Old man, old cars, and old whisky
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”Setup: Ask the spectator to shuffle a deck of cards and remove any 10 cards.
Begin: “Today I’m going to demonstrate a little piece of card magic that works with the power of numbers. Before we begin, I want you to look at these 10 cards you’ve selected and think of any number between 1 and 10. Don’t tell me what it is.”
Continue reading “Card Divination”There are probably hundreds of methods for achieving the “Sandwich” effect, where the selected card is found between two face up court cards. Here are some that I have learned over the years.
All of these, unless otherwise noted, start with the court cards removed and face up on the table. In the descriptions below I use the red kings.
Continue reading “A few Sandwiches”Boy the world has changed! When I was young if you wanted to learn magic you had to hang out at a magic store. A real brick and mortar building. To get to the real good stuff you had to make friends with the magician behind the counter and prove your worth. If you were lucky they might show you something more than “Scotch and Soda”. They might recommend a really good hardback book on magic, but those books weren’t cheap. You had to pay your dues, so to speak.
Today you have the Internet. The brick and mortar stores are almost completely gone. I miss them.
Anyway, while I was surfing the web I found this self-working coincidence trick that looked interesting. Now like a lot of these tricks on the Internet, this one had several “kickers” to the coincidence effect. Go ahead and take a moment to look at it. It is at https://youtu.be/9KhQrR5uqN8?si=2rnxeBWteVBaXC7m .
Continue reading “Faro coincidence”This is another lie detector plot. I have another that I also perform which you can read about at https://robertjwallace.com/lie-detector/. This one is easier.
Continue reading “Another Lie Detector”I like the basic sandwich plot and I use Ed Marlo’s technique which I think is one of the cleanest.
Effect: In this version, the two black jacks are removed and displayed face up on the table as the spectator selects two cards. The cards are lost in the deck with the deck shuffled, and the two Jacks placed on top of the deck, face up. The deck is cut several times and then ribbon spread face down, and the two jacks now have one face down card between them. The deck is cut so the Jacks and the trapped card are on top and the trapped card is shown to be one of the selections.
Continue reading “A double sandwich”When I was performing regularly in restaurants the scalloped or concave short card was my favorite tool in my card magic arsenal. For those who don’t know what a concave short card is, it is like a normal short card, but instead of the end of the card being trimmed off with a straight cut, and then the corners reshaped, it is cut so that the corners remain, the cut starting past the corner and cutting on a slight curve.
Continue reading “Short Cards”I was looking to buy a set of math sticks which are used in a prediction effect (or a super computation effect.) Diamond Jim sells a wooden set for about $15.00. Stevens Magic has a set for $18. Being of Scot blood, I didn’t want to spend that much on a set of four wooden sticks.
Continue reading “Home made math sticks”This is a two card ambitious like routine that is very difficult to do. It is based off a two card transposition that I do.
Phase one: Ideally start with contrasting cards second and third from the top of the deck. For this explanation I´ll use the Two of Diamonds and the king of spades, with the two second from the top.
Continue reading “Doubly Ambitious”