The Sevens
The following trick, a good one, makes use of the overhand shuffle to force a card and to bring a number of required cards to the top of the pack so that they can be used in the course of a “coincidence” trick. Four cards are selected, apparently by purest chance, and the cards prove to be the four seven-spots, a remarkable violation of the laws of probability.
1. To prepare for the trick place the four sevens secretly on the top of the pack, then force the top card (the first seven) on a spectator by means of the lift shuffle force. Have the spectator place that card face downwards on the table, without looking at it, and place his hand on it. As he does this, place the packet in your right hand under those in your left, so that the remaining three sevens are on the top of the pack. Shuffle by running off two cards into the left hand, drop the pack on them, and pick up the whole pack. One seven will now be on the top and two at the bottom.
At once continue the shuffle as in step No. 2, retaining top and bottom cards in position, thus keeping the sevens in the same position, two at the bottom and one at the top.
2. Spread the entire deck face downwards on the table in a neat row, and request the spectator to touch any card. Remove the card and turn it face upwards. Whatever its value, gather up the remainder of the deck and deal beside it, face downwards and in an orderly pile, cards to correspond in number. For example, if the card is an eight-spot, deal eight cards. If the card is a picture card, announce that you will count all such cards as tens and treat them as such. Thus you have a seven-spot at the bottom of this pile.
3. Repeat the same overhand shuffle, retaining one of the other two sevens on the bottom and bringing the other one to the top of the pack. The position now is that you have a seven on the top and the fourth seven on the bottom.
4. Spread the cards on the table again and request another spectator to touch a card. Remove it, turn it face upwards, gather up the remaining cards and deal beside it, as before, the number of cards to correspond with its value.
5. Shuffle the cards once more, this time simply bringing the bottom card (the fourth seven) to the top. “You will notice,” you say, “that your choice of cards is entirely fair. Neither you nor I can know the value of the cards you will select.”
6. Have a third spectator touch still another card after you have spread the deck on the table, and proceed in exactly the same way as before. There will then be three piles of cards on the table, and at the bottom of each of them, unknown to the spectators, there is a seven-spot.
7. Turn now to the spectator whose hand still rests on the seven spot which you forced on him at the start of the feat. “Will you, sir, turn up your card and show it to all of us?” He does so and it is seen to be a seven-spot.
“The vagaries of chance are inexplicable,” you observe thoughtfully, “for here we have four cards selected by four different persons in the fairest possible way. The probability of each selecting a card of the same value is so remote as to be practically impossible. And yet–” (slowly turn each of the packets face upwards and show, at their faces, the three remaining sevens!) “–that is exactly what has happened.”
The student will be gratified, upon performing this feat, to notice the astonishment which it arouses. This is caused largely because the spectators were not told beforehand just what you proposed to do and for this reason did not scrutinize your preliminary actions so closely as they might have had they known your objective.
This is one of the psychological advantages which the good card conjurer keeps to himself. He does not tell in advance what he proposes to do. If he forewarns his audience, their vigilance will be aroused and they will study what he does to determine how he does it. [Note: This principle of not revealing the effect beforehand is a cornerstone of magical presentation, often referred to as “effect before method.” It’s particularly relevant in mentalism and mathematical card tricks where the audience might deduce the method if they know the intended outcome. – RJW]
This is one of the psychological advantages which the good card conjurer keeps to himself. He does not tell in advance what he proposes to do. If he forewarns his audience, their vigilance will be aroused and they will study what he does to determine how he does it. Since they do not know his purpose, however, they are not alerted and later, when they attempt to reconstruct what has been done, their memory fails them.
This should also make clear why the expert card conjurer rarely if ever repeats a trick for an audience, no matter how great their importunity.
There are two good rules to remember:
- Never tell your audience the effect of a feat until all the preliminary actions which make it possible have been completed.
- Do not repeat a trick unless you can produce the same effect by a different method.
[Note: These two fundamental rules of magic performance remain as relevant today as when Hugard and Braue wrote them. The first rule is about timing the revelation of effect, while the second addresses the danger of repeating tricks, which allows audiences to compare methods and potentially deduce secrets. – RJW]
Obliging Aces
“I wouldn’t want to play cards with you!” is a statement inevitably addressed to a good cardman at some time or other. A good trick to use after someone has made this remark is the following easy feat, which has all the appearance of great skill.
Preparation. Secretly place any nine-spot at the ninth position from the top, with the four aces immediately following it. To do this while openly toying with the cards and carrying on your part in the general conversation, spread the cards with the faces towards you. Spot an ace and cut the pack to bring it to the top. Then run through the cards and slip each of the other three aces to the top in turn.
Next find any nine-spot and slip that to the top. Turn the deck face downwards and shuffle overhand thus: Undercut about two-thirds of the deck, run four cards, injog the next card, and shuffle off. Undercut to the jog and throw on top. Repeat the same shuffle, and you will have placed eight cards on top of the nine-spot and the aces will lie in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth positions as required for the trick. [Note: This mathematical setup is a classic example of how card magic often relies on precise positioning combined with seemingly random actions. The specific positioning ensures the trick will work regardless of which numbers the spectators choose within the given range. – RJW]
Procedure. Now we are ready for the feat itself.
1. Presuming that the conversation has been about gamblers and poker playing, offer to give a little demonstration, under very strict conditions, by having the spectators themselves name the numbers at which certain cards are to be found. Shuffle overhand, using the overhand break control to return the arranged cards to the top of the pack.
2. Invite a spectator to call any number between ten and twenty. Suppose fourteen is called. Deal fourteen cards face downwards in a pile, and lay the remainder of the pack aside. Pick up the fourteen cards. “You named the number fourteen,” you say. “One and four make five so I shall take the fifth card.” Deal four cards face downwards, take the fifth card and lay it aside face downwards.
Drop the cards remaining in your hands on those just dealt, pick up all, and replace them on the remainder of the deck.
3. Overhand shuffle again, using the injog and break, and again bring the arranged cards into the required position. Ask a second spectator to name another number between ten and twenty. Proceed in exactly the same way as in step No. 2, using the new number. Place the card thus arrived at with the first, also face downwards.
4. Have a third spectator name a number and so arrive at a third card. Place it with the other two.
5. “I want one more card,” you say. “This time I’ll leave the choice of a number to pure chance.” Shuffle overhand again, using the overhand lift shuffle this time but being careful to have more than nine cards in the first packet. This shuffle will return the nine-spot to the top of the pack, and the ninth card under it will be the fourth ace. Turn the top card, the nine, then deal and place the ninth card with the other three cards you have found and laid aside.
“In spite of the fact that you named any numbers you pleased and that the last card was determined by chance alone, look what has happened!” Turn the four cards face upwards with a flourish. They are the four aces!
Leapfrog
Here we have a rather striking discovery. A selected card leaps into view over the backs of the others.
1. Following the usual routine a card is freely selected, noted, returned to the pack, and controlled to the top.
2. Shuffle the card to the bottom and retain it in that position.
3. Key undercut about one-third of the deck, and place the packet on top so that about one-third of its length protrudes outwards, being careful not to expose the bottom card in making the cut. [Note: “Key undercut” refers to lifting a portion of cards from the bottom of the deck. This is a fundamental card handling technique that appears in many classic effects. – RJW]
4. With the tip of the left forefinger pull down the outer end of the selected card at the bottom of the upper packet until it is bent almost at right angles (Fig. 72). “If there is one game the cards love, it’s leapfrog. Watch!”
5. Have the chosen card named, and instantly let all the cards of the upper packet escape from your left thumb and fingers and press the forefinger hard against the end of the bent card. All the cards of this packet will fall upwards and outwards, turning face upwards as they fall on the table, except the bottom card, the chosen card, which will also turn face upwards but will be retained against the bottom card of the deck by the left forefinger. Fig. 73.
6. Raise your left hand and display the card thus extending face outwards from the top of the pack, which faces you.
[Note: This effect combines physical dexterity with theatrical presentation. The “leapfrog” patter gives the mechanical action a playful narrative that engages the audience and disguises the method. The spring-loaded action of the bent card creates a dramatic visual moment. – RJW]
Spectator’s Card Trick
Sooner or later you will meet the man who insists upon taking the pack in his own hands and then challenges you to do a trick. The following feat is useful on such occasions:
1. Secretly glimpse the top card of the pack, which we will say is the four of hearts. False shuffle the cards, retaining the four of hearts at the top.
2. Hand the pack to a spectator, saying, “It is curious that so many people suspect a magician of conniving and subterfuge. I assure you that the things I do simply happen–I have no control over the cards. To show you what I mean, let’s pretend that you are the magician and I am the spectator. First of all, you must spread the cards and invite me to remove one.”
3. Remove a card and glance at the card guardedly. You do not care what card it is since it plays no part in the trick, but a good satiric impersonation of a canny spectator can be amusing. “Now,” you say, “tell me to replace my card.” When he does so, cautiously insert the card about halfway down in the pack and push it flush. Have him square the cards. “You see how simple it is? Now all you have to do is find my card and produce it in some surprising manner.”
4. Your assistant will be forced to admit that he cannot do this. “Then you must appeal to others,” you say. “Ask this gentleman. Have him name some number, say between ten and twenty, and no doubt my card will be at this number.”
5. Someone names a number, say fourteen. Have your assistant deal fourteen cards face downwards, reversing their order. “My card was the four of hearts,” you say, naming the card you glimpsed in step No. 1. “Look at the next card.” He looks at the card at the top of the rest of the pack, but it is not your four of hearts. Have him turn it face downwards and replace the dealt cards on the pack.
6. “Horrible experience, wasn’t it?” you say sympathetically. “It has happened to me, too. But when something goes wrong, always blame it on the spectator. Tell him he wasn’t concentrating. Then ask someone else to name a number, say a number between twenty and thirty.”
7. Have a second spectator name such a number. Let us say it is twenty-five. Have your assistant deal twenty-five cards face downwards, thus reversing their order, and look at the next card on the pack. It still is not your four of hearts. Have it turned face downwards and the dealt packet replaced.
8. “Well,” you say, “you’ve not done very well, have you? I’m afraid I’ll have to take over.” Take the pack from him and give it a little shake. “I think that will do it,” you comment. “Now, I believe in the happy medium. The first number was fourteen and the second was twenty-five, and the difference between the two is eleven. To find my card, I will deal eleven cards, like this–” (here you deal off eleven cards) “–and the next card is my card, the four of hearts!” Turn this card face upwards and show that it actually is the four of hearts.
The trick is entirely automatic if the above procedure is followed. It is only necessary to have the first spectator name a number between ten and twenty, the second a number between twenty and thirty.
[Note: This is a brilliant example of a “sucker trick” combined with mathematical principles. The performer deliberately appears to fail initially, which disarms the audience and makes the final success more impressive. The mathematical principle ensures the trick works automatically regardless of the numbers chosen within the specified ranges. It’s also an excellent way to handle hecklers who challenge the performer. – RJW]
A Poker Puzzle
“Can you deal a good poker hand?” is a question which is almost certain to be asked after you have shown your prowess with cards. The routine which follows has been arranged to convince the questioner that you can.
1. “Can I deal a good poker hand?” you repeat. “The answer to that is–yes and no. I’d better show you what I mean. No doubt you’ve read articles on the methods used by the gamblers–everyone has heard of second dealing and bottom dealing, although very few persons have seen these sleights performed. In poker, the gambler arranges to get the high cards of course. Let me show you the usual method. I’ll use the four kings.” As you are talking in this vein, run through the cards with the faces toward yourself and, as you come to each king or ace, slip the kings to the bottom and the aces to the top of the pack. Do this casually without explaining what you are doing. [Note: This casual setup while talking is called “time misdirection” – using patter and explanation to cover necessary preparation. The audience focuses on the words while the hands do the secret work. – RJW]
2. Take off the four kings and show them. “Four kings make a good hand,” you say, “so the gambler places the cards he wants on the bottom of the pack.” Place the four kings on the bottom.
3. “We shall suppose it is a five-handed game. The gambler deals four cards, but when he deals one to himself he pulls off the bottom card, so.” Do this openly, laying the king face downwards before you.
4. Continue the deal in the same way, each time pulling out a king for yourself as you explain that by years of tedious practice the gambler can make this false deal imperceptibly. When you have dealt yourself the four kings from the bottom, deal the next five cards in the ordinary way. You have dealt five hands of five cards each and you show that you have the four kings.
5. “That is the gambler’s method,” you say. Gather up the other four hands carelessly in any order but without disturbing their sequence, and drop them on top of the pack. Do not expose the face cards, which are the four aces. Drop your own hand with the four kings on the pack last of all. The deck is now stacked to give you the four aces on a deal of five hands.
6. False shuffle the pack by undercutting not more than twenty cards, injogging the first card and shuffling off. Form a break at the injog, shuffle to the break, and throw the cards below it on top, thus returning the top thirty cards to their original position.
“That is the way a gambler does it,” you explain. “However, you asked me if I could deal a good poker hand, and I must remind you that I am not a gambler and therefore never use the gamblers’ methods. If I did try to deal myself a good hand I’d use magic, like this. Watch my hands and see if you can find any fault with the way I deal.”
7. Deal five hands of five cards each in the regular way. “Did you notice anything unusual with the deal?” you enquire. “Of course not. Yet I dealt myself the four kings. Look!” Pick up your hand and, holding it well squared, turn it face upwards, showing a king at its face. “The four kings!” Remove the top card, exposing an ace. “Ah, something’s gone wrong!” you exclaim disgustedly. Pause for a second, then brighten, saying, “Oh, well! I imagine that four aces are good enough!”
Spread the other four cards you hold showing that they are the aces.
[Note: This routine is masterful in its construction – it teaches the audience about gambling techniques (which increases their amazement), appears to fail (creating sympathy), then delivers an even better conclusion than expected. The contrast between “cheating” and “magic” allows the performer to demonstrate skill while maintaining moral high ground. Four aces beating four kings adds an extra layer of surprise since aces are actually the better poker hand. – RJW]