52 Memories by Jack Parker Compress
52 Memories by Jack Parker Compress
52 Memories by Jack Parker Compress
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'. es that are explained in context are indented below the routine in which they are explained.
Chapter2-Moves&Tools
Chapter 3 - Tricks with a Full 52
Elmsley Count
Backwards Christ / Annemann Alignment Move
- . uble-Back Trilogy (Persistent Offenders, More Effort Less Magic, The Heist) ....... .. ................... 1,;-i
Sloppy Zaruow Addition (Herb Zarro:w and |ack Parker)
Three-Card Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
'-hapter 6 - Assemblage
TumbleGem Switch (lack Parker)
Pirouette Double (|ack Parker)
Injogged Flip-over (|ack Parker)
Tivo-Card Catch (Johann Hofzinser)
'. :en I first met |ack I had no idea what to expect, though Peter Dulfie and Kevin Fox had told me I shouic
,:tch out for |ack Parker." We first met in Glasgow and ]ack made an instant impression. He is a real
-:1ileman with a repertoire of outstanding card magic, performing quietly and without ostentation. Iack Io,- .,
-- : tr\-€r and over again, with immaculately constructed routines; some of the most refreshing and oriqina-
-..:erial I've seen in the last twenty years.
-:-< sent me some of his material and I was more than impressed. Each effect was carefully put together an;
- ','l)'s with a clear, direct effect. It would be tempting to draw analogies with |ack's training as an architect,
- .:d tbundations, clear lines and so on, however I suspect he is a good architect because he is a great masi;-.:
:<el that |ack is doing us all a great favour in sharing his creations. What you will not get from these
:::criptions is the lightness of touch fack has with the pasteboards: that indefinable "something" that ntakes :
. :tagical effect, rather than just a card trick. Also, may I suggest that you get a friend to learn these rouiint' "
-:..-,rv them to you before you read the methods. They will fool you. Guaranteedl
.: trnly Dai Vernon and Alex Elmsley had seen |ack's work I know they would be impressed. I used to arg:e ',',
:e late, great Fred Robinson who said there was no such thing as the "art" of magic. My response \ras. anJ :::
.. that magic is an art but only in the hands of an artist. )ack Parker is such an artist. His work eler-ates rtai-.
.:rd he gives his art the respect it deserves.
Gordon Bruce
::otiand
)'iat-2007
TNTRoDUCTToN
IACK PARKER
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\\relcome to the blurb at the beginning of a book. I guess most of
vou will want to fast forward to the tricks and nobody can blame
vou as that's why you purchased 52 Memories after all! For me, this
introduction is extremely important because it gives me the chance
to explain the somewhat unusual circumstances regarding how this
book came about. But don't worry - then we'll get to the tricks; I
promise! And you'll enjoy them. I promise that too!
Our first question to the doctors, of course, was whether it was treatable. Further tests revealed more bad nerr-s
the cancer had spread to my bones in both the spine and other areas. My oncologist confirmed that there s-as n,
treatment available to cure the illness but that some biological treatments would hold the illness at ba,v for some
time and increase my iife expectancy (and oniy if they worked). These treatments had a limited success rate and
gave nasty side effects.
I proceeded to have the tumour removed (a major operation) in order to stop the cancer spreading further. I
then tried the biological treatment but unfortunately I found the side effects left me with very llttle qualitr- oilitt
I could see no point in continuing with the treatment as even if the treatment worked in gaining me extra time,
it meant I would be bedridden for all of it. After much discussion with Tracey, I decided to stop the treatmenrs
other than pain relief, and to take each day as it came, enjoying as much time as I can with Tracey, the girls, mr
parents and all my friends.
So that's where I am at present, as I write this to you. Each day is different; some good and some bad. The pain
reiief drugs are generally working well and the doctors and nursing staff that are looking after me are trulv
The crunch question is, of course, timescale. My doctors are very wary of giving a firm prognosis since it is
dependent on the course the disease runs. The cancer has shown signs that it is fairly aggressive so I expect we
are looking at something like three to six months, maybe less. I have things I wish to get in place (particularly
in terms of writing things down) before the cancer progresses too much further and causes more physical
problems.
Finally then, we get to the reason for this book. Put simply, it's a legacy of my work. I spent a large chunk of my
life creating these tricks and loved every moment of it. When people who have learned and performed my tricks
tell me that they, too, really enjoy them and also get great reactions from lay people, it's truly wonderful and
never ceases to amaze me. I'll discuss this further in chapter nine which is about how I get inspiration to create
my magic. What I want to say here is that given the feedback I receive from magicians who enjoy my card magic
and how they genuinely feel it is both innovative and elicits strong reactions; it seemed a shame to let it "go with
me."
I have published fair amount of material (see my bibliography on page 219) including ebooks, some hard
a
copies and most notably the two one-man Magicana columns in Genii magazite (|une 2006 and |une 2007). But
I wanted to leave behind a wonderfully produced hardback, something really substantial that I could be proud
of. I wanted it to contain the truly best material I had in print, along with some of my unpublished effects that
I have been keeping to myself over the years. I hoped the book would be much loved by some future magician
who pencils notes in the margins, underlines tricks and turns down page corners. In essence, I wanted a book
that would inspire.
Further encouragements to proceed with the book came from Richard Kaufman and Gordon Bruce, so I started
to think about it seriously. Because of the problem with my hand I knew I couldn't manage to write up all the
material myself, nor did I have any real skills in publishing magic books. So I tentatively approached my close
friend, Andi Gladwin, to see if he might be able to help. I knew there was a lot of material to be dealt with and
also that he was extremely busy, not only with his day job but also with his own magic publishing company
which has become extremely successful over the past few years. Plus he's a very accomplished card magician to
boot and is often lecturing or performing abroad. To my great pleasure he said he would be delighted to help
and furthermore would drop everything else he was working on so that he could put all his time into my book. I
couldn't thank him enough.
The hidden agenda we were both aware of was of course the timescale. I said to Andi at the very outset that I
didn't expect to see the book fully finished, but hoped I could at least have the text itself compiled. Those that
know Andi will know he's extremely driven in all he does and if you set him to a task he stays locked on it like
a missile. My feeling that the book would be published posthumously wasn't intended as a challenge, but as a
genuine belief. I also would rather have it done to our best ability than rush to get it completed. As I write this, I
am amazed to find Andi has already completed his first draft of all the effects; I have no idea where he found the
-:::'s it. A11 finished. You now know why the book is here. Nobody can say whether I am still around u,hen ror
:rad this. Either way; enjoy it. Enjoy learning and performing the magic as much as I enjoyed creating it. That
: linle bit of me can live on through these effects is a wonderful thing. Sometime, somewhere, a lay person rrill
.nile when their card really becomes invisible in "Invisible 21", or their coin is squashed flat in "Flat Rate Of
-:rterest", or even that they managed to make an Ace disappear allon their own, with you nowhere near them, i
-The Three Stooges." That gives me great comfort indeed.
:.-' iong.
lack Parker
t97t -2007
1y \\-ritten at St. Wilfrid's Hospice, Chichester in fune 2007)
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Ouroboros
Girl's Night Out
12 Card Monte
Magician vs. Magician
Cross Eyed Surprise
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"IORY
, - -: : card selected and places it with the two black Kings, which are in his left hand. He also holds the two
-.: in his right hand and even though both hands remain separate at ali times, he manages to magically
- .. .,-.. selection to invisibly jump to between the red Kings.
- ,- io repeat this again, fack cleanly makes the selection jump from between the black Kings to back
.=
-::. ihe red ones. As if that wasn't enough, he then delivers the killer blow and causes the red Kings to
- - ::trm between his hands and appear between the tabled black Kings!
IGHTS USED
-:-. -,=Gem
. Switch (Jack Parker)
- :horv variant (Daniel Rhod)
-: - UfnOVef
' :THOD
): 1 - THE [NlTlAL LEAP
. :. Cdrd selected and noted, then placed face down on the table. Remove the four Kings and drop the red
- : - :ace up on top of the selection. Then drop the face-up black Kings on top of the combined packet.
. -r the five-card packet and hold it in the right hand with the fingers and thumb pinching the cards at the
-
- :rde. Peel the top card (a face-up King) into the left hand, using the packet to flip it face down as it falls into
-.nd. Return the packet square with the left hand's card, placing the left thumb gently on top of the face catd
-: packet. With just a little pressure from the left thumb, you can now move the right hand's packet away,
. ..e rhe top face-up black King in the left hand. When the packet is moved to the right for half its length, use
..p the face-down black King over on top of the single card already in the left hand. Repeat this with the
ring.
' ..s are little different for the fourth King, however. Place the two right-hand cards on top of the left-
-- : cards, then immediately execute a Block Push-off of everything above the bottom card. In a continuing
r. pull that bottom card away to the right and push the face-up King offto the right for about half an inch
r: \'our thumb. You can now use the single face-down card to flip the face-up King over onto the packet,
:. ;king the actions of the previous Kings. This is |ack's TumbleGem Switch.
-: participantbelieves that your right hand contains the selection, but you have surreptitiously switched it for
- an inch above the table, then stretch out your left second finger and
"ck King. Place your left hand around
Page 9 - fack Parker's 52 Memories
place the apparent selection face down onto the tip of the linger so that
the card is propped up from the table by the finger. You can now place
your left index finger on top of the card and pinch it (fig. 1) in order
to push the apparent selection forwards a few inches, then withdraw
the two fingers to allow the card to faIl smartly on the table. While this
display is certainly optional, it's one of the many finesses that contribute
to making a |ack Parker trick so interesting.
Catch a break above the bottom card of the packet using either a single
Buckle or Pinky Pull-down and then execute the following variant of
Daniel Rhod's Rhod Show. Hold your palm-down right hand over the
packet and insert the right thumb into the break, placing the first two
fingers on top of the packet in order to pinch the top three cards (fig.
2). Twist the right hand outward at the wrist so that the face of the
three cards start to revolve towards your body using the heel of the left
hand as their pivot point. As you continue to turn the cards face up,
pull the right fingers inwards (taking the lowermost card with them)
while gently pushing the top two cards in the opposite direction into
the heel of the left.thumb. After this Block Push-off, you will end up
showing two red Kings with the lowermost one sidejogged to the right
for around half an inch (fig. 3).
Move the right hand away to the right to show two red Kings (really two red Kings with the selection secretly
hidden between), leaving a single black King face down in the left hand (supposedly two black Kings). Turn
the left hand palm down and pick up the face-down tabled "selection" under the King, leaving it outjogged for
half an inch (fig. 4, opposite page). Keeping the hand palm down, position your Ieft little finger on the inner left
corner of the face-up King then slowly push the face-down "selection" inwards until it rides over the left little
finger and squares with the face-up King. The end result is that you now have a little finger break between the
two squared Kings. Your hand remains palm-down throughout this action.
I
tltl
- :: 2 - THt BecrrtRr
-
--::- the selection face down to the table then drop the black Kings face up on top, followed by the face-up red
-.' \limicking the actions of the previous phase, execute the first two stages of the TumbleGem Switch to
' ::e lrvo red Kings and flip them face down. Next, pull the first black King offonto the left hand's packet,
-
-- -..s time don't flip it face down. Finally, mimic the actions of peeling the next King onto the packet but
- -- -:.-1-place both of the right hand's cards on top, then execute a Block Push-off, taking back the bottom card
-: racket as if it were in the hand all along.
- : :he face-down card - apparently the selection - on top of the packet. |ack creates a fair-looking display
- :-: r',-leaving the card injogged for around half its length and then slowly tilting his hand down so that the
-
- - ..ides down the packet and squares with the other cards. Say, "The problem that you no doubt had the first
' : ,1r7-i that you didn't know which cards to concentrate on." Acqaire a break below the third card from the top,
- : - .-\ecute a Triple
- Turnover to show the selection. Flip the triple card face down but leave it outjogged for
-
- - ::1 inch as you explain,"This is the most important card to watch - your selection." Point to the black King
' -: . s partially in view under the outjogged triple and say, "Don't worry about the black Kings. . . " Turn your
-
- -: palm down to show the selection and a red King on the bottom and continrr€, "... and don't worry about
-:,i Kings either." Use your left index finger to push the triple card square with the packet as you rotate your
- . ..:
palm up and thumb the top card off onto the table. The great part of this display is that a face-up black
' -.i still remains on top of the packet so there are no incongruities to worry about.
Thumb the other black King offthe top of the left-hand packet
and take it below the selection to form a three-card spread.
Slowly square the spread and place it on the table. This packet
6 now consists of two face-up black Kings sandwiching two
face-down red Kings, but you arrived at this point in such a
fair manner that your audience will be convinced that the black Kings really do sandwich the selection.
Now that your right hand is free, place it over the left
hand to completely cover the face-down selection
(apparently the two red Kings). While the card is
covered, curl your left ring and little fingers inwards so
that they can pinch the inner end of the long edge of the
selection. You can now reveal the surprise revelation by
extending the ring and little fingers, taking the card with
it so that it turns over and appears to sneakily poke out
the side of the hands (fi1.1). You will need to open up
the hands a little so that the card can escape. Pause in
this situation for a moment and then diop the selection
directly behind the already tabled packet, leaving a few
inches between them.
COVIITZIENTS
. There is a lesson to be learnt from |ack's choreography for the initial switch at the start of the routine. When
most magicians execute this kind of switch, the peeling of the final card tends to look considerably different
than the others. That's why |ack has striven for normality between all three of the Kings that he peels into the
left hand.
. During the first phase, the selection vanishes face down, but then reappears face up between the other Kings.
' r,ithough I have dedicated several pages to this effect, it is actually very upbeat and fast paced.
Jack rvorked or
: tbr a long time and at one point had as many as seven variations! From there he honed it down to rrhat he
:elieves to be the ideal version of the trick - a fast, visual first phase and then before the audience can catch u:
. kicker (or perhaps, backfire) ending.
T- NTDITS
. -.ick's
influence for this routine was Paul Harris' classic "Grasshopper" from Supermagic (1977) and \-olunre
' of The Art of Astonishment (1996). However, Larry |ennings' "|ennings' Visitor" from Alton Sharpe's E-r?;-:
-,zrd Mysteries (1969) also deserves a mention as this is a similar plot that predates Paul Harris' excellent trici
' - have just taught two of |ack's many TumbleGem switches and while |ack wasn't aware of it when he rrt'rrkec
r his ideas, the generai concept of the move is similar to lay Frasier's Rolling Elmsley from The Looking G..;:
:ragazine (Spring, 1996). The move is also akin to the ]ordan Count in its mechanics.
' . haven't be able tofind a reference for the exact variant of the D'Amico Spread handling that Jack uses.
it is certainly very similar to a move of Daniel Rhod's which appears as "Rhod Variation Of The
1o\\'ever
)'Amico Spread," in his lecture notes Revelations (1978). )on Racherbaumer also published it under the na::o
Rhod Show," when he published it in Modus Operandi 11(lune 1993).
' lhe dispiay at the start of the second phase to set up the backfire ending is one of Jack's favourite momenis
,f the routine. It was inspired by Wesley |ames' Coming up in the World (or the Load-lJp Move as ir is
)ometimes called) from Frank Garcia's Super Subtle Card Miracles (1973) and utilises the same r-isual rere.:,
.deas as that move.
OUROBOROS
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|ack tells his audience that he has invented a new way to play Poker that he calls "Heads and Tails." The game
is played with a packet of ten cards consisting of a mixture of |acks, Queens and Kings. He explains that each
player take turns dealing themselves a card, which they can take fairly from either the top or bottom of the
packet.
After an incredibly fair round of dealing the participant looks and sees that he has a great hand consisting of a
pair of |acks and a pair of Queens. Of course, |ack invented the game so he decides to change the rules in his
favour! He now shows that he wins the game with four Aces; even though he didn't remove any Aces at the start
of the trick!
STIIGHTS USED
Combo Count (Daryl Martinez)
Olram Subtlety (Edward Marlo)
MrruoD
Spread through the deck and openly explain what you are doing: "We're going to play a game that I recently
invented. It's called'Heads and Tails.' It works like Poker, but with some important dffirences. First, I'll remove
ten cards that will make up two pretty good hands in the game." Remove the following cards, placing them face
down on the table in the following order:
The suits or order of the cards in each group doesn't -ftt.. and you should ensure that the audience doesn't see
the faces of the cards as they're placed on the table. The final two Aces should be at the top of the face-down pile.
Place the deck aside as it is no longer required. Pick up the packet of ten cards and spread offthe top five into
your right hand without reversing their order and then return the remaining cards to the table. Flip the right
hand's packet face up and execute Daryl's Combo Count as follows: Hold the packet in the standard pinch grip
as if you were about to carry out an Elmsley Count and peel the top card into the left hand. Secretly steal the first
card back under the right hand's packet as you peel a second card into the left hand. When you go to peel offa
third card, actually execute a Block Push-off of the top three cards (black court card and two Aces) and at the
furn the packet face down and hold it in dealing grip.You will now use a modified version of Edu'ard \Iarlc-r's
t)lram Subtlety to casually show the cards again as you place them on the table. First, take the bottom card into
:re right hand then turn both hands to face the audience (fig. 1). Turn the cards back down and place the sineit
:ard face down onto the table, then thumb off the top card of the left-hand packet and drop it on top of the
more, dropping the cards on top of the packet that you just placed on th,
'.ngle card. Repeat this sequence once
:-:ble. Finally, show the single black court card and place it on top of the rest of the cards.
rt
?:ck up the other packet and execute Daryl's Combo Count once again to show a collection of red court car,I.
iiol'ever, a slight variant of handling is required when you carry out the Olram Subtlety. With the preriou-<
:acket, you always placed the single, right-hand card onto the table followed by the top card of the left-hand
:acket. This time, however, you must reverse that and deal a card from the top of the packet and then deal the
:.Dgle, right-hand card. Deal these cards on top of the pile of apparent black court cards.
lis entire sequence has allowed you to apparently show ten court cards, while actually hiding four Aces. It a-i;
:ets you up for the rest of the trick. Say, "Here's how the game works. You can either take a card from 1f1; {'..r1;."'
:i the packet like you would if you were cheating, or you can take it from the top, like you would if you vere ... ,o;
ptayingfairly! That's the only real dffirence; everything else is the same as standard Poker." Deal the top car.j
3ce up in front of you as you explain, "We each need a hole card." Hand the packet to the participant and a.i
:im to take a card from either the top or bottom. Because of the order of the cards, he will onll'be able to take
;ourt card. Have him place his hole card face up on the table.
Sar', "Nofiz that we have our hole cards, the rest of the cards are dealt face down. It's my turn to take one." \\-heth
','ou take a cardfrom the top or bottom of the packet depends solely on where the participant took his card rro:
ee :n the last round. You simply remove the card from the same place as the participant. So, if he took a card tron
le. :ae bottom of the packet, that's also wAere you remove your next card from. This means that throughout the
:rhole dealing process, the participant can only ever pick a court card. And as long as you mimic his actions r'.r
are always set up to take an Ace!
\\'hen all of the cards have been dealt ask the participant to turn over his packet to see what hand he has. He
?
rst :rill always have two pairs, so point that out and explain that it's a difficult hand to beat. Turn your cards or-er
and say, "It's so dfficult to beat that I normally cheat at this game and deal myself the four Aces, et'en tltough :):e
weren't actually removed at the start of the game!"
. If you'd prefer not to use Daryi's Combo Count, you can also use Brother fohn Hamman's well-known
Hamman Count (see "All Thatlazz," page 118 for an explanation). And failing that, the entire routine can be
performed as normal by just using the Olram Subtlety and no preceding false count.
. You can further obfuscate the method by executing Bottom Deals to appear as though you are removing cards
from the top of the packet, instead of the bottom.
CnTDITS
. The Ten Card Poker Deal plot first saw print under the title of "Poker" in Card Control by Arthur Buckley
(2nd edition,1946). This trick was omitted in the first hardback edition and in the paperback edition published
by Gambler's Book CIub and many scholars have speculated that Buckley may not actually be the creator of
the routine. This is backed-up by Bruce Elliott's later description of the plot in Phoenix (Number 168, |anuary
1949) where it is explained that the concept was a secret of a retired Mexican gambler who had shown it to Dai
Vernon.
. |ack's direct inspiration for this effect was a trick that |on Racherbaumer sent him in private correspondence.
The Racherbaumer trick is called "No |onah Poker" and eventually saw print in Freebie B (2007) by Mark
Tams. This trick centres on a line of cards that are dealt across the table, which the participant and magician
pick from. |ack felt that this linear format made the mechanics of the method a little obvious for the trick to
be successful so decided to have the cards selected from a packet and use the "Heads and Tails" presentation.
The general concept used in the trick comes from a coin ptzzle in Peter Winkler's book Mathematical Puzzles
(2004). Karl Fulves also has a considerable body of work utilising cards with this principle in the second issue
of his Prolix magazine (2006).
. Daryl's Combo Count can be found on Volume 7 of his Encyclopedia of Card Magic videotape.
. Edward Marlo's Olram Subtlety was published in the November 1965 issue of The New Tops (Volume 6,
Number 11, November 1965) and later in M.LN.T. Volume I (1988).
The amount of magic that |ack manages to siphon out of just a few cards is reminiscent of Brother )ohn
Hamman's work (and in fact, it was Hamman that inspired this routine). It consists of several magical mome
that are all intertwined around an amusing story, which keeps the audience entertained throughout. \\-hile *
is certainly a lot to remember, the sleights are all within the reach of every magician. Something that student-.
rvill take from this trick is |ack's fantastic ability to incorporate many convincing displays to conhrm that
ry everything is exactly as it should be before building up to a climax that nobody would, or could, e\per--t.
)ai
Mf trztORY
:e. Tack recounts a story about the Queen of Hearts; a young redhead who went to a nightclub to meet ? IriD r,-rr
nvo. She starts her night on the town by spending time with four college guys (played by the four Iacks,. bu:
t
quickly realises that they are too immature for her so decided to focus her affection on four businessmen pla
bv the Kings).
1.
les Things take a turn for the worse when one of the facks perform a little magic on the Queen causing lg1t1-r tal
JE
tiom the packet of Kings and appear back in the packet of facks. Luckily though, the ]acks get throrrr out trf
nightclub for being underage, which allows the Queen to go back to be wined and dined b,v the urbane [,.ings
The Queen promptly becomes bored with the Kings' company and decides to leave the club (and is placed b;
on the deck). But the Kings get annoyed that none of them were able to take her home after spending so mu.
money wooing her! One of the Kings thought he remembered the magic spell that the ]acks used to malie he
return, so he decides to try it out. With a puffof smoke, the Queen appears back with the four Kings. -{s tie
smoke clears though, it turns out that something went wrong with the magic spell. The Kings har-e r-anished
in their place are the other three Queens, leaving all four Queens to have a great night outl
SITIGHTS USED
S*'ivel Switch (Brother |ohn Hamman)
Rhythm Count (Larry |ennings)
Double Turnover and Double Push-off
Reverse Spread
Rising Crime Display (Daryl Martinez)
Triple Turnover from the bottom
Iordan Count (Charles Iordan)
Queen of Hearts
|acks (in red, red, black, black order)
Kings (in red, black, red, black order)
Other three Queens
Rest of the deck (face down)
MrrHoD
Start with a little finger break below the
face-up cards (see my comments for an
easy method of acquiring the break), then
set the scene: "This trick tells the story of a
girl's night out." Take the top card into the
right hand and say, "The Queen of Hearts
is the heroine of the story. She's a fun-loving
girl and a spicy redhead who was out for a
good time in a nightclub." Place the Queen
face down on the table and contin'te,"Any
story involving a fun-loving redhead always
needs one main ingredient ... four men!
These four fact are the lacks; four college
in
1
boys." Take the top lack into your right
hand, then momentarily turn the hand
palm down to show the audience the back of the )ack (fig. 1). Take the next |ack underneath the first (spread
slightly to the left) and then repeat the same actions to show the back of this )ack, too. Repeat this with the
other two ]acks and then flip the packet face down square on top of the deck. Finally, spread offthe cards and
drop them face down onto the table to the Ieft of the Queen of Hearts. These actions are specifically designed to
mimic a Brother |ohn Hamman switch that is used shortly.
Take the next card - a red King - into the right hand and very briefly show the audience the back of the card
in the same way as you did earlier. Take the next two Kings individually under the first King and show their
backs as well. Return the right hand back to the deck and this time push-offall of the cards above the little finger
break and take them beneath the packet just as you have been doing with single cards. Briefly show the back of
this card and then flip the entire packet face down onto the deck. Say, "Thrre-fou, Kings represent
four wealthy,
int elle ct u al b us ine s s m en."
Thumb the top four cards offthe deck without reversing their order (apparently four Kings, but really three
Queens and a King) and take them into the right hand in a small fan. Use these cards to flip the tabled eueen
of Hearts face up end-for-end, taking advantage of this brief misdirection to catch a little finger break below the
top card of the deck. By turning the Queen face up, you will have pushed it away from you, so place the four-
card packet back onto the deck for a moment and use your, now free, right hand to drag the
Queen of Hearts
back toward you a few inches. This is fantastic rationale for allowing you to place the four-card packet back onto
the deck and is reminiscent of a cups & Balls move adapted to cards.
:-< up the four Jacks in the right hand in the same way as you did for the previous packet to turn the cards face
-, Continue, "... or whether the Queen went to sit with the young college guys?" Make a one handed fan with the
- r:s to fairly show that you hold just four facks. Square the face-up |acks against the heel of the left hand and
: ::.th' steal the card above the break below the face-up packet. Place the |acks back face up on the table, with
- : :ace-down
red King secretly underneath them.
participant thinks that the Queen went to sit with the Kings, say,"Well, she looked across at their table.
...e
. s,i,n' their sharp suits and expensive drinks, but she's a fun-loving girl so it was the lacks that caught her eye.
. . \'ere the ones that looked like they were having a great time." And if they say that the iacks are most suited,
. ::inue with,"That's fine - we'll use the lacks. No doubt the Kings will be a little disappointed about this!" This
, npiy a nice way of involving the audience and fifty-percent of the time making it seem as though they are
: :ing to write the story.
'.'e the
left-hand packet up a little higher in the hand and reverse spread the cards by pulling to the left with
-. .elt thumb and pushing to the right with the left fingers, creating a small fan. This allows you to bring the
-:rs oithe cards up to the audience and show that the packet consists for four Kings. In reality, your fingers are
. :ring the bottom right corner of the cards so that the
Queen indexes cannot be seen (fig.2). Square up this
, -: ret and drop it face down to the table in its original position; to the right of the Queen of Hearts.
"So
-, the Queen walked over to the lacks ' table where they were drinking lots of beer and throwing food around.
'.'. \'ere having a great time!"
:i up the face-up |ackpacket !
i
Say,"The college guys were pretty unhappy about this. It was such a great feeling that they attracted the striking
redhead and they really weren't hrppy to see her go." Square the apparent Queen onto the packet, then pick up
the cards in end grip as you explain ,"Bl,tt that's when tragedy struck. It seems that one of the lacks had dabbled
in magic and had somehow put a spell on the Queen. There was a huge puff of smoke and when the smoke cleared
the Kings realised that the magic had made their lady vanish and that it was just the four of them sitting around
the table." Peei the three cards into the left hand, creating a small fan of face-down cards and then place the final
two cards, as one, onto the fan.
Take offthe new top card into the right hand and
turn the left hand palm down to show a King on the
bottom of the packet (fig. :). Show the right-hand
card, at the same time turning the left hand palm up
(fig.+) and thumbing offthe top card of the packet
onto the previously tabled card. Once you've shown
the right-hand card, drop it onto the tabled packet,
and finaIly show the left hand's double card and use
that to scoop up the packet and square it over to the
side of the table (with the double card remaining
on the bottom). This should be a smooth sequence
with a back and forth action of the hands so that
- up the |ack packet and reverse spread the cards by holding them in left-hand dealing grip with the thumb
--k
- :op and then push the cards to the right with the fingers underneath the packet. Take the bottom two cards
:he spread in the right hand and flip them face up. As you do this, retract the left fingers to pull the spread
-
.--i roughly square, and then use the left thumb to push the top two cards to the right to create a non-reversed
::ead. Drag the top face-down card offthe spread and onto the right hand's face-up |acks, then flip the
'::taining two |acks face up onto the packet. Pause for a beat and then remove the face-down card, turn it face
- - and return it outjogged to the fan of facks. This sequence casually gives the impression that the face-down
-:.1 (the Queen) came from the middle of the packet, when really it came from the top.
. .;e the packet face up on the table and say,"The Queen had no idea what had happened. didn't really like
She
. ',?ckS,
but was pretty impressed at what they had just done so stayed with them and had a drink or two. The
" :_i-i s41.4/ this and wanted revenge. They were pretty underhanded guys and knew how to play the game, so they
.':: up to the manager and told him that the lacks were drinking beer, but were underage." Pick up the facks
.=-br--one and place them face down onto the tabled deck as you continlle,"The manager went up to the lacks
:. :ltrew them out of the club."
:tinue, "This left the Queen without much choice. She wanted company, so she went back to sit with the four
,:'tess gents. Thry each decided to woo her in rather stereotypical ways." You will now execute Daryl's Rising
: :::e Display. To start, pick up the face-down packet in end grip and peel three cards singly into the left hand
-: a small spread, as you have done several times earlier in the trick. Turn over the remaining two cards as
- , io show a red King, then drop the double card face down onto the spread and square the packet. Say, "The
- ':t on€
bougltt her a bottle of her drink of choice - champagne." Take the top face-down card (a Queen) into
-. :isht hand and use it to flip the tabled Queen face down end-for-end. Place the right hand's face-down card
- -:;tlr-behind the Queen,leaving about three inches between them.
' : rca.t the same mechanics as before, by taking the packet in right-hand end grip and peeling offtwo cards, then
- '.ring the remaining double card to be a King. Drop this double card face down on top of the packet and then
- ... off the top card, placing it on top of the card that you placed behind the Queen of Hearts. Say, "The second
::Tiessman offered her jewellery." Repeat this once again, this time peeling off just one card before you turn the
: -bie face up to show another King. Turn the double face down onto the single card and deal the top card onto
- -, :abled packet
and say, "The third King offered her fne foods such as caviar."
- -..ilr-, transfer the remaining two cards - as one - into the right hand, pinching the cards with the thumb and
-r:3rs at the right side. Briefly show its face to display another King, then say,"And the fourth King offered her
-:.;e in his Ferrari." Use the double card to scoop up the tabled packet into left-hand dealing grip, the double
. -:; remaining at the bottom of the packet.
: :i up the Queen of Hearts as you say,"It was obvious that each of the Kings wanted to go home with the Queen
' leorts." Openly slide the Queen face down underneath the packet and contintre,"Bttt the Queen sat around
. :able with them and enjoyed their company for an hour or so." As you say this, bring your right hand over
-:
;ardS in end grip and use the thumb to quietly riffle offthree cards from the bottom of the packet. You can
- '.'' take
lowermost three cards in left-hand dealing grip, while keeping the other three in end grip, and
those
:;nlv turn them face up under the packet as one card. The mechanics to turn the three cards over as one could
-
: :ummed up as an open Half Pass and is carried out by squeezing the left fingers at the right edge of the three-
" Execute
Square the sidejogged cards and say, " And although the Kings did their best to keep her amused...
a modified |ordan Count to show five cards, by peeling three single cards instead
of the usual two before
executing the switch. This is actually a little discrepant as the face-up card is shown fourth in the packet,
when
really it should be shown last, but nobody ever pulls |ack up on this. Instead of placing the final card on
top of
the packet, use it to tap the eueen and then place it on the bottom of the packet. This leaves the face-up Queen
on top, with two face-up Kings below it'
had
Continue, "The eueen started to feel bad for the four lacks that had just been thrown out of the club. They
just been having some harmless jun and the Kings put an abrupt stop to lf." Acquire a break below the top three
.u.d. (thls ls easy because of the natural break between the face-up and face-down cards) and execute a Triple
Turnover to apparently turn the single Queen of Hearts face down. Say, "So the Queen decided to leave the club
and try to fini the lacks so that she could apologise to them." Bring your right hand over in end grip
and use the
right ihumb to pick up a break below the top two cards, at the back of the packet. Take offthese two cards
in
end grip and drop them face down on top of the deck.
Openly drop the remaining four cards onto the table and allow them to spread a little as you say,"The four
Kings
were pretty annoyed by thii. They felt as though they wasted the champagne and fine food on
the Queen who had
walkid off to find the college guys. Then one of the Kings explained that he thought he overheard the magic words
that the college guy used ti git the eueen back with them. He tried it out, and suddenly there was a huge puff of
smoke. And when it clearei, sure enough, the Queen was back at the table." Turn over the top card of
the tabled
pile to show that the eueen of Hearts is back with the Kings. Continue, "But when the smoke had cleared a little
*orr, it turned out that the King had made a mistake with his spell." Turn over the remaining cards and finish by
saying, "The Kings had vanished, but in their place was three of the redhead's girlfriends ... leaving her
to have a
. re rvay of acquiring the break at the start of the trick is to hold the packet in right-hand end grip and
-.pend the packet about an inch above the awaiting left hand. Now loosen the grip on the packet enough so
- .:t al1 of the cards below the natural back-to-back break fall into left-hand dealing
grip. Within a split second
- .;r the first packet falls, lower the upper packet into the hand, catching a break between the packets.
. r:s may well be the longest trick in the book and because of that, it is only suitable for certain occasions. It
.
' .deal for a private group; particularly if you are a natural storyteller, like fack. To help keep this style, )ack
' :s to think of it like a full-deck story trick in the realm of "Sam the Bellhop," rather than a packet trick in the
--.im of "I Know Kung Fu" (page 9).
' -,k aiso feels that for the sake of the effect, it's important to keep the packets separate and on different sides
:he table throughout the routine, very much like routines such as Larry |ennings' "|ennings' Visitor."
R.E DITS
:,-rther |ohn Hamman's Swivel Switch is explained within his trick "The Marx Brothers," in The Secrets of
'::her lohn Hamman (1989) by Richard Kaufman. In fact, this trick was one of the many Brother
|ohn
..mman story tricks that inspired Iack to create "Girl's Night Out."
.rn'fennings' Rhlthm Count is a variant of a Ray Grismer move, which itself is essentially a two-handed
.:iant of Edward Marlo's Olram Subtlety. Larry first described it in his routine "Uni-Flection" in A Visit with
.;"rv lennings (1982), but without credit to Grismer. In the same booklet Larry shared a technical variant of
-.: move within the effect "A Logical Conclusion." This handling is the Rhyhm Count as we now know it.
:n'l Martinez's Rising Crime Display can be found in For Your Entertainment Pleasure (1982) by Stephen
l.nch.
. 1e |ordan Count first saw print in Charles |ordan's seminal Thirty Card Mysteries (1919).It can be easily
' .rnd in Roberto Giobbi's Card College Volume 2 (1995). Also,look for ]ack's Outjogging Jordan Count on
- -iqe 37 of this book for an alternate handling.
.1s mentioned in the explanation, fack often uses the Stuart Gordon Double Turnover for some of the double
::rd displays. This move can most easily be found in Cardshark (1995) by Darwin Ortiz and in Larry |ennings'
l'ie Cardwright (I9SS) written by Mike Maxwell. However, Ken Simmons published an identical move
.rat predates these two explanations in his booklet kfrling the Pasteboards (1986) within the routine "Ace-
3itiously Yours" so it appears that credit should be given to Ken for this handling of the Double Turnover.
MrmoRv
|ack plays the age-old Three Card Monte game, but with an added dynamic that works in his audience's favour:
instead of using three single cards, he uses three packets of four cards. This makes it incredibly difficult for him
to manipulate the cards in the ways that a normal Monte hustler would.
He removes the four Queens, the four Eights and four Nines and places each set of cards in a pile on the table.
|ack asks his participant to keep track of the Queens while the packets are mixed. It's easier than it sounds and
she manages to correctly follow the Queens. It appears that |ack deliberately allowed the participant to win the
first game because even though the second mixing procedure is just as easy to follow, the participant ends up
finding the four Eights and not the Queens like she was supposed to!
To make things easier, |ack removes the packet of Eights, leaving just a packet of Queens and a packet of Nines
to be used in the game. Regardless of this,'the participant still isn't able to keep track of the Queens and ends up
locating the Nines instead.
To make things really easy, Jack also removes the four Nines from the game, leaving just the four Queens. When
the participant is asked to find the Queens she finds it incredibly easy; after all the Queens are the only four
cards left on the table! However, when the Queens are turned over fack shows that it was more difficult that she
thought because they're actually now the four Aces!
STTIGHTS tJSED
Strip-out Addition (Dai Vernon)
Gemini Count (Brother |ohn Hamman)
Srrup
Place the four Aces on top of the face-down deck and ensure that there are no Queens, Eights or Nines amongst
the five or six cards below the Aces.
MpTHOD
Hold the deck face up and secretly acquire a little finger break above the four Aces, which are on the bottom.
Spread through the deck and upjog the four Eights as you come to them. With the four Eights upjogged, square
up the cards into left-hand dealing grip (keeping the little finger break) and allow the outjogged cards to form
a small fan so that you can see each of their indices. As the trick requires that the first two Eights are different
: out the Eights, secretly adding the Aces onto the bottom of them using Dai Vernon's Strip-out Addition.
:\ecute this move, insert the right index finger into the break and place the right thumb on top of the deck
'..e inner right corner in order
to pinch the deck. You can now use the right hand to draw the deck inwards,
- .rs the Aces in the left hand. Continue pulling the deck inwards until the outjogged Eights square with the
- ::. ilnd then clamp your left thumb onto the Eights as you continue pulling the deck away until it disengages
. the cards. This leaves the Eights in left-hand dealing grip with the Aces secretly behind them.
- :rlr- place the eight-card packet face up under the deck and flip the entire deck face down into left-hand
- .le grip. In a continuing action, deal the top four cards face down onto the table. The audience believes
: -: Csrds to be the Eights, but they are actually the four Aces.
-
-:. the deck face up and acquire a break below the bottom two cards. Spread through the deck and upjog the
-: Queens (again ensuring that the first two cards are different colours). Execute another Strip-out Addition
- :iace the packet of six cards below the deck as before. Flip the deck face down into dealing grip and then
.:. off the top four cards, without reversing their order, and then drop the packet face down to the right of the
' nacket.
-:: the deck face up again and catch a break below the bottom two cards. Execute the same mechanics as
, :e as you upjog the four Nines (with the first two cards of different colours, as before). This time, however,
- ihe four cards onto the table (to the right of the second packet), reversing the order of the cards. Place the
- -i aside as it is no longer required.
-: ;nd result of these actions is that you have a packet of four Aces on your left, a packet consisting of two
- .:s and two Queens in the middle and finally a packet consisting of two Nines and two Queens at the end.
- Queens are on the face of both the middle and right packets. This set up prepares you for some startling
::rents of magic.
follow the four Queens, then pick up the middle packet with the
. .ain that the objective of the game is to
* iand and briefly flash the Queen on the face. Swap this packet with the cards on the right. Next, swap the
.nost packet with the middle packet and then finally swap the two end packets. Do this slowly so that the
. -:-ence can keep track of where the Queen packet is at the end.
' '.. ri anyone knows where the Queens are. Someone should confidently tell you that they are in the packet
- '.'our left. You now pick up that packet and carry out a Gemini Count to confirm that they are correct. To
-;ute this move, pick up the leftmost face-down packet in left-hand dealing grip. Use the left thumb to gently
:e the top card to the left a quarter of an inch and then buckle the bottom card of the packet using the left
- - rnd finger. You can now pinch the two middle cards with the right hand (thumb on top, fingers on bottom)
- .: slide them out - as one - and flip them face up on top of the packet. Turn the double card face down on top
.
:re packet and deal the top card onto the table in the same position that the packet previously occupied.
" similar action, push the top card to the left, pull out the lowermost two cards as one, and flip them face up
. :op of the packet. Show the card, then flip "it" face down and deal the top card onto the tabled card. Finally,
-'.:nic the same actions as before to show the remaining two cards one at a time (taking the bottom card first)
.J place them face down onto the other two tabled cards.
$j
the inner right corner all appear to be Eights as only the crests
of the Queen pips are showing. Square up this packet and drop
it face down onto the deck.
Swap the order of the remaining two packets and ask the
audience where the Queens are this time. They will definitely
believe that they've kept track of the packet and that the
Queens are on the left. However, pick up that packet and execute another modified Gemini Count to show that
it actually consists of the four Nines, placing the last two cards below the first two dealt. After the count, pick
up the cards and execute the same small spread display as before to show four Nines this time (the two Queens
sufficiently masquerade as Nines in this case) and place the packet face down on top of the deck.
Finally, jokingly move the sole remaining packet from place to place as if to make it difficult to follow and ask
where the four Queens are this time. The audience will of course respond that they're the only cards remaining,
but they'll be surprised to see that they're actually all four Aces!
CruDITS
. There have been a good number of Monte variants described using more than three cards. One example is
"Three-Deck Three-Card Monte" by Hillard Saunders fuomThe Tops magazine (Volume 18, Number 6, |une
1953) and "3 Deck Monte" from Al stevenson's 75 Tricks with a Svengali Deck (1964). These, of course, are
just two of several.
. Dai Vernon's Strip-out Addition first saw print in Ten Card Problems (1932), within "The Vernon Card
Ptzz\e." The kind of switch that I described is similar to Derek Dingle's third application of Nolap Switch
fromThe Complete Works of DerekDingle (1982) by Richard Kaufman.
. Brother |ohn Hamman's Gemini Count was originally publishe d in Richard's Almanac (Number 14, October
1e83).
',TEMORY
---< recounts a story of a time that he played Poker with another magician. In this variant of Poker each player
-:::ir-ed only four cards and when
fack was dealt his cards he looked down with glee to find that he had been
::.,t his namesakes; the four facks. He wasn't the only one in luck during that hand though, as his opponent got
:::.t an even better hand: the four Kings.
--i explains that just as the opponent reached forward to take his winnings, he realised that the other player
-:: an extra card hidden in his packet. But just as he was getting accosted by |ack, he too realised that fack also
-:: an extra card in his packet. Both players had been caught cheatingl
.'. en that both had been caught red handed, |ack's opponent suggested that they each swap one of the cards
- n their packet and the person with the best hand based on the swap should be declared the winner. |ack
-=.iised that this was a con because regardless of what card was swapped, the other player would always have at
::it three Kings which would beat his three |acks. Contrary to this, Jack tells how he accepted the offer anyway
--i then performed a little magic to make his cards amazingly change to the royal flush in Hearts - a definite
.rning hand. Or so you'd think, because |ack finishes the story by explaining how the opponent did the same,
: :: this time changed his cards to the royal flush in Spades meaning that the players had to split the pot and act
-- :ithe game never happened!
-i LIIcHTS I.JSED
:::rthm Count (Larry |ennings)
S rrup
-- :move the royal flush in Hearts and Spades and arrange them face down on top of the deck in the following
:der (from top down):
-:n ofSpades
:.-ng of Hearts
lueen ofSpades
-.;e of Spades
MrruoD
Spread the ten cards off the top of the deck without reversing their order. Given that you don't want the
audience to know how many cards you have removed, it's suggested that you do this nonchalantly as if setting
up for the trick (and in fact, that's exactly what you're doing!).
Explain, "Everyone hates playing cards with magicians, and that's because the skills involved in magic are
somewhat similar to those required for cheating at cards." Place the deck aside, leaving you with just the ten-card
packet held face down in left-hand dealing grip. Explain,"When magicians play cards together they sometimes
use a variation of Poker that makes it more dfficult to cheat." Openly spread off the top four cards of the packet
and take them - still spread - into right-hand, catching a little finger break below the new top card of the Ieft-
hand packet as you square it up. Say, "We each have four cards .. . " then square the four-card packet against
the heel of the left thumb, secretly adding the card above the little finger break onto the face of the right-hand
packet. Continue, " ... these cards can be my opponent's." Drop the packet face down onto the table as close to
the far edge as possible. Quickly spread over the top three cards of the remaining packet (leaving the bottom two
cards held together in the left hand), then square the packet and temporarily place it in front of you as you say,
" And I'll have the remaining four cards."
Continue, " Given that the players only have four cards each, a hole card is used ... but with the difference that
everyone shares the same communal hole card." Ask the participant to cut the deck, then turn the new top card
face up and leave it on top of the deck for everyone to see. Continue, "Each Person then tries to make the best
hand possible using their four cards and the communal hole card."
Pick up your packet, keeping it face down, and casually spread offthe top three cards again to display just four
cards. Catch a break below the second card from the top as you square the packet into your Ieft hand. Say,"This
one time when I was playing, I looked down at my cards in amazement. It was a once in a lifetime situation for me
- I had been dealt allfour lacksl" Execute a Rhlthm Count (see "Girl's Night Out," page 17 for an explanation),
flipping the final double cardface down onto the packet to show that you have the four |acks. Continue, "I had
to use my best Poker face to contain my glee. BuL after an Oscar winning performance, I pushed all my chips into
the centre of the table. The hole card wasn't even needed - the four Jacks were ready to be my winning hand!"
But my opponent looked down at his cards, his eyes narrowed and he too pushed all his chips into the middle.
Say, "
I couldn't believe my luck. I was worried that going all-in was a bad move but now he had all his chips in and I
knew I had him beat with my great hand; four lacks. But just when you think you got it good, karma comes into
play and giyes you a good kicking ... he showed that he had the four Kings!" Pick up the opponent's packet and
execute another Rhythm Count to show the four Kings. Continue, "The table was full of both our chips. My four
Iacks were now beat by *y opponent's great hand of Kings. I had lost everything. But then as the other player
reached forward to collect his winnings, he knocked his cards with his elbow and I noticed that he actually had five
cards. He was definitely cheating!" Spread the opponent's cards along the table to show five cards. "I told him
that I had caught him. He sat back in his chair with his beady eyes, but then slowly leaned across the table and
- r card singly face up onto the table to show your royal flush. Continue, "But here's why you should never play
'.;s against a magician. While I was smiling at him, he too clicked his
fingers over his packet and changed his
. j.s
to a royalflush - but this time in Spades! The game was a draw and we had to split the pot and pretend the
.e thing never happened!" Turn the opponent's cards face up and spread them directly in front of the Hearts
:lo\v o royal flush in Spades.
.-OrtztVtENTS
. l'orth pointing out that contrary to popular magical-myth, in most countries suits don't place a deciding
: .e in deciding the winning hand in a game of Poker and that's why the game is a tie at the end of the trick.
. - :e reason that the unused Kings and |acks are placed at the face of the deck is so that the participant can't
- -i to one of them when he picks a communal hole card (unless he cuts really deep, of course). Instead of
: acing these four cards at the face of the deck, you could just ensure that the eleventh card from the top is an
.:Cifferent card. This way, instead of cutting to a hole card, you can simply turn over the top card of the talon.
NTDITS
.-. ris is an outgrowth of "A Logical Lesson" from Full Metal lacket (2005) by Syd Segal and ).C. Wagner. The
:i:ect is completely different, but the handling remains somewhat similar.
If |ack finds even the smallest germ of an idea that interests him, you can be sure that he'll meticulously
construct several full routines using that idea. A good example is when he created "Cross Eyed Surprise" after
reading a bold switch that David Regal uses in his "For Marlo" routine. |ack found many uses for Regal's idea,
but this routine represents his best work with the move'
MEvtoRv
A red Ace is placed between the two red Queens and a black Ace is placed between the two black Queens.
During a couple of sequences of well constructed magic, Jack magically causes the Aces to swap places so that
the red Ace is sandwiched between the black Queens and vice versa.
To conclude, |ack places the red Ace between the black Queens and the black Ace between the red Queens.
Then, instead of making the Aces change places he does something even more surprising: he causes the Aces to
magically collect in one hand and the Queens in the other hand.
STTIGHTS USED
Mechanical Switch / Elmsley Count variant (Karl Fulves)
"For Marlo" switch (David Regal)
Stanyon Count (Ellis Stanyon)
Alignment Move (Dai Vernon, Henry Christ and Theodore Annemann)
The Display Load (Christian Chelman)
All For One Switch (|ack Parker)
Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
MTTHOD
PHASE ONT - THT DISPTAY
Spread through the deck and remove the four Queens, a red Ace and a black Ace and then place the deck aside
as it is no longer required.
Say, "1 want to check your powers of observation using only a few cards; the four Queens and a red and black
Ace." Drop the Aces on the table and re-order the face-up Queens in black, black, red, red order (from the face),
letting the audience see the faces of the cards as you do so. Square the packet, and then execute the first two
stages of an Elmsley Count. That is, peel offthe first card and then execute the well-known Elmsley steal as you
apparently peel offthe second card. This leaves you with a red and black Queen in each hand, using what couid
be referred to as Karl Fulves' Mechanical Switch. Place the two left-hand cards (apparently two black Queens)
: the remaining two Queens face down into left-hand dealing grip and pick up the face-up red Ace with your
..rt hand. Deal the top card of the left hand's packet face down onto the table then drop the face-up Ace on
: Finally, drop the other Queen face down on top of the Ace, casually flashing the face of the Queen as you do
This apparently sandwiches the red Ace between the two red Queens when in reality the order is, from top
','.-n:
face-down red Queen, face-up red Ace and face-down black Queen.
:i up the black Ace and use it to scoop up the apparent black Queens and then flip them face down into
.-: alvaiting left hand. Repeat the same dealing process as before: deal the top Queen face down to the table,
. -,rred by the face-up Ace, then the face-down Queen, which you can casually flash. The packets should be
ut a foot apart.
-:.rry out the Alignment Move by pushing both the injogged card and the face-down middle card forwards at
Now you are going to place all three cards down onto the
table, face up, but you will spread them in such a way that
the indices of the lower Queen are hidden. To do this,
move the Ace so that its lower right quarter covers the
upper left quarter of the Queen below it. You can now
pull the upper Queen diagonally downwards and to the
right, stopping just before the pip of the lower Queen.
Drop this packet to the table in this position; the actual
suit of the lowermost Queen is perfectly hidden (fig. 3,
audience view). The amount of cover can be varied; the
important thing is to show some of the face design of the
lower Queen, but without flashing its indices.
Continue, "And we have a black Ace between the red QLteens" as you repeat the exact same procedure with the
remaining packet. That is, carry out a Stanyon Count, Alignment Move and the pip cover lay-down.
Repeat this exact same sequence with the right-hand packet. The audience believes that the red and black
Queens are face up in their respective packets with an Ace of the matching colour set behind them. Actually, an
Ace is hidden under each face-up Queen and a Queen of the same colour is face down behind each Ace/Queen
packet.
Use both hands to simultaneously turn the Queen packets face down then pick up the topmost Queen from each
packet (really an Ace). Move the hands backwards and pick up an apparent Ace below each Queen, then move
forward and drop both cards back onto the single face-down cards.
Execute the David Regal switch explained in the first phase as you say, "1 can see you're following closely but if
I move the packets around again then perhaps you're are not so sure." After the exchange, turn each packet face
up and carry out Christian Chelman's Display Load, which has the same appearance as the previous Stanyon
Counts. Hold the packet in the standard Elmsley Count grip and execute a two-card block push-off, peeling
the top two cards as one into the waiting left hand. Place the next card (an Ace) on top of the double, then
immediately execute another block push-off, allowing you to steal away the lowermost Queen and place it on
uq and display the red Queens with the right hand and
ltk drop them, still face up, onto the black
eueens.
-3ing the right hand over the packet and hold ihe three cards above the break in
end grip. clamp your left
::umb down onto the packet and then move the right
hand away to the right. you'll find that the thumb holds
----e
top Queen in place, allowing you to move the second
and third.ard, a"*uy, as one.
Say, "1 won't even wave my arms around this time or try to confuse you in any way. You're probably thinking that
the Aces have changed places already. Well, I said that I would do it the other way around; I am now holding both
Aces in my hand!" Catch a little finger break between the Aces, then move your left hand toward the tabletop,
turning it palm down as you do so. In a continuous action, allow the lower Ace to drop face up on the table and
immediately turn the hand back palm up and drop the second Ace so that it falls face up next to the first.
Continue, "And on the table are just thefour QLteens." Carry out the mechanics of the famous Ascanio Spread
to display the Queens, but don't actually hide any cards. After the spread, the top card and the card third from
top will be face up. Move both hands outwards with the face-down cards,letting the two face-up cards fail to
the table. Finally, flip the two face-down cards face up to show the two black Queens and drop them to the table
with the red ones.
CruDITS
. fack only uses the first two beats of the Elmsley Count, which appears to be associated with Karl Fulves.
Fulves'Mechanical switch first appearedin Packet Switches, Part 1 (1971). The move is, of course, based on
the Elmsley Count, which was originally published in Elmsley's "The Four-Card Trick" (marketed in 1954). A
complete history is given in Volume I of The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley (1991) by Stephen Minch.
. The crossing the hands switch described within the routine comes from David Regal's trick, "For Marlo"
which appears in his book Up Close and Personal (1999).
. It's difficult to give an accurate credit for the Alignment Move due to its somewhat muddy history. Dai
Vernon, Henry Christ and Theodore Annemann have all been associated with the move, bttin The
Vernon Chronicles, Volume 1 (t987) Stephen Minch explains that Vernon created the move in 1933. Ion
Racherbaumer, however, reports that Ted Annemann used the move in a marketed trick titled "Remote
Control," which was released in February 1931. Chances are that we'll never know the true originator, but we
can certainly look back and give a nod to Vernon, Christ and Annemann.
. Ellis Stanyon's Stanyon False Count first appeared in M-U-M (Number 7, Volume 49, December 1959).
. Christian Chelman's Display Load was published in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, Volume 4 (2000).
. |ack's All For One Switch is a variant of the Kosky Switch, which first saw print in Kosky's Invisible Card
Exchange (1940) then later in The Magtc of Gerald Kosky (1975).
. The Ascanio Spread was originally published in the Spanish journal Illusionismo, (Number 251,1971). Its
inaugural English publication was in Pallbearers Review (Summer, 1972) and can more easily be found in
Roberto Giobbi's Card College, Volume 3 (1998).
Outjogging ]ordan
The Guilty Change
Slip Slide Force
The Aerobic Switch
The Ballerina Double
Parker Varies Regal (P.V.R.)
Thumbs Down Tent Vanish
Ihe Zen Spread
L* :{iUd -:
OTJTIoGGTNG IoRDAN
qQxgp
u/a\u
- ..e Jack has been keeping this handling of the |ordan Count close to his chest for a few years, those who have
, it believe it to be one of the very few genuine improvements of the original since its publication in 1919.
:TuP
- = a four-card packet with the bottom card face up. This is the card that you will hide during the count.
-l rxnLrNG
-,h the four cards by the right long edge with
. :iqht thumb on top and right index and
- ,:rd fingers below.
Finally, mimic the same actions by placing the single card outjogged on top of the left hand's packet and then
squaring it with the packet.
COtrztVtENTS
' The same technique can be applied to an Elmsley Count. Peel the first card into the hand as described
previously, then execute a Block Push-off of the top two cards for the second card. Square the double onto the
left-hand packet and then execute the switch that I just described for the Jordan Count handling to remove the
bottom card as you leave the third one outjogged.
' One of the several strengths of this variant is that the backs of the cards are in view for longer than a normal
|ordan Count. This adds to the conviction that all of the cards are being shown.
CnTDITS
' For |ordan Count credits see "Girl's Night Out," page 17 and for Elmsiey Count credits see "Cross Eyed
Surprise," page 30.
i rrup
:".'r erplanation
purposes, have the following cards on the face of the deck:
-ce oiHearts
-'ro of Hearts (face down)
t-::e of Spades
l-ree of Hearts
iest of deck
rrll later explain how you can apply the change to other cards.
FInNoLING
-'.rld the face-up deck in left-hand dealing grip with a little finger break below the King of Spades, which is third
rrm top.
3ring your palm-down right hand over the deck and lay it
:at onto the outjogged triple card. Gently push down and
:onvard with this hand in order to push the top card of
ie triple forward for a fifth of an inch or so. This allows
';our left index finger to reach around the front of the
As soon as the pull-in action is complete, rub the back of the outjogged face-down card for a moment as you say
something along the lines of,"Watch the Ace and notice that it never leaves your sight." Move the hand away;
everything apparently looks at it did before, but the face-down card has actually been switched for the King of
Spades and the face-up Three has been secretly switched for a face-up Two. Click your fingers over the face-
down card to create a "moment of magic" and then remove the face-down card and turn it over to show that it
has changed from the Ace of Hearts to the King of Spades.
COVIITUIENTS
. After learning the change you'll notice that you can use any Two or Three of the same suit. The King of Spades
and Ace of Hearts can, of course, be substituted for any card.
. At the end of the change, the initial card (the Ace of Heartsin my explanation) is left face up second from the
face. You can rectifii this
in a number of ways, or do as |ack challenges and create a routine that eventually
finds the Ace face up in the centre of the deck.
. At the start of the move, |ack always executes a Triple Push-off and flexes the triple card on its long edge to
add to the illusion of singularity. This is a tip he picked up from his friend Allan Ackerman.
CruDITS
. This is essentially a handling of the Interlock principle, but replacing one of the cards for your hand. We
explore Interlock (including its history) - a favourite concept of |ack's - in detail within |ack's "U.D.S.I" on
page 84.
=errts
that criterion with ease; it's essentially a handling of the Hofzinser Spread Force with a method that is as
t:ctt as can be.
5 rrup
r':srtion the card that you would like to force
at a known number from the top of the deck. Given that you'llbe
'qread Culling it from that position, I would suggest positioning the card fourth or fifth from the top.
i{nNDLING
ic'-ead through the deck, secretly Culling the force card under the spread when you get to it. Ask someone
,: louch the back of any card in the spread and when she does, outjog the selection for around half its length,
=-<uring that the inner left corner of the selection slides between the culled card and the rest of the deck. This
'eds to happen automatically because of the location of the culled card.
:r*arate the spread so that the outjogged selection appears to be on the bottom of the upper portion (fig. 1). In
r:uality, the Culled card is secretly the bottom card of the upper half, with the outjogged card directly above it.
r(ove the left thumb under its packet to lever the cards face up. When the cards settle in the left hand, reach
mund the front end of the deck with your left index finger. You can spread over the top few cards with the left
::rmb as you explain that the participant had a free choice of any card. As you say this, casually tap the face-up
-:-rds rvith the outjogged card of the right hand's packet (fig.2).
**
You can now hand the force card to the participant and continue in whatever direction your routine requires.
CnTDITS
. fack uses Edward Marlo's Prayer Cull for the under-spread Cull. It first saw print in The New Tops (Volume 6,
Number 6, |une 1966) and later in M.LN.T., Volume I (1988).
::fUp
": e the setup will depend on the effect that you are performing, I'd suggest having the cards in the following
-:c: trom the top down in order to learn the move:
' :'
-\cg
' ;;-< King
:: -{.Ce
:is King
:::; of the deck
-trrNnLING
-.-r over the top two cards as one
-,-r{ 3 Dr. Daley / Edward Marlo style
-, : Double Turnover (i.e. no
break),
--- .'.ring the double to land on top of
: = deck face up and outjogged for
-.:.- .rt an inch. If you're not aware of the
-.;hanics of a Hit Double Turnover,
--t b), holding the deck in the left-
--d dealing grip with the thumb on
.: and allow the cards to bevel slightty
:he right. Move the pad of your right
--;ex finger in contact with the right
:rq side of the deck use it as gauge to
: :( up the right half of the top two
-.:ds. Your left thumb holds the left
- Jof
the cards down and the bevel makes it easy to feel for two cards (fig. 1). To turn the double over, pinch
'---e
fivo cards between the right thumb and index finger, move away the left thumb, and pull the double card to
'-'e right. When the ieft
side of the double card reaches the Ieft fingers, flip the double face up on top of the deck,
:tiogged for an inch.
: :sition your left thumb so that it overlaps the inner left corner of the face-up double and the top face-down
COlrztVtENTS
. |ack explains that the move should be done as a continual rhyhmic sequence: flip over (outjogged), flip over
block (injogged), push over, single card flips double card face down, take offtop card.
. Paul Cummins offers an alternative handling for those people that aren't comfortable sliding out the single
card and using it to flip the double card over. Everything is the same as |ack's handling until you come to push
over the face-up double card and a face-down single card. Instead of doing this, push the injogged double
forward using the Christ / Annemann Alignment Move to outjog the top face-down card. Strip out the single
outjogged card and as you do so, catch a little finger break under the face-up double. You can then push over
the double a little and use the single card to flip it face down (or simply push the single face-down card into
the break and use it to lever the double face down). Push over the top card as in the original to complete the
switch.
CnTDITS
. While the mechanics are quite different, the Aerobic Switch is reminiscent of luan Tamariz's Doublets Change
from Sonata (1989).
. The Hit Double Lift is attributed to Dr. Daley who published his Instantaneous Double Lift as part of his
"Itinerant Pasteboards" trick in Stars of Magic (1946). Edward Marlo also published a near identical move in
The Cardician (1949) and while Daley should very likely be given credit for the move, Marlo's title has since
become the more commonlv used.
HnNoLING
-oLl the deck in left-hand dealing grip and acquire a little finger break under the second card from top.
with the
pu'l the o.utT right corner of the doubre card downwards
Finally, to add to the illusion
of singularity, causes the
double), th., irr;Jiately move that hand away' This
still in contait witt the
wobble like a diving board
right thumb (which is.,twang,,
and arows ,h" opp.. right corner of the card to gently
card to make a sma,
(fig' 5)'
that has just been jumped on
COVtiTZtENTS
. it's important to find the right context for a move of this nature. You'll notice that when )ack uses the mor-e in
'Old Fashioned Aces" (page 165), it is done as a showy display and not as a standard turnover. To turn o\-er a
louble without such a showy context would seem out of character for almost all magicians. Also, in that trick
';ou will find an alternative handling of the move.
. The final "twang" motion is the most important part of the move and shouldn't be left out. It is this part that
displays the singularity of the card, without shouting it out from the rooftopsl
. You'll find that without too much experimentation you will automatically be able to apply this move to triple
.ind even quadruple cards and as long as the move is handled reasonably well, the cards will not split.
CnTDITS
. This move first saw print in |ack's Set to Kill (2006).
PARKER\TARTES REGAL
(P.VR)
qER9O
\,4\ U
When |ack showed David Regal this force (a variant of his own Isolated Force), David promptly asked for an
explanation! When |ack explained it to him, David happily stated that it was a genuine improvement on his oun
move. It's similar in feel to the Slip Slide Force, but looks and works in a completely different way.
S rrup
Have the card that you would like to force face up, second from bottom of the face-down deck.
HnxpLING
Spread the face-down deck between your hands and ask someone to point to a card. When she does, break
the spread so that the selected card is on top of the lower portion and use the left thumb to push the selection
forwards in order to outjog it.
Flip the right hand's cards face up onto the left-hand portion, square with all of the cards below the selection.
Spread through these, now face up, cards once again until you reach the outjogged card. Separate the deck at
this point, taking the outjogged card under the right-hand packet.
Slide your left thumb under its packet and lever the cards face up, back into left-hand dealing grip. You can
now spread off a block of three or four cards from the left-hand packet (to hide the face-up card), to under the
right-hand packet, followed by a number of other cards to create a face-up spread with the face-down selection
outjogged in the middle.
Square the spread into left-hand dealing grip (leaving the selection outjogged), then lift offallof the cards abo'i'e
the outjogged card in right-hand end grip. You can now extend your right middle finger from the front end of
its packet in order to tap the face-down card as you explain that it is the card that she freely selected. As you do
this, contact the top card of the left-hand packet with your right thumb (at the back of the packet) and quietly
push that card back about a quarter of an inch. Lower the right-hand packet back onto the deck, but this time
square with the card that you just injogged.
Use the left index finger to push the selection square with the deck, but at the same time re-grip the injogged
packet with the thumb at the back and first and second fingers on top and then pull the packet backwards,
disengaging it with the outjogged card (fig. l,opposite page). Place this packet face down on the table,leaving
you with two face-down cards on top of the left hand's face-up packet. Finally, execute a Double Turnover to
show the apparent selection (really the force card).
CruDITS
' As I mentioned in my introduction, this is |ack's handling of David Regal's Isolated Force from his book
Close-Up (v Personal (1999) and previously under the title Forcing a Change in the ]une 1995 issue of
Apocalypse (Volume 18, Number 6).
This small finesse of Arthur Finley's Tent Vanish really adds to the illusion that you palm a card and then
crumple it up into nothing.
HANDLING
Have the card that you'd like to vanish in the right hand and hold the deck in left-hand dealing grip with the
thumb lying across the top card.
now left to make the card vanish however you desire. In most of |ack's routines he pretends as if he's
: rxr are
:mmpling up the card and then makes a tossing motion to show the empty hand.
COtrzttrztENTS
. Given that it's purely a finesse in handling, this move can be used in most routines that already use a Tent
\-anish.
CNTDITS
. -{rthur Finley was one of New York's core close-up magicians during the pioneering days of close-up magic,
IEt very few magicians actually know any.thing about him. His Tent Vanish saw print, uncredited, in the
second handling of Dai Vernon's "Slow Motion Four Aces" within Stars of Magic (Series 6, Number 2,1961).
. Iack has previously published this move in the |anuary 2004 issue of MAGIC magazine and then later within
his'Traveling Without Moving" trick in Genii magazine (|une, 2006). |ack also published a face-up handling
m the same issue of MAGIC, but opted for me not to describe it here as it is no longer a regular feature in his
performances.
HANDLING
Hold four cards in left-hand dealing grip with the card that you would like to hide at the bottom of the packet.
Openly spread the top card to the right for about a third of its width using the left thumb (fig. t). This allows
the left thumb to access the second card from top and also push it to the right for about a third of an inch. The
top card will move to the right with it by virtue of the fact that it rests on the second card (fig. 2). At this point, a
little care is required to keep the bottom two cards squared as one.
A,rnr-EHl-to
;,ffi"i
Squeeze your left middle and ring fingertips toward your palm until the tips of these two fingers are about
halfi,rray across the middle card of the spread. This buckles the bottom two cards and helps to keep them in
alignment. When the fingers are at the midpoint of the centre card, slowly move the fingers back in the opposite
direction (allowing the double to gently unbuckle), taking the middle card to the right with them. At the same
time, place your left thumb on the top card of the packet and use it to slide the card toward the audience until it
overhangs the outer end of the packet, using your left index finger as support.
I r close the spread, move your left fingers back into the palm, taking the top two cards with them, finally using
- thumb to help neaten the packet.
FINISSED SPREAD CLOSI.JRE
ck has a more elaborate wav of
rxing the spread that you may like to
:-se instead of the basic one that I just
rylained. First, take the middle card
:f the visible three into the right hand
ad turn it face down, pinching it with
::e right thumb on top and fingers
:erreath.
ill
-ard respectively (flg. S).You can now
i
ix the second and third fingers of 5
ie left hand to contact the right long
:,Jge of the double card and pullit
F I I. 'hl=
+'J s- *r -<
;-:w*j
Take the double card on top of the right-hand card, continuing its rotation so that it ends up face down and
sidejogged to the left. Finally, flip the left hand's single card face down and place it on top of the right-hand
spread to form a face-down spread of three cards and then square up the spread.
COtrztlrztENTS
. |ack most often uses the Zen Spread as a subliminal reinforcement that he is holding three cards. While one
hand is displaying some other cards, Ribbon Spreading the deck or gesturing to a spectator, he casually Zen
Spreads the other hand's packet. He can then bring focus onto the hand for a short amount of time as he
slowly squares up the cards. A good example of this is "On, In and lJnder" (page 130) where the focus is on
four Kings as |ack casually Zen Spreads three spot cards. This rule is broken in "Old Fashioned Aces" (page
165) where all attention is deliberately focused on the cards in order to "sell" the fake palm of the Ace.
. As I mentioned earlier, this move was inspired by the way Ascanio handled cards. A lot of people perform
the famous Ascanio Spread in quite a mechanical way with each card being displayed deliberately and often
with an odd angling of the final card. |ack feels this looks very staged, so opts for a casual display such as
the one illustrated here. In the video footage that Jack has seen of Seflor Ascanio, the motion is smooth and
continuous. More importantly, it is done casually with no direct attention on it. It's just the way he handled
cards and he never seemed to have the attitude of, "Look at the nifty way I display cards."
CnTDITS
. The Zen Spread (minus the alternative way of closing the spread) originally saw print within Jack's "Travelirg
Without Moving" in his one-man Magicana in Genii magazine (Volume 69, Number 6, Iune 2006). Other
tricks that use the move are |ack's "On, In and Under" and "Old Fashioned Aces" from this volume.
Hair Raiser
Hard to Get |ust Got Easy
Three on the Button
The Bled and the Rue
Long Dimension Phone Call
Alone in the Dark
Thought Provoker
Rump Shaker
U.D.S.I.
l00o/o Confidence
Done Burying
Trial Separation
Double Barrelled Shotgun
HofCity
ffi\ffiry61ffi)
***
r"s d&b
w
€J
HATRRruSER
qexgp
\, u /a\
'.ck
was very pleased to have the opportunity to show Peter Duffie this trick. Peter smiled throughout the
::rformance and that was because he was watching his own trick; "Hellraiser 2" . .. or so he thought! When |ack
- -rt to the totally unexpected kicker, Peter's smile slowly vanished and turned into a frownl "I have no idea where
' .e ending came
from," Peter said. Then it was )ack's turn to smilel
\tEMORY
.:k places the Ace, Two and Three of Hearts in a row on the table. He holds two black |acks in his hand and
. .:ces each of the three Hearts individually on the bottom of the packet and magically causes them to travel up
:he top, one by one. As if that wasn't enough, he does the same thing again, but this time incredibly quickly
.. d effortlessly!
'.rally, |ack places the two black |acks aside and randomly removes a card from the deck (say, the King of
':ades). Unbelievably, with absolutely no moves, he then causes the Ace, Two and Three of Hearts to magically
, -.ange to the other three Kings!
-i LTIcHTS I.JSED
'uble Turnover
- uadruple Turnover
:en Display (Arturo de Ascanio)
.:rk7 Pull-down
i rrup
-lave the face-down deck in the following order from the top down:
--:e of Hearts
- '.ro of Hearts
l:rree of Hearts
--nv three Kings
. rro black |acks
...est of the deck
. rnal King (on the face)
.rstead of using two black facks you may wish to use two )okers as Peter Duffie does in his original handling.
lhis removes one or two minor discrepancies throughout the trick.
T*:r r-rver all of the cards above the break as one card and take them face up into the right hand to show a b1ac,
-.;i. .mmediately use this quadruple
card to flip the top card of the deck over to show the second black Jack,
.:;. :ake it fhce up on top of the quadruple card, outjogged for an inch or so to hide the thickness of the front
t:: the quadruple card. Once everyone has seen the cards, flip them face down onto the deck so that the
,-,:
..::-e ;ard is aligned with the rest of the deck, then immediately push the quadruple card forward and offthe
::-::: end oithe deck. To do this, your right hand approaches from above and the thumb lifts the inner edge o:
::-. c--adruple card slightly, then pushes forward until the right second and third fingers can grasp the card rr':'*
::. :::unb. from above. This looks as though you were simply using the deck to square the two cards, when in
:.i-::', ','tru have removed the top four cards, leaving the single blacl |ack on top of the deck. Take the packet
= .-. ;3rtr\-e in the right hand and table the deck face down. The deck is not needed until the end of the trick.
;. :he packet of four cards (apparently two black Jacks) into left-hand deaiing grip. Push offthe top card o:
::.:.r tor about half its width and then stretch out the fingers to give a convincing display of just two cards
- :,-, comPlete Ascanio's Open Display. After you have squared the top card packet onto the packet, pick
-:
:.:.ed -\ce of Hearts and drop it face down on top.
Can trut a Pinky Pull-down of the bottom card, then pick up all four cards above the break - as one - and
:::l:::ediatelr-place them on the bottom of the packet, coming in from the back. Leave the cards injogged for a
:1.':rent (the thickness of the packet is hidden by the card above it) and then slowly square them.
Sepeat these exact same actions with both the Two and Three of Hearts, leaving you with a face-down |ack and
ro face-down Kings on the table at the end. White performing the trick with the Two, say something along
ee lines of,"Believe it or not, performing this trick with the Two of Hearts is far more dfficult than with the Ace
'*rause
the Two has more ink on it!" Andfor the Three explain, "This one takes a lot more effort.Not only has it
lot treo cards to travel up through but it's also got a lot more ink on it than the other cards!"
'rou are now set for an instant repeat. To start, say, "The reason that was so dfficult was because I went from light
io heavy; ink wise. If we go in reverse, things will be a lot easier!" Quickly place the packet face down on top of
:f€ apparent Three of Hearts and immediately flip the top card of the packet face up onto the table. Pick up the
:acket and drop it on top of the middle card (apparently the Two of Hearts) and then immediately flip the top
:erd of the packet face up to make the Two travel up to the top. Finally, repeat these actions once more to make
jre Ace rise through the packet, too.
?ick up the packet in left-hand dealing grip and explain, " A lot of people believe that the lacks are what cause the
:ards to rise through the packet." Take the bottom card of the packet (a black |ack) and flip it face up on top then
:ontinue, "But actually, it's the Ace, Two and Three that do all the work." Scoop up the three tabled cards (with
te Three at the face), turn them face down, and place them below the Ieft-hand packet. In a continuing action,
lip the packet face up to show the Three of Hearts, then execute a Pinky Pull-down to acquire a break above
ie bottom card (face-down |ack). Push the face-up Three into the right hand, then take the Two of Hearts
:nderneath it. Finally, take all of the cards above the break under the Two and Three and flip all six cards face
Jown on top of the left hand's single card. You can now deal the top three cards back onto the table (apparently
te Ace, Two and Three, but really three Kings) into a row, laid out just as they were before'
iry,"Given that the lacks aren't important we could use any other cards." Drop the left-hand packet onto the
Jeck (optionally executing a Flushtration Count to show two black ]acks as you do so) and turn the deck face
:p to show a King on top. Say,"Watch what happens if I touch each of the three Hearts with the King ..." Take
-Jre King offthe deck and use it to flip the three tabled cards face up to show that they have changed to the other
:hree Kings!
COtrzttrztENTS
. The |ack packet could be consider ed thick throughout the routine in that you are holding four cards as two at
multiple points. But, as noted, the front edges of the cards are hidden as much as possible. A light handling of
the |ack packet is essential and |ack tends to use the Ascanio Open Display as much as possible as it looks so
light.
. The trick is certainly a test of your multiple lift skills, as they need to be incredibly smooth for the effect to
have maximum impact. Those who take the time and learn to perform it as beautifully as |ack will have a
winner on their hands.
. "Hair Raiser" and indeed "Hellraiser 2" are variants of Edward Marlo's famous "The Elevator Trick." Marlo
first published this plot in the Sphinx (Volume 47, Numbe r 4,[une 1948) under the title "Penetration."
. Ascanio's Open Display can be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card College, Volume 3 (1998).
. The switch at the end of the routine was inspired by fohn Bannon's switch used in "Among the Discards," a
trick from MAGIC magazine (luly 200a) that |ohn collaborated with David Solomon and Simon Aronson on-
It can also be found in fohn's bookDear Mr Fantasy (2004) as The Discrepant Fat Block Switch where it is
described within his fantastic "Iconoclastic Aces" trick.
. Brother |ohn Hamman is commonly associated with the Flushtration Count due to his publication of the
move within his marketed trick "Flushtration" (1964). Many historians have found earlier handlings of this
kind of display, but in essence, I'm certain that the concept dates back further than those handlings and back
to the Double Flash Convincer that Monte hustlers used to use with the Hype move.
Surprisingly, |ack's attempt to find the physical selection fails miserably - wen though it was supposed to be the
crs,' one to find. While he is a little embarrassed, |ack immediately recovers by successfully finding the difficult
cerd that the participant just thought of.
Enally, against all odds he makes his revival by changing the incorrect card to the first person's card.
STTIGHTS USED
C-onvincing Control variant (Edward Marlo)
EookBreak Glimpse (Tenkai Ishida, Arthur Buckley & Edward Marlo)
Double Turnover
llexican Turnover
MrrHoD
Eicit the help of two female spectators and have one of them shuffle the deck. As she is shuffling, Jack asks,
'ktween the two of you, I'd like you to decide which one is hard and which one is ... tuell, um how do I put this . . .
asy?'When used for the correct audience, |ack's relaxed and gentle style allows this to be funny without being
insulting. However, if you don't think you can say the line without offending anyone (and not many people will
be able to), please don't use it. If you decide to use the line, be sure to quickly continue with, "1 don't mean to
ittsinuate anything by this - it's just that we're going to make one of your cards easy to
find and the other a little
trwre dfficult."
let your participants decide who will take the card that will be easy to find, then spread the face-down deck
ad ask that she touch any card. Clamp your left thumb down on the selection and push it to the right until
il squares up with the card directly above it. Keeping the cards in a spread condition, move the upper portion
of the spread up to a vertical position so that the participant can see the face of the card that she selected. The
selection now secretly has another card in perfect alignment behind it.
Angle the deck towards the participant so that she can see the face of her selection. Once she has remembered
the card, also show it to the second participant, then bring the right hand's spread back horizontal and reunite it
Now onto the person who will select the card that will be difficult to find: ask her to just think of a card (but nor
the same one that the first participant picked) and explain,"Thinking of a card makes it incredibly hardfor me u
find it. The mind leaves no physical evidence and gives me no
tells ... this willbe dfficult!"
Move back to the first participant and say, "That may not be too successful so I'll cut my losses and go for the eaq'
selection first. Your card is there on the table * I want you to put it back into the centre of the deck and then give it
a good easy shufle. It may seem hard for me to find your card, but since you actually touched it, you've left a tracc
that makes it surprisingly easy to locate." Let her follow your instructions, then take the deck back. Look through
the cards and cut the card that the second participant just named to the back of the face-up deck.
Flip the deck face down and execute a Double Turnover of the top two cards to show an indifferent card.
Address the first participant and say, "How did I do? That's not it? Oh - and I thought this was supposed to be
the easy one to find!" Pause for a moment, then turn the double card back over and take the face-down top
card. Continte,"strangely, it looks likefinding the dfficult card might be easier thanfinding the easy one!" Ask
the second person to remind everyone of the card that she merely thought of and as she names it, carry out a
Mexican Turnover on the card tabled in front of her to reveal that you predicted that she'd think of the correct
card.
To execute the Mexican Turnover, hold the initial card in the right hand with your thumb on top and index and
second fingers directly below it. Slide this card under the tabled card to apparently flip it over. To do this, push
' , .: desperately seekin g for a way to reprieve yourself say, *Well, it looks like I can find it the hard way, but I
: t fnd it the easy way, One out of two isn't too bad - and I did get the hard one right!" Finally, as if you just
-
"d a brainwave, look down at the face-down card that you now hold and say,"(Jnless of course you want to see
:mething really dfficult?" Slowly turn the card over to reveal it now matches the first participant's card.
CnTDITS
. The framework of this routine is borrowed from R.W. Hull's "A Mental Card Mystery" from Eye Openers
(1932), although Hull's "The Three of Clubs" from the Card Clairvoyance section of Iohn Northern Hilliard's
Greater Magic (1938) is the routine upon which most versions are based as it uses a duplicate card for cleaner
displays and handling than the original.
The actual trick that inspired ]ack's presentation is an unpublished trick of Tomas Blomberg's called
''Hullesque." An important
aspect that Tomas added to the method of this kind of plot is the use of the decoy
;ard (using the Convincing Control) on the table as an alternative to using a duplicate card, which is the norm.
This also offers the ingenious idea that the first selection has already been removed from the deck, so can't
re removed in place of the apparent thought-of card (which is normally a weakness of most versions of this
:rick).
Fd Marlo's Convincing Control was first published in Hierophant number 3 (1973). The difference between
-\larlo's move and the one ]ack uses is that in the original you would normally allow the selection to slide to
:he bottom of the deck instead of catching a break below it.
The Book Break Turnover technique comes from Tenkai's Slx Tricks (1957) by Robert Parish. It's difficult to
:e certain who first used the move as a glimpse, but a good bet would be Edward Marlo's glimpse from Card
:ixes (1971) by |on Racherbaumer. Marlo's move is a combination of Tenkai's turnover and Arthur Buckley's
Srghting After the Peek from Card Control0ga6).
The Mexican Turnover's first English publication appeared in August Roterberg's New Era Card Tricks (1897),
although it is said to be a much older technique coming directly from Monte hustlers.
Coming back to the selections, ]ackplaces a King on the table in front of the first participant. He also places
another King face down in front of the second participant. He then takes the remaining two Kings and cuts
them face up in the middle of the face-down deck, which he places in front of the third participant.
With a click of the fingers, the first two participants are invited to turn over their Kings. When they do, they lin;
that the Kings have changed to the cards that they each selected at the start of the trick. Finally, fack spreads the
deck along the table to show the four Kings face up in the middle of the deck with the final selection sandwichc
between them.
SrlIGHTS IJSED
Tilt (Dai Vernon / Edward Marlo)
No Fuss Switch (]ack Parker)
Double Turnover
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
Strip-out Addition (Dai Vernon)
MrruoD
Remove the four Kings and position them in alternating colour order face up on top of the face-down deck as
you explain,"I'd like you each to select a card in a moment. I don't want anyone to select a King, so I'll remoye
them and place them here for a moment." Spread the deck along the table and invite three people to each select a
card. As the participants are remembering their selections, pick up the deck in left,hand dealing grip and catch a
Tilt break below the four face-up Kings.
You'll now have the selections returned to the deck in an order different from that in which they were selected
to allow for a sequential revelation at the end of the effect. Retrieve the second participant's selection and insert
it face down into the Tilt break under the Kings. Next, take back the third person's selection and also insert it
into the Tilt break, directly above the second selection. Finally, place the first person's selection into the break,
leaving it above the previous two selections. Close the Tilt break and square the deck, leaving the three selection-.
below the four Kings. There are certainly many other ways you can get into this position, so feel free to mix and
match where necessarv.
: :|u are now set to perform |ack's No Fuss Switch. Move the right-hand packet forward for around half its
€:rgth, and then clamp your left thumb down on top of the face King. S1ide the packet away to the right leaving
:-e topmost King outjogged on top of the deck for about a third of its length. Bring the packet back towards the
:eck and repeat the same actions, this time outjogging the second King for around an inch - leaving the front
.:d of the first King still in view. Move the right-hand packet square with the deck and secretly release the card
:eiorv the thumb break onto the deck. This happens as your left thumb slides the next King offthe top, squarely
' nto the deck, catching a left little finger break beneath it.
::nally, move the packet (supposedly a single King) back about an inch and leave it injogged on the deck,
:*ulting in a stepped display of the Kings. Hold your palm-down right hand over the deck in end grip (but
.rth the index finger curled on top) and use the right thumb to push the triple card forwards until it is square
.-rth the King in front of it. In a continuing action, slide the four cards forwards even more - as a unit - until
::er- extend just past the front edge of the furthest (i.e. most outjogged) King. The instant this outermost King
-. obscured by the right-hand packet, reach your left first finger underneath the packet and push the lower two
ungs inwards until they square with the deck. Meanwhile, continue to move the right hand forwards and away
:om the deck.
iace the deck face down on the table and turn the four-card packet face down. This packet consists of a red
ird a black King sandwiching two face-up selections. Say,"There are dffirent ways to make the Kings turn over.
-':e first you would have seen many times before." Flip the packet back face up, displaying a King. Continue, "O/
--1urse, that's not magical at all. The second one, however, takes a little more magic..." and carry out a Broken
:imsley Count by performing the standard Elmsley Count mechanics, but pausingafter the switch to show two
Ece-up cards in the right hand, then finally peel the last two of the right hand's cards onto the packet.
lo make the next King turn face down, fairly reverse count the cards, mimicking the same outward actions
e; the previous Elmsley Count. Then to make the third card turn face down, execute another Elmsley Count,
rutjogging the single face-up card as you come to it. Square the packet into left-hand dealing grip - leaving the
ice-up King outjogged - and catch a break above the bottom card of the packet (also a face-up King).
Iou'll now execute Dai Vernon's Strip-out Addition. Insert the right first and second fingers into the break and
:lace the thumb on top pinching all three cards that are above the break. Pull back with the right hand until the
>utjogged card becomes square with the bottom card. Hold the two cards - as one - square in the left hand and
:ontinue moving the two face-down cards backwards until they disengage with the face-up Kings.
:-rplain that the final King (the face card of the double) does an even better trick than magically turning over.
ilip the left-hand double card over onto the face-down packet and then take the top card face down into the
.eft hand. Use your right fingers to reverse spread its three-card packet and then place the face-down King at
he bottom of the spread, outjogged for half its length. Slowly pull the outjogged card square with the packet
this is simply a nice way to create the moment of magic), then flip the top card face up to show that it has now
ippeared back on top.
Execute a Doubie Turnover from the bottom, flipping the double card face up on top of the packet to show
another King. Flip the double card face down on top of the packet and then deal the top card face down in from
of the third participant and have her place her hands on top of it too.
Turn over the two cards left in your hand, briefly show them as two Kings, and then place them face up on toP
of the tabled deck. Cut off half of the cards and place them in front of the second participant and say, " And you
can place your hands over the other two Kings." ]ust as he is placing his hands over the packet, place the bottom
half of the deck on top of the packet just given to the participant in order to centralise the Kings . Say, " This wm
the Kings are even more out of my control - now you can place your hands on top."
Ask the first participant,"If the card under your hand was now your selection, would you be impressed?" When
he responds positively, request that he take a look under his hand to find his seiection. Move on to the third
participant and say, "I guess since you've already seen what is about to happen you'd be a little less impressedl
Allow her to take a look and find her selection, too.
Finally, turn to the second participant (who has the entire deck under his hand) and say, "And finally ... wouW
you be impressed if I told you that your freely selected card was under your hands?" Wait for a few moments and
*Well,
then say, given all the remainins fifty cards are under your hand, I hope you wouldn't be too impressedf
Quickly spread the deck along the table to reveal all four Kings face up in the middle of the deck with aface-
down card between them - the final selection!
COtrzttrztENTS
This routine can be performed in a walk-around situation with just a few minor adjustments. Simply have the
second participant hold the deck on their outstretched hand throughout the twisting sequence. You can then
give the other two participants their apparent Kings to hold and then cut the last two into the deck that the thirc
participant is holding.
CnTDITS
. It was Allan Ackerman who inspired |ack to work on this routine. Allan and |ack were both experimenting
with different versions of Roger Smith's "Maxi-Twist" using |ack's No Fuss Switch when |ack ended up
deviating a little and created "Three on the Button." Specifically, the idea of ending with the sandwiched cards
comes from one of Allan's ideas in an effect that he created during the email session.
. Another inspiration was |.C. Wagner's "Even More Four on the Floor" from Full Metal lacket (2005) with Sr-c
Segal, which inspired the structure of the routine. That is the idea of the cards performing some magic before
the final revelation.
' Edward Marlo originallypublished Tilt in a manuscript of the same name (1962). However, see Karl Fulves'
article "Vernon On Cards" in The Pallbearer's Review Close-up Folio Number 10 (1977) for an argument
that states that Dai Vernon should get full credit as the originator of the move. In turn, Jon Racherbaumer
providers a counter-rebuttal in his article "How Deep Is This Illusion?" from Sticks dy Stones Number 10
(re77).
While this effect appears quite complicated in text, I can assure you that it is both simple and astonishing in
performance. For this reason, I urge you to grab a couple of decks and try this trick with cards in hand.
MrmoRv
(let-s
|ack takes a red-backed deck and asks someone to remove a card,look at it, and return it back to the deck
say it's the Three of Spades).
iack then asks the participant whether she picked a red or black card and removes all of the cards of the same
colour as her selection from the deck (black cards in this case). He then takes out a blue-backed deck and
removes all of the red cards from that deck and places them with the black cards from the red-backed deck to
make up a complete deck, but with two different back colours (twenty-six red-backed cards and twenty-six blu.
backed cards). He also places the other packets together to create a deck of opposite colours.
|ack then snaps his fingers over the deck that contains the selection and Ribbon Spreads it to show only red-
backed cards: the blue-backed cards have transposed with the red-backed cards that were originally in the
other packet. Finaliy, |ack then spreads the other deck to show a red-back card in the blue-backed deck. It is, o:
course, the selection.
SITIGHTS USED
Imperfect Faro Shuffle
Strip-out Addition (Dai Vernon)
S rrup
Take a red and a blue deck with white borders and arrange them as follows:
Deck One: all Clubs and Spades from the red-backed deck on top of all Hearts and Diamonds from the blue-
backed deck (from the top down). The two colours should not be mixed.
Deck Two: the Clubs and Spades from the blue-backed deck, mixed with the Hearts and Diamonds from the
red-backed deck. Ensure that a blue-backed card is on top of the deck.
Finally, place each deck in the card boxes that match their top cards.
Sring the right hand over the deck and hold it in end grip, transferring the break to the right thumb. Undercut
ir portion of cards from below your break and place them on top of the deck. This leaves you with the selection
to top, followed by a small group of red-backed cards, then twenty-six blue-backed cards and finally the
-mainder of the red-backed cards.
Jut offmore than half the deck, ensuring that you cut into the lower section of red-backed cards and carry out
rn Out-Faro Shuffle. This shuffle doesn't need to be perfect, but should be carried out with the backs towards the
rvlience so that they get to see several more red backs. Flip the deck so the faces are towards the audience and
:erry out another non-perfect Faro Shuffle, keeping the selection in place on top of the deck.
-t* your participant if she chose a red or a black card; she will respond by saying that her selection was black.
:-plain you'll therefore remove and keep all the red cards as you know that none of them is the selection. Spread
irough the face-up deck, upjogging all the Hearts and Diamonds, and strip them out using Vernon's Strip-out
-{ddition to add a single card (the selection) from the back of the deck to the bottom of the packet (see "12 Card
-Uonte," page 24 for a explanation of this move). Table the remaining black cards in front of the participant,
ien square up the cards you stripped out and table them face down in front of yourself.
Ribbon Spread the spectator's packet face up in front of her as you explain that one of the cards is her selection.
lecute a Ribbon Spread Turnover (showing all red backs) as you continue explaining that while you know her
;dection is in the packet, you can't be sure exactly which card it is. Ask that the participant shuffle the packet
rnd then spread them face up on the table.
ium up the effect so far: "We both have half a deck; you have the black cards and I have the reds." Pick up your
3cket and spread it face up along the table, keeping the initial few cards as a block so that you don't flash the
lack selection. This leaves both you and your participant with a spread of cards in front of you.
lemove the blue-backed deck as you explain, "I am going to make both of our halves into full decks, but using
*cse blue-backed cards." Spread through this deck face up and remove all of the Diamonds and Hearts. Strip
iem out and Ribbon Spread them face up in front of the participant's spread, so that they remain separate.
R'ibbon Spread your packet face down (showing all blue backs) then perform a Ribbon Spread Turnover so you
rlso have two lines of spread cards. Then push your two spreads together in a messy manner, pushing cards all
uound your half of the table. Make sure that you don't reveal any of the backs of the cards and roughly keep
:rack of the selection so that it ends up somewhere near the middle of the deck as you square up the cards. Ask
rour participant to follow suit and mix up her cards as well.
Reiterate that you both have two halves of different decks, red and blue backed, which have been thoroughly
mixed and that somewhere amongst the deck she mixed up is her selection. These actions have set you up for
m'o excellent climaxes:
SrcoNo Crtuex
Wait for the effect to sink in, then turn over the participant's spread and ask if she can see her selection. Wait::r
a second or two then say, "You won't find it, because it's travelled over to my halfl" Ribbon spread your deck ta:.
down to show all blue backs except for a single red-backed card. Reveal this as the selection.
Put the selection back into the red-backed deck to end clean!
CnTDITS
. This trick was inspired by Alex Elmsley's "The Red and the Blue" from Volum e 2 o{ The Collected Works oi
Alex Elmsley Q99a) by Stephen Minch.
itEMORY
-:k removes the Fours from the deck. He calls on his pan-dimensional friend Tomas to turn the Fours into
.:ks. He then insfructs Tomas to magically change one of the iacks back into a Four. Finally, he makes another
' ur appear face up in the deck, another under the card box and the final one inside the card box. This Tomas
- -\-seems like a true friend.
-i LTIGHTS USED
::r1hm Count (Larry |ennings)
I :sh-In Change (Frederick Braue handling)
nsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
) ETI.JP
: :move a red Four from the deck and place it into the card box. Put the card box on the table and secretly place
- --,lack Four underneath it. I'11 explain a way to set this up during your performance in my comments.
\tETHOD
':read through the deck with faces towards you and cut a black ]ack to the back. Spread through the deck once
-'.ore and upjog the remaining two Fours, a red |ack (I will assume the Iack of Hearts for my description) and
,-.e other black |ack. Say something weird hke,"Let me show you something interesting with
four Fours. But it's
:t the Fours that are of interest - they are just the medium for an experiment. It's my friend Tomas that's really
- .t
interesting thing. You see he lives in a parallel dimension " Give an "I visit Star Trek conventions" style look
.: the audience and then strip out a Four and place it face down on the table. Next remove the outjogged black
.ck, followed by the other Four and then place the red fack on top of the packet. The audience should only see
.:le
backs of the cards throughout this whole process.
.- iace the deck on the table and say, "I know you don't it, but it's true. He is actually sitting just
believe a word of
here you are: the very same spot, the very same time, but in another dimension. Fortunately I can' call him on
Pick up the deck in left-hand dealing grip and acquire a break under the top card (black Iack). Next, pick up
the top card of the tabled pile and drop it face up on top of the deck as you say, "Although Tomas is not in our
dimension, he can see what we are doing. More importantly, he can change things in our dimension and move
tltem around. Seriously - there's absolutely no need to get your coat, I am totally sane." Pick up both cards above
the break and explain,"I am going to isolate this Four in a position that we are all clear about. And by all of us, I
ntean yoLt, me and Tomas" Turn your left hand palm down and use your left thumb to break open the front enc
of the deck at about the middle. Push the double card into the break and leave it protruding for about a third of
its length.
\\-ith vour left hand still in the palm-down position, reach into your pocket with your right hand and pull out
vour mobile phone. Pretend to push a few buttons using your right thumb then hold the phone up towards you:
ear. Using your best soap opera acting, pretend that you are speaking to your pan-dimensional friend and say,
"
Hello. Tomas? Hi! How is everything over there? Excellent! I see you have been helping David Copperfield out
Ltgain. \'eah, I know, it pays the bills. So, do you have time to help me out? I have a non-believer here who would
like to see what yolt can do." Hold the phone against your chest for a moment so that Tomas cannot hear you
speak "OK. He's ready. Are you ready? Good!" Put the phone back to your ear and say, "Toma5 can you see
tlte Four of Clubs [or Spades] sticking out of the deck? Could you do your thing and substitute it for a lack? That
it tluld be a good start." As you are talking, casually rotate your left hand palm up to show a |ack sticking out
lrvith the Four secretly beneath it).
Pause tbr a moment then continue, "Wow - that was quick. Thank you!" Clip the phone between your shoulder
and the side of your head, freeing up your right hand. Grip the outjogged double card with the thumb on top
and fingers below and then as you start to pull the |ack out of the deck with the thumb, use the right fingers to
push the lowermost card of the double fully into the deck. Fully remove the Jack and drop it face up onto the
tabled packet. This is a Push-In Change and works so well because all of the action happens underneath the face
up Iack.
Look at the spectator and raise your eyebrows in an "I told you so" expression, then start talking on the phone
aqain. "Nice job Tomas!" Wait for a second then continrLe,"You did what? Wow - you must befeeling energetic
ic'ttlav. lust a moment - let me check." Place the phone on the table and address the audience as you say>
"
-\pparently he also changed the other three Fours to lacks, What a show-ofl"
Put the deck aside for a moment and pick up the small packet, flipping it face up. Execute an Elmsley Count to
shorv three face-up |acks and a face-down card. Upjog the face-down card as you come to it, then strip it out anc
drop it face up on top of the packet. This is |ohn Bannon's "Discrepancy City Display" - a favourite sequence oi
Tack's.
Smile at the audience and raise your eyebrows again, then pick up the phone as you say something like,
"Sltox,boaterl" Pretend that your friend has told you something else, then put the phone back down
and flip the
packet you hold face down. Deal the top card of the packet onto the table as you tell your participant, "He wants
vott to take one of the lacks and put your hand on top of it."
Continue talking on the phone, "OK - we've had one of the lacks taken out of the packet. No, we don't know
Finally, pretend to listen on the phone for a moment and finish with,"And thefinal one is inside the case. No
rnTf'Ask the participant to look inside the case and take out the card. They will find the final Four which you
:hen drop face up with the others. You end the trick clean but with a large pan-dimensional phone bill.
COLzttrztENTS
. fack's preferred method of setting the two cards up before the trick is to have a red and black Four on top of
the cased deck. He removes the deck at the start of his performance, leaving the top card behind in the case.
and then holds the case above the deck for a moment and steals away the top card as he closes the flap on the
case. He then tends to perform a few other tricks before moving on to "Long Dimension Phone Call."
. With just a small tweak, you can change the |ack of Diamonds (or Hearts) under the participant's hands to the
Four of the matching suit (instead of just a random suit). You do this by removing the red Jack of the opposite
suit of the red Four which you remove second at the start of the trick.
. If performing the routine impromptu (without the opportunity to load a card in the box), you may like to look
into )ohn Bodine's, "Call Me, No Wait, I'11 Call You" from Cheetah's Handbook by )amie Badman and myself
(2005). Not only does it fit well into this context, but sets you up perfectly to perform this routine.
. [f there's an appropriate moment or distraction during the performance, you can pick up the card box and
casually place it aside, turning over the box as you do so. This allows you to have one of the Fours appear face
up on top of the box, instead of below it.
. You can of course use any name for your pan-dimensional friend, but Iack uses Tomas as a dedication to his
session-buddy Tomas Blomberg with whom he has worked on hundreds of tricks.
CruDITS
. |ohn Bannon's "Discrepancy City Display" can be found in his booklmpossibilia (1990).
. The basic mechanics of the Push-In Change first saw print in August Roterberg's New Era Card Tricks (1897).
The handling most used today is actually Frederick Braue's and was first published under the name Fritz Braue
in the fuly, 1938 issue of Genii magazine (Volume 2, Number 7).
. This trick - along with the presentation - was first published in Sef to Kill (2006).
Are you sitting comfortably? |ack often likes to experiment with tricks that make use of stories and charming
presentations. This is one of his favourites because the presentation attempts to give what is generally a very
dry effect (an impossible location), a little more emotional impact. It's specifically suited to when you are
performing a trick for just one person in a quiet setting. Even if you don't want to use |ack's presentation, the
incredibly clever method can be applied to other tricks.
MEMORY
Jack takes the participant's mind on a journey into a classroom and asks her to imagine writing a number
between one and fifty-two on a blackboard (let's say she imagines writing the number eight). |ack then asks
that she count down to that location in the deck and remember the eighth card. The participant then gets to
fairly lose the card into the deck by mixing up the cards as much as she likes. After a fantastic presentational
build-up, |ack then makes a magical pass over the deck and explains that he's reverted everything back to horr
it was moments ago. The participant is asked to count down to the eighth card in the deck and turn it over.
Unbelievably, it's the card that she selectedl
STTIGHTS USED
None. This one's for the no-sleight crowd.
METHOD
Before you begin, you need to know the top and bottom cards of the deck. |ack simply places a red Ace on top
and another red Ace on the bottom so that he doesn't have to rely on memory.
Place the deck on the table in front of your participant and say, "I'd like you to imagine that you are a teacher
in a classroom full of children. It's bright and noisy. On the desk in front of you is a deck of cards. I'd like you to
pick up the deck and pull a block of cards out from the centre. Take a decent-sized portion." While there are no
constraints on the number of cards the participant can take, it is recommended that you try to coax her into
removing around fifteen to twenty-five cards.
Say,"By taking the cards from the centre we all know that they are completely random. Now, count your cards
- be sure to count out loud so the rest of the class can hear!" Wait for her to count the packet (let's assume that
she counted twenty cards), and then continue, "Twenty cards? Fine. Imagine writing'twenty' on the blackboard
behind you in big white numbers so everyone can see. Then shuffle the twenty cards and think for a moment what
the children and I know.
"The only thing that we can know is you have twenty cards. We don't know what cards or what order they are in
\ext, I want you to imagine qll the children leaving the classroom. Then close the blinds, shut the door and turn
+ all the lights except your small desk lamp. Class is over for the day.
Shufrle the packet of cards you hold again.In a moment you will remember one card from that packet. But I
tnt you to think of a card that only you can know. Nobody else in the classroom, or indeed the world will know
\at that card is. What you will do is deal the cards you hold slowly down onto the table one at a time, turning
.ich one face up as you go and counting them in your head; one, two, three and so on. When you get to a point
'::at only you know, remember the card and what number it is at. However, do not stop dealing. Continue going
':ght through the packet until you have dealt them all into a
face-up pile. By doing this nobody on Earth can
. ';ow which card you chose to remember or what position it was at. I will look away and leave you alone in the
Jefore the participant starts to follow your instructions, turn away and shield your eyes. It's important to do this
:etbre she starts dealing so they know you can't peek any cards. This eliminates the method most people "in the
.row" will think you are using, which involves looking at a card during the deal. With your back turned and
:'.'es averted, continue, "When you have dealt all the cards, turn the pile face down. Now turn to the imaginary
'.tckboard and write your card and the number it was at in small letters in the corner. The room is dark and no
\e can see, but make it small and hide it with your hand as you write. When you are done, turn around quickly
;nd put your back against the board so nobody can see what you wrote. Keep the number and the card in your
.:ind.
,\-hen the participant closes her eyes pick up the deck, turn it face up, and spread through until you see your
irst key card (in |ack's case, a red Ace). Say,"You're standing there in the silence and darkness, thinking of your
:wd and number. You become aware of a sound; the sound of the cards mixing and moving around - just as you
:rn hear the cards now." Count how many cards are between the key cards (don't include the key cards, the red
\ces). For explanation purposes, let's say there are seven cards between the key cards. Remember this value then
)quare up the deck.
>ay,"Alone in the dark with only the soft sound of the cards moving all by themselves," then start counting again
:rom the face. Begin your count with the first card (face card) and simply carry on counting from seven (or
.rhatever number you arrived at earlier); with the face card being number eight, then continue counting until
'.-ou reach
the value that she named at the beginning of the trick (twenty in this description). Cut the deck at
:his point so the card at position twenty ends up at the back of the deck, then place the deck face down onto the
:able.
If feeling in a particularly funny mood, Iack will then continlle, "... and the light bulb in your desk lamp goes
BANG|' He shouts the word "bangi' incredibly loudly and takes the participant offguard!
COI,tVtENTS
. On close inspection, you'Il that this trick's mechanics are very similar to "Sunken 2I" from page 185. Bor-
see
methods apply a "double key" to the Scalbert Sunken Key Principle, with "Alone in the Dark" taking it furthe:
by using the principle to then locate the key point for the C. W. fones trick listed below.
. |ack suggests that you should not try to learn the patter word-for-word unless you are a superb performer tha:
can recite scripts without appearing to be trying to remember it. Instead, take the general feel of it and build
up the atmosphere yourself.
. |ack only ever performs this effect for small groups (or ideally just one person). He tells me that if you can ge:
the lights turned down low to create the atmosphere, it can be great fun!
CnTDITS
. The mechanics of this location are based on C. W. )ones' "Three Pile Trick" from )ohn Northern Hilliard's
Greater Magic (1938) and Geoffrey Scalbert's Sunken Key Principle from his book Scalbert's Selected Secrets
(1e81).
iave you ever wanted to try out Dai Vernon's "Five Card Mental Force," but been worried about the risk
l'olved? Welcome to Mental Force Anonymous - you're not alonel )ack was the same, but after learning Tom
':ame's "Psyboards" (a variant of the Vernon original that seems to work better for today's audiences) |ack
-ecided to work on a strong get-out should the force fail. I think you'll enjoy it.
\.IEMORY
.ck asks a participant to deal out four Poker hands. To make things extremely fair though, the participant is
-.iowed to deal out the hands however he likes, so long as the end result is that each hand contains five cards.
. le participant is then asked to pick up any of the four hands and merely think of one of the cards in that hand.
--li four hands are then collected back up and shuffled into the deck. |ack now miraculously reaches into the
-:ck and pulls out the card that the participant simply thought of. It truly is as direct as that.
S I-IIGHTS USED
. rlse shuffle
:,ackwards Prophecy (Steve Beam)
S rrup
. :om the top down, have the face-down deck in the following order:
.even ofSpades
lree of Spades
-hree of Hearts
-.ce of Diamonds
-:.ck of Hearts
:ck of Spades
lueen of Clubs
ring of Spades
:ight of Hearts
- en of Diamonds
:ight of Diamonds
- en of Hearts
Irvo of Spades
\ce of Hearts
MrruoD
Give the deck a few false shuffles, then hand it to your participant and ask that he deal out four Poker hands in
a straight line on the table. Once the participant has dealt a row of four cards, stop him and proclaim,"In fact, I
want this to be really random - so long as you deal one card onto each pile, this time you can deal the cards out it
any order." Allow the participant to deal the cards in a random order in this manner until each packet contains
five cards. It's important to ensure that he deals one card onto each packet in the row before moving onto the
next round of dealing, but this reaily doesn't affect how random the procedure looks.
Take back the remainder of the deck and invite the participant to pick up any of the packets. Explain that
he must keep the cards face down to ensure that you don't see their faces, then ask that he create a small fan
with the cards. Say,"I'd like you to bring your fan of cards up so that you can see the faces of the cards, then
immediately think of any of the cards. Don't concentrate on the cards - just go on your first instinct then put the
fan straight back down." Once he has thought of a card, have him return the packet face down on the table.
Because each packet represents a similar order of cards to those used in Dai Vernon and Tom Frame's clever
psychological forces, there is a good possibility that the participant is thinking of a red Eight or Ten (one of
those cards will always be in the packet, due to the set-up).
You will now pick up the tabled packets, ensuring that the selected packet is the third packet from the top. ThL<
is simply a matter ofhaphazardly dropping two packets on top of the selected one, then dropping the combinc.
pile on top of the remaining packet. Place this combined pile on top of the deck and then give the cards a false
shuffle. Given that you only need to keep the top fifteen cards in order, a |og Shuft1e is well suited here.
Spread the deck with the faces towards you and begin looking for red Eights and Tens from the back of the
pack. Each hand contains only one of these two cards and since the hand your participant selected has two othe:
hands above it (as you look at the deck) it's an easy matter to go past the first and second red Eights or Tens tha:
you come to, then remove the third one and place it face down on the table. Say, "I am going to remove this carc
in order to make a prediction " Note that |ack doesn't say that the prediction represents this card, because there'=
a possibility that it doesn't!
Place the deck on the table and insert the face-down prediction card somewhere into the middle of the deck
from the far end and leave it outjogged for half its length. Reiterate, "You're just thinking of a card. You didn't
remove it from the deck. You just thought of a card at random and nobody other than you could possibly know it:
identity."
Continue, "This is the card I removed from the spread. . . " Pick up the deck in left-hand dealing grip and turn the
prediction card face up by carrying out Steve Beam's handling of Bill Simon's Business Card Prophecy Move
as follows. Spread through the deck until you reach the outjogged card, then take all of the cards above the
outjogged card into your right hand with the thumb on top and fingers below, roughly squaring the cards as yoi-
ri
-t this point, you don't actually know the card that the participant is thinking of but your next actions will
:etermine if it is the red Eight or Ten that you removed. If he is thinking of the card you removed, he will
.efinitely be amazed and tell you that you got the card correct when you turn it face up. If he doesn't react
- -rntinue by saying, " ... bltt the value of the prediction card is not importqnt. It's the location that's important. The
position that I placed the card in the deck - that's what matters. It may have looked like I placed the card at
',:Ltct
,andom position, but there wqs a method to my apparent madness!" Cut the cards above the face-up outjogged
:ard and place them onto the table.
.-lace the prediction card aside and drop the remainder of the deck on top of the tabled half. Hand the
:articipant the deck and say, "From the point that I put my card into the deck, I would like you to silently spell the
'.tne of the card that you are thinking of. To do this, I want you to deal a card
face down onto the table for each
:tter in the name of your card. Now it's important that you do not say anything or in any way indicate the name
)Lt are spelling. There's no need to spell'the' at the start, but you shouldn't forget the'of in the middle! So, for
,:tample, ,f you were thinking of the Seven of Hearts, you would mentally spell out 'Seven of Hearts' and deal down
. card for each letter." Stand back and watch silently as the participant deals through the deck, then ask him to
. rrn over the next card to reveal his merely thought-of card.
CovtvtENTS
. lack has a specific way of picking up the tabled packets after a selection has been made. He has noticed that
most people tend to select one of the two centre packets so in this scenario, it is an easy matter of collecting
up the packets from Ieft to right (or vice versa) depending on whether they select the second or third packet.
However, if the participant selects one of the end packets, you can pick up the two end piles (one in each
hand) and drop each one onto the next hand nearest the middle. Then, in the same continuous motion drop
the two packets which don't contain the selected hand onto the other heap. |ack feels that these two ways of
picking up the packets look incredibly fair.
After reading "Psyboards," |ack decided to add a series of similar stacks to his trick "Gut Feeling" which
he published on The Second Dealwebsite in November 2002. "Thought Provoker" is the direct result of the
combination of the two tricks.
. |ack's inspiration for the self-spelling stack comes from Simon Aronson's "Worker Bees" from Try The
Impossible (2001). However, the first use of banks of cards that spell progressively that I have been able to
locate is "A Clever Spelling Bee Experiment" from Osirian magazine (Volume 1, Number 1, April 1925). The
trick has the byline of "By |ordan," which could possibly be Charles |ordan as it uses the concept of "Trailing
the Dovetail Shuffle to its Lair," which he publishe d in Thirty Card Mysteries (1919).
..SteveBeam'sBackwardsProphecypublishedinthefirstvolumeofhis Semi-AutomaticCardTricks(1993)
series. It is a variant of Bill Simon's "Business Card Prophecy Move" which was published in his bookEffectiru
Card Magic (1952).
Mruonv
Jack takes a shuffled deck and uses it to demonstrate how he would deal himself the four Aces if he were to cheat
'at a game of Poker. After dealing himself the Aces during a six-handed game of Poker twice in a row he goes on
to teach an even more advanced cheating technique - setting other players up for the bait.
Even though he shuffles the deck several times during the effect, |ack deals out another six-handed game and
shows that all five of his opponents receive great hands (including the four Aces, pairs and full houses). He
finally goes on to show that since he gave everyone else such great hands, he had to pull something special out of
the bag for himself - a straight flush!
STIIGHTS IJSED
False shuffle
Srrup
Start by removing all of the Spades as well as all of the Twos, |acks, Queens, Kings and Aces, then arrange them
in the following order from top of the face-down deck:
fack of Spades
Any |ack
Three indifferent cards
AnyAce
Ten ofSpades
Any Queen
Three indifferent cards
Any Ace
Nine of Spades
Any Queen
Three indifferent cards
AnyAce
Eight ofSpades
AnyKing
MrrnoD
Start by executing a series of faise cuts and shuffles so that everyone can see that the deck is thoroughly mixed.
Proceed to deal six Poker hands around the table; the sixth hand going to yourself. Due to the setup, you will
automaticallydealyourselfthefourAcesandanindifferentcard. Say,"If youareamagicianandyouplayPokr
people always think that you are cheating. And they're normally correct! I dealt myself the four Aces. I can see
rou're intrigued, so for once let me show you exactly how that warks."
Shorv everyone your hand, then organise your five cards so that the four Aces are on the face of the packet. Grip
the undealt cards from the deck in right-hand end grip and place the face-down packet (your hand) onto the
face of the right-hand group of cards. Place this assembled packet onto the table in front of you in riffle shuffle
position and say, "The Aces start on the bottom of the deck. That way, it's a simple matter for me to use some
trickery to get them into my hand."
Pick up the hand in first position (the leftmost packet) and drop it on top of the packet to its right (the second
packet). Drop this combined packet onto the next pile to the right, and continue clockwise until all of the
packets have been picked up.
Sav,"When I shuffle the deck I just let the four Aces drop offfirst, one, two, three, four, then fairly shffie the rest
o_f the deck on top of them. So you can see, although the main part of the deck is interweaved and shffied, the Ace.
sfill sif underneath at the bottom." Match your actions to words and fairly riflle shuffle the two packets together,
letting the four Aces riffle offthe bottom of the first packet before all of the other cards.
Deal out six more hands, openly Bottom Dealing on each of the five cards that you deal into your hand as you
erplain, "When I get to my hand I do a Bottom Deal. I am showing you this time so you can see it, but when I do i:
properly it's invisible. You didn't see it the first time around did you?" Show your cards, then turn your hand face
down with the Aces on the face of the packet and place the five cards beneath the undealt cards as before. Collea
'tr1',"Tha real secret with this, though, is not just dealing yourself a good hand. You need someone to bet against
)u, so you do what is called a'double duke.'This means you deal a great hand to an opponent, but not as good
:.s your own, so that they bet against you, increasing the total amount in the pof." Ask someone to name
any
f the other five positions on the table and proceed to deal the cards out, openly caruying out the mechanics
f a primitive Bottom Deal when dealing cards to the nominated position. Continue, "So this time I'll deal the
'ottoms to that hand so they get the
four Aces. Again I'll do it openly like this so you can see it each time."
lurn over the packet at the nominated position to show that you dealt your opponent the four Aces, but then
:ontinue to show the other cards. Due to |ack and Tomas' clever set-up of the deck, all five other players will
eceive a good hand such as three-of-a-kind, two pairs, full house, flush and even straight flush.
. inally,turn over your cards to show that even though everyone else has fantastic hands (and will likely bet
righly), you have managed to deal yourself a straight flush.
CnTDITS
. This is, of course, a variant of the "Gardner-Marlo Poker Deal," which Marlo first explain ed in Let's See the
Deck (1942). The underlying concept of the routine comes from "An Effective Poker Deal" published in )ean
Hugard's Card Manipulations, Number 4 (1936).
, In MAGIC magazineMay 2006, Tomas Biomberg published another effect that takes advantage of the
Gilbreath Principle to stack cards on top of the deck. The trick, "Take it or Sleeve it," was a collaboration with
Iason England.
. The mechanics of this routine use the famous Gilbreath Principle, which was discovered by Norman Gilbreath
around 1955. It was first published in The Linking Ring (Volume 38, Number 5, iuly 1958) under the title
"Magnetic Colors."
. This effect was originally published in Sef to Kill (2006), but with a different setup. The newly described setup
is Tomas Blomberg's latest version which generates better Poker hands than the original.
Luke Dancy is known for intertwining just one or two gimmicked cards with an ungaffed deck in order to crear.
incredibly visual and imaginative magic. It was Luke's "Dancy Sandwich Intro" that inspired Iack to set about
devising a handling that could be performed from an ordinary deck with no gimmicks. The title is an acronym
for "Ungaffed Dancy Sandwich Intro."
Mrmonv
|ack places two red Kings face-to-face and puts them on the table. He then takes a face-up black Ace and
magically splits it into the two red Kings. Finally, he shows that the black Ace has appeared on the table where
the Kings originally were to complete this very visual and direct transposition.
STTIGHTS I.JSED
Double and Triple Turnover
Interlock (Dai Vernon)
A Radical Change (Richard Kaufman)
Breakless Curry Change (Edward Mario)
Srrup
Set the face-down deck in the following order, from the top down:
This stack can be openly set up during your performance, as I'll describe later.
Also, |ack recommends that you perform this effect using a soft surface such as a close-up pad as this will
facilitate one of the integral moves.
MrrHoD
Start by executing a Double Turnover to show a red King, then take the double card into the right hand, still face
up, and use it to flip the top card of the deck (the other red King) face up, too. Use your left thumb to push this
second King forward so that it projects offthe front end of the deck for about half its length. Flip the double card
Bring your right hand over the deck with the thumb at the back and the fingers reaching forward to touch r:e
:ront end of the top card. Use your right thumb to lift the back end of this single card up for about a qua:ie: :'
.rn inch then slowly slide this card forward. As your fingers start to cover the outjogged face-up card. use '..i,..:
,eft index finger to push the face-up King flush with the deck, allowing you to take away the single thce-d.''.'.:
--ard in what is essentially a deep end grip. Because the face-up King is now covered by the face-doirn Kiis
ihat is on top of the deck it appears as though you have taken offthe face-to-face Kings. Reallr', both Kings ::=
secretly left face-to-face on top of the deck.
Place the apparent face-to-face cards (really just a single, face-down indifferent card) on the tabie slight\ :
vour left and immediately focus attention back on the deck so that nobody notices the fact that r-ou have ,':-.-'.
tabled one card. Execute a Triple Turnover, showing a black Ace and catch a little finger break beneath tr€ ir. r=
cards as they faIl face up onto the deck. Take off the top card - the black Ace - in a casual gesture as vou s.r.'.'.
''
Along with the two red Kings, I'll also use this Ace." Given that a back shows on top of the deck, eventh,:-.. - '
copasetic.
Place the Ace face up onto the deck. Take hold of all three cards above the break by inserting the hneers .::.
the break at the centre point of their right long side with the thumb directly on top. Mor.e the three carJs :
..-.:
right until the left long edge of the cards meet the right long edge of the deck (fig. 1). Keeping vour nnge:: -:. :.
exact same position, start to turn the triple card back face down, book-wise, onto the deck. ]ust as the .": '::j:
about to coalesce use the right fingers and thumb to execute a block push-off of the top tl,o cards rrf the ::-:..
card and let them fall square onto the deck. You should still be holding the top card, whlch r-ou quicii',' :'. ' :
back to the original position. Take the King on top of the deck below the King in your right hand. It aFL.r.:: ..
though you've split the Ace into the two red Kings (frg.2). This is Richard Kaufman's A Radical Chan*r :r., ,:
similar to the K.M. Move, but with the deck face down.
ATrr,,-
.-
+ {til nu
;)
aci
IS
ari 2
Holding both Kings in your right hand, immediately reach for the tabled face-down card and turn it face up
using Edward Marlo's Breakless Curry Change to switch in the black Ace, which is now on top of the deck. To
execute the switch, hold the deck in Straddle Grip with the left little finger at the lower right corner. You can
then push the top card to the right with the Ieft
thumb; this will cause the card to pivot on the
little finger and become anglejogged (fig. 3).
COtrzttvtENTS
. There are two ways to perform this trick from a shuffled deck. The first is to simply run through the cards with
the faces towards you and openly remove the required cards and place them in order on the top of the deck as
you explain , "1 need a couple of specific cards for this trick. I'll show them to you in a few seconds."
The method that I (Andi Gladwin) use to perform the trick from a shuffled deck is a little more complex, but
does flow a lot better. Start by running through the deck and upjogging the first red King. Leaving the card
upjogged, continue spreading through the deck until you reach the second red King. This time, don't just
upjog the King, but also upjog the card that is directly below it, keeping both cards in perfect alignment so that
the audience isn't aware that the card is a double card (red King with an indifferent card below it). If you're
aware of Edward Marlo's Unit Upjog Addition, this is the perfect time to use it.
Strip out all three cards with your right hand, letting the upper King coalesce with the lower double card and
use them to flip the deck over. Re-grip the three cards in end grip and peel the uppermost King onto the deck
in the outjogged manner described above, and then turn the double card face down and square onto the deck.
Continue as described previously, until you need the black Ace. At that point, turn the deck face up and spread
the cards, removing the first black Ace that you come to. Place the Ace face down on the bottom of the face-up
. If you're not comfortable with the Breakless Curry Change, |ack offers an interesting alternative. After you've
produced the red Kings, use them to sandwich the tabled card so that one face-up King is above the face-down
card and the other is below it. The lower King is spread slightly to the right and the top one to the left. The
face-down card should be outjogged for half its length.
Display the sandwiched cards in the right hand and use the left hand to acquire a little finger break below the
top card of the deck. Try to ensure that your frrst finger (at the front of the deck) and thumb (at the side of
the deck) are slightly above the surface of the top card as this will help with the switch you are about to make.
Move the right-hand cards towards the deck and allow the corner of the lowermost King to slide in beneath
the top card of the deck - this is facilitated by the break and is completely covered by the top card of the
spread.
Move the three-card packet to the left, sliding the face-down card across the top of the deck away from you at
a forty-five degree angle until that card hits the protruding first finger and thumb. This automatically squares
the face-down card with the top of the deck in preparation for Ken Krenzel's Force-Eps utility move. Continue
moving your right hand to the left, carryingaway both face-down cards, as one, sandwiched between the
Kings. As the cards emerge offthe left side of the deck, turn your right hand palm down, showing the face of
the Ace. The outjogged card between the Kings is now actually a double card. Release this double face up onto
the top of the deck to display the Ace. Drop the Kings on the table to finish.
CnTDITS
. As previously mentioned, |ack's direct inspiration for this trick is Luke Dancy's "Dancy Sandwich Intro,"
which has not yet been published. However, Luke took his basic idea and created "Division," which he released
through Elmwood Magic in2004.
. Richard Kaufman's A Radical Change first saw print in his book Cardmagic (1979).
. Edward Marlo's Breakless Curry Change was first published in Hierophant magazine (Issue 7, 1975).
. Edward Marlo's Unit Upjog Addition can be found in his book, Marlo's Magazine, Volume I (1975), but I
haveit on good authority that Marlo was shown the move by another magician before publishing it under his
own name.
. Ken Krenzel's Force-Eps was published in his book, The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel (1978) written by Harry
Lorayne.
. Stephen Minch reports that Dai Vernon believed that he devised the Interlock concept in approximately
1925, with the Push-In Change as a starting point. Ralph W. Hull was among the first to publish it in "The
Elusive Joker" (1930) and around the same time, Hahne and Berg describe an Interlock configurati on in Here's
Magic ( 1930). Karl Fulves, in his book Cards 3: Interlock ( 1980) credits Ken Beale for the name Interlock. The
unloading sequence used in the Interlock concept is the Vernon Utility Move, which can be found in Bruce
Ceryon's Card Secrets of Bruce Cervon (1976).
Mrmonv
|ack has three people each select a card. He also removes three cards for himself and explains that they will act as
an indication of the cards that each participant selected. To prove his claim, the first selection is shown around -
it's the Ace of Spades. With absolute confidence, |ack explains that he knew the participant would select an Ace,
so he shows that his indicator cards are the other three Aces - a direct hit!
Next, the second selection is shown to be the )ack of Spades. |ack explains that he was also certain that the
participant would select a |ack. He looks down at the packet of Aces, clicks his fingers and shows that he has
turned the Aces into the three |acks to match the second selection.
Finally, the third selection is shown to be the Ten of Clubs. Instead of turning the packet into the three Tens,
<e
]ack goes one better and changes it to a royai flush in Clubs! How's that for confidence?!
SI-IIGHTS USED
Riffle Force
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
Ascanio Spread variant (Paul Harris and Ricardo Wecksler)
Srrup
A nine-card stack is required on top of the face-down deck:
Ace of Spades
|ack ofSpades
Ten of Clubs
]ack of Diamonds
Iack of Clubs
Queen of Clubs
King of Clubs
Ace of Clubs
Ace of Hearts
Rest ofdeck
MrrHoD
Start by forcing the top three cards on three different people. The easiest way to do this is to cut the deck,
maintaining a break above the stacked cards, and then execute a Riffle Force on the first participant. Continue
Casually spread off six cards, catching a break below them as you square the spread. Say, " I'll use these cards on
top of the deck as my indicator cards. Each one will indicate which cards you all picked." Take offthe top card
(Jack of Diamonds) in end grip, and then take the next card sidejogged below it, finally taking one more card
under the packet to form a face-down three-card spread. Square these cards against the deck and secretly pick
up the remaining three cards to the face of the packet as you do. This leaves you holding the six-card packet in
end grip, shielding the thickness of the packet with your right fingers.
Flip the packet face down and re-grip it in right-hand end grip in readiness for a variant of the Ascanio Spread.
Pull out the bottom card with the left fingers as you move the rest of the packet diagonally inwards and to tEi-e
right (fig. 1). When you have moved the packet halfi,rray across the bottom card, contact the top card with the left
thumb and hold it in place as you move the rest of the packet forward, outjogging it farther than the other cards.
Stretch the left second finger under the remaining packet and push upwards to contact the lower card of the
moving packet to hold it in place. Finally move the four-card packet down and to the right and remove the right
fingers, leaving the packet in the left hand with the thumb on top and fingers below (fi1.2).
Turn the packet over and proceed with the Ascanio Spread variant as described earlier, finishing in the same
position as fig. 3. Remove the last packet, just as for the first sequence, and reverse count the othef three cards
onto it. Flip over the last card ()ack of Spades) face up onto the spread. Again obtain a break under the top two
cards and deposit the |ack of Spades and the card beneath it on top of the deck. To conclude this sequence, turn
the |ack of Spades face down onto the deck.
Pick up the final selection - the Ten of Clubs - and place it face up onto the packet. Explain that you are one
hundred percent confident about the Ten and that you will go one step further. Deal the Ten face up to the table,
CnTDITS
. |ack's direct starting point for this routine was David Solomon's "Three Indicators" from MAGIC magazine
(February 1993) and Solomon's Mind (1997), written by Eugene Burger.
. Another routine that is similar to "100% Confidence" is Larry |ennings'"The Changeling" fror4Epilogue
Special Number 3, Part I (undated, but estimated mid- 1970s) and The Cardwright (1988) by Mike Maxwell.
Brother |ohn Hamman also has a similar routine called "The Magic Cards" in Richard's Almanac (Summer
Quarterly - issues 28,29 & 30, Volume Three, 1985).
. The Ascanio Spread handling described here belongs to Paul Harris and Ricardo Wecksler and saw print in
Paul'supdatedhandingof "Re-Set" fromTheArtof Astonishment,VolumeI(L996). /
. This trick was originally published in |ack's Set to Stun (2005) and later in Antinomy magazine (Issue 3, Third
Quarter,2005).
MEMORY
Jack has someone select a card and asks them to fairly cut it into the deck. He attempts to find the selected card
rtith the help of a |oker, which he removes from the deck and immediately splits into two cards - a Ten and a
Seren. fack then adds the values of the two cards together and counts down seventeen cards to find the selection-
SITIGHTS I.JSED
Double Turnover
\*riskers Split ()ack Parker)
Srrup
Using a deck that contains just one |oker, position the ]oker seventeenth from the face of the deck with a ten
and seven directly ab.ove it (eighteenth and nineteenth from the face, respectively). This setup is for explanation
PurPoses only - I'11 explain how to get into this situation from a shuffled deck later.
MrrHoD
Spread the face-down deck between your hands and ask someone to remove any card. You must ensure that
thev select a card from the top half of the deck so that you do not disturb your setup near the bottom. Once a
card has been selected, place the deck face down onto the tabie.
\\-tren the participant has remembered his card, ask that he place it face down on top of the tabled deck. Then
ask that he cut the deck a few times so that neither of you can be certain of the exact location of the selection.
These must be straight cuts * do not allow multiple-packet cuts. Explain, "Youhave picked a random card and
then lost it back in the deck yourself. AU is fair in the world! Howeyer, I can't actually find your card again. That
*'ould be just downright impossible! But I know a man who can; my oldfriend the loker!" Pick up the deck and
spread through it with the faces toward yourself until you come to the foker. Spread one card past the |oker to
the Ten that you set up at the start of the trick and cut the deck at that point. This will bring the Ten to the top of
the deck with the foker directly below it and leave the Seven on the face of the deck.
Turn the deck face down and carry out a Double Turnover to show the |oker. Flip the double face down, letting
it fall outjogged on the deck so that you can take it once again and insert it into the deck about two-thirds from
Start by executing the mechanics of the Push-In Change (see "Long Dimension Phone Call," page 7l),leaving
1'ou with a single outjogged card (the Ten-spot) in the centre of the deck. At this point, iack likes to flick the
top of the outjogged card downwards to emphasise its singularity, but if you prefer you can go straight into the
following actions to apparently split the |oker into two other cards.
Re-grip the outjogged card, just as you did in the Push-In Change, but stretch the right middle and third fingers
beyond the outjogged card and underneath the deck until they touch the face card on the bottom. Press the two
fingers upwards and pull the right hand away from the deck, taking the face card with it until it protrudes the
same distance as the outjogged card. Try to keep the cards roughly squared at this point but don't stop here;
continue to push down onto the outjogged cards with the right thumb (fig. 1,from the side), then pull both ./
cards out of the deck together, pulling the right hand back towards your body and turning palm down, to drag
the two cards face up and forwards from the deck. In this action, the thumb should push a little to the left and
the fingers should twist a little to the right so that the two cards end up slightly fanned in a "V" position (fi1.2).
Continue to turn the cards face up and drop them onto the table in front of you. This completes |ack's Whiskers
Split.
ri
ll'
1-1,
Say, "Now that's novel! The loker has split himself into two other cards - a Ten and a Seven. I don't suppose
either of them is the card you selected. No? Hmm ... I wonder what the loker is trying to tell us." In a moment of
realisation, say,"Well, your card is somewhere in the deck, so perhaps he's trying to tell us where it is. If we add ten
and seven together, we get seventeen. Let's try this out. .. " Deal down seventeen cards from the top of the deck -
you'll find the selection at the seventeenth position!
COtvttrztENTS
. I explained the trick with a prior set up for ease of learning but Jack actually sets up the cards during his
performance. It's pretty easy to do as the actual cards aren't important: you simply need to ensure that the
)oker is situated the same number of cards up from the bottom of the deck as the value of the two cards above
it added together. I'11 explain exactly how |ack does that:
CnTDITS
. This trick first saw print, along with several other tricks utilising the Whiskers Split move in |ack's ebook,
Two-fer (2006).
Mrmony
deck. ]ack asks someone to serect a card from above the rokerrthen
l,[H:*:.:lji:.,H:ij[,T,fj:.;1".
After making a magical pass over the deck, fack spreads through the cards and has both participants confirm
that their selections have vanished. Not only that, but after some Police Academy-style questioning, it seems
that, impossibly, both participants somehow managed to select the same card. So, with a click of his fingers,
|ack
makes the Joker turn into the mutual selection.
STTIGHTS USED
Spread Cull (|ohann Hofzinser)
Head Over Heels (Simon Aronson)
Double Push-off
Turnover Pass
S rrup
check the deck beforehand to ensure that it contains only one /oker.
MrrHoD
FIRsT SELECTIoN
Remove the |oker, turn it face up and hand it to a spectator. Spread through the face-down deck and allow him
to insert the Joker face up anywhere in the middle of the face-down deck while you explain
,"In a moment I want
two people to pick a card. It's important that two different cards are selected, so I'll put the
loker in the middle of
the deck and use it as a marker. That way, we can have one card selected above
from the loker and another from
below if." Matching your actions to your words spread the cards towards someone on your left and have
him
touch a card from the top half of the deck. When he touches a card, flip all of the cards above the selection face
up and start to spread through the face-up cards, Spread Culling any card as you do so. To give rationale
for
your spreading, say, "It seems obvious at the moment, but it's important that I confirm that you could
have picked
any of these cards. Your choice truly was random."
Lift offall the face-up cards, still in their spread condition and with the Culled card still hidden beneath them.
You can now push over the top face-down card of the left-hand portion and raise it so that the participant
can
see his selection. It is vital that you ensure that nobody else gets to see the card as if
someo.r. ,.L, both selections
the climax wiil be ruined before it has happened!
STcONo SELECTION
Spread the cards for a second selection, but be sure to push offa small block of cards as you spread so that
you don't flash the face-up selection. Continue spreading until you pass the foker then have someone on
your immediate right touch the back of a card and when she does, flip over all the cards above it in the same
actions as before and spread through the face-up cards (without Culling a card this time). Start to spread a little
cautiously once you pass the face-down ]oker and stop when you reach the next face-down card. Do not spread
any farther because there is a face-up card directly below the face-down card.
Lift off all the face-up cards as before, raise your left hand and show the second participan(her selection. It is
recommended that you use your body to shield the back of the packet from the first participant so that nobody
is able to see the face-up card that is directly below the selection.
As soon as the second participant memorises her card, pull it back flush with the deck and lower your hand.
Now push offthe top two cards of the left-hand packet as one (this is made easy with the face-to-face condition
of the top two cards) and slide them under the right hand's spread as you square it up, mimicking the actions of
the Head Over Heels move by flipping the packet face down with the double card ending up on top. This means
that you have controlled the face-up selection to second from top and given yourself the warm fuzzy feeling that
both participants have unwittingly remembered the same card.
Address the second participant and explain , " But we can change things around a little. If I turn the deck over
so we can see the faces, your card should be amongst this first group which is now above the loker." Square up
the deck, acquiring a little-finger break above the injogged |oker and then turn the deck over, carrying out a
Turnover Pass at the break.
Slowly spread through the cards and ask that the second participant look for her card. When you come to
the face-down card in the centre (supposedly the |oker, but really the selection), ask, "So your card really isn't
amongst these? That's strange ... we've reached the loker, so your card should definitely be in this halfl" LIft off all
of the face-up cards above it, turn them face down and place them below the rest of the deck.
Thumb the apparent |oker face down onto the table and ask that the first participant find his selection amongst
the remaining cards as you slowly spread through the rest of the face-up cards. When you reach the face-down
portion, stop spreading and ask,"And your card isn't amongst these either?" Flip the top section face down again,
so that the entire deck faces the same way. The fact that the loker also isn't seen in the spread strongly reinforces
that fact that it is face down on the table, but don't bring any attention to it. Say,"Both cards were separate in the
MEMORY
|ack takes the |ack of Hearts and inserts it into the middle of the deck. With a snap ofthe fingers the |ack
appears back on top. This is repeated a couple of times more, each time with similar results.
Finally, |ack invites someone from the audience to try making the card rise to the top. However, when she tries
to make the magic happen it doesn't seem to work . . . until the cards are spread to find the |ack of Hearts, plus
the other three facks, face up in four different parts of the face-down deck. It's a spectator-induced miracle!
SrlIGHTS USED
False shuffle or cut
Triple and Double Turnover
Turnover Pass
Covered deck reversal
Srrup
Remove the four |acks from the deck and place them in the following order, on top of the face-up deck:
If you'd like to follow along with my description, place the Jack of Hearts on top of the deck (this is not required
for performance).
MITHoD
Execute a false shuffle, keeping the order of the bottom four cards intact. Casually spread through the top half
of the deck to show that the cards are all face down and say, "Given that the deck is so well shuffled, there's no
way any of us could know the location of specific cards." Square the deck and turn it face up as you comment,
"However, this one, for example, happens to be the lack of Hearts. The lack is a good example of something that I'd
like to show you. It's a little strange, but nonetheless fun. If I take the lack of Hearts and put it about a quarter of
the way from the top, watch what happens."
Execute a Triple Turnover (made easy by the natural bow in the deck caused by the three face-up |acks) to
apparently turn the single lack face down. This is the first of two discrepancies in this routine as the deck shoutd
be face up, but the time misdirection (to use a Harry Lorayne phrase) acts in your favour. Take offthe top face-
Say,"All I have to do is snap my fingers and the lack of Hearts jumps back to the fop." Follow your actions to your
words by executing a Double Lift to show that the |ack of Hearts has returned to the top. Explain,"It's all to do
with that snap - I'll do it again." Turn the double back down, take offthe top card and put it into the deck but
around the centre this time.
Snap your fingers again and turn over the single top card, mimicking the actions of your previous multiple lifts.
For the last Ambitious Card phase, your participant will apparently make the magic happen. Turn the card
face down again and insert it about two thirds from the top of the deck, but leave about two inches of the card
protruding from the front end. Bend up the front edge of the card so that everyone can clearly see that it is the
]ack of Hearts. It's important that you don't raise the deck as you will expose the fact that the deck is incorrectly
orientated.
Ask the participant to push the card square with the deck. Once she has done that, square up the front end and
acquire a break approximately ten cards from the bottom. Ask the participant to hold out her hand in front of
her as you say, "You could easily think that I'm secretly making this happen, but I want you to be sure it's the snap
of the fingers that's making the card rise." Carry out a Turnover Pass at the break, executing the Pass as you turn
your hand palm down and place the deck on top of the participant's outstretched hand, keeping your left hand
on top of the deck. This is the second discrepancy of the trick - the deck should actually be face up after the
Turnover Pass, but I won't tell anyone if you don't.
Take offthe top card of the deck and show that it's not the ]ack. Turn your hand back palm up, thumb over the
next card and take itsidejogged beneath the first to show that the card isn't even second from top. Make a joke
with the participant along the lines of,"I knew those snaps sounded strange; even when you tried it in stereo with
both hands. It doesn't seem to have worked!"
Turn your hand back palm up, thumb over the next card and take it beneath the first two, forming a small fan.
Turn your hand over again to show the face of the card and continue spreading cards offthe deck under the
three in your hand. After about ten cards you will arrive at the face-up ]ack of Hearts. Address the participant
and comment,"Wow - here's the lack. And it's turned face up too. That snap of yours has some really
freaky
powers!" Upjog the face-up |ack and add it to the right hand's spread, then go into a standard hand-to-hand
spread to show the other three face-up |acks in various parts of the deck, too.
Strip out the |acks and place them on top of the pack as you make one final fun jab at the participant - "yoltr
snap did some weird things today. Don't ever snap thosefingers neor me again!"
. In you prefer, you can force the |ack on the bottom of the deck by cutting the deck, keeping a break between
the packets. You can then execute a Riffle Force, cutting the deck at the break and turning it face up to show
the selection. You would then need to find suitable motivation for leaving the deck in thii positionfor a few
seconds to help disguise the discrepancy of leaving the deck face up.
. If you'd like to remove the second discrepancy within the routine, you could also use Roy Walton's Trigger
move, which fits perfectly within the context of this routine.
CNTDITS
. lack cites Roy Walton's "Overworked Card" as an inspiration for this routine. The Walton trick can be found
inThe Complete Walton, Volume I (1981).
Roy Walton's Trigger move appeared in a manuscript of the same name, published in 1976.
MltrztORy
]ack removes three secret prediction cards and places them face down on the table. He then has someone select a
card which is placed face down under the seiectee's hand.
A second participant is then invited to select a card, which is shown to be a King. When lack shows the three
prediction cards, it turns out that they are in fact the other three Kings - a successful prediction!
Next, Jack moves his attention onto the first selection which he tries to find in two stages. First he waves
his hand over the packet of Kings and one of them magically turns face down; the King of Clubs. The first
participant confirms that she selected a Club; so far so good. After one more gesture over the packet of Kings,
|ack turns the face-down King over to show that it has magically changed to the participant's selection. She then
looks at the card under her hand to find that it has amazingly changed to the King of Clubs.
ST-IIGHTS USED
Riffle Force
Double Lift and Double Turnover
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
MrruoD
Before you perform this trick, casually spread through the deck and find any court card that has a card of the
same suit in front of it it in the face-up spread. If you find a match (and you pretty much always will), cut the
deck to send the two-card pair to the back of the face-up deck, with the court card ending up at the very back of
the deck. If you don't find a match, simply re-order a cardor two to create the required position. In my example
I will assume that you have cut the Four of Clubs and King of Clubs to the back of the face-up deck (the Four
being second from back of the deck).
When you are ready to perform, spread through the deck again with the backs of the cards to the audience
and upjog the other three Kings (or whatever court card you cut to the back of the deck), being sure not to let
anyone see the faces of the cards. First, remove the odd-coloured King (in my example, the King of Spades) and
place it face down on the table, followed by the other two Kings. Removing the cards in this order will help with
a discrepancy later in the routine. Explain, "These three cards will act as my prediction. I'll leave them here so you
Turn to a spectator and execute a Riffle Force on her, cutting all of the cards above the break to the table. Carry
out a Double Lift, keeping the back of the double towards yourself, to show the participant her selection and
then ask that she place her palm-down hand out around an inch above the tabletop. Place the double card back
onto the deck as you give the participant an example of exactly how you'd like her to hold out her hand; freeing
up your right hand in this way is a perfect reason for placing the double card back onto the deck. Deal offthe
top card and slide it under the participant's hand and ask her to lower her hand onto the card (which is really
the King of the matching suit to the selection).
Now onto the second selection. Pick up the remainder of the deck from the table and place it back onto the
cards in your hand, keeping a break between the two packets. This leaves you in a perfect situation to execute
another Riffle Force on a second participant (actually forcing the flrst participant's selection). This time,
however, don't show the participant her selection but simply deal it onto the tabled packet of Kings, leaving it
injogged for around half its length to give a visual separation between the selection and the three prediction
cards.
Place the deck to one side as it is no longer required and pick up the tabled four-card packet and square the
selection with the other cards. Execute a Double Turnover to show a King and let the two face-up cards fall
squarely back onto the packet as you say, "1 said that I would predict your card. It's the King of Hearts lor
possibly Diamonds, in my example]. Let me show you how I predicted that you'd pick this card: I removed the
other three Kings!" Turn the packet over and execute an Elmsley Count to show three Kings and the face-down
selection. Outjog the face-down card as you come to it and at the end of the count, turn it face up then place
it on the bottom of the packet after the effect has sunk in. This sequence is |ohn Bannon's "Discrepancy City
Display."
Place the face-up packet on the table in front of the first participant and say, "Now I will get some help
determining your selected card from some old friends. I don't know what it is, but you do of course, and in fact so
do these Kings as they were on the table when you selected the card. Let's see if they'll give me a cbte."
Make a gesture over the packet of Kings and then with one finger slowly spread the packet out to show that one
card, the King of Clubs, has apparently turned face down. Continue, "The King of Clubs flipped over. What a
helpful chap! So your card is a Club, correct?" After receiving a positive response, continue, "Infact,I can get the
Kings to give us an even clearer indication of the card that you selected." Make another gesture of the packet and
turn the face-down card over to show that it has changed to the selection. Say,"The Four of Clubsl [Name the
selection] You can't get a better clue than that! So I wonder where the King of Clubs is. Has anybody seen a card
lying around?!" The participant won't need much encouragement to look under her hand and turn over the card
to show that she now holds the King.
CruDITS
. At the end of the bookKartenkunste (1910), the author Ottokar Fischer described eighteen effects of |ohann
Nepomuk Hofzinser, but does not give methods. Various translations of the original German text have been
printed over the past seventy-five years (see, for example S. H. Sharpe's 1931 translation ,1.N. Hofzinser's Card
Conjuring) and each have given slightly varied explanations of the tricks.
The original problem didn't have the Ace turn face down; only changing into the selection. This has since
become a standard addition to the plot. fack's handling differs slightly from the original problem in a small
number of other ways, but creates a truly strong sequence.
This is |ack's handling of a trick shared with him by David Solomon. David's effect "Hofzinser King City"
recently appeared in his bookThe Wisdom of Solomon (2007).
CHAPTEn4
MAGIC FROM THE LAMP
ANorutR LooKer Jec(s TRTcKS FRoM GrNrr
Oddservation
Detour
Twisted Inversion
All Thatlazz
Remix
Remote Control
Manual Operation
On, In & Under
Visualisation
ffibffiffiffidffi
Ls d&% M
w
ODDSERvATToN
qgRg<a
u/a\u
When |.C. Wagner considers an effect commercial, you know you've found a winner! This effect of |ack's is a
mainstay in |.C.'s repertoire and is a regular feature at his bar in San Diego. It's a simple plot that proves to be a
lot of fun.
MruoRy
fack offers to test someone's observation skills. He removes eight random cards from the deck and hands four
to an audience member and keeps the other four for himself. He turns over the top card of his packet (lets say
it's the Eight of Spades) and the participant mimics his actions by turning over the top card of her packet too
(say, the Four of Hearts). ]ack hands the participant his Eight of Spades and she reciprocates by handing him her
Four of Hearts. They both insert their new cards into their packets.
The observation test starts by |ack asking the participant where the Eight of Spades is. Of course, she responds
that it's in her packet, but fack elucidates that she's wrong. "Unfortunately, you've failed this part of the
observation test, because I have the Eight of Spades here!" He then asks another question; "How many cards do I
have in my hand?" The participant thinks for a moment and after getting a little confused, guesses that |ack has
four or five cards. "Again, I'm afraid things aren't going so well in this test: I've only got two cards - my Eight of
Spades and your Four of Hearts!" He cleanly shows that he's holding just two cards.
Now things really get serious; "Theie's one final test - what cards do you have in your packet?" Of course, given
that the participant wasn't told to remember the cards she saw, she can't give a good answer and at best is able
to remember just a few small details about the contents of the packet. However, when she turns her packet over,
she finds out that the answer is far more amazingthan she expected ... she now holds the four Aces!
STTIGHTS USED
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
Biddle Steal (Elmer Biddle and Tony Kardyro)
Double Turnover
SErup
Start with the four Aces on top of the face-down deck.
MrrHoD
Start the effect with the deck face up, and with a break above the four Aces. |ack acquires his break by buckling
the bottom four cards but you can use any method that you're comfortable with, including spreading the cards
Explain, "I'm going to test your powers of observation because what you think you saw is not always what
happened. This observation test requires eight cards; they must be random cards, so we'll use the first eight cards
from the point that you stopped me." Take the packet in right-hand end grip, transferring the break to the right
thumb. You'll now use a standard Biddle addition and steal to set the packet of eight cards for the effect. Start
by using the left thumb to drag the top card of the packet into the awaiting left hand. Then, as you peel offa
second card, drop the four cards below the right hand's thumb break (the four Aces) squarely on top of the first
card. Continue peeling the second card offonto the packet, catching a break below it. Keeping a steady rhlthm,
peel offa third, fourth, fifth and sixth card from the right-hand packet and onto the left-hand packet. As you go
to peel off a seventh card, steal the five cards that are above the little finger break below the right-hand packet.
Finally, peel offthe eighth card, again keeping the same rhythm as used in the rest of the count. Drop the right-
hand packet face down on top of the tabled portion.
You're now left holding a face-up packet of seven cards consisting of, from the top down: two indifferent cards,
the four Aces and one more indifferent card. Turn the packet face down and spread the cards without reversing
their order, then take offthe top four cards and drop them in front of the participant as you say,"I'm going to
give you four of these eight cards." Elmsley Count the three cards in your hand as four as you continue, "And I'll
keep the other four for myself."
Say,"Yol,t've seen all eight cards, and if you've been watching closely, you will know what the top card of your
packet is and you should know what the top card of my packef ls." Your participant will look slightly concerned,
so quickly continue, "To be honest, I have no idea either! So, let's have a look." Execute a Double Turnover
of the top two cards of your packet to display an indifferent card (say, the Eight of Spades) and ask that your
participant turn over the top card of her packet too (let's say it's the Four of Hearts). Turn your double card face
down again and explain, "I'm going to give you my Eight of Spades, please place it somewhere in your packet."
Have your participant spread her cards and place the top card of your packet (an Ace, masquerading as the
Eight of Spades) face down anywhere in her packet. Then, take offher face-up Four of Hearts and place it in
the middle of your packet. |ack buckles the bottom card of his packet to facilitate the insertion, but you can use
whatever method you desire, so long as it doesn't show that you are only holding two cards.
Once again, Elmsley Count your three cards as four and recap the situatio t, "Your Four of Hearts is now
somewhere among my cards. And my Eight of Spades is somewhere in your packet." Pause for a second and then
ask"Where is the Eight of Spades?" The participant will of course respond that it's in her own packet. Turn over
the top card of your packet to show the Eight and say, "You are understandably a little confused right now! But,
here's another question for you - how many cards do I have in my hand?" She will probably say that you have
four cards, but you respond with,"Almost - I only have two cards!" Use the right hand to grasp the left-hand
packet by its right edge with the thumb on top, first and second fingers beneath. Lift the packet upwards and use
the right thumb to push the top two cards, as one, to the left. Take the double card in the left hand, mirroring
the right hand's grip on its card, then snap the double downwards and offthe lower face-down card. Pause for
a beat then turn the Four of Hearts face up at the right fingertips as you say, "But what's even more confusing is
that the other card is your Four of Hearfs." Snap the edges of the cards offeach other once or twice more, then
place the single Four on top of the double card and drop the three-card packet face.up on top of the face-down
deck.
CnTDITS
. The Biddle Steal was first published by Elmer Biddle in Genii magazine (Volume 1 1, Number 8, April 1947) .
Tony Kardyro was also rumoured to have created the same technique, and had been using it for a number of
years before its publication in Genii.
. While "Oddservation" wasn't inspired by a particular trick, fack explains that it was some of Brother |ohn
Hamman's presentations that inspired him to create this effect.
. |ack originally published this trick in the June 2006 issue of Genii magazine.
This is a reworking of |ack's "Oddservation" (page 107) that was designed to fool magicians who had read the
original in Genii magazine.It also addresses some of the issues that |ack felt existed with the original; the main
one being how the indifferent card is secretly loaded back onto the deck.
MEMORY
Jack removes eight red spot cards from the deck, hands four to a participant and keeps the remaining four
himself. They both turn over the top cards of their packets, then swap them so that the participant has fack's
card ( sa),, Four of Hearts) and ]ack has the participant's card (say, Ten of Hearts).
Er-enthing seems normal ... but not for long as |ack starts to take a detour from realityl He first takes the Ten
of Hearts that the participant gave him moments ago and magically turns it invisible. With the card invisible, he
&ops it back on top of the participant's packet. As proof that all of this actually happened, |ack then makes the
card risible again and spreads the participant's packet along to table to show that the packet now consists of five
cards. Of course, this leaves Jack with a three-card packet.
But that's just the startl |ack shows that one of the cards from his three-card packet is the Four of Hearts -
the card that he previously gave to the participant. He continues to show another card from his packet and
unbelievably, it's the Ten of Hearts, the card that was also seen in the participant's packet moments ago! That
leares just one card left in |ack's packet. It should be a red spot card, but when Jack shows it around, it has
au-tuallv changed to a Joker.
As it- lack hasn't changed reality enough, he finishes with a fantastic climax. He asks the participant what card.s
he rsould expect to see in his packet, to which he responds that it should contain five red spot cards. However,
Jack turns the packet face up to show that it now consists of a royal flush in Spadesl
SITIGHTS I.JSED
Biddle Steal (Elmer Biddle and Tony Kardyro)
Double and Triple Turnover
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
Rub-a-Dub Vanish (Charlie Miller)
Queen of Spades
Jack of Spades
Ten ofSpades
King of Spades
Ace of Spades
Joker
Rest of deck
MrruoD
Before you perform the effect, casually spread through the face-up deck and catch a little finger break above the
Ioker. Square the deck and say, "I'd like to conduct a simple obseryation experiment using eight red cards." Spread
through the cards once again (being sure to keep your little finger break) - but this time upjog every card that
kn't a red spot card. As you're upjogging these indifferent cards, count the number of red spot cards that you
leave in the deck and when you get to the eighth one, strip out all of the cards that you upjogged and place them
face down on the table. This leaves eight red spot cards on the face of the deck.
Take the remainder of the deck into end grip; transferring the little finger break to the right thumb as you do
so. Use the left thumb to pull the top red spot card off into the awaiting left hand. Peel the next red spot card on
top of the first one, but as you do so secretly unload the six cards below your break on top of the card already in
your hand. As soon as the six cards land in the hand, place your little finger on the right inner end of the packet
so that you automatically catch a break below the second red spot card as it lands on top of the secret setup.
Continue peeling offthe remaining six red spot cards, secretly loading the six cards above the break onto the
bottom of the deck as you peel offthe final spot card. To finish, drop the right hand's talon face down onto the
cards already on the table - these cards, and the remainder of deck are no longer required. This Biddle Switch
has left you holding a packet of eight face-up cards, which consist of your initial six-card setup sandwiched
between two red spot cards.
Turn the packet face down and say, "A very simple and solid fact to start with. I am holding eight red number
cards. However, things will now get trickier as I divide them in half so that we have
four cards each." Push offthe
top four cards of the packet without reversing their order and drop them face down in front of the participant.
Continue by openly counting your four cards onto the table, reversing their order.
Continue, "This is all very easy so far, so I think we can handle another fact! This one is something a little more
personal: we know that we both have four red spot cards, but let's both remember one specific cerd) Pick up your
four cards, take the top two into the right hand and wiggle both hands' cards around a little at the fingertips to
fairly display that you have just two cards in each hand. Square up the packet by placing the right hand's cards
below the left hand's cards. The end result of this display is that you have secretly cut the packet.
Carry out a Triple Turnover to apparently show your top card and say, "1 don't know what any of my
four cards
are but I'll take this top one . . . the Four of Hearts [or whatever card you turn face up] . " Turn the triple card face
down, take the top card in your right hand and use it to tap the top card of the participant's packet. Ask him to
turn that card over too. As he's doing this, secretly push over the new top card of your packet and catch a little
Say,"How are you keeping up with these observations so far? There's nothing too taxing on the old grey matter
right now is there? I removed eight red spot cards, of which we took four cards each. My card is the Four of Hearts
and yours is the Ten of Hearts [or whatever card he turned face up]. There's one
final piece of reality to observe.
We'll swap our cards - simple as that. I'll give you my Four of Hearts and I'll take your Ten of Hearfs." Matching
actions to words, take the sidejogged card from your packet and slide it momentarily back onto the packet. Lift
both cards from above the break, and then drop the double card * as one - on top of the participant's packet.
Ask that the participant drop his card on top of your packet too.
Continue your almost-Shakespearean monologue ,"1 think you'll agree that everything is fair and above board!
But now for a little, well, let's call it a detour from the normal! It's easy to observe things that are obviously real,
but what if I asked you to very closely observe something that was impossible?" Casually Elmsley Count your
packet to show four cards then continue,"fll take one of my four cards. In fact it may as well be your card, the
one you iust gave me to make things easy to keep track of." Brtefly show that the top card is the participant's
selection, then place it back face down on top of the packet. Explain, "I'm going to place your card into my
hand ... invisibly" and carry out a Rub-a-Dub Vanish onto the table. Show your hand to be empty as you mime
holding the card, which is now supposedly invisible, then contintJe,"It's there, but not apparent to the human
eye. I can now add the card invisibly back to your packet, just like this." Follow words with actions by placing
your hand on top of the participant's packet and spreading your fingers to apparently release the card on top of
the packet.
Say, "Now you have observed an impossible action and I suspect you are unsure of what you actually witnessed
and whether it really happened. Well, if it did, if I really did move your card invisibly
from my packet to yours,
then you'd now have five cards and I would only have three." Reach forwards and slowly spread the participant's
packet along the table to reveal that it does indeed have five cards. Also spread your packet into a small tabled
fan to show that you now only have three cards. Continue, "This appears to be concrete proof that you just
observed something that could never have happened. However, once you start questioning reality, many other
things that you feel sure about probably didn't happen either. We know for sure I now only have three cards, but
remember back at the beginning you took my card, the Four of Hearts, and put it in your packet? Well, somehow it
seems to have gotten back over here again." Remove and display the bottom card of your packet to show that it's
the Four of Hearts and replace it, still face up, back on the bottom of the packet.
Also turn over the top card of the packet to show the participant's selection as you say, " And if that's not enough,
I also seem to have your card, the Ten of Hearts, back again too!" ContintJe,"This is a slippery slope - it's like
reality is taking a detour without us noticing. I have somehow gotten both of our cards despite giving them both
to you. As for my third card, I have no idea where that came
from as it's not eyen a red spot card anymore, it's a
loker!" Turn the middle card of your packet face up showing the |oker, then place it back into the packet.
And now for the big finish, "I think this detour is getting out of hand - the loker is considered the wild card in
some games, and things have certainly gone wild here. You somehow have ended up with a hand of
five cards -
it could almost be a Poker hand. If reality is behaving itself then you should have five red spot cards over there.
Why don't we turn them over and take a look." Turn over the participant's cards one-by-one to reveal the mind
numbing climax of a royal flush in Spades!
. The original Rub-A-Dub Vanish was publishedrnExpert Card Technique (1940), but like many of the items
in the book, the move appeared without credit. During his lecture on Charlie Miller at the 2007 MAGIC Live!
convention in Las Vegas, fohnny Thompson confirmed that the move was actually a Charlie Miller creation.
|ack published his No Fuss Switch in his first Magicana in Genii, but it had circulated amongst the community
for a little while before then. It's a fantastic handling of Edward Marlo's A.T.F.U.S. (Any Time Face-Up Switch)
that looks incredibly convincing. It's also one of the creations that |ack is most proud and since the No Fuss
Switch was taught without context tn Genii it seems only right to share "Twisted Inversion."
MEtrnonv
|ack gives two participants four cards each and asks each one to simply think of a card from their packet and
then shuffle the cards so that nobody knows where the selections are.
The participants are asked to concentrate on their cards and imagine them turning face down. Both packets
are then spread face up along the table to show that the thought-of cards are indeed face down. If that wasn't
enough, when the cards are turned over, it's seen that the selections have actually transposed so the first person's
selection appears face down in the second person's packet and vice versa!
STIIGHTS USED
Pinky Pull-down
No Fuss Switch (fack Parker)
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
S rrup
Arrange two sets of any four cards (of mixed values) in CHaSeD order (Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds)
from the top to the face. Place both sets of four cards on top of the face-down deck, and then place another eight
indifferent cards on top of them.
You also need one person seated to your left and another to your right.
METHOD
Give the deck a brief false shuffle and then deal four cards face up in a vertical row on your left, going down the
table. Deal another four cards face up in the same manner on your right and then act as if you've made a mistake
by saying, "Actually - this would be a lot more fooling if the cards were face down! Sorry - let me re-deal." Pick
up the packets of cards, place them face down on the bottom of the deck and then deal out another four cards to
each person (starting by dealing the cards on the left). While this introduction is purely optional, |ack believes
that it's a subtle way of proving that any eight cards could be used in this trick.
Once both participants are holding their four cards ask that they shuffle them and then take back the right
person's packet, turn it face up and appear to ofthandedly mix up the cards as you say, "YoLt're thinking of a
card from this packet and there's absolutely no way I could know which one it ls." As you mix the cards, however,
casually note the selected card (you know this because of the suit that you remembered earlier) and ensure that
it ends up on the bottom of the face-up packet. Flip the four-card packet face down into left-hand dealing grip,
secretly catching a break below the top card as you do so.
Pick up the second participant's packet with your right hand and mix the cards, this time controliing the
selected card to the face of the packet. It is best to keep the cards at the fingertips at all times so that the two
packets don't coalesce and cause undue suspicion.
\\'hen you have finished shuffling, momentarily place the face-up packet onto the left-hand cards and take the
packet in end grip, transferring the left hand's little finger break (below the top five cards) to the right thumb.
Use the, now free,left little finger to execute a Pinky Pull-down of the bottom card and move all of cards above
the little finger break forward in the right hand, leaving just a single face-down card in the left hand. The right
thumb should maintain it's break below the top five cards as you do this.
You are now set to perform a variant of |ack's No Fuss Switch. Move the right-hand packet forwards for around
half its length then clamp your left thumb down on top of the face card (the second person's selection). Slide the
packet away to the right leaving the topmost card
outjogged on top of the packet. Bring the packet
back towards the left hand's cards and secretly
release the two cards below the thumb break onto
the Ieft hand's packet, square with the single face-
down card. Immediately move your right hand
fbrwards and slide the next card off, outjogging it
for around an inch - leaving the front end of the
first card still in view. Move the right-hand packet
square with the left hand's cards and slide the
next face-up card offthe top of the packet. Finally,
move the double card back about an inch and leave
it injogged on the packet, resulting in a stepped
display of the four cards (fig. t).
Turn your left hand palm down and move it to the left,
then release the thumb's grip on the packet to drop it face
down onto the table in front of the person who selected a card from that packet (be careful that the cards don't
spread as you do this). The end result of these actions is that you have loaded each selection face up third from
the top of the opposite packet! The additional finesse of putting the packet into a Tent Vanish position creates a
strong illusion that the packets remained separate through the sequence.
Address the person on your right and say, " To recap; you're thinking of one of the cards in this packet . . . " Execute
an Underground Elmsley Count (a normal Elmsley Count, but placing the final card to the bottom of the
packet instead of the top) and drop the cards face down on the table in front of the participant. Look over at the
person on your left, pick up her packet and say, " ... and you're thinking of a card in this packef." Execute another
Underground Elmsley Count, placing the final card on the bottom of the packet and place the cards back face
down in their original position.
Ask that both participants concentrate on their cards then turn both packets face up. Explain, "I'm going to
cause the selections to invert." Click your fingers over the packets and then spread out the cards to show a face-
down card in each packet. At first, because of your wording, the audience will assume that you meant that the
selections would invert and turn face down, but there's a lot more to come! Pause at this point to let the effect
register; |ack finds that people often applaud at this point, believing that you have reached the end of the effect.
Ask that both participants confirm that their card is not face up in their packet and say, "I said your cards
would invert - but perhaps in more ways than you expected!" Trrn over the face-down cards to show that their
selections have actuaily changed places!
COMMENTS
. You can, of course, arrange the eight cards in any order that you can remember the suits or values of.
|ack sometimes uses mixed suits and instead orders the cards in the same sequence as his phone number
(substituting Queens for zeros). You could also use the first ten cards of a memorised deck or perhaps the first
few cards of a cyclic stack such as Eight Kings.
CnT DITS
' -Iwisted Inversion" was inspired by two tricks: Edward Marlo's "Mental Reverse" from The Cqrdician (1953)
and fohn Bannon's marketed effect, "Twisted Sisters" (1993).
. While |ack was inspired by Lou Gallo's use of the idea, the earliest reference to the concept of dealing the top
few cards face up before iealising that they should be face down that we could find is within Edward Marlo's
'Mental Reverse III" from the April 1964 issue of The New Tops (Volume 4, Number 4). Coincidently, this is
another variant of the "Mental Reverse" plot that "Twisted Inversion" is based on.
This is repeated with the other two Kings, which also transpose with the |okers, until finally |ack causes all four
fokers to change into the four Aces!
SITIGHTS USED
Rumba Count (Jean-Pierre Vallarino)
Hamman Count (Brother John Hamman)
\\'iggle Display (Bob Stencil)
Double Turnover
Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
Srrup
You require just nine cards, in the following order from the top to the face:
Four Kings
Four Aces
foker
MrrHoD
Address your participant and say, "1 want to show you something with just eight cards. We'll take four cards
each-" Deal the top four cards from the face-down packet onto the table in an overlapping, left-to-right row in
front of the participant. Turn the remainder of the left-hand cards face up and say,"The Jokers arefour pretty
stylkh cards, so I'll show them in a pretty stylish way" as you carry out fean-Pierre Vallarino's Rumba Count to
shorv that you hold four Jokers (in reality a |oker and four Aces). To wit:
G*p the face-up packet by its right long edge with the palm-down right-hand fingers on top and thumb below.
Turn your right hand palm up to cause the packet to turn face down, however as soon as the back of packet is
angled towards the audience, pull the top card back with the right thumb and let the bottom four cards lever
downwards until the left edge of the packet touches the left fingers. In a continuing action, use the right fingers
to flip the four-card packet face up into the left hand to display another |oker and place the single right-hand
Repeat these actions twice more, tabling the right-hand cards after each display in an overlapping, right-to-left
row. Take care to keep the last two cards squared as one during the third Rumba turnover and then take the
double card in your right hand in the same way as the Rumba Count (fingers on top and thumb below) and turn
1'our right hand palm up in order to use the now face-down double card to scoop the three cards offthe table
and into left-hand dealing grip. As the cards fall into the left hand, keep hold of the double card and pull it out
to the right and turn it face up on top of the packet, catching a left little finger break beneath it.
by,"You've seen that my four cards are all the same - the four lokers." Pick up the aligned double card using the
right hand with the thumb on top and index and middle fingers below and use it to tap each of the four cards in
the participant's row (casually flashing the face of the foker) as you say, "So whqt do you think your cards might
bel When you receive an answer flip the right-hand double card face down onto the left-hand packet and then
openly transfer the top card to the bottom. Regardless of how the participant responds to your earlier question,
follow-up w7th, " Actually, th ey' r e th e Kings !"
C-ontinue, "And these are your four cards. Since they're not as stylish as my lokers, l'll show you them in a boring
way insteadl" Square up the participant's tabled spread with the index and second fingers of both hands, keeping
the left-hand palm up so as not to flash the Ace at the bottom of its packet. Re-grip the left-hand packet in right-
hand end grip and lower it on top of the tabled packet to pick it up under the one in your hand, sidejogged to
the left for around half its width. Square both packets into left-hand dealing grip, then turn the entire nine-card
packet face up, showing a King on the face.
You will now execute a variant of the Hamman Count to show four Kings. Re-grip the packet with the right
hand as if you were about to execute an Elmsley Count and slide the top card (a King) into left-hand dealing
position. Repeat this with the next two Kings. For the fourth King, however, actually execute a Block Push-off,
pushing all of the cards above the ]oker to the left and then take these five cards into the left thumb crotch. At
the same time steal the initial three Kings secretly under the single foker to replenish the right-hand packet with
ffi
four cards again.
Execute a Double Turnover and say, "If I take one of my lovely lokers," then turn the double card face down and
continue, "And place it onto the leader ... the best of the bad bunch," then deal the top card face down onto the
face-up leader King, sidejogged to the left. Say,"Then I take one of your Kings and add it to my stylish lokers over
here," as your right hand picks up the rightmost card of the tabled row and drops it face down onto the Ieft-hand
packet. Rub the back of the packet with your right index finger, then say, "My boys, the lokers, don't like mixing
with the riff raff so they magically change your Kings into a foker." Carry out a Double Turnover to show a |oker
and quickly continue, " ... and because there are only four lokers and four Kings, the loker down here has changed
into a King. Poor guy." Trrn over the face-down card on top of the leader King, showing another King. Leave
this King face up on the leader King, spread a little to the left so that both cards can be seen.
Say,"Again one of the stylish lokers goes down with the Kings and a King makes his way up with the lokers. But
the two groups don't like mixing at all, so. after just a little rub with find the loker up here and the King back down
there." Pick up the centre card of the row of apparent Kings and place it face down on top of the packet. Rub
the back of the packet again, then execute another Triple Turnover showing that this King has also changed to
a )oker. Reach down to the leader packet and turn the apparent |oker face up to show that it has changed to a
King. Leave it on the packet, slightly spread so that the other two Kings can also be seen.
urn the double cardface down and deal the top card onto the leader packet. Pick up the last remaining card
-
:eallv a double card) in end grip and drop it face down onto the left-hand packet. Rub the back of the packet
.: before then say, "Down here, we've got allfour Kings and they really don't want to mix with those lokers," and,
',1th your right hand, turn the last face-down card face up, showing a King.
-'.rusefor a second and then finish by saying, "Not to be out done, the four lokers show the Kings some real magic
"
Immediately turn the left-hand packet face up and carry out an Ascanio Spread to show that all four )okers
.-ave 6lnnged to Aces.
CovtvtENTS
' Tack has asked me to describe the handling as it was describ ed in Genii for those that haven't seen it before.
Hotvever, you may be interested to hear that he has recently changed the handling and has removed the
R'umba Count as he doesn't feel that it fits his performance style. He now uses a simple Flushtration Count,
keeping the last two cards held as one. This isn't a massive change as the Rumba Count is actually a finessed
r-ersion of those mechanics an).way.
' One of the strengths of this routine is the apparent use of a different |oker for each transposition. This small
addition ensures that the audience believes that four lokers are used and is especially important to help keep
the final production of the Aces a surprise.
' Those who learnt the routine from its original publication in Genii magazine might notice that the patter
has changed in this version. As with a lot of his plots and patter lines, |ack wanted to create something that
more engaging to the audience to try to help them build up a strong mental picture of the two distinct
\\-as
packets. That's why he added the "class" attitude to the ]okers and the fact that they apparently think they are
better than the Kings and won't mix with them. This also creates a rationale for the plot itself with each King
changing into the foker to maintain a four-card packet. |ack mentions that it may be a simplistic addition but
does force the audience's mental image in a certain direction which leads their thoughts well away from any
thought of a surprise ending.
CruDITS
' Peter Kane's "lazz Aces," the plot that |ack based this handling on, was originalty published in his book
Another Card Session (1971).
' ]ohn Bannon deserves an acknowledgement for being the creator of the concept of an "implied Assembly"
rvith the ]okers only to have them transform into the Aces at the end. His effect, "Masquerade" was published
in Mirage ( 1987) and then later in Smoke 6 Mirrors ( 1991).
. ]ean-Pierre Vallarino's Rumba Count was published in Gary Ouellet's Fulminations column in Genii
magazine (Volume 56, Number 1, November 1992).
STTIGHTS USED
Rhythm Count (Larry fennings)
Block Push-off
Diminishing Lift sequence (Edward Marlo)
Double and Triple Turnovers
Pinky Pull-down
Veeser Concept (Bob Veeser)
Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
Srrup
Arrange a packet of nine cards in the following order, from the top to the face: Ace, red King, Ace, black King,
red King, Ace, black King, Joker, Ace.
MrrHoD
Hold the packet face down and spread offthe top four cards - without reversing their order - and place them
face down in front of a spectator. Casually spread over three more cards from the packet in your hand, leaving
the bottom two cards aligned as one, then square the cards up and place them onto the table directly in front of
you as you explain,"This trick uses two packets of four cards."
Pick up the participant's packet and execute a Rhythm Count (see "Girl's Night Out," page 17) to show four
Kings. However, instead of counting the cards into a pile, deal the first three cards face down in a left-to-right
row (with an inch or two between each card) and place the final card face down directly behind the middle card,
closer to your side of the table than the others. Briefly lift up the front end of this card so that everyone can see
its face again and explain, "This card is referred to as the leader King. It's the King that all others
follow. I'll show
you exactly why in a moment." This formation should be close to the audience's side on the table, leaving you
plenty of working surface between your body and the cards.
Pick up the tabled five-card packet that you dealt in front of yourself and execute a Block Push-offand turnover
of the top four cards (as one) to show a ]oker. Turn the multiple card face down and take the top card into your
right hand and tap it onto the leftmost King of the upper row and explain, "I also have four lokers - one
for each
of the Kings. This loker, for example, is related to this King)' Place the apparent foker on the inner end of the
Repeat the same actions again; that is execute a Block Push-off of the top three cards to show a |oker, turn the
triple card face down,lift offthe top card and tap the middle King of the tabled row, telling everyone that the
second Joker relates to the second King. Finally, place the card on top of the apparent Joker that you placed
onto the table a moment ago. Repeat this again to show a third |oker, this time tapping the rightmost card and
placing it onto the packet. Finally, take the remaining double card face down in right-hand end grip and move
the hand down towards the three apparent |okers and pick them up, squared under the end gripped double
card. Drop the packet into left-hand dealing grip, but keep hold of the top card (the Joker) and flip it face up.
L'se the |oker to flip the leader King face up end-for-end and to finish, place the |oker face down beneath the
left-hand packet.
thumb to peel the top card of the packet into the left hand, quickly followed by the second and third
I- se the left
cards. Finally, place the remaining two cards onto the left-hand packet (as one card) and catch a break below
them. This allows you to execute a Double Turnover to show the Joker, which you promptly turn face down,
then deal the top card of the packet onto the leader King.
Sa,y,"As I said, each Joker is linked to a King. If I put the first loker down onto the leader King and put the King
that relates to the loker with the other Jokers, watch what happens." Pick up the rightmost card of the tabled row
of apparent Kings and drop it face down on top of the left-hand packet. Rub the back of the packet and then
erecute a Double Turnover to show the King has changed to a )oker. Leave the double card outjogged from the
packet for about an inch. Turn over the King on top of the leader card to complete the transposition. Leave the
King on top of the leader card, but spread across a little so that both cards can be seen.
Flip the double card face down and use a Pinky Pull-down to catch a break above the bottom card of the packet.
Hold onto the four cards above the break in right-hand end grip and then clamp your left thumb down on top
of the packet. You can now move your right hand away to the right, allowing the top card to fall smartly onto
the bottom card of the packet. This is the Veeser Concept and so long as you pull the packet away smoothly, the
hco cards will remain aligned. Immediately follow this by peeling offthe three remaining cards onto the double,
catching a break below the first card that you peel. These actions are apparently carried out so that you can use a
different |oker from the one before.
Sav,"Let me show you again with a dffirent loker. Again it's connected to a particular King. So, the loker goes
down here with the Kings and the King that links to it goes up here." Execute a Triple Turnover to briefly display
the next |oker then turn it face down (catching another little finger break below the triple card). Deal the top
card of the packet onto the leader King. Pick up the rightmost card of the remaining two in the tabled row and
drop it face down on top of the left-hand packet. Rub the back of the left-hand packet as before and then carry
out a Triple Turnover to show the second King has also changed to a |oker. With the triple card still face up on
the packet use the right hand to reach down to the tabled packet and flip the face-down card over to complete
the second transposition.
Turn the triple card back face down square with the packet. Then, similarly to your earlier actions, take the
packet into right-hand end grip and use the left thumb to peel offthe top card into left-hand dealing grip (you
do not need to use the Veeser Concept this time). Continue by dragging two more cards onto the first one
(catching a little finger break below the second card of the two) and then finally place the double card on top.
Execute another Triple Turnover to apparently show a third |oker and then turn the triple card face down
And now for the final blow, turn the triple card back face down and ask, "Are you following these magical
connections?" Wait for a response and then follow-up by turning the packet face up and executing an Ascanio
Spread to show the four Aces as you say, "What about the connection between the lokers and the four Aces?!"
COPtIvtENTS
. |ack enjoys performing "All That lazz" alot that it has a lot of nice subtleties in both mechanics
as he feels
and presentation. However, the part of the handling that has always bothered him was that the packets come
together at the beginning of the trick. Of course, lay people never worried about this, but Jack does. This
solution not only fixes this problem but also the other issue that he had with the original: he wanted to ensure
that the adjustment of the packet to apparently use a different Joker each time should be the same. In this case,
fack uses a reverse count in order to keep the mechanics clean.
. Presentationally, in "All Ttatlazz," Jack tried to engage the audience with a cute presentation regarding the
Jokers feeling superior to the Kings. In this version, he uses the same idea of using presentation to reinforce
the plot, but this time by verbally "linking" each ]oker to a King. This means that in the audience's eyes, the
fact that |ack uses four Kings must also mean that he uses four )okers. Because of this, he is able to reinforce
the physical displays with verbal conditioning.
. As with the previous effect, one of the strong points of this handling is that |ack reverses the packet after each
transposition in order to appear to use a different |oker every time. Of course, given that the foker is in the
middle of the packet and you're executing Triple Turnovers, you always end up using the same |oker!
CnTDITS
. fack would like to thank Tomas Blomberg and Allan Ackerman who both inspired him to work further on his
'All That lazz" after they both spent
a long time experimenting with the effect themselves.
. Bob Veeser's famous Veeser Concept was originally publishe d in M-U-M Magazine (Volume 49, Number 7,
December 1959) within Edward Marlo's article "Discourse on a Move."
SITIGHTS USED
. ;ise shuffle
,:oss Cut / Criss-Cross Force (Max Holden)
S rrup
':''ru
rvill need a double-faced card with a different card on each side (let's say Two of Clubs and Four of Hearts)
.:d also a double-backed card. Place the double backer on top ofthe deck and the double facer on the face of
:re deck and position the mate of the bottom side of the double facer second from top. In my example,let's say
-le Ttvo of Clubs is showing on the face of the deck, so the Two of Spades should go second from top.
,---so remove the two cards that match the double-facer and put them aside as they're not required for this effect.
\tETHOD
-arn. out a few false shuffles, being sure not to disturb the setup on the top and bottom of the deck. An easy
-"-se shuffle here would be a standard Riffle Shuffle,letting the bottom few cards of the left-hand packet fall first
.:.d the top few cards of the right-hand packet fall last (assuming you cut the upper packet to the right for a
liie Shuffle, that is).
"I'd
-and the face-down deck to someone and say, like you to cut off about half the deck, then flip it face up
'- top of the bottom half." Ensure that the participant squares the face-up cards after turning them over then
:.-rntinue, "Now spread through theface-up cards to make sure they're all dffirent " When she has followed these
-nstructions say,"Take all the face-up cards off the deck, turn them face down, and put them in a pile on the
::irle." The end result of this procedure is that the double backer is on top of the pile that the participant holds
.nd the Two of Spades is on top of the face-down tabled pile.
i-ou will now force the Two of Spades.using the Criss-Cross Force. Ask that your participant reach down to the
:ebled cards with her right hand and cut the packet in half. Have her place the lower portion perpendicularly
rnto the portion she had cut off.
Bring attention back to the packet that the participant still holds and ask her to cut off another small group of
Allow the participant to repeat this sequence a couple more times if she desires; turning cards face up, looking
through them and them placing them to the bottom. Once or twice more is plenty though as she cannot cut into
the face-up portion on the bottom of the packet. Once she is happy that she has arrived at a random portion, ask
her to deal the top card (double backer) onto the table directly in front of her without looking at its face.
Ask the participant to remove all of the face-down cards from the top of the packet and place them face up on
the table, forming a new pile to the left of the criss-crossed packet. Next, ask that she picks up the face-down
card that she dealt to the table a moment before (double backer) and place it onto the face-down cards in her left
hand. Finally, ask that she pick up the face-up pile and place it on top of the pile in her hand, burying the face-
down card in the middle of a packet of face-up cards. She can now spread through the cards to ensure that her
selection is the only face-down card in the packet.
Ask that the participant place her packet back on the table, face down. You can now direct attention back to the
criss-crossed packets and have the participant lift up the upper portion with her right hand, then remove the top
card of the lower portion with her left hand and place it aside without looking at its face.
Next, ask her to place the upper half (which is currently in her right hand) face up into her left hand, and then
place the face-down selection on top of it. Finally, ask that she pick up the lower half and drop it face up on top
of the face-down selection, creating a packet in the same condition as the first. Invite her to spread through the
cards to ensure that there are no other face-down cards in the packet and when she's happy have her place the
packet face down on the table.
Finally, reach forwards and spread one of the face-down packets in a wide arc to show a face-up black Two.
Explain, "It turns out that the card that you turned over is a black Two. Wouldn't it be a miracle if ..." spread the
other packet behind the first and continu€, "... if you also turned oyer a black Two in this packet as well!"
COtvttrztENTS
. See lack's effect "Manual Operation" (opposite page) for a non-gimmicked version of this trick.
CrcDITS
. fack would like to thank his friends David Solomon and Tomas Blomberg who both provided input with the
creation of this effect.
Max Holden's Cross Cut Force was published as "The New Knife and Selected Cards" in The Magical Monthly
(Volume 2, Number 10, |uly 1925).
After Jack published the effect in Genii, Gordon Bean contacted him to detail the history of the clever force
that utilises the double-backed card. It appears that David Britland was the first to utilise the force in his
routine "Three Times aLady" from Psychomancy (1986). Gordon also used the same procedure in his effect
"The Los Angeles Open," which was released as a bonus effect with his marketed trick "Joker,
)oker" (2002).
. This trick was originally published in ]ack's first Magicana in Genii magazine (|une, 2006).
Jack has never been oneto stop experimenting with an effect once he's published it. After he originally published
'Remote Control" in his one man Magicana in Genii, he went on to work out this non-gimmicked handling. It
dso introduces a completely different surprise ending.
Mruony
Jack removes an "emergency card" from the deck and places it aside. An emergency card, he explains is one that
he can call upon if he has problems during the trick. He also removes two prediction cards from the deck.
Two selections are made (say the Ten of Spades and Queen of Spades). |ack then shows his two predictions, but
unfortunately his excitement is unjust as it turns out that while he managed to predict that the selections would
both be Spades, that was the full extent of his presentiment.
However, when he turns over the emergency card it is seen that Iack was in full control all along. The emergency
card turns out to be the Ace of Spades which, when added to the two selections and prediction cards, helps to
create a royal flush in Spades.
SUIGHTS USED
False shuffle
Double Push-off
Spread Cull (Johann Hofzinser)
Cross Cut / Criss-Cross Force (Max Holden)
Srrup
Have the Ten of Spades on top of the deck with the Queen of Spades face up beneath it.
MrrHoD
False shuffle the deck, retaining the top two cards. Spread through the cards with the faces toward you (being
sure not to expose the face-up Queen) and remove the Ace of Spades and place it face down on the table without
letting anyone see its face. Explain,"This is my emergency card. I always remove it at the start of this trick as it
can help me out if things go horribly wrong!"
Say,"There are two types of people in this world. Those who can instantly make decisions and also those who,
um, well ... how do I say this?" Lookas though you're thinking for a few seconds then contintJe,"And those that
take a little longer to make decisions!" Ask your two participants to decide on which one tends to go on instinct
Turn to the non-instinctual participant and explain that she will pick a cardby a series of carefully considered
choices. To start, turn the deck face down and slowly riffle down the corner of the deck with your left thumb
until she calls stop. Start the riffle a few cards below the face-up Queen so as not to expose it. Dig your thumb
into the break and lever over the block of cards above it, turning them face up onto the deck with the assistance
of the right hand. Once the upper packet is square on the deck, spread through the face-up cards and explain
that the participant could have stopped you at any card. Be careful not to spread too far, but stop at the first
face-down card that you reach (Queen of Spades) and take off all the face-up cards in your right hand, still face
up and slightly spread.
Repeat the same procedure, slowly riffling down the corner of the deck until the same participant stops you,
then flip over the cards above the break and square them up. Then, thumb offthe face-up cards again and take
them in the right hand beneath the other face-up cards you already hold. Say, "I want this to be purely your
choice. Don't think that I'm trying to urge you to make a decision - you can either carry on repeating this a
few
more times or if you're hoppy, you can stop here." Continue repeating this sequence until the participant wants
to stop and when she does execute a Double Push-off (this is easy due to the face-to-face double card) and take
the double card below the face-up cards in your right hand, leaving it sidejogged for half its width (fig. f It does
).
not matter how many times you repeat this procedure as you will force either the Queen or Ten of Spades.
Back to the left-hand packet: insert the left thumb underneath the packet and lever it face up. Bring
the right-
hand packet to the left and start spreading the left-hand cards under the packet, forming a two-haided
spread
(fr1.2, opposite page).
Your hands are now in perfect position to Spread Cull the bottom card of the double beneath the right-hand
packet, leaving just the face-down card in the centre of the deck. With the card safely Culled beneath the
deck,
remove the face-down card and place it on the table next to one of your prediction cards. For aesthetic reasons,
|ack tables the face-down card next to the prediction nearest the lady who made the selection.
,rili
tlilil I
2 t
I
I
se up the deck, letting the Culled card ride to the bottom then flip the deck face down. Turn to the second
- .:ricipant and explain, "You're not going to make a calculated choice - you're going to just make one quick
'
- -::iort and it's all going to be based on instinct." Ask him to cut offhalf the deck and place it on the table. Then
- .;e the lower portion of the deck perpendicularly on top of that packet, in readiness for the Criss-Cross Force
-=c "Remote Control,." page 125).
-;;i'ing the tabled packet in the Criss-Cross Force position, move attention back to the first participant's
: -:.tion by turning it face up. Also turn the prediction card face up acting as if they are supposed to match.
'k disappointed for a moment and act defeated as you say,"That's a shame - I got this one wrong. People who
'.. tlrcir time deciding are always the most dfficult to read." Look back down at the two cards and say, "Well, at
- ;;: I managed to predict the suit!"
'' it's time to bring everl'thing together and show that you've been playing with the audience. Say, "I told you
"r'
-:.:I have an emergency card right here. And it shows that I was able to predict your actions all along, because if
:-;,1 that to the mix we get a royal
flush in Spades, proving that not only can I predict your actions correctly, but
''. ttt Poker too!"
Mruonv
|ack removes the four Kings and three Twos from the deck. He places a King underneath the card box, another
on top of it and one inside the box. He then touches the three Twos with the final King, which promptly turns
them into the Kings! Of course, the three Twos are now found on, in and under the card box!
STTIGHTS USED
Zen Spread ()ack Parker)
Double and Quadruple Turnover
Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
Srrup
"On, In & Under" is performed from a shuflled deck. Ensure that the empty card case is on the table before the
performance, half-moon cut-out side up and toward you.
MITHOD
Spread the deck with the faces towards you and remove the four Kings and four Twos but don't actually call
attention to the value or number of cards that you remove. Place the deck aside as it is no longer required. Hold
the eight-card packet with the faces towards you and arrange the cards in the following order from face to back:
four Kings, a black Two, both red Twos and the other black Two. Try to do this without spreading the entire
packet at once as you are going to purport to use just seven cards during the trick.
Square the packet and hold it face up in left-hand dealing grip so that everyone can see the King on top of the
packet. Say,"I'm goingto use thefour Kings...," as your left thumb spreads the four Kings singly into your right
hand, forming a small fan. Continlle, "... and three Twos," as your left hand executes |ack's Zen Spread (page
52), displaying three Twos on your Ieft palm. Drop the Kings on top of the Twos and square up the packet into
left-hand dealing grip, catching a little finger break above the bottom card as you do.
Grasp all of the cards above the break in right-hand end grip (leaving a single face-up Two in the left hand) and
say,"I'll leave the Twos here for a moment " IJse the right-hand packet to flip the Two face down as if it were
three cards. Continue by saying, "We will, however, be using the four Kings," and use the left thumb to drag the
top King half way offits packet and then raise the right-hand packet in order to flip it face down onto the Two.
Repeat this with the next two Kings and then place the remaining cards (supposedly just the last King, but really
a quadruple card) face up onto the left-hand packet sidejogged for half its width. Hold the block in place with
your left thumb, allowing your right hand to re-grip it by its right long side, thumb on top, index and middle
Deal the top card face down onto the table, miscalling it as a King, and then pick up the card box with the right
irand and drop it on top of the card. Take the next card with your right hand (again miscalling it as a King) and
placeit face down onto the card box. Finally, carry out a Double Turnover to show a King. Turn the double card
mck face down and remove the top card (a Two) then slide it inside the card box (your left hand will need to
belp here).
Recap, "So, that's a King on, in and under the casei' gesturing toward each of the cards as you mention them.
Continue, "And we have the final King over here with the Twos," as you execute a Double Turnover to show
a tburth King. Take the double offthe packet with the right hand and use it to flip the remaining three cards
-.r*e up into left-hand dealing grip, showing a Two on the face of the packet. Immediately drop the right-hand
louble card onto the left-hand packet before the audience can remember the suit of the two as it will not be
,mong the Twos that are later shown!
Sav, 'lYow watch closely, as this happens fasfl" Execute an Ascanio Spread, showing all four cards in your left
rand to be Kings. After the Spread, remove the double card with the right hand and drop it squarely onto the
:able, quickly followed by the other three single Kings.
Frnally, turn over each of the face-down cards on, in and under the card case, showing that they are now the
Twos!
COtrrttrztENTS
. fack has an alternative presentation for when a card box is not at hand. The first card is placed on the table
and someone is asked to place her hand over it. The second card is placed on top of her hand and she is asked
to cover it with her other hand and then the third card is balanced on top of this hand. We'll explore this kind
of idea further in the next trick, "Visualisation."
. It's important that you do not leave much time between flipping the Kings face down onto the packet and
dealing the first two out onto the table. A long pause would give people time to question why you aren't
displaying the cards as you place them in their positions.
-\nrongst other tricks, )ack asked me to perform and teach "Final Palm" (from Genii magazine, |uly 2007)
and "On, In & Under." After my performance, |ack and I both agreed that it would be nice to find a way of
pertbrming the original effect by showing each of the Kings as they were placed on, in and under the card box
it'i that the performer could spend a little more time between dealing each of the cards. The reason for this is
that m\-presentation for "On, In & Under" was a little longer than fack's and really needed some additional
.rlnvincers along the way.
Iack not only found a fantastic solution, but also created an excellent new presentation too. It introduces his
L nderbelll' Sequence: a previously unpublished false display that can be applied to countless other routines.
S IT IGHTS USED
Olram Subtlety (Edward Marlo)
Underbelli' Sequence (lack Parker)
.{:canio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
S rrup
Remore the four Kings and four black spot cards (fack uses Sixes, Eights and Nines) and have them in the
1p|lerring order from the top to the face:
i(ing of Spades
Spot card
Kins of Hearts
Spot card
Spot card
King of Diamonds
Kine of Clubs
Spot card
.rinue, "While you have four cards to remember, I only have three. Howeyer, since I have an unfair advantage
-,',p y'sl.t out with remembering yours by teaching you a visualisation technique in a moment. First, let me show
":'.' cards." You will now execute the Olram Subtlety: take the top card of the left hand's packet into the right
- and hold it face down. Turn the left hand palm down to show a black spot card on the face of the packet.
:
-
-r ihe hand back palm up and use the left thumb to push the top card off onto the table onto the top of the
: i.-al spread of cards. As you deal the card to the table, turn the right hand's card face up to show a second
- - i spot card and then flip it face down onto the tabled spread. Finally, show the face of the double card in
-: hand (as one) and then flip it face down onto the spread.
1l !
The King of Hearts will show on the face, along
with the face-down double card.
- ' :::s point, |ack tends to flex the double card a little in an effort to display its apparent singularity
before
-
-:..xg the hand back palm down. Place the packet into left-hand dealing grip, allowing the sidejogged double
- -:: ro sit on top of the side of the thumb, pushing the left side of the double away from the packet. This allows
- :o easily hold onto the double card in right-hand end grip while you leave the rest of the packet in the left
'__1.
' --- the double card over to the right edge of the packet and then flip it face down square with the other cards.
- ."- the top card onto the table (apparently the King you just showed, but really a black spot card) and ask the
: .::icipant to place her palm-up hand on top of the card. Explain,"The King of Spades is the
first card I want
., :o remember. I said I'd give you a visualisation technique and it's this; imagine a spade digging down into the
- ... The King of Spades is under your hand digging down into the table." As you say this, catch a break above
'- - ;ard second from bottom ofthe packet, just as before.
The current situation is that you hold a packet of five cards consisting of four Kings with a black spot card on
the face. The audience believes the opposite to be true; that you hold three spot cards with a King on the bottom.
Move the palm-up right hand towards the left-hand packet and place the fingers on the bottom of the packet
and the thumb on top. Pretending to peel offthe top card, actually move the left hand away, pushing up with the
fingers to drag the bottom card of the packet away instead. Without pausing, fairly peel two cards from the top
of the packet and place them squarely on top of the first card that you peeled.
Carefully turn the squared left-hand packet face up to show a black spot card at the face. Flip the right-hand
double card face up on top of this packet,leaving it injogged for around half its length. Say, "Now here's the
pivotal moment ... can you remember the cards? Using my visualisation technique, I'm absolutely certain yoLt can,"
Ask the participant to recite the order of the cards, nudging her along if she really needs it. Square the double
card onto the packet and then execute an Ascanio Spread to show that the packet now consists of the four Kings
as you comment, "Well,I guess the visualisation technique worked, but unfo?tunately that's not where the Kings
are!"
Finally, take the three cards from the participant's hands one at a time and show that they have all changed to
spot cards.
#t"fl#'tr*6ir
-"
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,
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(4NI QANr COIN
q8x9p
'"4\u
.EMORY
' rtrrrowS a coin and clearly drops it into a Coca-Cola can that the participant is holding. Then, after showing
-.ids to be completely empty, he then proceeds to pull the coin right through the bottom of the can.
::'r'&rds the audience may examine the Coke can as it is completely normal (and does not contain a coin).
. E IGHTS USED
:": Palm
- Si,-itch (1.B. Bobo)
-.:QIIREMENTS
' , :outine certainly isn't impromptu, but you will be able to find everything you need in a bar or restaurant:
):TUP
- . f half of a stick of chewing gum, chew it for a minute or two and then stick it to the concave base of
: ::inks can. Then, stick one of the coins onto the base of the can and place it on the table with the coin
-:-etely secured and hidden underneath.
- ihe trick with the sugar cube in right-hand Finger Palm and the other stick of chewing gum in your right
-:er pocket. So long as you are subtle, you can easily carry out this entire setup while sitting with friends at a
.; in a restaurant.
'. I ETHOD
' : rlo\-€ the coin - or better still borrow an identical one and take it in your right
-.
- hand. Pretend to drop it into
-elt hand, but actually complete a simple Bobo Switch, switching it for the piece of sugar cube.
. :.:end to drop the coin into the tabled can, but actually place the sugar cube inside instead. if the conditions
-
-= right,your audience may be able to hear the cube make a "plop" sound as it falls into the drink, adding to the
. -sion that you actually dropped the coin in. Pick up the can by the
top rim with the left hand and shake it (this
' hr you shouldn't use a full can!) so that the sugar cube knocks against the sides of the can, giving an audible
""
Hand the can to a participant and ask him to continue shaking it up a little more. Reach into your trouser
pocket with your right hand, drop the coin and remove the stick of gum. Chew the gum and explain that you'll
use it to fish out the coin. As this is happening the sugar cube will be slowly dissolving in the already too-sugary
drink!
Look at the audience for a moment in embarrassment, acting as if you would find it hard to speak with gum
in your mouth. You can now proceed to silently and dramatically mime showing your hands to be completely
empty, then reach under the can and pretend to slowly extract the coin. After a few seconds, pull the coin offthe
chewing gum (leaving the gum under the can) and show everyone that you have successfully caused the coin
to penetrate the can. As you're removing the coin, work the gum that you're currently chewing to the front of
your lips. Then, as soon as you remove the coin, take the chewing gum and stick it to the bottom of the can. Say,
"Be careful - this causes a hole at the bottom of the can. I'll plug it up with a piece of gum." Drop the coin into
the participant's free hand. If he notices that the coin is a little wet from the gum, play on that, explaining that it
may not have completely dried from the Coke yet.
Say, "I managed to make the coin come through the bottom of the can. This would be the perfect trick if it weren't
for the hole in the can! However, sometimes a little chewing gum can come to the rescue and create the perfect
trick." Click your fingers over the can and remove all of the gum from the base. You can now show the can to be
completely healed and even allow the can to be examined.
The participant can either drink the remainder of the Coke (he won't notice the extra sugar until he next sees his
dentist), or pour it away to prove that there is no extra coin in the can.
COtrzttrztENTS
. You may like to use brown sugar lumps to protect against any potential flashing of a gleaming white sugar
lump, although some brands may adversely affect the taste of the beverage, so your participant probably
wouldn't be able to finish offthe drinkl
. With a little choreography you can perform this effect with a signed and borrowed coin. Simply switch
the coin for a sugar lump, and then load the coin under the can as you pick it up to drop the sugar into it.
However, the advantage of the two-coin approach is that you don't need to actually touch the bottom of the
can until you extract the coin.
CnTDITS
. |ack was inspired by Tomas Blomberg's unpublished "Brazilian Bend" trick to use a dissolving sugar cube.
Tomas' trick is a spoon bending effect that makes use of the same basic idea, but taken in a very different
direction.
. The inspiration for using two pieces of chewing gum to apparently heal the can came from the most unlikely
of sources. ]ack was inspired by an idea from Graham Swift's Waterland novel (1983), which introduces the
idea that a new flesh-bruise will conceal an old bruise.
. The Bobo Switch can be found in |.8. Bobo's classic work, Modern Coin Magic (1952).
. |ack originally published this trick as a bonus item in his otherwise all-card book, Set to Stun (2005).
Page 138 - |ack Parker's 52 Memories
FLAT RaTn oF INTEREST
q8x9p
t'4\u
EMORY
: erplaining an old gambling trick, |ack accidentally pushes a coin right into the middle of a card!
..EIGHTS IJSED
-:-e Turnover
- ::iency Change (Al Smith, Daryl Martinez and Father Cyprian)
- nr) Silver" move (Paul Harris)
:QIIREMENTS
-
, =fect requires some initial preparation. Take a small coin (such as a ten pence piece, or a quarter) and
-: photocopy it heads side down. Then, cut out the photocopied coin (which shows a head) and glue it
: - , ::.h to one side of a double-backed card; ideally using a spray adhesive for an even finish.
- .. aiso need a permanent marker and a coin that matches the gaff.
'-TUP
-:- :he gimmicked card on top of the deck, coin side downward.
.,. ETHOD
: -* . 1-e the coin that matches your gimmick, or even better borrow a matching coin from someone. Ask your
: r:r to hold out the hand that she doesn't write with and place the coin on her palm, heads side up.
-.. ..p the deck, spread through it and ask the participant to touch the back of a card with her other hand.
: r-. '\-e the selection from the spread and place it face up on top, then hand the marker to the participant and
' .rat she sign her selection on top of the deck. Once she's done, blow the ink dry, using the opportunity to
- - -:. a little finger break below the top two cards. Execute a Double Push-off of the top two cards and take the
---.e into the right hand in pinch grip as if you were about to execute an Elmsley Count.
-:: the left thumb under the deck and push upwards, causing the deck to flip face up onto the outstretched
- -ngers. Under the pretence of freeing up your right hand to take the coin, place the double card square onto
' : rottom of the deck (fig. 1, next page, in action), sliding it between the deck and the left fingers. Take the coin
-: the right hand and as you move it towards the Ieft hand, move the left fingers into the palm in order to flip
.
. deck back face down into left-hand dealing grip. In one fluid motion, angle top of the deck so that is roughly
.::11e1 to your body, place the coin flat on top, taking advantage of the great angles to line the coin up with the
photocopied replica. The action of putting the double back on the deck in this way is generally referred to as the
Emergency Change and is a fantastic way to place the selection second from top, under the double-backer.
Angle the deck back so that the top if now facing upwards and let go of the coin ensuring that you hold the deck
pretty still so that the coin doesn't move around. It is now that you can explain the premise of the trick: " I'm
going to use the coin and your Ace of Hearts. You may be wondering what the coin is
for. Well, this isn't so much
about a magic trick, but instead is an old gambler's trick to secretly mark cards. The gamblers used to press a coin
into the back of a card, which would leave a circular indent. This had the great advantage of allowing the gambler,
or should I say cheat, to cut to the card whenever he wanted to deal it to himself." During this patter |ack tends to
hold his thumb so that it reaches across and clamps down on the edge of the coin to hold it in place.
You will now execute the principal move from Paul Harris' "Hi Ho Silver" to apparently push the coin flat into
the card. Start by bringing your right hand over the top of the deck and shield the coin with the back of the right
fingers. At the exact moment that this happens, gently tip the right edge of the deck downwards so that the coin
slides over the edge of the deck and straight into the left fingers. With a loose grip, the coin will fall into left
Finger Palm and then gently slide under the deck. Continue, "I tried to learn this technique, but am also a little
lteavy-handed. Watch what happens if I press down onto the coin to try to leave a mark on your card... " Mime
pressing down onto the coin with your right hand and then quickly move the hand away. As you retract the
right hand, extend your left arm towards the spectator. This movement is important because it's impossible to
notice that the coin isn't real if the hand keeps moving.
-{fter you have moved your hand towards the audience for about a foot, stop for a moment and let the audience
see rvhat has happened. Say, "This is what always happens; I press so hard I actually push the coin into the card!"
Rub the back of the card with your fingertips and allow your participant to do the same. Let this sink in for a
moment then continue by asking her to hold both hands out and cup them together. As she does this, execute
a Double Turnover showing the face of her signed card again. In one action, press the left thumb on top of the
deck, then take the deck into right-hand end grip (keeping the coin in left-hand Finger Palm) and drag the deck
arvay to the right. The top card of the deck will stay in the left hand and fall onto the finger-palmed coin. Place
the deck face down onto the table - it will look normal because of the double-backer.
Take the card into the right hand with the thumb on top and fingers below. As you take the card, secretly steal
the coin underneath it, pinning it in place with the tips of the middle and third fingers. It's important that you
line the coin up in roughly the same place as the photocopied coin is printed on the gimmick.
*-,)\{MENTS
, -:: haS several ways to reveal the coin. A more advanced handling is to Back Clip or Tenkai Pinch the coin as
- :urn the card face up. Extend your left first finger and tap the card as you say,"There's only one way to get
- -'irr back out of the card ..." Turn your left hand palm up, to show that it is empty, and retake the short end
' .e card at your fingertips. Hold it above the spectator's cupped hands and then give it a sharp downwards
-'. :rom above, releasing the coin from Tenkai Pinch and allowing it to drop into the participant's cupped
. - -.1-
- i\.
- ' trick will work with any small flat item that can be photocopied. For example, you may like to experiment
-- (e\-s, rings or poker chips.
- iTDITS
: >tr-called Emergency Change has a murky history as it was published by three different creators in the
- r : \'ear. English card magician A1Smith published the mechanics using a small packet in his bookCards
.':irtand (1980) under the title P.C. Change. Daryl Martinezpublished the move in Paul Harris' Close-Up
..;sies-Book fl (1980) within the trick "Daryl's Elevator Repair" and finally, Father Cyprian published it
' -:cr the name Quick Change in Frank Garcia's The Elegant Card Magic of Father Cyprian (also, 1980). The
: tends to be referred to most commonly as the Emergency Change, so I have chosen that nom de plume.
-: ';anish of the coin from the top of the deck comes from Paul Harris' "Hi Ho Silver" routine, which can be
-.-.d in Supermagic (1977) and Volume 1 of The Art of Astonishment (t996).
MEMORY
|ack removes a coin and makes it completely disappear at his fingertips. He then has a card selected and placed
on the table, and explains that he's going to make the coin reappear under the selection.
\\'hen the participant checks to see if the coin has arrived under their card, they believe that |ack has failed.
It turns out that's not the case, though, as the participant realises that the card on the table has changed to a
completely different card! The selection is then found back in the deck and, true to |ack's word, the coin is found
under the participant's card.
Finally, Jack apparently turns the selection invisible and magically makes it re-appear folded around the coin.
SITIGHTS I.JSED
Spider Vanish (Edward Marlo and Walter Gibson)
Kaps / Malini Subtlety (Fred Kaps and Max Malini)
Finger Palm
Yersatile Outjog Control variant (Frank Simon)
Cross Cut / Criss-Cross Force (Max Holden)
Spellbound (Dai Vernon)
RIQIIREMENTS
. A deck ofcards.
. A duplicate card that matches the deck you're using (say, King of Spades).
. T\to matching coins (fack uses half dollars).
S rrup
Fold the duplicate King of Spades back outwards around one of the coins and place it in your front right trouser
pocket. Also place the other King of Spades on top of the deck and place the deck in the card box.
MrruoD
PHesr ONE - CIIN
Bring out the cased deck and the half dollar and explain that you will make the coin vanish and re-appear under
the selected card. At this point, you haven't actually had a card selected but follow along, pretending as if you
have. You'llnow execute the Spider Vanish as follows: Hold the coin in classic French Drop position with the
Ieft thumb on top and fingers beneath. Pretend to execute the mechanics of the French Drop, but in reality
=e coin to be hidden in the left hand - especially if you make the Spider Vanish look very false. Make a tossing
=otion with both hands towards the tabled deck using the Kaps / Malini Subtlety to show that the right hand is
::nptv, while the coin is Classic Palmed allalong. Given that the coin is not seen in the right hand, all attention
.-:II be focused on the suspicious looking left hand, which you can now freely show to be empty.
lck up the card box with the left hand and hold it with the opening edge toward the audience. Open the flap
ard say, "It doesn't look like there's a coin in there yet, does it?" As the audience looks at the deck, drop your right
:-rnd to the side and allow the palmed coin to fall into fingertip rest. With the coin in this position move the
:e.ht hand toward the box and secretly press the coin against the underside of the case as you place it on top of
=e right fingers. You can now tip the right hand forwards, using your left hand to catch the cards as they slide
-ut of the box.
Sold the deck with the right edge towards the audience and place the empty card box on the table, stealing the
;r'rrn back into right-hand Finger Palm from under the box as you suddenly realise, "Oh wait, that's because I
;:.Jrt't have you select a card! That's why the coin hasn't re-appeared yet; it's probably still floating around in the
r1tr." Bring your hands together and spread the cards, slightly separating the right fingers so that at least half of
:.e coin is exposed between the fingers, facing the floor. Then, as you start to open up the spread, extend the left
oetond finger out under the spread, contact the coin and push it upward against the back of the spread as you
:n:ll the second finger back toward the left. This is a similar technique to Spread Culling a card.
!-ik vour participant to touch the back of a card and when she does, place your left thumb down on the selection
:.:rd use it to push the selection to the right until it squares up with the card directly above it. Keeping the cards
: a spread condition, raise your right hand lifting the upper portion of the spread so that the participant can see
=€ tace of the card that she selected. The selection now secretly has another card in perfect alignment behind it.
r.*. the participant to remember the face card of the spread. The coin cannot be seen due to the natural cover of
'irur fingers holding the spread (fig. t).
Strip out the outjogged card and place it face down on the table. Say, "Now that you've picked a card I'd like you
to place your index finger on top of it - I'll then make the coin appear under your card." As she places her finger
on the card carefully place the deck to one side being cautious of the coin that is hidden in the middle. Snap
r-our fingers over the tabled card and ask if the participant felt anything strange happen under the card. She will
of course respond negatively, so ask her, "Nof even anything coin shaped?" Again, she will reply in the negative
so \-ou can continue by saying, "There's a reason for that - the card under your hand isn't your card!" When she
looks, she will see that you've changed the card to an indifferent one. Say,"But if you look in the deck you'll see a
coin in the middle." Have her cut off all of the cards above the coin and then ask that she turn the packet over to
shorv that the coin managed to find its way under the selection. Have her remove the selection and place it with
the tabled card.
Have the participant place her packet onto the table. You can then pick up the portion of the deck with the coin
on it, tip the coin onto the table and then place the packet on top of the participant's packet, but perpendicular
to the cards below it. This sets the deck for the standard Criss-Cross Force and although it does require a little
time misdirection to be effective, at this point the audience is not even aware that you've positioned the packets
like this for a selection.
Sar-, "1 managed to make these cards switch places by momentarily turning each one invisible and then changing
tlrcnt around. Let me show you what I mean." Place the two single cards back face down on top of the upper
packet on the tabled deck, which remains in Criss-Cross Force position. Pick up the top half of the deck and
point to the top card of the lower packet as you say, "I need a random card - the one you just cut to will be
fne!"
Ask her to remove the card and remember it. Once she has done so, ask that she place her card back in the deck.
You can now place the top half of the deck back on top of the lower half, properly squaring the cards (and losing
the seiection) this time.
Ask the participant to cover the deck with her hands and state that you're going to turn the selection invisible.
Snap your fingers over the deck and tell your participant,"You might not believe me, but I'll prove it. Cut to any
card in the deck and I guarantee it will be your card. That's a property of invisible cards - they're easy to cut to
because they're so light and airy!" Have the participant cut the deck at approximately the centre point, then point
to the top card of the lower portion and act excited as you say,"Wow - you got it the
first time! Great work."
Ifime picking up the invisible card from the lower packet and drop it on the participant's palm-up hand. Ask,
"I know that you correctly cut to the invisible card, but I still can't see what card it is. Any idea why that is?" The
audience will likely reply that it's because the card is invisible, to which you joke, "No - it's because it's
face
down!"
-
.ie the apparent coin and card parcel (really just a coin) and hold it in the left hand in position for Dai
'.rnon's
Spellbound, just as you did with the Spider Vanish at the start of the trick. Say, "Now that the invisible
-.1 is
folded around the coin, I should be able to make it visible again just by rubbing it like this." Execute Dai
:rnon's Spellbound move to switch the coin for the card and coin parcel, then drop it in the participant's
.:rds and allow her to remove the card from the outside of the coin. As she is doing this, Classic Palm the coin
.r secretly hold in the left hand, pick up the card box and drop both in your pocket to end clean.
--ruDITS
' :drvard Marlo's Spider Vanish can be found in his Coining Magic (1957) as well as in Arcade Dreams by Ion
iacherbaumer (1997), however Walter Gibson first published the move in the Sphinx (Volume 17, Number
-i, February 1919) under the title of "The Misdirection Drop."
. red Kaps showed what has become known as the Kaps / Malini Subtlety to David Roth. When Richard
raufman wrote the concept up in David Roth's Expert Coin Magic (1985) he named it The Kaps Subtlety.
>ince then, it has come to light that the move first appearedin Malini and His Magic by Dai Vernon and Lewis
lanson (1962) so the name Kaps / Malini Subtlety has somewhat erroneously stuck.
. rank Simon's Versatile Outjog Control was publish ed in Versatile Card Magic (1982).
Mrmonv
|ack turns a finger ring invisible and then shows that both hands are completely empty before amazingly making
the ring re-appear.
REQIIREMENTS
. A large finger ring that fits comfortably on your thumb, without sliding past the first phalanx (sorry for getting
all Royal Road to Card Magic on you there - I assure you it won't happen again).
MrrHoD
Due to one or two of the interesting, yet angle-sensitive, sleights used, this sequence should only be performed
for two or three people, all of whom are watching from the front.
$.
;
i
t
r
-\s soon as the ring is covered, curl the tip of your right index finger inwards so that the tips of the right
rndex finger and thumb touch. If you tilt the hand slightly towards your body as you do this, the ring will
automatically move with the finger and slide down the
index finger and onto the tip of the right thumb (fig. 3,
from above with the left hand removed). As soon as the
ring is comfortably on the tip of the thumb, stretch the
index finger out again and slowly move the left hand
away to the left acting as if you have just slid the ring
offthe finger. As the left hand moves away, relax the
right hand and move it down a little so that all focus
is on the left hand, that apparently holds the ring. The
thumb (and ring) should be naturally covered by the
right fingers.
I
apply a little downward pressure with the left thumb
1
I
to keep the ring in place and then pull the right thumb
I
1
I
inward,leaving the ring in the left thumb crotch.
I
l
Because of the left hand's position, the ring cannot be
I seen from the front angle.
1
I
l
I
I
j
As everyone is looking at the invisible ring in the right
{
j hand, you must move the real ring into left Thumb
i
i Palm. |ack does this as he moves the left hand back to a
5 rest position with the palm facing his body, squeezing
*-..*-* the left thumb onto the ring, causing it to slowly slide
to a vertical position and into Thumb Palm (fig. 6,
from behind).
Mrmonv
|ack picks a participant to play against him in a game of "Find the Lady." This is no ordinary version of the game
though, as this one is designed to be completely in the participant's favour. It's played with three red-backed
|okers which have the word "Joker" written on their backs and a blue-backed Queen with "Queen" written on
it. This way, it's obvious which cards are fokers and which one is a Queen from both the front and back of each
card.
To start the game, |ack takes one of the red-backed fokers and places it face down on the table. He then places
the blue-backed Queen face down on top of the other two fokers and asks the participant to find the Queen.
Given that the word "Queen" is staring her right in the face on top of the packet, she says that it's on top. Of
course, this is no game; it's a con, and things quickly take a turn for the worse! When |acks spreads his packet,
the audience see that all three of his |okers are now blue-backed and have "Queen" written on them.
Given that he now holds blue.backed |okers, )ack asks the participant what she thinks is on the face of the red-
backed card with "foker" written on it. After some thought, she will normally say a Queen, but remember - this
is a con, not a game! fack finishes by saying, "If that's what you think, you really need your eyes tested!" He turns
the card over to show a chart that opticians use to test people's eyesight!
STTIGHTS USED
Elmsley Count (AIex Elmlsey)
A
Backwards Christ / Annemann Alignment Move
RIQIIREMENTS
I'11 first explain the cards that you need to perform "Visual
Acuity." It is important to write on a diagonal along the
backs of the cards (see the illustrations throughout the DF
trick) so that it's easy to see what each card has written on
it, regardless of whether the card is held horizontally or HZP
vertically. You'll need:
TXUDD
T
. Two blue-backed fokers with "Queen" written on their ZA D N H
backs. PNTUH x
. A blue-backed Queen with "Queen" written on the back. UAZNFD T
NFHTAFX u
. A red-backed |oker with "|oker" written on the back. XD FH PTZAN
. A red-backed blank-faced card with "|oker" written on 1
the back.
Srrup
lrar or print an optician's eye chart on the face of the blank faced card (see fig. 1, opposite page, for an
-"mple) and stack the cards in the following order from the face to the back (order refers to the cards on the
iue and not the writing on the back):
3ir--backed Ioker
lin--backed Queen
lir--backed |oker
tcd-backed |oker with a small piece of double-sided tape affixed to the middle of the card's back
1 red-backed eye chart card
l:sh down on the packet in order to affix the eye chart card to the back of the red-backed |oker.
\TETHOD
iread the cards out to show three face-up |okers and the Queen of Hearts and explain,"Yol.lve probably seen
vac
-famous 'Find the Lady' game in the past. I've tried to create a similar game, but have put all of the odds in your
ir-lour. My aim is to make things as simple for you to
follow as possible in the hope that you'll win the game." The
-e-chart card will not show in the spread because it is stuck to the back of the lowermost |oker of the packet.
a*.likes to spread the cards as openly as possible so that the audience gets to see the entire faces of all four
:rrds to ensure that any magicians in the audience don't think he is using double-indexed cards.
iold the fan in just the left hand, allowing you to remove the Queen with the right hand. Display the back of the
loeen as you explain, "The frst thing that stands out is the Queen of Hearts. It's the only Queen amongst the three
irt?rs. Not only that, but the Queen has got a blue back and I have actually written Queen on it, to make things
zzllveasy to follow." Once everyone has seen the back of the Queen, replace it face up into the fan, second from
ugr. but leave it outjogged for about an inch. You can now flip the packet face down to show a red-backed card
rmh 'foker" written on the packet, with the blue-backed card protruding out of the front end. Slowly square the
]ren into the packet.
: ou rvill now show a total of three red-
L*ed cards with "Joker" written across
aeir back. The first is on top of the packet
rqt the second is stuck to the face of the
r:p card, which you now need to separate.
Io do this, place your right thumb on the
.oner edge of the packet at the right corner
rnh the right index finger in a similar
lrsition, but on top of the packet. You can
rrn'riffle up the packet with the thumb
rod separate the top card from the one
erectlybelow it. Once your thumb holds
,roto this card, pivot it around in a counter-
lockwise direction so that everyone can
;ee the writing across it (fig. 2). As you 2
-\lomentarily remove the - now separated - top card, but don't show its face because it is the eye chart. Instead,
gently place it back on top of the packet ensuring that it doesn't affix itself to the double-sided tape. Immediately
take the packet with the right hand and execute the first two actions of an Elmsley Count (that is, peel off a
sinqle card and then execute the block-push off switch to peel two red-backed cards with "|oker" written on
them into the right hand (with the double-sided tape stuck to the top card of the left-hand packet). Next, gently
i.eel the blue-backed "Queen" card offon top of the pair, but outjogged for around an inch, ensuring that it
.lt'reSfl't stick to the double-sided tape. Finally, place the final red-backed "|oker" card face down onto the table
.r.s \-ou say,"I'll make things even easier
for you by removing one of the lokers and leaving it down here on the
.rrL l(.
3.rck to the left-hand packet. Place the right thumb on top of the inner end of the packet (contacting just the
:ccond card frorn top) and the index finger on top of the outjogged top card and then pull both cards backwards
urtil the top card lines up with the lowermost two cards. You may find it necessary to wrap the left index finger
r:trurd the front end of the packet if necessary to ensure that the top card lines up correctly with the bottom
i,,rtr. ThiS is essentially a backwards Christ / Annemann Alignment Move.
\ltrr-e the right hand to the front of the packet and pinch the three outjogged cards with the thumb on top and
:rlers on the bottom. Pull all three cards - as one - outwards until they disengage from the injogged card, and
:ren tlip the triple card over, end for end to show the Queen. Don't let the triple card square onto the packet
i:trrushi immediately turn it face down on top of the single card. This cleverly places the Queen of Hearts on top
: the double-sided tape, which sets you up perfectly for the surprise ending.
- -:re the four-card packet into the right hand, with the thumb on top and fingers below and gently apply a little
j,."'\'n\\'ards pressure in the general vicinity of the double-sided tape. This will ensure that the lowermost two
::rds stick together for the climax. Ask your participant,"Yol)r sole job is easy - you just have to find the Queen.
-i; r' itere do you think she is?" She will reply that the Queen is on top of the packet, to which you immediately
:cspond srith,"Well, I'm afraid this is where things get slightly odd as there isn't just one blue-backed card with
'l:1.cn " x'ritten on the back. Instead, there are three..." Spread the packet to show three blue-backed cards,
:it r'ith "Queen" written on the backl This will come as a surprise, so take your time with this moment before
:.r::ing over all three cards and dealing them face up onto the table to show the three |okers. The double-sided
:::e rr'iil bond the cards enough for you to handle the double card freely and as if it were just a normal card.
- r::allr ,ask,"If the three lokers are now blue-backed and have 'Ql4een' written on them, where do you think the
l:,../r i,sr" The participant will respond that the red-backed card that you tabled earlier must be the Queen, to
'";hich vou quickly qtip,"If you think that, you need your eyes tested!" Immediately turn the card over to show an
e" e-testing chart and proceed to check her eyesight for her (as a general rule, if she can't see any offensive words
,n the card you've prepared, she probably needs glasses).
CortztrttENTS
. This is an interesting trick because you are given credit for a lot more changes than actually happen. When
vou rvatch closely, the only card that changes on the face is the Queen of Hearts, which changes to the eye test
chart.
- '' 'u rrould like to learn more about handling double cards that are affixed with double-sided tape, I would
: - xmeod watching Luke Dancy's Magic IV The EyesDYD (2003), which contains a complete treatise on the
- i.E DITS
-:rael Weber uses a similar idea for separating two cards stuck together with double-sided sticky tape in his
..d -\lonte" from his volume of Stevens Magic Emporium Greater Magic Video Library series (1987).
As the title suggests, this is actually three separate tricks built into one routine. A11 three effects make use of a
single double-backed card that is added to a deck. So grab a double-backed card and come along for the ride!
The whole routine is very fooling and is incredibly well structured, so I urge you to learn it.
Mrmonv
Jack cails upon the four Kings to perform in a three-trick routine. For the first trick, he causes each King to
individually travel from a packet of cards and appear back in the deck, even while the spectator tries to hold
onto them.
Next, fack has someone select a card and places it between the four Kings. It doesn't stay there for long though,
as it vanishes in quite an amusing fashion. Its reappearance turns the laughter into gasps because |ack then
places a face-up King on the table and causes it to change into the selection even though he stays well away from
it during the change. As if that weren't enough, the missing King reappears amongst cards that the participant
holds. Oh, and the selection turns face up in the deck!
Finally since it's probably bedtime now, Jack tells a story about the four facks and how they saved the day during
a diamond heist.
SITIGHTS USED
Sloppy Zarrow Addition (Herb Zarrow and )ack Parker)
Double Turnover
Push-In Change (Fred Braue Handling)
fordan Count (Charles |ordan)
Three-Card Ascanio Spread (Arturo de Ascanio)
Elmsley Count (Alex Elmsley)
Half Pass
Srrup
Place the double-backed card on top ofthe deck.
l::a vour left wrist to show the face of the outjogged double and say, "f ust so you are sure I am not cheating,
.;nt vou to hold onto the end of the Four of Clubs like this, so that it can't go anywhere." Turn the hand back
ral uP and demonstrate how the participant should hold the card by taking hold of its endwith the right hand,
{=allv executing a Push-In Change (see "Long Dimensional Phone Call," page 7L for an explanation) to leave
":u rtith a face-down King outjogged. Place the deck on the table and invite the participant to hold onto the end
:r re outjogged King.
'-.i uP the tabled King packet, turn it face up and execute a |ordan Count to show the four Kings. Say,"With
; -: luck and presuming I read the instructions correctly, if I riffle the Kings like this ... one of them, the King
o-f
-.. firbs [name the King that you spotted earlier], should vanish from my packet." Riffle up the inner end of the
{;qs to make the magic happen and then take the packet in right-hand end grip in preparation for an Ascanio
rread-sryle move. Drag out the bottom card with your left fingers and simultaneously drag offthe top card
r:-r l'our left thumb. These cards are not held square but wiggled against one another,leaving you with two
-::J. - held as one - in end grip. Casually rotate both wrists to flash the backs of all three cards then turn them
:uk again and re-form the packet by reversing the actions and inserting the double card between the other two.
r-i r-ou do so, spot the bottom king of the group and remember
its suit (let's say it's the King of Hearts).
:r;-'Qne Kinghas vanished; the King of Clubs. I wonder where he could bel" Nod your head towards the card
:-a: the participant is still holding and raise your eyebrows. As you address the participant, pick up a little finger
r-*ali above the bottom two cards of the packet and retake it in right-hand end grip, taking over the break with
:e right thumb. Continue, "It seems unlikely, but let's take a look anyway." lJse your right hand to pick up the
:;r-r-deck above the selection by its short ends. This is easily done while still holding the King packet. Have the
=nicipant remove the outjogged card. As soon as he starts to look at the selection, secretly drop the two cards
:dort-the thumb break onto the half-deck that you're also holding. Separate the hands and place the remaining
-''o Kings on the table. You can now use the right hand to pick up the tabled half-deck, finally dropping it onto
=e left-hand cards burying the King of Hearts face up in the deck, with the double-backer above it. Table the
:E;L
lake the King of Clubs back from the participant and use it to scoop up the two tabled Kings, flipping the packet
:a;e down into the left hand (with the King of Clubs ending up on top). Carry out an Elmsley Count to show
;e tbur face-down cards then flip the packet face up and execute another Elmsley Count as you say,"Now that I
Say,"I'll try the King of Hearts this time lnaming the suit you spotted a moment agol. He can sometimes be
trouble but I'll do my besf." Riffle the ends of the cards again as before and then spread them face
up to show
I'ou only have three Kings. Drop the Kings face up on the table, allowing them to spread a little ,o thut
everyone
can see their faces, then pick up the deck and spread through it very openly until you arrive at
the face-up King
of Hearts. " Here he is! Face up right in the middle of the deck. I don't even rlememb,er me going near the deck, so
even I'm pretty spooked by that one!" Cutthe deck, bringing the face-up King to the top (and
the double,backer
to the bottom). Deal this King onto the tabled Kings and then reach down to the tabled spread and separate the
nvo Kings that haven't yet travelled (King of Diamonds and Spades, in this case). As everyone is watching
you
do this, casually turn your left hand palm down and table the deck. The double-backed card will hide the fact
that you have just secretly turned over the deck.
Pick up the Kings so the two that haven't yet traveled are at the face of the face-up packet and say, "I
have
nranaged two Kings which leaves me with the Spade and the Diamond that haven't been
subjectei to my powers!
r\'hich one would you like to go next?" Adjust the top two cards so the chosen King is
on top (let's say the King
of Spades) and the unselected King is placed at the back of the face-up packet. Flip the cards face down
and
Elmsley Count, but keep the last card in your other hand (this is apparently the King of Spades,
but is really
a different King) and catch a little finger break below the third card as it is counted. 'lfil
Say, bop these three
r\irrgs as you have singled out the poor old King of Spades as the next victim!" Drop the single
King face down on
top of the packet and execute a Double Turnover to show the King as you name it. Continu
e,"Wish him luck -
we may never see him again!"
Turn the double card face down and deal offthe top card into your right hand. Insert the single King face
down
into the centre of the deck, fully squared, by sliding it in from the back. You will probably rr..d to piace
your left
hand (rvith the packet held in dealing grip) at the front end of the deck so that the cards don't ,pr.ud
and expose
the true condition of the deck.
Pick up the deck, being careful to keep it square, and hold it between your palms, mimicking
the participant,s
position. You will need to keep track of the orientation of the deck as you are about
to secreily r.r.rr. the deck.
At this point, fack normally jokes, "Dear Lord. I am sorry I missed church on Sunday. I was busy
working on this
card trick. It won't happen again." Open your hands in the opposite way that you closed (to
them reverse the
deck) and ask the participant to open his hand too. As soon as he notices that a King
is missing, spread through
the deck to reveal that it's face up in the centre. Slide the King out of the spread and table
it with the other Kings.
This completes the first trick, but the fun has only just begun.
\k the participant to look at his selected card and, as he does so, close the fan of face-up Kings and Half Pass
--:e lowermost one. When he has remembered his card, hold your hands out towards the participant and push
. ithe top two Kings and take them in your other hand, slightly spread. Ask the participant to place his selection
-;e down onto the bottom Kings (which should remain square so that you don't flash the face-down King) and
--:en drop the top two Kings face up on top.
:-rplain that you wiil now make the selection vanish. Bring your hands closer to your body but still fairly close to
::e tabletop. Hold your right hand over the top of the packet in end grip and use the left fingers to gently push
-:-e bottom card over to the right so that it is hidden under the right hand. With the card in this position, move
:t'th hands forwards, but allow the sidejogged bottom card to fall face down onto the table. Continue moving
,,:ur hands forwards, ignoring the dropped card and continue to focus your attention on the cards in your hand.
llalie a magicai gesture over the deck and then say, "The card has oficially vanished! It's hard work this magic
:--<irtess - it certainly takes a lot of effortl" Execute an Elmsley Count to show that the selection has vanished. Of
:.turse, the audience will only give the packet a cursory glance as they believe that the selection is the card that
:rs dropped to the table.
J:op the Kings on top of the deck and square it up. Show your hands empty and look a little pleased with your
i:parent accomplishment before noticing the card laying face down on the table (if someone hasn't already
r-,inted it out). Act innocent and feign disappointment that they don't believe you that their card has vanished
i:d say, "You think that's your card? You don't think with all my efforts I really made it disappear? I am shocked,
. :nought we had a relationship built on trust!"
>norv that there are only three Kings on top of the deck by taking them offindividually and dropping the first to
--:e left of the deck, the next to the right and the final in front of the deck. Slowly turn the face-down card over
:: show it's actually a King and place it face up between you and the deck, ending up with a nice display of four
tngs with the deck in the middle.
-atch a break below the second card from the top of the deck and pick up both cards (face-up King and face-
jorvn selection below it). Insert the double card into the front end of the deck so that it protrudes for about half
-'s length and ask the participant to choose one of the three remaining Kings in front of them. Turn the named
ling face down, then show your right hand empty and place it palm down on top of the selected King. As you
Slowly lift your hand from the face-down King and move the hand sideways and backwards with your forearm
still shielding the tabled deck. Push the face-down card towards the participant with your left hand and tell him
that it has now miraculously transformed into his card. When he turns the card over, he will of course still see
a King, so continue,"Well if these three cards are still Kings, perhaps that untrustworthy King of Hearts has had
better luck!" Move your arms aside and slowly focus your attention onto the deck to reveal that the selection is
now protruding out of the deck.
Reach down to the table and pick up one of the Kings, and as you do, square the jogged card on top of the deck,
obtaining a little finger break below it. Drop the King face up on top of the deck. Pick up the other two cards
singly, and also drop them face up on top of the deck. Pick up all the cards above the break in end grip and
immediately peel the top King off onto the deck but leave it sidejogged so that half of the top card of the deck
is still in view. Peel the next King onto it, sidejogged a little more and then finally place the last two cards (held
as one) on top, sidejogged yet a little more. You'll need to clamp them all in place with your thumb to form an
apparent three-card fan of Kings on top of the deck.
Address the participant and say, "f am going to put the three Kings under your supervision. Make sure you keep
an eye on them!" Ask the participant to hold his hand palm down about an inch above the tabletop as you square
up the Kings (ensuring that they don't square with the top of the deck for fairness). Slip the Kings under the
participant's hand and ask him to drop his hand to the table, covering the Kings. As you lean forwards to place
the Kings onto the table secretly reverse the deck again by turning your hand palm down as you place the deck
onto the table offto one side.
Say, "Now I am going to try to not only make the missing King appear along with the three Kings under your hand,
but also to make him do a back flip as he arrives, so he will be upside down. This takes a lot of efforfl" Clench your
fists, screw your eyes up and act like an Olympic weight lifter for a few seconds and ask,"Did youfeel anything?
I did ... it was probably a hernia! Have a look and see if it worked." The participant will spread his packet to find
that a fourth card has appeared face down, just as you said it would. Allow the participant to look at the card -
he will find the final King.
Finally for this trick, Ribbon Spread the face-down deck to show that the participant's selection is now face up
in the centre of the deck. Turn the selection face down and place it back into the deck; you're ready for the final
trick.
-t the scene by saying, "I Am going to tell you the story of a famous robbery that was carried out by four of the
*t thieves ever, The Notorious Seyen*" Take the deck back, spread through and remove the four Sevens, hand
$em to your participant and ask that he examine them. fack says, "Have a look at these boys Don't forget to
:iwck them for concealed weapons ... but be careful; they're ruthless!" As the participant is looking at the cards,
;pread through the deck and remove the Ace of Diamonds and secretly downjog the double backed card as you
:ome to it.
ir-tren the participant is happy with the Sevens, ask that he place them face down on the table and say,"This was
ile target: an enormous priceless diamond. Feel free to give it a little polish and when you're done, place it face
zt*n next to the Sevens." Lift up on the injogged double backer and undercut all of the cards below it to the top,
--ontrolling the double backer to the bottom of the face-up deck.
?oint to the tabled Kings as you say, "Sef with the task of guarding this most valuable of prizes were four of the
-*,ugfiest men around ... the Kings. Feel
free to look over the guards so that you can see how tough they are. They
z-e all armed and dangerous." Catch a little finger break above the bottom card as you square up the deck, then
the deck to right-hand end grip, transferring the break to the right thumb.
=ensfer
?rk up the tabled face-down Sevens by placing the deck on top, taking them onto the bottom of the deck
it".tly below the double backed card, above which you have a thumb break. Immediately move the deck to the
H hand and drop all of the cards below the break (double backer and four Sevens) into left-hand dealing grip.
?lace the deck face up on the table in the position that the Sevens previously occupied.
.fsh the participant to drop the Kings face up onto the Sevens, followed by the face-up Ace of Diamonds. Say,
'b these are the players in our little story. Four men to protect the precious diamond." Spread the packet to
;irrr the four face-up Kings and the Ace of Diamonds and allow the face-down cards on the bottom of the
to spread a little, nobody will notice the additional card if you spread them tightly. Square up the packet,
=-r-ket
:rrn it over and then spread over the Sevens as you say,"BLtt these four Sevens will try to steal the diamond."
ihe double-backed card will once again be hidden because of the back-to-back condition of the packets. To
;omplete this extremely fair looking display, remove the face-up Sevens and place them, still face up, on the
ionom ofthe packet.
Cerrv out a Double Turnover to show a King and say, "Let me tell you a little more about the bodyguards. They
'e4t
the diamond in a large safe in an old castle." Remove the King and place it face down on the table as you
;ontinue, "This King, the King of Clubs, is a specialist in tactics. He stationed himself by the front door of the
;csfle." The double-backed card will show on top of the deck so everything looks fine after the Double Turnover.
Repeat this sequence (a Double Turnover, followed by placing the single card face down on the table) twice
f,rore as you say, "The King of Hearts is a specialist in weapons. He stationed himself by the back door of the castle.
-lnd here we have the King of Spades a specialist in hand-to-hand combat. He stationed himself next to the safe
txlf." For the final King, execute a Double Turnover but keeping a little finger break under the face-up double.
Turn the double card back down and deal the top single card (double-backer) onto the table as you say "Finally
'he King of Diamonds. He's the world's best sniper and stationed himself at the perfect viewpoint; on the roof."
Ask your participant to take the face-up deck and cut it into two piles and then invite him to square up the five
face-down cards (apparently the Kings and the Ace of Diamonds) and drop them onto either of the piles. Place
the other half on top, sandwiching the Kings and Ace of Diamonds in the centre of the deck.
Pull out the bottom Seven of your packet and revolve it around the side of the packet letting it land face up on
top as you say, "The Seven of Hearts is an expert in camouflage." Repeat this with the other three Sevens, saying
something along the lines of;"The Seven of Clubs is an expert in stealth; the Spade an expert climber and the
Seven of Diamonds is an expert forger."
Take the top two Sevens into your right hand to display two Sevens in each hand as you say, "These four experts
had only one goal in mind: to obtain the diamond." Place the right hand's cards underneath the left hand's cards
(sandwiching the hidden Ace of Diamonds in the middle of the packet) and drop the packet on the table in front
ofyou.
And now for the big climax; "I want you to watch very closely. The Notorious Sevens are there on the table. lf you
see any one of them move or twitch a muscle, please say so." Wait for a moment and say, "Did you see anything?!
No? Neither did the Kings!" Ask the participant to turn the deck face down and spread through until he reaches
the four Kings. He will find that the Ace of Diamonds has vanished from between them. Excitably say,"It seems
as though the guards are not as good as we supposed! The diamond has gone."
Finally, say, "The Notorious Sevens haven't moved. Nobody has been near them. But have a look and see if they
really are the best thieves around."
COlruttrutENTS
. You may like to eliminate the Double Turnovers during the display of the Kings during "The Hiest." If so,
simply flip over the top five cards (pretending that you have flipped over four) and then deal one King at a
time to the table, switching the final King for the double-backer as already described.
CnTDITS
. "Persistent Offenders" was inspired by Paul Harris' "Tap Dancing Aces" routine which first saw printin Las
Vegas Close-Up (1978) and then in The Art of Astonishment, Volume i (1996).
. The Zarrow Block Addition is described in The Vernon Chronicles, Volume 3 ( 1989) by Stephen Minch. The
handling described is |ack's minor personalisation, which makes good use of a double-backer.
. "The Heist" was inspired by Paul Harris' "Las Vegas Leaper" ftom Las Vegas Close-Up (1978) and The Art of
Astonishment, Volume 3 (1996). Also, the Double Turnover sequence used in "The Heist" was inspired from
his "Whack Your Pack" (also known as "Reflex") from Paul Harris Reveals Some of his Most Intimate Secrets
. A11three tricks in "The Double-Back Trilogy" appeared in fack's Set to Stun (2005). They took a lot of pages to
describe there too!
ryffiffiw
k$ d&b qJ
w
OLD FASHTONED ACES
q8x9p
1r4\u
This is one routine where ]ack forgets about mathematical principles and subtle methods. This time he
,rpens up his "box of sleights" and lets them all come out to play! "Old Fashioned Aces" could be said to be
:he quintessence of Jack Parker's magic in these terms. Many of the fantastic displays, subtle convincers and
rcrfectly balanced flourishes you have learnt from the previous routines in this book are all combined into this
,tne tour de
force. While learning this trick will certainly require a large investment of time and energy, you
;an be assured that it's the trick that |ack has held closest to his heart as he has spent the last five or six years
Jeveloping, tweaking and improving it.
MrmoRv
Tack places four Aces face up on the table and adds three court cards to each Ace. He then takes the first Ace and
places it amongst its three court cards. Amazingly, |ack makes the first Ace completely disappear leaving just
three court cards. This is repeated with the other three Aces, which all vanish in interesting and unique ways.
Finally, in order to reproduce the Aces, |ack spreads the deck along the table to find the first Ace face up in the
middle. To find the next Ace, the Ace of Diamonds, he spells out the word "diamond" using a card for each
ietter. Sure enough, the last card he deals is the Ace of Diamonds. As if all of that weren't enough, the big climax
;omes when |ack finds the remaining two Aces whilst the deck is in mid air!
SITTGHTS USED
TumbleGem Switch (]ack Parker)
Rhod Showvariant (Daniel Rhod)
Elmsiey Count (Alex Elmsley)
Ballerina Double (lack Parker)
Pirouette Double ()ack Parker)
Injogged Flip-over (|ack Parker)
Zen Spread (fack Parker)
Pinky Pull-down
Block Push-off
Trvo-Card Catch (lohann Hofzinser)
METHOD
Remove the four Aces from a shuffled deck and place them face up in a row on the table, positioning the Ace
of Diamonds second from the left (the other Aces can be in any order). Next, place any three cotrt cards face
,lown on top of each Ace,leaving the top half of each Ace exposed so that everyone can clearly see them below
the face-down cards. Once you're done, place the deck face down at the edge of the table closest to you, roughly
I {
Y
A DJueqt*rt 1t
I
PHRsr 1 _ Tur INeucuReL ACE
We start with the simplest of vanishes to get the ball rolling. Square up the leftmost packet and pick it up with
the right hand. Peel the top face-down card into the left hand, followed by the second and third cards which are
peeled offon top of it. Finally, place the face-up Ace on top of the packet, but injogged for around an inch and
then tip the hand forwards to let the card slowly slide down to come square with the packet. Flip the packet over
(showing a face-up court card) and re-take it into the right hand with the fingers and thumb pinching the cards
at the right side.
You will now execute a variant of |ack's TumbleGem Switch, which you may have learnt in "I Know Kung Fu"
(page 9). Start by peeling the top card into the left hand, using the packet to flip it face down as it falls into the
hand. Repeat this with the next card, flipping it face down onto the card already in the hand. Place the right
hand's two cards on top of the left hand's cards, but before relinquishing the grip immediately execute a Block
Push-offof everything below the bottom card to pull that bottom card away to the right. At the same time, use
the left thumb to push the face-up court card to
the right for about half an inch. You can now
use the single face-down card to flip the face-up
court card over onto the packet as you did with
the other two. Finally, take the remaining card
(apparently the Ace, but really a court card) and
pinch it between the outstretched left index and
secondfingers (fr1.2).
After the vanish of the first Ace has sunk in, move the right hand over to the left hand and place the left thumb
onto the top court card. Move the right hand away and use the right hand's packet to flip the top card face down
into the left hand. Once the card has settled, bring the right-hand packet back to the left and flip the double card
over - as one - onto the left-hand packet, allowing it to fall injogged for about an inch. Finally, flip the final
right-hand card face down on top of the double, but injogged a further inch. Let everyone see that you hold
iust three cards and then square the packet into left-hand dealing grip. This sequence is used after each Ace has
vanished, so for reference later in the explanation, I'll refer to it as the Injogged Flip-over.
You must now re-order the packet so that the Ace ends up on top. To do this, regrip the packet in right-hand
end grip. You can then place the left thumb on top of the packet, with the fingers below it and pull the top and
bottom card to the left leaving the middle two
cards held in right-hand end grip as one card.
Turn both hands over so that everyone can see
the faces of the three court cards (fig. 3) and then
drop the left hand's two cards face down onto the
deck, followed by the right hand's dodble card.
The Ace is now on top of the deck.
At the end of the Pirouette Double you're left with an apparent face-up single card and two face-down cards; the
farthest forward of which is supposed to be the Ace. Take the double under this card, leaving it sidejogged to the
Ieft and using the right fingers to hold it in place (fi1.2). Flip the left-hand card face up and place the double on
top of it, sidejogged to the right, freeing up the right hand so that it can also turn its card face up to show that
the Ace of Diamonds has vanished. Place the right-hand card on top of the other two to form a small spread of
three court cards.
7
Use the Injogged Flip-over from the first phase to flip each of the three cards face down and then square the
packet. Also repeat a similar display of the cards' faces by taking the packet in right-hand end grip and taking
the top and bottom cards of the packet with the left hand,leaving the middle two cards held as one in right-hand
end grip. Turn both hands over to show the faces of the cards (look back at fig. 3) and then place the double
cramp your right hand over the packet and then move the hand
away acting as if you have just palmed a card
rr ithout actually doing anything). You
can now flip the packet face up usin! only the ieft hand and carry
out a
Zen spread (page 52) as you say,"All it takes is a squeezi and
the Acei vanishes." Act guilty and as though you
're palming the Ace, then look up at your audience and say, "You have to trust me, you know?,, Slowly turn the
:ieht hand over to show it is empty then close the spread using
the Additional Closure explained within the
Zen spread description. Immediately go into the Injogged
Flip-over, turning the cards back face up into the left
:and.
-r order to re-order the packet so that the Ace ends up on top, flip the packet face
down and repeat the same
"tions as for the first two phases. In brief, hoid the packet inrighl-hand end grip, take the top and bottom cards
:to the left hand and then turn both hands over to .ho* u dou61e card
in the"right hand and two singles in the
..rt hand. Drop the single cards on top of the deck, followed
by the double card.'
-IIASE 4 _
FINAL DEPARTURE
?ick up the final packet and openly turn the Ace face
down on the bottom. Flip the packet face up into left-hand
:ealing grip so that everyone can see the Ace and then
immediately execute a pinky pull-down of the bottom
:ard' This allows you to take the top three cards with the
right hand by inserting the index and second fingers
:'to the break and pinching with the thumb on top. Move
i-he three.urds u*uy"to the right and forwards for a
:'-'uple of inches and then execute a Block Push-offof
the top two cards of the right-hand packet. you can now
.: the double card slide offthe left long side of the packet u.rd or"
the right hurri', single card to flip it face
* -r\\ n - as one card onto the left hand's
- card, outjogged for about an inch. Immediately place the right-hand
''ngle card face up on top of the packet, squared wlth ihe face-up card on the bottom. This leaves a face-down
: -,uble card outjogged from the middle of the packet.
Gently pull the outjogged card out of the packet (leaving the other two spread) and snap it face up to show that
the final Ace has now vanished. Once the disappearance of the Ace has sunk in, place the left-hand card face up
under the right-hand spread. You can now square up the packet, flip it face down and carry out a similar display
to the other Aces by taking the packet in right-hand end grip and pulling the top and bottom cards offwith the
left hand. Drop the right hand's double card onto the deck, followed by the left hand's two single cards. The fact
that you don't show the faces of the cards this time will almost certainly go unnoticed.
This order sets you up for a very impressive reproduction of the Aces. Start by cutting about half of the deck off
the table and placing the cards into left-hand dealing grip. Look down at the table, acting as if you didn't mean
to leave the other cards there, and pick up the remaining tabled cards and drop them on top of the left hand's
cards. This is done casually as you say, "Noilz I need to get the Aces back. The first one is easy and comes back with
just a snap of the finger{' Snap your fingers over the deck and then Ribbon Spread the cards face down along the
table to show the last Ace you vanished face up in the middle.
Push the face-up Ace out of the deck, pick up all the cards above where the Ace was in the deck and square them
back into your left hand. Then square up the remaining cards from the spread and drop them face down on top.
This secretly cuts the deck so that your stack is back on top.
Next you'llfind the Ace of Diamonds. To do this, spell "diamonds" face down onto the table forming a small
right to left row. Turn over the card on the "s" and show that it is the Ace of Diamonds. Place it with the other
tabled Ace.
1. Vanish
2. Convincer (Injogged Flip-over)
3. Readjustment as required for the ending
. There are various endings that can be used, especially for the last two cards, which are on the top and bottom
of the deck, ready to be produced. Jack thinks that the trick is long enough already so he always uses the Two
Card Catch, but you can use the Whiskers Split (see "Done Burying," page92), or perhaps use a "Gemini
Mates" sryle handling.
CnTDITS
. Ed Marlo was the first to vanish Aces from the packets during an Ace Assembly when traditionally the Aces
are transposed with other cards. His "Real Gone Aces" first saw print in New Phoenixmagazine (Number
338) and is dated 19th November 1955 in his personal notebooks. In particular, it was David Copperfield's
performance of "Grandfather Aces" on his The Magic of David Copperfield XVI: Unexplained Forces television
special (1995) that inspired Iack to work on this routine.
. |ack was inspired by Henry Christ's "Fabulous Four Aces" for the final revelations of the Aces. You can find
the original efiect in CliffGreen's Professional Card Magic (1961).
. Hofzinser's Two Card Catch was described (without a name) within his "The Married Hearts" routine in
Hofzinser's Card Conjuring (1931, first English translation).
MruoRy
|ack deals three Queens face down in a row onto the table. He then places the final Queen face down between
himself and the row of other Queens. Finally, he places three random black spot cards with the card nearest to
him.
With a click of the fingers, )ack transposes the cards so that the four-card packet now consists of the
four
Queens and the three face-down cards are of course the black spot cards. The cards only stay like that for a few
moments though - Iack immediately reverses the situation and turns over the three tabled cards to show that
they're the Queens and the packet once again consists of three black spot cards and the final Queen. It really is
that clean!
STTIGHTS USED
Veeser Concept (Bob Veeser)
Optical Rhythm Count (Allan Ackerman)
Double Turnover
Pinky Pullldown
Mexican Turnover
Block Mexican Turnover
MrrHoD
Remove the four Queens and any three black spot cards (|ack uses a Six, Eight and Nine), then put the deck
away as it's no longer needed. Place the face-up Queens on top of the face-up spot cards. Be sure that the red
and black Queens are somehow mixed (i.e. not in red, red, black, black order or visa versa). Spread the seven-
card packet to display the cards.
Say,"This is a little something with just seven cards. It's the four Queens that you should watch carefully." Close
the spread, acquiring a break above the bottom two spot cards. While keeping hold of the packet in left-hand
dealing grip, bring the right hand over the packet in end grip and hold onto all of the cards above the little finger
break. Place your left thumb on top of the packet then slide all of the cards above the thumb break away to the
right" Because of the friction of the thumb, the top card will also stay in the left hand and will fall squarely on top
of the two spot cards that were left behind. This is the Veeser Concept.
Bring the right-hand packet back over the deck and peel the next three Queens offonto the left-hand packet
one-by-one. This leaves you holding a single card in right-hand end grip, which you now use to lever over the
left-hand packet to turn it face down. Drop the single face-up card on top of the packet and tap its face as you
Flip the whole packet over so the Queens are face up again and say, "lust watch these ladies." Carry out a Pinky
Pull-down to get a break above the spot card on the bottom of the packet as you continue, "I want to show you
something rather minimal. Usually there are a lot of cards floating around in this sort of trick, but I want to be
very clear what's going on, that's why I am using just seven cards." Thumb over the top three cards to show the
tbur Queens then square up the packet and flip all of the cards that are above the break face down on top of the
single face-down card.
Deal the top card to the table near your body and then continue to deal out another three cards in a line in front
of the first card, forming the classic "T" formation. Use both hands to adjust each of the supposed Queens as if
lou were straightening them up. In fact, your secret motivation is actually to casually flash the face card of the
left-hand packet. Say,"Those three ladies are going to sit there all lonely and exposed; I won't put any other cards
with them. The spot cards, however will go on my Queen." Take the top face-down card from your packet and
slide it below the tabled Queen closest to you, in leader position. Deal the next card on top of the packet and
nonchalantly show everyone the last card before you drop it face down on top of the packet as well.
\take magical pass over the four-card packet and say, "Despite the fact that the other three Queens are sitting
a
there on the table, somehow they still manage to assemble over here with the leader." You will now perform Allan
Ackerman's Optical Rhythm Count to show that the four Queens have changed places with the spot cards. Pick
up the leader packet and spread it slightly so you can take two cards, roughly squared, pinched between the
tingers and thumbs of each hand. Raise the left hand for a moment to show a Queen on the face of the two cards,
then lower the packet down and thumb the top card of the pair onto the table. As you're doing this, bring the
right-hand packet up to display another Queen, then thumb the top of this two-card packet onto the previously
tabled card as you start to show the single Queen in the left hand. Drop this Queen onto the other two, then
show the final Queen and drop that on top of the tabled packet to end the count. The whole sequence should
happen smoothly and fairly rapidly with the hands moving up and down in syncopated fashion.
Pick up the tabled packet and execute a Double Turnover to show a Queen. Look down at the face-up Queen
and say, "I guess you're wondering how these Queens got here with my Queen of Spades [or whatever Queen is
*towingl." Turn the double card face down and take the top card of the packet into the right hand. Make a one-
handed spread with the remaining three cards and gently drop them, still in a spread condition, face down onto
the table in leader position.
bv,'But that's not the question you should be asking. You should be askinghow the other three Queens got back
,cver here nearyou!" Reach forwards and use the card in your hand to flip over the leftmost card of the row,
actually executing a Mexican Turnover to switch the Queen for the tabled spot card (see a description of this
move in "Hard to Get ]ust Got Easy," page 61). Continue by using the switched-in card to flip over the other two
cards, mimicking the actions of the Mexican Turnover but without actually carrying out the move.
[n a continuing motion, move back to the tabled three-card packet and use the card in your hand to lever over
the packet, executing a Block Mexican Turnover to switch the spot card in your hand for the top card of the
packet. The mechanics of this are identical to a traditional Mexican Turnover, except that all three cards below
the top one get turned over during the switch. Say,"And'of course this means that the three black cards appear
fuck over here ..." Slowly turn over the card in your hand and finish by saying, "... with my Queen of Spades."
. |ack has worked on the 7 Card Assembly plot a lot, but has disguised it in various ways. For example, "On, In
and Under" (page 172) is basically a7 CardAssembly that is framed differently. He has also worked on various
handlings for the leader packet in order to make the change from Queens to spot cards sequential (as in Dave
Solomon's solution that I'11cite in a moment), but in this routine he feels that the sudden quick change of the
whole packet is stronger and keeps up the fast rhythm.
. For those interested, the best solution that )ack achieved to this plot will remain unpublished. He asked a
very close friend if there was anything he could leave him with when the time came, and his friend made the
wonderful suggestion of me giving him a certain trick, one that he would keep to himself as a gift from |ack. It
sounds odd, but given how much he helped with ]ack's magic and more importantly, how close they are, ]ack
has a huge satisfaction to leave the trick out of this book. |ust think of it as the one that got away. But, it is in
safe hands ...very safe hands. And I,like you, wish I knew the more about it!
CnTDITS
. The 7 CardAssembly plot comes from the mind of Edward Marlo and first saw publication in New Phoenix
magazine (Number 338). |ack's favourite methods are Daryl's version from FFFF Lecture Notes (1992) and
Dave Solomon's wonderful "Economy Flight" from Spectacleby Stephen Minch (1990).
. |ack would like to thank David Solomon and Allan Ackerman for their help and suggestions with this trick.
. Allan Ackerman's Optical Rhythm Count - a variant of the fennings original - can be found in his Al
Cardpone booklet (1996). )ack uses a slightly varied handling from that described in Allan's booklet as the
Ackerman handling specifically requires four court cards to be used.
. While not a direct inspiration, Max Maven's "|umping Bean Aces" from Focus (1999) has a similar structure
to this routine with regards to the Mexican Turnover and Double Lift sequence.
. This trick was first published in |ack's book Sef to Kill (2006).
Mruony
|ack explains that he's going to change the participant's point of view and allow her to see everything from the
magician's side of the table. He starts by dealing an Ace face down in front of the participant, explaining that
this is known as the "leader Ace" and is the card that the magician normally deals face up in front of himself.
Jack then deals the other three face-up Aces in front of himself, explaining that the participant would normally
get these, but since the point of view has changed, so has the position of the cards! He then continues to place
three face-down cards on top of each of his three Aces. |ack asks his participant to hold out her hands and then
places the leader Ace between them. He also takes the top indifferent card from each of the three tabled packets
and inserts them individually between her hands to join the leader Ace.
With a click of the fingers, the participant is instructed to open her hands and look at her cards. Since she holds
the leader Ace, the participant probably expects to find the four Aces in her hand. In reality, she finds that things
have taken a strange twist as she actually holds the four Kings!
When the audience look down they are amazedto find the four Aces face down in a row on the table. Not only
that, but where have all the indifferent cards gone?!
STTIGHTS USED
End Grip Steal ()ack Parker)
Misdirection Spread (Jack Parker)
Srrup
Stack the deck in the following order, from the top down:
Any King
Four Aces (in Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts, Spades order if you want to follow along with my explanation)
The other three Kings
Rest of the deck
MrruoD
Set the scene by saying, "Let me try something unusual by changing your p.o.v.; your point of view. I want you
to see what I see from my side of the table when I do one of my
favourites - it's called The Four Ace Trick." Spread
over the top five cards, square them and then flip them face up on top of the deck, catching a little finger break
below the packet as it falls square onto the deck. Push offthe top three cards to show the four Aces then square
Deal the top card face down onto the table in front of the participant, then deal the next three into a line in front
of yourself, turning them face up as you do so. The positioning of the row of Aces is important: each card should
be around an inch apart and should sit around two inches from the edge of the table. As you deal the cards say,
"Normally, I'd get the single Ace - which we magicians call the'leader Ace,' but since we're changing the P.O.V.
you get the leader and I get the other three which I'll put over here face u[)."
Continue, "Now I'll put three other cards, we call them indifferent cards, onto each of the Aces." Flip the deck face
up and spread through showing a number of indifferent cards. Turn the deck face down and push offthe top
card, take it face down in right-hand end grip then place the next card above the first but sidejogged to the left.
Take a third card in this manner, using the right index finger to hold the cards on the packet.
Explain, "We always work from left to rigltt so please turn the Ace on my left face down, The Ace of Diamonds."
You'Il notice that your hands will naturally be above the row of Aces, so as you part your hands so that the
participant can get to the first tabled Ace you'll steal the top card of the spread back onto the deck:
Say, "1 would normally turn the Ace of Diamonds over myself, but I want you to see everything that I normally
seein this trick." When she has turned the Ace over drop the two face-down indifferent cards (apparently three
cards) on top of it, allowing them to separate slightly as they fall onto the Ace.
Move your hands together and take the next three cards into the same stepped end grip, just as before with the
only difference that the second and third cards go below the first, instead of on top of it. Say, "So we put the three
cards onto the Ace of Diamonds. Then we take another three and put those onto the middle Ace, The Ace of Clubs."
Bring the right-hand packet over the deck, squaring the far left edges of the packet against the left thumb,
allowing the bottom two cards to fall back on top of the deck. This leaves you with a single card held in end grip
with the fingers covering the diminished thickness of the packet. Turn the deck on its edge again and tap the
single card against the top as before. Finally, separate your hands so that your participant knows to turn over the
centre Ace and then drop the single card (apparently three) on top.
Keeping attention on your upper body (and away from the table), say,"That just leaves your Ace - the Ace of
\pades. lt looks kind of lonely over there, so let's give him some company! I am sure his friends, the other Aces, will
':e happy to donate a card each
for him." Ask the participant to place her hand out palm up before her and then
:ick up the face-down leader card (supposedly the Ace, but really a King) and drop it onto her palm. As you do
:ris and her attention is focused, place the deck offto one side or in your pocket as it is no longer needed and
.'ou want it to be out of play before the end of the trick.
>ar', "Now just place your other hand palm down on top, but leave a little space so the Ace can breothe!" Pick up
:i're top card from the leftmost pile and slide it face down between the participant's hands and on top of the card
, ready there. Continue, "So that gives you two cards. Do you want to check, or do you trust me?" Jack has found
rat his participants almost always trust him as the procedure is so fair, so he normally responds with, "Oh well,
':t,tt could be your
first and biggest mistake! Iust raise that top hand a little, we don't want to squash them, and I'll
::tt another card in there." If she does want to check, lack says, "I didn't think you trusted me so will let you check
': a few moments once you have all three indifferent cards with your Ace." Whatever patter you chose to use,
trLr rlluSt ensure that she looks up at you, then refocuses back at her palms and not on the tabled cards, which
.rould remain just in her peripheral vision throughout this phase of the trick. |ack finds that an important way
' \ ensure that the audience keep attention on their hands is to focus all of his attention on their hands too.
i ick up the top card from the centre packet and immediately lean forwards again to put this card between her
-':.lms. Say,"Does that feel a little bit heavier? You have an Ace and two other cards in there now. Does it feel like
't.,ee? Can you see them sticking
out at all? Do you still trust me? Actually, don't answer that! lust lift up with that
t hand again and I'll put one more in there." As you insert the card with the left hand, use your right hand to
:'..k up the top card of the final packet and then slip it between the participant's hands.
-,=irn forwards so that your left hand naturally rests on the table as you lean across so that the tabled double
-"rd is easily within reach of the left hand. With practice you will be able to do this without looking. Then, as
,u insert the final card into the participant's hand, use your left hand to secretly reach for the double card and
..:as the top card of the double to the left for a few inches. You should practice enough so that the arm stays
.:itionary and only the hand and fingers move. When you've moved the card, move your left hand forwards and
',r atrds
the participant, naturally shielding the card you just moved from hel line of sight.
'''' ."You have one Ace and three indifferent cards; as we call them. That's what the magician always has, and
'.ce you are in my chair, that's what you've got. But you know, at the end of the trick it never ends up like that
;-r lf? 1 think you have a sneaky suspicion that there might be more than just one Ace in your hands, don't you?
;ll, why don't you have a look ..." Keep leaning forwards and place your hands in the space either side of the
:.rticipant's hands, still maintaining the area around her hands as the central focus. When she turns the cards
,'er she will discover that she now holds the four Kings. Say,"Four Kings! That's not what you expected was it?"
-.ier a brief pause continue, "Well, if that surprised you then the fact the four Aces are all over here with me
.ould be a shock as well!" Lean back to reveal the four face-down cards, then slowly turn them face up, moving
: i.h one forwards so they are in the centre of the table. Also place the Kings on the table mirroring the layout
COtrzttrutENTS
. This routine relies at certain points on fairly hear,y misdirection, but more importantly what |ack calls "visual
blocking." You not only focus attention on the participant's hands, but also physically use the position of her
hands to mask the table from the audience. For best results, the participant should stand and look down at the
working surface. You can either be seated or standing opposite the participant, or for those convention goers
amongst you, kneeling down on a floor.
. The "visual blocking" is obviously less effective to people watching from a surrounding position and so is
the Ace move at the end, which is likely to be spotted by them. This wasn't fack's concern when creating the
routine because the presentation is focused on the one person's point of view, which is why he only tends to
perform it for one person at a time.
CruDITS
. fack stumbled on this presentation after considering two routines. The first is his "More Effort Less Magic,"
which is described within the "Double-Back Trilogy" (page 154) and Mark Aspiazu's "Misdirection Assembly"
for his one-man issue of Ego magazine (Number 10, March 2002). )ack would also like to thank Mark for his
all-round inspiration which can be seen through many of )ack's creations.
ln 2006 I co-organised The Session; an event for serious close-up magicians. I knew that I wanted |ack to be
:art of the event, but also understood that at that stage of his career, he would not be comfortable giving a full
,:,ne-hour lecture. Instead, I proposed that he give two ten-minute workshops on two of his tricks. He chose
;.-ell because "The Three Stooges" was a highlight of the convention for many people. He immediately warmed
te audience by introducing himself as the love child of ]ay Sankey and Homer Simpson! As he continued, I
;satched the faces of many of the top card magicians in the UK as they realised that they had no idea how three
:articipants managed to perform an Ace Assembly with |ack standing away from the deck at all times! You are
.:.bout to learn how he did it.
MruoRy
'ack
expiains that he will test three participants' magical abilities. He does this by dealing himself an Ace and
iree random cards and asks his participants to do the same. He then asks that they follow a predetermined
-quence of actions; the end result of which is that all three participants somehow cause their Aces to change
::to indifferent cards. |ack then shows that his packet contains all four Aces!
SITIGHTS USED
'og
Shuffle
RTQtTREMENTS
lhis trick
uses the well known gaffs required for the "McDonald's Aces" routine. That is, a double-faced Ace of
Jiamonds, Ace of Clubs and Ace of Hearts, all with indifferent cards on the other side.
S rrup
?iace the ungimmicked Aces of Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts face down on top of the face-down deck and
rstribute the normal Ace of Spades and the double-faced Aces throughout the deck with the Ace side facing
:ohrlwards. For completeness, it is suggested that you remove the regular cards that match the backs of the gaffs
--r that they don't show up during the routine.
\/TETHOD
-dcquire three willing volunteers who have an urge to try their hand at performing some magic and ask, "Do
-feel that you might be magician material? There are a few key things that I need to test your natural aptitude
', :u
'-''r and we may as well start with a classic of magic. There's nothing more classic than a four Ace trick!" Spread
rrough the face-up deck, ensuring that the audience can't see the backs of the cards, and remove the four Aces
:hree double-facers and one normal Ace) as you come to them and place them on the table. Place an Ace in
Explain that,"The first test looks at how you handle the cards. You need to be able to do a neat shuffle or cut."
Execute the fanciest false cut you know that retains the three Aces on top and realise, "Ah, is that too dfficult?
Let's start with something a bit easier - let's use the standard Overhand Shffie. Shffie the cards like this and deal
three for yourself." Using actions that match your words, give the deck a standard |og Shuffle to retain the top
stock, then deal three cards face down onto your face-up Ace of Spades. Pass the deck to the first participant and
ask him to copy your actions, then pass the deck to the next participant, and so forth.
After everyone has dealt three face-down cards onto their face-up Ace, retrieve the deck and place it face up on
the table. Say, " Good work everyone. The next thing that people often overlook is the ability to learn magic. This is
not as easy as it would seem. You have to be able to follow detailed instructions and sometimes complex sequences.
Let's try a sequence - it's not too dfficult, so don't worry. Iust listen very carefully to what I say and go slow."
Explain the process clearly and slowly so that everyone can easily follow along as you explain it. Don't follow the
actions yourself, just explain them. They are as follows:
l. "Pick up your cards and hold them neatly in your hand. Take off the top card, turn it face up and put it on the
bottom of the packet."
2."Take the new top card and put fhat on the bottom without reversing it."
4. "Now, rotate the packet around one hundred and eighty degrees horizontally, end-for-end."
As your participants follow these actions it's important to take a step back and maintain distance from the
packets to add to the fact that you haven't touched the cards. |ack even goes as far as casualiy placing his hands
in his pockets so that nobody can suspect him of anlthing untoward.
Now that everyone has carried out the instructions, continue ,"There's jl.tst one more thing you need to do: make
the magic happen! With your free hand, make a fst and then point out one of your fingers. This is your magic
finger." Wait for a few seconds and say to someone, "Make sure you don't point your middle finger ... that one
isn't so magical!" Continue, "Wave your magic finger over your packet. Now, if yon have followed correctly you
will hqve three cards face up, leaving one face down one - your Ace. IJse your magic finger and spread your packet
along the table and then push the face-down card forwards and out of the spread." Asking the participants to use
just one finger ensures that they cannot pick up the cards from the tabie, which could cause them to accidently
expose the gimmicked cards.
Walk around and pick up all of the face-up cards and place them to one side, then say,"Cup your hands on top
of your Ace. You feel how thin and insubstantial the Ace feels? I want you to imagine it's not there at all. That's
rigftt. Imagine that if you lifted your hand the Ace would be gone." After everyone has concentrated for a while,
Finish by explaining,"The Aces didn't vanish, but they certainly changed! But you know a really good magician
wouldn't lose the Aces like that. They would collect them-" Slowly turn over your three face-down cards that have
been on the table all along to reveal the four Aces.
COtrzttrztENTS
. ]ack has always been a fan of "McDonald's Aces." Despite the simplicity of the gimmicks, the trick's impact on
lay people is always strong and probably can't be beaten without the use of gimmicks. Whilst exploring various
ways of handling the basic packet of three cards and one gaff, ]ack realised that the handling he created could
be used as a Do As I Do style sequence as the participant can handle the cards throughout the vanish.
fack believes that with all three participants focused on handling their cards just as you instruct them,
everyone focuses on the sequence rather than the Aces. So when the participants spread out their cards,
everyone is focused on the fact that one of their cards is face down, as per your patter. And because the Ace
isn't face up, they believe that the face-down card is an Ace. This becomes an accepted truth without you
having to reinforce it; making the belief stronger in the audience's mind.
. )ack knows that there are longer and more sophisticated sequences that can be used for the Ace vanish and
he has spent alot of time exploring them in an attempt to show four backs, and so on. Eventually, after much
consideration he settled for this one as he believes that it's long enough so that you really can't follow which
card is where without the sequence being so long that it becomes boring.
CnTDITS
. McDonald's Aces was a famous pitch item of the "One-Armed Gambler" |on McDonald ("Mac"). This style of
routine (using double-backed cards for create an Ace Assembly) dates back to Hofzinser, but the most famous
description is Lewis Ganson's explanation title "McDonald's $100 Routine" in Dai Vernon's More Inner
Secrets of Card Magic (1960).
. This trick was previously published on Gene Taylor's 2OO5 Antinomy Annual CD, in my booklet , Magic
from
The Session 1 (2006) and more recently in Genii magazine (lwe 2007).
Sunken 21
Invisible 2I
Fake 2 1
G\i#&#el,l#
q# d&% er
f%-,#{'q,kd$5-
SUNKEN 2I
qexgp
\,4\ U
One of ]ack's pet plots is the classic mathema tical 2l-Card Trick
and that's why we've decided to devote a
chapter featuring three of his favourite handlings. Every
time we meet I pretty much always jokingly pretend
to fall asleep at the thought of seeing yet another variant
of the effect. Contrary to my repartee, this handling
certainly made me wake up and take notice. It's perhaps
Jack,s best to date.
Mruony
[ack has a card fairly selected and lost within a packet of twenty-one
cards. He then deals the cards onto the
table in three rows of seven cards. whereas the normal
27-carl:d,Trick requires the cards to be dealt out three
times, Jack is able to locate the serected card after just
one deal.
STTIGHTS USED
None.
METHOD
Have someone remove any twenty-one cards from
a shuffled deck and place the remainder of the deck
aside.
Take back the twenty-one cards and spread them face
up along the table. This allows you to casuallylook down
and remember the top and bottom cards, which
will act as yo.r, k.y cards.
Turn back to your audience. Pick up the packet and deal a line of three cards, turning each one face up as you
deal it. After you've dealt this line of cards - and the lines to follow - pause for a few beats. This pause after
dealing each row allows you to identify whether you have dealt your first key card, which was the one that you
glimpsed at the top of the original twenty-one card packet (top if the packet was face down). You won't see the
card in the first row, so continue dealing through the cards in rows of three (overlapping the previous row), like
the standar d,Zl-CardTrick. When you eventually notice your first key card (normally in the third or fourth
row), deal the next card and count "twelve" in your mind. Count "thirteen" for the next card, and continue
secretly counting as you deal, until you reach the second key card, which you also include in your count. Due to
the mathematics behind the selection procedure, the number you stopped counting at tells you how far from the
top of the twenty-one card packet the selection was before you started dealing.
In order to locate the selection you must now work out how many cards you have already dealt to the table. |ack
does this by finishing dealing the current row, then looking at the number of rows that he has already dealt and
multiplying it by three. Given that you pause for a moment after deaiing each row, you have plenty of time to
make this simple calculation.
Continue dealing cards to the table in rows of three, keeping track of how many cards you are dealing. When
you reach the selection, deal it face down onto the table and continue dealing the rest of the cards face up.
Finally, when you're ready to reveal the selection, ask the name of the participant's selection and turn over the
face-down card to show that you correctly identified it.
COIzIVTENTS
. After dealing out the cards at the start of the trick, the participant
can shuffle her packet if she would like. This
may stop her from thinking that you know the top card of her packet.
. fack's confidant Tomas Blomberg recently discovered a method of this trick that doesn't require any
calculations. When you deal the cards out in three rows, just count the cards you deal, but stop your count on
the first key card and ignore all cards following that until you have dealt the second key card. Continue your
count on the card after the second key card and the selection will always land on the count of eleven. At that
point, you can simply turn the selection face down and continue just as in |ack's presentation.
. The most disarming part of |ack's performance of this effect is that he manages to talk even when dealing (and
counting) the cards. Everything seems so casual that the audience is certain he's about to follow up the dealing
with the epical, "Which row is your card in?" question. To make his presentation easier, |ack decided to script
what to say after dealing each row:
l."Have you seen this trick before? It's called the 21-Card Trick."
2. "Most people know it as the trick that everyone's grandfather inevitably performs for their grandchildren. It's a
3. "lt was certainly the first trick I ever saw and started my interest in cards."
4."1 used to love seeing my grandfather perform it. It made us both smile."
5."But as I grew older and became more interested in card magic I worked out my own version."
6."ln my version you never asked any questions and neyer deal the cards out more than once."
. And my grandfather never could understand how I managed to leave his card
"
face down!" Or, " And my
7
grandfather never could understand how I could just pick his card out, like this!"
CnTDITS
' The mathematical principle at play here is based on David Solomon and Steve Draun's "S-D Location," which
first saw print in Kabbala magazine (Number 8, April lg72).Jack added the concept of having two key cards
as you need to know where the "start" and "end" of the cut-offpacket is. Using two keys
ailows you to add an
extra cut as it is the distance between the keys that gives you the location. Both the "S-D Location" and
lack's
variant employ the use of a "sunken key card" which is a concept that first saw print in Geoffrey Scalbert's
book Scalbert's Selected Secrets ( 198 1 ).
' To saY that the 2l-CardTrick is one of the oldest tricks in the book is quite accurate as it dates back to at
least the seventeenth century. One of the earliest known descriptions can be found in Claude-Gaspar
Bachet's
Problemes Plaisants et Delectables (1612) under the title of "Probldme 18. De plusieurs cartes dispos6es
en
divers rangs deviner laquelle on aura pens6e," which roughly translates to "Problem 18. Several cards laid out
in various rows to guess which one will have been thought."
' This trick was originally published in |ack's book Sef to Kill (2006) and in
lon Racherbaumer's The 2t-Card
Trick ebook (2007). Astute who have studied those descriptions might notice that this handling is slightly
more streamlined to the one described previously. This comes courtesy of Tomas Blomberg who recently
made a small tweak to the method to eliminate a small complication from
|ack's original.
Mrmonv
After performing the2l-Card Trick, Jack has a new card selected from the packet of twenty-one cards. He then
causes the selection to vanish, leaving just twenty cards. Finally, he makes the card reappear again at the exact
position that his participant names.
STTIGHTS USED
Palm and/or Lap.
MrruoD
If,like |ack, you plan on performing this effect directly after performing a standard 2l-Card Trick, simply palm
offany card and lap it before performing this routine. If you're feeling particularly devious, |ack suggests waiting
until someone performs a 2l-Card Trick on you, then palm offa card and perform "Invisible 21" on them,
apparently using their twenty-one cards.
Spread offthe top seven cards and place them in a pile on the table as you explain,"This is similar to the 2l-Card
Trick in that it uses three piles of seven cards." Spread off another seven cards and place them to the left of the
first packet, then place the remaining cards (actually only six cards) to the left of the second packet.
Invite someone to pick one of the three packets and ask him to shuffle it as you continue, "There are a few
differences though; here's the first one." Have him cut some cards from his packet, look at the face card of the
cut-offsection, and then drop that portion onto either of the other two piles. At this point you must remember
whether he dropped his cards on top of the six-card packet, or on top of one of the seven-card packets. He
should then place the other tabled packet on top of the combined packet, and finally drop the small packet of
cards that he holds on top of everything to completely bury the selection. This is Edward Marlo's Automatic
Replacement and places the selection either thirteenth or fourteenth from the top of the new packet. We'Il
examine the options in a moment.
Say,"Instead of finding your card, I'm going to go one step further; I'm going to turn it invisible. Incredible I know,
but nonetheless true!" Holding the packet in right-hand end grip, place the right index finger on top and curl the
right fingers around the front end of the packet. This allows you to use your thumb to riffle offup about half the
pile for around an inch, creating a wide break. The cards are fully supported by the right fingers, so they won't
I
now reach into this break with your left hand
and pretend to pull out an invisible card. As
vou pull out the invisible card, let the top half
of the pile spring offyour thumb creating
a snapping sound and mime placing the
invisible card on the table.
-i the participant originally placed his packet on top of one of the seven-card packets, spread off seven cards
:nd flip them face up on top of the remaining face-down cards. Alternately, if he dropped his packet on top of
:he six-card packet, spread over six cards and flip them face up on top of the face-down cards. Either way, the
.election will end up as the first face-down card of the packet.
Slorvly spread through the face-up cards, showing the faces to your participant and ask him if he sees his card.
His reply will be negative. When you reach the end of the face-up group, spread over one extra face-down card
.nd catch a break under it as you square up the packet. In a continuing action, lift off all off the cards above the
:reak in end grip and say, "So your card is definitely not one of these?" As you do so, casually gesture by raising
our hand a little and turning it back towards the participant so that he can see the top card of the packet. This
.llows you to quickly look at the bottom of the packet and remember the selection, which is looking straight at
ou. If you are working surrounded you may, of course, carry out a more subtle glimpse of the card as you table
:ne packet. Place this packet on the table.
Spread off approximately six more cards and flip them face up, spreading through so the participant can check
:r-r 5sg ltrnl his card isn't among those either, then table this group face up next to the first packet. Turn the
:emaining cards face up, show that the selection isn't in that packet either, and place it on the table to create
. third face-up pile. Say, " So your card is not in any of these piles anymore? Well, that's because it is over here -
;.itd it's invisible! Are you starting to believe me? I know it's hard, as being a non-magician the card is obviously
:''onspar€fit to you, but I can see it, and I can tell you it's really there. If I turn it
face up I can even tell you it's the
',ce of Spades (or whatever card they selected)." This off-hand naming of the card is a nice moment that is both
::agical and funny; fack suggests that you don't pass it by too quickiy.
Sat', "Let's put your card back into the packets like you did at the start. I know you can't see it so I'll put it next
:e't 61 1;6vfl that you can see so you know where it is. Which of these three cards do you want it next to?" Point to
If the participant happens to select the pile with the face-down card below it, pick up that pile, give it a cut and
then drop the packet on top of one of the other piles. Finally, drop the remaining pile on top of the talon. If the
participant picks one of the other two piles, first drop the pile with the face-down card below it on top of the
chosen pile, then place the combined pile on top of the remaining seven-card pile.
Say, "OK now I will make your card visible again. You wanted me to place it next to the Four of Clubs, right?"
-
Wait for a response then let your participant spread through the cards to find a face-down card next to the card
that he named. It is, of course, the selection.
COV|TTZIENTS
. If you'd like to perform this effect without having already removed a packet of twenty-one cards, count off
seven cards from the top of the deck and place them in a pile on the table. Count off another seven cards, but
as you square them up, secretly drop the bottom card of the packet back onto the deck, then place this six card
packet on the table, to the left of the first one. Finally, count offanother seven cards and place them to the left
of second pile, creating a row of three piles of cards; the centre pile having just six cards. Place the deck aside
as it is no longer required.
CnTDITS
. Edward Marlo's Automatic Replacement can be found in "The Nouveau 2l-CardTrick" in Marlo Without
Tears (1983) by lon Racherbaumer.
. Iu.F and Dave Solomon would like to thank Paul Cummins, who permitted them to use a few of his invisible
card gags from Paul's excellent "The Invisible Card" routine that was published in his ... From a Shuffled Deck
in Use... lecture notes (1996).
. This trick originally saw print in |ack's book Sef to Kill (2006) and |on Racherbaumer's The 2l-Card Trick
ebook (2007).
STIIGHTS USED
Biddle Steal (Elmer Biddle)
Double Push-off
MITHoD
Have your magician friend shuffle the deck and as you take it back secretly glimpse the bottom card. Take the
deck face down in right-hand end grip, catching a thumb break above the bottom card as you do so.
You are now going to take twenty-one cards from the packet, but switch in your glimpsed key card at a certain
Point. Start by peeling seven cards offthe top of the deck and into your left hand, counting aloud as you go.
Stop after seven cards and say, " Do you know the famous 2l-Card Trick?" This normally creates a few groans
or snores! Continue counting aloud until you have peeled offten cards, and then as you peel offthe eleventh,
secretly drop the card below the break on top of the packet, under the eleventh card
Continue peeling off - and counting - cards until you reach the fourteenth card. Acquire a little-finger break
below this card as you peel it onto the packet and look up and say, "Every magician loves the 2l-Card Trick, but
they just don't like to admit lfl" When you resume the count, steal the card above the break and continue peeling
offmore cards until you have peeled offtwenty-one cards in total. This is the standard Biddle Steal.
Iack has designed this sequence to serve two purposes. Firstly, you have cunningly managed to position the
known key card eleven cards from the top and secondly, magicians will have hopefully picked up on the Biddle
Steal and expect that the packet does not really contain twenty-one cards, which is of course irrelevant.
Lookyour friend in the eye for a moment, then hand him the packet and say, "I know you don't trust me!" Have
him count the cards down onto the table out loud and when he has verified that there are indeed twenty-one
,:ards, ask him to pick up the packet and cut offroughly a third and place them back onto the table. Ask that he
repeat this by cutting offanother third and placing it to the right of the initial packet. Finally, ask that he place
the remainder of the cards to the right of that packet. I will assume that he has cut the packets from your left to
right to make things clearer to learn. The only requirement here is that the key card ends up within the middle
packet, and this will happen so long as the participant doesn't cut too deep or shallow for the first two cuts.
Pick up the packet and spread the cards with faces towards yourself, looking for the key card that you
remembered at the start of the trick. Break the spread so that the key card is on the face of the left-hand portion
and say, "There are dffirent ways to end this trick. I could just look through and try to pick your card out ..." Act
as though you are about to place the card down onto the table but stop short of doing this and simply re-form
the packet by placing the lower section above the top section. This secretly cuts the packet and should put the
key card on the face. The end result of this is that the selection is eleventh from the top of the packet. This is
what Allan Ackerman calls a Gesture Cut.
Turn the packet face down and deal out three face-down cards in a row. Deal out another row of cards onto the
ones already there, but place them slightly injogged, just as you'd deal the cards in a standard 2l-Card Trick.
Finally, deal another row, totalling nine cards on the table. Continue, ".. . but I'm not that good! I could, however,
do the standard method of dealing out three rows of seven cards..." Pick up the tabled cards in any order and put
them underneath the ones you hold. The selection is now second from top.
Continue, "... bLft that's a little boriing.I might get your card to rise majestically to the top..." Turn the top
indifferent card face up on the packet and joke, "I didn't say I was going to, just that I might! I have even seen
some people show a spectator the cards one at a time and purely by their reactions have been able to tell which is
their thought-of card." Execute a Double Push-off of the top two back-to-back cards and use them to flip the
next card face up. Thumb this card over, too (mimicking the actions of the Double Push-off), and take it beneath
the double card. Use these cards to flip the next cardface up and again take it beneath the other three.
Say,"But I am not going to use any of those methods! Instead, you are going to use your intuition." Flip all the
cards face down onto the packet, letting them fall square as they turn over. This reverses the selection and places
it third from the top of the packet. Continue, " I know it'll be tough, but if you really focus I think you can do it."
You'll now execute a fake Top Palm - fake in that you don't actually palm the card! |ack always mimics a pretty
amateurish looking palm by cramping his hand over the packet and freezing it in that awkward position as he
moves it away. With the hand still held as if it were palming a card, cut offabout eight to ten cards and place
them on the table. Cut the remaining packet in half and table these two piles next to the first one, forming a
line of three piles. Remember to keep your hand in fake palm position throughout these actions, then rest your
hands together in your best "I'm trying to be natural while palming a card" pose!
Ask, which pile the participant thinks his card is in. After considering the consequences of telling you that
you're palming the card, your magician friend will name one of the three piles. If they pick the first pile that
you cut off, simply move your hands forwards and place one onto each of the other piles and spread those cards
downwards towards yourself. It should appear that you ditched a palmed card during this action, which is, of
course, untrue and irrelevant. Show that your hands are completely empty and then spread the remaining pile
in the same way to show their card reversed, face up in the centre. If your friend caught your fake palm, the
appearance of their card in the pile again should take them by surprise.
"To confirm - you have really focused on your card and you
Say, feel it's in this packet. Is that correct?" Drop the
packet face down onto the table and ask the participant to place a hand palm down on top of it. At this point
make it clear your hands are empty. Continue, "Try to imagine your card turningface up. Really focus on it being
face up amongst the face-down cards."
Reach over and pick up the packet that secretly contains the selection and move it offto the side. Pick up the
other unselected packet and drop it on top. The reversed selection is now approximately central in this face-
down pile. Sit back from the table and say, "You know, focus is a strange thing. You can try so hard to concentrate
on just one thing and yet can be distracted so easily. Like when I moved those other cards aside, lust
for a second,
rcur mind focused on me and not the cards under your hand. Have a look at your cards and you'll find they are
still all face down. It just happened that at the instant your mind managed to get your card to
flip over, I just
inppened to distract it and your card ended up face up in the place we least expected."
Slowly spread out the discarded pile to show the selection face up in the centre. Magicians will pretty much
always laugh and be extremely confused about what just happened. The simple explanation: you used everything
they thought they knew about card magic against them!
COtrztVtENTS
. fack tells me that this routine always gives him a lot of pleasure to perform. You get to use fake palms, fake
add-ons, fake reversals and still end up with a lovely climax that always gets a laugh from magicians. I guess
the saying, "The more they know, the harder they fall," certainly rings true, even when applied to an old classic
such as the 2l-Card Trick.
. For those that are interested, the psychology that |ack uses to make magicians follow along with his fake
actions is incredibly convincing. So convincing in fact that I fell for every single one of them when he
performed it for me.
. This effect recently saw print in fon Racherbaumer's The 21-Card Trick ebook (2007).
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It is only apt that we start our short tour into stooge and instant stooge tricks with "The Thomas Crown Affair."
For all but those who witnessed |ack's sole performance of the trick, this explanation will seem like a fairy tale,
but as one of |ack's stooges for the trick I can confirm that it certainly did happen ... and the trick fooled me in a
rvay that I have never been fooled before!
Because thetrick was such a personal conquest for fack, I have decided to share it in his words as he described it
to fon Racherbaumer. So, now over to |ack:
I was disappointed not to be able to attend The Second Deal annual convention in Houston this year. I have
always been fairly active on the forum and felt the "need" to contribute something. So, I told the head honcho,
Iason Alford, that I would like to send him a "video effect." This could then be played at the convention by
projecting it onto a big screen for all attendees to watch. ]ason liked the idea.
Shortly thereafter I set about the task of coming up with something both original and entertaining, a tough call
given the constraints. I hunted around various telephone tricks in print, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. I
finally settled on the notion of using stooges in a way that might pazzlefast company.
MEtrnony
The DVD that I sent was projected onto a large screen at the front of the room. The footage was just me, sitting
on my sofa, talking directly to the camera. I had a list of all the attendees and I picked names from the list,
calling them out. Each was asked to come up to the front of the room and form a line, facing the main audience.
I ended up with about fifteen people standing at the front, each with their own deck of cards. Each participant
was then asked to take their deck and remove their favourite card. If they didn't have a favourite card, they were
told to remove any random card. This was unseen by anyone else and they were asked to place the rest of their
deck aside.
Next, the rest of the room was asked to nominate a "chairman." This person was of course unknown to me on
my pre-recorded tape. Therefore, I simply referred to this person as the "chairman." Eventually, when I saw
the footage shot that day, I was delighted to see that the "chairman" was none other than the inimitable C.
|.
Wagner. Yy'agner came to the front and collected all of the "favourite cards," forming a face-down pile of about
fifteen cards. He shuffled these freely and was then asked to walk up and down the line and stop whenever
he chose. He did this, stopped, and gave the top card of his packet to the guy he faced. The guy took the card
without looking at it and tucked it into his back pocket. Then he turned around.
This was repeated, the chairman handing any card to a random person in the line. They popped the card they
were given into their back pocket and then turned around. Eventually, the chairman was left holding only one
Everyone else turned back around again and was asked to remove the cards that they had been given from their
back pockets and show them to the audience. There were some duplicates due to chance, but most consisted
of different values and suits. When all this had been completed, I (as a previously video-taped person) asked
the one guy in the line who had not been given a card to name his favourite card. He did, naming the Nine of
Diamonds. Next, I asked Wagner, the chairman, to reveal the card he was holding. When J. C. turned his card
around, it was indeed the Nine of Diamonds! He immediately exclaimed,"I don't believe it!"
Of course, I didn't find out until the next day whether or not my experiment had worked. Needless to say, I was
thrilled to hear that everything went according to plan.
CotvttvtENTS
Before we go onto the method, let me point out a few things:
As I said previously, a stooge was involved. My greatest delight aside from the fact that the caper actually
worked, was to receive an email the next day which read:
"It workedl I did everything you asked and it went perfectly. But I still don't understand how what I did gave
the result of the effect,I'm amazed."
Here was a stooge who completed the task he was asked to complete, yet he was still puzzled by the result of the
effect itself. This was my intended goal and why I named it "The Thomas Crown Affair."
The effect was conceived as a "one off for the convention." It's not something that can readily be repeated. The
reason for this is its somewhat "exotic" method - a method more likely better than the effect, at least from the
magician's point of view.
METHOD
As I said, a stooge was involved. What I failed to mention is that there wasn't just one stooge; there were fifteen
of them. But the crux of the whole thing was that none of the stooges were aware of the other stooges. Each was
convinced that he was the only stooge and was playing a secret, pivotal role to make the effect work.
Each stooge was contacted a month prior to the convention and was asked if they would help out. Feeling
somewhat guilty, I managed to convince each one that they were working solo. The title of the effect now
becomes clear and relevant if you are familiar with the film of the same name.
Have any card other than the Nine of Diamonds in your back pocket. When you are called up to the front take
your deck with you. When you are asked to remove your favourite card, remove the Nine of Diamonds. If you
This being the preordained case, J. C. Wagner - the freely nominated chairman - ended up shuffling a one-way-
tbrce packet consisting of fifteen Nines of Diamonds. He then gave fourteen guys a Nine of Diamonds to hold.
Each guy, thinking he was acting alone, switched their Nine of Diamonds with the other indifferent card in
their back pocket (this was Paul Cummins'idea, hatched during our discussion of this caper). This stratagem
permitted the loveiy convincer of being able to show the other fourteen cards as being different. Paul acted as
the stooges of all stooges because he was aware of the entire scam in case anything might go awry. He was there
to gently nudge people in the right direction. Many thanks, Paul!
-\t the end, l. C. was forced to hold the Nine of Diamonds in his hand. The last guy left, regardless of who it
ended up being, was "pre-programmed" to also name the Nine of Diamonds. Of course, afterwards all fourteen
stooges had a Nine of Diamonds in their back pocket. I assumed they would immediately huddle together
and reconstruct the method. A few did exactly that, but it seems some did not - a great testament to the good-
natured quality of fellow magicians.
Since I knew the DVD was being shown to a closed group of friends from the TSD forum, I added a light-
hearted kicker to end the presentation. After a pause, to let the climax register, I looked out from the screen
and asked the person who had named his favourite card to say it again. When he did, I asked: "Could you say it
louder?" I acted as though I was listening intently, adding: "The Nine of Diamonds ... very interesting!" It took
a few seconds for the laughter to kick in as people realised that they were watching a DVD that had been pre-
recorded weeks in advance.
Other aspects of the effect started to become apparent. I then showed that a deck that had been next to me on
the sofa consisted of fifty-two Nines of Diamonds. Finally, my three-year-old and nine-month-old daughters
both waved a Nine of Diamonds at the screen. This was probably overkill, but it garnered a good laugh.
The whole concept of using stooges in this subtle manner is highly intriguing. I refer to it as "The
Blind Stooges"
and have been pondering other uses of this principle - perhaps in a more useable close-up setting with a small
number of impromptu stooges who are unaware that others are part of the game. It's fertile ground.
By the way, as a final touch that I loved, one of the guys emailed me the day before the convention and said he
rvasn't going to be abie to make it. He passed all of the information onto his friend, who agreed to act as his
pro)cF on the spur of the moment. You've got to love itl
CruDITS
. |ack's explanation of this trick first saw print in Antinomy magazine, Number 6 (May 2006).
Mruony
lack has three people remove some cards from the deck. He combines all three packets and hands it to the first
participant who is asked to look through the cards and freely remove whichever card he would like to. The
packet is then passed to the next participant who is invited to do the same and then finally to a third participant.
Even under these test conditions, |ack is able to correctly name all three selections!
STTIGHTS USED
False cut or shuffle
Nolap Switch (Derek Dingle)
Olram's Jinx Switch (Edward Marlo)
Srrup
Arrange the deck in the following order from the top to the face. Where "Club" is listed, you may use any Club
so long as it isn't an Ace, Eight, Nine, fack, Queen or King.
Club
Ciub
Ten of Hearts
Club
|ack ofSpades
Club
Club
Seven of Spades
Club
Nine of Clubs
Rest of deck with the Eight of clubs about fifth up from the face of the deck.
METHOD
You must select three participants who may become your impromptu stooges. It is generally best to select three
quiet, unassuming people who appear to be enjoying the show and look like they wouldn't try to spoil a trick
just to one-up you.
Give the deck a quick false cut or shuffle and then turn it face up. Spread through the deck, upjog the Eight of
Clubs and the three cards directly to its left as you address three spectators and say, " All
four of us are going
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Page 201- /ack parker,s
s2 Memories
will eventually stand out as it's the only Spade in a packet of Clubs! This one will be a little more difficult for the
participant to find, so it's definitely worth telling the participant not to rush.
THr SwITCH-oUT
As the participants are making their selections, casually pick up the tabled deck and hold it face down in left-
hand dealing grip, catching a little finger break around nine or ten cards from the bottom. After the selection
procedure, have the final participant hand you the remaining cards and offhandedly execute Olram's |inx Switch
to exchange them for the cards under your little finger break.
To execute the |inx Switch, simply take the packet back from the participant in right-hand end grip and place
it face down on top of the left-hand packet. Without moving the right hand away from the packet, pick up all
of the cards above the little finger break and place them on the table. This leaves the cards that were below the
little finger break in the left hand. Because the switch is quite discrepant, it should be done on the offbeat while
nobody is concentrating on your actions.
THE RIvELATIoNS
In |ack's experience, the participants very often follow along and remove the three target cards. However, as a
fallback, the revelation process takes into account that it is possible that the participants removed the same three
target cards, but in a different order (which is the most plausible situation failing a success).
To start, Ribbon Spread the packet face down along the table and say, "You could have selected any of these cards.
The choice was yours. I want you all to think of your cards, but then focus on just the colour ... I am getting an
impression of red ... or possibly black! Actually, no - there's more black than red. I think only one of you is thinking
of a red card. Place say 'yes' if your card is red."
Look at the participant that responds and say, "Your card is red, and I think there's a lot of red on it. But it's not a
picture card - I don't see any patterns, just red ink. I think it has a lot of pips, red pips, Hearts in fact. It's the Ten of
Hearts!" Ask the participant to show everyone that you correctly guessed the card and ask them to place the card
on the table.
Continue, "Now, the other two. Please concentrate on them. Now I really think one of these is a picture card. Is
that right? Yours is. Excellent. It's a Spade I think and I am seeing a male face so, the lack of Spades?
"So just one card left. And you could have thought of any one. I think the card you went for might be considered
lucky by a lot of people - I think it's a Seven. The Seven of Spades!
"So I got
all three correct. Three cards freely selected by three people from a random group of cards also selected by
them." To finish the trick flip over the tabled spread to show that the packet consists of a mixture of cards.
COlzttrztENTS
. During my introduction to the method, I emphasised that the participants you chose may become your
impromptu stooges. The reason for the emphasis is that often the participants may not even realise that they
are being used in an untoward capacity! Given that you are asking them to remove the card that stands out the
most, the participants should just remove the target card without questioning that you have set the cards up
in that order. The fact that they helped select the packet of cards that they're looking at really adds to this. So,
while it's worth treating them as impromptu stooges, it should be noted that the participants are just carrying
out the actions that you openly asked them to.
. Derek Dingle's Nolap Switch can be found in Derek Dingle's Complete Works by Richard Kaufman (1982).
. This trick originally appeared in the August 2006 issue of M-[J-M Magazine.
-\ssuming you fancy poking around inside my head for a while, let's start with inspiration. Creating a magic
trick is like any other creative talent in that I expect for all of them it would be difficult to pin down exactly what
sets the wheels in motion for a particular piece. However, with magic there are certain "routes" that are always
available as a starting place. By way of example, I will pick out a few items in this book and talk about how I
created each one. At this point, I should add that I don't claim any particular originality for the titles or methods
of these creativity ideas; I am simply sharing a few ways that I approach the creation of magic.
"Bare Naked Ladies" (page 172) was one of the best received items in my book, Set to Kill. It falls into a category
that I'd call "Technical Cleanliness." I started with a plot and added a kicker ending to it. I then worked to
achieve the best (and technically, most direct) result I could whilst staying strictly within the rules that I had
set myself. In this case, I started with the "Seven Card Assembly" plot that I first learnt from Daryl's 1992 FFFF
Lecture Notes (originally a Marlo piot as Andi cites in his explanation of the trick) and decided to add a backfire
kicker ending. I decided that my solution must only use a four of a kind plus three spot cards (i.e. no extra
cards) and must not use gimmicked cards. i also stipulated that my final solution must use as few moves as
possible. So, in essence, this creativity method is purely a technical exercise ... and a challenging one at that!
Sometimes I start out on a problem without even adding any additional challenges. I simply make a deliberate
selection of a plot and sit at my card table with a deck of cards, a pencil and some paper. "Ourobouros" (page
14) is an example of an effect I created like that. I simply sat down and worked through lots of different ideas to
achieve a predetermined result.
Another route I often explore is "Perverting the Plot." Take an original classic plot, then begin the effect along
the lines of the original and best-known handling so that it can be recognised as such by fellow magicians (and
sometimes lay people). Then, at some point, twist the direction of the effect to such an extent that the change
comes as a complete surprise to the audience and leaves them very susceptible to further surprises. Tricks that
fall into this category are "Invisible 21," (page 188) "Detour" (page 110) and several others.
A similar idea is "Perverting the Method" in which I aim to bring new methods to achieve a classic result.
This is different from "Technical Cleanliness" which aims to achieve a super clean handling within strict rules.
"Perverting the Method," on the other hand, is concerned with linking existing or new mechanics with plots that
have not previously been tackled in that way. A prime example is "sunken 21" (page 185) which uses the arcane
Something that I often shy away from is the "Eye Candy" category, which is - I guess - a fairly recent term that
has developed in magic and one that I think was generated by the boom in the magic DVD market. I love the
term "Eye Candy" itself; it's a wonderful expression that perfectly describes that sort of magic. Suffice to say
despite not being an advocate for it, some of my tricks were created with a purely visual aspect in mind. I am
thinking of "Old Fashioned Aces" (page 165) which is basically a performance piece and requires no spectator
involvement other than for them to sit back and watch the show. It's not, however, akin to the "wham bam in
your face" eye candy that is currently popular. Instead it echoes back to something far gentler and slower paced.
"U.D.S.I." (page 84) and "The Guilty Change" (page 39) fit into this category too.
In contrast to going out and hunting down ideas, sometimes an idea will just "pop" into my head out of the
blue. You may well have experienced this yourself and it was possibly due to something you read, heard, tasted
or watched. The size of the "pop" always varies for me; sometimes it's just a small piece of a bigger ptuzle,
sometimes the whole trick just lands right in my lap. "Can Can Coin" (page 137) has one of those methods
that seems to make everyone smile. It came to me as a "pop" moment. I was inspired by a line from Waterland,
which is a superb novei by Graham Swift. Mr Swift's book has nothing to do with magic but is a wonderful and
engaging piece of fiction. One of its plot themes centres around the idea that a new flesh bruise hides an old
flesh bruise. This is used in the book in relation to confusing the timing of when a blow has been delivered to a
body, but for some reason it turned itself into the idea of one piece of new chewing gum being able to disguise
another, older piece, which is the centre of the method for "Can Can Coin."
To a further extent, in "Flat Rate of Interest" (page 139) I was inspired to have a coin get squashed flat into a
playrng card by a scene from The Simpsons TV show. In one episode, good old Homer I. presses a dime onto his
palm to find it has gone inside his hand. This is topped by the classic line"Oh no! Not again." Ingenious!
This list isn't exhaustive and I wouldn't want it to be as there are just too many ways that effects can come to life.
But it does contain some key examples of how I personally go about creating my card magic. With that done, I'd
like to talk a little about the title of the book 52 Memories.
Magic is all about memory. I don't mean memory-related tricks, of course, but memory in a wider context. A
good case in point is the magician who sits down and comes up with a new trick of his own. No doubt when
creating a piece of magic the magician will draw on an archive of memories including tricks that he has read,
tricks that he has seen, patter he has heard, moves he's learned and so on. Everybody that has been exposed to
magic will find it impossible to create new material without these sorts of memories coming into play at some
point in the creative process. In fact, it is also very likely that the magician may not even be aware that his
memories are influencing him. I believe that this is one of the reasons why originality is such a difficult task.
Once the mechanics and plot of a new trick are dealt with, we move onto the next phase: testing out your
creation. Every time you perform a trick, two new memories are generated: your memory of the performance
and your participant's memory of being part of it. Add in a few surrounding spectators and each one will
generate their own memory of the performance.
The layperson will hopefully consider their memory of a trick at least a few times before it gets filed away in
their brain. When they meet friends who weren't present they'll access the memory and explain that they saw
this great magician who did this trick where the card got ripped and restored, for example. Creating a strong
I appreciate that these thoughts come from the point of view of a hobbyist (as I should be considered) and that
does change the perspective on the issue of memory. For a professional magician working in the cold light of
making a living, I would imagine it becomes vital that the entire audience access their memories of the magic
they have previously seen in order to get further bookings. For a hobbyist like me, who is intent only on creating
enjoyment and astonishment, if we miss the mark now and again it's not the end of the world.
Of course, the magician should also later analyse his memory in order to try to improve the trick. This loop
of create / perform / remember is vital in order to give any magic effect integrity. We can maintain different
memories for each version of a particular trick as we fine-tune and hone it down, right from the first trial runs to
the detailed fine-tunings when a trick starts to feel complete.
For me, there is a further memory in terms of my current health situation. Although it may sound desperately
romantic, I honestly believe that through this book and the memories of my magic it will create, part of me will
continue to live on and be part of the world. I know how that sounds, but I also know it gives me great comfort.
Even at this present time, when I get feedback from people all over the world who are using my effects and who
want to tell me how well they have been received, I find that an amazingbtzz.
Through my tricks, strangers can have a memory of experiencing real astonishment and everyone goes away
smiling. To think that this will carry on after I have gone is a huge comfort and I feel genuinely privileged to
have been given some time to get this book underway so that my magic doesn't "go with me". It's a legacy; I feel
privileged to have the time to pass on my material so that at least some of the items might be performed by some
of the people who buy this book. It's also, of course, a very strange situation. To be able to write about your
own "complete works" in this way - it's not something you see often, particularly the notion that this will be
complete, because I won't be producing any more material when it's done.
I don't want to labour on this in a book which is meant to be a celebration of my magic, not my attempts at
intellectual waffling. But I have personally always enjoyed getting a small insight into the thinking and persona
behind a magician whose work I am studying, so I didn't want to miss the opportunity with my own book.
There are just two more points I'd like to cover. The first is a list of those that have inspired me over the years. By
no means exhaustive, I felt I wanted to use this opportunity to thank them, even if some of them are no longer
around.
For creative thinking and magic of the utmost originality - Brother fohn Hamman. If ever I needed inspiring,
that big yellow book always delivered the goods with some of the most remarkable tricks I have read and
performed. A truly amazingmagician whose work had a profound influence on me.
For precise thinking and real clarity in what defines an effect - Dave Solomon, Allan Ackerman and Tomas
Blomberg. All of them are wonderful card magicians andrazor sharp at taking an effect and getting right down
to its essentials. I am totally amazed at how they can take something of mine I think is finished and very rapidly
point out large chunks that are unnecessary or can be vastly simplified. A great gift indeed and I'd like to thank
all of them for all their help and true friendship over the years. It's been a real honour knowing you and working
with you.
I can't leave out Roy Walton, a true genius whose magic books were the first I really studied and whose matter-
of-fact look at plots and methods belies his very subtle and razor-sharp mind. He extended his hospitality to
me
without question when I went to visit him in Glasgow as did all of the other Scottish magicians I met.
place worth
The guys and gals at The Second Deal web forum - I salute you for being, in my opinion, the only
joining on the magic internet. When I managed to talk my way into a TSD membership I didn't really know
books
anything or anyone. TSD turned it all around for me, put me in touch with resources I hadn't heard of,
and
I hadn't read (and should have) and more importantly members who were more than willing to offer help
advice on all aspects of card magic. That this membership included some of the most notable magicians
in the
world was also a huge bonus and I'd like to thank TSD for all the friendships it helped create.
To Tyler Wilson and paul Cummins, a big thank you not only for proof reading all this but simply because I
.orrid., you both very close friends. I never tire of spending time with you when I get the chance and seeing
you perform is always a treat. Also add Matt Field to the editing team and I'd say bravo for slogging through the
proofing on this book. I hope it didn't take away your enjoyment of reading it.
Finally, my greatest magical inspiration comes from a very close friend whose name won't mean anything to you
so I won't even mention it. Every time we have met he has showed me magic of such quality that I was in utter
astonishment and he is still the best card handler known to me. That he became one of my closest friends only
helped reinforce the impact he had on my magic and the way I think about it. I only wish I could have had the
pleasure of knowing him for a lifetime, rather than just a few years. Adios my friend.
With my Oscar style thank-yous out of the way, I'll finish with the most important reason for creating magic,
from my point of view. It should be fun. That's it - simple. Have fun with your magic. Enjoy creating it, showing
it to others, seeing them enjoy it. Enjoy it at all stages and alllevels. Life is precious, I should know, so make sure
you enjoy each minute as much as you can because you may not get that minute again.
It really pains me these days, when I look around at magic conventions and on the internet at how little I see
people'e.rloying themselves - they ali look so serious. Perhaps I am old before my time, or perhaps it's me that's
just
wired ,rp irr.o.i..tly, but this "leave 'em bleeding" street magic or "destroy anyone" gambling material
leaves me cold. For me, magic is fundamentally about enjoyment with a smile and a laugh. Of course you want
to fool people, that's a given. But this can be done with both of you enjoying the process. In the same way, I love
being fooled myself. It's such a delight when I watch something and have no clue how the effect was achieved. I
always stop the performer from leaping straight into an explanation of it, if it looks like that's their intention. Or
if I am waiching a dreaded DVD I'11 usually watch the performance only section and leave it at that' These are
the key features in magic that I really do feel are being lost: secrets and enjoyment.
When I read about the giants of the past I start to appreciate to some extent just how different things were in
terms of disclosing methods. There really were secrets in magic. Now I know there are some things that remain
secret for a while in today's climate, but not for long and there's not many of them. Almost every other DVD
on
the rack in the dealer's stand tells me it is the damn "realwork". That's a lot of work.
If you're going to devote time to a hobby then enjoy every minute of it and let it make you happy, let it take
away the worries of everyday life for a while - that's the point of a hobby, surely.
That doesn't mean to say that all magic should be funny. As with most card magic I guess mine is generally
light-hearted in presentation, but I am certainly no comedian. I have sometimes been criticised for the amount
of patter I provide in my effects. To this I say: to each to his own.- It's by no means obligatory that you use it.
I feel it's more important to provide each reader with a complete picture as to how I perform an effect, then let
them decide on whether to use all, some or none of my patter. Certain effects rely heavily on what is said, such
as "Alone in the Dark" (page74) or "Girl's Night Out" (page 17). Others are more traditional plots and require
very little to be spoken.
I have always had a side to me that enjoyed writing fiction and prose, and it's that side that gets great pleasure
in effectively writing a short script for an effect. This is inspired in large part by the work of David Regal where
in his various books he nearly always provides a "script" for the patter and more often than not deals with the
performance space in the same way a scriptwriter would deal with a set. One of David's many roles is, of course,
a professional scriptwriter so this way of thinking about card magic comes as no surprise.
The part of my brain that is inspired by Brother John Hamman and Roy Walton, amongst others, often tries
to reduce the amount of patter I include. As Richard Kaufman so rightly points out in his book of Bro. fohn's
material, he was a firm believer that you should only explain something that needed explaining, otherwise
keep quiet and let the audience make up their own mind. Using these methods, astoundingly simply tricks like
Hamman's "Two Card Trick" become unfathomable miracles purely because the audience is allowed to go
down a certain perceptive route rather than being unduly guided by patter. Of course, even Bro. John sometimes
can't resist telling a story and so we get delightful tricks like "The Marx Brothers" and I'd like to think that,
conversely, sometimes I manage the difficult task of reigning in my tongue and allowing the audience their own
unguided plot.
There we have it then. My patchwork quilt of where and what. I guess it made little sense to anyone, jumping
about from subject to subject, but it felt good getting it down on paper for what it's worth. You get yourself back
to the tricks and I'11go back to whatever I was doing, or being, and hope that something from these pages will
catch your eye enough for you to learn and perform it.
Cheers.
)ack Parker
St. Wilfrid's Hospice
lune2007
Unfortunately, Jack's decision to be ready was recently forced upon him because of his deteriorating health. It
presented us with a now-or-never situation that we both agreed to act on. And even though his illness tried to
battle against us, |ack has been actively involved in the process of collecting and writing the memories that we
have shared on these pages. Most of the previously unpublished items came from a set of videotapes that
iack
sent me in March 2007 and he was then able to review what I had written over the months to follow.
|ack's
help allowed me to provide additional commentary and details about his thinking behind his creations that will
certainly aid your learning experience. Add a healthy sprinkle of editorial direction and crediting assistance
tiom Tomas Blomberg, Paul Cummins, Matthew Field and Tyler Wilson and you have the text that I now
present to you. I tell you this to confirm that this book is not just my interpretation of the subject at hand, but
that I am merely the scribe for |ack's own thoughts and ideas on his magic.
For those who are interested in our friendship, |ack and I have collaborated on magic for the last six years. We
met, as many magicians have, by reading each other's published tricks and offering comments and suggestions
on them. I was young and inexperienced, but |ack was willing to look through that and openly shared his
magic with me. I reciprocated with my ideas and I like to think that we both learnt and grew from each other's
t-eedback. Of course, as our correspondences continued, we quickly spawned a friendship that had more basis
than just Classic Passes and Second Deals. We have become good friends and have gotten to know each other
outside of magic - something that I can't honestly say I have achieved with a vast amount of other magicians.
The obvious benefit of having gotten to know |ack since way before his recent, unpremeditated, launch into
fame is that I've been able to get a deep glimpse into the creation of many of his ideas. It takes a moment to
get an idea into print, but in |ack's case it has taken a lifetime to get them in a form that he felt comfortable
releasing. The years I have watched Jack create magic have given me the opportunity and time to consider
exactly what makes a |ack Parker trick so alluring. I thought it might be useful to share these opinions in the
hope that they help others understand why I adore |ack's creations.
The first point of interest is something I have learnt from Jack over the past few years. It came about as we
commented on (and often downright ripped apart) each other's tricks, moves and ideas. Jack taught me that a
solution to any given problem wasn't the end result, but the first stop on an often life-long journey. This means
This brings me to something else important about )ack's tricks: they almost always seem to fit together perfectly.
For example, if a false count of three Aces as four is required, it pretty much always shows two red and two black
Aces (and commonly without any displacements before the count). Or, if a switch is needed, it will look the
same both before and after the secret move to ensure that nobody suspects, let alone detects, sleight-of-hand (to
paraphrase a famous line of Erdnase). Sometimes it seems that |ack's cards just spring into the right formation
for him, but I can assure you that it comes directly from his constant evolving and revising of his miracles until
he feels they are ready for publication (and even then, he won't stop).
As I mentioned, |ack's routines rarely use strange displacements. He doesn't need to rely on out of context
manoeuvres in order to get from A to B. Instead, he sets the ending of a trick up far in advance to ensure that
everlthing flows like water. This attention to detail is certainly a talent and one that only a small number of
magicians have perfected.
On the note of attention to detail, something that Tyler Wilson and I have talked about at length is |ack's
ability to create fantastic displays and layouts of cards. His detailed work in this area makes his handling of
the pasteboards interesting, but also adds to the clarity of many of his tricks. I highly recommend that when
you re-study some of the items in this book you pay extra attention to |ack's constructions of such displays. In
particular, tricks such as "I Know Kung Fu" (page 9) and "Twisted Inversion" (page 114) really show off |ack's
talents in this area.
Of course, if ]ack is having problems getting a display, finesse or even a complete concept to work, he isn't afraid
to ask for help from someone who might be able to either point him in the right direction, or even find a better
solution than he. He is lucky to have some of the best card magicians in the world as confidants, but I really
don't think that matters. So long as you have the trust and respect of your friends, I am certain they'll be able
to help you attack a problem from a different angle and hopefully give you many directions in which you can
travel.
If you've read through items such as "Girl's Night Out" (page 17) or "Alone in the Dark" (page 74), you'Il know
that |ack is not afraid to centre tricks almost purely on the presentation. I've not been able to describe every
word that |ack uses for all of the tricks in this book, but I hope that my focus on routines such as the two I just
cited allow you to study |ack's clever wording and timing.
This brings me to something else that not only covers |ack's presentation, but his general attitude to the creation
and performance of magic. Before I read the draft of |ack's introduction to this book, I started to think about the
most important thing that I learnt from him so far. I mention this, because in |ack's introduction he mentions
the very same thing and that is: have fun! As I grew up in magic,lack has taught me that this isn't intended
to be a serious hobby or profession: it's one that should be showered with fun and enthusiasm. The perfect
example is Jack's Diggler character; he's a post ironic-retro dude who sports a porn-star moustache, wears a
sickening hippy bandana and dances the funky chicken, all while performing his modernised handlings of what
we previously considered to be the most vanilla plots in magic. While Diggler would make you want to stand
up, grab a deck of cards and go wild, his most important trait is that he makes you smile while he shows you an
interesting new dimension in magic.
In an attempt to sum up what I've learnt from Jack, it's probably best that I share a line from one of Diggler,s
favourite tunes "Groove is in the Heart" by Dee-Lite (1990), not to be confused with Rocco's product
line. I
reminded Jack of it a few months ago and I think it \ rill be something that I will keep reminding myself
of in the
future:
"Enjoy today
Enjoy today
Enjoy today
Andhave somefun!"
I've certainly had fun with you, |ack. I'm so sorry that you didn't get to see this finished piece
of work. I devoted
every hour I could to it, but unfortunately the clock ticked a little too fast. Even though
io., *.r".r't able to see
the completed book, I truly hope and that it's everything that you had hoped it to be.
Andi Gladwin
London
Iune2007