{"id":7582,"date":"2025-12-12T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/?p=7582"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:44:52","slug":"the-dream-lock-the-cut-deeper-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/the-dream-lock-the-cut-deeper-force\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dream Lock &amp; The &#8220;Cut Deeper&#8221; Force"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1456\" data-src=\"https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7583 lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 819px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 819\/1456;aspect-ratio:0.5633386679798105;width:319px;height:auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-819x1200.png 819w, https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-169x300.png 169w, https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-576x1024.png 576w, https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-768x1365.png 768w, https:\/\/robertjwallace-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-7x12.png 7w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I recently found an old &#8220;Dream Lock,&#8221; a four-wheel combination lock with a unique feature: it can be rigged to open using only two of the four dials. This meant I needed a reliable way to make a spectator select my two target numbers out of four digits they would pick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I decided to use the classic <strong>&#8220;Cut Deeper&#8221; Force<\/strong> from card magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Procedure (Target: 4 and 2)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">For this explanation, assume the lock is set to open with <strong>4<\/strong> y <strong>2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Pre-Setting the Deck<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">I have the spectator shuffle the deck. I take it back and spread it face-up to show the cards are mixed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>The Cull:<\/strong> As I spread, I secretly locate one target card (e.g., the 4) and subtly move it behind the spread. I then find the other target card (the 2) and position the culled card next to it, making the sequence <strong>4-2<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">I close the spread, take a break above these two cards, and cut the deck at the break. This places the <strong>4<\/strong> and the <strong>2<\/strong> on top of the face-down deck.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">I may throw in some false cuts and shuffles to maintain the illusion that the deck is still mixed, keeping the top two cards in place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Forcing the First Number (The 4)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">I explain and demonstrate the action: The spectator is to cut a packet off the top, turn it <strong>face-up<\/strong>, and replace it on the rest of the cards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">I spread the cards to find the point where the face-up and face-down cards meet. The first face-down card is always the first force card: the <strong>4<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">I take the face-up cards in my right hand and use my left to thumb off the <strong>4<\/strong> to the table. I then rotate both hands, placing the large packet face-down onto the table. I place the left hand packet (now face-up) onto the tabled cards.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><em>Note:<\/em> This turnover effectively brings the next force card (the <strong>2<\/strong>) to the new top of the deck.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Forcing the Second Number (The 2)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">I instruct the spectator to <strong>&#8220;Cut Deeper&#8221;<\/strong> and repeat the process: cut a packet, turn it over, and place it on top.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Spreading the cards again, the first face-down card is the next force card: the <strong>2<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Completing the Combination<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">I repeat the &#8220;Cut Deeper&#8221; process two more times for the final two numbers. Since the lock only requires the first two digits (<strong>4<\/strong> y <strong>2<\/strong>), the last two are indifferent.  Depending on where the division is between the face up and face down cards I might ask if the spectator wants to turn the entire  deck over.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">The spectator has now &#8220;selected&#8221; four cards, resulting in a combination where the crucial first two digits are the exact numbers needed to open the Dream Lock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This method reliably gives me the two numbers I need while making the entire selection process appear random and fair to the spectator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Instead of the cut deeper force I sometimes stack the 4 and 2 on top, and place 5 face cards in the middle of the deck.  I then take the deck out and split in half at the 5 face cards.  Placing both halves on the table I ask the spectator to shuffle them.  This almost always guarantees that the first number cards dealt after the shuffle will be the 4 and 2. I tell the spectator that we need 4 number cards so I discard the face cards as I come to them. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently found an old &#8220;Dream Lock,&#8221; a four-wheel combination lock with a unique feature: it can be rigged to open using only two of the four dials. This meant I needed a reliable way to make a spectator select my two target numbers out of four digits they would pick. I decided to use &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/the-dream-lock-the-cut-deeper-force\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuar leyendo<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Dream Lock &amp; The &#8220;Cut Deeper&#8221; Force&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/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":[7,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-magic","category-tricks"],"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\/7582","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=7582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7630,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7582\/revisions\/7630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertjwallace.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}