude the trickas described in "A.WA.C.A.A.N."

repertoire 55
 •
a COlll trick

his trick is a variation of "Prior Commitment", Simon Aronson's wonderful

T trick, which uses a clever mathematical principle, but it doesn't feel like a
mathematical trick- which is why it has fooled so many magicians. 24 To be
honest, the trick fools me every time I perform it. In Try the Impossible Simon explains
how the math works, but I never bothered to learn that part since I like the fact that
I get to be somewhat fooled along with my audience. My contribution is that I have
devised a way to do the trick with a borrowed, shuffled deck. Also, I try to create the
illusion that the magician's handling of the deck is very minimal, and the few times he
does handle the cards are quite forgettable. Are you ready to be fooled?
The performer places a folded piece of paper onto the table. Two spectators are each
asked to cut to a card. These cards are then lost in the middle of the deck. The paper
is opened by the first spectator, and it reads "Your card is the nineteenth card from the
top, and the other card is tenth from the bottom." Indeed, their cards are found at those
positions. I will first explain this straightforward presentation (and method), so that you
can understand the workings of the trick, and then I will describe some of the variations
that I use in different situations.

24 "Prior Commitment" was published in Simon Aronson's Try the Impossible (2001), page 3.

repertoire 57
 PERFORMANCE: Without revealing its contents, introduce your written prediction
and set it aside. Have a deck of cards shuffled by a spectator. Retrieve the deck, and as
you say, 7 could have you pick a card as I go through the deck like this ... " spread it face
down by thumbing over three groups of three cards (a total of nine cards). Continue,
"... but I could force a card on you. "As you say this, thrust the cards toward the spectator
as if you are forcing a card on him. Under cover of this thrusting action, underneath the
spread, with your right ring finger hit the inner right corner of the tenth card and apply
some pressure to crimp the corner slightly downward. 25
'.lin even fairer way for you to choose a card. .. " Lift the deck so the faces are toward the
spectator. "... is for you to look at the cards and just think of any one of these. " Starting
with the card after the crimped card, thumb off six groups of three cards (eighteen more
cards). To make sure you don't lose count, you might find it helpful to think of this
as two sets of three triplets, rather than a set of six triplets- silently count the triplets,
"One, two, three, one, two, three."
"But even then, I could be showing you one card longer than the others, and that wouldn't
be fair, either." By the end of this statement you should have pushed off eighteen cards.
As you lower your hands, bringing the deck horizontal and face down, crimp the inner
right corner of the next card (the twenty-ninth card from the top) as you did with the
tenth card. (Here, the bigger action of lowering the deck conceals the smaller crimping
action, and also, the spectators are not looking directly at your fingers as you execute
the crimp.)
Square the deck and say, 7 think the fairest way for you to choose a card is for me not to
touch the cards at all. "Place the cards face down onto the table. It should seem like the
trick is starting now and everything prior- thumbing through the deck (and secretly
crimping two cards)- was just prologue. "So, just cut anywhere you want. Actually, cut
less than half because, in a moment, I am also going to ask another spectator to cut off a
bunch ofcards, so leave some for him, too. "You need to make sure he cuts between the two
crimps, but that should be almost automatic because he merely needs to cut between
eleven and twenty-eight cards. And it's easy for you to monitor, since the crimps are
facing you and no one else can see them from the front. If he cuts above the top crimp
say, '/!.few more. Don't be shy. "And if he cuts below the bottom crimp say, '.lilittle less.
Leave some for the next spectator to cut. "
After the first spectator cuts a portion of the deck, ask a second spectator to cut off a
bunch of cards. He has more freedom to cut anywhere; it is only important that he cuts
below the second crimp. Again, this is almost a certainty, but you need to watch for it.
Ask each spectator to note the bottom card of his packet and then to replace the packet.
It is important that the first spectator returns his packet first and then the second
spectator replaces his cards. This reverses the positions of their packets in the deck, but
the spectator who cut first also replaces first, so it seems natural.

25 This method for corner crimping a card was published by John Northern Hilliard in Greater Magic (1938),
page 46.

58 a coin trick
Pick up the deck and hold it between your hands. Insert your left little finger above
the lower crimp and your ring finger above the upper crimp in preparation for a type
of cover pass, shifting the middle section to the bottom. Insert your little finger deeper
into the lower break and your middle and ring fingers deeper into the upper break, and
grip the middle packet tightly (pic. 1). Your right hand holds both the top and bottom
portions as your left hand shifts the middle section to the bottom (pic. 2). You can do
this openly or invisibly, depending on your style and facility with the move.

repertoire 59
 If you choose to do it openly, you can make it appear as if you are demonstrating
cutting the deck by saying, ((You could have cut deep ... " as the left fingers pull the middle
portion out, leaving it in the left hand as your right hand lifts the top and bottom
portions upward. Drop the bottom portion onto the former middle portion as you
continue, ((. .. or shallow ... " Finally, drop the rest of the cards (the top portion) onto the
combined left-hand packet as you finish, ((... it was up to you." This shift has moved the
selected cards to nineteenth from the top and tenth from the bottom.
Address the first spectator, ((Open the prediction and read it out loud. "He will read "Your
card is the nineteenth card from the top, and the other card is tenth from the bottom."
Execute a ribbon spread. Ask someone to count to the two cards and outjog them. ((For
the first time, tell me the names ofyour two cards." Reveal the selections.
There are many ways you can reveal the numbers. For example, instead of using a
written prediction, you could seem to divine the locations of the cards and announce
them. But here is my favorite presentation (which explains the title). Say, ((This is the
fairest card trick I know, and to make it even fairer, we will toss a coin to determine who
should cut the deck first. Take out some coins. "Borrow a bunch of loose change and spot
a coin that is relatively new- anywhere between 2006 and 2019. It is often easy to
spot coins within this range because they tend to be shinier. Most of the time you will
have several coins to choose from. If you manage to borrow a big bunch of coins, pick
a few qualifying coins (with dates ranging from 2006 to 2019) , and get rid of the rest
by saying, ((We don't need too many." Now they can choose any of the coins left. If you
only find one or two coins with appropriate dates, force one of them using a magician's
force (see the equivoque described on page 91). Once a coin is chosen (or forced), note
the year on that coin, flip the coin to see who cuts the deck first, and proceed as follows.
Let's say that the coin is a quarter from 2016. As you go through the deck, thumb over
fifteen cards and crimp the sixteenth card. Then, starting with the card after the crimped
card, thumb over nineteen more cards and crimp the twentieth card (the thirty-sixth
from the top). To conclude the trick say, ((This is the coin that you chose from a bunch
of borrowed coins. Could you please tell me the year on that coin?" He will answer 2016.
Repeat the year but break it into two double-digit numbers: ((Twenty ... sixteen?" It should
sound like a question because it forces the spectator either to reply, "Yes," or to repeat
the numbers in the same format. The latter is ideal because, in a minute, you will count
twenty from the top and sixteen from the bottom. Before you count to the cards, say, '1t
would be interesting if the cards you cut to are at these numbers." Once you count to those
cards, slide them halfway out of the spread, and ask, ((Would you please name the cards you
chose?" After they are named, have the spectators turn the two cards over. Ta-dah!

ENDNOTES: Since you control the final positions of the selected cards, you have
great flexibility in how to present this trick and what numbers to use. It is preferable to
work with two different numbers where neither exceeds twenty, otherwise the counting
procedure is too long and it increases the chances of making an error. For example, you
can conflate the prediction with the time you are performing the trick. If the time is,

60 s.a.c.a.a.n.
say, 8:18, you know that you are likely to finish the trick around 8:20. Crimp the eighth
card and the one twenty cards beyond that. When you are ready to reveal those cards,
ask what time it is, and then say, 'It's twenty after eight? Okay, so let's count to the twentieth
card from the top and the eighth card from the bottom. "
You can similarly incorporate dates, such as people's birthdays. For example, when you
borrow a bill from a spectator's wallet for "Time Is Money" (see page 1), if their ID is
in the window compartment, note and remember the birthday. If it is November 16th,
you could make the cards appear eleventh from the bottom and sixteenth from the top.
However, if the birthday is February 27th, that combination is problematic because one
number is too low and the other is too high.
Be creative and use any numbers you can get, from people's addresses to their ages, etc.
It's important to keep an open mind with this trick and be flexible enough to decide
spontaneously which numbers would work best in each scenario. Simply remember:
When crimping the cards, you will always count to and crimp the card that lies at the
smaller number first. At the end of the trick, you will count to that smaller number
from the bottom (to find the second selection), and the first selection will be found at
the larger number from the top.

repertoire 61
 double exposure

A
mong the tricks I presented at Magic-Con in 2010 was "Time Is Money" (see
page 1). A line I used in my presentation was, "This trick is based on an ancient
Israeli art called origami, invented by Uri ... Gami." After my short lecture I
took my seat next to Michael Weber, who handed me several sets of his lecture notes,
one of which was opened to a specific item titled "Urigami". This was quite a funny
coincidence. In another set of his notes, I found a very clever routine called "Half-a-
Cheek on the Photocopier (Triumphotocopy)". 26 In that effect a chosen card gets lost
in the deck, and the cards are shuffled face up into face down ala "Triumph". The mixed
cards are spread on a photocopier, and the copy button is pressed. The printed sheet
shows all the cards as face down except for the selected card, which is facing up.
I immediately fell in love with this trick and started to play with this concept, but I
encountered two obstacles that prevented me from performing it as much as I wanted.
First, the trick is situational-you need a photocopier. Second, it uses a gimmicked
deck-a deck I did not often carry with me.
The first change I made was to replace the photocopier with a camera, because nowadays
nearly everyone has a camera-equipped smartphone in their pocket or purse. I figured
instead of photocopying the cards I could snap a picture of the cards while a spectator
is holding them in a fan. But this only solved one problem; I still needed to carry the

26 This was first published by Weber in his lecture ·notes Cinco de Mago (1994).

repertoire 63
 gimmicked cards to perform the trick. I thought it might be possible to do the trick
with an ordinary deck, because I remembered that Alex Elmsley had a great handling for
a non-gimmicked Ultra Mental effect. 27 Based on what I knew about Elmsley's method,
a solution occurred to me. I worked out all the handling details in my head without
trying it out, and I performed it for a friend. It worked! 28
I could have kept performing the trick with a gimmicked deck to great success, but the
restriction I imposed on the trick- using only an ordinary deck- forced me to think
harder and come up with a method that enables me to perform the trick impromptu.
It reminds me of the limitations of origami, the rules of which allow the use of only
one rectangular piece of paper and forbid tearing, gluing, or cutting the paper- only
folds are allowed. These constraints have forced many origami experts to come up with
unconventional and innovative methods that allow them to fold almost anything they
desire. The same dynamic came into play here. This self-imposed restriction enabled me
to devise a version of this plot that is perfect for walk-around, ideally for small groups.

PERFORMANCE: Give the cards to a spectator and ask him to shuffie. The deck
doesn't need to be shuffied at this point, but it is good to let spectators handle the cards
as much as possible, even when it's not crucial for the trick. After the cards are shuffied,
retrieve the deck. As you spread through the deck and ask the spectator to remove a
card, secretly count four groups of three cards and then one more card-which you
slightly injog-for a total of thirteen. Keep spreading the cards until one is selected.
Square the deck, obtaining a left little-finger break beneath the injogged card. (Tll turn
away so you can. take a look at your card. " While your back is turned, take the thirteen
cards above the break and turn them face up onto the bottom of the deck. "Has everyone
seen the card? Please turn it face down, so I can't see it. " Turn back around.
With your right hand, cut off about half the pack (precision here will pay off later,
although if you are off by a few cards, it will still work) and turn it face up. 7 want you
to look closely as I shujfie face-up cards into face -down cards." Execute an out-faro shuffie.
The weave doesn't need to be perfect but should be as close as you are able. Now, in
contrast with many Triumph-like routines, you have an excellent opportunity to spread
the cards and display them genuinely mixed face up with face down. Of course, you can
only show half the deck because the bottom half is all face up, but spread close to the
middle point and then square the cards.
As you hold the cards in your left hand, run your left thumb down the outer corner,
asking the spectator to stop you somewhere in the deck. Time it such that he stops you
somewhere in the lower half of the pack. Have him insert the face-down selection at

27 "Brainweave" was devised in the 1960s and can be found in lhe Collected Works ofAlex Elmsley, volume II
(1994) by Stephen Minch, page 338.
28 Michael Weber has informed me that since publishing his gimmicked deck version referenced above, he has
also lectured about a similar method to the one I describe here, i.e., using a normal deck and Elmsley's "Brain-
weave" concept. My major contributions to this plot are the specifics of my handling and the idea of using a
smartphone camera.

64 double exposure
the point where he stopped you. Square this card into the deck, and then as you start
to spread through the cards, say, '1 know your card is lost somewhere in lower part of the
deck." Spread until you spot the last face-down card near the center (the spectator's card
is buried deeper into the deck, so technically you are looking for the second-to-last
face-down card in the deck). Obtain a left little-finger break under this face-down card
as you square the deck.
'Tll shuffle once more, so it's totally lost. While I do that, will you remove your phone and
open the camera app?" While he is busy with his phone, cut all the cards above the break
(I will refer to these cards as the "mixed half" and the rest of the deck as the "other
half") and execute a weave shuffle (it doesn't have to be a perfect faro) of the mixed half
into the outer end of the other half (pic. 1) . In other words, the other half has at least
one card above and below the mixed half.
Push the interlaced halves of the deck halfway into each other, and turn the cards
over (from side to side). Push the mixed half farther into the other half, pushing
predominantly with your right forefinger, so that the mixed half shifts and is angled to
the left (pic. 2). With your left thumb, square the protruding corners of the mixed half
(pic. 3) so that the mixed half emerges at the inner right corner. Keeping your left little
finger in the vertex where the two halves meet will help keep the two packets separated
(pic. 4, right hand omitted for clarity).

repertoire 65
 The goal is to get the mixed half sidejogged, and currently only the inner end of the
mixed half is sticking out. The following action will be easier if you do not apply too
much pressure on the deck, so that it remains somewhat "airy". With your right little
finger (pic. 5, from below, left hand omitted for clarity) , pivot the outer right corners of
the mixed half to the right until the mixed half is sidejogged (pic. 6, right hand omitted
for clarity). 29
Arrange all the other spectators around the person who chose the card, so that you can
take a group photo. After everyone is in position, execute a pressure fan 30 as you move
the deck from horizontal to vertical. The cards facing away from you will be mixed face up

29 There are many alternative shuffles to achieve this same sidejogged condition of the cards. Perhaps my
favorite is Guy Hollingworth's handling of the Henry Hay false riffie shuffle from his book Drawing Room
Deceptions (1999), page 169.
30 A good source for the pressure fan is Expert Card Technique (1940) by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue,
page 164.

66 double exposure
and face down, and the side facing you will show only backs, except for the chosen card.
Arranging everyone for the group photo before you do the pressure fan prevents anyone
from seeing the "unmixed" side of the deck.
You will need to hand the fan of cards to the spectator to hold. Say, ((Please hold your
hand like this." Hold up your right hand, with fingers and thumb pointing upward,
exactly imitating the position/grip of your left hand, except your right hand is empty.

repertoire 67
 7

Once his hand is in this position, place the fan of cards into his grip. This is a E
moment to note the identity of the chosen card, although it is not crucial that you knc
in order to conclude the trick.
Take the spectator's cell phone. Ask him to extend the fan of cards toward the phon(
make sure the cards are large enough in the frame). Snap a photo of him holding
cards (pic. 7) . Pay extra attention to the framing of the fan of cards and make sure
selected card is visible (you might need to make small adjustments to the fan to ex1
more of the selection, as well as to hide other cards that might inadvertently be showi
It's important to include the face of the cell phone owner as well as the cards. This m
it clear that the photo is not faked in any way and also gives him more reason to 1
the photo and maybe even share it. Taking the photo in landscape mode is prefera
especially when doing this for a group of people. Most smartphone cameras adjust
exposure and focus on the area where you tap, so tapping on the fan of cards might l
ensure a good photo. If possible, avoid using the flash, as it tends to overexpose theca
Here is an excellent idea from Will Fern. Before taking the photo, you can miscall
cards that are facing you, by pointing to the backs of different cards on your side of
spread, saying, "You could have chosen the Six, the Queen, the Seven, or the Ace." Altho
you can't see any of these cards, pretend to see them, and don't name any suits bec
you don't want to name a card that might be facing them. You could also ask, "Can
see your card?" This suggests that their card could be showing on either side of the
and, more importantly, that you have no idea what their card is.

68 double e x posure
Once you have taken the photo, lower the spectator's hand so the cards are horizontal,
with the "unmixed" side facing down. (Be careful that no one, such as children or anyone
seated, can see this side of the fan from below.) Square the deck, or let the spectator do it.
7 will make all the cards turn face down, except for the chosen card, which will remain face
up. Spread the cards." Of course, when he does, it will seem that the trick has failed. Let
him believe this for a few seconds, but don't overdo it. 7 didn't mean it would happen
with the cards, I meant that the picture on the phone would change. " Suggestiqg that a
magical transformation has happened with the picture on his cell phone is a very strong
effect. "Take a look at the photo on your phone. "Make sure everyone gets a chance to see
the picture. You will sometimes want to suggest they zoom in on the fan, so they can
clearly see the selection.

ENDNOTES: When I first started performing this trick, after the picture was taken,
I would secretly cull all the face-up cards, except the chosen card, as I would say, "All
the cards are thoroughly mixed, and you buried your card somewhere in here. "And before
I revealed that the picture on the cell phone had "changed", I would make all the cards
in the deck turn face down except the chosen card, as in a standard Triumph routine.
Mter performing this trick for a while, I realized that this was not only unnecessary, but
was also ruining the impact of the picture transformation. By leaving the cards mixed,
the photo becomes even more impossible. My assumption was confirmed by Maestro
Tamariz, who even suggested that I should spread the mixed face-up and face-down
cards on the table as a reference of contrast, while they look at the photo:
Here are three different ruses that will enable you to show both sides of the fan as mixed
face up and face down before the revelation. This will strengthen the conviction that
the picture must have changed. None of these ideas are necessary for the success of this
trick, but they are fun to play with, and you may choose to include one.
The first idea is by Arthur Chavaudret. Make sure the camera's flash is off and it is
in silent mode. Take a picture of the spectator holding the fan, but pretend that you
haven't taken it and that you need to adjust the cards in his hand. Put the phone down
and say, "1he cards are not spread well enough." Retrieve the deck, square it, and fan
the cards again-face-up and face-down cards will show on both sides of the fan. Put
the cards in the spectator's hand. Now pretend to take a picture. Because you have the
freedom to show spectators·both sides of the fan, you could, for example, ask, "Do you
see your card? No, then look at the other side. Is it there?"
Here is a similar idea I have played with. Mter you take the picture ask, "Do you see your
card?" They will, of course, say no. While the spectator is still holding the fan, spread the
cards in the fan as if you are helping them see more cards, but you are actually destroying
the side of the fan facing you, thus creating face-up/face-down mixtures on both sides.
My friend Shimshi suggested this lovely idea. Mter you make the sidejogged pressure
fan and display the cards as mixed face up and face down, close the fan with one hand
(a common move for stage manipulators). You can genuinely turn the deck over, while

repertoire 69
 preserving the sidejogged nature of the cards, and fan the cards again to show the other
side of the deck-they will show all mixed, face up and face down. While maintaining
the sidejogged condition of the cards, close the fan again, turn the deck over, and give
it another pressure fan. You are back where you started, ready to hand the deck to the
spectator for the picture.
Finally, one of my childhood friends, Amir Lustig, has come up with an excellent
approach for this trick. The handling is almost identical to the original, except that the
card is selected after you take the photo! Start with thirteen cards face up on the bottom
of the deck. Skip the selection of the card for now, and execute the shuffiing sequence
as described. When you give the fan of cards to the spectator to hold, you will only
see backs on your side, and the spectator will see a mixture of faces and backs. Before
you take the photo of the spectator with the fan of cards, adjust your side of the fan by
spreading a few cards in the center until one index shows in the middle-this can be any
card. Justify the adjustment of the spread by saying, '11s you can see, these cards are facing
in different directions." Take a photo, and retrieve the fan of cards. Before you square
the fan, downjog the only card visible on your side, and close the fan. Turn the cards
over and obtain a little-finger break above the downjogged card as you square the deck.
You will now perform a very easy classic force. Ask your spectator to pull one face-
down card from the deck as you spread through the cards. The fact that the force card
is face down and surrounded by face-up cards makes this classic force much easier than
normal. Once his hand is within reach of removing a card, he can't take any of the
face-up cards surrounding the (face-down) force card. Therefore the condition of the
cards significantly increases the chances of success for this force. Have him look at the
card and show it around, and then have it returned anywhere in the deck. As with the
original plot you promise to make all the cards turn face down except his card, and,
of course, that doesn't happen with the cards themselves, but with the photo you took
before he chose a card. What is great about this version is that having the card chosen
after you take the photo makes it nearly impossible for the audience to backtrack.

70 double exposure
repertoire 71
 catch 23

F
or a while I performed Gary Kurtz's "The Ultimate Chairs Prediction (Plus)". 31
It is a great piece of mentalism that can play for a large audience. But for some
reason, I was dubious about the four chairs involved. At first, I thought that the
inconvenience of setting them up before the show, or clearing them f~om the stage in
the middle of the show, might be the reason for my dissatisfaction. Eventually, I realized
I loved the routine but wanted it to be about the four people onstage rather than the
four chairs.
In general, what makes mentalism powerful is the connection the audience members
have with the information involved, e.g., if you were to ask someone to think of an object
and then tell him what he was thinking about, I am sure it would get a great reaction.
But if you ask him to think of, let's say, an important object from his childhood, then
when you reveal the item, you are not just dealing with the object, you are dealing with
time, place, and emotion.
"Catch 23" is essentially a Chair Test that doesn't use chairs, combined with a Bank
Night, 32 in which the contents of the envelopes are related to the people onstage. 33

31 Published by Gary Kurtz as a manuscript in 1997.

32 Bank Night was invented by Tom Sellers and published in his booklet Novel Necromancy (1935), under the
title "It's only Chance", page 7. The following year, Floyd Thayer published his version of the effect in Genii,
under the name "Bank Night", and it is that name that has stuck.
33 Chair Tests as parapsychological experiments go back to the 1920s. The first Chair Test in magic literature
was Aage Darling's "Tele-hypnose" in Bruce Elliott's magazine The Phoenix, No. 155, July 16, 1948. The idea
of predicting characteristics of the participants in such an experiment seems to belong to Gerard Croiset from
Holland, who was not a magician, but worked as a psychic. 1his was described in Wilhelm H. C. Tenhaeffs
De Voorschouw (1961).

repertoire 73
 PREPARATION: You will need ten No. 3 coin envelopes; a blank check (I actually
print mine ·on card stock, as described below); a grease pencil (or china marker); nine
blank cards (pieces of thick card stock that will fit in the envelopes); and a nail writer
with a grease pencil tip, such as a boon adhesive writer, thumbtip nail writer, or swami
gimmick. I happen to prefer a boon, but whichever gimmick you choose, I will refer to
it as a thumb writer from here on.
Scan one of your checks. In Photoshop enlarge the numeric amount box to about twice
its size; this will give you more room to write in with your thumb writer. Print the
check onto heavy card stock, anywhere from 65 lb. to 110 lb.; this will make it easier
to thumb write on.
With the grease pencil, in a loose style that matches your thumb writing, fill out the
check as follows (pic. I):

Date: The date of the performance.

Pay to the order of: Your name.
Memo: "Show".
Numeric amount: Leave it blank.
Written amount: "Lots of money".
Signature: Your signature.

74 catch 23
 •f 'ou ~ 11ti .en ~op'
~4l.l 4~ ' t€ f'h:tc~ A.nd
4/1 tJ,e ~~ •~··t+c, oo 'lf·

On the back of this check, print this statement large and legibly: "If you choose this
envelope, you may keep this check and all the money written on it." (pic. 2). This
message is longer than it needs to be because in performance you need enough time to
do the necessary thumb writing while it is being read. Position this message on the right
side of the back of the check, so that it is not behind the numeric amount box.
Fold the check in half twice, both times along the short axis, with the face of the check
on the inside, in order to conceal the empty numeric amount box. Insert the check into
one of the envelopes, seal it, and in the upper left corner of the front (the side without
the flap), mark it with a light check mark.
A note on sealing the envelopes: I never knew that opening a sealed envelope could
be such a tough task, but participants onstage often find it difficult and take longer
than desired, creating what we in show biz call "dead time". I prefer to eliminate every
unnecessary second in the show that I can. I advise that you wipe all the glue off the
flaps with a damp paper towel, let the flaps dry, and then apply repositionable adhesive
on the flaps. This creates a weak seal, which shortens the time it takes spectators to open
the envelopes.
With a regular pen write on one card: "This envelope will be chosen by the only female
in the group." Place it inside an envelope, seal it, and in the upper left corner mark it
with a light pen~il dot. It is important you write on this card (and on the following
three) as large and as legibly as possible.

repertoire 75
 On another card write: "This envelope will be chosen by the only person with glasses."
Insert it into an envelope, seal it, and in the upper left corner mark it with two light
pencil dots next to each other.
On the next card: "This envelope will be chosen by the only m:;1n with facial hair." Insert
it into an envelope, seal it, and in the upper left corner mark it with three light dots in
an inverted triangle.
The fourth card says: "This envelope will be chosen by someone named [blank]." Leave
a blank space at the end, after the word "named", which will be filled in later. Insert this
card into an envelope, but don't seal it, and in the upper left corner mark it with a small X.
Here are the mnemonics for the marks: a check mark for the envelope with the check,
one dot for the one female, two horizontal dots resemble glasses, three dots in a triangle
suggest a pointed beard, and the X is for "sign your name on the X". Stack this set of
envelopes in this order from top to bottom: one dot, two dots, three dots, X, and check
mark. Place these in your right back pocket.
Take the other five coin envelopes, insert one blank card into each, and seal them. These
won't be opened onstage, so they can (and should) be securely sealed. With a grease
pencil, number each envelope on the front, one through five- I recommend you write
these numbers with the thumb writer as large as you can, so that the style will match
the writing you will do in performance. Place these envelopes in order inside your left
back pocket. Finally, place the thumb writer into your right front pocket. (I like to have
a few of them in my pocket, since they tend to disappear or get trapped in the corner
of my pocket.)
Before your show, mingle with the crowd and look for a man who has no facial hair or
glasses. Find out his name in a way that won't be memorable to him. There are many
ways to do this: If you are performing in a theatre, secretly point out the person to an
usher and ask her to get his name while "checking his ticket" and report back to you. In
non-theatre contexts, you can ask the host to give you the name; you can get his name
while performing close-up magic prior to the show; eavesdrop on a conversation; read
place cards on tables; consult guests lists; combine a facial recognition app on your
smartphone with hacking into the FBI database. In other words, do whatever works,
but the less contact you have with the spectator prior to getting him onstage, the better
reaction you will get from him. Once you get his name, write it down on the card inside
the envelope marked with an X, which completes the sentence "This envelope will be
chosen by someone named ... " Seal the envelope, and return it to its position in the
stack in your right back pocket.

PERFORMANCE: Remove the envelopes from your left back pocket and, while
displaying the numbers on them, say, "I have five envelopes numbered one through five. In
one of these envelopes there's something valuable that I am trying to protect. I will give four
random people a chance to guess which envelope it is in. "

76 catch 23
Mix the envelopes, then place them back into your left back pocket, as you start inviting
people up to the stage. You will need to choose people who match the descriptions on
your cards, but you still want this to seem casual and random. Even though you will
be choosing the participants, you should create the feeling that you could use any four
audience members. Therefore, it is important to apply the following ploys that will help
create the illusion that the people are picked randomly.
The first person invited to the stage will be the one whose name is writteq. on the fourth
card. If you can, point to a person who has already assisted you in the show and ask,
"Have you been onstage yet?" When he says, "Yes," say something like, "Oh, of course.
With the lights, I didn't see it was you. '' Casually ask the person whose name you secretly
obtained if he has already helped during the show. You know that he hasn't, and when
he answers, "No," invite him onstage.
Fortunately, beards are now in fashion, so it's likely you will have a few candidates in
each audience that wear beards but not glasses. (The term "facial hair" is used on the
card to give you many options- goatees, mustaches, beards, mutton chops, etc.) It's not
uncommon to spot two or more men with facial hair (without eyewear) sitting together.
ln that case, approach them and say, ' And ifone ofyou would care to join us, that would be
great. "That's the closest you get to having an actual random volunteer onstage because
you give them the option to choose who participates.
Many people also wear glasses; this will allow you to apply some of the same techniques
mentioned above. A few things to consider with the bespectacled: They might choose
to remove their glasses as they make their way to the stage or before it's time to read
their card. If you realize that your spectator is about to remove his glasses, you could
use a stage whisper, something as simple as, "Please keep your glasses on. " Another way
to increase your chances of having your spectator keep his glasses on is to choose him
wisely. If you spot someone with thick glasses (the kind referred to as Coke-bottle
glasses) , there's li_ttle chance he will remove them during the performance. I have also
noticed that the fancier the glasses, the less likely it is they will be removed.
This problem can happen in reverse with the other three people onstage-when it's their
turn to read the note, they might pull out reading glasses and wear them. (This is why I
stressed the importance of writing as large and clear as you can.) A stage whisper can be
helpful here as well, only this time you would whisper, "You look better without them. "
Also, when you have the option, choose younger people, as they are less likely to need
glasses to read.
Regarding the "only female in the group": If you discern that most of the women in the
room don't wear glasses (and don't have facial hair), take a chance and ask one of the
men onstage to randomly choose a woman from the crowd. If that's not possible, point
to a person (who fits the description of "female") toward the back of the room and say,
"Would you mind joining me?" As soon as she stands, act surprised and say, "Oh, my bad,
I meant someone else, but you will be fine. '~again, with the hope that the audience gets
the impression that it could have been anyone.

repertoire 77
 Invite the people onstage in the order that you want them to line up from stage right
to stage left, i.e., the "named guy" first, followed by the "bearded one", then the
"bespectacled man", and finally the "only female". As she comes to the stage, remove the
five blank envelopes from your right back pocket and hold them in your left hand. Place
your right hand into your front pocket and attach the thumb writer to your thumb.
Ask the woman to name a number from one to five. As soon as she answers, turn
away from her, almost as if you didn't get a chance to hear her choice, and tell the
audience, "They can choose any number they want. "Of course, while you are addressing
the audience, you secretly write her number on the envelope marked with one dot. This
puts some time in between the moment the number is said and the moment you do the
secret writing. Turn back to her, and ask her for her number, as if you didn't hear it the
first time. (This method is called "the deaf technique", and it comes from the ingenious
Juan Tamariz.) Make it seem as if you are looking for her number, and as you do, slide
her envelope to the middle of the stack (think of it as a reverse Hofzinser cull). Remove
and display the numbered envelope, and hand it to her. As you deal with the other
participants, to avoid making it obvious you are handing out the envelopes in order,
sometimes slide them and pretend to grab them from different spots in the stack, and
sometimes take them from the top (they are apparently in a random order).
Ask the bespectacled spectator to make his choice. To delay the moment of writing you
can say, '~s we go along the options become fewer and fewer. " Write his number on the
envelope marked with two dots, and hand him his envelope. Repeat the process with
the bearded man. With the last man, you will have two envelopes left, so feature that
fact. "There are only two envelopes left, and that means you have fewer options. But I'll tell
you something they didn't know: The 'valuable envelope' is still in play, which means you have
the best chances-fifty-fifty. So which one will it be?" Look at the envelopes and pretend to
read the numbers on them; of course, you are just saying the last two numbers no one
has chosen, but without indicating which is which. Once he makes his choice, secretly
write his number on the correct envelope and hand it to him. Commit to memory the
four-digit number created by the four selections, reading from stage right to left.
On the last envelope write the number nobody chose and hand it to someone in the
front row. Say, ''Make sure this envelope is completely sealed; that nothing can get in or
out. " Once the audience member has inspected the envelope, instruct him to open it
and remove its contents. Take the check from him, unfold it, and display it, covering
the numeric amount box with your left fingers. Turn it around and hold it by its ends,
with the back facing him.
Ask him to read out lo.ud the statement written on the back. As he is reading it, in
the numeric amount box, thumb write the four-digit number that matches the order
(stage right to left) of the envelopes chosen by the four people onstage. Make sure you
are positioned in such a way that the people onstage cannot see you doing this secret
writing. Just take care that your body is blocking the check from their line of sight.
After the audience m~mber reads the statement aloud, turn the check over, and ask him
to verifY a few things. "Where it says 'pay to the order of: what name does it say?" He will

78 catch 23
read out your name. '1 had a feeling it should be addressed to me." Point to the written
amount line. "And you agree, that's lots of money?" He will have to agree (it's up to you
if you want to keep this between the two of you or turn it into a joke and share it with
everybody). The last piece of information you ask him to read out loud will be the
amount of money written in the numeric amount box, e.g., $4,251. Remark, "Which
is funny because this number is very similar to the order in which the envelopes were chosen.
Everybody, show us your envelopes. " Point to each person onstage, one at a time. ''Four,
two, five, and one, which is exactly the amount on this check!" Fold the check and put it
into your pocket, ditching the thumb writer at the same time. (I actually like to tear the
check before I put it away; it's an amusing moment that suggests I'm being careful about
someone taking the check and cashing it.)
Moving on to the final sequence, you will ask the participants, one at a time, to open
their envelopes, take a step forward, and read their cards out loud. (Be vigilant and
make sure no one opens their envelope prematurely.) Before each spectator reads, say,
"What is your name? Chris [or whatever their name is], please read your card. "For the best
build, do this in the same order they chose the envelopes. In other words, start with the
"only female" and then move stage right, ending with the "named guy".
Before the last person reads his card ask, ''And what is your name?" The reason for this is
obvious. If the audience doesn't know his name, then the climax will be lost on them.
While, technically, he is the only spectator whose name needs to be known, it would
be odd if he were the only person whose name you asked for. (The other benefit of
asking for their names is that it implies you didn't plan anything with them before the
performance.) Say to him, "You will do something different from everyone else. You are
going to read this only to yourself" He will read it and visibly react, which will cause the
audience to react. Then say, "You're dying to read it aloud, aren't you?" He will read it
out loud, and the audience will react again. In a strange way, this makes it feel like two
climaxes, instead of one. 34

ENDNOTES: You can vary the descriptions that the spectators read. You don't have
to use the ones I explain here. Keep in mind that the descriptions have to mention
characteristics that are immediately apparent to the audience. Some suggestions: the only
teenager, the only person wearing green, the only Asian, the only redhead, the only one
in aT-shirt. Finally, avoid mentioning anything that someone might be sensitive about.

34 Nthough I wish I could claim credit for this clever idea, it is actually quite old. I've seen many performers
use it, and I don't believe its origins are known.

repertoire 79
 the trick
that never ends

he title of this trick is not just a cheap way to get your attention, it describes an

T experience that theoretically can be created. Obviously, there is a point where

you indicate that the trick is over, but what makes it live beyond that-perhaps
forever- is a presentation that enables the climax to resonate long after the trick is
finished. I cannot take credit for this brilliant concept, as many have applied it to their
work. Perhaps foremost among them is Chan Canasta, whose work has influenced me
a great deal.
The plot is similar to many other card tricks: A spectator names a card and then it is
found. But the emphasis here is on the fact that the spectator himself not only cuts to
his named card, 35 he also makes a choice that could alter the outcome of the trick, or so
it would seem. I find this to be a great opener because it is direct and quick.
This trick uses a memorized stack (the specific stack doesn't matter-! use Mnemonica).
In the endnotes, I will explain a version can be done with a thoroughly shuffied deck.
Each has its own advantages, and I use them both, depending on the circumstances.

35 An early version of [his plot is "A Card is Called For" from Laurie Ireland's Ireland Writes a Book (193 1),
page 18.

repertoire 81
 PERFORMANCE: While holding the deck in your left hand ask a spectator to name
a card. Let's assume he names the Seven of Spades (thirty-seven in Mnemonica). Cut
enough cards to the bottom of the deck to get the selected card as close to the top as
possible (instead of an open cut you can execute an invisible shift, depending on your
skill set). With practice and experience, you will increase your ability at cutting straight
to the desired card, but most of the time you will likely be a few cards off. After the cut,
glimpse the bottom card and see how close your estimate was.

I use the turnaround glimpse. 36 Here are the details. After the cut, you are holding the
deck between your hands, left hand from below, right hand from above in end grip.
As your left hand lets go, your right hand rotates the deck clockwise, and your left
hand turns counterclockwise, retakes the deck, then rotates back to its starting position,
turning the deck 180 degrees in the process. During this turnaround, the deck naturally
pivots from horizontal to almost vertical, and back to horizontal, giving you a chance to
glimpse the bottom card (pic. 1).
After the glimpse, you will know which of these four scenarios you are in:

1. Your estimation was dead on, and you cut the desired card to the top.
2. Yo1,1r cut brought the desired card dose to the top, and you now need to
shift (with an open cut or an invisible pass) a few more cards to the bottom
to bring the named card to the top. (I favor a simple double undercut.)

36 The turnaround glimpse was published by Ed Marlo in The Multiple Shift (1961), page 56.

82 the trick that never ends

 3. You cut past the card, and it is at or near the bottom. When executing
the initial cut, cutting too few cards (the previous scenario) is preferable
to cutting too many (this scenario), because if you cut too many and the
card ends up at or near the bottom, adjusting for that is more difficult
and awkward. If it is, say, fourth from the bottom, you will need to shift
or cut four cards to the top.
4. Your first cut didn't bring the desired card anywhere near the top or the
bottom, which means you will likely need to execute many cuts to fix this
problem. I strongly suggest that you practice your estimation skills to
avoid this scenario.

As an example, after the initial cut, let's say you perform the turnaround glimpse and
the bottom card is the Eight of Clubs (thirty-three in Mnemonica). You will need to
shift three more cards from the top to the bottom to get the Seven of Spades on top.
Casually spread the cards as you say, "Your card could be anywhere. " Sight count three
cards, obtain a break under the third card as you square up, and shift those to the
bottom. All of these cuts and adjustments should appear as if you are mixing the cards.
Now that the named card is on top, you are going to palm the card with your right
hand and allow that hand to relax by your side. Although palming a card at this point
shouldn't raise too much suspicion, since in their minds the trick hasn't even started,
a well-executed palming technique is desirable in case someone tries to backtrack the
workings of this trick. I use a one-handed palming technique, 37 and even though
minimal movement is needed to cause a card to travel the short distance from the top
of the deck into your palm, this small move requires some cover.
Hold the deck with your right hand in end grip (ready for the one-handed palm).
Gesture with both hands palm upward while exclaiming, "You could have named any
card. " At the end of this statement turn your hands down. Execute the one-handed palm
as you transfer the deck from your right hand to your left.
By burying this little move within a sequence of actions (movements larger than the
steal itself) , you decrease the chance of anyone suspecting or detecting the palming
of the card. This might read like overkill, but one of my goals with magic is that the
mystery remains long after the trick is over. In some cases, good magic has the potential
to become even more mysterious over time in people's memories because you left very
few fingerprints of dirty work behind, and eventually, even these fade away.
With your left hand stretched away from you, hold out the deck of cards, and ask your
spectator to cut anywhere he likes. Point out the fairness by saying, "You can cut as deep
or as shallow as you would like, be it half the pack, one card, or most of the cards, it's up to
y ou. "Mter he cuts off a portion of the deck, say, "Place the cards on the palm ofyour hand. "
To ostensibly demonstrate what you mean, bring up your right hand-with the palmed

37 A good source for the one-handed palm is Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 3 (1998), page 705.

repertoire 83
 card-and tap the cards in your left hand, adding the palmed card to the top. This may
seem bold, but trust me, this add-on goes completely unnoticed. Just make sure you
clearly keep your overall focus and attention on the spectator's cards, and don't look
at your packet as you execute the add-on.
Immediately drop your right hand to your side, and keep holding the cards in your
left hand in the same position as before, still stretched away from you. People forget
the moment of the add-on because it seems like an incidental demonstration of a
simple instruction; the memory they will have is that your left hand (with the deck)
was always stretched out and away from you.
((You could have cut anywhere you wanted, correct? Before you stop here, you get a chance
to cut more cards, it's up to you. You realize that your decision will change the outcome of
this trick. I don't want it to be a rushed decision. Therefore, I will count to jive so you can
consider this offir. Ifyou choose not to cut more, you might ask yourself What would have
happened ifyou did? This could be a lifelong contemplation, so please enjoy your jive seconds
of consideration. " Count to five and allow him to make a decision. Let's assume he
decides not to cut further. Ask him to restate his selection; he will say, "The Seven of
Spades." Instruct him to turn over the top card of your packet to find his named card.
If you stop reading at this point, you might wonder, "But what if he had chosen to cut
off more cards?" And that is exactly the point I am trying to make. Laypeople ask the
same question. Even though the trick is over and the spectator freely cut straight to
his card, he still walks away with the question: "What would have happened if I had
cut more cards?" A question that might never have an answer- and thus a trick that
could potentially never end. I suggest you stop reading and explore the feeling you
might have now; this could illustrate what your spectators would feel at this point.
Okay, you're back. Let's imagine that the spectator does decide to cut more cards.
Simply allow him to do so. When he cuts more cards and places them on top of
his portion, the Seven of Spades will now be on top of his packet. As soon as he
cuts more cards, drop your left hand which holds the remaining cards, making them
unimportant. Focus your entire attention on his portion, as if that's where the focus
was all along. 38 Ask, (./lre you happy?" I love the ambiguity of this question because it
implies that he could have cut even more cards if he wanted to, but it's unlikely that
he will reply, "No, I am unhappy." If he does, just pat him on his shoulder and say,
7 am sorry to hear that. "
((Would you agree with me that a few seconds ago the top card was different than the one
after the second cut?" He must agree with you since you are telling the truth. Have
him turn over the top card, which will be his chosen card. And the question remains:
What if he hadn't cut again?

38 This subtlety is one aspect of the concept that Max Maven calls "the high-end gambit", which he developed
in the 1980s and described on his DVD Multiplicity (2010).

84 the trick that never ends

ENDNOTES: Here is how to do the trick with a shuffled pack. After the cards have
been mixed, spread the deck face up between your hands, so that a spectator next to you
can see the faces. Only enable her to see about eight or so cards in the middle; you can
achieve that by only allowing a small portion in the middle to spread wide enough to see
the full indexes. As she is staring at the cards say, '1fyou were to choose a playing card... "
Pause, and then move the cards away from her (toward you) as you finish , "... which
card would you go for?" You will be surprised, but she is very likely to name one of the
cards she saw in the spread, and since you are looking at the faces of these cards, you can
quickly cut this card to the top of the deck. (This ploy can be applied to many tricks.)
There is a type of dual reality here; to the spectator it seems as if you asked her to name
one of the cards she saw, but since you completed the question while the cards were away
from her it seems to the audience that the card she named came straight from her head.
There are times where the spectator doesn't fall for this ruse and names a card that
wasn't in the spread. In this case, just spread through the cards as you say, "You could
have named any card. "Find the named card and control it to the top. Turn the deck face
down, palm off the top card, hand her the deck, ask her to shuffle the cards, and have
her place them onto your hand. Proceed from this point as described above. In a way
the trick starts only when you hand her the deck to shuffle.
The End.
Maybe.

repertoire 85
 torn, marked,
stabbed, crumpled,
burned & restored page

ne night, before a performance at Monday Night Magic, New York's longest-

0 running off-Broadway magic show, where I developed some of the material in

this book, I was preparing a book for "Zarkamorta II" .39 I had been performing
this routine for many years, and I expressed my satisfaction with it to a friend. To my
surprise, he wasn't as impressed with it as I was. I asked him what he didn't like about
it. He said he thought that if someone were to watch my show twice, he would be able
to catch me switching the books; in other words, it was good enough to fool someone
once, but not twice. I impulsively defended my method for the trick, but I knew that
he was right-as a matter of fact, I had already been contemplating a better method
for switching the books, but had been too lazy to build the necessary switching device.
There were still a few hours before the show, so I rushed to the nearest office supply
store to buy what I needed to create the feke (a gimmicked book), and I constructed it
just in time to perform it that night (very professional of me). While my execution of
the switch was far from perfect, it was more deceptive than the switch I'd been using.

39 This can be found in 13 Steps to Mentalism (1968) by Tony Corinda, page 201.

repertoire 87
 Over time, the feke and the choreography of the switch were refined, and I realized that
this switching device was not just useful for my beloved routine, but it could be adapted
to many other routines. In the endnotes I will share some of the ideas I have come up
with and they might ignite more ideas once you are familiar with the gimmicked book.
The basic plot is that a spectator chooses one of several books. The spectator tears a
chosen page from the book, and the magician sets the page on fire. The page then
miraculously reappears in the book, reattached to the spine.

PREPARATION: You will need to make a switcher device, which is essentially a book
shell with an opening along the fore-edge so that you can hide another book inside it-
think of a slipcase that looks like a hardcover book (pic. 1). To construct one, obtain a
hardcover book, either from a used bookstore or from your personal library (preferably
a book you don't particularly like). It should have a dull cover with subdued colors and,
if possible, a boring title (you'll see why in a minute).
Remove the dust jacket. You will need to detach the pages from the cover. The pages
are generally attached to the spine of the book by the first and last pages. With most
books, all you need to do is use an X-Acto knife to slice along the hinge (the inner edge)
of the first and last pages (pic. 2), and you will be able to separate the pages from the
cover (pic. 3).
Measure the width and thickness of the pages you just removed- let's say that they are
six inches wide and one inch thick. Get a piece of thick white foam board (I recommend
half an inch thick), and cut two strips that match the dimensions of the pages; in our
example, they would be six inches long and one inch wide.
Open the detached cover of the book and lay it flat on the table, with the inside facing
up. On the right (back) board, glue one of the strips along the outer edge and the
second strip along the inner edge (heavy-duty double-stick tape can be used instead of

88 torn, marked, stabbed, crumpled, burned & restored page

strong glue) (pic. 4). Apply glue (or double-stick tape) to the tops of the strips and close
the left board on top, so that the strips are glued between the boards of the book cover.
Place a heavy object on top of the book to apply pressure while the glue cures. The white
strips will look like pages when viewed from the ends. From here on I will refer to this
device as the switcher. Trim the dust jacket and glue it onto the switcher.
You also need to obtain two identical paperback books, preferably with no pictures
or illustrations, such as a novel. The covers of these books should be colorful with an
interesting title (maybe a well-known bestseller) , but more importantly, these books
need to be close in size to the switcher but small enough that you can insert one inside
the switcher and have it completely concealed.
Open one of them to a page somewhere in the middle (let's assume it's page 70). With
a toothpick, poke a hole in one of the words in the middle of the page, and with a
clickable red marker, write its page number as big as possible on the page. (Instead of

repertoire 89
 writing the page number, if you can find out the name of the spectator you are going to
invite onstage, write his initials instead. This will add more credibility to the restoration
of the page.) For a finishing touch, crumple that page. Although it's not mandatory, I
like to burn the edges of this page. You have to burn the edges a little bit at a time, as
follows. With a lighter, set part of an edge on fire and immediately close the book to
extinguish the flame; repeat this process until you have burned around all three edges of
the page. I will refer to this book as Book A from now on.
Open the other book to the same page (70 in our example) and poke the same word
with a toothpick, but don't poke it all the way through-puncture it just enough so that
it will only be apparent to you. Attach a small paper clip to the outer edge of the page,
near the bottom. I will refer to this one as Book B.
You also need a third, random book of similar size to the switcher, although it does not
need to be able to fit inside it. I will call it Book X. When you display the switcher with
Books B and X, the three. of them will be relatively similar in size. However, like the
switcher, Book X should have a dull cover and a boring title, so that the two of them
contrast with Book B-this will be helpful when you try to force that book.
You will need to print some random text onto a sheet of flash paper, so that it looks like
a page from a book. (Printing on flash paper is extremely dangerous, as is igniting it in
performance. Use it at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for accidents that may
come from your use of it.) The flash paper should be approximately six to eight inches
square. You can use text from a Word document, or scan a page from a book, or use
another source.
Once you ·have the text ready to print, use Scotch tape to attach the top edge of a full
sheet of flash paper onto a sheet of heavy card stock. Place it in an inkjet printer (do not
use a laser printer), oriented such that the taped edge goes in first, to prevent jamming.
Also make sure it is oriented such that the printing ends up on the flash paper and not
on the card stock.
Print the text. Detach the printed flash paper from the sheet and remove the tape from it
(cut it off if you have to). Cut the flash paper into quarters (approximately three or four
inches square each)-you will only need one of these quarters for each performance.
With the red marker, scribble a big number on the flash paper (as you did in Book A)
and crumple it into a ball.
Place Book A inside the switcher. Stack Book B on top of the switcher (make sure Books
A and Bare oriented the same way in the stack). Put Book X on top of Book B. Place
these books into your performing ease-l use an attache case opened with the back
toward the audience-and make sure that the switcher's open fore-edge is pointed away
from ,the audience.
Place the crumpled flash paper into your left front trousers pocket. Put a few toothpicks
and a lighter in your right front trousers pocket (make sure the lighter works). Put the
marker in your inside left jacket pocket (or any other unused pocket).

90 torn, marked, stabbed, crumpled, burned & restored page

PERFORMANCE: Invite a spectator to join you onstage. Position him to your right.
To your left is your case, and in between you and the spectator is a small table. Remove
the stack of three books from your case, making sure to hold the books in such way that
the spectator can't see the opening of the switcher. Display the books one at a time, and
make some appropriate remarks about each that suit your presentation.
You are going to force Book B, using a simple equivoque, as follows. Hold the books
in your hands, fanned out like a giant deck of cards. Ask him to place a hand on one of
the books. If he puts his hand on Book B, this is the best scenario. It is als~ the most
likely, since the book has the most appealing cover design and title; also, middle books
get chosen more often (I'm not sure why). Say, "You have selected this one. Great." Set
the other two onto the table.

However, if the spectator places his hand on either Book X or the switcher, instruct him
to set his other hand on another book. This will play out in one of two ways.

1. If the second book he goes for is not Book B, as soon as you see that he is
going to lay his hand on the second (non-force) book, say, "Great, so we
will take those and set them aside." This leaves you with Book B, and you
are ready to roll.
2. If the second book he touches is Book B, set aside the third (unchosen)
book and ask him to lift his hand off one the two remaining books. If he
removes his hand from Book B, say, "Okay, that's excellent," and continue
as if he chose Book B, setting aside the other. If he lifts his hapd off the
other book, say, "Okay, you let go of this one. Great, that leaves us with
[Book B]."

No matter which scenario takes place, you should end with the switcher on the table
(with the opening facing away from the audience, of course) and Book X on top of it.
Hold the chosen (forced) book by the spine with your left hand, the back cover toward
the spectator on your right, the front cover facing you, and the fore-edge pointed
upstage. With your right hand, cover the paper clip as you tell your spectator, '1 want
you to choose a random page, so as I flip through the pages, please call out stop." With
your right fingers at the spot where the paper clip is attached, riffle through the pages.
Utilizing a timing force, you can make it look as if the spectator stopped you on the
paper-clipped page. With experience, you will be able to notice micro-signals that
indicate he is about to say stop, things such as a parting of the lips or an adjustment
in his posture. Anticipate when your spectator is going to stop you, and accordingly
control how fast or slow you flip through the pages-going slowly at first and speeding
up as you notice he is about to call out stop. You can feel the paper clip with your fingers
and stop directly on that page.
Cover the paper clip with your right fingers as you open to the page where he has
apparently stopped you. Ask him to say the page number out loud- to prevent him
from calling out the opposite page number, cover that page number with your left hand,

repertoire 91
 forcing him to call the only page number that's visible. Say, ((Oh, you prefer page seventy?
That's fine." This implies that he made a choice about which page number to call out.
Secretly slip the paper clip off the page, and retain it in finger palm as you let the forced
page loose. Ask him to carefully tear out that page from the book. After he has done
so, with your right hand, retrieve the red marker from your pocket, secretly leaving the
paper clip behind.
Take the torn page from the spectator and place it on top of the book so you have a
surface to write on. Write the page number (or the spectator's initials) onto the torn
page in the same orientation and style as you did with Book A, and display the writing
to the audience (bur not for too long so that they won't be able to detect inconsistencies
between the writings later on).
Direct your spectator to hold the torn page horizontally by its ends (as if holding a tray).
Remove a toothpick and hold it on one end, several inches above the page, pointed
down. Move the toothpick around in a random pattern over the page, and ask the
spectator to say stop. Again, using a timing force, time it so that when he calls out stop
you are above the vicinity of the pre-stabbed word. Since the toothpick is some distance
above the page you have a chance to subtly adjust the position of the toothpick as you
move it down toward the page and push it through the pre-poked hole.
((We can both see the toothpick going through a word on this side of the page, but the other
side is concealed.from both us, so please turn the page over and if it's going through a word,
remember that word. If not, look at and remember the nearest word to it. "As he is looking
for the word, walk away from him and hand the book to a spectator in the audience,
saying, ((Please make sure that page seventy is the only page missing. "
Confirm that your spectator onstage has committed the word to memory. Instruct him
to remove the toothpick from the page and place it onto the table, and to crumple the
page into a small ball.
Retrieve the book from the audience member by taking it into your right hand at the
fore-edge. Walk back and face the spectator on your right, with your case behind you.
Use your left hand to pick up the other two books (Book X on top of the switcher) and
hold them at waist level by the spines, the fore-edges tilted up slightly, the covers toward
the audience. ((You could have chosen any of these books .. . " Extend your right hand with
Book B toward the spectator (pic. 5) as you continue, ((... and you ended up picking this
one." Withdraw Book B back to waist level, casually placing the book under the two
books in your left hand (pic. 6); your left fingers clamp onto the book, and without
pausing, you turn around to your left toward the case, simultaneously tilting the books
down, so the covers are facing the audience and the fore-edges are facing down, which
will cause Book A to slide into your right hand (pic. 7). Your left hand will continue
the action 'o f placing the three books (supposedly two) into your case without exposing
Book B at the back or the opening of the switcher, while your right hand stays behind
(holding book A) at waist level. Think of this switch as being similar to a top change
done with books, but from the bottom of the stack, rather than from the top.

92 torn, marked, stabbed, crumpled, burned & restored page

Hand Book A to the spectator as you pick up the toothpick. Place it into your left
pocket, and retrieve the flash paper ball, retaining it in finger palm. With your right
hand, retrieve the crumpled page from the spectator and pretend to transfer it to your
left hand (this is a shuttle pass). As soon as the two hands contact, casually leave the flash
paper in view as the "crumpled page". With the real page now palmed in your right hand,
retrieve the lighter from your right pocket, simultaneously ditching the crumpled page.
Ask your spectator to hold the book horizontally with both hands, like a tray or platter,
stretched away from his body. Place the flash paper on top of the book and ignite it
with the lighter. (Please make sure that the spectator is holding the book by the very
edges and that the flash paper is as far from him as possible. I must emphasize that this
is dangerous, and your primary concern is the safety of your spectator.)

repertoire 93
 Mter the page has vanished in a burst of flame, say, "Your page is now back in the
book, attached to the spine exactly where it used to be. " By describing the climax before
displaying it, you give the audience a chance to see the magic in their heads before
they see it with their eyes. This anticipation greatly enhances the experience and is why
I generally prefer suspense over surprise. Open the book to prove that your claim is
indeed true. The audience can immediately recognize the crumpled, edge-burned page
with the big number written on it-it will be visible even on a big stage.
To conclude, you will have the spectator confirm three things: '1s this the same page you
chose?" Once he confirms, ask him to tug lightly on the page as you say, "And you have
to agree it's clearly reattached to the spine, correct?" Finally, ask him, "And is this is the word
that was randomly stabbed?"

ENDNOTES: I highly recommend giving the book to the spectator to keep at the
end of the routine. More than a kind gesture, this also confirms that the book is not
gimmicked in any way. You can buy stacks of suitable books from dollar stores.
The stabbed word can be dealt with in a few different ways. First, since you don't seem
to know the word he "randomly" chose, you could read his mind and reveal the word
as a prelude to the final climax. I often use names as the chosen word because there
is a chance the spectator will know someone by that name, which can lead to some
opportunities for cold reading.
It may better fit your style to try to divine the word, but fail to do so. The comedy
generated from the failure can provide a great moment to execute the switch. Of course,
you could, as described, merely treat the stabbed word as another way to identify the
page so that it can be verified after it is restored.
I encourage you to play with this utility device and come up with routines of your own,
but here are some other ideas I have toyed with.
This is more of a fun magical gag: Mter forcing a book and the word "fire" (using
methods similar to those described above), switch the book for a fire book that has the
same cover. Mter some unsuccessful attempts to divine the chosen word, give up and
ask, "What was your word?" At the exact same moment the spectator says, "Fire," ignite
your fire book.
The switcher can be used to perform "Pegasus Page", in which a random page is selected,
and then a torn portion of that selected page vanishes from the book and appears in
an impossible location. 40 Here's how. Tear part of a page from one of the duplicate
books (make sure the torn portion includes the page number), and hide the page in
a gimmicked box or envelope or other object that you can initially show empty, and
later have ,the paper "appear" inside of. Place the book with the missing page inside the
switcher. Attach a paper clip onto the same page in the other duplicate book. Stack that

40 See Herbert Milton's "A Page of Mystery" in Percy Naldrett's Collected Magic Series, vo lume six (October
1925), page 19.

94 torn, marked, stabbed, crumpled, burned & restored page

book on top of the switcher with a third (indifferent) book on top. Force the middle
book and then force the page as described above. Allow the spectator to note the page
number. Ask him to look through the book to make sure that that page is not repeated.
Close the book, secretly switch it for the book inside the switcher, and hand it to the
spectator to hold. Once the spectator opens the book, he will find that a torn portion
of the page he "randomly selected" is now missing. Draw his attention to the object you
showed empty earlier. Ask him to open it and remove the torn-out page and display it
to the audience.
Finally, here is a great idea that Jamy Ian Swiss suggested to me. Get two identical
books. Turn one of them into what is often called a Flashback book41 as follows. In one
of the books, copy the first word from every even-numbered page onto the upper right
corner of the following odd-numbered page. Write these words lightly with a pencil, so
they can't be seen from a distance. Place the normal duplicate book inside the switcher,
the Flashback book on top of the switcher, and one random book on top of all. Force
the middle (Flashback) book on a spectator. Ask him to stop you on any page as you
riffle through the pages (no force), and have him remember the first word on the page
he stopped you on. You know the word he will memorize because he will be looking
at the even-numbered page and you can peek the penciled word on the opposite odd-
numbered page facing you. You proceed to "read his mind" and tell him the word he is
thinking of. You, of course, switch the book in the process, so that you end clean with
a book that can be examined or given away.
In summary, this device can help you switch any prepared or gimmicked book of a
certain size for an ordinary duplicate or vice versa.

41 The earliest published description of what is often referred to as the Flashback principle is in Paul Curry's
"Out of This Phone Book" from The Phoenix, No. 53 (February 4, 1944).

repertoire 95
 make no mistake

wo cards are chosen and lost in the deck. The magician attempts to find them,

T but both tries are only close to the true selections. He then manages to fix the
mistakes with a visual double color change. Jack Merlin, Dai Vernon, and Juan
Tamariz have created popular routines along these lines. 42 1heir creations significantly
influenced my routine, but I hope that I have contributed a somewhat different approach
and some subtleties that make this routine worth your attention.
As mentioned, this routine is basically a color change that you execute to fix an incorrect
revelation of two chosen cards. I prefer using color changes in subtle ways, such as to
change one of the pips on a card, rather than changing the entire face of a card. Of
course, both effects- a subtle change or a bold change-are equally impossible. But it
seems to me that there is a slight layer of plausibility with a subtler change that compels
the viewer to pay closer attention.

42 The first was probably "Rubbing off a Spot and Showing Where It Goes" fro m .. .and a Pack of Cards (1927)
by Jack Merlin, page 74.

repertoire 97
 PREPARATION: Stack the deck as follows, from the top: Two of Clubs, Five of Clubs,
and Four of Clubs. Position the Three of Clubs about ten to fifteen cards from the top
of the deck.

PERFORMANCE: "'n a minute, I will ask you two to choose cards, but there's one
restriction. Do not show your cards to each other. You can share them with a few people near
you, but not with each other." Cut half the deck to the bottom and obtain a little-finger
break between the halves. Execute a classic force 43 of the card below the break (the Two
of Clubs) on the first spectator. (You have a one-card margin of error here. It's fine if he
selects the next card, the Five. In fact, if he does take the Two, you may offer him the
chance to take the next card instead.)
After the first selection is made, retain the little-finger break above the Two or the Five
(whichever was not taken), and then execute a classic force of this card on a second
spectator. Once the second card is taken, keep a little-finger break above the Four of
Clubs. Let the spectators display their cards to a few people around them.
Take the deck in right-hand end grip, transferring the break to your right thumb, in
preparation for a dribble force (see page 40). Dribble the cards and ask the first spectator
to say, "Stop," timing it so it seems that he stops you at the break. Have the Two placed
on top of the Four of Clubs and dribble the rest of the cards on top, making sure the
first few cards drop injogged on top of his card. Square the deck, and obtain a break
below the injogged card. Execute a double undercut to bring the Two of Clubs to the
top of the deck. (A pass or a casual cut will also work.)
The replacement of the second selection imitates the replacement of the first, except
this time it is done for real, so there are no breaks, dribble forces, or shifts to execute.
Just dribble the cards and make sure you are stopped somewhere near the middle of the
deck-you only have to make sure you do not dribble past the Three of Clubs, which is
near the top of the deck. Direct the other spectator to return his card. Dribble the rest of
the cards on top of his card, and square the deck. By utilizing two apparently identical
procedures, where the first one is fraudulent and the second is genuine, the genuine one
makes the first one look more innocent than it is. 44
Here's a position check, from the top: Two of Clubs, Four of Clubs, the Three of Clubs
is about ten to fifteen cards from the top, and the Five of Clubs is somewhere in the
middle.
"I will try to find both of your cards. However, I will find the cards first and then I'll
figure out which card belongs to which person. " This statement will prevent them from
denouncing the cards prematurely.

43 A good description of the classic force can be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 1 (1995),
page 217.
44 In Card College, volume 2 (1996), page 301, Roberto Giobbi refers to this principle as "reverse conditioning".
Juan Tamariz describes this dynamic as the first (dishonest) phase "bathing in the honesty" of the second phase.

98 make no mistake
Execute a double lift to reveal the Four of Clubs and set it face up on top of the
deck. '1 am not sure whose card this is, but I will find out later. " You need to place the
Four of Clubs face up onto the table while preventing the Two of Clubs from showing
underneath, as follows. With your right fingers, lift the Four along the right side, and
simultaneously turn the entire deck face up so that the Two of Clubs is at the bottom.
Two things that will help you keep the Two from flashing are angling the deck toward
you as you turn it face up and also using the Four of Clubs as a shield during this
motion. You will need to play with these moves in front of a mirror to find the correct
timing and angle to avoid exposure.
With the deck face up, look through the cards, allegedly in search of the second
selection. Once you reach the Five of Clubs, cull it (using a Hofzinser spread cull) and
keep it under the spread until you get to the Three of Clubs. Outjog the Three and
square the deck. The Five you culled will go beneath the Two of Clubs at the rear of the
deck. Remove the outjogged Three and place it onto the table. It is now safe to turn the
deck face down and hold it in left-hand dealing position.
Push one card toward each spectator as if you are expecting them to react with
enthusiasm. Most likely, they will let you know that you got it wrong. Act as if you
think you merely erred regarding which card belonged to whom, so casually take both
cards and exchange them with each other. Of course, they will still not be impressed, as
these are the wrong two cards.
Pretend to give up and ask for the identities of their cards. Once the cards are named,
point out that you got very close, because the Four is one number lower than Five
and the Three is one number higher than Two-and you did get the right suits. This
moment is helpful in building up the final climax, because it lowers their expectations.
Now comes the part where you fix everything, and everybody is going to be happy. You
are going to execute a very visual double color change. With the face-down deck in your
left hand, get a break under the second card-since this card is face up, getting a break
under it is easy if you use your thumb to push down on the left side of the deck (this
is Lin Searles's auto-break). 45 A pinky count is also a good option. 46 Place the Three of
Clubs face up on top of the deck and the Four of Clubs face up on top of all.
With your right hand in end grip, lift all four cards above the break. To the audience it
should look like you only lifted the top two cards. With your left thumb, peel the Four of
Clubs back onto the top of the deck (pic. 1). The three cards remaining in your right hand
should be perceived as one card. You will need to regrip these three cards as follows. Place
the cards, jogged to the right, onto the deck. Regrip them with the very tips of your fingers
along the right side, near the center, with your thumb on top, fingers underneath (pic. 2).

45 Searles's auto-break concept was first published in "The Repeat Pick" in P. Howard Lyons's Ibidem, No. 24
(December 1961).
46 A good description of the pinky count (also known as the little-finger count) can be found in Roberto
Giobbi's Card College, volume 1 (1995), page 20 1.

repertoire 99
 With a firm grip, so the cards stay together, you will now brush these cards (as one) back
and forth on top of the Four of Clubs, allowing them to bend a bit as you brush them
from side to side. Mter a few strokes back and forth, on one of the leftward strokes,
when the Three is facing down (pic. 3), thumb off the bottom two cards of the triple
(the Three and the Five) onto the top of the deck. You should end up with the Three
face down on top of the Four, and the Five face up on top of the Three, leaving you with
only one card (the Two) in the right hand (pic. 4). 47

47 This is Richard Kaufman's radical change from his book CardMagic (1979), page 80, which is a slight
variation of Roy Walton's double paint brush change, first published in his booklet Some Late Extra Card Tricks
(1975), page 18.

100 make no mistake

Try to align the cards as precisely as possible, so that they fall perfectly squared on top
of the deck; keep brushing the single card on top of the Five one extra time after the
change, which will make it seem like the color change happened during the brushing
movements. Strive to make the brushing movements smooth and continuous, and
make sure there is no pause or change in the rhythm when the change happens.
The effect to the audience should look like you were able to move the middle pip of
the Three onto the center of the Four, thereby causing the Three and Four of Clubs to
change into the Two and Five of Clubs, the original selections.

ENDNOTES: I have always thought that it would be interesting to do this trick in

such a way that the indexes remain the same and only the pips of the cards change. Of
course, that would change the handling slightly and involve manufacturing misprinted
cards. I will leave the details for you to figure out, which should not be terribly difficult.

repertoire 101
 •
crossing over

e are all mutations of the people who have influenced our work and shaped

W who we are. In my case, I like to think that there is some Chan Canasta in
my DNA. Chan was known for his mental card tricks. He presented them
as "experiments", and he often took significant risks and worked at the mercy of chance
to create his miracles. But although Chan was bold and brave he did have ways to get
luck on his side with some very clever psychological ploys and a careful use of language.
This routine has Chan's fingerprints all over it. A spectator removes a group of cards
from the deck and is asked to think of one of them. That card vanishes from the packet
and reappears reversed in the middle of the deck. You might, at first, think the method is
very risky, but I assure you that the psychology behind it is so strong that the likelihood
of it going wrong is very slim. The only credit I can take with this routine is in the fact
that I grafted a great idea of Chan's onto the classic trick by Elmer Biddle. 48 1his is one
of my favorite and most-often performed tricks. I particularly like the fact that it has
three climaxes, which gradually build.

48 The popular "Biddle Trick" is really a combination of Pvt. Richard Bruce's "WOW!" from Hugard's Magic
Monthly (September 1951) and Elmer Biddle's "Biddle-Thru" from The Gen Quly 1960). The card vanish used
in "Biddle-Thru" (which Biddle named "transcendent", but is now commonly known as the Biddle move) was
first published in Genii in April 1947. However, Edd ie Joseph published a nearly identical move in 1939 in his
booklet Strictly Magic, page 8.

repertoire 103
 PREPARATION: This trick requires a memorized deck. A deck arranged according
to a mathematical system (e.g., Si Stebbins) 49 will also work, but a memorized deck is
preferable. Alternatively, you can forgo the stacked deck if you memorize a sequence
of five cards and force that group of cards. For this explanation, I will assume you're
working with a memorized deck.

PERFORMANCE: Give the cards a false shuffle, and then spread through the deck
while asking a spectator to remove 'a bunch of cards" from anywhere he wishes. You
must ensure that the cards are removed together, in sequence; in other words, he cannot
remove some cards from near the top and others from the middle. (Asking him to use
his dominant hand will prevent him from using both hands and taking cards from
different parts of the deck.)
Five cards is the ideal number for the spectator to remove, because it offers him several
cards to choose from later (fewer cards would make the choice seem trivial), and it
seems like a random number, not fixed or formulaic. Also, five is the number of cards in
a typical poker hand, and there are many presentational ideas you can use that exploit
this fact. However, you shouldn't instruct the spectator to remove exactly five cards. Tell
him, ''Remove a bunch. " Once he grabs some cards, notice if he has more than five cards.
If so, before he gets a chance to remove them from the spread, pull a few of those cards
back from either end while saying, '.11 few less." If he grabs too few, slide out a few more
cards to make a total of five, as you say, '.11 few more. "
Once he has removed a group of cards, cut the deck at the spot from which he took
the cards. Use a turnaround glimpse (see page 82) to peek the bottom card, which will
tell you th~ identities of his cards. (If you're not working with a stack, simply execute a
classic force of a group of five cards that you've memorized.)
To ensure that you cannot see the cards, ask him to hold the cards against his chest, to
move away and face you. Instruct him to fan his group of cards, look them over, and
mentally select one of them. Once he has done so, say, ''Now, put it behind your back," as
you mime the actions of removing a card and putting it behind your back.
As he reaches for his card, you can see which one he is going for. And since you know
the sequence of the five cards, you now also know the identity of his mental selection. 50
(This is another reason you don't want to use more than five cards; it would be harder
to recognize exactly which card he is reaching for.) Before he can remove it, stop him
and say, ''No, no. Put all of them behind your back. "In most cases, he won't even get the
chance to touch his card before you know which one he has mentally selected.
Ask him to mix the cards behind his back. Instruct him to keep them face down, bring
them back out in front of him, and move closer to you. With the face-down deck in

49 Si Stebbins did not invent the stack that bears his name (the idea goes back hundreds of years), but a good
description of it can be fo und on page 76 of 13 Steps to Mentalism (1968) by Tony Corinda.
50 David Britland speculates about this idea in Chan Canasta: A Remarkable Man (2000) , page 76.

104 crossing over

right-hand end grip, dribble the cards onto your left palm, and ask your spectator to
stop you. (Make sure you drop about half the deck onto your left hand before he gets
a chance to stop you; this will ensure that the selection is centered in the deck when it
is revealed later.) When he says, "Stop," stop dribbling, and have him place one of his
cards face down onto those in your left hand. Say, "We will lose each ofyour cards within
the deck." With the remaining half in your right hand, dribble a few more cards, have
him return another card, and repeat this procedure so that he can insert each of his
cards into a different place in the top half of the deck.
Mter all of his cards are lost in the deck, you can throw in some false shuffies, if you
would like. Say, '1 am going to try to find your card by eliminating the cards I think you
didn't go for." Go through the cards with their faces toward you, thumbing them from
left to right. Once you reach a card that is out of place in the stack, you know that this
card was one of those he lost in the deck. Remove all the cards to the right of that card
and ask your spectator to extend his left hand. Place the removed cards face down onto
the palm of his hand. (In most versions of the Biddle Trick, placing half the deck onto
the spectator's hand at this point is not motivated. Claiming that you don't think any
of these cards are his plausibly justifies this action.)
Upjog the first card of those remaining in your hand and keep going through the cards,
upjogging the other four cards that are out of place in the stack (a total of five). Remove
the five upjogged cards, and place them face up on top of the face-down cards in your
hand, as you say, '1 think these are the jive cards you originally chose. "Make sure that his
card is somewhere in the middle of the five; if it is not, cut it to the middle before you
place the five cards onto the packet in your hand.

repertoire 105
 Hold the cards in right-hand end grip. With your left thumb, peel off the top face-up
card into your left hand as you comment, 7 believe you are thinking of one of these jive.
Don't tell me which one, and please keep a poker face. " Display the card outward at eye
level, distancing the peeled-off card from the rest of the cards; this keeps the focus more
on the five face-up cards and not so much on the other face-down cards. As you display
the card, look him in the eye as if you are studying his reaction to it. Do this for each
of the subsequent cards as you peel them off. Peel off the next face-up card onto the
first. When you get to his thought-of card, peel it off as well, but keep a left little-finger
break beneath it (pic. 1). As you begin to peel off the next card, your right hand steals
back this thought-of card onto the bottom of the righF-hand cards (pic. 2). 51 Finish by
peeling off the remaining face-up card(s).
Ask him to hold out his right hand. As you place the "five" cards (actually four) face
down onto the palm of his right hand, your right hand simultaneously places the rest
of the cards on top of those in his left hand. However, all your focus is on the cards in
his right hand. The placement of the half deck onto the cards in his left hand is in the
shadow of the action with the small packet, and the spectators ideally won't remember
you going near the deck in his left hand.
At this point, you may be tempted to add a false count in order to show the four cards
as five. I recommend you don't. The spectators saw five cards initially, and then they
saw five cards during the execution of the Biddle move. These are convincing enough.

51 This is the Biddle move mentioned in the footno te on page 103.

106 crossing over

Sometimes false counts and other "convincers'; accomplish the opposite of their goals
and raise red flags instead.
You have now completed all the dirty work, so recap what has happened so far, and
then start your presentation of the climaxes as follows. Pretend to remove one card from
the small packet in the spectator's hand. Mime holding the face of the card toward him
and say, 'Imagine you see your card here. If this is the card you thought of, what card am
I holding?" Let's assume he says, "The Ace of Spades." Say, ''Exactly. The Ace of Spades."
Continue with your mime act, turning the invisible card face up and i~serting it into
the face-down deck in the spectator's left hand.
Take the small packet from him. "You had a choice of jive cards, and even though I
only pretended to remove one card, we now have just four cards. " Spread the packet to
show only four cards, instead of the expected five. This is the first climax. Also, this is
another reason why you want to start with five cards. A spread of four cards here is easy
to recognize. Spreading, for example, what they think are eight cards to reveal seven
probably wouldn't register.
''And if I removed the card that you thought of, then none of these cards should be yours. "
One at a time, turn the four cards face up to show that none is the one he just named.
This is the second climax. Finally, say, ''Remember I pushed your cardface up in the middle
of the deck? Please spread through the deck and look for one card face up in the middle. Take
it out and show everyone. " This card will be the one he thought of, the Ace of Spades.
This is the third climax.

repertoire 107
 •
reverse engineer

n one of Derren Brown's first TV shows, Trick of the Mind, he performed a

0 card trick with a presentation that was as beautiful as the trick itself. The trick
fooled me completely and I thought about it for days. All this pondering led
me to come up with a similar, but different, trick. I am grateful that Derren fooled me
as bad as he did, because his trick drove me to come up with something that I use to
this day. So although what I am about to share with you does not explain Derren's trick,
it is a direct result of his great performance.
A spectator is asked to name any playing card. He is handed a deck and asked to place
it beneath the table. He is instructed to remove any card from the middle, turn it face
up, and push it back anywhere in the middle. The spectator then gives the deck a few
cuts and brings the cards from under the table. He turns the deck face up and spreads it
on the table. The card the spectator named is not seen amongst the face-up cards, and
it's apparent that there is only one card face down in the middle. The spectator removes
that card, turns it over, and finds himself staring at the card he named. 52

52 I have recently learned that Hemy Evans has a marketed trick called "Cards Know" which uses the same basic
method for two effects which are similar to this one. The biggest differences are that mine only uses one deck and that
the reversed card doesn't match a chosen card or a prediction, it matches a card named by the spectator at the beginning.

repertoire 109
 PREPARATION: This trick (you probably won't be surprised to learn) uses a memorized
deck. Also, you will need to treat the backs of fifty-one cards with roughing spray; the
only card that you shouldn't spray is the first card in your stack (Four of Clubs in
Mnemonica). I like to use a marked deck for this trick. You can avoid some awkward
peeks and adjustments by exploiting the marks, in combination with a bit of estimation
work. (You are already using a heavily gimmicked deck- why not go the extra step and
have them marked?) There are few ways you can treat the cards. I use a Krylon matte
finish spray. Lay out the fifty-one cards face down on a large surface and follow the
instructions on the can. (Be cautious- do it outside and wear a mask.) Mter spraying
the cards, let them dry well, and then assemble the deck in stack order. Finally, place the
first card in your stack (the non-treated card) on top.

PERFORMANCE: Ideally, you want a participant who has experience handling cards-
anyone from a professional gambler to a parent who plays Go Fish with his kids. Also, this
spectator needs to name a card; but if you were to directly ask him to name a card, you
are likely to find yourself playing out the following scene:

Magician: Name any card.

Spectator: Should I tell you?
Magician: Yes.
Spectator: Why can't you tell me what card I'm thinking of?
Magician: Just name a damn card!

That's why I recommend you don't present the question in a straightforward manner,
but rather in a more casual or conversational fashion. 'Tm curious, ifyou were to name
a card, what card would you go for?" This elaborate question is a bit ambivalent and
somewhat passive, which takes their guard down. Audiences often expect a magician to
be able to tell them what card they are thinking of, but by asking this question casually
you can create the perception that the trick has not started yet, that this is just a little
chat before you switch gears into performance mode.
Let's say he replies with Six of Hearts (twenty-three in Mnemonica). Say, "You could
have named any card in this deck, "as you casually spread the cards down to the general
area where the Six of Hearts should be. With the help of the marks, spot the card and,
as you square the deck, obtain a left little-finger break under the Six of Hearts. With the
deck in dealing position, perform a slip cut at the break and place the top half onto the
table-the top card (Four of Clubs in Mnemonica) will slide to the top of the bottom
portion of the deck and the Six of Hearts is now on the bottom of the tabled portion.
Place ~he portion in your hand on top of the tabled portion to complete the cut. In
summary, you have cut the selected card to the bottom and maintained the first card in
your stack on top of the deck. In our example the deck should now be arranged in the
following manner: Four of Clubs on top, followed by the twenty-fourth card (Ten of
Clubs in Mnemonica), all the way down to the Six of Hearts on the bottom.

110 reverse engineer

Instruct your spectator: "Take the cards under the table and remove one cardfrom the middle.
Turn it face up and insert it into the middle ofthe deck. "As you give these instructions, put
the deck under the table to demonstrate what he should do with the deck. While the cards
are under the table secretly turn the bottom card (Six of Hearts in our example) face up.
Hand him the deck. This is the point where you want your audience to think the
performance begins. Instruct him again to hold the deck under the table, remove one card
from the middle, turn it face up, and put it back in the center of the deck. I.t's crucial that
he follows these directions exactly, so I recommend you mime these actions to make it
abundantly clear what he needs to do (as discussed on page 46, use the box to simulate a
deck as you demonstrate the actions).
Before he brings the cards back up from under the table, ask him to give the deck a few
cuts. When you can tell that he's given the deck at least one cut, say, "Or don't cut. It's up
to you. " You want the cuts to seem irrelevant, but they do accomplish two things. They
position the named card next to the untreated card, which is necessary for the method,
and they also bury the named card somewhere in the middle of the deck. Without the
cuts, if he were to spread the cards on the table, the named card would end up awkwardly
at the end of the spread. The few cuts don't, of course, guarantee it will end up in the
middle, but they increase the chances that it will. If you notice a reversed card on the top
or bottom of the deck as he brings the cards up, simply say, "Give the cards another cut. "
Instruct the spectator to turn the deck face up and to spread it on the table (help him
with this if necessary). There should be only one card facing down while all the others
are face up. Point out that none of the face-up cards is the card he named. By doing so,
you achieve a few things: First, you prove there are no duplicate cards. Second, you make
them realize that there are no other face-down cards. And finally, you create a "No way!"
moment when they realize that the face-down card is likely the card that was named, and
thus you build up the climax. Ask the spectator to remove the face-down card and turn it
over. He will be staring at the card he named.

ENDNOTES: You might be wondering what happened to the random card he reversed.
Well, thanks to the rough-and-smooth principle, his card is now stuck back to back with
another card, and therefore doesn't show in the spread. You might also wonder why the
named card doesn't stick to another card. The slip cut enabled the only non-treated card to
remain on top of the deck. The named card was transferred to the bottom and then turned
face up, and once the spectator gave the deck a few cuts, he caused both the non-treated
card and the named card to meet, and since the named card is roughed on the back and
the other card is not, they don't stick to each other. You might also be wondering what
to do if someone names the first card in your stack. If that happens, merely transfer the
top card to the bottom-a double undercut is sufficient-and the rest is identical to the
original handling.

repertoire 111
 • •
supervision

o you want to change your mind? This is perhaps one of the most common

D phrases in a magician's patter. But when Chan Canasta asked that question, it
wasn't patter; it was a loaded question that kept the minds of his spectators
busy. What if I change my mind? Will the trick not work? What will he do then? Those
questions were going through their minds during his shows and most likely long after.
There might be someone out there now still thinking about one of Chan's performances
and wondering, "What if I had changed my mind?"
We know that Chan took actual risks and wasn't afraid of failure. As a matter of fact,
there are some recordings of him "failing", but in his hands they somehow didn't feel
like failures. Comedy magicians have the leverage to get away with mistakes because
they can turn them into comedic bits. Chan wasn't a comedy magician; he presented his
tricks as "experiments", and that framing allowed him to take bold risks for the sake of
miracles. When they didn't go according to plan, well, then they were just experiments.
For many years, I have performed a variation of one of Chan's signature pieces, and
it remains one of my favorite tricks. Here is how Chan would perform it. A spectator
would cut a deck of cards behind his back a few times, remove two cards from the top
of the deck without looking at them, and place one in each of his two back pockets.
Chan would then divine two cards, for example, the Three of Clubs and the Ten of

repertoire 113
 Diamonds. He would then state, "Now you will tell me exactly which pocket has which
card. Whatever you say will be. I will then give you seven seconds to change your mind.
And if you change your mind, the cards will change." The spectator would say, for
example, the Three of Clubs was in his right pocket and the Ten of Diamonds was in
his left. Chan would give him an opportunity to reconsider his choice, and regardless of
his choosing, the spectator would remove the Three of Clubs and the Ten of Diamonds
from the very pockets he said they would be in. 53
There has been much speculation over the years whether he had an out when the spectator
named the wrong pockets. I have been researching Canasta's work for years and have
interviewed many people who knew Chan or have information about him and his work.
I was privileged to sit down with Johnny Thompson, one of my favorite people, to talk
with him about Canasta. Johnny worked with him at the Playboy Club decades ago and
witnessed Chan's performance of this routine countless times. Every night the spectator
correctly named which cards were in which pockets. Johnny suspected that there must
be an out. But he didn't get to see it for many performances, until one lucky night
(unlucky for Chan). The spectator guessed incorrectly, and Chan simply exclaimed,
"That's why I am the mind reader, and you are the spectator." For certain performers
this is a viable out. However, I don't think I have the personality to make it a satisfying
moment. My solution, as you'll see, is to change the spectator's decision just slightly
while still creating the same basic effect.

PREPARATION: This trick requires either a memorized deck or a mathematical system

like Si Stebbins.

PERFORMANCE: Start with a few false shuffies and genuine cuts to keep your stack
intact. Bring a spectator onstage, give him the deck, and ask him to cut the cards
a few times. (Before you bring him onstage, you may want to confirm that he has
some experience with cards. You will also want to make sure he has two back pockets
that are unbuttoned and empty.) While he executes those cuts, watch to make sure he
understands your instructions. Once you are sure he does, ask him to cut the cards
behind his back, so that neither you, he, nor anyone else can see the cards.
((Stop cutting the cards whenever you think is right, and keep the cards behind your back. "
Once he is done cutting, instruct him to take the top card and place it into one of his
back pockets. It should be very easy to tell which pocket he places it into. All you have
to do is watch which elbow rises as he pockets the card. Glimpse that action from the
corner of your eye, then turn away from the spectator, and make sure you remember
where he placed this first card.
((Take another cardfrom the top and place it in the other back pocket, the one you didn't use. "
I like this phrasing because it suggests that you have no idea which pocket he used for

53 Chan Canasta never published this trick, but a speculative method was published by David Britland in Chan
Canasta: A Remarkable Man (2000), page 91 .

114 supervision
the first card. You are still looking away from him, but since you know where he placed
the first card, you will also know in which pocket the second card ends up.
You'll need to get the deck from him, but doing so should seem incidental because you
don't want anyone to think that retrieving the deck gives you any clues about the cards
in his back pockets. Therefore, don't ask for the cards; instead, reach your hand toward
him and wait for him to give you the deck. This gesture is very easily understood,
and most spectators will hand you the cards. If he doesn't, simply say, "Okay, we don't
need the rest of them. "This, combined with your outstretched hand, shouid convey the
message. The moment you receive the deck, glimpse the bottom card (a turnaround
glimpse works well-see page 82). The next two cards in your stack will be the cards he
has in his pockets.
Let's say you see the Three of Clubs (four in Mnemonica). The two cards in his pocket
will be the fifth and sixth cards in the stack (Four ofHearts and Six of Diamonds). Let's
assume he placed the first card (Four of Hearts) into his right pocket. Obviously, the Six
of Diamonds is in his left pocket. Call out those two cards and wait until the spectator
makes a move toward his pockets. Just as he does, stop him and say, ""Wait! That was the
easy part. The most amazing part is that you can tell me which card you wish to remove first.
Is it going to be the Four of Hearts or the Six of Diamonds?"
If the spectator says, "I want the first card to be the Four of Hearts," and you are
standing to his right, then just gesture toward his right pocket and say, "Please remove
the card. "(Remember he doesn't know where the cards are and he believes you shouldn't
know either.) Let him remove the card and display it to the audience. The fact that
you are not explicitly saying which pocket to remove it from, but rather combining a
gesture with an ambiguous request to remove the card, creates the illusion that he is
choosing which pocket to go for. Also, the moment you realize that he understood your
instructions and is on his way to the correct pocket, add, 'l:l.ny pocket you want. "It will
be too late because he will be in no position to switch pockets.
If he chooses the Six of Diamonds, which is in his left pocket, then gesturing toward
his left pocket might be awkward. Instead, say, (Til give you jive seconds to think about
it." Count out loud to five, and as you do, walk to the other side of him (closer to his
left pocket). This walking while counting should seem very casual and nonchalant, as if
you are dramatizing the counting. If he doesn't change his mind (most likely he won't),
gesture to his left pocket and ask him to remove the card. If the spectator does change
his mind during those five seconds then say, "Great, but let me give you jive more seconds
to think about it," and as you count again, walk back to his right.
The worst-case scenario is when the spectator misinterprets your gesture and asks you
which pocket you mean. That's fine because you can say, 7 have no idea, but try this
one. "After all, you shouldn't know where it is, and the fact that you do know is still
astounding. In the rare instances where you see that-for some strange reason-he is
reaching for the wrong pocket, stop him and instruct him to go to the correct pocket.

repertoire 115
 ENDNOTES: Many years ago I was booked to work the Close-up Gallery at the Magic
Castle for the first time. I considered performing Chan's trick. It was clear to me that the
weakest part of this trick was the fact that the two cards had to be taken from the top
of the deck, because this immediately screams "stacked deck", and therefore wouldn't
stand a chance of fooling magicians. So I knew I had to improve the conditions of the
selections. I thought that if at least one of the cards could be picked from the middle of
the deck, it would throw them off. A solution for this trick formed in my mind. This was
one of those rare occasions where I was able to figure out the trick in my head without
cards in hand, and once I did I rushed to Hollywood Magic and bought a stripper deck.
This idea does not necessarily improve the trick, but it does add a layer of deception. I
wanted to be able to have a card removed from the middle of the deck and still be able to
quickly 'tell which card was removed. All you need is a stripper deck. I know this might
seem like the wrong tool for the job, but here it is used in an unusual way. The stripper
deck has many great applications, but no one would ever associate a stripper with a trick
like this one, which is why it's quite deceptive.

116 supervision
Arrange a stripper deck in stack order, and then rotate every other card 180 degrees.
When the deck is squared, because the cards alternate consistently throughout the deck,
the edges along the sides will look even (pic. 1). However, if one card is removed from
the middle, the even spacing at that position will be disturbed and become noticeable
(pic. 2). 54 This is because the cards that were above and below the removed card are now
the only two adjacent cards that are oriented the same way; therefore, the space on one
end of the deck will be more pronounced, and on the other end of the deck one edge
will be doubled in thickness. This disturbance in the edges of the deck indicates where
the card was taken from.
If you take the deck when it is missing a card from somewhere in the middle, and you see
a double space on the inner end, rotate the deck 180 degrees so that the double space is
at the outer end. Riffie your left thumb down the outer left edge and stop at the double
gap; you can stop there automatically, as if you have a trimmed card in the deck.

54 It turns out I wasn't the first to come up with this idea. Not surprisingly, Ed Marlo got there first. He
published this idea in Marlo's Magazine, volume 6 (1988), page 182.

repertoire 117
 The slightly larger gap is created by two tapered ends next to each other. You want to
glimpse the lower card of this pair. There are three ways to do so.

1. Use your left thumb to pull the bottom half down at the break and with
your right hand, lift the top half and cut those cards to the bottom as you
say, "You could have taken a card from anywhere in the deck. " During this
cut, glimpse the bottom card of the upper half.

2. Use your left thumb to pull the bottom half down at the break and with
your right hand, lift the cards above the gap and turn them face up in a
gesture as you say, "You took a card from somewhere in the middle. "Look at
the card at the face of the top half, and then replace the cut-off packet.

3. Hold the deck with the left side facing up. If you widen the gap you can
simply glimpse the bottom card of the top half. Then continue the riffie
as you say, '1 could go through the whole deck and figure out which card is
missing.

Whichever peek you use, the card you glimpse will tell you what card is missing from the
deck; it is the card in your stack that precedes the glimpsed card. For example, if you see
the Five of Diamonds (twenty-five in Mnemonica) then the card missing is the Ten of
Clubs (twenty-four in Mnemonica).
And so, here is how to handle the routine if you choose to perform it with a stripper
deck. Instruct a spectator to cut the deck a few times and then ask him to give the deck a
few cuts behind his back and to stop whenever he wants. Once he is finished, ask him to
take either the top card or the bottom card, but to make sure that he doesn't look at it, or
let anyone see it. Then have him place it into one of his back pockets. (In this version, it
doesn't matter if the spectator removes the top or bottom card, and you don't even have
to know which.)
Tell him to remove another card-but this time from somewhere in the middle-and
to put it into the other pocket. Retrieve the deck from him and spot the bottom card.
'1 think the first card was [the card that comes right after the card you just glimpsed]."
While you say that, look at the edges of the cards; if necessary, rotate the deck to position
the double gap at the outer end. "You also took one from the middle of the deck. " Riffie
down with your left thumb, stop at the gap, and glimpse the card using any of the three
options above. '1 believe that card was [the card that comes right before the card you just
glimpsed]. "Proceed as described in the previous version.

118 supervision
repertoire 119
 folded under pressure

aking a chosen card appear in an impossible location is very powerful. But

M if, when it appears in the impossible location, it is also neatly folded, the
amazement is increased. It's interesting how that extra detail enhances an
already great effect. Expert Card Technique has been one of my bibles, and one of the
many moves I have picked up from this book is the Mercury card fold. 55 I have made
folded cards appear inside shoes, under watches, in my mouth, and in many other
places, some of which I'd rather not talk about.
As I was working on a trick for TV that required the Mercury fold, it occurred to me
that, as useful as the move is, it is difficult to execute invisibly. It's very easy for the
audience to see (or suspect) that you are "doing something". The following is an attempt
to make the move a bit less visible. Not only are the folding moves altered from the
original, but more importantly, the surreptitious actions are covered by the overt actions
of making and then closing a pressure fan. The following is easier to do with a deck that
has been worked in a bit, and is therefore not too stiff.

55 This was described without credit in "Mercmy's Card" in Expert Card Technique (1940) by Jean Hugard and
Frederick Braue, page 269. However, on page 3 of The Fred Braue Notebooks, volume 3 (1985), Braue credits John
Scarne as the inventor.

repertoire 121
 PERFORMANCE: Control the card that you intend to secretly fold to the top of
the deck. Turn the deck face up and hold it in right-hand end grip. Your right thumb
extends slightly below the bottom of the deck. This is in contrast with the original
Mercury fold, in which the thumb extends considerably below the deck. You are going
to execute a pressure fan, and the first fold of the card will be done secretly during the
preparatory action of adjusting the deck to begin the fan.
Place the side of your extended left forefinger along the outer edge of the bottom of the
deck. With that finger pressing up against the bottom card (the card you intend to fold),
move the left hand back, sliding the outer edge of the bottom card inward, forcing it to
buckle dow~ward between the left index finger and the right thumb (pic. 1). During
this movement the left index finger remains in constant contact with the bottom of
the deck- this helps ensure an even fold. The left hand keeps moving until the card is
folded in half at the inner end, between the left index finger and right thumb.

122 folded under pressure

In the original Mercury fold, the card would now be folded once more around your right
thumb. That does not happen here. With your left thumb, press the bottom portion
of the folded card, giving it a sharp vertical bend up the middle (pic. 2). Reposition
your left thumb to grip the inner end of the deck. Your hands should be in the perfect
position to do a pressure fan, which is exactly what you do as you s.tate, ((You could have
chosen any one of these cards. " (Although a pressure fan is preferred, a thumb fan can
work as well.) The folded card is hidden by the left fingers on one side and the fanned
deck on the other side (pic. 3, X-ray view).
As you close the fan with your right ring finger from right to left, your left fingers curl
in, forcing the folded card to fold once more into quarters along the bend made by the
left thumb a moment ago (pic. 4). This second folding action is covered by the right
hand and the action of closing the fan. Once the card is folded into quarters, the left
fingers straighten out and regrip the deck. The folded card, situated at the base of the
left fingers, is held against the bottom of the deck by the left hand. You can press down
on the deck or up with your left hand, thus flattening the folded card and preparing
it to be loaded into its impossible location, whatever it may be-shoe, wallet, watch,
mouth, ring box, etc.

ENDNOTES: If you prefer to fan the cards with the deck face down, so that the backs are
toward you, control the desired card to the bottom of the deck and perform a half pass 56
with the bottom card, and proceed as described above. Of course, you can omit the half
pass if it doesn't matter that the card is folded with the face on the outside.

56 A good description of the half pass can be found in The Collected Works ofAlex Elmsley, volume I (1991) by
Stephen Minch, page 70 .

repertoire 123
 lazy seconds force

ne of the challenges with push-off seconds is acquiring the ability to slide two

0 cards to the right with your left thumb while keeping them aligned, so that
it looks like you are only sliding one card. When I first started practicing the
second deal, I kept pushing bunches of cards instead of perfectly aligned pairs. Mter
doing it poorly for a while, I recognized that my bad technique could be put to use in
an interesting way- as a very fair-looking force.
The standard application of a second deal to force a card is to continually deal seconds
until the spectator calls, "Stop," at which point the force card is dealt from the top of the
pack. The same principle is used in this force. However, instead of second dealing single
cards, groups of cards are loosely dealt from beneath the top card, lending the procedure
a more casual appearance, while also mixing the cards in the process- although, as you
will see in the endnotes, there is a way to do it so that the cards are not mixed.
The handling of this move is slightly different from a standard push-off second deal. If
you have already mastered a push-off second, you can adapt your handling to this force.
The exact finger placements are not critical; this is simply my particular handling.

repertoire 125
 PERFORMANCE: The card you want to force begins on top of the deck. Hold the
deck face-down in left-hand dealing grip; the tip of your thumb should slightly extend
beyond the end of the deck. Hold the deck parallel with the table and, with your left
thumb at the outer left corner of the deck, push about five or so cards to the right. The
cards should slide to the right at an angle. The three left fingers along the right side of
the deck prevent the cards under the bunch from spreading, but they also extend to the
right ever so slightly to allow the small group of cards to move to the right. Try to keep
this small bunch of cards somewhat aligned. As you start pushing these cards to the
right, necktie the deck; that is, tilt the outer edge of the deck upward about forty-five
degrees , so the backs of the cards are toward you. Your right hand takes the sidejogged
cards at the outer right corner, with your index and middle fingers beneath and your
thumb on top (pic. 1).
As your right hand starts moving toward the table with its group of cards, your left
thumb retracts the top card in alignment with the top of the deck. Simultaneously, tilt
the deck down to its original position, so that it is again parallel with the table at about
the same time that the right hand deposits its cards onto the table. Keep repeating this
move until your spectator stops you. Since you never take the top card, when he stops
you, the force card will still be on top.

ENDNOTES: You may want to add this wrinkle, which is similar to the dynamic in
"The Trick That Never Ends" (see page 81). Once he stops you, say, '.l!re you sure you
want me to stop here? Or would you like me to go a little bit further? " If he is satisfied, the
force card is on top of the left-hand packet. If he wants to go a bit further, legitimately
deal another bunch of cards to the table; the force card will be on top of the tabled pile.

126 lazy seconds force

As you deal the packets of cards onto the table, if you rotate your right hand outward
you can turn the cards face up, so that the cards remain in the same order. This is
useful if you are working with a memorized deck and want to keep the order intact. It
also allows the audience to see that all the cards are different. Finally, this creates the
impression that this selection process mixes the cards, making any tricks you perform
afterward with the memorized deck even more impressive. ·
Dealing the cards face up can also be exploited in the following way. You can force a
card that has an odd-colored back, which you can take advantage of in whichever way
suits you. Because you are tilting the deck upward with each deal and turning each
group of cards face up onto the table, the audience is prevented from seeing the backs
of any cards except that of the force card. You will need to retract the top card in perfect
alignment on top of the deck every time you tilt the deck down, however. If the force
card is red and the rest of the deck is blue, the impression created is that the entire deck
is red, when actually only the force card is red. 57

-------- ---
57 This method of concealing odd backs with necktie second deals was used by Alex Elmsley in a trick called
''A Strange Story", devised around 1964. See The Collected Works ofAlex Elmsley, volume I (1991) by Stephen
Minch, page 401.

repertoire 127
 not-so-straight
triumph

!though I love every routine in this book and perform them all regularly, this

A one is strong enough that I often use it as a closer. It is an extension of the

great trick, "Play It Straight (Triumph)" by John Bannon, a routine that almost
instantly attained the status of a modern classic. 58 Without Bannon's creation I never
could have come up with the following routine, the first phase of which is essentially
the same as Bannon's original. I have added a second phase, which repeats the first
climax. I have experimented with many variations over the years, and I will include a
few presentational ideas in the endnotes.
A spectator selects a card and, without looking at it, places it in his pocket. A second
spectator selects a card, shows it to the audience (let's say it's the Seven of Spades), and
puts it back in the deck. The performer cuts the deck into four packets and turns two
of them face up. He shuffies the packets together, until all the cards are mixed face up
and face down. He spreads the deck, and all the cards are face down except for twelve
face-up cards- all Hearts arranged in numerical order. Upon closer inspection, the Four
of Hearts is missing, and that happens to be the card in the first spectator's pocket.

58 Th is was published in lmpossibilia (1990) by John Bannon, page 1. While Bannon's method and handling
are perfect, the plot predates him. In 1982, both Meir Yedid and Michael J. Gerhardt published variations in
Harry Lorayne's Best of Friends. Yedid's routine is called "Thirteen Less One", and Gerhardt's routine, "Super
Triumph", is a simplification of"Triumph im Triumph" by Ernst Schosser, published in the German magazine,
ZauBerlin, issue 2 (1979).

repertoire 129
 The performer shuffles the cards once more and asks the second spectator to name his
chosen card (the Seven of Spades). The deck is spread again, but this time every Spade is
face up and in numerical order; the only one missing, of course, is the Seven of Spades.
As a final surprise, the Four of Hearts that seconds ago was removed from the spectator's
pocket has now changed into the Seven of Spades.

PREPARATION: Arrange the deck from the top to the bottom as follows: thirteen
random cards, the Ace through King of Hearts in ascending numerical order, the Ace
through King of Spades in ascending numerical order, thirteen random cards.
Give the top thirteen indifferent cards an upward bow at the inner end. Bend down
the sides of the thirteen Hearts at the inner end. Similarly, give the sides of the Spades
an upward bend at the inner end. Finally, give the bottom thirteen indifferent cards a
downward bow at the inner end. The bridges in these four banks will create noticeable
breaks at the inner end of the deck that will help you later on (pic. 1, bridges exaggerated
for clarity) , but they should not be visible at the outer end of the deck. If you tightly
clamp down on the outer end of the deck, the breaks at the inner end will open up
more. Alternatively, instead of bridging these banks, you could corner short or edge
mark the bottom card of each portion.

PERFORMANCE: Force a spectator to take a card out of the Hearts bank; this is a
very easy force, and the bridges (or marks or corner shorts) in the deck provide a clear
indication of where the stack of Hearts begins and ends. (It is preferable that neither
spectator picks an Ace or King. Fortunately, it is easy to make sure they pick a card from

130 not-so-straight triumph

somewhere in the middle of their respective banks.) ((Please don't look at the face of this
card, and place it immediately in your pocket." (Alternatively, he could place it under the
card box on the table.) Let's assume the card he puts in his pocket is the Four of Hearts.
To a different spectator say, ((You, sir, can display your card to anyone in this room but
myself" Look back at the first spectator and say, ((Life is not fair. " Have the second
spectator draw a card from the Spades portion. Let's assume he takes the Seven of
Spades. While he displays his card to the audience, cut the top half of the deck to the
bottom (it doesn't need to be precisely half) and hold a little-finger break between the
halves. Take the deck in right-hand end grip, transferring the break to your right thumb
in preparation for a dribble force (see page 40). Dribble the cards and ask the spectator
to say, "Stop," timing it so that it seems that he stopped you at the break. Have the
card returned on top of the bottom half, and then dribble the rest of the cards on top,
making sure the first few cards drop injogged on top of his card. Square the deck and
obtain a thumb break below the injogged card. Execute a double undercut to bring his
card to the top of the deck (a pass or a casual cut will also work).
At this point the deck is arranged as follows: The second selection (Seven of Spades) is
on top of the deck, followed by thirteen random cards, then twelve Hearts in order (the
Four is in the first spectator's pocket), then twelve Spades in order, and finally thirteen
random cards.
((We are going to mix this deck in a peculiar way. " You will now cut the deck into four
tabled piles, relying on the breaks at the inner end of the deck (or the marks or corner
shorts), and setting the packets down from left to right. The first packet will consist of
all the indifferent cards, with the second selection on top, and it is placed onto the table
to your left. The second packet will be the twelve Hearts, placed to the right of the first
packet. The third packet will be the twelve Spades, and the last packet is the remainder
of the deck, placed to the right of all.
Turn the second and fourth packets face up. Make sure not to expose that the second
packet consists of only Hearts. You can spread the two rightmost packets and say, '.11s
you can see we have cards facing up and some facing down." Square them, then take the
two middle packets (Hearts and Spades) and interweave the face-down Spades packet
into the face-up Hearts. It shouldn't be a perfect shuffie, and you need to make sure
there is at least one Heart on the top and one on the bottom of the combined packet.
Obviously, you can't spread these cards to show that they are now mixed face up and face
down. Cut anywhere in the middle a few times and display the cards that you cut to.
These repeated cuts will display face-up and face-down cards. Try this for yourself, and
you will agree that this display is quite convincing. While you present the condition of
the cards state, :4.s you can see some cards are facing up and some facing down. Some are face
to face, and some are back to back. "
You now need to give this mixed packet a false shuffle with the tabled packet to the
left, ending with the left packet on top. Here's how. With your right hand from
above, grip the mixed packet by the sides. With your left hand, pick up the left

repertoire 131
 packet and weave it into the outer end of the combined packet, pushing it halfvvay
in, making sure that this smaller packet is sandwiched completely within the bigger
packet. In other words, the bigger packet has at least one card above and one card
below the smaller packet.
The following actions all take place continuously, with no pausing at any point. With
your right fingers, push the outer end of the smaller packet into the larger packet
(pic. 2), but push predominantly with your right forefinger, shifting the cards so they
are angled to the left approximately forty-five degrees (pic. 3, right hand omitted for
clarity). The left thumb takes over (pic. 4) and continues to push the jogged cards
straight back toward the inner end. This should look like you are squaring the deck.
Your right fingers shift from being in contact with the outer ends of the outjogged cards
to the outer end of the larger packet.

132 not-so - straight tri urn ph

 5

The angled cards have been pushed through the deck and are sticking out almost halfway
at the inner right corner of the deck (pic. 5, right hand omitted for clarity). The right
hand provides cover for the angled cards. Your left thumb lies along the left side of the
deck, and the left middle and ring fingers are along the right side of the angled cards.
The little finger is at the inner end of the anglejogged packet, and in a moment the left
index finger will be at the outer end of this packet (as soon as the deck is out of the way
during the upcoming strip-out action) , so that the packet will be held in a straddle grip.

repertoire 133
 By simultaneously rotating your right hand counterclockwise with the deck and your
left hand clockwise with the anglejogged cards, you can strip the angled cards out from
the right-hand cards (pic. 6); it should look as if you are just cutting the deck. Complete
the "cut" by placing the larger, right-hand packet onto the table, and the left-hand
packet on top of it. This should all look like you wove the packets together and then
simply cut them onto the table. 5 9
As a substitute for this shuffle, I find that Derek DelGaudio's truffle shuffle an excellent
one, as one of its requirements is that the packets must be of different sizes. After the
truffle shuffle, you will end up with the smaller packet on top of the bigger one-exactly
the result we are after.
Turn the combined packet over, and then pick up the last packet and execute the same
false shuffle sequence described above. Denis Behr has suggested that dribbling the
deck at this point makes for a nice display. The face-down cards in the middle and the
random cards on the ends blur nicely, while the all-Spades center remains concealed.
After this dribble display (or after the false shuffle if you omit this display), turn the
deck over and announce that you will attempt to find out what card the first spectator
secretly placed into his pocket.
Execute a ribbon spread and point out that the face-up cards are all Hearts. (The
distribution of the face-up cards will look better if you keep the spread tight at the top
and bottom of the deck, and wider in the middle of the deck.) Add, "You can also see
that the Hearts are in order, but there's one missing. "Remove all the cards below the Ace of
Hearts and hold them in your left hand. Remove all the cards above the King of Hearts
and place them on top of the cards in your hand (the second selection should be on top
of this packet). You can justify the removal of these cards by saying, "To make this as
clear as possible, I'll get rid of these cards. "
Call out the face-up cards. '~ce, Two, 7hree, Five, Six, Seven. As you can see, the missing
card is the Four." Ask the first spectator to remove his card from his pocket. Take it with
your right hand and display it to the audience. While they react, top change 60 the Four
with the second selection and casually toss it face down onto the table.
Turn the cards in your hand face up and place them onto the table. Gather the tabled
spread of cards and shuffle the two halves together. Alternatively, you could have
a spectator shuffle; you only need to make sure he shuffles the cards in the correct
orientation. Demonstrate how you want him to shuffle by riffling the two halves and
allowing them to interweave, but don't complete the shuffle; unweave them, and hand
him the two halves to shuffle. "Remember, these cards were shuffled multiple times, face-up
cards with face-down cards. "

59 This is based on Juan Tamariz's cascade shuffle from his book Sonata (1988, page 77.
60 A good description of the top change can be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, volume 1 (1995),
page 233 .

134 not-so-straight triumph

Turn the deck over. Ask the second spectator to name the card he chose, and when he
does, spread the cards again. Point out that now the only face-up cards are the Spades
in numerical order with one card missing-the card he just named. Ask him to turn
over the card on the table, the card everyone remembered as the Four of Hearts. Now it
is the Seven of Spades. When I started performing this trick I wasn't sure what was the
best order for these final two climaxes. Experience has convinced me that this is better,
but feel free to experiment with both ways.

ENDNOTES: Here is a nice alternative that I sometimes do. To prepare, remove one
card from the Hearts bank and bury it in one of the banks of random cards. Only one
card is selected (from the Spades bank). The spectator places this card in his pocket
without looking at it or showing it to anyone. The cards are shuffled as described above.
When you spread the cards, all the Hearts are face up in numerical order, and one card
is missing. When the spectator removes the card from his pocket, it is not the missing
Heart as anticipated, but a Spade. To fix this you have the spectator shuffle one more
time, and when the cards are spread again the face-up cards are all the Spades in order,
except for the chosen card. 61
You can also create variations of this trick with ID numbers, dates, serial numbers from
a bill, or almost any sequence of numbers that you desire. For example, in the first
phase someone chooses a card, and after the shuffled cards are spread on the table, the
only card missing from the face-up sequence is the selection. In the second phase the
spectator shuffles once more, and when you respread the cards, all the face-up cards are
the numbers of his cell phone, in order. .
Finally, here is some advice about executing the ribbon spreads in this trick (which
applies to many tricks where face-up cards are spread on the table). If you are facing
your audience, as will most often be the case, spread the cards from your right to left, so
that the indexes of the face-up cards are right side up from the audience's point of view.
Their view of the cards is always more important than yours. Of course, if your audience
is primarily next to you (or gathered around behind you), then spread the cards from
your left to right.

61 Simon Lovell published a similar version (using double-backers) called "Super Play It Straight!" in his book
Son of Simon Says! (2000), page 37.

repertoire 135
 s.c.a.a.n.

A
lthough there are considerable differences between the two, this routine is
derived from "S.A.C.A.A.N." (see page 51). That earlier version made me
obsess over the possibility of genuinely shuffiing the entire deck, as I knew it
would greatly improve the impact of the trick. Incorporating this feature, however, does
come at the cost of turning an ACAAN into a CAAN; in other words, turning a "name
a card" trick into a "pick a card" trick. On the plus side, some of you will be pleased to
learn that this also means you do not need a memorized deck.

PREPARATION: This trick requires a full deck without jokers, and the card case needs
to be prepared as described on page 19 of ''A.WA.C.A.A.N." (You need to be familiar
with the workings of that trick to understand the instructions for this variation.)

PERFORMANCE: Have the deck thoroughly shuffied by a spectator. Once you retrieve
the deck, you will need to deal twenty-seven cards onto the table. To make this process
not seem too systematic, I incorporate it within the plot of the trick. I used to thumb
off six groups of four cards followed by one group of three (a total of twenty-seven)
from the top of the deck. That works perfectly well but I find it to be too repetitious
and possibly too obvious. I recommend you break up the pattern. Right after your
spectator shuffies, casually spread the face-down deck while saying, "You have to agree,
you thoroughly shuffled these cards." Secretly count eight cards (sight counting two groups

repertoire 137
 of four might make this task easier), and as you square the deck, obtain a left little-finger
break under those cards.
With your right hand, grab all the cards above the break and drop them onto the table.
I use the word "drop" because although you are going to create a pile, it's better if the
pile is not too neat- so drop each of the successive packets askew, jogged slightly to
the right of the previous packet. This way, the pile of cards will be spread a bit. (This
sloppy, casual approach will help prevent audiences from sensing that you are counting
or setting up something.) After dropping the first eight cards onto the table, drop two
more pairs of cards (so far, a total of twelve cards). Thumb off a group of four cards and
drop those on top of the tabled pile, then two more pairs of cards, followed by another
batch of four cards. Lastly, thumb off three more cards and drop them (for a total of
twenty-seven cards on the table). Memorizing this sequence (8, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 4, 3) is not
too difficult and is worth the effort. To justify these actions, after you have dropped a
few batches of cards as described above, ask a spectator to stop you whenever he likes.
One of three scenarios will occur:
1. The spectator stops you just as you finish dropping all twenty-seven
cards: Ask him to take the card he stopped you at (the top card on the
tabled pile). Better yet, invite him to remove any card from that pile.
2. The spectator stops you before your sequence ends: Say, "You can take
the card you stopped me at or any card before or any card after. "As you say
that, finish dropping the rest of the cards of the sequence.
3. The spectator hasn't called stop by the time you've finished dropping the
twenty-seven cards: Simply stop after you've dropped the last packet of
the sequence, and tell him, as an afterthought, "You know what, take any
one of these cards, "as you gesture toward the pile on the table.
Once the spectator has looked at the card he chose and shown it around, ask him to
place it on top of the pile on the table. Bury his card by dropping packets of cards on
top of his card, in a fashion similar to what you did before. Drop the last packet of cards
in the middle of the spread of cards. Gather up the spread of cards in such a way that
anyone who is watching closely will see that the last packet you dropped in the middle
gets buried somewhere in the top half of the deck; that is, they get shoved into the cards
at the right end of the spread. Pick up all the cards from the table, in order to square
them, but "accidentally" leave a few from the bottom behind. Pick these up and shove
them haphazardly somewhere into the bottom half of the deck. These last subtleties,
although not crucial, are designed to make everything seem casual, sloppy, and random
(and yet the selection is still exactly where you want it). Square the deck.
The selected card is now twenty-sixth from the top/twenty-seventh from the bottom.
Execute an overhand shuffle, running bunches of cards until you are near the middle,
where you run off cards singly; once you have passed the center, you go back to running
groups of cards until the shuffle is complete. 62 After this shuffle, the selected card is now

62 This is Charles T. Jordan's red/black overhand shuffle fro m his book 7hirty Card Mysteries (19 19), page 13.

138 s.c.a.a.n.
twenty-seventh from the top/twenty-sixth from the bottom. This shuffle is important
because, after the card is returned, someone could estimate that it is very close to the
middle of the deck. After this shuffle, it would seem that the card could be almost
anywhere in the deck (even though its position only shifts by one card).
Place the cards into the case, making sure that the faces are toward the thumb notch.
Ask your spectator to name a number up to thirty. When asked to name a number "up
to thirty", people tend to pick numbers in the twenties (most often the high twenties).
I don't mind restricting the range of numbers because it increases the cha~ces of getting
a direct hit.
By applying the secret shift described in ''A.WA.C.A.A.N", by feel and sight you can
easily shift up to four cards from the top to the bottom, or vice versa, to reposition the
chosen card as you remove the deck from the box. By combining these moves with the
option to count from the top of the deck or from the bottom, you can position the card
for any number from twenty-two to thirty as seen below. And for the numbers twenty-
five to twenty-eight you do not need to transfer any cards, and the spectator can remove
the cards from the box (think of this as getting a free ride).

22: Transfer four cards from top to bottom. With the deck face down, ask
the spectator to count twenty-two cards. His card will be the next one.
23: Transfer four cards from top to bottom. With the deck face down, the
spectator can count straight to it.
24: Transfer three cards from top to bottom. With the deck face down, the
spectator can count straight to it.
25: This is a free ride. Counting from the bottom up, ask the spectator
to count twenty-five cards, and his card will be the next one. See the
note on page 26 about the best way to count from the bottom up.
(Alternatively, you can transfer two cards from top to bottom. With the
deck face down, the spectator can count straight to it.)
26: This is a free ride. Counting from the bottom up, the spectator can
count straight to it. (Again, see the note on page 26.)
27: This is a free ride. With the deck face down, the spectator can count
straight to it.
28: This is a free ride. With the deck face down, say, "Oh, you picked a big
number. To speed it up, count two cards at a time. "Instruct the spectator
to count two cards at a time, dropping pairs onto the table. At the
end of the counting, the top card of the pile will be the chosen card. 63
(Alternatively, transfer one card from bottom to top. With the deck face
down, the spectator can count straight to it.)

63 Th is procedure appeared as "A Curious Count" in The Pallbearers Review (October 1968), page 210. While
contributed by Fred G. Taylor, he did not claim it and the inven tor is unknown. I learned it from Juan Tamariz.

repertoire 139
 29: Transfer two cards from bottom to top. With the deck face down, the
spectator can count straight to it.
30: Transfer three cards from bottom to top. With the deck face down, the
spectator can count straight to it.

Because of the popularity of the free-ride numbers, many times you won't need to make
any adjustments. It's exciting when this happens-just remember to keep your cool.

ENDNOTES: When you need to remove cards to arrive at the correct number-such
as the three cards you transfer from the top to bottom when the number is twenty-
four-instead of transferring the cards, you can just retain the three cards inside the box
as you remove the rest of the deck from the case.
Once in a blue moon someone might call for a lower number, like eighteen. In such
cases, ask another spectator to name another number up to ten and combine the
numbers. If both numbers added together still produce a number less than twenty-two
(although it has never happened to me), ask a third person to name a number up to
ten and combine all three numbers. To justify this lengthy process say, "There's no way I
could have predicted the total of three freely chosen numbers. "

140 s. c. a. a. n .
repertoire 141
 lucky 13

y nature, I am very messy. As a teenager, my room was a disaster. Every time I

B walked into my friend's room I mocked him for being so organized. I used to
tease him with, "Where's all your stuff?" And, of course, he could answer that
question better than I could. The truth was that I admired him for being neat. Over
the years I got much better and learned to keep my environment clean and organized.
I function better when my place is tidy; it calms my mind and allows me to focus.
There's something pleasing about getting things in order. Is that why "Triumph" is
such a great plot? After all, it is about going from chaos to order. The same with "Out
ofThis World"-magically organizing all the cards by color. What appeals to me about
"Lucky 13" is that it has that same quality. Several people pull small groups of cards
from different parts of a shuffled deck, and those packets are randomly stacked. Mter
a spectator is asked to name one of the four suits, the performer turns the cards over,
and they are the thirteen cards of the chosen suit-in numerical order. 64

64 This is basically "Suit Selection", a plot that has been attributed to Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser. See Non Plus
Ultra, volume II (2013 English-language edition) by Magic Christian, page 358.

repertoire 143
 PREPARATION: This trick has the same problem as "S.A.C.A.A.N." (see page 51): You
have to hold out thirteen cards while the deck is shuffied. Again, if you hand the deck
to someone for shuffiing, he might realize the deck isn't complete. It's the same prob-
lem-and we will use the same solution. You start with thirteen cards of the same suit,
e.g., Hearts, in numerical order (ascending from Ace through King) on top of the deck.

PERFORMANCE: Turn the deck face up, spread through the cards, and get a break
above the King of Hearts. With your left hand, take all the cards below the break (all the
Hearts) into a gambler's cop as you place the rest of the deck onto the table and spread
the cards. Clench the copped packet behind your knee as you adjust your seat. Let your
audience mix the cards face up in a casino-style "wash" (this disguises the thinness of the
deck), and then add your stack to the deck- all as described on page 53.
Square the cards and turn them face down. It's time to perform a classic force. The
most common way to prepare for this is to cut the deck, obtaining a little-finger break
between the halves (above your thirteen-card stack). However, as I will describe, I prefer
to perform a casual overhand shuffie and then obtain the break above my bank of cards.
This looser, more chaotic approach reinforces the notion that there's no chance you
could have maintained the order of these cards. Start the overhand shuffie by using
your left thumb to pull off about half the deck and let those cards rest in your left hand
(this half contains your stack of thirteen cards on top). With your left thumb peel off
one card, injogging it about half an inch. Continue to shuffie off the rest of the deck
in bunches. Square the cards with your right hand and obtain a left little-finger break
below the injogged card (directly above your bank).
Although the ·s pectator will be grabbing a batch of cards, the technique is basically the
same as a standard classic force. As you spread through the cards, ask the spectator,
'lire you a righty or a lefty?" Once he answers, say, ((Great, pull out a bunch of cards with
that hand." (It's a good idea to ask him to remove the cards with his dominant hand,
because this prevents him from grabbing cards with both hands from different parts of
the deck.) Time it so that he grabs a big group of cards directly beneath your break. He
has a (somewhat) free choice as to how many cards to remove, which helps to disguise
the force. The best scenario is that he takes thirteen or more cards, so if he takes fewer,
encourage him to take more. (It's okay if he gets a few non-force cards from below the
bank-but not from above.) ((Please don't look at the cards yet, and place them face down
onto the table." (You may need to repeat the warning to not look at the cards.)
Once he removes a group of cards from the middle of the deck, you will have some cards
in each hand. As you say, ((You could have taken any of these cards, "turn both halves face
up. This gives you a chance to show, once more, that the cards are well shuffied, but
more importantly, by looking at the cards in your left hand, you can see if your spectator
removed 'the entire bank or not.
If he did take all thirteen Hearts, then have four more people take random groups of
cards (about six cards each) and place them onto the table. These cards are not forced, so
you can adopt a looser approach with the selection procedure, with spectators removing

144 lucky 13
bunches of cards from anywhere in the deck. This helps make the first selection seem
fairer in retrospect.
However, if you do see a few Hearts remain in the left hand, turn the two halves face
down and combine them, obtaining another little-finger break between them. Turn to a
second spectator, and force the rest of the stack exactly where the first spectator left off.
You want to make sure the rest of the stack cards are chosen by the second spectator, so
if he only takes a few cards, encourage him to remove a larger group (the first spectator
and he should each take seven cards minimum- again, it's okay if a few e'xtra non-force
cards from below the stack get taken, but not cards from above) . Once the first two
spectators have taken the thirteen Hearts, let three more spectators pick small groups of
cards and place them onto the table.
There are now five piles on the table. Set aside the remainder of the deck. If the first
spectator took all thirteen force cards, tell him to place his packet on top of any other
packet. If the first spectator only took some of the Hearts bank, tell him to place his pile
on top of the second spectator's pile, and as soon as he does so, say, (.11ny pile you want."
Of course, it's too late for him to change, but you want to create the illusion that the
piles are being assembled randomly.
The combined pile can go on top of any of the other three piles, so you say, ((Put that
pile on any of these." This combined pile can go on top of either of the last two. Finally,
that combined pile, obviously, has to go on top of the last pile. At the conclusion of this
assembly sequence, the top thirteen cards should be all the Hearts in numerical order.
((7hese are more cards than we need. ''Ask a spectator to deal thirteen cards into a face-
down pile and hand you the rest. Show the faces of the cards he gave you; they will all be
of various values and suits. Say, ((You took random cards from various places in the deck."
Showing these cards acts as a convincer that the thirteen cards on the table should also
be a mixed bunch. Add these discarded cards to the remainder of the deck, and hold
on to the cards. The thirteen-card packet sits prominently in the middle of the table.
7n a deck of cards there are four suits. Every person here might have a favorite suit. In
black, we have Clubs and Spades, and in red, we have Diamonds and Hearts. " Point to a
woman and ask, ((For example, what's your favorite?" I have discovered that when rushed
to give an answer, people are very likely to choose the last suit they heard, because it is
the freshest in their memory and the easiest to recall. 65 Experience also teaches us that
many women are drawn to red suits, especially Hearts, so if you use the phrasing above,
you have a much better chance of getting a woman to name Hearts than if you had
merely made a direct request like, (Name any suit."
However, if she doesn't name Hearts, the phrasing above (especially ((For example'} gives
you an out. Her answer only serves as an example, and you then ask other people, (.11nd
what's your favorite suit? And how about yours?" At some point someone will say, "Hearts."

65 Daniel Kahneman writes at length abo ut similar ideas in his book Thinking Fast and Slow, which I highly
recommend.

repertoire 145
 Make a mental note of this person, but keep asking until you have asked several people
for their favorite suit. Then say, ((Everybody, call out your favorite suit. " Creating this
deliberately chaotic moment helps bury the memory of the individual responses.
Continue with, ((Good. Now, everybody think ofyour favorite suit." (With luck, people
will forget you asked some individuals to name suits and only remember this request.)
You will now use a timing force to "randomly select" a person who is thinking of Hearts.
Here's how. Point your forefinger toward someone who is far away from the person you
want to force. Ask another spectator to tell you when to stop as you slowly move your
finger horizontally across the room. Move your arm at a steady pace, and as soon as you
notice the spectator's lips start to move, indicating he is about to speak, pick up the
speed a bit, so that by the time he says, "Stop," you are pointing directly at the person
you wish to force. (This is all very similar in concept to a dribble force.) Ask, ((Which
suit do you like?" This implies that you don't know which suit she named (Liar, liar!).
Often, when you are first surveying the crowd, more than one person will say, "Hearts."
Use that to your advantage with the timing force. When you are pointing at the first
force person, say, ((Would you like me to use this person, or should I continue?" If they say,
"Continue," then force a second "Hearts person".
Once Hearts is chosen, take the cards you've been holding and very slowly-in order to
build up suspense and create anticipation that the card at the face will match the chosen
suit- turn the pack face up. There is not a Heart on the face as expected, and this
creates a somewhat awkward moment. Break the tension by saying, "Because you chose
Hearts, I made sure this card is not a Heart. "This will get a good laugh. With your right
index finger, slide over the face card and allow it to fall onto the table, revealing the next
card. "This card is also not a Heart. "Slide another card off and say, "Not a Heart. " The
audience will start to realize you are not joking with these statements. As you continue
revealing cards one at the time, pick up speed while continuously saying, ''No Heart,
no Heart, no Heart... "until you are rapidly shooting cards onto the table in a blur. The
audience will react to this frantic display- showing in this way that all the Hearts are
missing from the deck is very powerful.
For the second climax, pick up the thirteen-card packet and deal the cards face up one
at a time: King, followed by the Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, and Eight. Stop and reveal the
rest all at once by spreading the remainder face up on the table. The cards are purposely
revealed in descending order from King to Ace, because, arranged in this fashion, it
takes the audience a little longer to realize they are in order. They anticipated this packet
would be all Hearts, but they did not expect them to be in order, hence this third climax
builds gradually.

ENDNOTES: Here is an alternative way to force the suit. Right after you add the stack
to the top of the deck, cut three-quarters of the deck and complete the cut, so that the
bank of Hearts is in the middle. Give the deck to someone in the audience and ask him
to lift off about half the pack and to look at the face of the card he cut to. If he cuts

146 lucky 13
anywhere near the middle, he will cut into your stack. Ask him to remember the suit of
the card he cut to and to keep thinking about this suit. Later, you go back to him and
ask, ((Which suit are you thinking of"
It will be obvious if he cuts within your bank of Hearts or not. If you detect that he cut
off way more than half the pack and is nowhere near the middle, you can further instruct
him to , ((Drop some cards and stop somewhere in the middle. "If he cuts too shallow, you
can say, ((Cut a bit deeper. "If this fails , hand the deck to a few other audience members,
and ask them to cut the cards and notice what suit they cut to, until you are sure you
have a "hit". Then use the timing force described above to choose a "random" person
and ask him, ((Which suit are you thinking of"

repertoire 147
 echo

often carry two decks with me during walk-around gigs. This allows me to perform

I many coincidence tricks, which is one of my favorite plots in card magic. A few
years ago I did a gig in Mexico, and I used a psychological fan force to make a guest
mentally select a particular card. For the big finish, I secretly turned that card face up in
the pack and handed him the deck. When he named his card out loud, I realized that
my fan force failed; at this point, he was holding a deck with an indifferent card reversed
in the middle. Bummer. To recover, I removed my other deck of cards (which was in
Mnemonica) and produced his card via the techniques described in "Mnemonicosis". 66
Now I had two decks in play and one card was still reversed in the deck he was holding.
So I improvised the following trick: I knew the reversed card was the Two of Clubs,
so with the other deck I forced that card on someone else, who showed it around, and
then openly inserted it face up into the middle of my deck. Jokingly I spread through
my cards and said, "Look, your card is the only one face up in the middle." I was
immediately confronted with protests until I said, "Oh, I am not referring to my deck.
I am talking about his cards," and I gestured toward the cards he was holding. The trick
got such a great response that I kept performing this plot regularly, and I have added
refinements and improvements to it since that performance in Mexico.

66 This can be fou nd in Mnemonica (2004) by Juan Tamariz, page 97.

repertoire 149
 PERFORMANCE: You need two complete decks with contrasting backs, for example,
one blue and one red. Have both decks shuffied by the audience. Retrieve the decks,
and hold the blue deck in left-hand dealing position and the red deck in right-hand end
grip (both decks should be face down). Obtain a little-finger break beneath the top card
of the left (blue) deck. Introduce both decks as you gesture with them and say, 7 have
red and blue cards. "During these gestures, bring the decks together briefly, the bottom
of the right (red) deck contacting the top of the left (blue) deck, and steal the top blue
card to the bottom of the red deck. The finger break makes this task very easy.
Immediately after the steal, spread the blue deck face up on the table from left to
right as you say, "These cards are all mixed up." Turn the red cards face up and note the
bottom card, which is the only blue-backed card in the deck-we will assume it is the
Two of Clubs. As you run through these cards, look for the red-backed Two of Clubs.
(If is too close to either end of the deck, cull it to the middle.) Cut this Two to the face
of the deck-this cut will also cause the blue-backed Two to get lost in the middle. It
should seem as if you are just casually cutting the deck as you state, "These cards are
thoroughly shuffled as well." Turn the cards face down into right-hand end grip. With
your left hand, slide the bottom card slightly to the right, sidejogging it. Your right
hand provides cover to conceal the jogged card.
You need to add the sidejogged card to the face of the spread-out blue deck, and you
will accomplish this in the action of squaring the spread. With your left hand, scoop the
spread of cards from the left end. Simultaneously, lower your right hand until the red deck
touches the right end of the spread. Once the left hand reaches the right hand, use your
left fingers to pull the sidejogged card down onto the face of the blue deck. To prevent
the audience from seeing that red-backed card, immediately turn the blue deck face down
and place it onto the table, and then give the deck a complete cut- this will position the
red card in the middle of the deck. Place the red deck onto the table next to the blue deck.
The blue deck has a red-backed card (the Two of Clubs in our example) reversed in the
middle, and the red deck has a blue-backed card (also a Two of Clubs) in the middle,
but not reversed. Ask a spectator, "Do you prefer the blue or red deck?" It doesn't matter
which. If he prefers blue, place the blue deck into its card box and hand it to him,
saying, "Okay, please hold on to the blue cards. "If he says red, say, "Okay, we'll use the red
cards, "as you place the blue deck into its card box and set it aside. Either way, you will
end up holding the red deck.
Turn the red deck face up and spread through the cards, saying, 'Tm going to ask you
to pull out one of these, but please only pull it halfway out." When you spot the Two
of Clubs, obtain a little-finger break above it, and square the deck. You are going to
perform a face-up classic force. I know this might sound scary, but when you give
someone specific instructions- like pulling the card only halfway out-you split his
focus between merely selecting a card and the manner in which you want him to choose
it. If you sense that the spectator is not going to take the force card, you could say," You
know what, let's make it even more random," and, as an afterthought, switch to a sure-fire
force like a dribble force or any force that is guaranteed to get the job done without
flashing the back of the force card.

150 echo
Remove the "chosen card" from the deck, making sure not to expose its back, and turn
the rest of the cards face down. Insert the selection back into the middle, so that it is
obviously the only face-up card in the deck. Square the deck and ·respread the cards.
"Your card is the only card facing up. " This statement will usually evoke replies such as,
"But I saw you put it in face up." To these responses, reply, "Yes, but I don't mean in this
deck. I mean the other one. "At this point, most audiences anticipate what is coming next.
Although you have the option to let your spectator spread the blue deck, it is preferable
that you handle this moment yourself, so that you can control the suspense and the
timing of the revelation of the matching card. Since you, instead of a spectator, are
handling the cards, you are sacrificing the fairness of this climax a bit-therefore, it's
essential you handle the cards with extreme clarity and fairness. Open the box and,
using your fingers as if they were tweezers, carefully remove the cards. At first, spread
the face-down cards slowly, and then pick up the speed a bit to reveal the matching card.
The way in which you spread the cards will help to build up suspense, and also indicate
to your audience that something worthy of their attention has just occurred. This first
climax- the revelation of the matching card- is strong enough to conclude the trick, so
let this moment breathe for a while before moving on to the second climax.
To conclude, explain that you didn't just make the chosen card turn face up in the other
deck, but you also somehow managed to make those two cards switch places, so that
the red card is in the blue deck and the blue card is in the red deck. Slowly turn over
each card, and then drop them directly on top of their respective, contrasting spreads to
visually reinforce the effect (pic. 1).

repertoire 151
 ENDNOTES: Obviously, you can set up for this trick in advance. Simply remove the
same card from each deck, and place the red-backed card reversed in the middle of the
blue deck, and the blue-backed card in the center of the red deck, but not reversed.
You, of course, forfeit the option to have a spectator shuffle the cards at the beginning.

152 echo
repertoire 153
 afterword

was born with severe dyslexia, so I couldn't read or write until second grade. Neither

I my parents nor any of my teachers knew much about dyslexia, and so didn't
consider it as a reason for my learning difficulties. I was blamed for being lazy and
eventually, just "slow". My parents spent many hours helping me with my homework
and eventually they gave up and hired several tutors to do the job. Finally, after hard
work, I was able to read and write (with many mistakes), but once I attained the ability
to read, I got hooked, and books became one of my passions. I love the experience you
can have with a well-written book. I don't just enjoy reading, I love books as objects. I
love how they look, feel, and smell (yes, books do have a great smell).
So although I learned to read quite comfortably, writing remains a struggle, and forming
grammatically correct sentences is still a challenge. I am envious of those who can write
well. For many years I was convinced that writing a book might be something outside
of my range of skills. Only recently did I conclude that if I can lecture about magic
and verbally communicate ideas, methods, and theories, there must be a way for me
to record them in a book format. Finally, I figured out how I could achieve that goal:
All I had to do was befriend someone who is very good at writing. That someone is
my coauthor, John Lovick. John didn't just help me write this book, he also made
quite an effort to study the tricks and to make the explanations clear enough that even
someone like Handsome Jack could follow them. Sometimes, John also had to use his
psychic abilities to write things he knew I wanted to say but somehow had neglected to

repertoire 155
 mention. But John's most significant contribution was that by collaborating with me I
learned how to write a magic book.
I have been told that there are descriptions on the internet of me performing "Time Is
Money" (see page 1) with two bills of different denominations. People often misremember
tricks and add details that didn't happen, but which make the tricks sound more
impressive. That might be what is happening here. But if someone did want to perform
"Time Is Money" with bills of different denominations, here is a method that may or
may not be legal. On page xii there's a painting of a gimmicked bill. To construct such a
gimmick you would need to glue an odd-shaped portion from a one hundred-dollar bill
(this portion is half the height of a full bill) on top of a one-dollar bill. As with many tricks
involving money or paper, backlighting can be a problem with such a gimmicked bill, so
be aware of your lighting conditions when using this. You would make similar gimmicks
with five-, ten-, twenty-, and fifty-dollar bills as well (a total investment of $190), so that
the trick could be done with whichever denomination the spectator were to provide. If
you look closely at the painting, you will notice a crease pattern. That pattern, along with
the explanation of "Time Is Money", is all you need to figure out how to perform the trick
with two bills of different denominations. If you accept this challenge, good luck.
I am in debt to my great friends who used their valuable time to help make this a better
book. In no particular order, I want to thank Mike Vance, for his meticulous proofreading;
Jamy Ian Swiss, Prakash Puru, John Graham, Tyler Wilson, Noah Levine, Laura Alexander,
Angelo Carbone, and Marc Kerstein for proofreading, correcting mistakes, and making
great suggestions; Jonathan Levit for his technical advice and computer wizardry; I also
want to thank Denis Behr, whose wealth of knowledge helped me give proper credit to
the creators who have inspired me, and his great databases-ConjuringArchive.com and
ConjuringCredits.com- were invaluable sources of information.
I am also indebted to three close friends who have directly and indirectly affected
me and my magic: Yonatan Gat, Eran Biderman, and Shimshi. Their great influence
and support were vital in helping turn the idea of this book into a reality. Finally,
I want to thank David Blaine for the kind foreword he wrote and also for his great
influence on my magic.
I could have arranged this book by genre. No doubt there's a sensible logic to that
approach, but I preferred to list them in the order in which I created them. To some
degree, this book has a biographical undertone. I hope you find that this is not just a
collection of effects followed by explanations, but that I am also sharing information
that reveals secrets beyond the mechanics of the tricks. I intentionally avoided providing
full scripts for most of the routines (providing only those lines that I find necessary
for misdirection or technical reasons). I believe that if I had included full scripts, I
would have led you down the wrong path by polluting your mind with my persona and
attitude. It takes many years to find an authentic voice. I know this is true, because the
search for mine was a long process (and is still ongoing).
Asi Wind
March 7, 2018

156 afterword