An Instinct for Cards
The purpose of the riffle shuffle is to mix the cards thoroughly, its very essence being that after a genuine shuffle the position of any particular card cannot be known. You may therefore find it hard to believe that a card unknown to you can be placed anywhere in the deck and the cards then genuinely riffle shuffled and cut, yet you can infallibly find that card and reveal it. The secret is so ingenious, and still so simple, that this is one of the few feats which can be repeated without fear of discovery. The only skill required is the ability to riffle shuffle the deck.
[Note: This trick combines stacked deck structure with psychological framing, a method long favored by mentalists for repeatable “miracles.” – RJW ]
Preparation.
Place the thirteen cards of one suit, say diamonds, in sequence from ace to king, at the top of the deck. Put the deck in its case and the case in your pocket.
Procedure.
- Take the case from your pocket and remove the cards and shuffle them, retaining the diamond sequence at the top by means of the overhand shuffle control, retaining top stock. Cut off about two-thirds of the deck and complete the cut. The sequence of diamonds will then run from about the twentieth card, the ace, to the thirty-third, the king.
- Place the pack before a spectator, request him to cut it, remove the card he cuts to, replace the cut, and square the deck perfectly. You may add, “Better cut somewhere near the middle, so that I cannot possibly know the card to which you cut.” But even without this admonition most people will cut somewhere near the middle, between the twentieth and thirty-third cards; thus they are sure to remove one of the diamonds. Turn away and move a pace or two from the table so that no one can suspect you might see the card.
[Note: The strength here is in apparent freedom—what magicians call a “convincer.” The illusion of choice is elegantly preserved. – RJW ] - With your back still turned, instruct the spectator to show the card to everyone; then cut the pack anywhere he likes, replace the card at that point, square the deck, and give it a riffle shuffle.
It is most effective to have the spectator himself make the shuffles and cuts, but if there is no one present who can shuffle cards neatly you may make the shuffles yourself. In such case call particular attention to the genuineness of the shuffles. - Next have the spectator cut the pack and complete the cut, riffle shuffle again, and finally cut again and complete the cut. Under these conditions you will find that everyone will be confident that you cannot possibly discover the selected card.
[Note: Despite the handling appearing chaotic, the stack’s internal order preserves enough structure for analysis. – RJW ] - Turn around and take the pack, run through it slowly, glancing at the spectator from time to time as though studying his expression. You will find that despite the shuffles and cuts, which seemingly mix the cards indiscriminately, actually the diamonds have been distributed among the other cards in sequence, with each succeeding higher value to the right. This is because the first shuffle distributed them through half the deck and the second shuffle throughout the entire deck. The cuts, of course, do not have any effect upon the sequence, though they may affect its starting point.
When the chosen card was replaced in the pack, it was not placed at the point from which it was taken; therefore, in order to find it, look for one card of that suit which is out of sequence. Let us say that you find that the diamonds run in the following order:
4-5-6-K-7-8-9-10-J-Q-A-2-3
The chosen card is the king, the only card out of sequence.
- Remove the king and place it face downwards on the table. Rub it gently with the tip of your right second finger and have the selected card named. Turn the card face upwards showing that you have the correct card.
[Note: This “rub” adds a mystical flourish—pure theater, enhancing the perceived impossibility. Vernon often stressed the dramatic punctuation of a revelation. – RJW ]
This perplexing feat may also be performed with the pack in hand. With the diamond sequence at the center, spread the cards and have one removed, making certain that it is taken from among the diamonds, an easy enough matter. Have it replaced at a point other than that from which it was taken. The rest follows as in the out-of-hand method.
[Note: When performing the in the hands version. if you cut the deck at the point where the spectator removed their selection, the bottom card will likely be a diamond (unless they took the KD). This will be the previous card in the sequence. So if you glimpse the bottom card as the spectator is looking at the selection you can determine what card they took. For example, if you see the 7D, then you know they took the 8D. If you want you could combine the in the magicians hands and in the spectators hands. Since you know they just took the 8D you could “read” their mind and reveal the card. Take the 8D back, put it on top and cut the deck so the stack in back in the middle of the deck. Explain that you understand their skepticism. Then perform the “spectator handles the cards” version. -RJW]
Mirror of the Mind
This is another method of performing the preceding effect, but here the necessary preparation is made more quickly. The method is not so clean-cut, but we give it as an alternative procedure. [Note: Though less elegant than the previous version, this “Mirror” variant trades structure for speed—ideal in impromptu or walkaround settings where setup must be swift. – RJW ]
Preparation Place the thirteen cards of one suit, say hearts, in any order on the top of the pack. Note and remember the top card, which we shall assume is the six of hearts. Put the deck in its case and the case in your pocket. [Note: The unordered suit acts as a looser stack, relying on a key card principle rather than a strict sequence. – RJW ]
Procedure
- Take the cards out of the case and make the overhand shuffle control, retaining top stock, thus keeping the hearts on top.
- Hand the deck to a spectator, turn your back, and move away a pace or two. Request him to deal any small number of cards, from one to twelve, face downwards on the table, urging him to do this silently so that you cannot count the cards dealt. When he has done this, tell him to look at and remember the next card and replace it on the cards he still holds, then pick up the packet of dealt cards and place it on top of all. The bottom card of this packet is your key card, the six of hearts, the first card dealt, and it is now directly above the chosen card. [Note: This sequence embeds the key card organically, using casual procedure to camouflage control. It’s a fine example of “procedural misdirection.” – RJW ]
- As in the preceding feat, have the pack riffle shuffled twice, with a completed cut after each shuffle.
- Take the pack and spread the cards face upwards on the table from left to right. Have the spectator grasp your wrist, then pass your hand over the line of cards from end to end, urging him to concentrate upon his card. When you see your key card, the six of hearts, look for the next heart to its right; this will be the chosen card. [Note: That subtle shift—the key card’s relationship to suit—not only adds fairness but reduces the chance of performer error. Variants of this logic appear in works by Al Baker and Annemann. – RJW ]
Move your hand away from this card and then abruptly, as though drawn by a strong magnetism, place your forefinger upon it and push it out of the spread.
Ultra Card Divination
There is a fascination in the thought that the future can be foretold, and this trick capitalizes on this interest in divination. You write down the name of a card and place the memorandum to one side. A card is selected, and this is the one you prophesied.
- Borrow a pack of cards and, holding it face upwards, count the cards into your right hand, reversing their order in the count, under pretence of making sure that it is a full deck. Note the thirty-fourth card and remember it, because this card, which will be thirty-fourth from the top of the pack after the count, is the one you will “predict.”
[Note: This uses the classic equivoque of casual counting to secretly locate a card. The psychological strength lies in turning a mechanical action into apparent fairness. An alternative that is quicker is to note the bottom card. Then tell the spectator that magicians often spread the cards for the spectator to select one. Spread over clumps of cards, groups of three or four cards, counting to your self until you have pushed off 18 cards. Tell the spectator that if you did this they might suspect you did some sleight of hand. Drop the 18 cards to the table and then drop the rest on top. The card you noted is now 34th from the top – RJW ]
- Take a slip of paper and on it write the name of the thirty-fourth card. After writing the prediction, fold the slip twice and then stand it on the edges with the pencil underneath it.
- Cut off about half the pack, but not more than twenty-six cards, and have these shuffled and spread face downwards on the table.
- Address a spectator, saying, “Kindly push a card out of the spread.” When he has done so, have a second and third spectator also push out a card. Gather the rest of the cards and replace them on the pack.
[Note: The selection process here is beautifully chaotic, simulating complete randomness while maintaining the underlying principle. – RJW ]
- Hand the deck to another spectator and have him turn the first of the three cards face upwards. Instruct him to deal as many cards below it, face downwards, as may be needed to bring its value to ten. For example, if the card is a seven, he will deal three cards. If a two, he will deal eight cards. But if the card is a court card it is arbitrarily called a ten, and in this case no cards are dealt.
- Have the same done with the other two cards.
- Now tell the spectator to add the values of the three cards which were selected and deal that number of cards from the pack and place the next card aside.
[Note: This procedure is a numerical force that is disguised its mechanics inside cumulative arithmetic. A key here is using some time misdirection. After the first set of counts (to ten), pause and gather those dealt cards and place them to the bottom of the deck. Then, as if an afterthought, say “lets make it more random and do the second set of counts. The prediction thus appears impossibly fair. – RJW ]
- Point out that the card has been selected in the fairest possible manner. “Before you even touched the cards,” you say, “I wrote the name of a card on a slip of paper and thereafter never touched it.” Lift the pencil with the slip on it and offer it to the spectator. “Will you read what I wrote?” He reads aloud the name of the card. Slowly turn the card face upwards. It is the card which you predicted!
[Note: The finale combines two potent convincers—verbal framing and physical separation of the prophecy—to sell the illusion of divination. Echoes of this structure appear in Vernon’s mental card stabs and in modern ACAAN adaptations. – RJW ]