Old magician who likes old cars, and old whisky
Simon Aronson published a great card trick titled Prior Commitment first published in his book Simply Simon in 1995. This book is a collection of Aronson’s original card magic and includes detailed explanations of his principles, including the Undo Influence that powers Prior Commitment.
Prior Commitment was performed on Penn & Teller: Fool Us by British mentalist Graham Jolley, and it successfully fooled them.
Continue reading “Prior Commitment simulator”This trick, attributed to Roy Walton, is a variation of a routine by Howard Adams that was featured in Genii magazine. It’s a self-working card trick, meaning it relies on a specific setup and mathematical principle rather than sleight of hand.
Continue reading “Just Lucky”This is my handling of a “self” working effect from one of Bob Longe’s books. He’s written many well‐regarded card‑trick books—notably Mystifying Card Tricks, World’s Best Card Tricks, and 101 Amazing Card Tricks—which offer a mix of sleights and self‐working effects.
Continue reading “Prediction Effect”This is another Larry Jennings trick, which was written up by Harry Lorayne in his magazine, Apocalypse V9.
Continue reading “Impossible”A Mathematical Card Mystery
Adapted from Richard Vollmer’s “Einstein’s Favorite Trick”
“Just as detectives have their methods of deduction, magicians have their own theory of elimination. It states: ‘When you run out of friends to show card tricks to, the only people left are relatives… and they’re the hardest cases to solve.'”
Continue reading “The Holmes Deduction”Based on Henry Christ’s “Dealing Trick Procedure” and from “The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings”
A spectator selects a card, which is then lost in the deck. The performer removes several cards from the deck, calling them “key cards.” The values of these key cards are totaled to arrive at a number. When that number is counted down from the top of the deck, the selected card is found at that exact position.
Continue reading “Larry Jennings’ Key Card Location Trick”A brilliant method for locating any named card using mathematical principles from Revolutionary Card Technique
Continue reading “Ed Marlo’s 26th Card Location – A Mathematical Marvel”I asked an AI to analyze the math behind the 4×4 and 2×2 grid used in the Card Tracking Trick. The math also works for other square grids, although I think it would be impractical to go larger than 4×4. So what happens when you deal a 3×3 grid.
I have to admit that I am a Facebook user. So the other day the Facebook algorithm decided to show me a video of Jason Ladanye performing a self working card trick that uses a 4×4 grid of cards. See https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-PWpDE6w-Ns?feature=share. It is a great self working trick, but I rarely have the performing space for a 4×4 layout of cards.
So I do the same effect with a 2×2 grid. Here are the instructions.
Continue reading “Card Tracking Trick”This is based on the Gilbreath Principle. Here’s the complete routine from beginning to end:
Continue reading “The Color Coincidence Card Trick”