As a magician, I like tricks with gambling themes. I’ve looked into a number of techniques for stacking a deck to deal a poker hand, so I was happy to stumble across Ian Baxter’s “Pokerun-Up” in Harry Lorayne’s Best of Friends, Volume 3, pages 65–67.
The effect is straightforward. Four aces are on the table. Someone chooses how many poker hands to deal. After a few short overhand shuffles, I deal the hands and get the four aces myself.
Baxter devised the routine, and Lorayne’s published explanation includes an alternative to using a crimp. I use that approach with a small change that removes one of the preparation steps.
Getting ready
With the aces face up on the table, I ask how many hands to deal: three, four, five, or six.
Let’s say the answer is five.
I glimpse and remember the fifth card from the bottom of the remaining deck. In Baxter’s original procedure, four cards are moved from the top to the bottom, beneath a crimped card. By spotting the fifth card from the bottom, I already have four cards below my key. There’s no need for that opening transfer.
For a different number of hands, I spot the card that many positions from the bottom.
Loading the cards
I get a little-finger break beneath the top four cards, then place the four aces face up on the deck.
Using a Braue Secret Add-On, I display the aces while secretly loading the four indifferent cards:
- Lift the eight cards above the break as a packet.
- Peel the first ace onto the deck with the left thumb and turn it face down.
- Repeat with the second and third aces.
- Drop the remaining five-card packet onto the deck, then turn its face-up ace face down.
The aces have apparently just been displayed and turned face down. The preparation is finished.
Three short shuffles
For five hands, the counts are six, six, four.
First, I run six cards singly in an overhand shuffle and throw the rest of the deck on top.
I repeat that: run six, then throw the rest on top.
For the last shuffle, I take the top and bottom cards together on the count of “one,” then run three more cards singly. I throw the remaining deck on top.
That last shuffle has four counted actions, with two cards taken together on the first action.
Finding the key
Now I need to bring my glimpsed card to the bottom.
Following Lorayne’s approach, I cut to bring the key near the top. As I talk about the aces being lost, I spread small groups into my right hand and casually turn that hand to show their faces.
When I see my key, I replace the cards and retain a break beneath it. A cut brings it to the bottom.
Then I deal five poker hands, giving myself the last hand. The four aces arrive together.
Other numbers of hands
The same procedure works for three through six hands.
| Hands | Key spotted from bottom | Break beneath top | First run | Second run | Final count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3rd card | 2 cards | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 4th card | 3 cards | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 5th card | 4 cards | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 6 | 6th card | 5 cards | 7 | 7 | 5 |
The final count always begins by taking the top and bottom cards together. The remaining cards are run singly.
How I introduce the aces
I always use aces for this. I’ll often begin with my two-step cull to bring them to the top of the deck. Then I deal them face up onto the table while talking about card cheats looking for good cards.
That gives me a reason to find and display the aces before starting the stack. From there, I ask how many hands to deal and go into the procedure above.
Credit: Ian Baxter’s “Pokerun-Up,” published in Harry Lorayne’s Best of Friends, Volume 3, pp. 65–67. The glimpsed-key approach comes from Lorayne’s afterthoughts. My handling uses a key already the appropriate distance from the bottom, eliminating the opening transfer, and often begins with my two-step ace cull.