{"id":7305,"date":"2025-07-24T19:47:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/?p=7305"},"modified":"2025-07-24T19:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:47:19","slug":"prediction-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/prediction-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Prediction Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my handling of a “self” working effect from one of Bob Longe’s books. He\u2019s written many well\u2010regarded card\u2011trick books\u2014notably Mystifying Card Tricks<\/strong>, World\u2019s Best Card Tricks<\/strong>, y 101 Amazing Card Tricks<\/strong>\u2014which offer a mix of sleights and self\u2010working effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Take a deck of cards and hand them to a spectator to shuffle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast night, I had a dream.\u201d<\/strong>
(You take out your written prediction and place it on the table\u2014folded, under a glass, clipped, or plainly in view.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt felt real. Not just like I was watching something\u2014but like I was being told something. A message was unfolding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a person. I couldn’t quite see their face. But they were shuffling a deck of cards. They cut, they dealt, and then something happened. One card\u2026 mattered.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(As you speak, spread the deck face up casually, comment on how mixed it is. You can start with a prediction already made, let’s say you have written your prediction as the “King of Spades”. The spectator does not know what you have written. As you spread them, spot the King and cull it under the spread until you find a 6, 7 or 8 spot card. Feed the King behind that spot card. Get a break below the face up King and cut it to the top of the deck. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is all done causally, in the spectator’s mind the trick has not started yet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was one of those dreams that haunts you in the morning, like it\u2019s waiting to come true. So I wrote something down. I didn\u2019t know why\u2014it just felt like I should.\u201d<\/strong>
(Gesture lightly toward the prediction.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you talk you have turned the deck face down and begin an overhand shuffle, pulling the top two cards to begin and then shuffling the rest. Because you pulled two cards to start, the number card (6,7, or 8) is on the bottom, with the King of Spades above it. Follow with a second overhand shuffle, milking the top and bottom cards then running the number of cards (6,7,or 8) that is the card value that was next to the King. After running those cards, either throw the rest on top, or milk a block and shuffle off. That puts the King exactly 6, 7, or 8 cards from the bottom, depending on what value the bottom card was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s strange is that everything you\u2019re about to do was in the dream. Not the actions exactly\u2014but the feeling. The choices. The moment you knew to stop. That\u2019s what I remember most.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Now begin the actual selection phase. Have the spectator cut off some cards from the top of the deck and place them aside.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s your first decision. In the dream, that happened too. A pile set aside. No one told them to do it\u2026 they just did.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Turn over the remaining cards and let them deal face-up. Let them deal at least 8 cards then tell them:)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDeal cards face-up, one by one. You\u2019ll know when to stop. There\u2019s no right number. Just follow your instinct.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(They stop dealing.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlace those remaining cards\u2014the ones you didn\u2019t deal\u2014on top of your original cut packet. Now take the face-up cards and hold them face down.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explain that at this point you could not have known how may cards they would cut at the beginning, nor how many cards they would deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Pause. Shift tone slightly more serious.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the dream\u2026 the person turned the top card over. Not knowing what it meant, only that it felt important.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(They flip the top card\u2014it\u2019s your 6, 7, or 8.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen they counted that many cards\u2026 like steps being taken in the dark, trusting something invisible.\u201d<\/strong>
(They count that many cards onto the discard pile.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then the rest of the cards they were holding were placed on top of the discard pile.\u201d<\/strong>
(They finish stacking. The deck is complete.<\/em>At this point, your prediction card is now on top of the deck to be revealed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Reveal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t have influenced your cuts or your choices. I didn\u2019t even know who I\u2019d be performing this for. But this\u2026\u201d<\/strong>
(Point to the prediction.)<\/em>
\u201c\u2026this is what I saw.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Open the prediction. Read it out loud. Then have them turn over the top card of the deck.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes dreams are just echoes of the day\u2026 but sometimes, they whisper truths we haven\u2019t reached yet.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterthoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you can do a bottom deal this is a variation. Have the spectator shuffle the deck. Take it back and spread the cards face up to show they are well mixed. Spot your prediction and cut it to the second from the bottom of the deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start your patter, I talk about there being 52 chances of making a prediction. I show the top card as I talk, then I turn the deck over and show the bottom card. This removes from the spectators mind the possibility of a bottom deal after the trick is done, not that that is likely if you do a good bottom deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proceed having the spectator cut off and discard halve of the deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the remaining cards and start dealing them into a pile. After dealing some cards from the top, perform a bottom deal which gets rid of the indifferent card below your prediction. Continue top dealing asking the spectator to say stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn over the last card dealt. Use the value of that card to deal more cards. Say the card was a nine, top deal eight cards and then bottom deal the last one, which is your prediction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that this process means you are bottom dealing from a smaller block of cards, which makes the bottom deal easier.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my handling of a “self” working effect from one of Bob Longe’s books. He\u2019s written many well\u2010regarded card\u2011trick books\u2014notably Mystifying Card Tricks, World\u2019s Best Card Tricks, and 101 Amazing Card Tricks\u2014which offer a mix of sleights and self\u2010working effects.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-magic","category-self-working"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Bob","author_link":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/author\/admin\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7305"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7319,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions\/7319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}